Warning of reef disaster repeat

CONSERVATIONISTS are warning proposed port expansions will increase the risk of another cargo ship grounding on the Great Barrier Reef.

Part of the reef is still recovering from a coal carrier running aground three years ago.

The Shen Neng 1 struck Douglas Shoal off the central Queensland coast on April 3, 2010, gouging a 3km-long scar in the reef and spilling about four tonnes of heavy fuel oil from a ruptured fuel tank.

Layers of toxic anti-fouling paint from the ship's hull plastered the damaged area, which could take up to 20 years to recover.

Australian Marine Conservation Society's GBR campaign director Felicity Wishart says if proposed port expansions along Queensland's coast go ahead, the number of ships crossing the reef will increase significantly and so will the risk of another grounding.

"This is the biggest, fastest industrialisation agenda that's ever been seen for the reef," Ms Wishart told AAP.

"It's very clear now that if all proposed developments go ahead, the impact on the reef will be severe.

"We're keen to see governments pull back and recognise a $6 billion tourism industry is probably a better investment than putting more ships through the reef."

The Fight for the Reef campaign is driven by a number of environmental groups including the Australian Marine Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund.

The group estimates about 7000 ships each year will cross the reef by 2020, compared to 1722 in 2011.

They are calling for restrictions on the number of ships that can travel in the area and compulsory pilotage of ships through the entire reef to reduce the chances of a grounding or spill.

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Abandoned Sydney school fire under control

A RAGING fire in an abandoned south Sydney school has been brought under control after the blaze destroyed the school hall.

A NSW fire services spokesman said firefighters responded after reports the old Caringbah High School was on fire at 3.23pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

After more than an hour of fighting the blaze it has been brought under control, with 30 firefighters at the scene.

"The auditorium has been totally destroyed by fire," the spokesman said.

"The roof has totally collapsed inwards.

"There are fears of the walls collapsing as well.

"At this stage we have no idea as to the cause of the fire.

A nearby bowls club has been evacuated as a precaution.

The spokesman said there were initial fears the roof might contain asbestos, but firefighters had ruled out the risk after tests.

"There are no concerns involving asbestos."

The old high school on Willarong Road, Caringbah, is no longer in use.

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SA premier says budget will be a challenge

SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says he understands he won't be able to please everyone when he delivers his first budget as state treasurer in June.

Mr Weatherill said he was excited at the prospect of delivering a fiscally restrained budget at such a challenging time.

"That's life in politics," the premier told reporters on Tuesday.

"There are more demands than there are resources.

"So the question is how you meet the demands. It's always a question of making choices, trying to balance the public interest."

Mr Weatherill said the paradox with the SA budget was that while the state's economy was generally strong, the funds available to the government had been cut, through lower GST returns and property taxes.

"We have a strong economy, but our finances are under pressure because the parts of the economy that are doing it toughest are the parts where we raise our revenue," he said.

"So that's a challenge putting together a budget in a strong economy, but with revenues that are weak and community demands still high."

Mr Weatherill will deliver the SA budget on June 6.

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Indigenous Aussie is ambassador to Denmark

AUSTRALIA'S first indigenous ambassador is headed to the nation's embassy in Denmark next month.

Damien Miller, a career diplomat, is the first indigenous Australian appointed as head of an overseas mission.

As well as being Australia's ambassador to Denmark, he will have non-resident accreditation to Norway and Iceland.

Mr Miller has been deputy head of mission at Australia's embassy in Germany and has previously served in the Australian High Commission in Malaysia.

He takes up his new appointment in May, replacing James Choi.

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WA's first indigenous minister dies

All sides of politics paid tribute to politician Ernie Bridge who lost his battle with mesothelioma. Source: AAP

TRIBUTES are flowing for Australia's first indigenous cabinet minister Ernie Bridge, who has died of mesothelioma just days after launching a bid to sue the West Australian government over his illness.

Mr Bridge, the Kimberley MLA from 1980 to 2001, died in Perth on Sunday aged 76.

He recently lodged a Supreme Court writ seeking damages from parties including companies run by two of the nation's richest women, Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting and Angela Bennett's Wright Prospecting, claiming he was exposed to asbestos while overseeing the closure of mines and withdrawal of government services from Wittenoom in the late 1980s.

Mr Bridge, a country-music singer and guitarist, was a pastoralist before entering politics, serving as minister under WA Labor leader's Brian Burke and Peter Dowding.

The Order of Australia member and Centenary Medal recipient was lauded for his commitment to Aboriginal affairs, and was well known for promoting the concept of piping water from the Kimberley to Perth via Kalgoorlie.

Federal resources minister Gary Gray said he was known as Mr Kimberley.

"Mr Bridge was a visionary who never stopped working for the people of the north," Mr Gray said.

He had a deep commitment to Aboriginal representation and I believe made a significant contribution to democracy and Aboriginal enfranchisement.

