NSW man charged over 2011 school blaze

A MAN has been charged over a fire that gutted a southern NSW high school building two summers ago.

The blaze took hold at Yass High School on Grampian Street, Yass, just before dawn on January 29, 2011.

A message to parents on the school's website indicates the fire destroyed the school's canteen.

Goulburn police joined Fire and Rescue NSW officers to investigate the fire in Strike Force Severn.

"Following an exhaustive investigation, an 18-year-old man was arrested by strike force detectives at Goulburn Police Station yesterday," police said in a statement on Saturday.

The Yass man was charged with malicious damage by fire and released on conditional bail to appear at Yass Children's Court on February 5.

A blaze broke out at the same school last weekend, but a police spokeswoman told AAP investigators did not believe the two fires were connected.

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NSW koalas under threat: Greens

THE lives of some of NSW's cuddliest residents are hanging in the balance, the Australian Greens warn.

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon says koalas are under "enormous threat" in NSW and key populations across the state in Gunnedah, Port Stephens and elsewhere are at risk of disappearing.

"Their habitat is being compromised because of logging and over-development," she told AAP on Saturday.

"In so many areas, we're losing those environmental corridors that are absolutely essential if they're able to breed and to flourish."

Senator Rhiannon was one of several Greens campaigners who descended on Circular Quay on Saturday, calling for new national laws to protect native forests from logging.

The weekend rally launched a week of national campaigns against the March 2013 shift of commonwealth environmental approval powers to the states.

"If the government proceeds with its plans, which could eventuate at the COAG meeting this month - well, all that fine talk about environmental corridors will be nothing more than rhetoric and that's just not good enough," Senator Rhiannon said.

NSW Young Greens co-convenor Sam Dixon said the party's Too Precious to Lose campaign would ask people across the country to nominate Australia's most precious natural assets.

"In NSW, all of our national parks definitely belong on the list," Senator Rhiannon said.

"A lot of our estuaries along the coast, particularly for me, are very precious and they need to be protected."

She said many of the tourists who stopped to pose with a campaigner dressed in a furry koala costume might not have a good grasp of local conservation law, but they had no trouble identifying one of Australia's big drawcards.

The koala campaigner appeared unfazed by the 37C afternoon sun.

"This is my natural fur, I feel fine," he joked.

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Spike in GHB overdoses prompts Vic warning

A STRONG batch of the party drug GHB may be responsible for a recent spike in overdoses in Melbourne with a hospital warning the trend could claim lives.

About 20 patients suffering GHB overdoses have presented at the emergency department of Melbourne's St Vincent's Hospital over the last three weeks, said emergency department physician Dr Jonathan Karro.

The hospital, which would typically see one or two GHB overdoses a week, recently received nine cases in one weekend, five of whom were in a critical condition and required life support.

Dr Karro said the patients were usually aged between 16 and 25, presenting at hospital following a night of partying, between 4am and 8am on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Issuing a public health warning about the drug on Friday, Dr Karro said the recent spike was of great concern.

The drug had claimed at least 10 Australian lives over the past few years, he said.

"There might be a batch on the street which is particularly strong," Dr Karro told reporters.

"Like most drugs it's impossible to tell exactly what you're getting; it might be something to do with that.

"If we could save one life by giving a public health message, it would be a message well worth giving."

Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid, commonly referred to as GBH or fantasy, is a depressant with sedative and anaesthetic effects which can quickly put users into a comatose state.

Dr Karro said the colourless, odourless drug was consumed in liquid form and usually packaged in the fish-shaped soy sauce containers found in sushi restaurants.

He said it was easy for GHB users to overdose because it is usually consumed with alcohol, which also depresses the central nervous system.

A Royal Melbourne Hospital spokeswoman said GHB overdoses were commonplace there.

A spokesman from The Alfred said the hospital typically saw four to five GHB overdoses every week but had not noticed any recent spike.

The warning comes ahead of Saturday's Stereosonic music festival in Melbourne.

Last year's festival saw seizures of cocaine, ice, ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis along with the arrest of 90 people for drug-related offences.

Police have warned the expected 45,000 revellers that they will be met at the gates by drug sniffer dogs.

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Perth woman punched in her home carport

A 69-YEAR-OLD woman has been repeatedly punched in the face by a man trying to steal her car in the Perth Hills area.

The woman pulled into the carport of her Maida Vale home at 10.30pm (WST) on Thursday after opening the door via remote control, police say.

But before she could get out of her car, a man opened the driver's door and punched her repeatedly in the face.

He put his hand over her mouth, told her to be quiet and demanded her keys.

She handed them over and ran into her house through the carport door.

The woman called police and later realised her handbag had been stolen, though the car was not taken.

