Rudd defends boats remark as polls rise

Kevin Rudd says it is his responsibility to ensure Australia has a good relationship with Indonesia. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has brushed aside claims he was reckless in saying the coalition's plan to turn back the boats would lead to "conflict" with Indonesia, declaring, "I stand by everything I said."

Mr Rudd was mobbed on his first street walk since returning as prime minister, drawing large crowds in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney while campaigning with the local Labor candidate.

And as a poll showed his reinstatement dramatically improved Labor's chances in four key seats, the Liberals drew on former prime minister John Howard to attack Mr Rudd's border protection credentials.

"Kevin Rudd is like the arsonist claiming respectability as the firefighter in imagining he's got the solution to the problem of border protection," Mr Howard told a Liberal Party election rally in Melbourne.

During his first press conference on Friday, Mr Rudd said the coalition's boats policy would set Australia on course for "policy collision" with Indonesia, a statement the opposition labelled as reckless and irresponsible.

Mr Rudd told reporters in Springwood he stood by his comments.

"My responsibility as prime minister is to ensure we have a first-class relationship with 250 million people in Indonesia, a country which constitutes our most important neighbour," he said on Saturday.

Mr Rudd said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had two questions to answer about his Howard-era policy to turn back the boats, which the prime minister claims can't be done because Indonesia won't co-operate.

"Number one, what happens when a boat sinks?" he said.

"And number two, what happens if the Indonesians push the boat back?

"He hasn't answered either of those things. So either it is a fair dinkum policy or it's simply codswallop to try and win some votes."

The prime minister was brief when asked for his response to a Fairfax ReachTEL poll showing Labor would retain the formerly at-risk western Sydney seats of Blaxland and McMahon, and Melbourne seats Maribyrnong and Chisholm.

"I think we're doing OK but we've got a long, long way to go," said Mr Rudd, who is still to announce his new ministry before Monday's swearing-in.

Mr Howard, who Mr Rudd replaced as prime minister in 2007, accused the Labor leader of destroying his government's successful border protection regime.

Annual boat arrivals were reduced to the single digits during Mr Howard's time as prime minister.

Mr Abbott told the Melbourne rally that by scrapping the Howard-era policies Mr Rudd had "rolled out the Rudd carpet" to people smugglers.

"Let's roll it up, let's take it away," Mr Abbott said.

"We will stop the boats."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa refused to comment directly on Mr Rudd's statement, but did appear to level criticism at the opposition's policy.

"If we were simply addressing (the asylum-seeker problem) at one end of the pipeline we would be shifting the issue to another part of the pipeline - comprehensiveness is what we are looking for," Dr Natalegawa said following talks with Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr in Jakarta.

Mr Rudd will hold talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta next week, his first overseas trip since reclaiming the prime ministership.

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BlackBerry posts surprise loss

Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry has announced an $A90.93 million first quarter loss. Source: AAP

CANADIAN smartphone maker BlackBerry has posted an unexpected first quarter loss and disappointing sales figures for its new phones, sending its share price tumbling in early trading.

The Waterloo, Ontario firm announced an $US84 million ($A90.93 million) loss in the first quarter ended June 1, compared with a loss of $518 million in the same period a year earlier.

Revenues topped $US3.1 billion, up nine per cent.

But analysts expected a seven cent per share profit instead of a 13 cents per share loss.

The results come after the company rolled out new smartphones based on the new BlackBerry 10 platform, seen as its best hope at regaining traction after suffering staggering losses in market share in recent years.

The group said it shipped 6.8 million smartphones in the quarter, 13 per cent more than in last quarter. This includes 2.7 million of its new touchscreen Z10 and Q10 with a small keyboard launched earlier this year, missing analysts' targets.

Its stock price as a result slumped nearly 20 per cent.

"I can't imagine anyone is happy with Blackberry performance except maybe Blackberry competitors," said industry analyst Jeff Kagan.

"Can Blackberry turn things around with their new Q10, the keyboard device that just launched? Hopefully yes, but to tell you the truth hopes are dimmed by this first quarter performance."

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No weekend reprieve from rain in Sydney

IT'S bad news for Sydney and NSW's Central Coast for the rest of the weekend, with wet weather set to persist across the region.

The northern suburbs of Sydney and parts of the Central Coast were the target of most of the rain on Saturday.

At Mona Vale Golf Course on the city's northern beaches more than 60mm of rain has been recorded since 9am, while Gosford in the Central Coast has been hit with more than 30mm.

Forecaster with the NSW Bureau of Meteorology, Olenka Rudewych said the showers would continue until Monday, before easing into Tuesday.

