Union trespass case thrown out of court

THE case against a construction union organiser accused of trespassing when he visited union members at a Tasmanian worksite has been thrown out of court.

Long-serving Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) organiser Bill White was charged with trespass when he refused to leave the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment site in July and police were called.

Mr White's arrest sparked union rallies and warnings the $586 million project could be delayed.

He pleaded not guilty and Magistrate Catherine Rheinberger found he had no case to answer because it was unclear who had legal authority over the communal area Mr White had visited.

A relieved Mr White said building company Fairbrother had been to blame.

"It's a waste of everyone's time," he told reporters.

"I don't see what the problem is, us talking to our members.

"We don't have this sort of problem with other employers."

The case highlighted rising tensions between the CFMEU and the Master Builders Association (MBA), which Unions Tasmania boss Kevin Harkins accused of masterminding the incident.

"I think there was a bit of a conspiracy," Mr Harkins said.

"Some of the evidence that was led would indicate that the MBA had set up a network or a structure within the construction industry to try and dob in union organisers when they were visiting sites."

Site managers asked Mr White to leave because he had not provided 24 hours notice of his intent to visit the site.

Fairbrother chief executive Craig Edmunds said the rules were in place and the company had complied with national standards.

"To be a construction code-compliant company, we have right-of-entry provisions that we need to follow," he told AAP.

"We'll continue to follow those."

CFMEU state secretary Bill Oliver welcomed the outcome.

"The CFMEU puts Fairbrother on notice," he said in a statement.

"We will defend our members and officials no matter what it takes.

"It was legitimate business which Bill White was conducting, and there was no cause to forcibly remove him.

"The CFMEU is fighting to improve the wages and conditions of Tasmanian workers, which lag behind those on the mainland."

The MBA did not immediately return AAP's call.

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Smart phones, shopping drive economy

AUSTRALIA'S digital economy grew significantly in 2011/12 with online shopping, social networking sites and a near doubling of smart phone ownership helping drive the boom.

Online shopping activities grew 27 per cent in the 12 months to July 12, according to a new report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

There are now 11.36 million Facebook users in Australia, 9.67 million YouTube users and, in the 12 months to July 2012, 12.27 million people accessed online news sites.

It's unclear if those social network and news figures have increased from the previous reporting period because ACMA has changed the way it calculates the data.

Smart phone ownership almost doubled in the 12 months to July 2012, with 49 per cent of Australians now possessing one, up from 25 per cent.

Joseph Di Gregorio, author of ACMA's report - Australia's progress in the digital economy: participation, trust and confidence - expects the digital economy to continue growing.

"Participation is actually broadening across all age groups," he told AAP.

"It's also becoming more intensive because people are downloading more and doing more things."

Mr Di Gregorio said Australians are increasingly mixing and matching how they access the internet, often using traditional computers at work or home and tablets and mobile devices while on the move.

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Promises on live exports 'unrealistic'

IT'S impossible to guarantee that another scandal involving live animal exports won't happen again but that's no reason to shut down the trade entirely, industry experts say.

Public concern over live exports was reignited this month after footage emerged showing 21,000 Australian sheep being brutally slaughtered - some buried alive - by Pakistani authorities.

The industry has voluntarily suspended sheep exports to Pakistan as the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry investigates what went wrong.

But the incident was the final straw for some Labor backbenchers, the Australian Greens and animal welfare groups, who have called for the industry to be phased out altogether.

Critics say neither exporters nor the federal government can guarantee that another incident won't happen again.

Demanding that exporters guarantee animal welfare standards abroad is akin to making pet shops in Australia ensure that cats and dogs are treated properly by their subsequent owners, some experts say.

Associate Professor Wayne Pitchford from the University of Adelaide's school of animal and veterinary science says such a black-and-white demand for a guarantee is "totally unrealistic".

"When you're selling things to other people you do not have that level of control," Prof Pitchford said on Wednesday.

"You can put mechanism in place to minimise it, but the bottom line is we cannot guarantee it."

That mechanism, the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS), forces Australian exporters to ensure their trading partners meet a range of animal welfare standards.

