Man abducts, attacks Qld woman in her car

A MAN has attacked a woman after jumping in her car at a north Queensland car wash and telling her to drive to an industrial area.

Police say the woman was cleaning her car in the early hours of Saturday morning when a man jumped in and told her to drive to a nearby industrial area.

When they stopped he snatched the keys from the ignition and the pair began to struggle.

But the sight of a patrolling police car caused the man to run away.

The woman was taken to hospital with cuts and abrasions to her face, back, legs and an injury to her arm.

Police are searching for the man.

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Call for release of Liberal donation audit

AN audit of Liberal Party donations in the wake of damaging slush fund allegations needs to be released publicly, the NSW opposition says.

The call comes after another political head rolled this week as the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) probed party donations.

Police Minister Mike Gallacher resigned from his plum role on Friday after he was implicated in a Liberal Party slush fund scheme.

It was two weeks after Barry O'Farrell resigned from the state's top job over an undeclared, gifted bottle of wine.

NSW Liberal party director Tony Nutt is leading an audit into the party's political donations.

But Opposition Leader John Robertson says the results need not be only for Liberal eyes.

"Tony Nutt is a political operative from way back," he told reporters on Saturday.

"Tony Nutt is someone who has been involved in the activities of the Liberal Party for years and years and years.

"The only way someone can have confidence in that audit is if it is publicly released so everyone can see the process that was put in place to look at these donations."

Mr Robertson, whose own party was dragged through the mud after adverse ICAC findings over coal mine approvals, said he understood why people would question the motives of every politician in NSW.

He said he wanted to work with Mr Baird to put an end to what was playing out at the ICAC.

"I want to see Mike Baird not simply talk tough but the steps to end the scandal and put in place measures that are going to give the public confidence," he said.

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TV veteran Efrem Zimbalist Jr dies aged 95

EFREM Zimbalist Jr, the son of famous musical parents who established his own name in the long-running television series 77 Sunset Strip and even the even longer running TV hit The F.B.I., has died at age 95.

Zimbalist died on Friday at his Solvang home in California's bucolic horse country, said family friend Judith Moose, who released a statement from his children, actress Stephanie Zimbalist and her brother, Efrem Zimbalist III.

"We are heartbroken to announce the passing into peace of our beloved father, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, today at his Solvang ranch," it said.

"He actively enjoyed his life to the last day, showering love on his extended family, playing golf and visiting with close friends."

Zimbalist's stunning good looks and cool, deductive manner made him the ideal star as the hip private detective ferreting out Hollywood miscreants in 77 Sunset Strip, which aired from 1958 to 1964. As soon as that show ended he segued seamlessly into The F.B.I. which aired from 1965 to 1974.

At the end of each episode of the latter show, after Zimbalist and his fellow G-men had captured that week's mobsters, subversives, bank robbers or spies, the show would post photos from the FBI's real-life wanted list.

Some of the photos led to arrests, which helped give the show the complete seal of approval of the agency's real-life director, J. Edgar Hoover.

Zimbalist was the son of violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist and Alma Gluck, an acclaimed opera singer.

Young Efrem studied the violin himself for seven years under the tutelage of Jascha Heifetz's father, but he eventually developed more interest in theatre.

He became an actor, and 77 Sunset Strip made him a celebrity.

His daughter also took up acting - and small-screen detective work - in the 1980s TV series Remington Steele.

Her father had a recurring role in that show as a con man.

After serving in World War II, Zimbalist made his stage debut in The Rugged Path, starring Spencer Tracy, and appeared in other plays and a soap opera before being called to Hollywood.

Warner Bros signed him to a contract and cast him in minor film roles.

In 1958, 77 Sunset Strip debuted, starring Zimbalist as a cultured former O.S.S. officer and language expert whose partner was Roger Smith, an Ivy League Ph.D.

The pair operated out of an office in the centre of Hollywood's Sunset Strip where, aided by their sometime helper, Kookie, a jive-talking beatnik type who doubled as a parking lot attendant, they tracked down miscreants.

Kookie's character, played by Edd Byrnes, helped draw young viewers to the show and make it an immediate hit.

The program brought Zimbalist an Emmy nomination in 1959, but after a few seasons he tired of the long hours and what he believed were the bad scripts.

"A job like this should pay off in one of two ways: satisfaction or money. The money is not great, and there is no satisfaction," he said.

