BBC faces review of 'everything': UK govt

All aspects of how the BBC is run and paid for will be reviewed when its charter is renewed. Source: AAP

ALL aspects of how the BBC is run and paid for will be reviewed when its charter comes up for renewal, Britain's culture secretary says.

Sajid Javid said "everything" would be looked at, including licence fees and governance structures, when negotiations get under way.

Senior Tories have previously called the compulsory annual charge paid by British viewers out of date and warned it faces the axe but BBC executives insist a subscription system could end up costing more money.

Javid said plans for the process of renewing the charter, which expires in December 2016, were being worked on.

He told Total Politics: "We will announce plans in due course. That will be a time to look at all aspects of the BBC: governance arrangements, licence fees and so forth. That's where we plan to look at everything."

The renewal negotiations will take place on the back of a torrid few years in which the British broadcaster was lambasted for its handling of the Jimmy Savile scandal, massive executive pay-offs and a Newsnight investigation that led to the late Lord McAlpine being wrongly accused of child abuse.

Conservative MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, reportedly told senior BBC executives earlier this month that he did not believe the licence fee would survive.

Tory Party chairman Grant Shapps warned the corporation last year it could lose its exclusive right to the STG3.6 billion ($A6.57 billion) raised by the licence fee if it failed to tackle what he believes is a culture of secrecy, waste and unbalanced reporting in the organisation.

The government has frozen the annual licence fee, which is paid by every British household with a TV, at STG145.50 ($A265.58) for the rest of the charter period.

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Relatives seek new Malaysia plane search

THEIR hopes raised and dashed, relatives of passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines plane want a new plan to find it after the search was suspended following a new setback.

The 84-year-old mother of Australian passenger Rod Burrows no longer expects to live to see the mystery of Flight 370 solved.

"I doubt it will be in my lifetime," Irene Burrows said on Friday from her home in Biloela in Australia's northeast.

"All I just want is a bit of plane. It's all I want to know - where they are."

Tempers flared on Thursday after the joint centre set up to oversee the search for the jetliner that vanished March 8 said a robot submarine had found no trace of it in a section of the southern Indian Ocean where acoustic signals, or "pings," were detected.

Investigators have concluded that the area where the signals were detected is not the final resting place of the plane.

The search for the plane and the 239 people on board will be suspended for two months while more powerful sonar equipment is brought in, according to the Australia-based Joint Agency Coordination Center.

"Now they say the pings are not from the plane. It's March 8 all over again and I don't like March 8 at all," said an emotional Jacquita Gonzales, whose husband Patrick Gomes was the flight supervisor.

"We are on a roller coaster ride and we have just hit bottom again," she said.

Gonzales said sometimes she is an "emotional wreck" thinking about the fate of her beloved husband but wills herself to be strong. Their 29th wedding anniversary is on Sunday.

"Please find the plane, find my husband and all our loved ones," she said.

Authorities believe the plane, bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, turned sharply and flew to the southern Indian Ocean.

Yet not a single piece of the missing Boeing 777 has been found.

The Malaysian official in charge of the search, Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, visited Beijing this week, and relatives asked to meet him but got no reply, said Steve Wang, whose mother was on the plane.

"Something very disappointing has been announced and we want to know what his plan is," Wang said.

This week, the Malaysian government gave in to pressure from families of passengers and released 45 pages of satellite data it used to determine that the flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

"It feels like we have been fooled by the authorities. We are now back to square one. I expect them to keep searching. There can't be any closure until we find something," said Lee Khim Fatt, whose wife Christine Foong was a stewardess on the plane.

Lee said he cannot believe that such a big plane can't be detected by satellites and modern technology.

"If satellites can capture the image of a small car with its number plate, why is there no satellite image of this big bird, the 777? Are they hiding something from us?" Lee said.

China renewed diplomatic pressure on the Malaysian government on Thursday in a meeting between Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Beijing has tried to placate Chinese relatives of missing passengers by pressing their case with Malaysia while trying to avoid damage to relations with an important trading partner.

