NSW patients more likely to die on weekend

IF you are on the path to a heart attack or even cancer, new research shows you would be better off fronting a hospital outside of weekend hours.

The medical research from the University of NSW reveals patients are up to 15 per cent more likely to die if they have been admitted through a emergency department between Saturday morning until midnight on Sunday.

The research, published on Saturday in the British Medical Journal Quality and Safety, found these "excess deaths" from acute heart problems were linked with a pattern associated to reduced availability of clinical services.

This includes a lack of full range treatments and testing services.

In other cases, including forms of cancer, the "weekend effect" is likely caused because sicker people are turning up after regular hours.

UNSW Australia Institute of Health Innovation Professor Enrico Coiera says reduced service levels at hospitals on weekends may need to be re-evaluated.

"Illness occurs 24/7 and not just in normal business hours," he said.

"Perhaps the provision of hospital services, including the way that services are rostered and funded need to be examined closely to better reflect the constancy of illness."

The research, which is based on seven years of NSW hospitals data, shows overall weekends accounted for more than a quarter of all hospital admissions and 28 per cent of deaths.

Prof Coiera said weekend admissions were necessary and patients should not hold out until Monday morning.

"However, patients and GPs should also be aware that for some illness groups, it's not a good idea to be struggling during the week and then go to hospital on Friday," he said.

"Depending on your location, you may not have the full suite of services at the weekend."

NSW Health clinical excellence commission chief executive officer Professor Cliff Hughes said the study data was from between 2000 and 2007.

He said a number of programs, including one aimed at reducing cardiac arrests and another at improving treatment for most emergency department patients, had been introduced since.

"The Clinical Excellence Commission and Agency for Clinical Innovation will continue to work with clinicians and local managers to understand the implications of this study for patients in NSW Health," he said in a statement.

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Brits claim doughnut is theirs

IT is usually thought of as an all-American treat but the recipe for the doughnut may have originated in Britain.

The Hertfordshire Record Society, which publishes a volume of records every year, has released The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale circa 1800, which includes a recipe for 'dow nuts' by a Mrs Fordham, according to the Hertfordshire Mercury.

Baroness Dimsdale lived in Hertford, the paper says.

The collection was given to the society by one of the family's descendants, Robert Dimsdale, who lives in Switzerland, and its secretary Dr Heather Falvey put it into the book.

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Pay for BOQ boss grows to $2.9m

The CEO of Bank of Queensland received a pay rise to $2.9m as the bank returned to profitability. Source: AAP

BANK of Queensland chief executive Stuart Grimshaw's pay grew by 60 per cent to $2.9 million as the bank returned to profitability.

Mr Grimshaw's base salary, bonuses and post-employment benefits rose in the bank's 2012/13 fiscal year, lifting his pay from $1.8 million in the 2011/12 year.

Mr Grimshaw was chief executive for 10 months of the 2011/12 year.

Bank of Queensland made a loss of $17 million in 2011/12, due to its exposure to the weakening Queensland property market.

But it bounced back in 2012/13 to post a profit of $186 million, due in part to stricter lending practices.

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Two men dead in Vic light plane crash

Two killed in fiery light plane crash

UPDATE: TWO people have died after a light plane crashed on take-off in Victoria's north-east.

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Legal aid sought for hotel rape case

LAWYERS for a man charged over allegedly holding a woman for more than a month and repeatedly raping her have applied for legal aid funding.

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Plates expose police technology flaw

POLICE technology is not identifying cars with new Victorian numberplates - but authorities insist it is not putting people at risk.

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'Maria's' family may have been found

A ROMA woman who claims to be mystery girl 'Maria's' mum has shown off her other kids who look similar to the unidentified child.

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Commissioner David Ipp to retire from ICAC

ICAC Commissioner David Ipp will step down as head of NSW's corruption watchdog next year.

"In opposition I repeatedly expressed my concern that (the Independent Commission Against Corruption's) inner-spring had wound down," Premier Barry O'Farrell told parliament on Thursday.

"There is no doubt that Commissioner Ipp had reinvigorated the organisation and through his efforts and leadership alone restored public confidence in the commission and reminded anyone thinking of doing the wrong thing that they will be found out."

