Mundine racism row takes new turn

THE war of words between outspoken boxer Anthony Mundine and Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell has taken another twist, with the pair now seeming to agree that government benefits for people claiming indigenous heritage should be tightened.

Mr Mansell said he accepted Mundine's apology for comments he made about Tasmanian-born Aboriginal boxer Daniel Geale, whom he is due to fight in January for the IBF middleweight title.

In his original comments on Thursday this week, Mundine questioned Geale's Aboriginal heritage, saying: "I thought they wiped all the Aborigines from Tasmania out" and "I don't see (Geale) representing us black people or coloured people. I don't see him out in the community doing what I do with people.

"He's got a white woman, white kids."

On Friday, Mundine apologised for his comments, saying Australia was one of the most racist countries in the world.

He said there should be a government-enforced cut-off point for Aboriginality, arguing for a scaling system where first-generation Aborigines receive more assistance than those with distant Aboriginal heritage.

Mr Mansell said Mundine's apology was shallow and he hadn't "quite got it yet."

A day later, the Aboriginal leader issued a statement saying he had decided to accept Mundine's apology, noting not everything Mundine said about identity was wrong.

Mr Mansell said the number of people claiming to be indigenous in Tasmania had swollen from 10,000 20 years ago to nearly 20,000.

"There are many white Tasmanians who claim to be Aboriginal because of rumour or because they 'feel different,'" Mr Mansell said in a statement.

Schools and state governments got extra Commonwealth funding for "every child that ticks the box on indigenous" and "the financial incentive for attracting public funding in education largely explains why the numbers have doubled in such a short time", he said.

"The processes for authenticating the real from the fanciful are so loose that in reality, anyone can legally claim to be indigenous and be accepted by the federal departments without question."

Mr Mansell said he was concerned about people discovering a distant Aboriginal ancestor then using that information to claim to be Aboriginal, despite culturally and socially living the life of a white person.

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Driver menaces Lib volunteer at poll booth

A CAR has allegedly run down a Liberal candidate's election sign at a Canberra polling booth and forced a party volunteer to leap out of the way.

ACT police are investigating after a white Subaru mounted the kerb outside Stirling College and ran into the campaign sign of ACT election candidate Steve Doszpot around 9.30am (AEST) on Saturday.

A Liberal party campaign spokeswoman said the driver then sped up and drove directly at a table where a female volunteer was sitting, forcing her to leap back and run to avoid being hit.

"The volunteer was forced to run on a painful leg that they have not used for a month, before the car swerved at the last moment," she said.

The driver of the car yelled abuse at the volunteer, the spokeswoman said.

She said formal complaints had been made to the police.

A police spokesman confirmed authorities were looking into a "traffic complaint".

He said no one was injured in the incident.

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Evangelist Billy Graham backs Romney

EVANGELICAL leader Billy Graham has urged Americans to "vote for biblical values", in an implicit endorsement of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, a Mormon.

The message of support came on Thursday after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed an article on its website that had said Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unification Church and Scientologists belong to "cults".

In a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, Graham, who turns 94 the day after the November 6 election, said the upcoming vote could be his last.

"I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel," the founder of the stadium-filling Billy Graham Crusades sermons said.

"I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman," he added.

"Vote for biblical values this November 6 and pray with me that American will remain one nation under God."

Graham's ad came a week to the day after Romney - a practising Mormon who opposes abortion, rejects same-sex marriage and favours strong US-Israel ties - met the influential evangelist in North Carolina to woo his support.

His organisation was coy about the removal of the anti-Mormon article.

"We removed the information from the website because we do not wish to participate in a theological debate about something that has become politicised during this campaign," Graham's chief of staff Ken Barun said.

If elected, Romney would be the first US president from the Mormon faith, which was founded in the United States in the 19th century but which some Christians refuse to recognise as a legitimate church.