"We expect Malaysia to take the leading and coordinating role, come up with a new search plan for the jet at an early date, and take the investigation seriously," Li told Najib, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

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Sydney teen critical as party gatecrashed

A teen is in a critical condition in hospital after being stabbed at a party in Sydney's inner west. Source: AAP

IT was meant to be a small gathering of friends for a 14-year-old girl's birthday.

But the get-together at a house in Five Dock, in Sydney's inner west, turned into a violent brawl after gatecrashers showed up.

Now a teenage boy is fighting for his life in hospital after being stabbed several times at the out-of-control party on Friday night.

Another is facing criminal charges.

Police were called to the home on Charles Street and found two injured teenagers in the backyard.

A 17-year-old boy was stabbed in the chest and in his side and is in hospital in a critical but stable condition.

On Saturday a 16-year-old, who also sustained minor head injuries during the brawl, was charged with assault and affray. He was released on bail and is expected to appear at a children's court on June 20.

Another teenager, 17, was allegedly hit in the head with a bottle and was also taken to hospital. He was discharged on Saturday.

It is understood a 14-year-old girl, who was staying at the dual-level brick home with her grandparents, was having friends over for her birthday.

Her grandmother told AAP she allowed the girl to have half a dozen people over but the gathering was gatecrashed.

She said she was coming home from the Blue Mountains when she received a call from her daughter telling her the party had escalated.

"I went straight to Burwood police station," she said on Saturday morning.

It is understood most of the party-goers were from Concord High School.

The granddaughter is now with her father and on her way to Canberra, the woman, who did not want to be named, said.

Burwood police Inspector Michael Penfold said officers faced chaotic scenes when they arrived on Friday night.

He said there was at least one adult home.

Surrounding residents of the usually quiet suburban street heard bottles smashing and people screaming.

Jay Nam looked out her window to see young people on the street yelling at each other.

"Some of the residents came out and tried to get them away from the street," she said.

Next-door neighbour Ed White said the party-goers were about 15 or 16 years old.

"They were really young," he said.

"There was just lights flashing, sirens and cops up and down the street."

Insp Penfold had a warning for parents planning a party for their children.

"One of the main issues is make sure only invited guests attend and adequate security provisions beforehand," he said.

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Two women attacked on Vic jogging route

ONE moment a Melbourne woman on her morning jog saw a figure ahead of her disappear. The next she was fighting off an attacker.

Dragged to the ground, the woman kicked, screamed and made as much noise as she could during the May 24 attack while on her early-morning run in the city of Knox.

She managed to get to her feet and in the commotion a pedestrian ran to her aid, scaring off the middle-aged man.

The 41-year-old woman said the man ambushed her when she ran past where the person had vanished.

"All of a sudden a man, who was crouched down beside a low fence next to the footpath, jumped up and grabbed me," she said on Friday.

"He was making noises, sticking his tongue out at me and making sexual-type noises.

"I was really lucky it didn't go further."

Another woman was also attacked while running on a nearby road on April 14.

The 22-year-old said she passed a man while jogging and when she turned to see where he was, the man sexually assaulted her.

"I turned my head and he was right there. Then he grabbed me on my bum and tried to lift me up under my legs."

She was able to break free and run away.

Detective Sergeant Brad Sprague warned women to stay vigilant when running alone.

"It's concerning for us. They are certainly vulnerable," Det Sgt Sprague said.

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Credit growth still picking up gradually

Australian economists say they are expecting a string or rate rises next year. Source: AAP

LOW interest rates are continuing to spur growth in lending, but that growth remains slow and patchy.

Credit to the private sector rose by 0.5 per cent in April, lifting the annual growth rate to 4.6 per cent.

That's the fastest growth rate since the global crisis wreaked havoc on the financial system in 2008 and 2009, but slow nonetheless.

A year ago, the annual growth rate was just 3.1 per cent.

And the pace is still picking up, slowly but surely, the figures from the RBA on Friday showed.

In the six months to April, growth in credit accelerated to an annualised rate of 5.1 per cent, from 4.0 per cent in the six months before that.

The fastest-rising category of credit is investor housing, up by 0.8 per cent in April and 8.1 per cent through the year, with the latest six months at an even faster pace of 9.2 per cent.