"He departs with the undying gratitude of this parliament and of our state and we wish him a long and healthy retirement."

Mr O'Farrell has proposed Supreme Court judge Megan Latham as Mr Ipp's replacement.

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NZ govt rushes to validate police oaths

NEW Zealand's parliament has rushed through a law to validate the oaths taken by dozens of police officers, after learning they were wrongly sworn in.

The government had to pass the law under urgency on Thursday to avoid the possibility that the officers' actions might be challenged by people they had arrested or investigated.

Police Minister Anne Tolley brought the bill in, saying a law change made in 2008 was misinterpreted by the police and 63 officers - constables who had left and later rejoined - were wrongly sworn in between October 2009 and July this year.

They were sworn in by district commanders or inspectors who weren't authorised to administer the oath.

"This is terrible, I'm not making any excuses for the police and I'm very cross," Tolley told reporters.

"I'm really disappointed and embarrassed - I'm the one who has to sit in parliament and take the scorn that's being dished out in there."

Tolley said the bill had to be kept under wraps until it reached parliament because if the "very bad administrative cock-up" had become known before it was passed some people who had been prosecuted, convicted or investigated could have mounted legal challenges on the grounds that the officers weren't properly warranted.

She didn't know how many people had been arrested by the officers, and didn't know whether anyone was going to lose their job over the blunder.

It's the second time parliament has had to pass a law validating police oaths - in 2009 it was discovered recruits had been incorrectly sworn in.

Opposition MPs blamed Tolley and her predecessor in the police portfolio, Judith Collins.

"Not even your constables are sworn in properly," Labour's police spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern told Tolley.

"Ministers should have ensured this didn't happen."

The Greens have asked Auditor-General Lyn Provost to hold an inquiry.

"Simply passing this law doesn't answer the question of why this happened," said justice spokesman David Clendon.

Opposition MPs widened their attack to cover numerous blunders that have been made during National's term in office.

They all agreed, however, that the bill had to be passed and it went through all its stages on unanimous votes.

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New bushfire emergency in Lake Macquarie

AN emergency alert has been issued for a fire at Lake Macquarie, near Gateshead.

The Rural Fire Service (RFS) says the fire at Oakdale Road has jumped the Fernleigh track.

It has burnt seven hectares of scrub, with 11 trucks and 40 firefighters at the scene, an RFS spokesman said.

He said there were helicopters working at the scene to slow its process.

At 1430 (AEDT) there were 69 bushfires burning across the state, with 29 uncontained.

Around 3000 firefighters are battling the blazes, almost 1000 of whom were reinforcements from interstate.

It is the third fire to reach emergency warning level on Wednesday.

Residents in the suburbs of Redhead and Dudley were advised to seek shelter as the blaze approaches.

Parents are being urged not to pick their children up from Redhead School due to the fire risk on the roads.

The children were safe and well in the school hall, the RFS said.

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Consumers complain less about telcos

COMPLAINTS from phone and internet users to telcos have reached a five-year low.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) annual report shows it received 158,652 new complaints about landline, mobile and internet issues in 2012/13, an 18.1 per cent decrease on the previous year.

More than half the complaints concerned customer service issues.

The main complaints by mobile users concerned reduced or no reception, poor voice quality and dropped calls.

But complaints to the TIO about phones and the internet stemming from extreme weather events jumped significantly last financial year.

Cases where extreme weather events contributed to delays in new internet connections rose by 58 per cent and in new landline connections it went up by 40 per cent.

Vodafone, Telstra and Optus said the drop in complaints was pleasing but the telcos acknowledged there was still more work to be done.

Telecommunications ombudsman Simon Cohen praised the telcos for the overall decline in complaints.

"This is the second successive year we have seen telco complaints decrease, and complaints to the TIO are at their lowest since 2008/09," Mr Cohen said.

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Qld police and bikies in arms race

Queensland police fear they could be murdered by bikies under the state's tough new anti-bikie laws. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND police could be armed with semi-automatic assault rifles and body armour to keep them safe amid the state's crackdown on bikie gangs.

The police union wants powerful Remington R4 carbine .223 guns with scopes, shotguns and personal body armour tailored to individual officers.