Graham is among the most popular Christian preachers in the world, and his mass gatherings and televised sermons played a major role in reviving the US evangelical movement.

He has been invited to the White House by every president since Harry Truman, and former president George W. Bush attributed his decision to stop drinking at the age of 40 to a discussion with Graham.

President Barack Obama, who is running a close race with Romney in hopes of winning a second White House term, travelled to Graham's mountaintop home in Mountreat, North Carolina in April 2010, where they spoke for 35 minutes.

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Fatal crash was long after chase: WA cop

A CAR crash that killed two men including a tourist in Perth's eastern suburbs early on Friday came long after officers aborted their pursuit of the vehicle, police say.

The crash at the corner of Orrong Road and Leach Highway in Kewdale about 2am (WST) involved a stolen four-wheel drive they had earlier tried to stop after it sped through a red light.

Police say they pursued it but the chase was aborted at Victoria Park when a police helicopter reported the stolen car had its headlights turned off.

The chopper continued to follow it covertly, witnessing it crash into a taxi.

"I want to emphasise that there is no evidence at this time to suggest the vehicle was being pursued at the time of the crash," Assistant Commissioner Gary Budge told reporters on Friday.

"The pursuit was aborted a long, long way from where the crash occurred."

The 28-year-old taxi driver and his 36-year-old passenger died as a result of the crash while the 23-year-old driver of the other vehicle was taken to hospital with leg injuries.

He is under police guard and has been charged with manslaughter.

While ABC radio reported that one of the victims was a tourist who had just arrived from England, Mr Budge said he was "not prepared to talk about antecedents" before people had been notified about the deaths.

The 4WD had been stolen from Secret Harbour in Perth's southern suburbs on Tuesday and its occupants were wanted by police in relation to several serious offences across the metropolitan area, he said.

Police were seeking several people in relation to the offences, Mr Budge said.

ABC radio also reported that the driver of the stolen car was known to police.

Mr Budge offered his sympathies to the families of the victims.

"It is difficult to imagine the trauma the two families must be feeling out there today and I want to pass on our condolences to both of those families and tell them that we will provide all the support that is possible," he said.

Police are asking anyone with information about the crash to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Treasury not reviewing carbon modelling

TREASURY hasn't been asked to revisit its carbon pricing impact modelling since the federal government scrapped plans for a floor price, a parliamentary committee has heard.

"We have not updated the modelling," Treasury executive director of macroeconomic group David Gruen told the senate budget estimates hearing in Canberra on Thursday.

"We will if we are asked."

In late August, the government announced it was doing away with a plan to adopt a minimum $15 floor price when the carbon price moves to a floating emissions trading scheme in mid-2015.

Dr Gruen pointed out Treasury's modelling projected the carbon price would rise to $29 a tonne in 2015/16 and then go up by four per cent annually.

The price was therefore always expected to be above the scrapped $15 floor, he added.

Many experts think pollution permits will be much cheaper than $29 in three years.

At the moment European credits cost just $10.

But on Monday climate change department secretary Blair Comley argued it was "not implausible" the price could rise to $29 a tonne by mid-2015.

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Abuse inquiry needs swift action

MORE victims of church sexual abuse will kill themselves unless Victoria's parliamentary inquiry acts swiftly to protect the men who still contemplate suicide every day, one campaigner fears.

Up to 50 men taught in the 1960s and 70s by convicted pedophiles Brother Robert Best, Brother Edward Dowlan, Brother Stephen Farrell and Father Gerald Ridsdale at Catholic schools in Ballarat and elsewhere in Victoria have taken their own lives and many more former students suffer from the long term impact of abuse.

Survivor Peter Blenkiron says the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious organisations, which opens on Friday, cannot afford to take too long to recommend action and has called for a government-run, church-funded support system to help keep these men alive.

"What I'm worried about is that it'll take too long and people will die before there's any sort of resolution," he said.

"It's happening right now, blokes are thinking of suicide as we speak, they're on the edge now.