Despite the well-known scarcity of people identifying themselves as first-home buyers, credit to home-buyers (as opposed to investors) is also gaining pace.

Finance for these intending owner-occupiers was up by 0.5 per cent in the month and by 5.0 per cent through the year, compared with 4.0 per cent for the previous year.

And it is also accelerating, rising at a faster 5.6 per cent rate over the most recent six months.

But the other two categories identified in the RBA's figures are nowhere near as strong.

Growth in personal credit other than housing was unchanged in April and up by an inconsequential 0.5 per cent from a year earlier.

And credit to businesses, even after posting small rises for five consecutive months - including a 0.3 per cent increase in April - has still managed annual growth of just 2.7 per cent, marginally less than the official inflation rate of 2.9 per cent.

The RBA's board meets next week and is widely expected to keep the cash rate at 2.5 per cent, where it's been since being cut in August last year.

The slump in consumer confidence since the budget earlier this month confirmed the chance of an interest rate rise this month is approximately zero.

The figures showing credit's painfully slow acceleration from a still-subdued rate of increase, along with notable weakness in personal and business finance, just confirmed that.

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Self-effacing Obama hails science fair

Barack Obama has announced a $35 million Education incentive for US maths and science teachers. Source: AAP

PRESIDENT Barack Obama confessed to feeling a little bit, well, unaccomplished.

There was the catapult-armed mannequin that shot three-point baskets, the 18-year-old cancer researcher and the second-grade Girl Scouts from Tulsa, Oklahoma, with their Lego "flood-proof" bridge design.

"I'm such an underachiever," Obama said after chatting with Eric Chen at Tuesday's annual White House Science Fair. Chen, a Harvard-bound high school senior from San Diego, won grand prizes at the 2013 Google Science Fair and the Siemens Competition in Maths, Science, and Technology for identifying new drug candidates for the treatment of influenza.

It's an annual self-deprecating routine for the Harvard trained lawyer and 44th president of the United States, who happily recounts his personal failures in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths.

"One year I accidentally killed some plants that were part of my experiment," he told Tuesday's White House Science Fair audience. "Another time a bunch of mice escaped in my grandmother's apartment. These experiments did not take me straight to the White House."

This year, Obama drew special attention to the science and engineering achievements of girls and young women, noting that men outnumber women studying and working in engineering and computer science.

"Half our team we're not even putting on the field," he said. "We've got to change those numbers."

Obama announced a new $35 million Education Department competition to train the best maths and science teachers. He also announced and expansion of AmeriCorps to help teach science and maths to 18,000 low-income students this summer, and national science and maths mentoring projects in Chicago; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Indianapolis; the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina; and Wichita, Kansas.

He noted that he often greets champion athletes at the White House, most recently the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. But he said accomplished students deserve such honours, too.

"As a society, we have to celebrate outstanding work by young people in science at least as much as we do Super Bowl winners because super-star biologists and engineers and rocket scientists and robot builders, they don't always get the attention that they deserve, but they're what's going to transform our society," he said.

Among Tuesday's displays were a "concussion cushion" designed by a 19-year-old Maria Hanes of Santa Cruz, California, who aspires to be the first female collegiate head football coach. Two Massachusetts high school students, Olivia Van Amsterdam and Katelyn Sweeney, exhibited an ice rescue robot. ("So the idea would be I've fallen through the ice and sadly I probably didn't make it, but, you know, Michelle still wants to find me," Obama said, seeking to understand the work of the device.)

And then there was Peyton Robertson, a 12-year-old from Ft Lauderdale, Florida, who wowed Obama with two inventions - "sandless" flood retention sandbags and retractable bicycle wheels.

"If you can buy stock in Peyton," Obama chuckled later, "you should do so now."

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Aristocrat set to launch mobile games

POKER machine maker Aristocrat Leisure will soon have its popular Facebook games ready for play on smartphones and tablets.

Aristocrat says its "Heart of Vegas" suite of games on Facebook is growing and was one of Facebook's top new games of 2013.

A new Facebook application, the "Jackpot Dreams" suite of games, has also been launched.

Both applications are soon to be launched on mobile platforms.