The victim suffered a cut lip and swelling to the right side of her face.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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WA Greens table same-sex marriage bill

THE West Australian Greens have tabled in parliament a state-based legislative solution for same-sex couples who want to marry.

Greens WA marriage equality spokesperson Lynn MacLaren on Thursday presented the Marriage Equality Bill 2012, which she says gives same-sex couples the same recognition and arrangements granted to heterosexual marriages.

It provides for the authorisation of celebrants and the registration of same-sex marriages via an amendment to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998.

It also provides for the dissolution and annulment of the unions, and for related financial matters via amendments to the Family Court Act 1997.

Ms MacLaren said the Greens had received legal advice saying that state-based marriage laws were not only lawful, but would withstand a federal challenge.

"The bipartisan senate inquiry on marriage equality recommended in June this year that all political parties allow a conscience vote in relation to the issue of marriage equality for all couples in Australia," she said.

"It is high time that Australia joined other civilised states and nations in rejecting prejudice and embracing marriage equality."

Efforts at the federal level failed because Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Julia Gillard refused to get out of the way of a reform that the majority of Australians supported, she said.

"Some day soon I hope we will look back on this same-sex marriage debate and wonder what all the fuss was about, and wonder how such inequitable and prejudicial laws could prevent someone from marrying the person they love and how we could have allowed them to persist for so long," Ms MacLaren said.

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Toddler's death destroyed us: family

THE mother of a toddler who died following dental surgery "nearly lost her mind" after the incident and was never able to grieve properly, a coronial inquest has been told.

Two-year-old Leonard Crowe did not regain consciousness after having 13 decayed teeth removed and six others repaired under general anaesthetic at Broken Hill Base Hospital on July 11, 2008.

The boy had numerous medical issues, including club feet, a retreating jaw and a breathing problem known as apnoea.

An autopsy showed he had a respiratory tract infection on the day of surgery.

Reading an impact statement on behalf of the family on Thursday, Leonard's maternal aunt told the inquest into his death her sister Tina was almost five months pregnant when her little boy died.

"She nearly lost her mind and life," a tearful Lorna Mitchell told Glebe Coroners Court.

"To lose him so suddenly destroyed us."

Shortly after giving birth, Ms Crowe fell pregnant a second time.

But earlier this year, just as she was beginning to come to terms with her son's death, Ms Crowe was involved in a serious bus accident, the court heard.

Her injuries left her in a coma for two days.

"She's very lucky to be alive," Ms Mitchell said.

"Tina has not been able to grieve properly since this had happened."

Ms Mitchell said some members of the family were so depressed they had turned to drinking alcohol and smoking for comfort.

The boy's aunty, who moved house to be closer to the cemetery where Leonard was buried, said the family visited his grave on seven special occasions every year.

She read out a poem, written by her daughter.

"I miss your big fat face," it said.

The inquest had previously heard from Leonard's principal anaesthetist, who admitted to several failings on the day of surgery.

Dr George Waters told the court he was so distracted by the boy's unusual appearance that he did not complete a full assessment before administering anaesthetic drugs.

"If I had known that Leonard Crowe had a cough, I am sure that I would've cancelled the case," he said.

The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon continues.

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O'Farrell opposes IPART transport hikes

Sydney commuters may face price rises for ferry and train services from next year. Source: AAP

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has ruled out public transport fare increases above inflation without an improvement in services, after the pricing regulator recommended price hikes from January.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has recommended average maximum fare increases of up to 3.6 per cent for CityRail and 4.8 per cent for Sydney Ferries, from January 2013.

But Mr O'Farrell on Wednesday reiterated his government's opposition to fare increases above inflation, which currently stands at two per cent.

"Our policy is clear - no increases beyond CPI for public transport fares until we see services improve, because we think commuters deserve a break," Mr O'Farrell told reporters in Sydney.

"We understand that a lack of investment means that whether you're catching trains ... you're travelling on crowded services.

"We understand that services aren't as on time as people would like them, and we don't think that situation is going to be helped by whacking up fare increases that provide another disincentive to catch public transport, (to) jump in your car and add to Sydney's congestion woes."

IPART chairman Peter Boxall on Wednesday said that without real fare increases now, taxpayers would end up paying an extra $62 million over the next three years.

"We consider that taxpayers should fund a share of the efficient costs that is broadly equal to the value of the external benefits," he said in a statement.

"This value represents the level of taxpayer subsidy that can be justified on economic grounds."

The final determinations set fares for the next three years for CityRail and the next four years for Sydney Ferries.

Under the IPART determinations, CityRail fares would be allowed to increase by a further 3.8 per cent a year from 2014 to 2015, and Sydney Ferries fares by a further five per cent a year from 2014 to 2016.

