Fire at Vic car firm

A FIRE has destroyed a number of imported cars in Melbourne.

The blaze at a high-performance car importer in Clayton South burned four modified Nissans, but two large 'Mr T-style' vans got away with just some smoke damage.

The fire at Auto Project caused $500,000 damage on Sunday, with fire investigators unable to immediately determine the cause.

Firefighters got the Fairbank Rd fire under control within 30 minutes.

A large quantity of oils and lubricants helped fuel the blaze but firefighters managed to stop the flames reaching a bank of acetylene cylinders.

Mr T's character B.A. Baracus drove a large, black GMC van in the 1980s tv series 'The A-Team'.

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Lufthansa pilots to strike

Lufthansa pilots have overwhelmingly voted to go on strike for better pay and conditions. Source: AAP

AN overwhelming 97 per cent of Lufthansa pilots have voted to go on strike for higher pay and better benefits, their union says, after counting ballots.

Major travel disruptions are expected in the coming weeks on Lufthansa flights and the company's budget airline, Germanwings, but no date for the stoppages has yet been set by the so-called Cockpit Union (VC).

The union will announce any stoppage 48 hours in advance, union spokeswoman Ilona Ritter said on Friday at Frankfurt international airport, where Lufthansa has its headquarters.

She said that VC would exempt the busy April 11-21 Easter vacation from strikes, provided Lufthansa was not "aggressive" towards the union.

The strikes will not affect Lufthansa's subsidiaries Swiss and Austrian Airlines, which have separate labour contracts.

The airline group, which is Europe's biggest, is in on a drive to cut labour costs so it can compete with Gulf-based long-haul carriers and a raft of cheap and cheerful carriers on European routes.

Lufthansa urged the union to resume negotiations, but said it had no concessions to make.

The group's 5400 pilots are demanding pay hikes and a revival of a deal that allowed them to retire at 55 with up to 60 per cent of their last pay. Currently, the average pilot's retirement age is 59.

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Reasonable chance of finding plane: RAAF

Three planes have left Perth to continue the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Source: AAP

THERE is a reasonable chance of finding something in the Indian Ocean in the search for the missing Malaysian Airline plane MH370, Royal Australian Air Force group captain Craig Heap says.

Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said from Perth's north on Saturday afternoon the Australian search effort had so far covered some 500,000 square kilometres.

There had been no finds of note since some large debris was defined last week, he told a large international media contingent at the RAAF Pearce air base.

Mr Truss said there had already been 15 sorties from the base, mainly Australian and New Zealand Orion aircraft.

US and civilian aircraft are also involved, and will be joined by two Chinese aircraft that arrive in Perth on Saturday afternoon to begin searching on Sunday.

Japanese aircraft will take part on Monday, and several vessels from around the world are en route to Western Australia to assist.

HMAS Success is also expected to reach the search area later on Saturday.

"This search is an intensive operation," Mr Truss said.

"While these aircraft are equipped with very advanced technology, much of this search is actually visual."

Mr Truss said the search for debris would keep going as long as there was hope.

"It is important from the perspective of those who have families, whose whereabouts are unknown ... and indeed for the future of the aviation industry, that we do whatever we can to firstly confirm whether or not the sightings as a result of the satellite imagery are indeed connected in any way with the Malaysia Airlines flight," he said.

"And then if so, what can be recovered so we can learn more about what has happened on this flight and learn any lessons that are necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again."

He said the debris was the most promising lead so far and he was confident it could be found.

"There's a reasonable chance of finding something," Capt Heap said.

Capt Heap said no aircraft or vessels had been sent from Malaysia to help with the Indian Ocean search, but it had sent military personnel to Pearce to act as liaison officers.

"They have other search areas where they are concentrating their efforts, in their own waters and nearby," Mr Truss said.

He said contact was being made with Malaysian authorities every few hours.

Mr Truss said two longer-range aircraft being deployed this weekend had intercontinental capability and would be able to comb the search area for five hours at a time, compared to the 2-3 hours that military aircraft had been able to achieve over the past two days.

The search area had been adjusted to account for drift, he said.

Weather conditions were much improved and would be for the foreseeable future.

"If there's something there to be found, I'm confident that this search effort will locate it," Mr Truss said.

And Australian authorities would do its utmost to keep the public informed.

"These families .... they're anxious for information," Mr Truss said.

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Area of Vic mine fire declared safe

IT'S taken 40 days but the Victorian coalmine fire that smoked out a nearby town is just about over.

The northern walls of the Hazelwood open-cut mine, the critical area of the fire closest to Morwell, are now safe.

But firefighters warned some hot spots could develop into bigger fires if they weren't contained.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the northern fire had put most of the smoke and ash over the town.

"This is excellent progress and has been achieved by firefighters working 24 hours a day for over five weeks to finally secure the northern batters," Mr Lapsley said on Friday.

Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said possible breaches of fire safety laws at the mine would be examined in an independent inquiry headed by former Supreme Court justice Bernard Teague.