Former WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty told ABC radio on Monday that Mr Bridge was loved by both sides of politics, and recalled an occasion where he sang a song in parliament with guitar accompaniment to underline a point he was making.

Mr Bridge was a royal commissioner for an inquiry into a dark chapter in WA's history, the treatment of Aboriginal people by police at Skull Creek.

"That royal commission led to a significant change in the way in which policing of Aboriginal people was conducted across the length and breadth of the country," Mr McGinty said.

Federal opposition indigenous affairs spokesman Nigel Scullion described Mr Bridge as one of the nicest people in politics and life.

"Mr Bridge understood the importance of a job being the best way out of poverty," he said in a statement.

"His work on trailblazing employment and health and diabetes projects saw him regularly in the halls of Parliament House in Canberra advising ministers and gathering support for his hands-on work."

Senator Scullion gave his condolences to Mr Bridge's children, Kim, Noel, Cheryl and Beverly.

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Two found dead in Silverwater jail cell

Police are investigating the deaths of two prisoners at Sydney's Silverwater jail. Source: AAP

TWO prisoners have been found dead in a cell at Silverwater jail in Sydney's west.

The bodies of the two men were found at the jail's Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre during an inspection early on Monday.

A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said staff discovered the pair, aged 41 and 47, around 6.15am (AEDT) during the morning head count.

"A crime scene was established and the NSW Police Force immediately notified," she said in a statement.

A NSW Police spokeswoman told AAP that post-mortem examinations would help detectives establish the chain of events that led to the deaths.

An Ambulance Services of NSW dispatch report listed "cardiac or respiratory arrest" as the medical conditions of both deceased, Fairfax media reported.

The Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater is a maximum security facility housing about 900 male inmates who are awaiting their trials.

Investigators will prepare a report for the NSW Coroner.

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'Green'-tinted SUVs at Seoul Motor Show

GAS-GUZZLING 4WDs, eco-friendly electric cars and the odd brave attempt to marry the selling points of both are taking centre stage at the biennial Seoul Motor Show.

Carmakers including Hyundai, Toyota, GM, BMW, Volkswagen and Ford are taking part in the 10-day event, with nine models making their global debut as Seoul seeks to catch up with better-known Asian auto shows in Tokyo and Beijing.

Sports utility vehicles, including Toyota's fourth-generation RAV4, are still the fore, despite their heavy frames and high fuel consumption - long seen as challenges to luring drivers in Asia's congested cities.

French carmaker Renault gave an Asian debut to its new QM3 crossover - a downsized mix of 4WD and passenger car - at an elaborate celebration event.

The colourful orange vehicle, first unveiled at the recent Geneva Motor Show, will hit the market in the second half of this year, said Francois Provost, chief executive of Renault's South Korean unit.

Renault Samsung Motors is hoping the model will mark a "new beginning" for the firm, which has struggled with sagging sales in recent years, Provost says.

The company also flagged plans to start production of its electric sedan, SM3 ZE, at its plant in the southern city of Busan this year.

The SM3 ZE covers around 120 kilometres on a single charge with a top speed of 135 kilometres per hour.

US automaker General Motors gave an Asian premiere to the all-electric version of its Chevrolet Spark, heralding it as a "new benchmark" for urban electric vehicles.

Production of the electrically-powered hatchback began at the firm's plant in the southern city of Changwon earlier in March.

The car's 20-kWh lithium-ion battery can be recharged to 80 per cent of its capacity in 20 minutes, and its electric motor is capable of powering the car from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in about 9.0 seconds.

South Korea's top carmaker Hyundai Motor showed off its hydro fuel-cell Tucson 4WD model which started production in February at its plant in the southern city of Ulsan.

The car, which generates electricity using hydrogen and oxygen from the air, can travel much longer distances than battery-powered vehicles.

"We have achieved the feat of commercial production of hydrogen fuel cell cars for the first time in the world, ahead of nations like Germany, Japan and the US," Hyundai Motor CEO Kim Choong-Ho said.

Hyundai, which plans to sell 1,000 units globally by 2015, claims it is at least two years ahead of competitors like Honda or Toyota, who are developing their own hydro fuel-cell cars.

Infiniti, the luxury brand of Nissan, gave pride of place to its new electric sedan, LE Concept, best known for its wireless battery recharging system.

Although leading brands were developing electric models, the market for them still faced challenges, said one expert.

"Hybrid cars have firmly established themselves in the market, but electric cars still have a long, long way to go," Kim Pil-Su, an auto expert at South Korea's Daelim University, told a forum on the sidelines of the auto show.

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Six Qld doctors face criminal charges

SIX Queensland doctors have been referred to police and risk facing criminal charges over the harm or death of their patients.

Health minister Lawrence Springborg says up to 11 medical bungles had been attributed to one practitioner.