"Over the second half of 2014, we'll launch both Heart of Vegas and Jackpot Dreams on mobile platforms, representing out first major entry into the dynamic mobile channel," Aristocrat chief executive Jamie Odell said on Wednesday.

Part of Aristocrat's strategy is to modify games that have been successful on its "land-based" poker machines into similar games that can be played online, including on social sites such as Facebook.

Mr Odell said Aristocrat's acquisition in 2012 of US-based Product Madness, which now provides Aristocrat's gaming applications on Facebook, had been a great buy.

"I'd love for that business to become very significant in the next two to three years. It has the potential and every reason to do it," he said.

Aristocrat's online revenue for the first six months of the company's fiscal year increased fivefold to $16.1 million as it developed a greater presence on Facebook.

Aristocrat is also expanding its online distribution in Europe and says it has established a strong position in Italy.

Aristocrat on Wednesday reported a net profit of $57.4 million for the six months to March 31, up 9.1 per cent on the result a year earlier.

Profits were boosted by better operational performance, market share growth in the critical US market, and foreign and exchange and tax benefits.

Aristocrat's North American and online operations made more money, but profits in Australia and other regions and segments were lower.

Aristocrat gained a larger market share in the US market on the back of new games such as Walking Dead and the continued popularity of Tarzan.

In Australia, earnings were lower due to one-off licensing revenues received in the prior corresponding period.

But Aristocrat strengthened its position in NSW and Queensland as new games for the Australian market were rolled out.

Aristocrat expects strong profit growth for the full year.

Shares in Aristocrat were 19 cents higher at $5.36 at 1540 AEST.

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Ramsay Health appoints new chairman

Michael Siddle has been made chairman of Ramsay Health Care after the death of Paul Ramsay (pic). Source: AAP

RAMSAY Health Care has appointed Michael Siddle as its new chairman following the death of the company's founder Paul Ramsay.

Mr Siddle served as Mr Ramsay's deputy chair for 17 years.

The private hospitals operator has appointed Peter Evans as its new deputy chairman.

Mr Ramsay, one of Australia's richest men, died in early May after suffering a heart attack while sailing in Spain.

He founded Ramsay Health Care in 1964 and left most of his fortune to charity.

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Hyundai-Kia gets greenest gong

Hyundai-Kia has overtaken Honda as the greenest automaker in the United States. Source: AAP

HYUNDAI-KIA is now the greenest automaker in the United States, unseating Honda for the first time since the rankings by a group of scientists began.

The Union of Concerned Scientists ranks the eight top-selling automakers based on carbon and smog-forming emissions of their fleets.

The group says that for the first time since the rankings began in 1998, all eight automakers reduced pollution. Honda had led the rankings since then.

Hyundai-Kia beat Honda by equipping many models with smaller turbo-charged engines. The scientists also say Hyundai-Kia introduced gas-electric hybrid versions of its two top-selling models, the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima.

Toyota, Nissan and Volkswagen tied for third. Detroit automakers, which sell more trucks, finished at the bottom, with Ford the highest-ranked of them.

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Rogerson charged with student's murder

DISGRACED ex-NSW detective Roger Rogerson has been charged with the murder of university student Jamie Gao.

Police confirmed the human remains found floating in waters off Cronulla in Sydney's south on Monday morning were those of Mr Gao.

Rogerson was charged with murder and large commercial drug supply.

He has been refused bail to appear in Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday.

A handcuffed Rogerson was frogmarched out of his Sydney home in dramatic scenes on Tuesday morning and taken to Bankstown police station for questioning.

Fellow former Sydney detective and self-titled whistleblower Glen McNamara was charged on Monday with Mr Gao's murder.

Police said a post-mortem examination of Mr Gao's body had not been completed.

Rogerson's lawyer, Paul Kenny, earlier on Tuesday said the disgraced former policeman had been "treated like a dog" by police.

Rogerson was meeting with Mr Kenny at his Padstow Heights home on Tuesday morning when police swooped, banging on his door and surrounding the home.

Mr Kenny said he would be calling NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione to complain about his client's treatment.

"He was treated like a dog. I've never seen conduct like this by NSW police," Mr Kenny said.