He will be supported by Professor John Catford, a former Victorian chief health officer, and Sonia Petering, a corporate lawyer and chairwoman of the Rural Finance Corporation of Victoria.

Mr Ryan said he expected the board would "extensively" examine mine owner GDF Suez as well as the government's response to the blaze.

"I think it's very important we go into this inquiry on a basis that anything and everything ought properly be on the table and those issues I'm sure will be the subject of close examination," he told reporters on Friday.

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said the inquiry's hearings needed to be open to the public so people could have confidence in the final report.

Control of the 1.5km northern area of the mine has been handed back to GDF Suez, but fire services will continue to work on other sections until they are deemed safe.

Firefighters have also checked a fire dubbed "Old Faithful" that's been smouldering in an area of the mine for years, possibly since 1977.

Mr Lapsley said the "fire scar" will continue to be managed by GDF Suez by using a clay cap to block its oxygen supply.

The Hazelwood mine fire began on February 9 when a deliberately lit fire spotted into the mine.

It was brought under control on March 10.

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Solar industry ads to 'save' 8000 jobs

AN anti-mining tax-style ad campaign will target the West Australian Senate election in a bid to save 8000 jobs in the solar industry.

The creative team, Lawrence Creative Strategy, behind the ads that saved mining companies billions of dollars in tax has designed the solar campaign.

The Australian Solar Council has warned more than 8000 jobs would be lost immediately if the Renewable Energy Target were removed.

The federal government has announced a review of the target, but the review panel has not called for submissions.

Solar Council chief executive John Grimes said the gold rush days of solar were over, but there was a viable industry coming through.

He said the ad campaign would target the WA Senate election before going national.

The Solar Council estimates more than 150,000 homes in WA have rooftop solar panels installed.

Clean Energy Council policy manager Darren Gladman said the review was "a big worry for the whole industry".

Solar panel installations have dropped from a peak of 30,000 a month in 2011 to fewer than 5000 a month so far in 2014.

But Mr Gladman said the price of panels had dropped enough that the industry was getting closer to being viable.

He said the industry was focusing on selling solar to businesses trying to reduce their power bills.

A spokeswoman for Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said the process for calling for submissions was being finalised.

"That process will be made public when it's ready to go," she told AAP.

The review is due to report in the middle of the year.

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Long road to secure $8b for Roy Hill

IT'S been a long road for billionaire Gina Rinehart to secure the money for her $US10 billion Roy Hill iron ore project.

Almost four years after the crucial rail component of the project was approved, Ms Rinehart has proved her naysayers wrong as she fulfils a long-held dream of running her own mine.

The Hancock Prospecting chairman shored up a massive $8 billion debt funding package in Singapore overnight after months of talking to investment bankers.

Clinching the deal is a massive win for Ms Rinehart, but it has come later than planned.

While construction of the Pilbara mine, rail and port project is now 30 per cent complete, steel-making customers in China, Japan and Korea will still have to wait 18 months until shipments begin arriving.

Back in 2012, when Hancock prospecting sold down a 30 per cent stake in the project, the company was predicting production would begin in 2014.

It now expects to begin shipping 55 million tonnes per year in September 2015.

Still, analysts, industry commentators and the WA government have congratulated Roy Hill on the agreement at a time of lower iron ore prices and warnings about an oversupply in China, the world's biggest iron ore market.

Some analysts warn that a forecast oversupply of seaborne iron ore, stringent environmental rules affecting steelmaking in China and worries about financing large construction projects could cause further iron ore price weakness.

But Roy Hill's financiers are banking on China's continued appetite for the steel making ingredient as high quality, low cost Pilbara iron ore replaces lower quality, high cost Chinese production in the years ahead.

Iron ore prices have fallen from around $US130 per tonne at the start of the year to trade at $US110 per tonne this week.

Some analysts believe the price will fall to around $US80 or $US90 in 2016-18.

Still, Roy Hill Chief executive Barry Fitzgerald has cast aside concerns about medium-term price volatility, saying the company is comfortable with long-run iron ore forecasts.

He said Roy Hill was in a favourable position following a dramatic turnaround in the local labour market.

Shortly after inking the 10-year funding package Ms Rinehart began trumpeting the economic benefits to Australia in the midst of global economic uncertainty.

"We look forward to becoming a major iron ore producer on an international scale," Ms Rinehart said.

Ms Rinehart says the 2500 people working on the constructing the project will increase to 3600 later this year before 2000 permanent staff are employed during the operations.

Hancock Prospecting owns a 70 per cent stake in Roy Hill Holdings and the remaining 30 per cent is controlled by Posco, Japanese trader Marubeni, Taiwan's China Steel Corporation and Korean Shipper STX.

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Post-election manufacturing bounce fades

THE post-federal election bounce enjoyed by the manufacturing sector already appears to be running out of steam.

Coinciding with a series of high-profile job loss announcements, confidence in manufacturing fell sharply in the first three months of 2014.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI)-Westpac industrial trend survey also shows actual conditions declined during the quarter.