When the show faltered in 1963, Jack Webb of Dragnet fame was hired for an overhaul. He fired the cast except for Zimbalist, whom he made a world-travelling investigator.

The repair work failed, and the series ended the following year.

Zimbalist had better luck with The F.B.I., which endured for a decade as one of TV's most popular shows.

Perceiving that the series could provide the real FBI with an important PR boost, Hoover opened the bureau's files to the show's producers and even allowed background shots to be filmed in real FBI offices.

"He never came on the set, but I knew him," Zimbalist said.

"A charming man, extremely Virginia formal and an extraordinary command of the language."

During summer breaks between the two series, Warner Bros cast Zimbalist in several feature films, including Too Much Too Soon, Home Before Dark, The Crowded Sky, The Chapman Report and Wait Until Dark.

In the latter, he played the husband of Audrey Hepburn, a blind woman terrorised by thugs in a truly frightening film.

Zimbalist also appeared in By Love Possessed, Airport 1975, Terror Out of the Sky and Hot Shots.

But he would always be best known as a TV star, ironic for an actor who told The Associated Press in a 1993 interview that when Warner Bros first hired him he had no interest in doing television.

"They showed me in my contract where it said I had to," he recalled.

"I ended up with my life slanted toward television and I just accept that.

"I think you play the hand the way it's dealt, that's all."

In the 1990s, Zimbalist recorded the voice of Alfred, the butler, in the cartoon Batman series, which, he said, "has made me an idol in my little grandchildren's eyes."

He was born in New York City on November 30, 1917.

His mother reasoned that living amid the musical elite was not the best upbringing for a boy, so she sent him to boarding schools where he could be toughened by others his age.

But young Efrem was bashful and withdrawn in school. His only outlet was acting in campus plays.

"I walked onstage in a play at prep school, and with childish naivete, told myself, 'Wow, I'm an actor!'" he once recalled.

He was kicked out of Yale after two years over dismal grades, which he blamed on a playboy attitude.

Afraid to go home, he stayed with a friend in New York City for three months, working as a page at NBC headquarters, where he was dazzled by the famous radio stars.

Unable to break into radio as an actor, he studied at the famed Neighbourhood Playhouse.

During World War II he served in the infantry, receiving a Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound in his leg.

In 1945, Zimbalist married Emily McNair and they had a daughter, Nancy, and son, Efrem III.

His wife died in 1950, and he gave up acting to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where his father was an artist in residence.

After five years he returned to Hollywood. He married Loranda Stephanie Spalding in 1956, and she gave birth to daughter Stephanie.

He is survived by his children, four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

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Myer looks forward to better 2015

Myer has blamed refurbishment work at three of its stores for a slide in its third quarter sales. Source: AAP

SPEAKING after the release of Myer's lacklustre third quarter sales results, Mr Brookes said the department store's sales would increase next year once refurbishment work at major stores and new store opening are complete.

Myer expects to lift sales by $100 million in 2014/15 and Mr Brookes expects costs, which have risen considerably in the last few years, to flatten out, providing a boost to the bottom line.

"All of the costs we've had in the prior couple of years are not repeated in 2015 and that's what helps us significantly," he told reporters.

Mr Brookes expects staff wages to rise around two per cent in 2015, below the five per cent growth seen in recent years, while operating costs are expected to fall following the end of refurbishment work.

Myer is currently refurbishing four stores: Adelaide City, Brisbane's Indooroopilly and Miranda and Macquarie in Sydney, and plans to open new stores at Mt Gravatt in Brisbane and Joondalup in Perth by Christmas.

It is also expanding its flagship Melbourne store, adding an extra 7,000 square metres of floor space as part of the adjacent Emporium development.

The department store on Friday blamed the refurbishment work for a one per cent slide in its third quarter sales to $646 million.

"That was almost solely due to the impact of refurbishments," Mr Brookes said.

Excluding the impact of the refurbishments, sales were up 0.24 per cent for the quarter, he said.

Myer shares fell 4.5 cents, or two per cent, to $2.12 on Friday in the wake of the figures.

Mr Brookes said the slide in sales would not impact Myer's expectations of a flat second half profit result.

"We said GP (gross profit) would be flat in the second half, that reflected the fact that we knew we'd be re-engineering some of the business, so therefore (there is) no further degradation at all from a profitability point of view, we'd already calculated that in."

