Qld govt approves massive reef resort

A MASSIVE new Great Barrier Reef resort is another step closer to being built after the Queensland government approved the plans.

The $600 million Great Keppel Island resort would become one of the largest tourism developments in the country if the federal government gives it the green light.

Tower Holdings' plans for the island off Rockhampton, central Queensland, include a hotel, hundreds of villas, dozens of apartments, a large marina and a golf course.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said all possible environmental impacts had been covered under 38 pages of conditions which the developers would have to abide by.

"This decision is a major milestone to getting this new eco-tourism plan delivered," he said in a statement.

The resort would create hundreds of construction jobs and once it was built about 1000 people would be employed permanently to work there, Mr Seeney said.

The project would use 3.5 per cent of the island for infrastructure compared with the eight per cent suggested in a previous plan rejected by the Commonwealth in 2009.

That plan was one of two declined by the federal government for environmental reasons.

The Australian Greens have previously opposed the project, calling it a "white elephant" and scoffing at its eco-tourism label.

The party has been contacted for comment.

The Queensland Tourism Industry Council said the sector had been anticipating the Great Keppel Island resort for a long time.

Chief executive Daniel Gschwind said it had broad support in the local community and if it goes ahead, it would become a major attraction for Queensland.

"It can leverage off what is probably Australia's single most important national attraction, the Great Barrier Reef," he told AAP.

Mr Seeney said the previous state government had allowed the project to languish for many years and added that it had also been hindered by the Commonwealth.

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Two tigers seized at Mexican drug lab

TWO tigers and several deer have been seized at a western Mexico ranch where police also found what appears to be a drug lab.

Jalisco state police say officers found precursor chemicals in barrels and buckets and boilers that were probably used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Authorities say police found the ranch on Thursday in the town of Yahualica, after people reported that suspicious men were guarding the ranch and that there was a strong smell of chemicals.

Police say the men guarding the ranch escaped.

Jalisco has long been considered the hub of the Sinaloa cartel's meth production and trafficking.

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Lloyds bank logs losses of STG1.43bn

LLOYDS Banking Group has posted annual losses of STG1.43 billion ($A2.14 billion), hit by huge insurance mis-selling compensation, while it awarded its boss a bonus linked to an eventual sale of the government's stake.

The loss after tax, equivalent to $US2.16 billion or 1.66 billion euros, was almost half the STG2.79-billion shortfall it suffered in 2011, Britain's LBG said in a results statement.

The bank is 39 per cent owned by the British government after a state bailout following the 2008 global financial crisis.

LBG said annual pretax losses narrowed sharply to STG570 million from STG3.5 billion last time around, but the group opted against issuing a shareholder dividend, sending shares sharply lower.

Lloyds set aside another STG1.5 billion in the fourth quarter to cover compensation for mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI), taking its annual provision to a vast STG3.575 billion.

The bill now stands at STG6.775 billion, which makes Lloyds the worst affected bank by the mis-selling scandal. It also put aside STG400 million to compensate clients who were sold interest rate hedging products.

Underlying annual profit, stripping out exceptional items, surged to STG2.6 billion from STG638 million in 2011, as the bank cut bad debts, costs and non-core assets. It shed 7000 jobs last year.

Lloyds chief Antonio Horta-Osorio will receive a 2012 performance bonus of STG1.485 million, deferred in shares until 2018.

However, at his request, the bonus will be paid only if the British government sells at least a third of its stake above 61 pence - the average price it paid during the bank's bailout - within the next five years.

In Friday afternoon deals, LBG shares tumbled 8.21 per cent to 50 pence on London's FTSE 100 index, which was 0.74 per cent lower at 6313.69 points.

Lloyds staff will share a bonus pot of STG365 million - three per cent lower than in 2011 - giving each employee about STG3900 on average. Cash bonuses were capped at 2000.