"This is like something off a TV show, but a bad TV show."

Mr Kenny said Rogerson, 73, was just about to head off to a meeting with police when the officers arrived.

"Police starting smashing at the door and a number of them came into Mr Rogerson's office where we were having a legal conference to make arrangements to go into the city," he said.

"I was just about to call Superintendent (Luke) Moore to let him know we were on our way."

The NSW Police said in a statement that they were not satisfied with Rogerson's arrangements and decided to arrest him.

Police allege Mr Gao was killed last Tuesday after a drug deal went wrong.

Mr Kenny said on Tuesday that Rogerson was shocked at being linked to the murder.

He appealed for calm, telling journalists Rogerson wanted to avoid any media hysteria.

"We don't want any OJ Simpson situation," he said.

Rogerson is one of the most infamous policemen in NSW history.

The highly-decorated detective was dismissed from the force in the 1980s after being convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

His police career was later depicted in the ABC drama series Blue Murder.

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Vic premier knows nothing of Shaw probe

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has told Geoff Shaw he knows nothing about the upshot of a probe into alleged misconduct by the balance-of-power MP.

Dr Napthine has told parliament he met the independent MP on Tuesday for about 10 or 15 minutes when the pair discussed Mr Shaw's recent study trip to the US.

The trip, partly funded by taxpayers, was to reportedly investigate US abortion laws as Mr Shaw prepares a bill proposing radical changes to state abortion laws.

Dr Napthine said the pair discussed public transport and a privileges committee probe into Mr Shaw, following a newspaper report on Tuesday.

The committee is investigating Mr Shaw for alleged misconduct after the ombudsman found he used his parliamentary car for his own hardware business.

Dr Napthine said he told Mr Shaw he knew nothing about the committee's deliberations nor when its report would be released.

"I told him that I knew nothing about these matters," the premier told parliament.

"I'm not privy to the deliberations of the privileges committee. I'm not privy to their discussions and their timing."

Dishonesty charges relating to the allegations against Mr Shaw were dropped in December.

There is speculation the privileges committee report on him will be released publicly this week.

Mr Shaw, a former Liberal MP who took the balance of power in Victoria's lower house when he turned independent last year, is planning a private member's bill before the November state election to outlaw gender-selection and late-term abortions.

The bill would also introduce a requirement for doctors to resuscitate babies who survive abortion attempts.

Both Dr Napthine and Labor leader Daniel Andrews have previously said they would not support any debate on or changes to the state's abortion laws.

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Baird sets up campaign donation panel

THE former head of Sydney Water who was the victim of a smear campaign will lead an expert panel to look at ways of reforming political donation rules in NSW.

Premier Mike Baird said on Tuesday the independent expert panel would be led by "respected businesswoman and senior public servant" Kerry Schott to consider whether full public funding of election campaigns should be introduced in NSW.

The panel will also look at what the appropriate cap on election campaigns should be.

The measure is part of the government's response to the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (ICAC) probes into political donations in NSW.

The corruption watchdog has heard allegations that illegal donations were funnelled back into the NSW Liberal Party.

"This is about the public's confidence in our democracy over the long term," Mr Baird told parliament during question time on Tuesday.

Mr Baird said the ICAC inquiries showed the current donation system in NSW was broken.

"We need to change the culture of hidden influence and misplaced expectations of access that appear to follow even modest political donations in this state," he said.

The ICAC has heard Dr Schott was the subject of a false and anonymous corruption complaint lodged by the brother of Eric Koelma, a former staffer for ex-NSW minister Chris Hartcher.

It has also heard that crooked former Labor MP Eddie Obeid demanded that a NSW minister "sack the bitch", referring to Dr Schott, when she began asking questions of Australian Water Holdings (AWH).

AWH allegedly corruptly charged Sydney Water for luxury hotel stays and limousine rides.

Dr Schott demanded justification for the company's "ballooning" expenses.

The three-member panel will also include former Labor deputy premier John Watkins and former Liberal shadow attorney-general Andrew Tink.

It will report back to the premier by December 31 with options for "long term" reform of political donations.

Baird's government will face a tight deadline to enact any reforms before the March election.