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NAB repaying investment customers

NATIONAL Australia Bank's wealth management business is again repaying customers hit by errors in its allocation of investment income.

Errors in NAB Wealth's operations between 2006 and 2012 were originally identified in December 2012, resulting in compensation worth $1.9 million being paid to about 43,000 customers.

The bank has now identified errors in that compensation process, that left some customers still out of pocket, and will pay more compensation.

The corporate regulator said the amount to paid will be less than the original $1.9 million in compensation.

NAB said it was working to improve its operating platform to prevent future errors.

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Pension age to rise to 70 in 2035: Hockey

Treasurer Joe Hockey has confirmed plans to lift the pension age to 70 in 2035. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIANS born from 1965 will have to wait until they turn 70 before being eligible for the age pension, federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has confirmed.

But even more immediately, Australians who visit the doctor are likely to have to make a $6 co-payment, and retired politicians might have to live without some of their entitlements.

In his last major speech before the May 13 budget, Mr Hockey vowed there would be no "accounting tricks".

Instead, the budget would be based on solid, realistic assumptions.

"It will be the budget we were elected to deliver," he told the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne on Friday.

The treasurer justified the need for an increase in age pension eligibility, saying it gave people time to get their financial arrangements in order.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was dismissive, telling reporters: "We don't believe the way to get the budget doing better is by attacking the vulnerable, the poor and the sick."

Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan believes the government must address as a high priority the needs of older people wanting to work now.

"We need to address age discrimination," she said in statement, adding the treasurer's plan provided a window of opportunity to change employer attitudes, social infrastructure and training programs.

Mr Hockey also said the budget would not be asking Australians to pay for entitlements politicians receive but would never get themselves.

Earlier, he declined to confirm talk that retired politicians would lose their "gold pass" for travel.

As well, the government should only do for people what they cannot do for themselves "and no more".

In his strongest indication yet about a Medicare co-payment, Mr Hockey said government services were not "magically free" and a contribution to their delivery seemed a logical and equitable step.

"There is no such thing as a free visit to the doctor," he said.

The National Commission of Audit, in its report to the government, recommended a $15 charge after 15 visits.

While Mr Hockey has said the government will wait until the budget before responding to the commission's 86 recommendations, his leader has been more forthcoming.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott ruled out abolishing a commonwealth scheme that subsidises freight transport between Tasmania and the mainland.

Retailers are starting to worry about talk surrounding a deficit levy or higher income tax rates.

Myer boss Bernie Brookes says the department store is prepared for a potential drop-off in consumer spending following the budget.

Nevertheless it was getting "pretty good" at working through such events, citing the global financial crisis as an example.

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Audit plans will be unpopular: Hockey

Treasurer Joe Hockey says many of the recommendations of the Commission of Audit will be unpopular. Source: AAP

TREASURER Joe Hockey has no doubt many of the recommendations of the commission of audit will be unpopular.

But the federal government has to make the budget "fit for the future".

The commission's report, containing 86 recommendations aimed at saving the budget up to $70 billion annually, was released in Canberra on Thursday.

The big savings focus on health, the ageing and education, with recommendations to boost the pension age, introduce a $15 co-payment to see the doctor and slow the roll-out of the national disability insurance scheme.

The government has decided to let people sweat it out for another 10 days before revealing which, if any, of the recommendations it will accept, defer or just plain reject.

"I have no doubt that there'll be many issues that are highly contentious, and somewhat difficult for various stakeholder and some in the community to accept," Mr Hockey told reporters in Canberra.

"But there is an overwhelming challenge here, and that is to ensure that the budget is structurally fit for the future."

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government would take up some of the structural changes outlined in the report in the budget, to be handed down on May 13.

He acknowledged many Australians would be asking why the government was undertaking such reform.

"Our goal is to replace the age of entitlement with the new age of opportunity," he said.

"In a stronger, more resilient, more prosperous economy, everyone has the opportunity to get ahead."

Mr Hockey stressed it was a report to the government - not by the government.

"There are a number of recommendations that would be described as courageous," he told reporters.

"There are some recommendations that represent common sense."

Mr Hockey said some recommendations would be included in a federation white paper in discussion with the states and territories.

Others would be taken into other processes, such as the productivity inquiry into child care.