The potential police action was one of four recommendations in a report from top criminal law specialist and former crown prosecutor Jeffrey Hunter SC into allegations of medical malpractice by Queensland doctors.

That report was sparked by former medical board investigator turned whistleblower Jo Barber, who lifted the lid on the issue last year.

Mr Springborg says incidents in the report were from public and private hospitals and private clinics from across the state.

It will prompt law changes to alter the way medical malpractice claims are handled in the future, he says.

"Mr Hunter's findings highlight the need to strengthen control and responsiveness at the state level," he said in a statement.

Independent MP Peter Wellington referred Ms Barber's complaints to the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) in May last year.

Ms Barber claimed to have evidence of a doctor murdering a patient, manslaughter, and doctors with alcohol or drug addictions.

Mr Springborg has not revealed what the allegations referred to police entail.

However, he said it will be up to police whether charges are actually laid.

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Hopes fade for trapped miners in Tibet

HOPES are fast fading that Chinese search and rescue teams will find survivors two days after a huge landslide crashed down a Tibetan mountain, burying scores of mine workers.

Around 3,500 rescuers were searching for survivors and 300 pieces of large machinery had been mobilised, state media reported early on Sunday, with many workers said to be digging with their bare hands while battling snow and altitude sickness.

A total of 82 miners remain trapped after one body was found on Saturday, almost 36 hours after the massive landslide buried the workers under two million cubic metres of earth.

The disaster struck when a huge section of land tumbled onto a mine workers' camp in Maizhokunggar county, east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, on Friday morning.

The first body was found on Saturday afternoon.

"The rescuers are conducting an inch-by-inch search, but they still cannot locate the missing miners," said Wu Yingjie, deputy secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

Wu said that, given the scale of the disaster, the miners' survival chances were slim.

Xinhua, citing its reporters, said many workers were digging with their "bare hands" because damage to narrow local roads had kept much of the large-scale rescue machinery from getting to the site.

The chance of further landslides heightened safety concerns after cracks were reported on the mountain and others nearby.

Wu said a crack, measuring one metre wide and 15 metres long, had formed at the top of the mountain.

"The two rescue priorities for now are searching for the buried and preventing subsequent disasters," Wu said.

Teams using sniffer dogs and radar combed the mountainside Saturday, battling bad weather, altitude sickness and further landslides.

The disaster zone is located 4,600 metres above sea level.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

The victims worked for a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corporation (CNGC), a state-owned company and the nation's biggest gold miner by output.

According to the Chinese government, the mine produces copper as well as other metals.

Almost all those buried were Han Chinese, the national ethnic majority, with only two ethnic Tibetans, Xinhua said.

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Chinese tourists victims of crime in Paris

MASS muggings and attacks on Chinese tourists in Paris have spawned alarm and warnings of a decline in the number of free-spending visitors from the Asian giant who swarm to France.

More than one million Chinese visitors come every year to France, a country which for them epitomises luxury, romance and quality products.

But that may very well change, said one expert, citing a slew of recent attacks which he says takes the sheen off the "City of Lights" for Chinese visitors.

"This has become a scourge. Since the past year, we have been seeing attacks almost every day," said Jean-Francois Zhou, the head of Ansel Travel, which specialises in tours to and from China.

On March 20, a group of 23 Chinese visitors were robbed in a restaurant shortly after they landed in Paris's Charles De Gaulle airport.

Their passports, plane tickets and cash were stolen and the group leader sustained an injury to the face.

"The situation is serious. If these attacks continue, we may have to pay the price," Zhou told AFP.

He said about 10 Chinese visitors were robbed on one day in October, mainly in the famed Louvre museum, right in the heart of the city.

And in February, "a minibus caught in a traffic jam was attacked, its windows were smashed and hand bags stolen", he said, adding there was a more recent attack on Chinese nationals at a four-star hotel in Paris.

Li Peng, who is in charge of consular affairs at the Chinese embassy in Paris, said: "There has been an increase in the number of complaints filed over the past year.

"In a week we could have five to six demands for travel documents" to replace stolen passports, Li said.

French Tourism Minister Sylvia Pinel has pledged that "everything will be done to find the perpetrators" of the latest mass mugging, and underscored "the determination of the French government to ensure the security of tourists in France".

Zhou, the travel agency boss, said the Chinese were targeted as they were big spenders, adding: "Some of them carry up to 20,000 euros ($25,000) for shopping."

The latest incident has fuelled concern and some anti-French feeling on China's talkative social media scene, but several Chinese travel agencies declined to comment to AFP on the possible consequences.

One municipal travel committee in China's Jiangsu province urged travellers to take precautions.

"Chinese tourists who travel abroad are recommended to take less cash, never show off money or valuables, never talk to strangers in public places or scenic spots, always keep an eye on personal belongings," it said on its weibo account, a Chinese website similar to Twitter.

They should "take proper care of valuable items including passports" and "avoid going outside alone at night or in any remote places", it added.

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