NSW firefighters baffled by eternal flame

A MYSTERIOUS fire which has been burning for months under a dry lake in far-western NSW is seemingly thwarting attempts to put it out.

Drivers have reported seeing smoke along a lakebed outside Wilcannia and firefighters, who put the fire out on an almost-weekly basis, are fed up with the eternal flame.

"We thought we had it out about a month ago and just in the last couple of days with some wind, it's popped back up," incident controller Chris Favelle told AAP.

Mr Favelle says he suspects organic material is fuelling the fire.

"There's a little bit of water way out in the middle but it's basically dry, and along the edge, which would have once been the shore 1000 years ago, there's a build-up of organic matter, like sticks and leaves, a bit like peat."

The peat-like matter can burn for a long time but what's baffling the Rural Fire Service is the way the fire dodges all attempts at snuffing it out.

"They get called once a day to put this fire out and they get there and there's nothing," he said.

"We've tried all sorts of things. We've tried flooding the area, we've tried digging it up, we've tried putting trenches around it, all to no avail - it keeps sneaking around our attempts to stop it."

He said there is no threat to the community from the fire, which is in a bare area.

Firefighters estimate it might cover a hectare underground but say they have no real way of knowing the exact size of the fire.

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Posthumous award for slain policeman

SLAIN policeman Bryson Anderson has been honoured with a posthumous valour award as the community he wholeheartedly embraced in life returned that embrace in death.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione presented the award to his widow Donna at the funeral service for the 45-year-old father of three, who was knifed last week while trying to calm a neighbourhood dispute over a bird cage.

Commissioner Scipione said the murdered policeman had shown exceptional bravery, going "without hesitation" to the aid of a fellow officer after being stabbed.

"He evinced the highest standards of the NSW police force," Commissioner Scipione told 2000 mourners, half of them uniformed police, at St Patrick's cathedral in Parramatta as the community turned out on Wednesday in a massive show of respect, gratitude and affection.

Commissioner Scipione also presented a second award, the National Police Service Medal, recognising the slain policeman's ethical and diligent service in protecting the community.

His widow Donna said her husband, whose father and brother were also policemen, embraced police life.

"He got the sense of family," she said.

"They say there will never be a day like this for another 1000 years, and I pray for the sake of my family and the police community there won't."

Commissioner Scipione said law and order came at a sometimes prohibitive price.

"As a society we need to rise up to repudiate violence, however and wherever we can, with all the energy we can muster," he said.

"We will continue to protect and serve the community as Bryson did. Of that he can be sure."

He said Bryson loved the Hawkesbury area, where he lived and worked most of his adult life, and innumerable local people loved him in return.

"His personnel file is full to overflowing with complimentary remarks and letters of appreciation, many from the community and victims of crime," he said.

He was a tenacious officer, driven to pursue offenders for the darkest and most serious of crimes, yet he retained extraordinary empathy and compassion.

"He lived for the community, died serving it and deserved much better," he said.

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Retail struggling due to rising costs

THE Australian retail sector continues to struggle due to declining profit margins and skyrocketing costs, a report says.

Tax and advisory firm BDO Spend Trend Report examined 18 ASX listed retailers and found that while turnover and margins remained fairly flat, expenses were soaring as a percentage of sales.

This has resulted in a drop in net-profit margins of 70 per cent over the past three years.

BDO partner John Bresolin said retailers continued to have high fixed costs such as salaries and rent combined with asset write downs and an increasing amount spent on marketing.

"The major increase was as a result of marketing and selling expenses which, when expressed as a percentage of sales, increased by 70 per cent over the three year period," he said.

"So while looking to keep employee and rental costs under control, marketing spend has increased significantly as retailers compete for market share, which has significantly impacted retailers' profits, given the relatively flat revenue levels."

Supermarket giants Wesfarmers and Woolworths have withstood economic pressures better than speciality retailers as consumers needed to buy food and petrol.

"However, specialty retailers have suffered far more due to the discretionary nature of their business," Mr Bresolin said.

"While people will always need to buy groceries, alcohol and fuel, occasional high-value discretionary purchases like televisions, whitegoods and fashion items can either slip off their shopping list or can be more easily sourced through the multitude of overseas websites, invariably at a significant discount."

BDO's head of retail Simon Scalzo said Australian household spending was increasing despite the difficult economic environment which reinforced his view that consumers were spending their money overseas.

He said the high Australian dollar had also made shopping on overseas websites and international travel more attractive.

"In addition to the increasing ease and convenience of online shopping, the high Australian dollar has also played a critical role in the decline of Australian revenue levels," he said.

