UN wants drones in DR Congo conflict

The UN wants to use drones to monitor fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: AAP

THE United Nations wants to use drones for the first time to monitor fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwanda has been accused of aiding rebels.

Peacekeeping chiefs have been in contact with the governments of DR Congo and of Rwanda about the sensitive move, which could set a precedent that would worry other United Nations members, diplomats say.

UN leaders are looking for ways to strengthen their peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, where guerrillas from the M23 rebel movement have taken over much of mineral-rich North Kivu province.

UN experts say Rwanda and Uganda have sent troops and arms across the border. Both strongly deny the allegations.

The UN "is considering a range of ways to strengthen the capabilities of MONUSCO to protect civilians from the threat of armed groups in the vast area of eastern DR Congo", UN peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer told AFP on Friday.

"Unarmed aerial vehicles, drones for monitoring the movements of armed groups, are one tool we are considering," he said.

"Of course, we would do this carefully, in full cooperation with the government of the DR Congo, and trialling their most effective uses for information gathering to help implement our mandate to protect civilians."

While the drones would not halt the current M23 advance, the UN is also considering bringing in extra troops and redeploying its current force. UN leader Ban Ki-moon is to recommend options to the UN Security Council soon.

MONUSCO has about 17,500 troops but could go up to about 19,500 under its Security Council mandate.

"The UN has approached a number of countries, including the United States and France, about providing drones which could clearly play a valuable role monitoring the frontier," said one UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Clearly there will be political considerations though," the diplomat said.

"This is controversial, not all countries agree with this," said Olivier Nduhungirehe, first counsellor for Rwanda's UN mission.

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Swan marks Labor's five years in office

Deputy PM Wayne Swan says the government's biggest achievement is its economic management. Source: AAP

DEPUTY Prime Minister Wayne Swan says the government's biggest achievement is its economic management, as it marked five years since being first elected.

At a protest against state government budget cuts in Brisbane on Saturday, Mr Swan says the government had achieved plenty since 2007.

"Over the past five years we've seen the most turbulent period in the global economy since the Great Depression," he told reporters.

"In that five years ... Australia avoided recession, most other developed economies did not."

Mr Swan also pointed to the rollout of the National Broadband Network and the introduction of the carbon price as major achievements.

The treasurer even paid tribute to the efforts of former prime minister Kevin Rudd, against whom he launched a blistering attack during the leadership contest in February.

"Our previous prime minister Mr Rudd made, I believe, very, very substantial contribution to ensuring that our country didn't go into recession," Mr Swan said.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott said all the government had achieved was "five years of backflips and broken promises".

Speaking in Sydney on Saturday, he said Labor had betrayed the public and wasted their money, citing the carbon tax as a key example.

"This Government will never ever deliver an honest budget surplus," he told reporters. "This Government has already given us the four biggest deficits in Australia's history, on top of the four biggest surpluses which Peter Costello and John Howard delivered in their last four years.

"This Government says that they are going to give us a micro-surplus this year, but if it happens, and I doubt it will, it will be on the back of cooking the books."

He admitted, however, that there were some things that the government had done "acceptably enough".

"There's much routine business of government which is taken place acceptably enough, it always does and it always will," he said.

"I have some hope that one of the significant things that might emerge next week is a bipartisan approach to trying to secure a successful referendum to recognised indigenous people in the constitution."

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18 hurt as gas blast levels US building

A NATURAL gas explosion in one of New England's biggest cities has destroyed a strip club and seriously damaged a dozen other buildings.

Firefighters, police and gas workers in the area because of reports of a gas leak were among the 18 people injured in Friday's blast, authorities said.

They had closed the strip club and ordered everyone out before the blast occurred.

The explosion blew out windows in a three-block radius, leaving three more buildings beyond repair and prompting emergency workers to evacuate a six-storey apartment building that was buckling.

It looked as though there had been "a missile strike", police Sergeant John Delaney said.

The victims were taken to two hospitals in the city. None of their injuries was considered life-threatening, officials said.

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Japanese police rescue bank hostages

JAPANESE police have rescued four hostages from a bank and arrested the knife-wielding man who had held them captive for more than 12 hours while demanding the prime minister resign, officials say.

In a televised news conference on Friday, a police spokesman said the hostage-taker, identified as Koji Nagakubo, was arrested on suspicion of taking a total of five people captive, including one person whom he had released earlier.