"Mostly sunny conditions are returning towards Wednesday onwards," she told AAP.

But while Sydney and its surrounds will see the rain lift into early next week, for those further north more bad weather is forecast.

The chance of thunderstorms are predicted on the north coast for the rest of the weekend, with moderate to heavy falls foreshadowed for Monday.

People living in coastal areas north of Port Macquarie could see localised falls from 80 to 100mm during this time, Ms Rudewych said.

Since Saturday morning the wet weather has seen the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) receive more than 100 calls for assistance, with volunteers responding mainly to leaking roofs and fallen trees in Sydney's north and the Central Coast.

SES spokeswoman Sue Pritchard warned those taking a break over the school holidays to keep an eye on their kids.

"People get a bit crazy in this weather and can get cabin fever ... so make sure they (the kids) aren't mucking around in creeks and around storm water drains."

Nor is it time to work out the capabilities of your 4WD through flood waters, she said.

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Slow growth may hit social programs: WA

THE Commonwealth is spending money it doesn't have and unrealistically raising expectations with its education and disability care reforms, the West Australian Premier says.

Colin Barnett made the comment at a business function in Perth on Friday after newly-installed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he'd visit states that had not yet committed to the reforms - but omitted WA.

"Policies like NDIS (the national disability insurance scheme) and Gonski sound fine and may well be raising expectations about social policy that may not be fulfilled," the Liberal leader said.

With slower national economic growth, he questioned whether the programs could be delivered.

Mr Barnett also said he expected Mr Rudd would do better in the polls than his predecessor, but predicted there would still be a change in government.

BHP Billiton president of iron ore, Jimmy Wilson, told the forum it would be good if the man who pushed for a higher rate mining tax than the one eventually introduced could provide stability to the government and its dealings with the business community.

Fortescue Metals chief executive Nev Power said it was important Mr Rudd re-engaged the Labor party with the business community, as he promised in his first public address after being reinstated on Wednesday.

And Santos vice president of WA and Northern Territory, John Anderson, simply called for an election date.

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Nina trip was to be last for Dyche family

WHEN American David Dyche III set out with his wife and teenage son across the Tasman, it was to be their last sailing trip as a family.

Seventeen-year-old David IV would head off to college in the USA after the trip on board the 21-metre schooner Nina - a journey that would take them from New Zealand to Australia.

They set off from Opua, in Northland, on May 29, bound for Newcastle, but hit 100km/h winds and 8m swells on June 4.

They haven't been heard from since.

Family and friends raised the alarm on June 14, when the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand began looking for the schooner.

Along with Mr Dyche III, his wife Rosemary and son, who hail from Florida, the crew also includes 73-year-old Evi Nemeth, another American man, 28, an American woman, 18, and a 35-year-old British man.

The crew were last heard from on June 4, when meteorologist Bob McDavitt got a text from Ms Nemeth saying "ANY UPDATE 4 NINA?.... EVI."

The text message followed a call from the same crew member saying, "The weather's turned nasty, how do we get away from it?"

Two extensive searches by an RNZAF Orion earlier this month revealed nothing and on Thursday RCCNZ made the decision to commence a shoreline search above Northland, to search for any wreckage or a life raft.

They hold grave concerns for the seven crew members.

Mr Dyche, an experienced sailor and the owner of Nina, has spent several years sailing around the globe with his wife and son.

He knew their journey across the Tasman would be rough.

"The Tasman Sea is shooting gales out like a machine gun, living up to it's reputation," Mr Dyche posted on Facebook three days prior to their departure.

"We are shooting at leaving out after the first one this week. No doubt we will be dancing with one or two of them."

They also knew it would be their last trip all together.

"Dave is leaving and going to college in the states in July. This is our last trip together crossing the Tasman Sea," Mr Dyche wrote.

Family members have not given up hope that the seven crew members will be found alive, with the Dyche's daughter Cherie writing on a cruiser's forum: "I have to remember hope is our lifeline."

Ms Nemeth's son Laszlo is flying from Denver to New Zealand on Friday, according to Florida's The News Herald.

"I know there were several highly skilled people on the boat," Mr Nemeth said.

"So, knowing that, I'm hoping I'm just blowing a lot of money to go down to New Zealand. And, I hope when I get there, (my mother) is there, and she's fine and she just starts yelling and screaming at me because I spent the money." Nina, an 85-year-old wooden schooner, won the famous British Isles Fastnet race in 1928.

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More Tasmanian forest on heritage list

ANOTHER 170,000 hectares of Tasmanian old-growth forest will be protected after being added to the World Heritage list.