"Some have had their stomachs pumped, some have been cut down from trees.

"Some of them have said once their surviving parent passes away, then they'll kill themselves.

"The church says today it's reacting to the horrendous actions of the past. The horrendous actions of today are what they need to face.

"I know that this time next year some of these guys I know will be dead because the battle is there constantly and they'll give in.

"If we can get something happening, they won't be dead this time next year."

Mr Blenkiron is one of 32 men, the Survivors of Ballarat, who lodged a joint submission to the inquiry which is due to report back to parliament next April.

In his individual submission, he is calling for a Clergy Related Injury (CRI) support system, similar to the Total and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI) pension given to war veterans.

While the government should run the scheme, Mr Blenkiron says it must be paid for by the Catholic Church in Australia, or even the Vatican, to provide financial support and counselling for the men who, decades after being abused, endure drug and alcohol problems, can't hold down jobs or relationships, struggle to pay rent and still suffer physical and mental pain.

He says while the taxpayer is paying for pedophiles such as Best and Ridsdale to be kept in prison, the Christian Brothers are housing and feeding Dowlan at one of their facilities in Melbourne and the church has spent millions defending its members, the victims are neglected.

"We just want these blokes that are virtually living in the gutter, that are struggling to pay the rent, to be at the same level of human dignity as the bloody pedophiles, the people that raped them as children," he said.

"The people who shifted these bastards around have a responsibility to make sure the victims are kept to at least the same level as the perpetrators. That's pretty simple."

Mr Blenkiron called on Australia's senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, to back the scheme.

"They need to put in a support system that keeps these people alive and if George Pell doesn't support that, he doesn't care that people are dying," he said.

The inquiry has received hundreds of submissions, among them a 148-page report from the Catholic Church entitled Facing the Truth in which it says its early response to abuse was inadequate and too slow.

A submission from victims support group Broken Rites makes many damning accusations, including against the Hospitaller Order of St John of God which it claims had a ring of pedophiles inflicting "horrific" abuse on residents of its Melbourne boys homes.

In its submission, the Salvation Army admits abuse is a source of shame to the organisation, while the Jewish community, Anglican church, Catholic community groups and legal bodies have also made submissions.

Victoria's deputy police commissioner Graham Ashton is to give evidence on Friday and is expected to reinforce the police submission which slammed the Catholic church for covering up abuse.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78.

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'No immediate impact' for Hicks case: AG

THE Australian government sees "no immediate impact" on David Hicks' terrorism conviction from a landmark United States court decision.

A former driver for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who served a prison term for material support for terrorism has had his conviction thrown out after the US appeals court ruled the charge was unlawfully applied retrospectively.

Salim Hamdan's charge is the same as that Mr Hicks pleaded guilty to before his release in 2007 from a US military jail at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba after five years in detention.

Mr Hicks was on Wednesday seeking advice on whether he can appeal his US conviction and seek compensation from the Australian government.

A spokesman for Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said on Wednesday the government was examining the case for any "local implications".

"We are advised that there is no immediate impact for Mr Hicks' conviction and sentence arising out of this case at this stage," the spokesman told AAP.

"He was not a party to the case and there are potential appeal proceedings."

The US government is reviewing the Hamdan ruling and could still appeal.

But Ms Roxon's spokesman said the Labor party in opposition had concerns about the level of the former Howard government's consular support to Mr Hicks.

"We are obviously not in a position to comment on the involvement of the Howard government and what ministers knew at the time of Mr Hicks' plea, considering this took place before the election of the Labor government," he said.

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Australia's largest warship arrives

AUSTRALIA'S largest warship has arrived on home soil following a nine-week voyage from Spain.

The hull of the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) is in Geelong but will now be moved by tug to the Williamstown shipyards in Victoria where contractor BAE Systems will undertake further construction.

The Canberra Class LHD is bigger than Australia's last aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne, and features a flight deck as big as 24 tennis courts.