All the hostages were safe and in protective custody following the pre-dawn police raid, the spokesman said, though local media reported one of them - a 19-year-old female bank employee - was slightly injured.

The 32-year-old man began the siege on Thursday afternoon at the Zoshi branch of the Toyokawa Shinkin Bank in the otherwise quiet residential area of Toyokawa city, in central Aichi prefecture.

Wielding a survival knife, he took four employees and a female customer captive and demanded the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda step down, local media said. Noda last week called an election for December 16, which he is expected to lose.

In initial questioning by police, the suspect admitted the allegations, but had yet to give details about his motive, public broadcaster NHK reported.

About 13 hours after the incident began, police wearing protective gear and carrying shields rushed the office before dawn, overpowered the man and escorted out the remaining four hostages.

"It was difficult to check inside, but we took action placing top priority on the safety of the hostages," an investigator told NHK. "We believe we took the best possible way."

Television footage showed a dozen police breaking the window on the second floor before moving to the ground floor, where the man pointed his knife at the hostages.

The man, who also held another knife, handcuffed at least one of the hostages, NHK said, adding that all police involved in the rescue operation were also unhurt.

"I was so relieved because no one was (seriously) injured," one neighbour told Tokyo Broadcasting System Television.

Television footage earlier showed a man who appeared to be a police officer carrying a megaphone and a plastic bag to a side door of the building guarded by police. The building's shutters were down but lights could be seen inside.

Shortly before the incident, a man police believe was the hostage-taker had attempted to break into another bank just 150 metres away from the site, NHK reported.

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Sarkozy avoids charge, scrutiny continues

French judges have grilled ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy over the legality of his campaign funding. Source: AAP

FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy has escaped indictment, but will continue to be investigated over allegations that his 2007 election campaign was financed with funds secured illegally from the country's richest woman.

After more than 12 hours of interrogation, a panel of three examining magistrates decided late on Thursday to treat Sarkozy as a witness under caution rather than formally charging him.

The decision will allow the former leader to retain hope he will eventually be completely exonerated of accusations he denies. But it also means the magistrates believe there are grounds for further investigation, a stance that deals a significant blow to Sarkozy's hopes of staging a political comeback.

The conviction last year of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, on corruption charges related to his time as mayor of Paris demonstrated that French courts are willing to go after former leaders.

Sarkozy's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, said he hoped the judges would now leave his client in peace.

"There were no charges," Herzog told AFP. "It is a victory for justice more than for one man. In legal terms hopefully that is the end of these suspicions, these baseless accusations in the press."

Patrick Balkany, a close associate of Sarkozy, said his friend was "relieved and happy" to have escaped charges, temporarily at least.

Sarkozy, who is married to former supermodel Carla Bruni, won international acclaim as the principal architect of last year's military campaign against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

But since losing to Francois Hollande in the presidential election earlier this year, he has had to battle a string of allegations relating to his time in office and various electoral campaigns he has been involved in.

The suspicion at the centre of Thursday's interrogation is that he took financial advantage of elderly L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt when she was too frail to fully understand what she was doing.

Bettencourt is now 90 and has been in poor health since 2006. Sarkozy, it is alleged, obtained significant amounts of money from her for his 2007 campaign, simultaneously breaching electoral spending limits and taking advantage of a person weakened by ill health.

Bettencourt's former accountant, Claire Thibout, told police in 2010 that she had handed envelopes stuffed with cash to Bettencourt's right-hand man, Patrice de Maistre, on the understanding it was to be passed on to Sarkozy's campaign treasurer, Eric Woerth.

Investigators suspect up to four million euros of Bettencourt's cash subsequently made its way into Sarkozy's party coffers.

Sarkozy, who lost his immunity from prosecution after losing to Hollande, is embroiled in a string of scandals with legal repercussions.

As well as the Bettencourt case, he faces probes into contracts for opinion polls, an illegal police investigation into journalists and alleged kickbacks on a Pakistani arms deal used to finance the right in 1995, when Sarkozy was budget minister.

He has always denied any wrongdoing and has not ruled out another tilt at the presidency in 2017 amid signs that his party, the UMP, is on the point of disintegration.

A vote intended to produce a new leader for the centre-right party descended into chaos this week with ex-prime minister Francois Fillon contesting the result of a poll edged by party secretary-general Jean-Francois Cope.