ESCAS was introduced last year after footage showing Australian cattle being mistreated in Indonesian abattoirs prompted public outcry and a temporary ban on those exports.

Dr Rebecca Doyle from Charles Sturt University's school of animal and veterinary science said ESCAS wasn't foolproof but it wasn't to blame for the situation in Pakistan.

"It was beyond the importer-exporter relationship," Dr Doyle said.

"The Pakistani government actually stepped in, so really that was completely out of the exporters' hands."

ESCAS ensured animal welfare standards were met "as close to perfect" as possible, Dr Doyle said.

The National Farmers Federation (NFF) has also defended ESCAS, despite Trade Minister Craig Emerson, among others, declaring the Pakistan cull was clear evidence of a "spectacular" breakdown in the system.

Prof Pitchford said wider forces involving local politics were at play in Pakistan, factors nobody could predict or control.

"We don't have control over these things," he said.

"I think things will go wrong again."

The Greens and a number of Labor MPs are advocating a shift away from live exports and are calling for the industry to be replaced by domestic processing at facilities in northern Australia.

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N Korea 'shipped missile parts to Syria'

NORTH Korea tried to export ballistic missile parts to Syria in violation of United Nations sanctions, Japanese media has reported, citing diplomats who have seen a classified UN report.

South Korean authorities inspected North Korean cargo bound for Syria in May and confiscated hundreds of cylinders that could be used to build the weapons, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Seoul in June reported the discovery to the UN's North Korea sanctions committee, which then dispatched experts to South Korea to inspect the materials, the liberal daily said.

If confirmed, the reported action shows Pyongyang violated UN bans on trading military and weapons-related materials, imposed successively since 2006 after nuclear tests by the secretive regime.

The 445 graphite cylinders were on a Chinese-registered freighter with a cargo bound for a Syrian company with North Korean links, Kyodo News said, citing UN diplomats.

Asahi said South Korea confiscated 535 cylinders, disguised as lead pipes that would have no connection to ballistic missiles.

The finding was included in a report filed this month to members of a special committee charged with overseeing the implementation of sanctions imposed on North Korea, Kyodo said.

The apparent attempt at arms exports came shortly after the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement calling for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang, which in April attempted but failed to launch a satellite.

The launch was widely seen by other nations as cover for a missile test.

The graphite cylinders found aboard the cargo ship Xin Yan Tai in South Korea's Busan port could be used for rocket nozzles and re-entry vehicle nose tips, Kyodo said.

The ship, registered in Shanghai, was built in 2005 and is owned by a shipping company in the Chinese commercial hub, Kyodo said, citing the China Classification Society of vessels.

The Shanghai company's involvement in the case could pose a question over China's commitment to implementing sanctions on North Korea, Kyodo said.

The interim report was prepared by a panel of experts from the five permanent members of the Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - as well as Japan and South Korea, Kyodo said.

Every November, the panel turns over its interim report privately to the special committee to update the 15 council members on Pyongyang's sanctions violations, Kyodo said.

The interim report also says Ukrainian authorities confirmed the arrests of two North Korean agents who attempted to steal ballistic missile technology from the former Soviet state, the Asahi said.

The panel will continue to investigate the cases involving the cylinders and the arrests in Ukraine, it said.

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Business conditions at three-year low

BUSINESS conditions have slumped to their lowest levels in three years - and things could get worse in the months ahead.

However the gloomy outlook does not guarantee a pre-Christmas interest rate cut from the central bank in December, a survey says.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) monthly business survey, released on Tuesday, showed business conditions in October fell two points to minus five on the index.

Business confidence also dropped on point to minus one in October.

NAB said the decline in conditions reflected weaker conditions in the mining, manufacturing, wholesale and construction sectors.

On a state-by-state basis, confidence levels deteriorated across the country while Queensland and NSW recorded the worst business conditions.

And NAB doesn't see a change in the near future.

"Consistent with the subdued level of business conditions in October, forward indicators of demand (especially forward orders) and employment remained well below average levels, pointing to little improvement in near-term activity," NAB said.

Forward orders rose marginally, to minus five in October from minus seven the previous month.