Senator Cormann again refused to confirm reports the government could introduce a levy or raise tax thresholds for high income earners to pay down debt and the deficit.

But he did say the "immediate short-term effort" should be as "well targeted as possible".

"We think that it is important that the effort is spread fairly and equitably across all the community in the short term, while the structural savings have got time to build up and deliver dividends over the medium to long term," he said.

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Book ends 'history wars', says Reynolds

THE "history wars" fought over Tasmania's past should come to an end with the release of a new book, historian Henry Reynolds says.

The Black War, by the University of Tasmania's Nicholas Clements, puts to bed the debate over the violence between Aborigines and European settlers, Prof Reynolds believes.

The so-called history wars erupted in the 1990s when conservative academic Keith Windschuttle described much of the history written about the period a "fabrication".

Launching the new book in Hobart, Professor Reynolds said those arguments had been proved wrong by evidence uncovered by the author.

"He has produced the evidence to basically discount most of Windschuttle's arguments," Prof Reynolds told AAP.

"It is on a depth of research that is almost unprecedented."

Prof Reynolds said the book provided the perspective of a new generation, and a descendant of Tasmania's early settlers.

Dr Clements' ancestors settled in Tasmania's north, and one was possibly involved in the war against Aborigines in 1824-31.

"(His generation) don't have the same angst about the politics of history, particularly of racial history," Prof Reynolds said.

"In a way, he is able to see both sides and not try and use the material for current political arguments.

"In that sense, it has got above the history wars."

Dr Clements said he had aimed to show how the war had affected those on the ground so readers could empathise with both sides.

"We believe it settles a number of questions that were up for debate in the history wars," he said.

"It systematically contrasts black and white perspectives; it cannot be a polemic by definition."

Tasmania's Black War was sparked not only by white settlement, but also by the rape and abduction of Aboriginal women and children, Dr Clements says.

It was characterised by guerilla tactics on both sides; Aborigines attacked during the day and settlers hit campsites at night.

Dr Clements says about 600 Aborigines probably died on the eastern frontier he studied, and there were 223 recorded deaths of Europeans.

"It was the most intensely violent frontier conflict in Australian history," he said.

"It was also the most evenly matched."

Thousands more Tasmanian Aborigines died from the other effects of colonisation, and the war ended when 200 survivors were exiled to Flinders Island.

Dr Clements says more should be done to remember those who died.

"I think (how that's done is) more up to Aboriginal people," he said.

"There's also the really tricky question of if and how we commemorate the European dead.

"A number of them didn't ask for this. They were out here for trivial offences.

"I think demonising them is extremely misleading and unhelpful."

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Markets unmoved by audit report

ECONOMISTS were unsurprised by the commission of audit report and say measures in it are unlikely to hurt economic growth in the short term.

The National Commission of Audit report contained 86 recommendations aimed at saving the budget up to $70 billion annually.

The recommendations were focused on the spending side of the budget ledger rather than the revenue side, and there was no mention of the rumoured debt levy.

The mooted spending cuts focused on health, the ageing and education.

National Australia Bank senior economist David de Garis said such measures should not hurt economic growth in the near future.

"You've got the infrastructure spending, which will kick in, but in time," he said.

"So that will provide support for the economy while there are other government spending cuts.

"I don't think it's a big issue for local interest rate markets or the Australian dollar."

There was almost no reaction the release of the audit report on currency markets, with the Australian dollar hovering between 92.85 US cents and 92.90 cents after the report's release on Thursday.

The Australian stock and bond markets also showed little reaction.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said the report was in line with expectations.

"We've had plenty of hints - means testing, co-payments and government removing itself from various areas where the private sector is better placed to deliver," he said.

"We've been given what we've been told to expect."

Mr Blythe said there is nothing in the report that should change the economic growth or interest rate outlook over the next year or two.

"When you compare their business as usual case with their reform scenario what stands out is you don't actually have to do much over the next three or four years," he said.

"It's only when you get to years three and four that's when the big ramp up in spending starts and when you've got to start to delivering the big savings as well.

"So for the short term outlook, if this is the basis for the budget it's probably not too damaging and one that probably doesn't change the Reserve Bank of Australia's outlook as well."

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Care urged in getting budget to surplus

THE federal government will need to be careful not to dampen economic growth too much in putting the budget on track to surplus.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said initiatives already flagged or speculated such as cuts in spending and the proposed debt levy would be equal to 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014/15.