With the party split down the middle, many party activists are calling for Sarkozy to return to the fray, but Thursday night's ruling suggests he might be otherwise engaged for some time to come.

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AVJennings to put more housing on market

RESIDENTIAL property and housing developer AVJennings will put more new homes on the market in response to what chief executive Peter Summers says are signs of improvement after a difficult year.

Mr Summers says the period of cutting back on new housing stock is over as people appear more upbeat than six months ago.

"Our recommendation now as a management to the board is that we start reversing that and start actually producing a little more inventory," Mr Summers told reporters after AVJennings' annual general meeting in Melbourne on Friday.

"That is our belief that the market is starting to improve."

Mr Summers noted industry analysts such as BIS Shrapnel had forecast an improvement in the property sector in 2013 and beyond, while recent media reports had adopted a more positive tone about residential property.

He said "green shoots" appeared to be emerging in the affordable housing sector, supported by unemployment and interest rates at low levels and relatively high economic growth in Australia compared with other countries.

While recent interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) had helped, Mr Summers said the number one factor in getting the housing market firing again was consumer confidence.

"Let's say we got to neutral in terms of consumer confidence," Mr Summers said.

"Then I think we would get a very strong increase in the market because it has been so inactive for so long.

"There is such pent-up demand out there that recovery will occur."

AVJennings slumped to a $29.8 million net loss in 2011/12, as it battled weak global economic conditions, jitters over the unfolding turmoil in Europe, the high Australian dollar and the effect of natural disasters.

Mr Summers said Australia was not building enough houses to meet demand and "there is nothing that is going to happen in the short term that is going to reverse that trend".

At 1517 AEDT, AVJennings was steady at 30 cents.

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Greens to reject Murray-Darling plan

THE Australian Greens will ask federal parliament to reject the government's Murray-Darling Basin Plan, despite it already being signed into law.

Water minister Tony Burke finalised the management plan for the ailing river system on Thursday.

It will return 2750 gigalitres of surface water to the environment each year and give state governments a mechanism to improve environmental, social or economic outcomes in basin areas in their territories.

But the Greens say the plan won't give the Murray-Darling, which has suffered from water shortages, the help needs and doesn't take into account the impact of climate change.

"It is extremely disappointing to see the Labor government working to deliver a plan that satisfies (Nationals senator) Barnaby Joyce and his big irrigator friends," Greens water spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters in Canberra.

"This plan is not better than nothing because it hasn't done what it's meant to do, which is to set up the system to be resilient in the drier years."

The Greens want to disallow the plan after it's tabled in parliament next week and "send it back to the minister to get it right".

"This is an opportunity for the minister to work with the Greens to ensure that we actually save the river from environmental collapse," Senator Hanson-Young said.

The Greens will also seek to amend the Water Act to say any plan for the basin must be stronger.

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Dodgy cop had personality problems: court

A YOUNG woman with a long history of serious mental illness became a NSW police officer even though personality tests raised serious concerns, a court has heard.

Her duties exacerbated her condition, resulting in criminal behaviour and lying to the Police Integrity Commission (PIC).

Jenna Lee Hughes, 24, wept in the dock as her psychologist gave evidence during sentencing proceedings in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Thursday.

Hughes had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of misconduct as a police officer and two charges of lying to the PIC when giving evidence about corruptly using the police database.

She accessed the database on two separate occasions without justification to benefit a boyfriend and a former boyfriend.

Hughes is no longer a police officer.

The court heard that at the age of nine she found her neighbour dead from a gunshot wound.

That same year, she was inside a bank with her family during an armed hold-up.

As a teen, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

At age 18, she applied to become a police officer and did not reveal her condition.

But while in the police academy, she was administered a personality test that returned adverse results.

"The results indicate a number of scales that were questionable, certainly of somebody that was entering the police force," her psychologist Anne Marie De Santa Brigida told the court.

"It is of concern she still made it into the police force."

She also said Hughes would have been suffering from her mental conditions at the time she committed the offences, which carry possible jail time.

The sentencing proceedings are continuing before Judge Mark Marien.

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Duck hunting bill passes NSW upper house

A SHOOTERS Party bill to expand duck hunting in NSW has been passed by the state's upper house.

MPs in the Legislative Council passed the bill on Thursday to overhaul the licensing system for duck hunting by a vote of 21 to 18.

