Nuttall's house to be auctioned

FORMER Queensland MP Gordon Nuttall's home will be auctioned to pay the final debt he owes the state.

He's serving a 14-year sentence for perjury and receiving $150,000 in payments from a businessman in return for helping him secure government contracts.

Parliament found Nuttall guilty of 41 instances of contempt in May 2011 and he was fined $82,000 for not declaring the payments.

Clerk of the parliament Neil Laurie said so far Mr Nuttall has only paid $31,000 of his debt.

He says the Public Trustee has advised that Nuttall's Sandgate home will be auctioned.

It had originally been scheduled for auction in February this year, but it was damaged in the floods.

Mr Laurie said repairs have been completed.

"Once settlement of the property has been affected, the balance of the debt owing to the parliament will be paid in full," he told parliament.

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ALP boss Dastyari to run for Senate

NSW Labor Party boss Sam Dastyari has reportedly confirmed he will run for the Senate. Source: AAP

NSW Labor Party boss Sam Dastyari has reportedly confirmed he will run for the Senate.

The 30-year-old Labor powerbroker has nominated to fill the seat left vacant by former party boss Matt Thistlethwaite, News Ltd reports.

"In politics you need to know when it's time to move on to a new challenge ... that time for me is now," he told the Daily Telegraph online.

Mr Dastyari, who reportedly has the backing of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, says he got involved in politics so he could participate in policy, not machine politics.

"Policy has always been my true passion and this would give me an opportunity to focus on that," said.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott said Labor couldn't claim to be removing "faceless men" from running the party when Mr Dastyari, "the ultimate faceless man", was being rewarded with a spot in the Senate.

Mr Dastyari played a backroom role in shifting caucus votes to Mr Rudd in June.

Nominations for the NSW Senate spot close on Monday.

Opposition leader in the Senate, Eric Abetz, said Mr Rudd should explain why he was supporting Mr Dastyari, who was a long-time backer and friend of disgraced NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid.

Mr Obeid was this month found to have acted corruptly in relation to his involvement in a proposed NSW coal mine.

Mr Rudd's support showed that faceless men were still calling the shots in the ALP, Mr Abetz said.

"Mr Rudd owes his succession and return to the leadership to Mr Dastyari, and Mr Rudd is supporting Mr Dastyari's political ambitions in return," he said.

"This destroys the claims of Mr Rudd that factional influence is dead and that he wants to reform NSW politics."

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UN sends food aid to 38,000 in NKorea

THE UN's World Food Program says it has begun distributing 460 tonnes of maize to victims of major floods in North Korea that have killed more than 30 people.

The aid is aimed at addressing the "immediate food needs" of around 38,000 people living in areas of serious crop devastation, the WFP said in a statement.

Each person will receive 400 grams of maize per day for a month, it said.

Exceptionally heavy seasonal rain in mid-July resulted in flooding in many parts of North Korea, with some areas recording twice the average monthly rainfall in just three days.

The North Korean authorities have so far reported 33 deaths, with 18 people missing.

The International Federation of the Red Cross Crescent Societies (IFRC), which is carrying out relief work in the affected areas, says up to 50,000 people have been displaced by the floodwaters, which have destroyed more than 13,000 hectares of farmland.

Early crops, including potatoes, have perished and the July flooding is expected to have "a longer term impact on food security", the IFRC said in a recent report that noted the "severe disruption" of public access to safe water.

Decades of deforestation and decrepit infrastructure have left North Korea particularly vulnerable to floods, which led to some 170 deaths last northern summer.

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Low rates due to slowing economy: Howard

THE Labor government is deluding itself if it believes lower interest rates are a sign they have the economy well in hand, former Liberal leader John Howard says.

In 2004 when Mr Howard was contesting an election as prime minister, he said interest rates would always be lower under a coalition government.

"The context in 2004 was who was better to deliver lower interest rates in a booming economy," Mr Howard told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

Then the Reserve Bank of Australia's cash rate was 5.25 per cent compared with 2.50 per cent now.

Mr Howard said rates were lower now because the economy was slowing.