The hull was built in Spain by shipbuilder Navantia and has taken about nine weeks to complete the 13,000 nautical mile journey to Australia.

Construction of the ship, to be commissioned HMAS Canberra, began in 2008 and it is the first of two to be built for the Royal Australian Navy.

The ship is expected to be introduced into service in 2014 while the second ship, to be commissioned HMAS Adelaide, is due to follow in 2016.

The ship's arrival was announced by Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare on Wednesday.

It coincided with a protest by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) which said Australia can and should be building its defence equipment in Australia and supporting local jobs.

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Self favourite to win Man Booker prize

JOURNALIST and novelist Will Self is the favourite to win the prestigious Man Booker Prize.

He is shortlisted for the first time for Umbrella, a novel with no chapters and few paragraph breaks, and which judges described as both "moving and draining".

"Those who stick with it will find it much less difficult than it first seems," they said of the book, which is set across an entire century.

His closest competition looks set to come from previous winner Hilary Mantel.

The 60-year-old won the STG50,000 ($A78,920) prize in 2009 for Wolf Hall, the first book in her fictional trilogy on Thomas Cromwell.

If she scoops the title again with her follow-up, Bring Up The Bodies, she will become the first British writer to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction twice.

Judges said Mantel had shown "even greater mastery of method, powerful realism, and the separation of past and present and the vivid depiction of English character and landscape" in her latest work.

Also in the running for the prestigious prize at Tuesday's event, at Guildhall in central London, is Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, a novel which was originally rejected by traditional publishers.

Set on the French Riviera over a single week, it hit the shelves after being published by a small company which uses a subscription method to bring out many of its books.

Two of the books on the list are debut novels - 53-year-old Indian performance poet, songwriter and guitarist Jeet Thayil's Narcopolis and Manchester-born Alison Moore's The Lighthouse.

Narcopolis, which judges praised for its "perfume prose", is set in the Bombay of the 1970s.

The Lighthouse is the story of a middle-aged, recently separated man, who crosses the Channel by ferry after the failure of his marriage.

The sixth book is The Garden Of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, about the survivor of a Second World War Japanese prison camp. It is one of three books on the shortlist from small, independent publishers.

Last night the six authors posed for pictures at the Royal Festival Hall in south London for a preview event.

Bookmakers William Hill have made Self 2/1 favourite with Mantel 9 to 4.

Moore and Eng are both 4/1, with Levy at 9/1 and Thayil at 10/1.

Chair of the judging panel Peter Stothard, editor of The Times Literary Supplement, described Mantel and Self as "two of the great established radicals of contemporary literature" but added any of the six shortlisted authors could win.

"This has been an exhilarating year for fiction. The strongest I would say for more than a decade," he said.

"We were considering... novels, not novelists, texts not reputations. We read and we reread. It was the power and depth of prose that settled most of the judges' debates."

The judging panel, which includes Dan Stevens who plays Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, ploughed through a longlist of 145 titles.

A spokesman for Waterstones said: "The Man Booker is still the most commercially important prize in the UK, and whoever wins can look forward to rivalling 50 Shades of Grey and the new JK Rowling novel next week in the bestseller charts and in the weeks to come. Equally importantly, the title 'Man Booker winner' is one that will benefit the author for the rest of his or her career - it is a phrase that carries huge weight in the eyes of publishers, booksellers and, most importantly, readers."

Last year's winner, The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes, has sold more than 300,000 print editions in the UK.

In 2011 the judges, chaired by former MI5 chief Dame Stella Rimington, were accused by some of dumbing down the prize, and omitting big names.

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NT leaders raise concerns with Mills

ABORIGINAL leaders from Arnhem Land want the new Northern Territory chief minister to lobby the federal government to scrap the NT intervention program.

Aboriginal leaders from east, central and west Arnhem Land met with Terry Mills in Maningrida over the weekend ahead of the start of the Yolngu Nations Assembly.

