Australia may lose Fiji influence: Rabuka

AUSTRALIA will lose its political and strategic influence in Fiji if it doesn't restore good relations as soon as possible, the Pacific nation's former prime minister says.

Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka told a meeting in Sydney that Asian powers, such as China, were building new relationships with Fiji while Australia hid "behind a wall of political correctness".

Another speaker at the 2nd International Defence and Security Dialogue on Tuesday said Australia had "lost the plot" in regard to security in the region.

Major-General Rabuka, who led a military coup in 1987, said it was important to quickly restore relationships because of the attention and influence Fiji was getting from Asia.

"While the past 25 years of the Australia-Fiji relationship has been strained and dominated by isolationism and a diplomatic feud, Australia must realise that the longer the isolation, the more difficult the restoration," he told the forum on Tuesday.

"After Fiji normalises its own national political situation, Fiji will expect the quick restoration of bilateral relationship with Australia".

Australia-Fiji relations have been strained since Fiji's government was overthrown in 2006 by a military coup staged by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, now Fiji's prime minister.

Australia has also imposed financial and travel sanctions on Fiji until democracy is restored.

But Fiji has been pursuing relationships with other countries and has upped its involvement with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which includes Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the forum was told.

Professor Richard Herr, from the Centre for International and Regional Affairs at the University of Fiji, said Australia had "lost the plot" about regional security.

He said Australia had become lax in its involvement with the MSG and risked "becoming an outsider looking in" when it came to Pacific island relations.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced in July last year that Australia would restore diplomatic relations with Fiji.

In December, career diplomat Margaret Twomey was appointed High Commissioner to Fiji and is due to start the posting within weeks.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Israel calls for calm over prisoner death

ISRAEL has called on the Palestinian Authority to rein in unrest as militants vowed revenge over the death of a prisoner whom the Palestinians allege died under Israeli torture.

Thousands thronged the West Bank village of Sair on Monday for the funeral of Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old father of two and member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades after his death at the weekend.

Masked militants fired assault rifles into the air and angry mourners waved Fatah banners and Palestinian flags while Israeli forces stayed away.

Armed and masked Palestinian militants have not been seen in the West Bank since the last intifada, or uprising, which broke out in 2000 and raged for five years.

"This horrific crime will not go unpunished and we promise the Zionist occupation that we will respond to this crime," said a statement from militants of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

Israel called for calm, following a similar plea the previous day, and the United States also urged restraint.

"Israel expects the Palestinian Authority to act responsibly to prevent incitement and violence which will only exacerbate the situation," Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told AFP.

"Ultimately, not violence but peace talks are what is needed," he added.

Abbas had earlier accused Israel of trying to sow "chaos" in the occupied West Bank, but said his people would not be provoked into violence.

Around 500 Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli soldiers outside the Ofer military prison near Ramallah, where several hundred Palestinian prisoners are held.

Israeli troops opened fire and used tear gas against the protesters, witnesses said, adding that army snipers were deployed on rooftops of neighbouring buildings.

Palestinian medics said 26 protesters were injured by rubber bullets while seven others were hit by live fire and moderately wounded. An army spokesman said six Palestinians were hurt by rubber bullets.

Clashes also broke out in Hebron and near Aida refugee camp where a teenager was shot and seriously wounded by Israeli troops, the medics said.

The Palestinian, identified as 15-year-old Odai Sarhan, was transferred to Hadassa hospital in Jerusalem while two others, also hit by live fire in the clashes near Aida camp, were taken to a hospital in nearby Bethlehem.

Protests demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and in solidarity with several hunger strikers have rocked the West Bank over the past weeks.

US State Department deputy acting spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday: "We're sending a clear message to both sides here in terms of restraint."

Noting that Israel was already investigating the death, Ventrell added: "We expect all parties to consider the results of the autopsy calmly and without inflammatory rhetoric."

Israeli prison authorities say Jaradat appeared to have died of a heart attack and that fractured ribs discovered in the autopsy could have been caused by efforts to resuscitate him.

The UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, called for "an independent and transparent investigation" into the death.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

WA premier slams Gillard's Gonski reforms

Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett has slammed the PM over her Gonski school reforms. Source: AAP

WESTERN Australia appears set to follow Victoria and opt out of Julia Gillard's proposed Gonski school reforms, if Premier Colin Barnett is re-elected in March.

The prime minister vowed on Monday to get an agreement on her $6.5 billion funding plan, despite Victoria announcing it will go it alone.

It says it can deliver better outcomes for students than the commonwealth.

WA Premier Colin Barnett said he believed the federal government was a "small player" in education and heavily criticised Ms Gillard's style of negotiation with the states.

"We have never indicated we would sign up to Gonski," Mr Barnett told reporters in Perth.

"If the federal government has some proposal, they are very much the small player in education.

"We are not going to sit back and suddenly let the commonwealth take over the running of our schools."