"For anybody to run around between now and election day and say that a cut in interest rates means that the government has got the economy well in hand, they're deluding themselves," Mr Howard said.

"Look at some of the nations of Europe. They have got virtually zero interest rates and their economies are not moving."

Australia boasts a triple-A rating from all three major credit rating agencies. It is one of only eight countries in the world to hold such status.

But Mr Howard pointed out it was former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello who helped Australia restore a triple-A standing.

"A triple-A was not something that came about when Kevin Rudd became prime minister," Mr Howard said.

"What he is saying is we still have a triple-A rating, and I say, despite him."

Mr Howard's government introduced the GST in 2000, an impost which many believe now should be broadened and its rate increased from 10 per cent.

Mr Howard said tax reform was something that needs to be revisited.

"If the Labor party and the Democrats had not punched a hole in the GST that the Australian people voted for in 1998, the financial position of the states that get all of the GST revenue now would be much better than it is," he said.

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Education no longer battleground

LABOR was vying for top marks with its education policy during the election but it didn't bet on the coalition playing copy cat.

With more than 3.5 million children in Australian schools, parents of students represent a big chunk of votes.

Labor says its $15 billion-plus better schools plan, based on the Gonski panel recommendations, means every single school will see more money from 2014.

Victoria was a last minute addition on Sunday, inking a deal with the federal government to split a $12.2 billion cash injection over six years.

The state received assurances its public schools will keep their autonomy.

A total of 78 per cent of schools across Australia are now covered by the plan.

Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland have yet to sign up.

However, Queensland has indicated it's ready to sign a deal immediately if it wins the same concessions as Victoria.

Under the new model all schools, public and private, will have a base amount of money per student. The government will fully fund loadings on top of this to account for disadvantage.

Education Minister Bill Shorten says this means all schools will have the resources to help students who are falling behind as well as the bright kids who need to be pushed further.

After months of insisting the current funding model is not broken, the coalition has vowed to honour and match the school funding agreements entered into under Labor's Better Schools plan.

"As far as school funding is concerned Kevin Rudd and I are on a unity ticket," Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said on Friday.

"We will make sure that no school is worse off."

Labor will be less keen to highlight the other end of the education equation: a $2.3 billion cut from universities to help fund the schools cash splash.

The cuts were announced before the May budget and factored into the forward estimates but won't be enshrined in law until after the election.

The government says universities will still get more money than before, it will just grow at a slower rate. The sector disagrees.

Universities Australia research shows the issue could be a vote-changer with a third of "soft" voters saying the cuts would make them less likely to vote for Labor.

But UA chief executive Belinda Robinson said there wasn't much choice between the two major parties at the moment.

"We've got the opposition who are more or less saying we'll book the cuts thank you very much," she told AAP.

"But perhaps we'll start to see some rethinking there as well as the contest between the two parties becomes a little bit tougher and a little bit closer."

The Australian Greens have been the strongest campaigners against these cuts, arguing changes to tax arrangements for mining companies, big banks and millionaires should be used to pay for increased education funding instead.

The Greens' stance has impressed the National Tertiary Education Union so much it took the unprecedented step of voting to use its $1 million election warchest to support the minor party.

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Male miners mental health is fine: study

MEN working in the mining industry are at no more risk of mental illness or suicide than in other sectors of the workforce, a new study has shown.

Researchers at Griffith University's Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP) studied the suggestion men working in the resources sector suffer higher rates of mental illness than other workers.

The study, which is set to be released at a mental health conference on the Gold Coast on Tuesday, found that premise was based on largely anecdotal evidence and that in fact, miners were not at a higher risk of mental illness.

"Our study in fact, found very little evidence of poor mental health or emotional wellbeing among miners," AISRAP senior research fellow Samara McPhedran said in a statement.

"This doesn't mean miners don't face work-related stresses and difficulties; it just means that those experiences don't necessarily lead to mental illness or elevated suicide risk."

Dr McPhedran said the findings suggest targeting issues such as work-family balance within the resources sector would be more effective than tackling assumptions of widespread, clinically significant mental health problems.

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Sri Lanka port secures China supply routes

A $US500 million ($A562.65 million) Chinese-built port opens this week in Sri Lanka, giving Beijing a vital foothold on the world's busiest international shipping lane as it seeks to secure maritime supply routes.

