Ozone hole shrinks to size of the US

THE seasonal hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctic this year was the second smallest in two decades, but still covers an area roughly the size of North America, US experts say.

The average size of the Earth's protective shield was 18 million square kilometres, according to satellite measurements by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and US space agency NASA.

"It happened to be a bit warmer this year high in the atmosphere above Antarctica, and that meant we didn't see quite as much ozone depletion as we saw last year," said Jim Butler of the NOAA.

The Antarctic ozone hole, which forms in September and October, reached its largest size for the season at 13.2 million sq km, roughly the combined area of the United States, Mexico and Canada - on September 22, the NOAA said.

In comparison, the largest ozone hole recorded to date was one of 18.5 million sq km in 2000.

The ozone layer - which helps protect the Earth from potentially dangerous ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer and cataracts - began developing holes on an annual basis starting in the 1980s due to chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs.

CFCs, once commonly used in refrigerators and aerosol cans, are almost non-existent thanks to an international treaty signed in 1987.

Still, it could take another decade before scientists detect early signs that the ozone over the Antarctic is returning, the NOAA said.

The ozone layer above Antarctica will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060, according to NASA scientist Paul Newman.

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Goldsearch shares up on uranium review

GOLDSEARCH shares have risen after the company announced it will review the uranium potential at its Elaine prospect in Queensland.

The development comes after the Queensland government overturned a state-wide ban on uranium mining earlier in the week.

The exploration company said the Elaine prospect contains a previously released one-metre intercept of uranium oxide and total rare-earth oxides.

"Uraninite confirmed as host mineral similar to neighbouring Mary Kathleen uranium deposit that was mined until 1982," the company said.

"A review of all historic uranium-assay results to date is underway."

Goldsearch is focused on gold, base metals, uranium and nickel in Australia.

At 1227 AEDT Goldsearch shares were 0.1 cents, or eight per cent, higher at 1.3 cents.

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Houston joins SA defence board

SOUTH Australia has strengthened its hand to win more defence industry contracts by appointing retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston to the state's defence advisory board.

The former defence force chief joins retired General Peter Cosgrove, another ex defence boss who is the board's chairman.

He attended his first board meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday with Premier Jay Weatherill declaring his extensive experience and expertise invaluable to SA's bid to grow its defence sector.

About 25 per cent of the nation's defence spending is currently centred in South Australia, the location for major work on the navy's new air warfare destroyers and the final construction of Australia's next fleet of submarines.

Mr Weatherill said South Australia's approach to securing defence contracts was the envy of other states.

"We bring together the best expertise we can gather," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"The high quality of this board puts us in the best possible position to attract and retain defence procurement opportunities."

Air Chief Marshal Houston said South Australia was a vital part of Australia's defence infrastructure.

"What we'll be doing is confronting all the defence industry issues and providing expert advice," he said.

"I will play a role in supporting the government's efforts to bring projects here."

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Lend Lease reshuffles management

LEND Lease has restructured the management of its Australian operations, months after reporting irregularities were uncovered in the accounts of a subsidiary.

The company's Australian operations, which account for more than 60 per cent of the group's total earnings, have been split into two core divisions - construction and infrastructure, and property.

Current Lend Lease Australia chief executive Mark Menhinnitt will head construction and infrastructure, and Lend Lease's head of investment strategy Tarun Gupta will head the property division.

Lend Lease also confirmed the departure of several executives since its Abigroup construction business was found to have misreported some items in its 2011/12 financial year accounts.

Peter Brecht, Lend Lease's former managing director of construction in Australia and a former Abigroup managing director, has resigned, Lend Lease said on Wednesday.

Two other unnamed Abigroup executives have also left the company.

The current head of Abigroup, David Saxelby, has been appointed the chief operating officer of the new construction and infrastructure division.

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Two women held hostage by gunman in WA

THE Tactical Response Group has surrounded a property in Perth's northern suburbs amid reports a woman is being held hostage by a gunman.

Initial police reports said the siege on Collier Road, Embleton appeared to be a domestic incident and one woman was being held captive.

However, ABC radio reported from the scene that the gunman was holding two women hostage.

The parties are known to each other.

Embleton Primary School, which is just 200m away, is in lockdown and many panicked parents have run through the police cordon, ABC radio also reported.

It is understood the incident does not represent a risk to students.

Collier Road has been closed off between Broun Avenue and Embleton Avenue.

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Taser compliance must improve: NSW police

A REPORT that criticises the way police use Tasers highlights the need for improvement, says NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.

Ombudsman Bruce Barbour tabled his report into Taser use by the NSW police in state parliament on Tuesday.

It makes 46 recommendations about how police should use a Taser and how to improve Taser training for general-duties officers.

The report says police should ban repeated Taser use and drive-stunning, where the Taser is directly applied to a person's skin.

It also says Tasers should not be used when people are trying to run away from police.

The recommendations follow the death of Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti in Sydney's CBD after he was chased and tasered by police in March.

"It does highlight areas where we can improve," Mr Scipione said on Tuesday.

"We say quite clearly, these devices cannot and will not be used as a compliance device."

Police Minister Michael Gallacher said the recommendations would "enhance" the work of NSW police.

NSW Greens MP and justice spokesman David Shoebridge said it was "remarkable" the ombudsman's report had failed to consider the evidence given at the Curti inquest.

"The highest-profile potential abuse of Tasers by NSW police has flown under the ombudsman's radar and failed to inform this report," he said in a statement.

