Palmer claims he delivered Abbott's win

Former rugby league star Glenn Lazarus says the Palmer United Party is like the Melbourne Storm. Source: AAP

MINING magnate Clive Palmer says life as a federal MP might bring him happiness, love and "a smile on the face of a child".

The colourful businessman says he's not only confident of winning the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax himself, he's also sure his Palmer United Party (PUP) will claim another lower house seat and two Senate seats.

"We'll definitely have two senators and the balance of power in Australia," he told ABC television on Monday.

He claims prime minister-elect Tony Abbott wouldn't have been able to form government if it hadn't been for preferences from the Palmer United Party.

"If we'd given them to the Labor Party, he couldn't have (won)," Mr Palmer said. "It's quite a significant result for our party."

He was asked what he expects from life as an MP.

"Happiness, love, friendship ... a smile on the face of a child," Mr Palmer replied.

He wants the mining tax to be repealed, which he says has "killed" Australia's mining industry.

He's also calling for the carbon tax to be scrapped and for the money raised from it to be refunded.

Star PUP candidate Glenn Lazarus, who looks set to win a Senate seat, likened his party's election result to his playing days at rugby league team the Melbourne Storm.

"People were not giving us any hope whatsoever, which reminds me of the Melbourne Storm when we started," he told ABC radio.

"No one gave us much chance either, but of course within two years we won a grand final."

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Newman shakes up Qld's department heads

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman has announced a big shake-up of the state's department heads.

Mr Newman released a list of director-general changes on Monday as part of his plan to improve the public service.

Public Service Commissioner Ian Maynard will become the director-general of Queensland Health following the departure of Tony O'Connell.

Environment DG Andrew Chesterman has been shifted to fill Mr Maynard's previous job.

Energy and Water Supply DG Jon Black will now head the environment department while Natural Resources and Mines DG Dan Hunt will take on Mr Black's old role.

Dr Brett Heyward has been promoted from being on a health taskforce to becoming the Natural Resources and Mines DG.

Sue Rickerby has also been promoted from the Department of Premier and Cabinet to head the Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts department.

Former senior environment bureaucrat James Purtill, who left the public service in 2008, has returned to head the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Multicultural Affairs department.

Mr Newman said he's determined to make Queensland's public service the best in the country.

"These appointments will provide the leadership and expertise needed to achieve that goal," he said.

"They are all talented, highly qualified and committed to delivering the first-class public services Queenslanders deserve."

Annastacia Palaszczuk said it was also time for Mr Newman to shake up his ministry.

"There's a number of ministers who are underperforming and if you're doing such a massive shake-up of your bureaucracy, there's definitely going to be something happening in relation to ministers," she said.

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Shots fired in suburban Sydney street

SHOTS have been fired in a suburban street in Sydney's southwest.

No one was injured during the shooting at Greenacre early on Sunday morning, police say.

They have recovered four bullet casings.

They are asking anyone with information on the incident to contact them.

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NZ's smaller Ross Sea idea 'baffling'

NEW Zealand's decision to scale back plans for a massive Ross Sea marine reserve has been described as "baffling" and a tactical mistake by environmentalists.

After joining the US in seeking the establishment of a 2.3 million square kilometre reserve in Antarctic waters, New Zealand is now hinting it might be easier to get the 25 member countries of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to agree on a smaller area.

That's despite previous efforts at a special meeting in Germany in July being vetoed by Russia, which questioned CCAMLR's legal authority to designate the Ross Sea reserve and another north of East Antarctica, proposed by Australia, France and the European Union.

A new proposal would reduce the size of the Ross Sea marine reserve by more than 40 per cent, to 1.35m sq km and doesn't say anything about making it permanent, says lobby group Antarctic Ocean Alliance.

"It was a tactical mistake on the part of the US and NZ to reduce the proposal without talking to other CCAMLR countries and it's likely to be a blow to Ross Sea protection," said director Steve Campbell.

The WWF's Bob Zuur said New Zealand's weakened proposal was very disappointing.

"It is also baffling as to why this has happened at this stage in the negotiations," he said.

"There is a compelling scientific case for a large protected area and the New Zealand government should have continued acting on the basis of this science."

Washington-based Andrea Kavanagh, director of The Pew Charitable Trust's Southern Ocean sanctuaries project, says even more troubling than the drastic size reduction is New Zealand's indication that the time frame for the reserve is negotiable.