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Abbas seeks upgrade of Palestinian status

France's approval of a Palestinian move to upgrade its status at the UN has upset the United States. Source: AAP

THE Palestinians are heading to the UN in a bid to upgrade their status.

President Mahmoud Abbas will on Thursday personally ask the UN General Assembly to upgrade Palestine's rank from an observer entity to that of a non-member observer state.

The request is expected to be approved by the 193 member states. It will give the Palestinians access to a range of UN agencies and also potentially to the International Criminal Court.

The move is strongly opposed by the United States and Israel, who say a Palestinian state should emerge only out of bilateral negotiations.

The latest bid comes 14 months after Abbas first approached the UN, seeking full state membership. That request stalled at the Security Council after the United States threatened to use its veto.

As Abbas took off from Amman for New York, France announced it would vote in favour of the resolution in what is widely seen as strong show of support.

However, the United States publicly disagreed with France, one of its closest allies.

"We obviously disagree with our oldest ally on this issue. They know that we disagree with them," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "But it's their sovereign decision to make."

France is the first major European power to voice approval of the Palestinian move.

Over the last week, Abbas also received a rare show of support from rival Palestinian nationalist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Until now, the Islamist movement had publicly opposed the bid, accusing Abbas of acting unilaterally and warning it would compromise Palestinian rights.

Abbas is aware there is likely to be a political backlash over his decision to return to the United Nations.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokeswoman told AFP on Tuesday Israel would most likely not take any punitive measures if the Palestinians merely upgraded their status, in what the Jewish state saw as a largely symbolic act.

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Coalition to support boat excise bill

THE coalition will support Labor's bid to excise the Australian continent from the migration zone, despite labelling the move as hypocritical and fraudulent.

MPs are debating a government bill on Tuesday that aims to deter asylum seekers from trying to reach the mainland by boat.

"If you vote for this bill today on that side of the house, you are admitting that you are hypocrites and frauds," opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison told parliament, referring to Labor's opposition to a similar move by former prime minister John Howard in 2006.

Mr Howard failed in his bid to excise the Australian mainland from the migration zone after a backbench revolt led by Liberal moderates.

Mr Morrison said the measure was only a marginal one but would receive the support of opposition MPs.

"We will support measures even if they are so marginal as this one is, if it improves things slightly," he said.

Labor backbencher Ed Husic acknowledged that consistency in setting policy was important.

"But consistency that ignores reality and is divorced from reality and circumstance is not a substitute for good policy," he told parliament.

Mr Husic said the plan would discourage people risking their lives trying to get to the Australian mainland.

"(This is about) dealing with the fact that 1500 people, since 2008, have put their lives at risk in travelling beyond some of the islands like Christmas Island or Cocos Islands to try to get to the mainland," he said.

The Senate passed more bills on Tuesday to streamline the anti-dumping regime.

A measure from one of the bills sets up a review panel of three people to investigate claims of dumping.

The other bill will clarify and widen the definition of a subsidy and allow the government or an Australian industry to initiate an inquiry into circumvention - a trade strategy used to avoid penalties for dumping.

The Customs Amendment (Anti-Dumping Improvements) Bill (No.2) 2011 and the Customs Amendment (Anti-Dumping Improvements) Bill (No.3) 2012 bills now await royal assent.

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Govt new dental scheme passes upper house

MORE than three million children will be eligible for taxpayer-subsidised dental care after the Senate passed a new government scheme.

The six-year package includes $2.7 billion for about 3.4 million children aged two to 17 years, $1.3 billion for adults on low incomes and $225 million to expand services in outer metropolitan, regional and remote areas.

Access to the scheme will start on January 1, 2014 and will cover children in families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A or a range of other benefits.

It will provide a capped benefit of $1000 over two years for basic dental services.

One million low-income adults with concession cards, including pensioners, will also have improved access to public dental care.

Families will be able to continue using their private dentist, provided the dentist participates in the scheme.

Government frontbencher Jan McLucas said the investment would help reverse the decline in the dental health of the nation's children since the 1990s.

"Unless we reverse this trend, a generation of children with poor teeth will grow as a generation of adults with poor teeth," Senator McLucas told the chamber on Monday.

"Poor oral health will place even more pressure on the wider health system."

Senator McLucas said the bill would establish a framework to allow children in "poor and less well-off families" to access affordable preventative care and basic dental services.

The new scheme replaces the Howard government's Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS).

Queensland Liberal Senator Sue Boyce said the children and adults on the CDDS included diabetics and heart patients who would lose funding under that scheme on November 30.

"All this government is going to do is put them at the bottom of the public dental health scheme for at least 18 months," Senator Boyce said.