Ms Gillard will meet state and territory leaders in April to discuss the new plan, and Schools Minister Peter Garrett will this week advise how much the commonwealth will contribute.

Mr Barnett, maintaining the anti-Canberra stance that has been a plank of his state election campaign, launched another broadside at the Gillard government.

"The style of Julia Gillard is to pick a fight with the states, run out to the media and pretend she has a solution," Mr Barnett said.

"They come out and denigrate our hospitals, denigrate our schools, and then pretend to have a solution.

"That is not good government."

AAP tc/r

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Union urges QBE to talk on jobs

A union has urged QBE Insurance Group to reveal any plans to send 700 Australian jobs offshore. Source: AAP

THE Finance Sector Union (FSU) has urged QBE Insurance Group to reveal whether or not it plans to send 700 Australian jobs offshore to Manila.

"The Finance Sector Union believes that QBE's decision to withhold from its workforce that they have been working on a plan to send 700 hard-working Australians' jobs overseas is a complete and utter disgrace," FSU national secretary Leon Carter said on Monday.

Mr Carter said the FSU was in possession of documents that showed that QBE had plans to send Australian jobs offshore, yet the company had refused to say anything about the issue to either the FSU or the media.

QBE declined to comment on the matter on Monday.

But it repeated a statement made in January that chief executive John Neal had previously indicated that QBE was looking to reduce annual operating costs by more than $200 million in coming years.

The company had said in January that it was unable to respond in detail to reports about staff changes.

Mr Carter said if QBE wished to retain the faith of its workforce, it should say on Monday that it would be keeping the 700 jobs in question in Australia.

He said "offshoring" jobs was unnecessary and wrong.

Mr Carter also took a swipe at politicians, saying workers in the financial sector were "fed up" with them saying they were worried about jobs, but did nothing about it.

"Protecting jobs is not a spectator sport," Mr Carter said.

"If you (politicians) want to do something that would save Australian jobs, come out today, like you do for manufacturing workers, like you do for farmers, like you do for everybody else, and say we are not going to tolerate highly successful, highly profitable companies sending Australian jobs overseas just so you can make more money."

Mr Carter said the FSU would continue to campaign for laws to stop companies from sending jobs overseas.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Violence could mar Kenya vote: Annan

THE former head of the United Nations, who helped save Kenya from spiralling deeper into election violence five years ago, is warning intimidation, ethnic rivalry and violence could undermine Kenya's March presidential vote.

Kofi Annan said on Saturday Kenya is on a positive trajectory five years after post-election violence killed more than 1000 people and forced some 600,000 from their homes.

Annan helped broker a political deal between the top two contenders for president.

That deal saw Mwai Kibaki remain president and challenger Raila Odinga become prime minister.

Annan said he fears ethnic rivalry could see violence return when the nation votes March 4.

It's likely the nation will see a run-off vote for president sometime in April that could have even more potential for violence.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

WA nurses 'threatened' with the sack

WEST Australian nurses have been threatened with deregistration if they continue to carry out work bans over a pay dispute, their union says.

Nurses will go on strike for 24 hours if the state government does not offer them a 20 per cent pay increase over three years by Monday.

The demand is up from 12.75 per cent, which the nurses previously said they were prepared to accept.

The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) voted on Friday to keep one in five beds closed at hospitals over the weekend and to wait until Monday to decide if it should take industrial action over wages and conditions.

The union also wants nurses to stop having to perform menial tasks normally done by orderlies and cleaners, and objects to big hikes in parking fees at hospitals.

But the Industrial Relations Commission ordered on Friday that the nurses lift all work bans or risk patient safety.

Health Department director-general Kim Snowball reportedly sent a letter to nurses warning them of the consequences of their actions.

The ANF released the letter and a fact sheet late on Saturday.

"Am I protected if I continue to keep beds closed? No," the fact sheet reads.

"Is my professional registration at risk if I keep beds closed? Yes."

The department warned nurses that if they continued their action they also risked suspension from duty, disciplinary action and no indemnity insurance.

"I have issued a direction to ensure that all patients who require a hospital bed for their safety, care and treatment are to be moved to an appropriate hospital bed," Mr Snowball said in the letter.

ANF state secretary Mark Olson said the prospect of disciplinary proceedings for 10,000 nurses and midwives involved in the current industrial action was preposterous.

"Nurses and midwives have closed beds during industrial campaigns in WA and other states using the same guidelines we are using in this campaign," he said.

"No nurse or midwife has ever been sacked, suspended, or deregistered for participating in the industrial action of closing beds or going on strike."

Mr Olson said the health department was trying to frighten nurses and midwives.

"Instead of trying to sort out the pay claim, they are more interested in bullying, harassment, threats and intimidation," he said.

Premier Colin Barnett had said there was little he could do while the government was in caretaker mode before the March 9 state election.

But Opposition Leader Mark McGowan told reporters on Sunday that under the guidelines of the caretaker convention, an agreement could be reached between the government and the ANF if the opposition was also involved in the discussions.