The legislation would make the Game Council the sole authority for granting duck hunting licences in the state, stripping the National Parks and Wildlife Service of its current role in the process.

During the debate, the opposition's environment spokesman Luke Foley said Labor supported the current system of hunting by farmers for pest mitigation but the Shooters bill was "a bridge too far".

"If recreational shooters play a part in a legitimate mitigation effort, we don't see a problem with that," Mr Foley told the upper house on Thursday.

"(But) It ought to be regulated - there ought to be balance.

"We don't believe the regulatory arrangements contemplated by (the Shooters Party) are balanced, in giving everything to the Game Council. That is clearly unbalanced. We cannot support that."

The upper house also passed government amendments to the bill, including the creation of a new Game Bird Management Committee responsible for setting quotas and determining what species of bird can be hunted and where.

Shooters Party MP Robert Brown said the bill - which will now go to a vote in the state's lower house - would simply remove the red tape involved with the current licensing system.

Greens MP John Kaye blasted the government for backing the duck hunting bill in return for the Shooters' vote on its ports privatisation bill, which passed through parliament late on Wednesday night.

"This is a government that will go to the next polls with everybody knowing it does not care about animal welfare," Dr Kaye told parliament on Thursday.

"It is absolutely happy to trade off animal welfare in order to get its legislation through this chamber."

The duck hunting bill was passed by the state's lower house later on Thursday.

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Low-security jail to deter reoffending

A MINIMUM-SECURITY prison aimed at breaking the cycle of repeat offending in young men has opened in Western Australia.

The Wandoo Reintegration Facility is the first prison in WA dedicated to men aged 18 to 24 and will house 80 prisoners.

Corrective Services Minister Murray Cowper said the Serco-run facility would focus on getting inmates back into society, with vocational, training and employment opportunities.

"Young adult men who enter the prison system are often compulsive and extremely vulnerable to the risks of repeat offending," Mr Cowper said.

"The Wandoo facility separates these men from the influences of older, entrenched prisoners and introduces training and employment pathways to redirect them from offending patterns."

Mission Australia will work with Serco to provide one-on-one support to build life skills and make the men ready for work upon release, Mr Cowper said.

Offenders will also be provided with three months of support from Mission Australia after their release.

Traineeships on offer will include certificates in building maintenance, conservation and land management, horticulture and small business operations.

Situated at the previous Rangeview Remand Centre site in Murdoch, in Perth's southern suburbs, the facility is undergoing refurbishment, some of which has already been done by prisoners from Karnet Prison Farm.

Other work will be carried out by the residents as part of their skills training.

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Charges laid over north Qld baby death

POLICE have charged a young woman with concealing the birth of a child, after a baby's body was found in the yard of a north Queensland home.

A Charters Towers resident discovered the infant's body on November 4, sparking a criminal investigation.

A 21-year-old woman has been charged with concealing child birth and misconduct with regard to a corpse.

She is scheduled to appear in the Townsville Magistrates Court on Thursday.

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Patel doesn't need judge-only trial: court

JAYANT Patel is not so notorious that his manslaughter case warrants a judge-only trial, a court has heard.

Barrister Peter Davis SC appeared in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Wednesday to fight Patel's application to have a judge decide whether he is guilty of the manslaughter of 75-year-old Mervyn Morris.

The matter is set down for trial early next year.

Mr Davis argued the amount of media reporting in Patel's case was not unique.

He cited a number of other matters that had significant publicity but still went to trial before a jury.

These included the cases of backpacker murderer Ivan Milat, serial sex offender Robert Fardon, pedophile Dennis Ferguson, and Robert Long, who was responsible for the Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire, he said.

"There's great lists of people over the years whose cases have been subject to some notoriety," he said.

"Pre-trial publicity can be dealt with by directions and juries being true to their oaths."

However, Patel's barrister Ken Fleming said the publicity surrounding his client's previous court cases and the extensive reporting of his history as a medical practitioner meant he could not get a fair trial by a jury.

This is the second time Patel, who was in court for the application, will face trial over the matter, after the High Court recently ruled there had been a miscarriage of justice during his 2010 trial.

He will also be retried separately at a later date for the manslaughter of 77-year-old Gerry Kemps and 46-year-old James Phillips, and for causing grievous bodily harm to 62-year-old Ian Rodney Vowles.

Justice James Douglas will hand down his decision on Tuesday, after which Patel is expected to apply to have the charge permanently stayed.