The weapons are available to specialist units and police in isolated areas but the high-powered gun has not been allocated in the southeast region.

Commissioner Ian Stewart is considering the request but is cautious not to make police appear too threatening.

"There are times when our people will need specialist equipment to do their jobs in safety and that's what I'm looking at right now," Mr Stewart said.

Queensland police fear they could be murdered by bikies trying to evade capture and prosecution under the state's tough new anti-bikie laws.

Union President Ian Leavers says bikies will take more risks to avoid being subjected to new mandatory sentences simply for being members of declared criminal gangs.

"Police may very well become the victim of a serious attack, if not worse," Mr Leavers told AAP.

"This can be prevented by giving us firepower equal to what bikie gangs have."

Asked if arming officers with bigger guns would escalate the bikie war, the union president says there is already an arms race.

A lawyer who acts for members of unnamed outlaw bikie gangs says the laws have been so poorly crafted that his clients have been left with no process by which they could satisfy authorities they'd severed their gang links.

"Someone from the government, who is responsible for this legislation, needs to put in writing what it is a bikie must do so they're no longer considered a bikie," Peter Shields said on Monday.

Authorities are also severing the power of outlaw motorcycle gangs operating in jail.

The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) says prisons are a prime recruiting place and they're working with jails to gather intelligence.

During an interview on Fairfax radio, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie agreed with one caller's views that outlaw motorcycle gangs are the Australian equivalent of the mafia.

He again acknowledged there would be a transition period where some law-abiding riders could be caught up as police work to nab bikie criminals.

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Open speed limits irresponsible: doctors

THE Northern Territory's plan to trial open speed limits could pose significant dangers to motorists and pedestrians.

The NT government plans to trial an open speed limit for 12 months from February on a 200km stretch of the Stuart Highway near Alice Springs, but the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is urging it to reconsider what it believes is an irresponsible decision.

"Open speed limits have been removed from the vast majority of jurisdictions (worldwide) because of consistent evidence linking speed to car crashes, deaths and injuries," Chair of the RACP NT State Committee, Dr Christine Connors, said in a statement on Tuesday.

"By allowing motorists to travel at very high speeds, the Northern Territory government is putting the lives of Territorians at unnecessary risk."

In the 10 years between 2001-2011, there were no speed-related fatalities on the proposed stretch of road, NT Minister for Transport Peter Styles said last week.

"We are bringing responsibility back to motorists. They need to be able to drive to the road conditions and their capabilities," he said.

He stressed that motorists should consider the condition of the road, weather and the standard of their vehicle.

But risk-taking young men are most likely to be killed driving too fast on rural roads, and an open speed limit is giving them permission to drive even more recklessly, Dr Connors said.

"As a community, we should be protecting these young men as well as others using our roads," she said.

The RACP says that, prior to the introduction of speed limits on certain roads in 2007, the NT had the highest per-capita fatality rate across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - and twice the Australian average.

In 2012, more than a third of all Territory road fatalities and serious injuries were attributed to speed.

Of the 212 recorded driver fatalities in the NT from 2002-2012, a quarter were males aged between 16 and 25 years, the RACP says.

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Pike River mine re-entry operation starts

Work has started on the Pike River coal mine re-entry operation in New Zealand. Source: AAP

WORK has started on the Pike River mine re-entry operation and an air force helicopter is helping remove debris from the top of a ventilation shaft.

It's nearly three years since explosions in the New Zealand coalmine killed 29 men and their families have been trying since then to persuade the government and the mine's owner, Solid Energy, to retrieve their bodies.

A technically feasible plan was worked out earlier this year and the government agreed to put up $NZ10 million ($A8.87 million) so it could go ahead.

The big problem has been safety, because there is still methane gas in the mine.

Re-entry work began on Sunday and the first step is sealing off the ventilation shaft in the main entry tunnel.

When that has been done nitrogen will be pumped into the tunnel to force out the methane, and mine experts will be able to walk down the 2.3km shaft to a rockfall.

Most of the bodies are believed to be in tunnels beyond the rockfall.

"Safety is paramount and the project will be carefully managed with a risk assessment undertaken at each stage," Energy Minister Simon Bridges said on Monday.

Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman says an air force NH90 helicopter, supported by air lift personnel, has removed nearly 25 tonnes of debris from the top of the ventilation shaft.

"The NH90 has twice the lifting capacity of civilian helicopters," he said.

"It is state-of-the-art technology and they expect to transport up to 20 loads this week."

Mr Bridges says at this point the operation doesn't include entering the main mine workings beyond the rockfall.

"The government can't speculate on re-entering the main mine until the tunnel re-entry has been successfully achieved."

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Man dies after motorcycle crash

A MAN has died from injuries he sustained in a motorcycle crash in the Northern Territory last week.

The 28-year-old man was riding a trail bike along Melville Bay Road in Nhulunbuy at about 7pm on October 14 when police believe he lost control and crashed.

He died on Sunday, police say, but they could not comment on the nature of his injuries.

The exact circumstances surrounding the crash are still being investigated and a file is being prepared for the coroner.

The state's road toll is now at 32, compared with 40 at the same time last year.

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Khloe Kardashian to return to Australia

KHLOE Kardashian must be having mixed feelings about returning to Australia in November.

Last time she visited, in 2011, she and her older sister Kim flew into a media storm. They arrived in Australia in the wake of Kim's announcement that she was divorcing her husband Kris Humphries, a mere 72 days after their much-hyped wedding.

Now News Corp Australia is reporting Khloe will return to Australia in November to promote the Kardashian family's fashion empire.

Khloe, 29, has been the subject of recent headlines about the state of her own marriage, to basketballer Lamar Odom.

The trip follows the launch of the Kardashian Kollection's ready-to-wear Spring/Summer line at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival in Sydney in August.

Khloe and Kim, who rose to fame with the TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, visited Australia in 2011 to promote their handbag line.

Hundreds of fans, journalists and photographers followed the stars on their two-day visit. The sisters cut short the trip and cancelled their scheduled appearance at the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Khloe's November visit is likely to be more subdued.

It's unlikely Odom will join his wife in Australia.

The couple are reportedly estranged amid rumours the basketball player is battling addiction to cocaine.

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Real test of new NSW train times

The NSW government says people will be pleased with changes to Sydney's public transport services. Source: AAP

PEAK-HOUR commuters will put Sydney's sweeping public transport changes to the test on Monday.

While the changes mean an extra 2700 ferry, bus and train services across the network, authorities admit some will miss out under the new integrated timetable that started on Sunday.

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian says the real test will come on Monday morning.

"Chances are, depending on where you are catching your train, you will spend less time on the train because there are more express services in the network," she said.

"The new system makes sure, where we can, we are managing overcrowding.

"So you can expect to have less people on your train as well when you have to make those journeys."

There will be 600 extra express services per week, including 125 for the South Coast train line and 70 new weekly express services between Newcastle and Sydney, in the timetable that was two years in the making.

Extra staff will be on hand at transport stations across the network to help travellers with the changes.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Penny Sharpe says many people are in for nasty surprises and disruptions because the NSW government didn't consult about the timetable rewrite.

"The new timetable cuts some peak-hour services right across the network and will instead require people to drive to major stations," she said in a statement.

The overhaul has been led by Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins, formerly the chief operating officer for the London Underground.

Mr Collins concedes there will be losers, but says most people will get a better deal.

"You can never ever satisfy everybody," he said on Sunday.

"There are a million customers out there (but) ... 90 per cent of those customers will get a better deal."

Mr Collins added that some customers could smooth the change to their routine by "interchanging, just checking your timetable and making an adjustment to your travel pattern so you get that stopping service".

Western Sydney receives the biggest boost in bus services with 1284 extra services each week.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson says a cut in peak-hour services in Como and Jannali in Sydney's south contributed to the Liberals' defeat in Saturday's Miranda by-election.

"Anger at the cuts to train services and the strong campaign against them by Labor's Barry Collier were a big part of the massive swing in Miranda," Mr Robertson said.

The opposition claims Jannali has lost 11 peak-hour train services a week, while Como has lost seven.

But Ms Berejiklian says there are 149 extra weekly services on the line into the electorate.

"For anybody that doubts that, look at the timetable and count them," she said.

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