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Filipino clan says Malaysian police shot

A FILIPINO clan leader who occupied a Malaysian village with nearly 200 followers says Malaysian police opened fire on them in a bid to end the three-week stand-off that threatened to complicate the two countries' relations.

Members of a Muslim royal clan from the southern Philippines landed in a coastal village in Malaysia's Sabah state on February 9 to claim the territory as their own, citing ownership documents from the late 1800s. They ignored appeals from Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to leave immediately or face prosecution at home on charges of triggering armed conflict.

The leader of the group, Agbimuddin Kiram, told Philippine radio station DZBB in Manila that Malaysian police surrounding Lahad Datu village opened fire early on Friday and that his group was fighting back. He said there were casualties on the Filipino side but did not provide details.

Malaysian police in Sabah refused to comment.

"They suddenly came in; we had to defend ourselves," Kiram said. Sounds of shots were heard in the background while he was being interviewed by phone. He said his plan was "to fight".

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Mining company Unimin loses court bid

A MINING company has lost its bid to have charges of illegal activity thrown out of a Queensland court.

Unimin Australia was ordered on Friday to pay more than $250,000 in legal costs after a magistrate dismissed a series of applications by the company.

Its lawyers claimed charges that it illegally took and sold non-mineral sand from the world's second largest sand island were an abuse of process.

But the Brisbane Magistrates Court dismissed the applications and ordered Unimin to pay combined legal costs of $254,687.

The charges were brought by the Queensland government and relate to the company's activities on North Stradbroke Island, where it has a lease to extract only mineral sands.

The company is charged with one count of carrying out an environmentally relevant activity without a registration certificate and one count of carrying out assessable development without a permit.

North Stradbroke Island indigenous owner Dale Ruska says Friday's decision is a positive step.

He hopes it will persuade the Queensland attorney-general to upgrade the charges against Unimin.

Indigenous owners say legal advice indicates there is a prima facie case for fraud and theft.

"Hopefully now the attorney-general may treat the matter more seriously," Mr Ruska told AAP.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has previously declined to comment on the matter, saying it is before the courts.

The court hearing has been adjourned to March 28.

AAP mjf/bart

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No RBA rate cut expected in March

The Reserve Bank of Australia's board is not expected to cut the cash rate at its next meeting. Source: AAP

THERE'S not going to be a rate cut on Tuesday and borrowers can blame another surge in mining investment.

All 13 economists surveyed by AAP said the Reserve Bank on Australia (RBA) would not reduce the cash rate at its March 5 board meeting, but nine of those expect a rate cut some time in the next six months.

On Wednesday, money markets were pricing in a 33 per cent chance of a March rate cut but by Friday that had fallen to a 17 per cent chance.

So what changed?

On Thursday, official figures showed businesses were planning to increase their investment spending this financial year and the next.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said its fifth estimate of capital expenditure (capex) for this financial year was four per cent higher than for the previous financial year.

Those figures allayed concerns that the boom in mining investment was coming to an end, concerns sparked by large fall in commodity prices in 2012 that caused some of Australia's biggest mining to shelve some projects.

HSBC Australia chief economist Paul Bloxham said the capex figures showed there was a lot of investment in the pipeline that would stimulate the economy for months to come.

"Even the forward-looking capital expenditure survey, which some feared could deliver bad news, was generally positive overall," he said.

The RBA delivered four interest rate cuts in calendar year 2012, taking the cash rate to three per cent by December.

Mr Bloxham said the surge in business investment should give these rate cuts time to take effect on the economy.

"The continued rise in mining investment, as (the building of) large LNG (liquefied natural gas) projects continue, should support growth, which should give the RBA more time to see the impact on the non-mining sectors of the cuts it has already delivered," he said.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said the capex figures showed the peak in mining investment would be more of a plateau.

He said spending on the building of new mines and resource projects as a percentage of economic growth was expected to remain constant in the coming financial year.

"The latest capex data lowered market expectations of a near-term RBA rate cut," Mr Blythe said.

"More importantly, the rollover in mining capex that has worried the RBA looks quite muted.