Mr McGowan wrote a letter to the premier in which he said the dispute was "getting beyond normal election politicking".

He said while he would not enter into a bidding war with the government, any agreement they made with the nurses would be supported by the opposition and implemented if they won the election.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

UN sounds alarm over Myanmar boat people

The UN has raised the alarm over the rising number of boat people perishing in the Indian Ocean. Source: AAP

THE UN's refugee agency has raised the alarm over the rising number of boat people perishing in the Indian Ocean, including Rohingya Muslims fleeing communal strife in Myanmar (Burma).

"It is clear that for people fleeing violence and conflict in their homelands, this has become one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world," UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said on Friday.

In 2012, some 13,000 people took to smugglers' boats in the Bay of Bengal, of whom 500 died at sea when the vessels broke down or capsized, Mahecic said.

"Already in 2013, several thousand people are believed to have boarded smugglers boats in the Bay of Bengal," he added.

Among the most recent incidents, around 90 people are believed to have died of dehydration and starvation during a two-month journey.

Around 30 survivors were rescued last weekend by Sri Lanka's navy off that country's coast.

"The repeated tragedies at sea demonstrate the need for a co-ordinated regional response to distress and rescue at sea," Mahecic said.

Described by the UN as among the most persecuted minority groups in the world, Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya have for years trickled abroad to neighbouring Bangladesh and, increasingly, to Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship.

Buddhist-Muslim unrest has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since June 2012.

"We are advocating with the Myanmar government to urgently address the root causes of the outflow," Mahecic said.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pope to quit Twitter after stepping down

The pope's official Twitter account will close after stepping down, Vatican Radio says. Source: AAP

THE pope's official Twitter account, which has more than two million followers in nine languages, will close next week when Benedict XVI leaves office, Vatican Radio said Friday.

After a high-profile launch on December 12 under the name @pontifex, the pontiff's online musings quickly attracted over 1.5 million followers in English. Around a million other users of the site subscribe to his feeds in Italian, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Polish, Arab and even Latin and a Chinese account had been planned.

"It seemed unimaginable one could continue to use a communication tool that is so popular and powerful during the Sede Vacante (Vacant Seat) period," Vatican Radio said.

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics is expected to post his final tweet on February 27, when he will bid a farewell to ordinary Catholics at a general audience in St Peter's Square.

The account will then be closed on February 28 when Benedict formally steps down as pope, according to Vatican Radio.

No clear favourite has emerged yet to succeed Benedict but several cardinals tipped as possible candidates, including American Timothy Dolan, Odilo Scherer from Brazil and Gianfranco Ravasi and Angelo Scola from Italy, are active Twitter users within the Church.

Benedict's bold move to become the first pope to join the Twittersphere sparked heated debate at the Vatican and within the Church. Supporters said it was a useful way to reach a younger generation, but some observers were dismayed to see that his pious posts invited a stream of mockery.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic police promise to target fire starters

Victorian police have promised to prosecute people who recklessly or carelessly cause bushfires. Source: AAP

PEOPLE who recklessly start bushfires would be liable to pay for the damage their actions cause, Victorian police have warned.

Police say they have already charged a number of people this summer with causing bushfires, some of which have destroyed property.

Arson Squad Senior Sergeant Jeff Maher said police would prosecute anyone found to be acting in breach of fire restrictions.

He said those prosecuted would be liable for the damage done and the cost of fighting the fire.

"These are not small amounts of money. We are talking about huge costs," Sgt Maher said.

He said an alarming number of fires had been started through potentially dangerous acts like using angle grinders and farm machinery.

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

RBA plays down banks' smaller cuts

RESERVE Bank of Australia (RBA) has played down the difference between its own interest rate cuts and those made by commercial banks.

RBA governor Glenn Stevens on Friday told a parliamentary committee that banks' funding costs had gone up in past five years.

"The borrowers, I'm afraid they have to pay the cost of funding that the banks face," he said in Canberra.

"There's been a very intense debate over a few basis points in the movement in the gap between the cash rate and borrowing rates."

Mr Stevens said the banks' margins had fluctuated but had been in a reasonably narrow range for a number of years.

The RBA cut the cash rate four times in 2012, taking it to three per cent from 4.25 per cent.

Most of those cuts were not fully passed on when the major banks cut their standard variable lending rates.

After the RBA's most recent 25 basis point reduction in December, all four majors cut by only 20 basis points.

Mr Stevens repeated his point that the RBA had reduced the cash rate more than it would normally in order to compensate for the commercial banks' smaller reductions.

"I think the borrowers are paying approximately what we feel is the appropriate rate for the economic circumstances," he said.

"I can't fine tune that to the nearest basis point, but they're not hundreds of points from where we feel they should be.

"The gap between the cash rate and the whole structure at what banks borrow at, and lend at, has widened, in net terms, over five years.

"That's what global capital markets have handed to us and we can't make that go away."

11.51 | 0 komentar | Read More