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Parole breaker on revenge mission: police

Police believe parolee on the run Jason Herbert is on a vengeance mission against two WA officers. Source: AAP

AFTER breaking his parole twice this year, armed robber Jason Robert Herbert is on the run and believed to be hunting two policemen he blames for the death of his brother.

Police fear Herbert, 40, is heading from NSW to Western Australia to seek revenge on the two officers.

In 2009, his brother Troy Matthew Herbert took a large dose of methamphetamine and was killed on his motorbike as he tried to outrun the officers in Perth.

The two are being offered protection, while Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin has ordered an urgent inquiry into Herbert's disappearance.

He had previously been released in April but was returned to jail in July when he broke his parole conditions by failing to report to his parole officer, a corrective services spokeswoman told AAP.

Released for a second time on November 28, Herbert had served 11 years of a 15-year-sentence for grievous bodily harm and armed robbery.

He escaped from his Newcastle lodgings over the weekend and was last seen at 2am (AEDT) on Saturday near the Pacific Highway at Hexham.

He was wearing an electronic monitoring device on his leg and is understood to have simply cut it off.

His mother Ruth appeared on the Seven Network on Tuesday, tearfully appealing for him to contact her and give himself up.

"Do the right thing, don't do anything stupid, I beg you," she said.

The West Australian newspaper reported her saying her son would be coming home to pay his respects to Troy, with whom he was very close.

"I have read Jason is armed and dangerous. He would be dangerous to police. He would not be dangerous to me or his friends," she said.

Mrs Herbert said she feared for her son's safety.

"If Jason is cornered it might be shoot first, ask questions later," she said.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson said it was alarming someone could cut off their security bracelet, and noted there had been a number of failures of such devices.

"The O'Farrell government is failing to do the job properly and protect the community," he told ABC Radio.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said his anger was directed at the parole board for freeing Herbert.

"What I'm unhappy about today ... is why the hell this bloke was given parole," Mr O'Farrell told reporters in Sydney.

"What I want to look at first is why he was allowed to have access to this technology by a parole board whose parole he'd broken earlier this year.

"He's described today as a dangerous prisoner by the very same people who gave him parole, that's what I'm angry about."

Police say Herbert is of Caucasian appearance and between 185cm to 190cm tall, with a medium build, hazel eyes and short brown hair.

He is considered dangerous and should not be approached.

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Adelaide Fringe 2013 program launched

AFTER 52 Fringe festivals, Adelaide still lets anyone and everyone perform anywhere from a big theatre to a pub, a derelict building and even a caravan.

"I have not curated it. It's still total open access, and anyone can be in the fringe at all," says third-time Adelaide Fringe director Greg Clarke of the 2013 offerings.

The program is packed with 930 events at 350 venues in shows including cabaret, circus and physical theatre, comedy and dance.

Clarke says one highlight for him is Circolombia, featuring performers from the Colombian national circus school in a street setting with a pounding reggaeton soundtrack.

Then there's Ireland's "really funny" Ponydance with its "disco-infused time warp", and Leo, a mind-bending, surreal physical theatre from Berlin where a man is left in a room with nothing but a small suitcase.

Speaking of small, Clarke says one of the more unusual acts is Life in Miniature, performed by a WA dance company inside a caravan to an audience of five people at a time.

It depicts the lives of two unknown travellers.

Another favourite for Clarke is Uta Uber Kool Ja which he says is set in a hotel room where the performer is in bed and thinks everyone is a celebrity.

He also raves about a UK rapper who asks everyone to empty the contents of their bags or pockets before he improvises about what he sees.

The Adelaide Fringe will run for four weeks from February 15, culminating in a closing-night concert that will feature Peter Murray, The Whitlams and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

"We have been doing this for 52 years and we have many regulars," he says.

Comedians will include Ruby Wax, Wil Anderson, Jimeoin, Judith Lucy and Paul McDermott, a Fringe ambassador who donned table tennis gear at last week's launch.

Ping Pong Madness will be run on two Saturday afternoons at a local pub, with at least six tables in operation and participants expected to dress as a table tennis pros.

Clarke says the organisers would never censor anything at the festival.

"A show would only get closed down if it broke the law," he adds.

The program can be viewed at adelaidefringe.com.au.

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WA taxi driver's rape appeal thrown out

A Perth taxi driver has failed in an appeal against his conviction for raping a female passenger. Source: AAP

A TAXI driver who raped a drunken hen's night passenger has failed to have his conviction quashed.

Amrit Pal Singh, 32, was found guilty by a District Court jury in Perth in February of one count of sexual penetration without consent.

He maintained the sex he had with the 25-year-old woman in his cab a year earlier was consensual but was convicted and sentenced to six years jail.

Singh attempted to have the conviction quashed on the grounds Judge Gillian Braddock erred in her directions to the jury.