The panel will also look at whether penalties for breaching donations law were sufficient and whether tighter rules around disclosure should be introduced.

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Qld treasurer says asset sales more likely

QUEENSLAND'S treasurer has hinted that federal government budget cuts have made state asset sales more likely.

Tim Nicholls says cabinet will have to sign off on the final plan next Monday, before the state budget is handed down the following day.

The government wants to sell or lease $30 billion worth of assets, increase taxes or reduce services to help pay down $80 billion worth of state debt.

"More cuts on cuts, more taxes on taxes has made it more difficult for the government in terms of dealing with that $80 billion worth of debt and obviously that weighs on our decision making process," Mr Nicholls said.

"The federal government's decision has made those choices tougher for us in terms of looking at tax increases and cuts to services."

Mr Nicholls said a public share offering could be considered for any asset sold.

Premiers are revolting against $80 billion in federal budget cuts to health and education over the next decade, and a $7 doctor co-payment.

Mr Nicholls wouldn't say if any money raised from potential asset sales would help make up the shortfall.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mulherin has questioned how much money reaped from asset sales will be used to pay down debt, as originally planned.

He also attacked the LNP for keeping up the charade over whether or not they're selling assets.

"No matter how much fake consulting the treasurer has done will stop the fact that he made up his mind up in 2012," Mr Mulherin said.

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ECB may hold clues for kiwi's direction

THE New Zealand dollar has held near the bottom of its recent band as the European Central Bank (ECB) forum may give investors clues to how the monetary authority will stave off threats to the regional economy.

Holidays in the US and UK are likely to keep trading volumes light, traders said.

The kiwi traded at 85.33 US cents 5pm in Wellington from 85.36 cents at 8am and 85.39 cents on Friday in New York. The trade-weighted index was 79.73 from 79.78 at the Friday close.

Traders are looking for any clues as to how the ECB will overcome low inflation and whether the bank will ease monetary policy further through a series of stimulus measures.

"The ECB speakers have started off fairly dovish" and "there's still more ECB rhetoric to come," said Alex Hill, head of trading at HiFX in Auckland.

"The euro is under pressure, which is keeping the US dollar bid firmly and commodity currencies down."

Mr Hill said the lack of liquidity in the market means traders could push the kiwi around in the northern hemisphere session.

The kiwi is trading about 20 basis points above a strong support level, he said.

It traded at 86.98 yen at 5pm in Wellington from 87.06 yen on Friday in New York, and was little changed at 92.37 Australian cents from 92.44 cents and at 62.66 euro cents from 62.63 cents.

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Drug dealer letter misrepresented: Burke

Labor's Tony Burke says a letter he wrote on behalf of a constituent is being "misrepresented". Source: AAP

LABOR frontbencher Tony Burke has rejected suggestions he asked the Abbott government to release a Nigerian drug dealer from immigration detention.

Mr Burke wrote to the government in March on behalf of a constituent who came to his Sydney electorate office to plead for help to get her partner released from Villawood Detention Centre.

Labor's finance spokesman says he and his staff did not know at the time that the woman's partner, Drichuckuv Nweke, was a convicted drug dealer.

Regardless, he says it is "completely wrong" to suggest he argued for Nweke's release - rather he just told the immigration department what the woman had said, as any MP would.

"All that letter says is someone has presented to my office and this is what they said," Mr Burke told ABC radio on Monday.

"There are some occasions where the member of parliament takes up the issue themselves, there are some occasions where the member of parliament actually backs in the character of an individual.

"This letter does not do that."

Mr Burke said the department's response, outlining Nweke's criminal history, had found its way into the media before arriving at his office, suggesting the government was trying to distract attraction from its unpopular budget.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said Mr Burke had shown a lack of judgment and due diligence, and he was not being "fair dinkum" by trying to distance himself from the letter.

"He needs to explain to his constituents that when he writes to ministers he doesn't really mean it," Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

He denied the department's response had been leaked to the media.

"The response was sent to him on Friday," he said.

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Australian snorkeller dies off Fiji resort

A 36-year-old Australian man has died while snorkelling off Fiji's coral coast. Source: AAP

A 36-YEAR-OLD Australian man has died while snorkelling off Fiji's coral coast.