"The data indicated that capex growth in 2012/13 will be lower than earlier estimates but initial readings on 2013/14 confirm that total capex is holding up."

St George economist Janu Chan said there won't be a cash rate cut in March but expects one in April.

"We think there's room for one more rate cut given that inflation's quite subdued, growth is expected to be below trend this year, and also the labour markets remain quite soft," she said.

"There is room for at least one more, but we don't think given recent commentary the RBA's not ready to cut rates as soon as next week.

"There is enough evidence to suggest that the RBA will want to wait and see given that there's perhaps just enough of an impact from earlier rate cuts to the economy."

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Reform chief upbeat on fed-state relations

THE federal election will make a more difficult environment for co-operation between the commonwealth and states, but reform can and will be achieved.

That's the assessment of the newly appointed chairman of the COAG Reform Council (CRC), former Victorian premier John Brumby.

Briefing reporters in Canberra on Thursday, Mr Brumby gave an upbeat appraisal of the performance of the state and federal governments in working together.

Mr Brumby said it was not unusual to have vigorous debate over major issues, such as education, cutting red tape and putting in place a national disability insurance scheme, and that could be heightened with the federal election date set.

"Generally election years make a more difficult environment for obvious reasons," he said.

However, he said Australia had previously been through tough debates and "it's got through for the better".

The CRC, which provides regular report cards on the outcomes of Council of Australian Governments' decisions, this week completed a report on coal seam gas to be published next month.

The report looks at the establishment of an independent scientific committee on CSG and protocols to be put in place by each state describing how they will decide which projects be referred to the new committee.

Mr Brumby said CSG was "potentially a giant industry", particularly in Queensland and NSW, but it was not without its environmental impacts.

In the United States, CSG had had a "transformative effect" on the economy.

The April meeting of COAG is expected to consider the report.

Mr Brumby said he aimed to talk with the prime minister and all of the premiers before the April meeting.

He considered it might be appropriate" to talk to federal shadow treasurer Joe Hockey and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

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Sensis workers rally over job cuts

DOZENS of Sensis workers have marched in Melbourne to protest the outsourcing of their jobs.

Almost 100 workers and union members marched from the Sensis office to Telstra headquarters in the CBD shouting slogans and carrying signs reading "It's how we disconnect".

Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union print division secretary Lorraine Cassin said workers wanted Sensis boss John Allan to know they did not accept the outsourcing decision.

"These are the faces of those people behind those jobs," Ms Cassin told the crowd on Thursday.

"We're not to going to back down. We're going to have this fight."

Sensis, the division of Telstra which publishes the Yellow and White Pages, is cutting almost 700 jobs from its 3500-strong staff and creating 50 new roles as it accelerates the transition from print to digital businesses.

About 390 jobs will be axed from backroom and sales roles, with most expected to be sent overseas to call centres in the Philippines or India.

Sensis worker Paul Smalley, 32, said he was losing sleep over the uncertainty.

"I'm just too distraught to even talk. Very shocked. Very stressed and still am today," he told AAP.

"They're stringing us along until November. They're not giving us an option to leave early."

The workers on their lunchbreak concluded the protest by placing yellow paper planes inside the Telstra building.

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Dad of Newtown victim: ban assault weapons

The father of a six-year-old slain in the Newtown massacre has pleaded for a ban on assault weapons. Source: AAP

BATTLING tears, the father of one of the first-graders slain at the elementary school massacre in Connecticut in December has pleaded with senators to ban assault weapons like the gun that killed his six-year-old son.

"I'm not here for sympathy," Neil Heslin, a 50-year-old construction worker who said he grew up with guns and had been teaching his son, Jesse, about them. "I'm here because of my son."

Heslin spoke for 11 minutes, his voice barely audible and breaking at times, to the Senate Judiciary Committee that is deeply divided over the issue of curbing guns.