But in a unanimous decision on Tuesday, his appeal was thrown out by the WA Court of Appeal.

The jury in Singh's trial heard his passenger had been very drunk after attending a hen's party in the afternoon and was refused entry to a nightclub in the inner north suburb of Leederville.

She got into his taxi to go home but he left the freeway and took her to a car park near bushland where he had sex with her.

Singh then drove the woman home, where her husband helped her inside and paid the $60 fare.

The woman complained to police the next day after waking up and recalling part of what had happened.

In sentencing Singh, Judge Braddock said his actions were opportunistic and for his own sexual gratification. She said he had not worn a condom, meaning the woman had to be screened for sexual diseases.

"Your conduct may cause some women to fear taking a taxi home when they need to," she said.

The judge also said Singh's crime could tarnish the reputations of all honest taxi drivers in Western Australia.

She said Singh, who arrived in Australia from India in 2006, had failed to show remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.

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Fire changes useless if budget cut: union

THE Victorian government's changes to disaster management will mean little if fire services have their budgets cut, the firefighters' union says.

United Firefighters Union spokesman Mick Tisbury says the state government's decision to strip $41 million from the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and $25 million from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) is already affecting frontline services.

"Last Saturday, probably the first taste of the type of bushfire season we're going to have ... yet Greenvale fire station is shut down, Hallam fire station is shut down," he told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.

"You've got million dollar pieces of equipment sitting there rusting away."

Mr Tisbury said the state government's decision to create a new body, Emergency Management Victoria, was just "smoke and mirrors".

"This is just moving the deck chairs, trying to cover from the fact that the state government has ripped $66 million out of the budget - that's going to cost lives," he said.

Emergency Services Minister Peter Ryan described the union's claim as "alarmist and unnecessarily so".

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Southern Cross shares fall 5.8%

Shares in Southern Cross Media Group have tumbled 5.8 per cent following the royal prank scandal. Source: AAP

SOUTHERN Cross Media Group shares have tumbled to a near five-week low amid a backlash over 2DayFM's Duchess of Cambridge prank hospital call.

The owner of the Sydney radio station suspended advertising on 2DayFM until Wednesday as it faced public anger over the apparent suicide of the London nurse who took the call from DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian.

Southern Cross shares sank as much as eight per cent in early trade before closing 6.5 cents, or 5.88 per cent, lower at $1.04.

It was the stock's lowest close since November 6 when it finished at $1.03.

The advertising suspension came after major retailer Coles and telco giant Telstra pulled their ads from 2DayFM at the weekend after news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha.

While some market watchers estimated the decision to suspend advertising could cost Southern Cross at least $500,000, CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael McCarthy said the company's bottom line would be largely unaffected by the backlash over the incident.

"The overall impact on revenue for Southern Cross Austereo has been grossly exaggerated by today's selloff in the shares," Mr McCarthy said on Monday.

"As we saw earlier in the year with other notable radio stuff-ups, there was a short period of sponsors walking away before new sponsors and old sponsors came running back because they will still maintain audience."

The two 2DayFM DJs last week called the King Edward VII Hospital posing as the Queen and Prince Charles and obtained private information about Prince William's wife, Catherine.

Ms Saldanha, who apparently took her own life on Friday, took the initial call from the DJs and transferred them to another nurse.

Her colleague then unwittingly passed on details of Catherine's condition to the DJs.

Southern Cross held an emergency board meeting on Sunday and said it would cooperate with any investigations.

Southern Cross chief executive Rhys Holleran said the station tried at least five times to contact the hospital to discuss the pre-recorded prank before it went to air.

He said the company was deeply saddened by what had happened and was committed to helping any authorities wanting to investigate the matter.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the media regulator ACMA was considering whether to initiate its own inquiry, beyond the usual process of giving broadcasters the opportunity to respond to complainants.

But Mr Holleran said he did not believe any ACMA codes governing radio broadcasts had been breached or that the station's licence was in jeopardy.

RBS Morgans Ipswich Tony Russell said he expected the impact of Ms Saldanha's death on 2DayFM would be short-lived.

"It won't be a long-term problem at all," Mr Russell said.

"After a bit of time things will resume back to where they were."

Southern Cross' metropolitan radio stations had revenue of $273.6 million in 2011/12.

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Swan chides Pyne, defends surplus target

Treasurer Wayne Swan has labelled the coalition "delusional" over their budget surplus claims. Source: AAP

THE federal government has hit out at a senior Liberal MP for suggesting the global financial crisis (GFC) would not have had a budget impact under a coalition government, describing the remarks as "delusional" and "lunacy".