Mr Shoebridge said a clear option for limiting Taser use by police was to withdraw them from general-duties officers and allow only specially trained squads to use them.

Mr Barbour said there had been a number of incidents where Tasers were used inappropriately.

"A Taser should never be used to drive-stun a person, or discharged at a person who is fleeing police or who is in handcuffs unless there are exceptional circumstances," the report states.

The report also says a Taser should never be applied for more than 15 seconds.

It reviewed 556 individual Taser incidents between June 2010 and November 2010 and found the devices were appropriately used in 476 incidents.

In 27 incidents police should not have fired the weapon at all.

"Whilst we only identified a small number of misuses, it is unacceptable to see situations where Taser use failed to comply with police procedures and was unreasonable," Mr Barbour said in the report.

"An officer must be in danger of serious actual bodily harm (not just in danger of any level or type of injury) to discharge a Taser."

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Govt cuts $1.1bn from private health

THE federal government has slashed $1.1 billion from private health insurance (PHI) in the mid-year budget update by again reducing the rebate paid to fund members.

The changes could cost an individual with average hospital cover around $13-a-year. Families could be $26 worse off.

From April 2014 the government will only pay the rebate on premium rises in line with inflation, saving $700 million over three years.

It will also scratch the rebate of up to 30 per cent on any penalty loadings people pay because they didn't take out private cover when they turned 30.

That measure will start in mid-2013 and save $390 million through to 2015/16.

The new cuts come after Labor earlier this year won a four-year battle to means test the 30 per cent PHI rebate, saving $2.4 billion over three years.

But Treasurer Wayne Swan insists the government isn't trying to get rid of the rebate by stealth.

"We are not hostile to the rebate," Mr Swan told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

"We are trying to make sure that we're not providing an endless rebate for any level of (premium) increase."

In April this year health fund premiums rose an average of 5.06 per cent.

In 2011 they jumped 5.56 per cent across the board.

By contrast the consumer price index (CPI) in the year to June 2012 was just 1.2 per cent. It's forecast to be 2.25 per cent in 2013/14.

Mr Swan said from April 2014 "the premium to which the rebate is applied will move in line with CPI or the commercial premium increase - whichever is lower".

The commonwealth spends $5 billion a year on the PHI rebate. The treasurer said without reform that would blow out to an unsustainable $8 billion by 2022.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek also is looking to change the way premium rises are approved.

As well as linking the subsidy to inflation, Labor will scrap the rebate altogether on the so-called lifetime health-cover component of premiums from July 2013.

Under an initiative designed to encourage people to take out hospital cover if someone isn't in a fund when they turn 31, but join later, they pay a two per cent loading for every year outside the system.

For example, someone who takes out PHI at age 40 will pay 20 per cent more than someone who joined at 30.

But from mid-2013 they won't receive the government rebate on that component of their premium.

Under the new means-testing arrangements, which started in July, individuals earning more than $84,000 and families earning more than $168,000 have their rebate reduced depending on how much they earn.

It cuts out altogether for individuals earning more than $130,000 and families on more than $260,000.

Health insurer NIB said the decision to effectively freeze the rebate allocation in real terms meant the government should allow funds to set premiums independent of interference.

"Once its liability is capped there won't be any valid reason for the government to control prices from 2014," managing director Mark Fitzgibbon said in a statement.

"With 34 insurers in the market I expect the forces of competition will do a better job than government in keeping premiums as low as possible."

Earlier this year Ms Plibersek said the 5.06 per cent average increase for 2012 was lower than would have been the case if she hadn't asked 24 of the funds to resubmit their applications for a rise.

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Families to be hit by govt savings: Abbott

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says families will be hit by federal government savings revealed in the mid-year budget update.

Mr Abbott said Labor's economic management was a failure, as shown by its "incredible shrinking budget surplus".

"This is a government that will never, ever deliver an honest budget surplus," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

"Families have been hit."

In the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) released on Monday, Treasurer Wayne Swan pared back the projected 2012/13 budget surplus to $1.1 billion, from $1.5 billion in May.

He also announced changes to the baby bonus and the private health insurance rebate scheme, as part to a plan to generate $16.4 billion of budget savings over the four-year estimates period.

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Devil captured, two still on the loose

ONE of three Tasmanian devils on the loose from a West Australian zoo has been found in bushland.

The four-month-old male devils - Itchy, Scratchy and Genghis - escaped from Peel Zoo, on the outskirts of Pinjarra, south of Perth, after a tree smashed their enclosure on Tuesday.

Zoo owner David Cobbold said Scratchy was found at about 3am (WST) on Sunday but the other two hand-reared animals remained on the loose.

Mr Cobbold said two men chased Scratchy through the bush and trapped the animal against a fence before wrapping it in a towel.

They then secured it in their bathroom, but Scratchy clawed its way through part of the plasterboard wall.

Mr Cobbold thanked the men but said people should not try to handle the animals themselves.

"The capture proved devils aren't as dangerous as their reputation suggested," he said.

"The name is more about the noise than the behaviour."

Mr Cobbold has urged members of the public who see the remaining two devils to call him on 0400 788 289.

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Taser used in Melbourne robbery

A GROUP of men have used a taser to rob a man in suburban Melbourne.

The man was walking along a Fitzroy North street when three men pulled over their car and attacked him just after midnight (AEDT) on Sunday.

The men punched the victim before using a taser to drop him to the ground, police said.

The attackers stole the man's bag and fled in their car.

The 37-year-old man was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

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