The panel was holding a hearing on a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to ban assault weapons and ammunition magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds. Feinstein and her allies said her measure would reduce the deaths such high-powered firearms can cause, but Republicans on the panel said the move would violate the constitutional right to bear arms and take guns away from law-abiding citizens who use them for self-defence.

Heslin said he supports sportsmen and the Second Amendment right for citizens to have firearms. But he said that amendment was written centuries before weapons as deadly as assault weapons were invented.

"No person should have to go through what myself" and other victims' families have had to endure, Heslin told the politicians.

He recalled the morning of Dec. 14, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster assault weapon to kill 20 first-graders and six staffers at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

"He said it's all going to be OK," Heslin said his son told him when he dropped him off at school. He added, "And it wasn't OK."

Despite Newtown and other mass shootings, the bruising, difficult path through Congress that gun control legislation faces was underscored on Wednesday when the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said he opposes universal background checks for gun purchases, a central piece of President Barack Obama's plan for curbing gun violence. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told reporters that the proposal could lead to creation of a federal gun registry - which the Obama administration has said will not happen.

Wednesday's Senate Judiciary hearing was its third since the Newtown tragedy made gun violence a top-tier national issue. The Judiciary panel could begin writing legislation as early as Thursday, but that session is likely to be delayed until next week.

Obama made bans on assault weapons and large capacity magazines key parts of the gun curbs he proposed in January in response to the Connecticut school massacre.

The cornerstone of his package is a call for universal background checks for gun buyers, some version of which seems to have a stronger chance of moving through Congress. Currently, only sales by federally licensed gun dealers require such checks, which are designed to prevent criminals and others from obtaining firearms.

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Ikea meatball producer finds no horsemeat

The producer of Ikea's trademark meatballs says it has found no horsemeat in the product. Source: AAP

THE producer of Swedish furniture giant Ikea's trademark meatballs says it has found no horsemeat in the product in which Czech authorities claim to have discovered traces of equine DNA.

"Out of 320 tests performed in the last three weeks, none contain horsemeat," said the chief executive of Dafgaard, Ulf Dafgaard.

In addition to testing the ingredients used, the contents of products that were ready to be sold had been analysed by the company and by an external laboratory, he added.

"We continue to perform further tests," Dafgaard said in a statement.

Dafgaard said it had unsuccessfully tried to contact the Czech lab that found the horsemeat in Ikea's meatballs to obtain more information about the amount involved.

The Czech veterinary watchdog, the State Veterinary Administration (SVA), said on Monday it had found horsemeat in meatballs supplied to Ikea and in burgers made in Poland that were imported by Denmark-based food chain Nowaco.

One-kilogram bags of frozen meatballs had been pulled from the shelves in 24 countries, Ikea said on Tuesday.

The countries were Poland, Austria, Hungary, the Dominican Republic, Britain, Portugal, Finland, Germany, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Thailand, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Hong Kong, France, Cyprus and Ireland.

Ikea is the latest group to become caught up in a Europe-wide scandal over the presence of horsemeat in ready-made dishes that erupted in January when horse DNA was detected in beefburgers in Britain and Ireland.

Nestle, which last week was forced to yank products off the shelves in Spanish and Italian supermarkets after detecting horsemeat in deliveries from a German supplier, said on Monday it would stop buying all products from Spanish group Servocar after traces of horse were discovered.

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Plane crash-lands near Vic school oval

A LIGHT plane has crash-landed near an oval at a Victorian primary school during lunchtime.

The plane came down near an oval belonging to the Cape Clear Primary School in Ballarat.

It crash-landed after clipping power lines about 1.30pm on Wednesday, according to police, but nobody appears to have been seriously injured.

Robert Butler, who owns the Cape Clear hotel, said he saw the plane hovering around, looking for somewhere to land.

"The plane they said is pretty well messed up," Mr Butler told AAP.

"The two blokes got out with a scratch and a bruise."