Old growth native forests in the Upper Florentine, the Styx, Huon, Picton and Counsel River Valley were on Monday given the highest level of environmental protection.

"If you look at the Styx in particular, there are trees that are the length of a football field going straight up," Environment Minister Tony Burke said in a statement.

"This decision today means those extraordinary giants of the forest are added to the World Heritage list."

The minister said for the first time the listing happened through negotiations with the forestry industry and conservation movement, rather than by politicians drawing arbitrary boundaries.

"That provides a path forward for Tasmania different to the conflict model that those opposite are completely wedded to," he told parliament.

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Rio takes prized diamonds off the table

Mining giant Rio Tinto decided to keep its diamonds business saying market fundamentals look robust. Source: AAP

MINING giant Rio Tinto has taken its diamonds business off the market.

Despite a global push to offload underperforming assets, Rio announced on Monday that it will retain its diamonds businesses following a strategic review.

Analysts say the move indicates Rio was unable to sell its prized Argyle diamond mine or other overseas diamond assets at the price it wanted.

It comes almost two months after the world's second biggest iron ore miner flew representatives of the nation's media to Argyle diamond mine in the remote Kimberley region of WA to show off its operations and open a new underground mine.

The company was understood to have been considering a $2 billion float of diamonds assets in Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe and India.

Dominion Diamond Corporation, Petra Diamonds and De Beers were reportedly interested in Argyle and other assets.

Rio Tinto Diamonds and Minerals chief executive Alan Davies said the company's diamonds businesses were well-positioned to capitalise on the positive market outlook.

"After considering a number of alternative strategic ownership options, it is clear the best path to generate maximum value for our shareholders is to retain these businesses," Mr Davies said.

He said the medium to long-term market fundamentals for diamonds remained robust, fuelled by growing demand for luxury goods in Asia and continuing strong demand in North America.

Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh recently said the company was focused on raising funds by selling assets, including diamonds.

In April Rio opened its new $2.2 billion underground diamond mine at Argyle amid predictions it will produce up to 20 million carats per year and extend the overall mine life until 2020.

At the time UBS estimated the value for the entire Rio Tinto global diamond business at $US1.65 billion.

Fat Prophets Resources analyst David Lennox said Monday's announcement was an indication that Rio didn't get the price it wanted.

"They weren't a keen seller, but had they got the price they wanted it would have been sold," Mr Lennox said.

While Rio had bigger problems elsewhere with its aluminium business, the diamonds business would do okay if the diamond index remained relatively stable.

"They've certainly done all they can to ensure that production stays in line, it's just that it is getting more costly and they're not getting significant finds of valuable diamonds," he said.

Argyle produces around 90 per cent of the world's supply of rare pink diamonds and is the world's largest supplier of natural coloured diamonds.

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Philippine militants seize two local women

ISLAMIC extremists have kidnapped two Filipina Muslim filmmakers in the southern Philippines as they were working on a movie about the area's impoverished residents, authorities and a friend of the victims say.

Members of the Abu Sayyaf group, which frequently kidnaps locals and foreigners in the south to extort ransoms, abducted the sisters as they were visiting strife-torn Jolo island on Saturday, said military officials on Monday.

"There were armed men who flagged their vehicle down and abducted them and took them to their hideout," said Jolo Marine commander Colonel Jose Cenabre.

He said the women's companions identified the leader of the kidnappers as Ninok Sapari, head of an Abu Sayyaf faction known for abducting local residents for ransom.

So far, there are no reports on the demands of the kidnappers, he added.

Linda Bansil, 35 and her sister, Nadjoua, 39, had been working on a film about Muslim coffee-growers in Jolo when they were taken, said Ledrolen Manriquez, chief of the Peace and Conflict Journalism Network, to which the women belong.

"They went there thinking they were safe. They are from the area. Why are they kidnapping their Muslim sisters?" she said.

The network had trained the women in "conflict-sensitive reporting" and they had made short films on the plight of Muslims and the effects of the armed conflict in the south, Manriquez said.

The sisters are daughters of a prominent, deceased Muslim preacher and have resided since the 1980s in the south, which the Philippines' Islamic minority consider their ancestral home, she added.

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US man set for Grand Canyon tightrope walk

RECORD-BREAKING US daredevil Nik Wallenda hopes to make history again by walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope, 450 metres above ground over the world-renowned landmark.

Wallenda, who was the first person to walk across the Niagara Falls last year, will be rigged up with multiple cameras and microphones broadcasting the death-defying feat live around the world.

And unlike the Niagara Falls walk, the 34-year-old will wear no safety harness for the stunt, likely to take him 25 minutes in searing temperatures over the famous tourist attraction.