He said that would reduce economic growth by about a quarter of a percentage point down to between 2.75 per cent and three per cent.

"The impact of it would be that it would constrain the recovery in growth, back towards trend," Dr Oliver said.

"It's a difficult balancing act, I agree with the government that we need to get the budget under control.

"I still remain in a state of shock that after our biggest boom in our history it's in such a mess."

Dr Oliver is also concerned about a debt levy being imposed, which reportedly would tax those earning over $80,000 an extra one per cent a year for the next four years.

Average yearly earnings for adult full-time employees was $78,000, the most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

"I think if add it all up, then you get about $4 billion, which is the growth in retail spending one might have expected in the year ahead," Dr Oliver said.

UNSW's Australian School of Business visiting professor Raja Junankar said the problem with the federal budget's bottom line is not with spending but with revenue.

"In 2002, as the mining boom took hold government revenue was 25 per cent of GDP," he said.

"In 2013 it is 23 per cent, which does indicate that the Australian economy is finally slowing down as the resources boom comes to an end."

Professor Junankar said Australia's budget position is not as bad as the government makes it out to be.

"OK, we might be a little way off a budget surplus at the moment, but Australia is doing far better than most of the countries of the OECD which are still suffering from the global financial crisis," he said.

National Australia Bank head of research Peter Jolly said the government is right to put the budget on path to surplus in the coming 10 years.

"It's relevant that the budget consolidation will be softened by an uplift in infrastructure spending which is a balance sheet item and normally sits outside the budget and is mostly done at the state level," he said.

"All up, while we still need to see the budget details it's likely that fiscal policy will be a manageable half a percentage point of GDP headwind for the economy over the next one to two years."

The government's mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) in December showed that the 2013/14 deficit was going to be $47 billion, which is three per cent of GDP.

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WA paving company fined over deception

A PERTH paving company and its director have been fined a total of $20,000 for falsely advertising a business as a member of the Master Builders Association (MBA).

Realgold Corporation, trading as Repave Spray-On Paving, and its director Peter Vukmirovic were each ordered to pay $10,000 in the Perth District Court last week.

They were convicted of making false and misleading representations by placing an MBA logo on more than 500 newspaper advertisements when their membership was not current.

The business had been a member of the MBA since February 2006 but its membership lapsed in October 2010 when the company failed to renew it.

The advertisements featuring an MBA logo were published in a metropolitan and several suburban newspapers in Perth from April 2011 to February 2012.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection Anne Driscoll said the use of the MBA logo was deceptive.

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Plane catches fire at Perth Airport

A PLANE has made an emergency landing at Perth Airport after a suspected engine fire erupted shortly after take-off.

The Cobham Aviation flight landed safely after the mid-air incident on Tuesday, a Perth Airport spokeswoman confirmed.

Witnesses have reported seeing the flames coming from the right engine.

The Perth Airport website shows that a Cobham Aviation flight was scheduled to depart at 10.45am for Barrow Island.

Pictures have emerged on social media of a plane with an engine appearing to be on fire, but it has not been confirmed as the plane involved in the emergency.

The aircraft is currently being assessed at the airport.

Cobham operates aircraft on behalf of Qantas regional subsidiary QantasLink.

A spokesman for the regional carrier said a statement would be issued later on Tuesday.

Cobham Aviation Services said the engine fire occurred soon after take-off and that the four-engine BAE 146 jet was bound for Barrow Island.

A spokesman said the pilot and crew safely returned the jet to Perth Airport at 10.53am (WST).

"The aircraft was climbing after take-off when the fire occurred in engine No.2, which is on the inner port side of the aircraft," he said.

"When the fire was detected, the engine was shut down and the fire extinguished.

"There were no injuries among the 92 passengers or two pilots and three cabin crew."

The incident is being investigated and regulatory authorities have been informed, the spokesman says.

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Another NSW govt MP steps aside

A FOURTH NSW government MP has stood down from the Liberal Party after new allegations surfaced in a fresh corruption probe.

On the opening day of the latest Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry, claims were made that Liberal upper house MP Marie Ficarra took a banned $5000 donation from property developer Tony Merhi.

Ms Ficarra has now voluntarily stepped down from the parliamentary Liberal Party after she was asked to do so by Premier Mike Baird.