The massive terminal in Colombo is located mid-way on the lucrative east-west sea route and has facilities on a par with Singapore and Dubai.

The Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), which is 85 per cent owned by the state-run China Merchant Holdings International, is designed to handle mega ships - a first for Sri Lanka which is aiming to become the region's shipping hub.

The involvement of such a large Chinese company appears to conform to a pattern by Beijing after it sealed a deal in January to acquire the Pakistani port of Gwadar at a time when it is also building a $US14 million "dry port" in the Nepalese city of Larcha, near Tibet.

Chinese loans and expertise were also instrumental in the construction of a new $US450 million deep-sea port at the southern Sri Lankan city of Hambantota which opened in June 2012.

Independent shipping expert, Rohan Masakorala, says the new terminal made economic sense for China to tap in to the growing South Asian container cargo and gave Beijing a foothold along a strategic sea route.

"Terminal investments are a good business which can give a very good return," said Masakorala, a former secretary-general of the Singapore-based Asian Shippers Council.

"Through this investment, China is also securing the safety and efficiency of their main supply chain."

Masakorala, who heads the Shippers' Academy Colombo, said about half of all world sea trade passed through the east-west shipping route and a presence at a mid-way point along that gives China a commanding position.

The Chinese investment in Sri Lanka, which is under pressure from Western powers and India over its human rights record, has raised fears in New Delhi about Beijing's influence in the neighbourhood.

But Priyath Bandu Wickrama, chairman of the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), insisted that India had nothing to fear from the new Colombo port and could in fact be a major beneficiary.

"We will not allow any military base at our ports nor will we allow them to be used for any strategic military purpose by anyone," Wickrama said.

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Barnett denies lobbying for staff pay rise

Colin Barnett denied he had lobbied for the pay increases of WA government's media director. Source: AAP

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has denied he misled the public about an $84,000 pay rise for the state government's media director.

Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said the premier had personally lobbied for Dixie Marshall's pay rise to $245,000.

Documents revealed the premier asked a merit panel to grant Ms Marshall and another senior adviser the increases, Mr McGowan said.

"The premier implied in parliament that it was someone else's deal," he told AAP.

But Mr Barnett denied he had lobbied for the pay increases.

"I wouldn't believe too much about what Mark McGowan says," he told reporters on Sunday.

Mr Barnett said two senior staff in his office were promoted to a "higher classification" which carried a higher salary.

"Their role and duties have changed," he said.

"As the responsible minister, I sign the bit of paper that goes to the merit panel for them to consider that and for them to consider what pay they should receive.

"In no way did I lobby that panel in any sense at all."

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Rudd, Barroso talk refugees and G20

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd and European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso have agreed talk further on the issue of refugees, after a phone call between the pair.

A spokesperson for Mr Rudd's office said the two spoke on August 2, where the issue of international co-operation on the management of refugees was canvassed.

The pair "agreed to further exchanges on the issue", she said in a statement.

It was revealed on Friday the government's hardline policy to send boat people to Papua New Guinea for processing would cost $1.1 billion over four years.

Under the plan to combat people smuggling, asylum seekers who arrive by boat would have no chance of resettlement in Australia.

The prime minister and Mr Barroso also agreed on the importance of the G20 as "the world's premier international economic forum".

Whether Mr Rudd will attend the upcoming G20 leaders summit has been a source of speculation with the St Petersburg meeting being held just days before the predicted September 7 election.

Australia will host the summit in 2014, in Mr Rudd's home town of Brisbane.

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Man arrested after Sydney stabbing death

A MAN has been arrested in connection to the fatal stabbing of a young Sydney woman, police say.

Media reports say the woman was five months pregnant.

The 23-year-old woman was found in a Maroubra unit with a stab wound to her chest by emergency services in the early hours of Saturday and died at the scene.

Shortly after midday (AEST), a 38-year-old man attended Maroubra Police Station, where he was arrested by detectives and is assisting them with their inquiries.

AAP understands the man was on bail for a grevious bodily harm matter and the woman had an apprehended violence order.

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