Treasurer Wayne Swan again on Monday defended his commitment to a $1.1 billion surplus in 2012/13, after opposition front bencher Christopher Pyne suggested the coalition would have kept the budget in the black over the past five years if it had been in power.

"I think most people accept that we would have had continuing surpluses," Mr Pyne told Sky News.

Mr Pyne later backtracked, telling Fairfax Media not to take his remarks "too literally" because he only trying to make the point the coalition was better at economic management than Labor.

Even so, Mr Swan said the education spokesman was pretending the dramatic financial and economic fallout from 2008-2009 crisis never happened.

"These people are delusional," he told reporters in Brisbane.

Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury described it as a "staggeringly ridiculous" piece of commentary and "economic lunacy" from an opposition MP.

However, business groups continue to question whether the government should be so determined to return a surplus when the latest official figures show the economy has slowed after a robust start to the 2012 calendar year.

Of concern is that government fiscal measures, such as more spending cuts, could create further drag on national gross domestic product (GDP).

"Given an outlook of slowing GDP growth, the budget bottom line should be under pressure, and taking policy actions to counter that pressure makes no sense as it will make worse the deterioration in economic growth," chief economist at capital markets specialist Laminar Group Stephen Roberts told AAP.

He called on MPs to ditch the "political nonsense".

"Politicians on both sides are showing no understanding of the basics of budgetary policy 101," Mr Roberts said.

Instead, the so-called automatic stabilisers of easier budget policy should be allowed free rein.

He argued this would be unlikely to cause a negative reaction from investors or credit rating agencies because Australia's net debt level was one of the lowest in the world.

Mr Swan said returning a surplus now was the right thing to do, although he agreed it was now more of a challenge because falling commodity prices and consumer caution were denting government revenues.

He rejected suggestions the budget could remain in deficit.

"I don't deal with hypothetical situations," Mr Swan said.

Mr Abbott said the government was "crab walking away" from its commitment to surplus.

"A coalition government gets the budget into surplus, it pays down debt, it produces assets," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

"That is the kind of good economic management which provides the kind of social dividend which Australia came to enjoy under the Howard government."

Meanwhile, new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Monday showed demand for home loans grew by a meagre 0.1 per cent in October - well below the three per cent growth expected.

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Barnett backs Buswell amid more headlines

WA Premier Colin Barnett has again been forced to defend senior minister Troy Buswell (Pic). Source: AAP

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has again been forced to defend senior minister Troy Buswell, after more lurid headlines regarding alleged drunken behaviour from the state's treasurer.

Perth's Sunday Times has detailed claims that Mr Buswell "dry-humped" a prominent Perth businessman during a private function last year, in an incident confirmed by his former partner and Independent MP Adele Carles.

It's the latest embarrassment for Mr Buswell, who was forced to resign as treasurer in 2010, having previously stood down as WA Liberal leader in 2008 following the infamous "chair sniffing" scandal.

Mr Barnett said he was "disappointed" by the latest story and admitted Mr Buswell "lived life on the edge", but he would not consider sacking him.

"I am disappointed in the story that appeared this morning. It was a private event and it happened over a year ago," the premier said.

"The people who were there are disputing that account of what happened.

"Can I say to the media: give the guy a chance. How much scrutiny does there need to be on one individual's life in every respect? By all means judge them on what they say and do, but enough is enough."

The report in The Sunday Times says Mr Buswell was socialising at a party last December with a group of businessmen including Nicholas Kailis, managing director of Kailis Bros, one of Australia's largest seafood companies.

Ms Carles describes in the newspaper how Mr Buswell allegedly "dry-humped" Mr Kailis while moaning in mock sexual pleasure, with the businessman retaliating to force Mr Buswell to get off him.

Mr Buswell was said to have had his glasses bent in the tussle.

Contacted for comment on Sunday, Mr Buswell's spokesman said he denied Ms Carles' version of events.

And the premier said there should be a limit on what he called a "relentless" pursuit of Mr Buswell.

"Troy carries a heavy responsibility as treasurer and minister for transport. He works hard and I have great respect for the work he does," Mr Barnett said.

"Occasionally what happens in his private life detracts from that, and that is unfortunate from his point of view.

"But I believe the level of public and media scrutiny of Troy has now gone too far, and I would say to people back off a little bit and let him perform to his true capacity."

The opposition said the premier should sack Mr Buswell.

"If today's reports are anywhere near accurate, the premier has no choice but to sack Mr Buswell," said Sue Ellery, Labor's leader in the Legislative Council.

"The premier talks a lot about standards, but he seems to endorse the lowest of standards from his cabinet.

"A key question is did Premier Barnett know about this indiscretion prior to him promoting him back to treasurer?"

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