CCAMLR will have its next meeting in Hobart next month.

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Voting late backfires on Rudd

Kevin Rudd faced a hostile reception from refugee advocates as he cast his vote in Brisbane. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd arrived to vote in Brisbane only to find himself labelled a "dictator" by refugee advocates and the family of a victim of the pink batts insulation debacle.

Mr Rudd got out of his car at St Paul's Anglican Church with wife Therese Rein and, holding up one of his own how-to-vote cards, joked about convincing her to vote for the man in the picture - him.

"Nice to see you folks," Mr Rudd said as he shook hands with Labor supporters.

Mr Rudd, who if polls are right is set to be removed from government on Saturday night, was set to vote early in the morning but changed his mind in order to do last-minute interviews and a phone hook-up with voters.

The move backfired when protesters against the federal government's so-called Papua New Guinea Solution for asylum seekers hurled abuse at Mr Rudd.

"Stop scapegoating refugees, you heartless bastard," a protester yelled at Mr Rudd as he tried to make his way up the church driveway to the polling booths.

The protesters chanted: "Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here."

Russell Blythe held up a giant poster of his nephew Matthew Fuller, who was electrocuted while installing insulation in October 2009.

Mr Blythe told reporters Mr Rudd was a danger to the nation and should be voted out.

"He's a dictator," he said.

He said Mr Rudd had met his sister in person and offered an off-the-record apology.

Mr Blythe staged the same protest at a Brisbane polling booth in 2010 when Mr Rudd had been due to vote.

Staff diverted the prime minister into a different booth to avoid a confrontation.

An Australian Electoral Commission official told media they weren't allowed to film Mr Rudd casting his vote because they weren't accredited but reporters were eventually let into the booth.

Mr Rudd spent $20 on marmalade and a sultana and bran loaf at a church bake sale stall.

Parishioner Nadine Dwyer, who served Mr Rudd, said she was frightened by the chaos caused by the media.

"I'm not a nervous person normally but that was pretty intense."

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Vic motorcyclist dies in crash

A MOTORCYCLIST has died in a crash in Melbourne's southeast.

Police are investigating whether the male rider hit more than one car before the fatal crash on the Princes Freeway at Berwick just before noon (AEST) on Saturday.

The motorcyclist died at the scene and is yet to be formally identified.

Victoria's road toll now stands at 160 compared to 185 this time last year.

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Assange film premieres in Toronto

THE new Hollywood thriller about Julian Assange and how he built WikiLeaks into an online powerhouse that has exposed governments and corporations around the globe has received a long ovation at its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

Assange originally described The Fifth Estate as "a mass propaganda attack" against WikiLeaks after reading a leaked script, but he softened his stance against the film before Thursday's debut in Toronto.

The 42-year-old Townsville-born former computer hacker is masterfully played by English actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who speaks with an authentic Australian accent and will likely firm as a favourite for an Oscar nomination.

The film received a 15-second ovation at the premiere.

"I've wanted to make a political movie for a very long time and I thought this was a very rich area to explore," the film's US director, Bill Condon, whose past credits include Chicago, Kinsey and two Twilight films, said before the premiere.

"We are trying very hard to present all sides of a very complicated subject."

The Fifth Estate offers insight into Assange's childhood and teenage years in Australia and follows him as he builds WikiLeaks into a website designed to protect whistleblowers.

Assange took issue with an earlier draft of the script dealing with Iran, but on August 27 during an interview with AAP at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he has been holed up since June 2012, he said the publicity surrounding the DreamWorks film will benefit WikiLeaks.

"Cumberbatch has been personally supportive of me and the struggles that WikiLeaks is going through".

"Our view is that a $US40 million advertising budget promoting WikiLeaks around the world, and actors like Cumberbatch speaking about it, is a good thing for the popularisation of WikiLeaks," Assange said.

"But people need to understand that this is a Hollywood movie and it has sections which are fictitious in order to increase the drama."

While Assange is played by an Englishman, there are plenty of A-List Australian actors in Toronto for the festival, including Hugh Jackman who is promoting his thriller Prisoners, Nicole Kidman for her drama The Railway Man and Chris Hemsworth in Rush.

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Nine charged over NSW drug syndicate

A LARGE-SCALE drug syndicate has been busted after police charged several people, seizing heroin and nearly $800,000 in cash in homes across Sydney.