Liberal MPs Darren Webber, Chris Spence and former minister Chris Hartcher have already been suspended from the party.

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Qld school's stolen guns still missing

POLICE are searching for several rifles and shotguns stolen from a Brisbane Catholic school's gun club.

A man and a woman are in custody after one of the weapons was found in the boot of a car, however the rest of the guns are still missing.

Police say about ten weapons and a large amount of ammunition were stolen from a student gun club during a break-in at St Joseph's Nudgee College on Sunday night.

Officers pulled over a car not long after and found one of the shotguns and most of the ammunition in the boot.

Driver Cristle Ten-Bohmer, 27, and passenger Jason Francis Williams, 43, have been charged with weapons and property offences.

Ten-Bohmer wouldn't consent to a police interview but tearfully protested her innocence during a bail application in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

"I didn't even know that the stuff was in my car," she sobbed from the dock.

"He (Williams) just rang me up and asked me to drive him."

Ten-Bohmer had only met Williams a couple of times, according to duty lawyer Rosemary Gilbert.

Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Mark Gorton said police were concerned about the outstanding weapons, which were taken from a bunker that was supposed to be secure.

"The worrying thing is, if ten guns went missing and we've only found one, there's nine guns on the street," he told the court.

Magistrate Christine Roney agreed it was concerning and denied Ten-Bohmer bail.

She noted the prisoner's "substantial" five-page criminal history - which contains mostly drug offences - and declared her an unacceptable risk of reoffending.

Williams is expected to appear in the same court on Tuesday.

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Vic premier denies conflict over grant

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine says there was no conflict of interest over a government decision to grant $1.5 million to a businessman with whom he owns a racehorse.

Dr Napthine says he was not directly involved in his government's decision to approve the grant to meat processing boss Colin McKenna, with whom he owns racehorse Spin the Bottle.

"It was a decision that I wasn't directly involved in," he told reporters on Monday.

But the Labor opposition says the revelations raise serious questions about the process to give Mr McKenna's Midfield Meats the taxpayer-funded grant.

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said the revelations came after Dr Napthine tried to do a favour for bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse by supporting his bid to operate from a prime position at the Warrnambool racing carnival betting ring, which had been denied by Racing Victoria.

In March the premier announced a $1.5 million grant from the Regional Growth Fund to help Mr McKenna's business expand, creating more than 200 jobs.

Dr Napthine said the decision was endorsed by the Warrnambool council, Regional Development Victoria and signed off by the state development minister.

Dr Napthine confirmed he is one of 10 part-owners of Spin the Bottle but says he was unaware who the others were when he first bought the share.

He said his interest in the racehorse was properly declared on the pecuniary interests register for MPs.

Labor had approved similar grants for the company during 2008 and 2009, he added.

But Mr Andrews says the premier failed to publicly disclose he owned a racehorse with Mr McKenna, who he says is Dr Napthine's friend and a Liberal Party fundraiser.

He said the matter should be investigated by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission to see whether the grant process was of the highest standards.

"The premier may say he had no involvement in the granting of $1.5 million of Victorian taxpayers' money to his close friend, to his partner in a racehorse, to his fundraiser, but that's not good enough," he said.

"We need a proper process that's independent, fearless and gets to the bottom of this."

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Vic Premier to ask feds for help at COAG

MAJOR infrastructure funding and a greater share of GST revenue are Premier Denis Napthine's targets for the next Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting in Canberra on Friday.

Dr Napthine said Victoria needs more support from the federal government.

"I will certainly be raising with the federal government the need for key infrastructure funding for Victoria that is improving transport efficiency, improving business productivity and delivering jobs for Victoria," he said.

"I will also be putting the case for Victoria to get a fairer share of the GST.

"We are being dudded under the current GST arrangements.

Last week, Victorian Treasurer Michael O'Brien blamed a cut in the state's GST revenue from 90 cents in the dollar to 88 cents in 2014-15 for a $32 hike in car registrations and an increase in vehicle stamp duty.

The extra charges would be used to fund major transport infrastructure in the May 6 state budget, he said.

Dr Napthine said he would also raise a recycling initiative at the COAG meeting.

"I will also be raising one of my pet topics, and that is the need for a national container deposit legislation approach."

