The Australian Bureau of Statistics says sales of new motor vehicles fell 0.6 per cent in March. Source: AAP
AUSTRALIAN sales of new motor vehicles fell 0.6 per cent in March.
There were 95,113 new vehicles sold in March, seasonally adjusted, compared with 95,716 in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
In the year to March, new motor vehicle sales rose 4.5 per cent, seasonally adjusted.
A NSW government paper recommends speeding up the approval process for many types of developments. Source: AAP
NEW homes will be cheaper to build under the NSW government's overhaul of the state's planning system, says Planning Minister Brad Hazzard.
About 80 per cent of development proposals will qualify for fast-tracked decision making under the changes, estimated to save businesses and families about $174 million a year.
Most of these applications, which include new homes and home extensions, will be determined in less than 25 days.
Mr Hazzard said the government was slashing millions of dollars in red tape.
"That should translate into far faster processes, and holding costs are what contributes to the expense of homes, so we are anticipating that will have downward pressure," he said.
He was unable to put a figure on the cost saving for new homes but said it was logical to expect a drop in prices if more housing was coming in to the market.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said the white paper represented the most significant reform of the state's planning laws in more than 30 years.
"What we are delivering is an opportunity for communities and councils to work together to plan their suburbs, their streets and their regions.
"To deliver homes more affordably, to deliver the jobs closer to where people work and to do so at the same time as infrastructure is being delivered."
Under the changes, communities will have a legal charter to participate in upfront planning of areas, deciding where developments will go, what type they will be and what infrastructure will be needed to support them.
Community consultation was the centrepiece of the reforms, Mr Hazzard said.
"There will be guaranteed capacity for the community to have their say on how they see their local area developing."
"The community will be able to own this planning system, they will own what happens in their local area."
However, he conceded, "There is no question it is a mighty challenge to get the community to switch on at an earlier stage".
State opposition leader John Robertson said the proposed planning laws would give more power to developers.
"This is a regime which will give developers everything they want.
"It will exclude local communities from having a say at the most critical point of the planning process - that is, when the detailed development applications go to a council and no-one in the local community will have a say on anything."
Opposition planning spokesman Luke Foley said it would remove the general consultation process with communities in the preliminary stages of community engagement.
"Whilst cutting out the consultation at the point when development plans become a reality - that is a very cynical breach of faith with people who voted for a return of planning powers to local community."
Greens MP David Shoebridge said the proposals would favour developers over local communities.
"It's very clear that this legislation is intended to privilege developers, builders and construction, while local communities and local environment will play second-fiddle."
He said local councils will be sidelined on planning decisions with fewer representatives on regional planning boards.
"Local councils will become government patsies, they will just implement the decisions being made by the regional planning boards.
"Who would have thought that two years into the O'Farrell government, we would be looking back to the corrupt and broken scheme of planning under Labor and thinking they were the good days for planning in NSW."
The white paper is now open for community consultation for the next ten weeks. Legislation will be introduced to parliament in the second half of this year.
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says asylum seekers going on hunger strike won't succeed in pressuring the government to change its policies.
Ms Gillard was commenting on a group of 27 asylum seekers on hunger strike at a Melbourne detention centre.
Last week, the government confirmed one of the asylum seekers had received treatment for dehydration.
While the immigration department won't comment on why the detainees are on strike, it is believed they have been granted refugee status but have had their release into the community refused due to adverse ASIO assessments.
Ms Gillard on Monday stressed the importance of assessing would-be refugees on security grounds.
"We've got duties and obligations to the nation here in terms of properly assessing who's a refugee and making appropriate security assessments," she told ABC Radio.
"You do not change your circumstance as an asylum seeker or a refugee with an adverse security assessment through hunger striking."
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the detainees were very weak but had resumed drinking fluids.
SMALL and medium businesses using cloud computing and websites expect to earn more revenue than firms that don't.
Software provider MYOB's March 2013 Business Monitor released on Monday shows the financial gap between firms confident with the online world and those that are wary was expanding, but the adoption of online technologies had changed little in the past nine months.
In a study of more than 1000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), 16 per cent used cloud computing in business, up from 14 per cent in July 2012. Firms saying they had a website was unchanged at 38 per cent.
Cloud computing allows access to a shared pool of programs and sites, usually via the internet, as opposed to using individual computer software.
Firms saying they used the cloud were 106 per cent more likely to expect revenue to rise in the past year than those that didn't, up from 53 per cent in July.
Businesses with a website were 60 per cent more likely for revenue to increase, up from 53 per cent.
"It's obvious that as time goes on, Australian business operators using cloud computing are increasingly likely to achieve positive financial results," MYOB chief executive Tim Reed said in a statement.
"That said, I'm surprised fewer than one in every six say they use cloud in business."
Mr Reed said MYOB research showed the need for business to embrace online technologies.
SMEs wanted more government involvement in preparing the sector for an online future, with more than half of respondents stating they would vote for the political party that offered free government-funded training to small business, he said.
Accessing data from anywhere was the most popular reason for using the cloud (52 per cent), while 36 per cent said they liked their staff having the ability to work remotely.