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Electricity bills to stabilise: Ferguson

Federal energy minister Martin Ferguson says household electricity bills will stabilise mid 2013. Source: AAP

HOUSEHOLD electricity bills are set to stabilise from mid-2013 as the need of utilities to upgrade and replace infrastructure eases, federal energy minister Martin Ferguson says.

Mr Ferguson told a conference in Sydney there was no quick fix for current electricity costs, which have risen by about 40 per cent across the nation over the past four years.

But while bills had risen substantially, the impact of network investment was easing.

"The bulk of investment in networks for this regulatory period has already occurred, with smaller increases in network charges expected in the final year of the regulatory period," Mr Ferguson told the Australian Institute of Energy conference on Tuesday.

"That means household consumers are expected to see a stabilisation in the price they pay for electricity from July 2013."

Network charges are the main component of electricity bills, ahead of wholesale energy charges.

However, Mr Ferguson said a decrease in demand for electricity would also help stabilise prices.

"While the network investment cycle appears to be nearing its peak and market forces are reducing the wholesale cost of electricity, further reforms are underway to ensure consumers are not paying more for electricity than is necessary," he added.

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Obama presses Cambodia PM on rights

US President Barack Obama has pressed the Cambodian PM over the country's human rights violations. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama has told Cambodia's prime minister in a "tense" meeting that his government's human rights violations are "an impediment" to better bilateral ties, a US official says.

Newly re-elected Obama, fresh from a historic jaunt to Myanmar (Burma), met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for talks in Phnom Penh ahead of joining an East Asia Summit.

"He began by expressing that his trip to Burma demonstrated the positive benefits that flow from countries moving down the path of political reform and increasing respect for human rights," said US deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

Obama brought up the need for fair and free elections in Cambodia, and the need for the release of political prisoners, Rhodes added, agreeing that the meeting was "tense".

"He said that those types of issues are an impediment to the United States and Cambodia developing a deeper bilateral relationship."

Obama, the first US president to visit Cambodia, and Hun Sen shook hands before their meeting but the American did not smile during the greeting.

The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism from rights groups in recent years for what they claim is a growing crackdown on dissidents and protesters in cases that are often linked to land disputes.

Dozens of Cambodian villagers faced with eviction staged several small protests ahead of Obama's arrival with "SOS" messages urging the president to help press the government on land rights issues.

During the talks, Rhodes said Obama highlighted the case of prominent government critic and radio station owner Mam Sonando, 71, who was jailed for 20 years in October for an alleged secessionist plot in a verdict that dismayed human rights groups.

Hun Sen, 60, has been in power since 1985 and has vowed to rule until he's 90.

The country's main opposition leader, meanwhile, lives in self-imposed exile abroad to avoid a jail term for what critics say are politically motivated charges.

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ACTU rejects Indon guest worker plan

A PLAN cooked up by Australian and Indonesian business groups to use unskilled workers is a recipe for the exploitation of Indonesian labour, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its Indonesian counterparts, along with business councils in both countries, have agreed to a proposal to allow short-term migrant workers to work in Australia if accompanied by a skilled Indonesian supervisor.

It is expected to be discussed by Trade Minister Craig Emerson at the East Asian Summit (EAS) in Phnom Penh.

ACTU leader Ged Kearney said the use of guest workers was a short-term solution that would undermine Australia's high-wage, high-skill economy.

"The ACTU supports Australia's skilled and permanent migration schemes, but short-term labour schemes which leave guest workers, often with poor English skills, at the mercy of their visa sponsor are a recipe for exploitation," Ms Kearney said in a statement.

Australia's immigration program should only use temporary workers to meet genuine skills shortages, not to provide a pool of cheap and exploitable labour.

"Australian businesses should be being encouraged to invest in skills training and apprenticeships for young Australians, as well as innovations and technology which deliver real productivity improvements," Ms Kearney said.

"Guest workers may be convenient for big business in the short term, but they are not the answer to Australia's long-term needs."

The notion was a ridiculous proposition when unemployment, especially youth unemployment, was well above the national average in many regional areas, Ms Kearney said.

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Carr tells Aussies to stay away from Gaza

Australia's foreign minister has urged Israel to show restraint in its military offensive in Gaza. Source: AAP

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr is urging Australians to steer clear of Gaza and surrounding areas as Israeli air strikes continue.