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Madagascar cyclone death toll climbs to 23

The death toll from tropical cyclone Haruna in Madagascar has risen to at least 23, officials say. Source: AAP

THE death toll from tropical cyclone Haruna and heavy rains that have battered Madagascar has risen to 23 with 16 people missing, the national disaster management agency says.

The cyclone struck on Friday morning in the southwest region of the Indian Ocean island.

Latest figures showed that at least 84 people had been injured and nearly 23,000 others affected.

The cyclone brought heavy rains and strong gusts of wind reaching speeds of 200 kmh.

The category 2 cyclone destroyed nearly 1,500 houses, leaving almost 10,000 people homeless, and flooded more than 6,000 hectares of crops.

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Australia may lose Fiji influence: Rabuka

AUSTRALIA will lose its political and strategic influence in Fiji if it doesn't restore good relations as soon as possible, the Pacific nation's former prime minister says.

Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka told a meeting in Sydney that Asian powers, such as China, were building new relationships with Fiji while Australia hid "behind a wall of political correctness".

Another speaker at the 2nd International Defence and Security Dialogue on Tuesday said Australia had "lost the plot" in regard to security in the region.

Major-General Rabuka, who led a military coup in 1987, said it was important to quickly restore relationships because of the attention and influence Fiji was getting from Asia.

"While the past 25 years of the Australia-Fiji relationship has been strained and dominated by isolationism and a diplomatic feud, Australia must realise that the longer the isolation, the more difficult the restoration," he told the forum on Tuesday.

"After Fiji normalises its own national political situation, Fiji will expect the quick restoration of bilateral relationship with Australia".

Australia-Fiji relations have been strained since Fiji's government was overthrown in 2006 by a military coup staged by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, now Fiji's prime minister.

Australia has also imposed financial and travel sanctions on Fiji until democracy is restored.

But Fiji has been pursuing relationships with other countries and has upped its involvement with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which includes Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the forum was told.

Professor Richard Herr, from the Centre for International and Regional Affairs at the University of Fiji, said Australia had "lost the plot" about regional security.

He said Australia had become lax in its involvement with the MSG and risked "becoming an outsider looking in" when it came to Pacific island relations.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced in July last year that Australia would restore diplomatic relations with Fiji.

In December, career diplomat Margaret Twomey was appointed High Commissioner to Fiji and is due to start the posting within weeks.

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Law firm targets angry Vodafone customers

A law firm wants to recruit consumers who left Vodafone for a class action against the telco. Source: AAP

A LAW firm wants to recruit 700,000 Australian consumers who left Vodafone for a class action against the telco.

Law firm Piper Alderman is targeting disgruntled consumers who suffered call drop-out, reception issues, weak data and poor customer service in 2010 and 2011.

The firm had 23,000 people register their interest at the height of the company's network failure, but now wants those consumers and any others to formally register for a class action.

Lawyer Sasha Ivantsoff, the partner leading the action, said the firm had recently secured funding through LCM Litigation Fund and was ready to begin the case.

"We are ready to go and provided that a sufficient number of people sign up, we will be filing proceedings within three months," Mr Ivantsoff told reporters at the company's Sydney headquarters on Tuesday.

"Twenty-three thousand people is a good number, but we'd like to get more people."

Mr Ivantsoff said there were seven million sim cards on issue in 2010, but 700,000 of those were no long active.

"We assume that 700,000 people have left Vodafone. We would like to capture all of them and more."

Patrick Coope, LCM managing director, estimates the case is worth tens of millions of dollars.

Vodafone Australia says it hasn't been contacted by the company in two years.

Mr Ivantsoff said he would contact Vodafone once the company had "something meaningful to put to them".

But telecommunications consumer group, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), said consumers would be better off taking their complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).

Hutchison Telecommunications, which half-owns Vodafone Hutchison Australia, reported a $393.5 million loss for calendar 2012 on Monday.

"This class action comes at a terrible time for Vodafone, and we want to see things improve for the company," ACCAN spokeswoman Elise Davidson said.