The top reason for those not using cloud computing was a lack of knowledge about its functions and concern over making the "right business decisions" (35 per cent).
This was followed by firms saying they were not "very tech-savvy" and lacked confidence in looking at it for their business (22 per cent).
A NEW wave of hard-hitting ads will focus on the suffering caused by smoking to try to slash smoking rates.
The ads for the federal government's Stop Before The Suffering Starts campaign will run on television, radio, online and print media, as well as social media, from Sunday.
They highlight the toll taken by smoking-related illnesses and the impact on smokers and their families.
"Many medical conditions caused by smoking can result in not just death, but in living for years of suffering with disabling health problems," Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said in statement on Sunday.
The goal was to reduce smoking rates from around 25 per cent of the population to 10 per cent by 2018.
Tobacco smoking remains the single largest cause of preventable premature death and disease in Australia, killing 15,000 Australians each year and costing the economy $31.5 billion.
AUSTRALIA risks losing a unique and valuable part of its history if plans to revamp the nation's only remaining pristine Georgian-era square are approved, local activists say.
Community Action for Windsor Bridge (CAWB) says parts of the historic Thompson Square in Windsor, northwest of Sydney, are being threatened under plans to replace the nearby Hawkesbury River bridge.
The Roads and Maritime Services said the work is required because the existing bridge is more than a century old and deteriorating.
It said no heritage buildings in the square would be demolished but work will potentially impact on its "heritage values and archaeology".
Construction is scheduled to start mid to late 2013 once planning is approved.
Historian Peter Luck said the nation will lose another part of its unique and valuable history if the work goes ahead.
"We are in danger of ... saying a familiar farewell to a piece of Australia which embodies the Macquarie era, the beginning of Australia's so called 'age of enlightenment'," he said in a statement on Sunday.
"Thompson Square is a gem, miraculously preserved until the 21st century.
"It would be a great pity if it survived so brilliantly, only to be destroyed by historical carelessness and short-sightedness."
He said the bridge was still "in good nick" for use by moderate traffic, but was not suitable for heavy traffic.
"Perfect colonial Georgian buildings and incessantly rumbling B-doubles make a bad mix."
CAWB said a rally scheduled for Sunday to protest against the plans has been met with opposition from locals, after finding a number of their promotional placards removed from their posts in the morning.
"We know there is very small group of locals who seem to have a passionate commitment in getting rid of the historic bridge," spokeswoman Kate Mackaness told AAP.
"People don't seem to have the best interest of Windsor at heart, and I'm not sure what's generating this."
Ms Mackaness said during the construction of the bridge will also be a "disaster" for local business.
The group has so far 12,000 petition signatures and is gaining more support, she said.
A man has shot and wounded two women at a community college branch in a Virginia shopping mall. Source: AAP
A MAN has shot and wounded two women in a US shopping mall before being subdued by police.
The suspected gunman was being interviewed by police on Friday as officers continued to clear the mall in southwestern Virginia, said city spokeswoman Becky Wilburn.
The suspect's name was not immediately released and a motive for the shootings - which happened at a community college branch in the mall - was not known.
One of the victims was airlifted to hospital, but spokesman Eric Earnhart could not provide additional information on her identity or condition.
The other victim was taken by ambulance for treatment. She was in stable condition on Friday afternoon but was transferred to another hospital to get specialised care, said spokeswoman Nancy May.
The shooting happened at the New River Community College branch in the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg, a town of approximately 21,000.
Student Josh Brown said he was working on a computer near the classrooms when the shots were fired.
"I heard one gunshot, and I didn't know what it was... I saw people running out," he told The Roanoke Times.
Brown then got up and ran out himself.
Wilburn said emergency officials received an emergency call about 2pm local time about someone with a gun and shots fired at the college's satellite location in the mall outside of Blacksburg.
Authorities did not believe there's any continuing threat to the community, Wilburn said.
The community college was closed Friday following the shooting and Saturday classes were cancelled, according to its website.
Schools in the local county were briefly locked down as a precaution.
THE US Treasury Department has announced sanctions against 18 Russians over human rights violations, but avoided some prominent officials that could have inflamed bilateral relations.
US politicians who backed the sanctions viewed the list as timid while a prominent Russian lawmaker said it could have been worse.
US State Department officials denied that political considerations had been a factor.
The list was mandated by a law passed last year and named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested in 2008 for tax evasion after accusing Russian police officials of stealing $US230 million ($A219.20 million) in tax rebates.
He died in prison the next year, allegedly after being beaten and denied medical treatment.
The list included Artem Kuznetsov and Pavel Karpov, two Russian Interior Ministry officers who put Magnitsky behind bars after he accused them of stealing $US230 million from the state.
Two tax officials the lawyer accused of approving the fraudulent tax refunds, and several other Interior Ministry officials accused of persecuting Magnitsky were also on the list.
Absent were senior officials from President Vladimir Putin's entourage whom some human rights advocates had hoped to see sanctioned.