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Palmer 'induced' rebel NT trio: Newman

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman has accused federal MP Clive Palmer of inducing three Northern Territory MPs to join his political party.

Mr Newman says questions need to be asked about what cash, jobs and financial support Mr Palmer offered the MPs to jump ship.

"This is a man who tried to buy a government, my government," Mr Newman told reporters.

"We said 'go away', we said 'we're not for sale'."

"I ask what inducements were offered to these three MPs? What promises, what inducements were offered to them to jump ship?"

Mr Palmer on Sunday declared that Alison Anderson would be chief minister after the next territory election, after announcing that she, Larissa Lee and Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu had joined his Palmer United Party (PUP).

The three indigenous MPs quit the ruling Country Liberal Party at the beginning of April as a result of a rift between Ms Anderson and Chief Minister Adam Giles, saying they wanted to create their own regional political party.

Mr Newman's extraordinary spray came after a journalist asked Prime Minister Tony Abbott about the mining magnate calling Mr Giles a liar on national television.

That's what Mr Palmer said about everybody, Mr Newman said.

"As far as Mr Palmer goes everyone else is wrong and he's always right," he told reporters.

Mr Newman said it was time for Mr Palmer to stop spending money on election campaigning, adding that the PUP leader didn't "seem to have the money" to fulfil environment obligations at his Townsville nickel refinery and repair his Sunshine Coast resort.

After the trio moved to the crossbenches, Mr Giles accused them of driving a wedge between black and white Territorians.

But they argued the NT government, which ended 11 years of Labor rule when it won the 2012 state election, had not honoured its election commitments to the bush.

Mr Giles singled out Ms Anderson, saying she had form when it came to walking out on parties.

She became a parliamentarian for Labor in 2005 and in 2008 was appointed to cabinet. The following year, she left Labor after a dispute over indigenous housing and sat as an independent until 2011, when she joined the Country Liberal Party.

After it seized power, she was appointed minister for indigenous advancement.

But six months later in March last year, Mr Giles - Australia's first indigenous head of government - abolished the Department of Indigenous Advancement, saying he wanted his entire administration to focus on indigenous affairs.

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We'll be fair in tough May budget: Abbott

PM Tony Abbott has refused to comment on reports his government may soon introduce a debt levy. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott has promised to be fair and equitable when meting out some of the tougher measures in the May budget.

However, the prime minister has refused to comment on reports he is considering a debt levy to tackle the deficit.

Mr Abbott said the government wouldn't "squib the challenge" of fixing the budget, when asked if the coalition would soon introduce what Labor has dubbed a "deceit tax".

Based on the Queensland flood levy, News Corporation on Sunday said a "one off" impost on high income earners would be a feature of Treasurer Joe Hockey's May budget.

Mr Abbott repeated his well-worn mantra that he would not rule anything in or out of the May 13 budget when asked about the latest speculation.

But he said the coalition had committed to fixing the "fiscal disaster" left by the Labor government.

"Now we are going to do it in ways which are faithful to the commitments that we made to the Australian people," the prime minister said on Sunday.

"We will do it in ways which are fair, which are equitable, and which I believe will be seen to be fair by the Australian people."

Labor says the levy would breach a pre-election pledge not to impose new taxes on the Australian public.

"Make no mistake, this will be the biggest broken promise of all," shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said.

"Tony Abbott told the Australian people he would cut taxes and he specifically said he would introduce no new taxes."

Mr Bowen accused Mr Hockey of creating a "conflated budget emergency".

"But that doesn't justify a tax on Australian families who would pay the cost for this breach of promise from Tony Abbott," he said.

But Mr Abbott said the government would keep its election commitments.

"A very important commitment was to get the budget back on track to a sustainable surplus, but we will do that in ways which keep faith with our commitments to the Australian people in the election campaign," he said.

The levy is the latest unpopular measure mooted to be in Mr Hockey's first budget.

Since the beginning of the year the government has been forced to fend off concerns it may introduce a GP co-payment.

Last week the treasurer said an increase in the pension age was an "inevitability", but stopped short of confirming the budget will lift it to 70.

Clive Palmer on Sunday said he wouldn't support lifting the pension age, when the Palmer United Party along with other crossbenchers hold the balance of power in the Senate.

"I just couldn't employ Joe Hockey or Tony Abbott at 69, no matter how competent they are," Mr Palmer told ABC Television.

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