"If Vodafone decides to exit the Australian market, we will be left with a network duopoly - Telstra and Optus."

The legal move comes more than a year after Vodafone said it was working hard to improve its service.

This followed a damning report which outlined more than 12,000 complaints ranging from patchy network coverage to poor customer service.

Vodafone last month decided to wind up its Crazy John's mobile phones and accessories brand and said as many as 300 jobs were at risk as the company decided how it could deploy staff.

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Syria rebels agree to meet Kerry

SYRIA'S opposition has cancelled a planned boycott of an international conference on the two-year conflict after appeals from Britain and the US, but rejected an offer of talks from Damascus.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague convinced the opposition to revoke its boycott on a Friends of Syria conference in Rome on Thursday after an appeal at a joint press conference in London.

Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said on his Facebook page his group would attend after Kerry and Hague "promised specific aid to alleviate the suffering of our people".

The coalition said on Saturday it was withdrawing from the 11-nation meeting and planned visits to Washington and Moscow in protest at the world's silence over the mounting civilian death toll in Syria.

US Vice President Joe Biden welcomed the opposition's change of heart on the talks in Rome, where they will meet with Kerry, and said it would be an important opportunity to find ways to support the Syrian people.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said in Moscow on Monday that the authorities in Damascus were ready to talk to armed rebels.

"We are ready for dialogue with all who want dialogue, including those who are carrying arms," he said, the first time a senior official of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has made such a proposal.

But the rebel Free Syrian Army's chief of staff Selim Idriss dismissed Muallem's offer.

"I am not going to sit down with him (Assad) or with any other member of his clique before all the killing stops, or before the army withdraws from the cities," Idriss told pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Arabiya.

Kerry flew into Berlin for talks on Tuesday with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to try to agree on a way to end the crisis, over which the two countries are deeply divided.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 58 people, including 36 children, were killed in a Scud missile strike on Friday in the northern city of Aleppo.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi on Monday denied firing Scud missiles against rebels, in an interview with Arabic-language Russia Today.

Britain wants to provide more support for the Syrian rebels but is bound by an EU arms embargo, which last week European foreign ministers decided not to lift.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 30 Syrian troops and 23 rebels were killed over the past 24 hours in fierce clashes for control of a police academy in the northern Aleppo province.

It also reported that rebels shot down a regime helicopter near a military base elsewhere in the north of the province as insurgents pressed on with attacks on the police academy in the west.

And a suicide car bomb killed five soldiers at a checkpoint in northeast Damascus late on Monday, the Observatory reported.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a vast network of activists on the ground and medics, said at least 92 people were killed in violence across Syria on Monday.

A UN staffer from the Golan Heights observer force that monitors a ceasefire between Syria and Israel has gone missing, the United Nations said Monday.

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Kids' commissioner tackles big questions

Megan Mitchell has been appointed as Australia's first national children's commissioner. Source: AAP

NEW National Children's Commissioner Megan Mitchell has faced big questions from the smallest voices even before starting her role.

Meeting some of the primary school students who helped choose her for the job, Ms Mitchell was quizzed about what she hoped to achieve and why she had wanted the position.

But the first question was one close to the hearts of the nation's schoolkids: Would she get to choose if they got less homework?

Ms Mitchell told the students at Kingsford Smith School in Canberra that was an example of where children should start up a discussion and see if they could change things.

"Often adults make decisions about children without actually listening to them," she said.

"I think that's a big mistake, and it's one of the things I want to change."

The national commissioner will promote discussion about issues affecting children, conduct research and consult directly with children in examining commonwealth legislation.

The role will have a strong focus on vulnerable children.

Ms Mitchell is currently the NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People.

She takes up the national role, within the Australian Human Rights Commission, on March 25 for five years.

The commissioner said a voice for children at a national level had been missing and it was an honour to fill that gap.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told the Years 5 and 6 students it was the responsibility of adults to create a good Australia for them.