The man was staying with a friend at a five-star resort on the west coast of the main island Viti Levu when he went snorkelling alone on Saturday.

He was reported missing by the resort, Outrigger on the Lagoon Fiji, about 7.45pm when he hadn't returned his snorkelling equipment and his belongings were found on the beach.

"The person in question was snorkelling late in the evening and did not return to his accommodation," general manager Peter Hopgood said.

Resort staff and local fishermen searched until after midnight and were back out again at first light on Sunday.

The man's body was found by locals from a neighbouring village at 9.50am on Sunday, washed onto the coral reef.

His body was taken to a morgue at nearby Sigatoka.

The resort said it was working closely with local authorities while the Australian High Commission was in the process of communicating with the dead man's family.

It extended "heartfelt condolences" to the man's family and friends.

In a letter to guests, it asked them to "refrain from entering the ocean after dark".

Australian authorities had little to add.

"The department is aware of the death of a 36-year-old Australian man in Fiji," said a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra.

It's the second death of an Australian in Fiji this month.

Ten days ago, Sydney father-of-three Mark Hardaker, 40, was killed in a collision between two boats while holidaying with his family.

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New prison unit for dangerous Vic crims

THE Victorian government will build a maximum security prison wing to house a growing number of underworld figures, bikies and violent offenders.

The new unit of 40 cells will be built adjacent to Barwon Prison, near Geelong.

A spokesman from Corrections Victoria said the wing was needed to house the state's growing prisoner population.

"It will build on the prison system's capacity to manage an increasingly complex prisoner population, including outlaw motorcycle gang members, underworld figures and violent prisoners," he told AAP.

The Banksia Unit - used to house protected prisoners - will also be upgraded, he said.

The spokesman said the government was seeking expressions of interest from contractors to build the unit, which is expected to be built by the middle of 2016.

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We won't compromise on co-payment: Hockey

Treasurer Joe Hockey has all but ruled out compromise on a GP co-payment. Source: AAP

TREASURER Joe Hockey has all but ruled out compromise on a GP co-payment, as Labor finally confirmed it would not block the government's deficit levy for the rich.

A bullish Mr Hockey on Sunday said the government would be willing to negotiate with senators on the budget, but warned against outright opposition to every measure.

"If the immediate answer of everyone in the Senate is no, then I think the Australian people have a low, low tolerance for that," he told Sky News on Sunday.

Labor, the Greens and cross-benchers have said they will oppose many of the unpopular changes in Mr Hockey's first budget, including the $7 Medicare co-payment.

But Mr Hockey said he did not think the government should compromise on the payment, $5 of which will go into a new medical research future fund.

"If the independents and the Labor party want to have a medical research future fund, there has to be a co-payment," Mr Hockey said.

"You cannot have both."

Health Minister Peter Dutton also signalled an unwillingness to negotiate on the $7 co-payment.

"As people realise that this package really is about strengthening Medicare ... I think that will bring pressure to bear on the senators," he told the Ten Network.

"Some people advocated that we get rid of bulk billing altogether, but we haven't."

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong revealed her party would not stand in the way of the proposed deficit levy for those earning more than $180,000, after weeks of hinting it may support the new tax.

However, the opposition was "not for moving" on changes to pensions and Medicare, or cuts to health and education funding, she said.

Senator Wong ruled out negotiation on plans for university deregulation, which will allow them to charge higher student fees.

Labor's opposition to the Medicare co-payment was also non-negotiable, she said.

"If Tony Abbott wants to do that he's going to have to come through us in the Senate," she told ABC Television.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said he won't surrender his government's budget commitments to the Senate, and has hinted a double dissolution election isn't out of the question if negotiations fail.

But Greens leader Christine Milne labelled Mr Abbott untrustworthy and incapable of negotiating with the senators.

Mr Abbott was leading a "lame duck government", she said.

The prime minister said the government's tough budget was "absolutely necessary" to rein in the country's debt and deficit.

"We need to take action now or an even greater burden will fall on our kids' generation," Mr Abbott said in a brief statement.

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