Senator Carr says the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has activated its consular crisis centre to monitor the escalating conflict and help any Australians who get into trouble in the region.

"The department continues to advise that Australians should not travel to Gaza and surrounding areas," Senator Carr told Senate question time on Monday.

"Australians in Gaza should remain in a secure location indoors, monitor the media for information and contact the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv."

Australians in Israel should exercise a "high degree of caution", he said.

Senator Carr again called on both sides of the conflict to show restraint and do all they can to avoid civilian casualties.

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Childcare proposal is terrifying: minister

TONY Abbott's push for a review of the childcare sector highlights a "terrifying" lack of information about what policies a coalition government would introduce, the federal government says.

Childcare Minister Kate Ellis said the opposition leader's announcement about a Productivity Commission review was not good enough for an alternative government.

"We have seen Tony Abbott today admit that not only do they not have a childcare policy, they do not intend to have a childcare policy, and expect the Australian public will blindly follow them into an election," Ms Ellis told journalists in Adelaide on Monday.

Mr Abbott had made no mention of funding and no commitment about existing measures, she said.

His announcement was "terrifying" as parents did not know whether the childcare benefit would be cut or means-tested and had been given "zero answers" about a coalition approach to the issue.

She said the Labor government had made child care more affordable, more accessible and of higher quality.

"We don't believe it is our job to shirk our responsibility and instead just call for inquiries and reviews."

She said the announcement was further evidence that "Tony Abbott is great with the sound bite, but he is a policy weakling".

Earlier, Mr Abbott said the terms of reference for his proposed review included consideration of the hours parents work and study, the needs of regional parents and shift workers, out-of-pocket costs, the availability of rebates and subsidies, and the needs of vulnerable children.

Ms Ellis said the government would not commit to such an inquiry, saying instead it would continue with its "real actions, real investments and real reforms".

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Obama calls for more Myanmar reform

President Barack Obama has called on Mynmar's leaders to step up their startling political reform drive.

Barack Obama is set to make history as the first sitting US president to visit Myanmar. Source: AAP

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has flexed US power in Asia on a regional tour that will make history when he lands in Myanmar (Burma), calling on its leaders to step up their startling political reform drive.

Obama touched down in Air Force One in Bangkok on Sunday, sending a message that relationships like the six-decades-old treaty alliance with Thailand will form the bedrock of US diplomacy as the region warily eyes a rising China.

On Monday Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit formerly isolated Myanmar. He will praise President Thein Sein for ending a dark era of junta rule, but also prod him to go much further towards genuine democracy.

Then, in a stark illustration of how far Myanmar has come, the US leader will stand side-by-side with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at the lakeside villa where his fellow Nobel laureate languished for years under house arrest.

Speaking in Thailand on the eve of the visit, Obama praised Myanmar's reforms but urged the regime to do more.

"President Thein Sein is taking steps that move us in a better direction," he told a press conference. "But I don't think anybody's under any illusion that Burma's arrived."

"The country has a long way to go. I'm not somebody who thinks that the United States should stand on the sidelines and not want to get its hands dirty when there's an opportunity for us to encourage the better impulses inside a country."

After a 19-hour journey from Washington, Obama first paid homage to Thailand's ancient history with a private tour of the Wat Pho temple, which is famed for a huge, golden statue of a reclining Buddha.

"What a peaceful place," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the president, who remarked that they were having a "treat" because the normally crowded tourist attraction had been cleared for their visit.

Then Obama called at Siriraj hospital in Bangkok for an audience with revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, seen as a symbol of continuity for a kingdom with a turbulent political past.

Obama and Clinton greeted and shook hands with the frail monarch, who turns 85 next month.

He also held talks with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra focusing on trade, regional politics, counter-narcotics issues and terrorism.

On Monday Obama will fly to Cambodia, and a likely tense encounter over human rights with Prime Minister Hun Sen, ahead of the East Asia Summit, the main institutional focus of his pivot of US foreign policy to the region.

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NSW south coast braces for hail, winds

Residents in northeast NSW have been warned that severe storms may bring flash flooding. Source: AAP

NSW residents are being warned that large hailstones and damaging winds are on the way as severe thunderstorms bear down on the state's south coast.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman told AAP it was "not out of the question" that a thunderstorm could also hit the state's north coast, but no warning was in place by mid-afternoon on Sunday.

South coast towns in the warning area include Batemans Bay, Eden, Bega and Moruya Heads.