"We've been thinking about what's a way of ensuring that the voices of children are heard as government goes about making decisions," she said.

"We want to make sure that young people are safe, that they're healthy, that they get a great opportunity for education, that they get to feel included as an Australian."

Families Australia said Ms Mitchell's appointment was a major step forward in promoting children's wellbeing and safety.

About 40 children at Kingsford Smith were consulted about what sort of children's commissioner they would like during the selection process.

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New media regulator 'unlikely' before poll

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy will be asking cabinet to consider a set of media reforms. Source: AAP

THE Australian Greens say the federal government is likely to run out of time to introduce major media reforms, including a large regulator for the sector, ahead of the election.

The Labor government is so far playing down expectations cabinet will discuss a proposed package of measures when it meets in Canberra on Monday evening.

At issue are a code of ethics for journalists, a tort of privacy, increased Australian content rules and changes to media ownership in a single market.

Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam said he had discussed some of the planned reforms with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.

But Senator Ludlam said it was very unlikely a converged media regulator would be established before the federal election on September 14.

"That's just going to be far too complex, and we have run out of time for that," he told reporters in Canberra.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard agreed the government was still to respond to the two media reviews handed to the government in the first half of 2010, but offered no timeframe.

"When we've got something to say about it we will," she told reporters in Canberra.

However, Independent Senator Nick Xenophon warned the government against implementing new media laws in an election year.

"Any government that wants to change media laws at this stage would have more than a death wish," he said.

Under existing laws, media moguls are restricted to control of two out of three media platforms including commercial television, radio or newspapers.

Senator Conroy was reportedly to ask cabinet to change this restriction to "two out of four", adding pay TV to the list.

Greens leader Christine Milne said she had contacted the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) about whether News Limited had breached the concentration of ownership rule after broadcaster Ten Network appointed top News executive Hamish McLennan as its new boss on Friday.

Senator Milne said she had previously written to ACMA about News Limited's influence on Channel Ten through network chairman, Lachlan Murdoch, who sits on the News Corporation board and has a private investment in the network.

"You now have a situation where you have News Limited having influence in newspapers, in television and of course in radio," she told reporters in Canberra.

The Greens leader said the government should seriously investigate the concentration of ownership and influence in the media.

The Finkelstein inquiry recommended statutory regulation of print and online news as it believed industry self-regulation had been inadequate, while the Convergence Review also looked at media ownership and content regulation.

Among the convergence review's recommendations was a public interest test for prospective media owners to protect diversity.

But the government is expected to scrap plans for a fit and proper person test for newspaper owners and broadcasters.

The independent inquiry was created to look at print and online media regulation and the operation of the Australian Press Council following the UK phone hacking scandal that engulfed News Corporation publications in 2011.

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Qld detectives quiz Novy Chardon's husband

DETECTIVES have spoken to the husband of missing Gold Coast mother Novy Chardon for the first time since her disappearance.

John Chardon, who returned from a business trip to the Philippines on the weekend, went to the Coomera police station on Monday morning.

He declined to speak to reporters as he walked into the building.

When he returned home on Saturday, he told News Limited he knew nothing about his wife's disappearance on the night of February 6.

"All I will say is that I did not f***ing do anything to her and we don't know where the f*** she is.

"There's a lot more complication to it."

He would not elaborate on what that meant.

Detectives say Mr Chardon is not a suspect at this stage.

Last week, officers and SES volunteers scoured a quiet semi-rural road which runs behind Dreamworld, just a few minutes from the Chardon home at Upper Coomera.

They believe Mrs Chardon's Volvo SUV may have been driven along the road some time between her disappearance and the evening of February 11 when it was found near Nerang railway station, more than 20km away.

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Violence could mar Kenya vote: Annan

THE former head of the United Nations, who helped save Kenya from spiralling deeper into election violence five years ago, is warning intimidation, ethnic rivalry and violence could undermine Kenya's March presidential vote.