A 39-year-old man was arrested on Friday in Campsie for being involved in the street supply of drugs.

It follows the arrests of four other men this week over the alleged crime ring that has been operating in southern Sydney, the CBD and Eastern Suburbs.

On Monday, police arrested a 45-year-old man at a house in Cronulla after finding heroin on the premises.

They also arrested a 66-year-old man at a motel in the same suburb.

He had $70,000 in cash on him and was getting ready to leave the country, police allege.

In the nearby suburb of Miranda, police discovered $650,000 hidden under the floor of a house and subsequently charged a 40-year-old woman.

Over at a Randwick house, a 51-year-old man was also caught in possession of more than 80 deals of heroin and more than $45,000 cash.

An additional four men were charged earlier this year after police seized 19 kilograms of the drug ice, 1000 ecstasy tablets, a gun and $25,000.

Two of the men are due to appear in Sutherland Local Court and Waverley Local Court on Friday.

A further two are on bail and will front Sutherland Local Court on September 26, while another will appear at a later date.

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Mardi Gras reveller 'tried to kick woman'

IT was an ugly confrontation between police and a teenage Mardi Gras reveller that quickly went viral, sparking claims of police brutality.

Now one of the officers at the centre of the violent arrest has been accused of lying about how the incident started to cover his back.

Constable Leon Mixios told Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday his arrest of Jamie Glenn Jackson Reed, then aged 18, was sparked by the teenager "half-skipping, half-running" up to a woman and "playfully" pretending to kick her.

But the woman has never been seen since and Jackson Reed was never charged with assaulting her, his hearing was told.

"You have invented the suggestion that he had kicked out at her and she was fearful of him as an excuse to explain why you dealt with (Jackson Reed) the way you dealt with him on this occasion," defence barrister Phillip Boulten, SC, told Const Mixios.

"That's incorrect," the officer replied.

The teenager's arrest at the festival on March 2 this year sparked community outrage and an internal police investigation, after video taken by shocked onlookers showed Constable Mixios slamming the diminutive teenager to the ground.

Jackson Reed was later charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and using offensive language in a public place.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Const Mixios described how he confronted Jackson Reed about the pretend kick before the teenager started abusing him and called him a "dick" before turning away.

The officer said he responded by grabbing Jackson Reed's arm and telling him he was under arrest for assaulting the woman.

Jackson Reed allegedly swung at him, so Const Mixios said he went to grab his shirt, realised the teenager was bare chested and grabbed his neck instead.

The officer said he took Jackson Reed to the ground twice during the ensuing struggle - with the teenager's head hitting the ground on one occasion.

But he said Jackson Reed continually resisted arrest and struck him to the head a number of times, causing him "considerable pain".

"You grabbed him by the throat and you slammed his head on the footpath," Mr Boulten said.

"...The second time you grabbed him by the throat, did you forget (again) that he wasn't wearing a shirt?"

"It was just to control him," Const Mixios replied, denying he slammed the teenager's head on the ground.

Mr Boulten submitted Jackson Reed never attempted to kick the woman, but instead placed his index fingers in the small of her back.

He said Const Mixios completed his statement on the incident after video of the incident had gone viral and when he knew there was "extraordinary public interest" in his actions.

Const Mixios said he briefly looked for the woman at the centre of the arrest immediately afterwards and asked a cafe owner for CCTV video - a detail he did not include in his notebook.

Magistrate Michael Barko questioned why Const Mixios did not seek CCTV video from the police command centre immediately, instead of three days later.

"If you were unable to locate the female, wouldn't (that) have been prudent?" the magistrate asked.

Const Mixios said he didn't know how to go about accessing the video.

The hearing continues.

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Ekka E coli infections rise to 40

ANOTHER five people have been infected with E coli bacteria originating from animals at Brisbane's Ekka show.

There are now 40 confirmed cases of E coli infection.

Of these, 27 are children aged between one and 15.

The oldest person infected is 77.

Authorities say STEC genes that produce E coli were detected in the bedding of animals in the Ekka's nursery last month.

A Queensland Health spokesman said the number of cases are likely to increase as authorities wait for further samples to be tested.

Health authorities are also responding to an outbreak of highly contagious norovirus gastroenteritis in southeast Queensland and a measles outbreak along Australia's east coast.

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