$15.3m loss for builder AVJennings

HOME builder AVJennings has recorded another annual loss, but says the real estate market is improving.

The company made a net loss of $15.3 million in the year to June 30, compared to a loss of $29.8 million a year earlier.

Revenue fell by 16 per cent from the previous year, and the company again incurred a loss on inventory, although that loss was smaller than in the previous year.

However, AVJennings' second half revenue improved significantly from the first half of the financial year, and no losses were incurred on asset values.

The company said consumer confidence in NSW lifted in the six months to June, which reverses a decade-long trend in Australia's most populated state.

The company believes first home buyer incentives, housing shortages and affordability issues will lead to more houses being built in 2013 and 2014.

"Consumer confidence in the key New South Wales market seems to have lifted over the last six months in particular, reversing a decade-long trend, while that in southern Queensland has shown more recent signs of improvement as pricing has realigned with historical relativities to the other eastern capitals," the company said in a statement on Friday.

The company described its performance in Victoria as "stable and fair".

AVJennings shares gained two cents to 49 cents.

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Police let 1000 Vic motorists off fines

ALMOST 1000 motorists have had their speeding fines scrapped because of inadequate signage near roadworks on a busy Melbourne road.

Police have withdrawn all 987 speeding infringements and will instead give the drivers an official warning.

The decision came after Victorian Road Safety Camera Commissioner Gordon Lewis found that signs warning of temporary 40 kilometres per hour zones near roadworks on the Western Ring Road at the Keilor Park Drive bridge on June 30 were inadequate.

Police on Friday said it was not in the public interest to pursue the matters, adding the decision to scrap the fines was based on the unique circumstances of the case.

They said it was a difficult decision because some of the drivers who received infringements had an appalling traffic history and well-documented records for speeding.

"Some people have even been caught speeding since this incident," police said.

Police say they remain concerned about poor driver behaviour and excessive speed used by some motorists travelling through high-risk areas such as road work zones.

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NSW premier interrogated about lobbyist

PREMIER Barry O'Farrell has been interrogated about a lobbyist who boasts his ties to political parties can guarantee results for his clients.

Joseph Tannous is executive director of the lobbying firm 1st State Government and Corporate Relations and also a member of the NSW Liberal state executive.

During budget estimates on Friday, Labor MP Luke Foley drew the premier's attention to Mr Tannous' LinkedIn profile.

It says Mr Tannous "enjoys constant contact with elected representatives from across the political divide enabling him to attain the desired results for his clients".

Under NSW law, lobbyists are banned from making exaggerated claims about their access to governments and must keep their business activities separate from any personal involvement in political parties.

Mr Foley asked the premier whether he felt Mr Tannous' claims were a breach and called on him to "punt Mr Tannous from the lobbyist register".

Mr O'Farrell deferred the issue to the director-general of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Chris Eccles, who said he would investigate the matter.

"We have the responsibility to review that," he added.

Mr Foley suggested there were seven people on the Liberal state executive who could be termed lobbyists, although the premier claims there are only three.

Mr Foley asked the premier what would happen to one of them if they claimed they could deliver results because they sat on the executive.

Mr O'Farrell replied: "That's a matter I would potentially refer to ICAC".

He later said he would take advice from Mr Eccles about whether he should refer Mr Tannous to the corruption watchdog.

But he objected to Mr Foley's line of questioning after the Labor MP pointed out that Mr Tannous lobbies for Thiess, which last month won a $1.15 million northwest rail tunnelling contract.

Mr Tannous also represents Dell Australia, which recently won a $455,000 government contract which wasn't put out to tender and was the first of two companies to be put on sacked finance minister Greg Pearce's $93 million procurement panel.

The premier called on Mr Foley to produce any evidence the deals were dodgy.

"If you have evidence their success has been unduly influenced then present it, otherwise you are simply smearing."

Mr O'Farrell also made clear his position on lobbyists.

"I have no idea why people waste their money," he said.

A spokesman for Mr O'Farrell later pointed out that the $455,000 Dell contract was actually awarded under the previous Labor government in 2010.

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New case of bird flu confirmed in China

A Chinese poultry worker has been confirmed as having contracted the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus. Source: AAP

A CHINESE poultry worker has been confirmed as having contracted the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus, the first case in the southern Guangdong province.

The 51-year-old woman is in a critical condition after she was admitted to hospital on August 3 following signs of a fever, the Guangdong Provincial Health Department said.

"She was a poultry slaughtering worker at a local marketplace," the local health bureau said in a statement on its website.

A total of 134 cases have now been reported on the Chinese mainland, including the Guangdong case.

State news agency Xinhua said that 44 people had died of the disease - which includes a recent fatality following the release of the latest official figures a month ago.

The virus was first reported in late March, with most cases confined to eastern China, and only one reported outside the mainland, in Taiwan.

Scientists reported last week the first likely case of direct person-to-person transmission of the H7N9.

However, they told people to "not panic" as the virus's transmissibility remained "limited and non-sustainable".

Local health authorities on Saturday lifted medical observations on 54 of 96 people who were placed under monitoring after they had close contact with the Guangdong patient, Xinhua said.

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Facebook pages demanded in employment row

A woman sacked by Air NZ has been forced to hand over copies of her Facebook pages. Source: AAP

AIR New Zealand has forced a sacked flight attendant to hand over copies of her Facebook pages and bank accounts to show what she was doing when she claimed sick leave.

Gina Kensington was dismissed after she took sick leave in March to look after her sister.

She took her case to the Employment Relations Authority, where Air NZ asked to see her Facebook pages and bank accounts for the two days concerned.

Ms Kensington argued she shouldn't have to hand over the details as Air NZ didn't have them when it sacked her and there was an expectation of privacy about personal and financial information.

However, the ERA agreed she should supply copies, saying the details could be relevant.

Ms Kensington was forced to hand over the information but the court has not yet made a decision on whether she was fairly sacked.

The Facebook and bank account demand is a step further than that of the case of Gisborne man Bruce Taiapa.

Mr Taiapa was sacked by his employer when he took sick leave for a week but was seen in a photo on Facebook at a school canoeing carnival in Rotorua.

The ERA ruled the sacking was justified because the employer had a reasonable suspicion he wasn't ill.

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Riot at Greek migrant detention camp

Detainees have hurled stones at officers at the Amygdaleza detention camp outside Athens. Source: AAP

POLICE have been dispatched to put down a riot at Greece's main migrant detention camp with detainees hurling stones at officers and setting fire to living quarters.

Local television footage on Saturday showed fires blazing at the Amygdaleza detention camp outside Athens, where about 1200 mainly Asian migrants are kept.

"We have 10 officers injured by stones and other objects thrown at them," a police spokesman told AFP.

"The detainees set fire to mattresses and their living quarters but riot police have been sent and the situation is calming down," he said.

Amygdaleza is one of several detention camps set up since last year to assist in the repatriation of thousands of undocumented migrants.

The police spokesman said rioting began when the detainees were told their maximum stay in the camp would be extended to 18 months from a year previously.

Rights groups charge that the migrants have been subjected to abuse in the camps and are denied proper healthcare.

Last week, leftist group KEERFA said Muslim detainees had been beaten by guards during prayers.

In July, the same group reported the death of an Afghan detainee from a pulmonary infection which his guards had allegedly ignored for months.

Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for migrants and refugees fleeing war-torn or impoverished countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

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