NAB said the drop in business confidence was mainly prompted by global concerns, including a belief that US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank economic stimulus measures had not solved those economies' wider problems.

It added that the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) decision in October to cut the cash rate a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25 per cent may have highlighted underlying concerns about the domestic economy.

However, NAB does not expect the RBA to cut rates again until February - and then only by a quarter of a percentage point to help mitigate weakness in near-term demand.

But JP Morgan economist Ben Jarman said the central bank could still cut in December, given the implications of weak business conditions on the wider economy.

"With the mining capex boom winding down over the next year or so, the remainder of the (considerably more numerous) firms operating in the non-mining economy need to wake from their slumber," he said.

NAB also released its forecasts for global and Australian growth on Tuesday, saying it expected activity to remain sluggish overall, with Australia's economy weakened by a high exchange rate and the slowing mining boom.

Its forecasts for Australian gross domestic product was unchanged at 2.3 per cent for 2012/13, below Treasury and RBA's expectations of three per cent.

Global growth would be 3.1 per cent for 2012, and 3.3 per cent for 2013.

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Newman wants to break up LNP, says member

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman wants to break up the Liberal National Party (LNP) and establish a competing alternative political party, a complaint to the party's state executive says.

Party member Blair Brewster wrote to LNP state director Brad Henderson on November 12, making six allegations that Mr Newman breached the LNP's constitution and should be disciplined.

Mr Brewster, who is chief executive of Clive Palmer's company Gladstone Pacific Nickel, alleges Mr Newman recently approached former federal Nationals president David Russell and former Northern Territory chief minister Shane Stone about forming an alternative political party to affiliate with the federal Liberal Party at the expense of the LNP.

"Apparently it is Mr Newman's intention that such a party should be formed with a base of the LNP parliamentary members," Mr Brewster says in the letter obtained by AAP.

Mr Brewster also alleged that Mr Newman had attempted to remove LNP president Bruce McIver and had approached Mr Stone to ask him to consider standing against Mr McIver.

Mr Brewster says Mr Newman has given directions to LNP members in the government not to attend or take part in LNP policy committees.

And he says Mr Newman gave them directions to raise their own money so as not to rely on the LNP.

"Mr Newman clearly wishes to remove all possible influence of the LNP over those candidates that it has worked tirelessly to nominate, fund, and get elected as members of the current state government," Mr Brewster said.

Mr Brewster was also critical of Mr Newman for making unacceptable comments and being antagonistic and aggressive towards Mr Palmer.

He said Mr Newman had threatened the very existence of the LNP and his behaviour required "the strictest possible disciplinary action".

"Mr Newman is not, as he seems to think, free to use the party to win office and then to trample over the party and its members," Mr Brewster said.

Billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer has also said Mr Newman wants Mr Stone to be the party's president.

Mr Palmer told reporters some LNP members were upset with the premier.

"I think that there was an application lodged yesterday at the LNP headquarters against the premier for certain activities he's been undertaking," he said.

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Man, 84, charged over train sex assault

AN elderly man has been charged with sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman on a passenger train in central Queensland.

Police say the 84-year-old man and the young woman were travelling north on the Sunlander near Mackay when the assault took place early on Monday.

The man, from Eagleby in southeast Queensland, was charged with indecent assault and will appear in Mackay Magistrates Court on November 29.

Police say the woman was not physically injured.

AAP np/ba

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Cassar-Daley, Britt nominated for awards

A TRIO of sisters, a married duo and two solo artists have taken centrestage at this year's Aussie country music award nominations.

Troy Cassar-Daley, who already has 21 Golden Guitars under his belt, has earned himself seven nominations for the 2013 Country Music Awards of Australia (CMAA) including Album of the Year for his record Home.

Equalling Cassar-Daley's tally, singer/songwriter Catherine Britt, has also grabbed seven nominations for her album Always Never Enough.

Husband and wife team Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson earned themselves five nominations with their second album as a duo, Wreck & Ruin, four of those for the single Adam & Eve.

Also up for five Golden Guitars for their album Two Worlds Collide is sister trio The McClymonts, who are back in the country after a year touring overseas.