Magnitsky's former client, London-based investor William Browder, who has campaigned to bring those responsible in his death to justice, has claimed that one of those tax officials, Olga Stepanova, has bought luxury real estate in Moscow, Dubai and Montenegro and wired money through her husband's bank accounts worth $US39 million.
The act was linked to legislation normalising trade relations between the United States and Russia, but it drew immediate fire from Russia, which accused congress of interfering with its internal affairs.
Within days, Russia announced that it was banning US adoptions of Russian children.
The Kremlin did not immediately comment on the development, but Alexei Pushkov, the Kremlin-connected chief of foreign affairs committee in the lower house of Russian parliament, called the list "bad news".
But he said the limited list showed restraint.
"It shows that the Obama administration wants to conserve some partnership with Moscow instead of getting involved in some kind of political warfare," he said.
On the list are two men from Chechnya, Letscha Bogatirov and Kazbek Dukuzov.
Bogatirov was accused of killing a critic of Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Vienna in 2009, while Dukuzov was accused of involvement in the 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov, the US editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition.
He and two other suspects were acquitted in 2006, and while those acquittals were later overturned, a retrial has yet to take place.
A report by Russia's Interfax news agency noted that most of the police and tax officials who were put on the list had left the government service.
Several officials who congressional sponsors of the legislation had said should be sanctioned were not on the list, including Russia's top police official, Alexander Bastrykin.
He has spearheaded a crackdown on the Russian opposition.
Bastrykin's agency also led the investigation into Magnitsky's death and concluded last month that no crime was committed.
Another official not on the list was Chechen leader Kadyrov, who is accused by human rights groups of torture, abductions and killings.
Several of Kadyrov's critics and political rivals have been murdered in recent years in Russia, Austria, the UAE and Turkey.
Kadyrov has consistently denied involvement in the killings.
Democratic congressman Jim McGovern, a leading sponsor of the Magnitsky Act, sent the administration more than 250 names to be targeted.
McGovern, in a statement, said the list was an important first step.
"While the list is timid and features more significant omissions than names, I was assured by administration officials today that the investigation is ongoing and further additions will be made to the list as new evidence comes to light," he said.
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said that among the criteria for being put on the list was responsibility for the detention, abuse or death of Magnitsky or involvement in other gross human rights violations in Russia.
The law also allows the administration to compile a separate classified list that would subject officials only to visa bans.
The administration can update both lists at any time.
Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, the author of the Magnitsky law, said in a statement on Friday that he would work with the administration to "ensure that those who should be on this list are in fact on this list".
Treasurer Wayne Swan says businesses will benefit from the this week's currency deal with China. Source: AAP
TREASURER Wayne Swan is encouraging Australian businesses to get "ahead of the curve" and push toward greater use of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) currency in their trade dealings.
Mr Swan highlighted this week's historic agreement between Australia and China to allow direct conversion between the Australian dollar and the equivalent yuan unit for the first time.
"It'll be your businesses that benefit in the decades to come," he told the first annual Australia-Hong Kong RMB trade and investment dialogue in Sydney on Friday.
The only other countries with direct conversion are the US and Japan.
Deals settled in yuan now account for about 12 per cent of China's external trade.
But this is expected to grow to 50 per cent by 2015, propelling the yuan to the third most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.
Dealings in Australian dollars and the yuan began on the Chinese mainland on Wednesday and Mr Swan said it got off to a good start.
It was a critical step in relations with China, following an unprecedented agreement this week between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and new China Premier Li Keqiang to hold annual talks.
Australia now hopes to make the most of the continuing shift in global economic power from West to East.
"We have to put ourselves in the best position to be part of these transformations," Mr Swan said.
"These are big steps forward in the financial integration of the region.
"Australian businesses are well place to get even more closely involved."
Mr Swan also announced a joint research project on the internationalisation the renminbi, involving oversight by Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
The Centre of International Finance and Regulation and the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics will study how Australia can become an offshore hub for renminbi trading in the future.
John Howard has been named as Australia's official representative at Margaret Thatcher's funeral. Source: AAP
FORMER prime minister John Howard has been named Australia's official representative at Margaret Thatcher's funeral.
Baroness Thatcher died on Monday at the age of 87, and will be buried next Wednesday at a ceremonial funeral with military honours.
Mr Howard had already been invited to attend the service at St Paul's Cathedral in London as one of 24 members of the Order of Merit (OM).
The former Liberal prime minister received the rare insignia at Buckingham Palace in May last year.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday confirmed Mr Howard would also be attending as Australia's official representative.
"I have invited the Honourable John Howard OM AC to represent the government and people of Australia at the funeral service," Ms Gillard said in a statement on Friday.
"Mr Howard has kindly agreed."
Mr Howard, who was opposition leader at the same time Baroness Thatcher was in government, said this week the former British PM transformed her country.
"She is the greatest British prime minister since Churchill," Mr Howard told Melbourne radio on Tuesday.
Ms Gillard said out of all of Australia's former prime ministers, Mr Howard had the "deepest connection" to Baroness Thatcher.
"It was the appropriate thing for him to represent the nation at the funeral," she told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