At Niagara, Wallenda - who first walked the wire aged two - braved strong winds and heavy spray to walk on a cable suspended about 60 metres above North America's biggest waterfall, on the US-Canada border.

On Sunday (local time) he will step out into the void over six times higher - a height greater than that of the Empire State Building - with nothing but a five-centimetre thick steel wire between him and the rocky canyon bottom.

The walk is set to begin from around 6pm Sunday (1100 AEST Monday), an hour or two before sunset over the Grand Canyon and will be broadcast live in 219 countries by the Discovery Channel.

On Saturday, organisers described conditions at the walk site, in a remote area at the eastern end of the Canyon, as "very windy."

Wallenda has been planning the walk for about four years, homing in on a remote location at the eastern end of the mighty geological chasm, on land operated by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation.

He began final training in Florida weeks ago, boosting stamina by walking repeatedly along a 300 metre long rope, and using wind machines to simulate gusts of up to 80 kilometres an hour.

Sunday's walk across 365 metres of rope could potentially be delayed in the unlikely event of winds of above 70km per hour, or if there was a risk of lightning. A new attempt could then be made the following day.

There will be a seven to 10-second delay on the live broadcast.

Wallenda, a seventh generation member of the Flying Wallendas circus family, said that as he steps out he would be thinking of his great-grandfather Karl Wallenda, who died in 1978 after falling from a tightrope.

He has trained for the worst, and said that - unlike his great-grandfather, who had an injured collarbone and double hernia, and grabbed vainly for the wire before falling to his death - he would be able to hold on if necessary.

"It's not like I just grab with my hands like people visualise. I wrap my legs round it, my hands round it, I hug that wire like a bear hug until help comes. I've got rescue teams that would be with me within a minute," he said.

That help would be in the form of rescue trolleys, which hang underneath the cable and could be rolled out in seconds on a winch system to Wallenda, clinging on for his life.

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Man's fingertip bitten off in Sydney brawl

A MAN'S fingertip has been bitten off during a fight in Sydney's CBD.

Riot police arrested two men at the scene of the brawl between two groups on Sunday morning just after midnight (AEST).

During the fight a 23-year-old man was allegedly bitten on his right middle finger, losing his fingernail and the tip of his finger.

An 18-year-old man from Blacktown and a 20-year-old Merrylands man will face court over the incident in July.

The injured man is being treated in hospital.

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Echo will allow Crown casino with a catch

The owner of Sydney's The Star casino has unveiled plans for a resort linking harbour precincts. Source: AAP

JAMES Packer's planned casino at Sydney's Barangaroo could still go ahead, despite a surprise resort-style proposal unveiled by rival Echo.

But Mr Packer would have to live with a limited gaming licence and the state government would miss a $250 million windfall.

Echo, which operates Sydney's The Star casino, wants to extend its exclusive casino licence for 15 years beyond its 2019 expiry date and says it will pay the state government $250 million to make it happen.

It will also spend $130 million developing the area around The Star, at Pyrmont, to create what it calls the world's first "connected integrated resort".

The plan links Pyrmont, Darling Harbour and Barangaroo with a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, anchored by new hotels and tourism developments.

Echo chairman John O'Neill says if the government doesn't like that plan, the group's $1.1 billion development proposal could still go ahead, and Mr Packer could even build his Barangaroo hotel and gaming facility.

However, the government would forgo Echo's exclusivity payment and Mr Packer would have to restrict his facility to strictly defined VIP gamblers.

Mr O'Neil says Echo "could live with" a VIP-only casino at Barangaroo operating alongside The Star.

"Crown would have a very limited gaming facility licence, VIP only," he told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

"The concession we're suggesting is that the gaming facilities to be operated by Crown would be quarantined."

The announcement followed Echo and the Packer Crown Group submitting their duelling casino proposals to the NSW government on Friday.

Echo also proposes increasing the number of rooms at The Star to 1150 - with two international hotels including a six star luxury hotel and a five star premium hotel run by a premium Asian operator.

Echo CEO John Redmond says the company isn't proposing any more gaming tables or poker machines but more tables could be added in future in response to demand.

The Tourism and Transport Forum said an integrated resort of the kind proposed by Echo, as well as the second option allowing both casino proposals to go ahead, would be a huge boost to tourism.

"This is a best-of-both-worlds option and something we believe the NSW government should closely consider," chief executive Ken Morrison said.

A spokesman for Barry O'Farrell said the premier would not comment on the proposal until he had received a recommendation from the committee tasked with assessing the two unsolicited bids.

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