Announced in Sydney on Monday, the CMAA nominations highlighted a new generation coming through the ranks - artists such as Travis Collins, Camille and Stuie and Lyn Bowtell.

Cassar-Daley, who toured this year with another nominated newcomer Harmony James, said the list offered a reassuring appraisal of Australian country music.

"I think the country music scene is a lot closer than many other genres and there's certainly none of the back stabbing," Cassar-Daley said.

"We're always looking out for each other and giving younger artists (a chance) by bringing them out on tour with us. It's like one big family."

Another artist Cassar-Daley has previously mentored is two-time Golden Guitar winner Catherine Britt who said she was surprised with her share of the nominations.

"I'm that artist who doesn't usually get recognised so to be a frontrunner with Troy who I just adore and love is a real shock," she said.

"I produced this record and wrote all the songs and it's more me than any record I've ever made and to get this recognition is amazing."

The 27-year-old singer said the tight-knit culture of the country scene meant winning an award in Tamworth was secondary to having a good time.

"We're all mates who've toured together countless times so it means you're happy even when you lose because your mate's just won," Britt said.

"There's no bitchiness about it."

The CMAA's will be held on the final night the Tamworth Country Music Festival on January 26 next year.

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Food makers are failing children: report

FOOD manufacturers are failing to protect children from foods high in fat and sugar, a report by a health group says.

The Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) has released a report which concludes that governments must step in and regulate the advertising of junk food to children because the existing self-regulating system has failed.

The OPC's executive manager, Jane Martin, said the advertising codes in place to protect children were riddled with loopholes which the processed food industry was exploiting to promote its products.

The codes were flawed and their enforcement was inadequate, Ms Martin said in a statement.

"The food industry has been given ample opportunity," she said.

"The government must now call time on the charade of self-regulation and legislate to give children meaningful protection from the influence of unhealthy food marketing."

The report, "Exposing the Charade", says that in addition to being flawed and inadequately enforced, the advertising codes have failed to reduce children's exposure to unhealthy food advertising.

Chief among the problems identified are the overly complex nature of the codes; the fact that they do not apply to all advertisers; and that they only cover content directed primarily at children.

The scheme relies upon complaints from the public, another major flaw according to the OPC.

"Legislation to comprehensively restrict junk food marketing and advertising would be one of the most effective and cost-effective interventions to address the childhood overweight and obesity crisis," Ms Martin said.

The OPC comprises the Victorian arms of the Cancer Council and Diabetes Australia, VicHealth and the Deakin University Centre for Obesity Prevention, which operates in collaboration with the World Health Organisation.

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Up to states to lobby on GST: Hockey

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey says it's not the commonwealth's job to campaign for changes to the GST. Source: AAP

SHADOW treasurer Joe Hockey says if the states want GST reform, it's up to them to convince the Australian people that the changes are necessary.

Mr Hockey says as the beneficiaries of any tax hike, it's the job of the states not the commonwealth to make the case.

"I have already said that the states have to carry this argument because it is the growth revenue for the states," he told Sky News on Sunday.

"They've got to campaign for it and they've got to win the Australian people over."

However, Mr Hockey says reforming the goods and services tax isn't as crucial as reducing government spending or doing away with the "insidious" carbon and mining taxes.

A future coalition government would only consider GST reform if it had the bipartisan support of all the state governments and the backing of the Australian public.

Former NSW Liberal premier Nick Greiner last week called for a reassessment of the way the consumption tax was applied, saying that ruling out any discussion was "stupid".

He was one of the authors of the federal government's GST review handed to Treasurer Wayne Swan recently.

Mr Swan will publish the government's response to the report and discuss it with state treasurers before the end of the year.

But he's ruled out hiking the 10 per cent GST, arguing it would hurt battlers doing it tough.

Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury seized on Mr Hockey's comments, saying they revealed a "secret plan" to increase the GST.

"This is the third time in recent weeks Joe Hockey has been specifically asked to rule out increasing the GST under a coalition government - and has refused to do so," Mr Bradbury said in a statement.

"Joe Hockey has let the cat out of the bag.

"He wants the states to do the hard work for his secret plan to jack up the GST."

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