ACCI acting chief economist Burchell Wilson said the result was a "little bit disturbing".

"If actual conditions continue to disappoint expectations, we may see a further correction in the year ahead," he warned reporters in Canberra.

The survey's composite index dropped 5.4 points to 50.9 in the March quarter after spiking in the final three months of 2013, after the September election.

Future expectations for the index tumbled from 60.3 points to just 51.6 points.

However, Westpac senior economist Andrew Hanlan drew some positives from the report, saying the actual composite index held above 50 points for two consecutive quarters for the first time since early 2011, indicating the sector is still expanding.

Export orders posted their best result since 2010/11 and investment also improved.

But most encouraging was the survey's labour index remaining positive for a second quarter in a row and coming off nine consecutive negative quarters.

"It definitely does suggest that employment growth has turned the corner," Mr Hanlan told reporters.

Separate data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows manufacturing jobs grew by 13,900 in the three months to February to 949,700, building on the recovery from 911,500 in in the three months to August, which was the lowest level since the survey began in 1984.

At the other end of the scale, retail jobs declined by 31,800 between September and November.

Retailers want the issue of the GST threshold on foreign goods to be resolved as soon as possible to prevent more jobs being sent offshore.

The ruling that has existed for more than a decade exempts the 10 per cent GST on overseas-bought goods valued at less than $1000.

Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) chief executive Margy Osmond wants the exemption lowered to $20 to bring it in line with Canada's consumption tax ruling.

In the UK, the threshold is STG15 ($A27.57).

"This is about closing a tax loophole from a time when nobody shopped online," Ms Osmond told reporters in Canberra following a two-day retail leaders forum.

Federal, state and territory treasurers will discuss the issue again when they are expected to meet next Friday, although South Australia's treasurer is still unknown after last weekend's state election.

The ANRA also wants state treasurers to bring some uniformity to trading hours across the nation.

"These laws were written when horses and carriages were around and we need to catch up," chairman John Gillam said.

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NDIS Agency like half-finished plane

THE federal government has been told the timetable for rolling out the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) needs to be reassessed.

An independent review of the NDIS agency warns that including 300,000 people in the landmark scheme from 2017-2018 is a massive task that would put pressures on the organisation and available workforce in the disability sector.

"A realistic reassessment of these plans should be done soon rather than later," the review's expert panel said.

The panel was also critical of the Gillard government's decision to rush the scheme into operation, a year ahead of the date recommended by the Productivity Commission.

As well the decision to move the agency's headquarters to Geelong from Canberra diverted valuable resources.

"The agency is like a plane that took off before it had been fully built and is being completed while it is in the air," the panel said in a report released by the government on Thursday.

It described as "very, very difficult" the agency's timetable to meet a challenging role, warning any pressure to move faster may compromise its ability to successfully roll out the scheme.

"The focus should be on quality not time," it said.

Assistant Social Services Minister Mitch Fifield said the review's findings were both inspiring and sobering.

"Inspiring, because several thousand Australians with disability are now getting the better deal they deserve," he said in a statement.

Senator Fifield praised the "herculean" effort of agency staff in rolling out the scheme to trial states since July 2013.

The sobering aspect related to the impact the rushed start had on the agency's key capabilities to deliver a full roll-out of the scheme.

The review is likely to provide the government with ammunition to revise the roll-out timetable, a move previously flagged by Senator Fifield.

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Cootes granted NSW govt reprieve

EMBATTLED trucking company Cootes Transport has been granted a reprieve, with the NSW government allowing the firm to continue driving on the state's roads.

Cootes came under scrutiny after one of its fuel tankers was involved in a double fatality in Sydney's north in October 2013.

Compliance checks and an audit of the truck's fleet uncovered hundreds of defects, including faulty brakes, loose brackets and oil and fluid leaks.

NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay put Cootes on notice earlier this month.

Cootes were asked to show cause within two weeks as to why it should not be banned from operating on NSW roads.

Mr Gay said the company had provided an action plan, including decommissioning 50 older trucks.

Cootes has pledged to purchase or bring in new prime movers to join its NSW fleet and review maintenance processes.

Mr Gay said the commitment meant Cootes would be allowed to continue operations in NSW "for the time being".

"I am encouraged to know the company has taken sensible action to address the issues," he said.

"But it is not a time to be complacent.

"The company is aware that should compliance issues continue to be detected, action will be reinstated to ensure the safety of all road users."

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Audit needs to be debated: Shepherd

THE chair of the federal government's commission of audit believes time should be allowed to debate its findings and recommendations.

The audit's interim report into the workings of government and its spending was handed to government in mid-February, and is due make its final report at the end of March.

It recommendations will help form Treasurer Joe Hockey's first budget on May 13.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the reports will be made public at the appropriate time.

The audit's head, Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd, says publishing the reports is a good idea.

"You need to explain to the community what is the need ... and I am sure that will be part of the process," he told Sky News on Wednesday.

He said that in his experience Australian people would accept reform but they needed to know what the issues were and whether the solutions were equitable or required.

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