Mr Mills swept to power following a backlash from Aboriginal voters against the NT Labor government and he has promised not to ignore indigenous communities.

In June, the Gillard government extended for 10 years the NT intervention measures aimed at tackling abuse and drunkenness, despite the opposition of many indigenous communities.

Arnhem Land elder Dr Djiniyini Gondarra said on Tuesday his people wanted the NT government to lobby for the intervention "to be thrown out" and an apology from the federal government to traumatised communities.

"The federal government must start to listen to the voices on the ground," he said.

"We are being led around like dogs on a lead with the basics card ... police coming into our houses without a warrant and having our law disqualified from recognition and consideration in court."

He said the rate of self-harm and suicide in communities was five times higher since before intervention policies began.

Dr Gondarra said many communities were self-proclaimed dry communities well before the intervention began in 2007, while others had a permit system that regulated the amount strength and regularity of alcohol people could consume.

"Our dry areas and alcohol permit systems must stay, this is the responsible will of our people," he said.

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Tuna grow faster in deep seas: research

DEEP sea tuna farming could be the way of the future, after Australian researchers found the fish grow twice as fast when raised in "farms" further from the coast.

University of Tasmania scientist Nicole Kirchhoff said the research could open the way for commercial fisheries around the world to find financial backing for deep sea "farms", after previously struggling to get funding to relocate, due to a lack of research about outcomes.

The University of Tasmania research was funded jointly by the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

It tracked the health and growth of about 10,000 tuna caught and raised for sale in caged farms the traditional 20km offshore, compared with about 10,000 others raised in farms 50-60km offshore.

"We found that when we moved the fish (further) offshore they got to market size in about half the time as the fish in the traditional environment," Dr Kirchhoff told AAP.

"We also found none of the parasites we commonly find in ranch-farmed tuna and ... what we had to feed them to get to market weight was a lot less."

Ranch-farmed tuna are caught weighing between 15-20kg and are fed pilchards while caged until they grow to more than 30kg for harvest.

Dr Kirchoff said the world-first research found the tuna farmed further offshore reached 30kg or more in six weeks, compared to 13 weeks for those closer to shore, were happier and healthier on 15 different markers and ate less, making deep-sea farming more sustainable.

The research was conducted at tuna farms in Port Lincoln, South Australia, from January to September 2010 and was presented at a Fresh Science event in Melbourne on Monday.

Dr Kirchhoff said four of the 12 Port Lincoln tuna farms had now moved further offshore and organisations around the world were interested in the research results.

She said possible reasons for tuna growing faster when caged further offshore could include more stable water temperatures, clearer, cleaner waters allowing the tuna to see their prey more clearly and greater water depths making them less vulnerable to ocean-floor parasites.

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Auckland-Antarctica flight cancelled

THE first commercial flight planned from New Zealand to Antarctica since the Mt Erebus crash in 1979 has been cancelled because of a lack of interest.

Australian-based Antarctica Sightseeing Flights announced in early September that it would be flying from Auckland to Antarctica next February, the first commercial flight from New Zealand to Antarctica since a DC10 crashed on November 28, 1979, killing 257 people.

But the company's managing director, Phil Asker, says less than 100 people booked on the service.

"We know from our research that there is strong Kiwi interest in Antarctica sightseeing flights, but with only one third of the seats sold so far, it would be uneconomical for us to proceed," he said.

The company will provide full refunds to passengers who have already booked.

Antarctica Sightseeing Flights have been flying since 1994 and Mr Asker said five flights scheduled from Australia have been selling well.

The 1979 Erebus crash is New Zealand's worst aviation disaster. Air New Zealand cut flights to the continent immediately and Qantas followed suit in 1980.

Two flights taking family members of those killed on Flight 901 have visited the frozen land mass since 2009, including 104 on an RNZAF flight last year, and a third and final flight is planned in February 2013.

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