Kofi Annan said on Saturday Kenya is on a positive trajectory five years after post-election violence killed more than 1000 people and forced some 600,000 from their homes.

Annan helped broker a political deal between the top two contenders for president.

That deal saw Mwai Kibaki remain president and challenger Raila Odinga become prime minister.

Annan said he fears ethnic rivalry could see violence return when the nation votes March 4.

It's likely the nation will see a run-off vote for president sometime in April that could have even more potential for violence.

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Macleay River peaks below expectations

The Macleay River at Kempsey in NSW has peaked lower than expected, officials say. Source: AAP

THE Macleay River at Kempsey on the NSW mid-north coast has peaked lower than expected, but the local mayor says anxious residents still face a critical few hours.

Kempsey Shire Mayor Liz Campbell said the river, which was expected to swell to 7.3 metres, peaked at seven metres on Sunday morning.

A 6.8m levee protects the town.

While its two main streets have so far escaped major flooding, Ms Campbell said water was up to 1.2m deep in parts of the CBD.

"The next two hours are probably critical ... but we're still hopeful that the main part of the CBD will be okay," Ms Campbell told AAP.

Traffic and pedestrians were slowly moving through the rain-sodden town while about 70 people - locals and tourists stranded by the floods - were sheltering in an evacuation centre, she said.

Ms Campbell praised locals for their preparedness.

"That goes right down to knowing where to go, when to put their dog out, when to put their things up in their shops, who they're going to contact," she said.

"We have been working really hard on getting that preparation done."

Ms Campbell said the extent of the clean-up would be revealed over the next few days as the floodwaters subsided.

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WA nurses 'threatened' with the sack

WEST Australian nurses have been threatened with deregistration if they continue to carry out work bans over a pay dispute, their union says.

Nurses will go on strike for 24 hours if the state government does not offer them a 20 per cent pay increase over three years by Monday.

The demand is up from 12.75 per cent, which the nurses previously said they were prepared to accept.

The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) voted on Friday to keep one in five beds closed at hospitals over the weekend and to wait until Monday to decide if it should take industrial action over wages and conditions.

The union also wants nurses to stop having to perform menial tasks normally done by orderlies and cleaners, and objects to big hikes in parking fees at hospitals.

But the Industrial Relations Commission ordered on Friday that the nurses lift all work bans or risk patient safety.

Health Department director-general Kim Snowball reportedly sent a letter to nurses warning them of the consequences of their actions.

The ANF released the letter and a fact sheet late on Saturday.

"Am I protected if I continue to keep beds closed? No," the fact sheet reads.

"Is my professional registration at risk if I keep beds closed? Yes."

The department warned nurses that if they continued their action they also risked suspension from duty, disciplinary action and no indemnity insurance.

"I have issued a direction to ensure that all patients who require a hospital bed for their safety, care and treatment are to be moved to an appropriate hospital bed," Mr Snowball said in the letter.

ANF state secretary Mark Olson said the prospect of disciplinary proceedings for 10,000 nurses and midwives involved in the current industrial action was preposterous.

"Nurses and midwives have closed beds during industrial campaigns in WA and other states using the same guidelines we are using in this campaign," he said.

"No nurse or midwife has ever been sacked, suspended, or deregistered for participating in the industrial action of closing beds or going on strike."

Mr Olson said the health department was trying to frighten nurses and midwives.

"Instead of trying to sort out the pay claim, they are more interested in bullying, harassment, threats and intimidation," he said.

Premier Colin Barnett had said there was little he could do while the government was in caretaker mode before the March 9 state election.

But Opposition Leader Mark McGowan told reporters on Sunday that under the guidelines of the caretaker convention, an agreement could be reached between the government and the ANF if the opposition was also involved in the discussions.

Mr McGowan wrote a letter to the premier in which he said the dispute was "getting beyond normal election politicking".

He said while he would not enter into a bidding war with the government, any agreement they made with the nurses would be supported by the opposition and implemented if they won the election.

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