The State Emergency Service (SES) told residents to take all precautions including moving their cars under cover or away from trees, securing or putting away loose items around the house, and keeping clear of fallen powerlines.

The SES was called to more than 120 clean-up jobs on the NSW north coast on Sunday.

"The majority of jobs relate to roof damage and trees down and have centred around the area of Woodburn, west of Ballina," the SES said in a statement on Sunday.

"Wind gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour were reported yesterday and one home at Woodburn collapsed as a result of the severe weather."

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Travel insurance a must, Carr says

Australians are being urged to take out travel insurance before they head overseas. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIANS are being urged to take out travel insurance before they head overseas.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr in Sydney on Sunday launched a $2.6 million campaign warning travellers of the health and financial risks of travelling overseas while uninsured.

Senator Carr said 14,000 Australians found themselves in trouble every year, including being admitted to hospital, having an accident or getting ill on the road.

"(The message) goes to young Australians especially, who might be inclined to go for the more adventurous holiday - we think we can minimise risk and make a lot of difference," he told reporters.

"About 14,000 Australians get into some difficulty overseas each year, and that difficulty is going to be a whole lot less if they've got travel insurance and if they're registered with SmartTravel."

The campaign features electronic advertisements and postcards of Erin Langworthy, a young Australian who fell 110 metres into a river in Zambia in 2011 after her bungee cord broke.

Her insurance ensured treatment in a high-quality hospital and saved about $50,000 in medical bills.

Senator Carr said Australians without travel insurance risked poor local hospital care and high medical bills.

"(Travel insurance is) cheap, it's easy to obtain, and it can save your life when overseas," he said.

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3000 protest in Sydney over education cuts

About 3000 people have gathered in Sydney to protest against sweeping education cuts in NSW. Source: AAP

ABOUT 3000 people have gathered in central Sydney to protest against sweeping education cuts in NSW.

Premier Barry O'Farrell is slashing the state's education spending by $1.7 billion, impacting on schools, public and private, as well as TAFEs.

Thousands of teachers, education support staff, parents and supporters gathered in Darling Harbour on Sunday for a community action day.

"What you'll see here today is a groundswell of public opinion against these cuts - parents, teachers and the wider community coming together to say these cuts cannot be justified," Opposition Leader John Robertson told the crowd.

"Barry O'Farrell needs to stop and listen, watch what's happening here today, and understand that this isn't going to go away.

"This is a campaign that's going to grow."

Mr Robertson also called on the government to wind back the education reforms in the wake of an apparent $1 billion budget accounting mistake.

"The O'Farrell government discovered that (Treasurer) Mike Baird had made a $1 billion mistake in the budget," he said.

"That billion should be going straight into the education system."

Sherie Dewstow, a support officer at Forest Lodge Primary School and member of the Public Service Association (PSA), rejected government claims that front line wouldn't be impacted by the cuts.

"Support staff in our schools are the backbone of the school, they are the front line," she said.

Ms Dewstow said fewer administration staff meant teachers would be forced to pick up slack on photocopying, enrolment and other non-teaching duties.

"There will be disruptions in all areas of learning, and to the teaching profession," she said.

The PSA says school learning support officers have been among the first to lose their jobs or have hours cut.

The union believes hundreds of policy and support roles will soon follow.

Earlier, Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said the protest would not nothing to change the government's mind.

"We are in difficult budget times and I think the responsible thing to do is to take measures in the back office, in the bureaucracy, to make sure we've got those dollars to invest in the front line," he told reporters.

"The government has made it pretty clear what it needs to do, we won't be changing the decision that we have made."

Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron rejected suggestions the protest would have no impact on the government.

"It will never be a waste of time. While ever we've got fight within us we will fight this for as long as it takes," he said.

"In every electorate, in every town, in every suburb.

"I think the minister needs to be warned that he and his government are put on notice.

"The community of NSW will not stand by idly and allow them to rip jobs and courses out of our TAFE colleges and schools."

Mr Mulheron also flagged further industrial action.

"We will fight this as a community based campaign for as long as it takes," he said.

PSA president Sue Walsh said the cuts were already hurting.

"We know that those people who work as support officers and work directly with students with disabilities, they're already being told they're losing hours if not their jobs as of next year," she said.

Ms Walsh said the government should spend less effort looking for efficiencies and more on improving the education system.

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