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Murray plan to face parliament

Environment Minister Tony Burke will table the national Murray-Darling Basin plan in parliament. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S first national plan for the Murray-Darling Basin is set to face its first hurdle, with the Australian Greens poised to oppose the strategy in parliament.

Environment Minister Tony Burke will table it in parliament from 5pm (AEST) on Monday, opening the way for a disallowance motion to be moved by the Greens or the coalition.

The Greens have already flagged their intent to scuttle the plan, heralded by Mr Burke last week as the long-awaited answer to the river's environmental woes.

The coalition has raised some concerns with the plan but is unlikely to back the Greens' motion or move one of its own.

Mr Burke on Monday said if a disallowance motion was carried, it would ruin Australia's best chance to date of restoring the ailing river system to health.

"If we can only resolve to continue to fight, and not reach a solution, we are no better than the generations who have failed before us," he told parliament on Monday.

Mr Burke said the plan would prevent the Murray mouth from drying up and make massive blue-green algae outbreaks a thing of the past.

The historic water plan will flush the river system with 3200 billion litres (GL) of water a year by 2024 in a bid to reduce salinity, improve bird habitats and secure Red River Gum forests.

The federal government may have compromised on the way it got to a final plan, but it had not compromised on the ambitions of the reform itself.

"This reform does restore the Murray-Darling Basin to health," he said.

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Obama set to resume 'fiscal cliff' talks

THE US Congress returns from its week-long Thanksgiving holiday on Monday, as politicians and President Barack Obama try to avert a looming fiscal crisis that could send the entire American economy plunging into recession again.

Officials in Washington are hoping to find a way to avoid a year-end "fiscal cliff", a convergence of tax increases and massive spending cuts, including slashes to the military, which some experts say could bring dire economic consequences - possibly sparking another crippling economic slowdown.

Both Republicans and Democrats are well aware of the need for the country to get its fiscal house in order, as the US tries to rein in a huge debt that has been growing bigger by the day and reduce deficit spending.

After months of stalemate, congressional leaders met on November 16 with Obama, who is deemed to have a considerably stronger negotiating hand after handily winning re-election 10 days earlier.

Just five weeks now remain in the calendar year to conclude an agreement before the expiration of tax cuts put in place during the presidency of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.

Obama has said that any deal he concludes would have to include an increase in taxes on wealthy Americans, something congressional Republicans so far have rejected.

The plan he proposes - and presented to voters on the campaign trail - would raise the tax rate for top earners but keep Bush-era tax rates for individuals who make less than $US200,000 a year and families earning less than $US250,000.

Republicans insist that raising taxes on the wealthy would be counter-productive and only serve to slow economic growth and ensure that the country continues to be plagued by economic stagnation.

They insist that higher taxes would dampen spending and hiring and investment by business owners.

Republicans say they prefer to look at ways to bring in more tax revenue by completely overhauling the old and unwieldy US tax code, including closing what they say are "special interest loopholes" likely to hit the poor and the middle class as well as the rich.

Several economists also have said that closing loopholes and ending deductions likely would not generate sufficient money to chip away at the debt, and that a combination of tax increases and spending cuts will be needed.

Some experts said that there need not be a "grand deal" by the end of the year, because they could give themselves an extension by passing new legislation.

Further complicating efforts to reach a deal is the fact that Congress is in "lame duck" mode.

During the interregnum, lasting several weeks after every election, outgoing members of Congress have only a few weeks to wrap up legislative business before they are out the door and the newly elected members are in place in January.

Another wrinkle is a pledge signed by numerous Republicans over the span of more than two decades, vowing never to vote for tax increases.

There are signs, however, that some Republicans in Congress - now aware that they have been rendered utterly hamstrung by the pledge - are re-thinking their position.

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Native title is flawed, activists say

Mining companies are robbing indigenous communities, Aboriginal activists say. Source: AAP

MINING companies are robbing indigenous communities of a decent share of the mineral wealth because the native title system is flawed, Aboriginal activists say.

Up to 100 Aboriginal protesters are planning to rally outside Brisbane's Stamford Plaza Hotel on Monday and Tuesday, as native title bureaucrats hold talks with mining companies and the government.

Wayne Wharton, from the Kooma tribe in southwest Queensland, says the talks are never fair but just a way for mining companies discuss loopholes in an already weak native title system.

"The system is fraudulent," Mr Wharton told AAP on Sunday.

He said all the power in the negotiating process was on the miners' side while indigenous communities, who could benefit from a share of the mineral wealth, were dipping out.

"The agreements that come out of the talks neglect to honour the common law principal of compulsory acquisition," Mr Wharton said.

"Indigenous people are not being compensated."

Mr Wharton was among 10 Aboriginal activists and academics speaking at Brisbane's first Sovereignty and Land Rights Conference on Sunday.

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