'Farmers' friend' to guide NSW on CSG

Farming advocate Jock Laurie has been named the first land and water commissioner for NSW. Source: AAP

A "FRIEND of the farmer" has been named the first land and water commissioner for NSW.

National Farmers' Federation president Jock Laurie has been appointed to the position to help implement the NSW government's strategic regional land use policy and advise on mining and coal seam gas exploration.

Mr Laurie and his family run sheep and cattle at a property near Walcha.

NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner said Mr Laurie's advocacy work for farmers was "legendary".

"In Jock Laurie, landholders have a Land and Water commissioner who truly is the friend of the farmer," Mr Stoner said in a statement on Saturday.

"A fourth generation grazier, Jock understands all too well the challenges faced by farmers as a result of mining and coal seam gas activity, particularly in the exploration stage.

"He also understands that balancing competing land use is an important part of driving job growth in regional NSW."

Mr Laurie's brief includes offering guidance on applications for mineral and petroleum exploration licences, exploration activities, regulatory approval and compliance matters.

"Jock will also provide important advice to the NSW government on applications for exploration or production activities," Mr Stoner said.

Mr Laurie will stay in the job for up to three years, starting on December 10.

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Puppy room set up at Canadian university

A Canadian university has created a "puppy room" to help stressed students calm their nerves. Source: AAP

A CANADIAN university has created a "puppy room" to help stressed students calm their nerves.

Dalhousie University's student union is opening a puppy room next week where students can spend time with dogs, including Roc, a loveable St Bernard.

"They can come in and sit down, they can pat the dogs, talk to the dogs," St Bernard owner Mark Grant told CBC News.

"That's our hope ... that the dogs will bring as much comfort to the individuals that we're going to meet as the individuals will bring to the dogs."

The puppy room idea came from Montreal's McGill University, which has a similar dog therapy program.

According to CTV News the animals will be provided by Therapeutic Paws Canada, which usually brings them to nursing homes, hospitals and schools.

Dalhousie is bringing several kinds of dogs to campus, including a Labradoodle, a Sheltie, a Papillon and a Golden Retriever.

"It's a great idea," said Dalhousie student Michael Kean, who proposed the puppy room idea.

"There's no downfall about therapy dogs.

"Students, we're stressed out, don't know what to do, and they're fluffy. It comes down to that."

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NSW man charged over 2011 school blaze

A MAN has been charged over a fire that gutted a southern NSW high school building two summers ago.

The blaze took hold at Yass High School on Grampian Street, Yass, just before dawn on January 29, 2011.

A message to parents on the school's website indicates the fire destroyed the school's canteen.

Goulburn police joined Fire and Rescue NSW officers to investigate the fire in Strike Force Severn.

"Following an exhaustive investigation, an 18-year-old man was arrested by strike force detectives at Goulburn Police Station yesterday," police said in a statement on Saturday.

The Yass man was charged with malicious damage by fire and released on conditional bail to appear at Yass Children's Court on February 5.

A blaze broke out at the same school last weekend, but a police spokeswoman told AAP investigators did not believe the two fires were connected.

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Made in Wadeye was inspired by community

AN artwork that was created following the artist's visit to a remote Aboriginal settlement in the Northern Territory has won the $30,000 Dobell Prize for Drawing 2012.

Gareth Sansom's work, Made in Wadeye, is a suite of 20 drawings in ink, lead pencil, graphite, coloured watercolour pencil, felt tipped pen, ball point pen, egg tempera, earth and collage.

It is the 20th year of the Art Gallery of NSW's prize and 639 drawings were entered, of which 47 were chosen as finalists.

Sansom, 73, visited the Aboriginal community southwest of Darwin in September this year, where his doctor wife was working in the clinic.

Reference to the Wadeye community can be found in a small, collaged, photocopied map, and earth, captured in the egg tempera paint.

But although the visit to Wadeye was the impetus for the series, it was not its subject.

Sansom says: "I make stream-of-consciousness drawings with sources going back years."

The judge, Aida Tomescu, said Made in Wadeye hovered on the outskirts of figuration and on the borderline of abstraction.

"I am attracted to the freshness of the work, its clarity and its light playfulness, and the unpredictability of the succession of images, and delicacy of the rapport between them," she says.

The art gallery says Sansom has been a pre-eminent figure of the Australian avant garde for over 50 years.

His watercolours, collages and paintings are based on a personal iconography that includes imagery of a sexual, satirical and philosophical nature.

Born in Melbourne, Sansom studied art at RMIT between 1959 and 1964 and came to prominence in the 1960s as a radical convention-breaking painter, with influences ranging from Picasso and Jean Dubuffet to Francis Bacon and British pop art.

He was Head of Painting, then Dean of the School of Art, at the Victorian College of the Arts between 1977 and 1991.

Sansom has exhibited widely, represented Australia at the Seventh Triennale, India in 1991 and won numerous awards, including the National Works on Paper Award in 2006 and John McCaughey Memorial Prize in 2008.

The art gallery also announced that this is the final year of the Dobell Drawing Prize in its present form.

It and the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation instead will launch the Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial in 2014.

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Suu Kyi urges talks to end mine protests

Aung San Suu Kyi is urging for talks to end protests over a military-backed copper mine in Myanmar. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION leader Aung San Suu Kyi is urging a negotiated resolution to protests over a military-backed copper mine in northwestern Myanmar (Burma).

The call on Friday follows the government's biggest crackdown on demonstrators since reformist President Thein Sein took office last year.

Riot police used water cannons, tear gas and smoke bombs to break up the 11-day occupation of the Letpadaung copper mine, wounding dozens of villagers and Buddhist monks early on Thursday.

The action was a public relations disaster for Thein Sein's government, which has touted Myanmar's transition to democracy after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

In a visit scheduled before the crackdown, Suu Kyi met on Thursday with company officials and protesters and was scheduled to meet with local officials and others on Friday.

The mine is jointly operated by a Chinese company and a holding company controlled by Myanmar's military, and activists say as the project expands, villagers have been forced from their land with little compensation.

Through state television, the government initially acknowledged using the riot-control measures, but denied using excessive force against the protesters. In an unusual move, it later retracted the statement without explanation.

Protesters suffered serious burns after the crackdown near the town of Monywa.

It was unclear if people were burned by the weapons themselves or because the weapons ignited fires in shelters at the protest camps.

"I didn't expect to be treated like this, as we were peacefully protesting," said Aung Myint Htway, a peanut farmer whose face and body were covered with black patches of burned skin.

Another protester, Ottama Thara, said: "This kind of violence should not happen under a government that says it is committed to democratic reforms."

Still writhing from pain hours after the early morning crackdown, Aung Myint Htway said police fired water cannons first and then shot what he and others called flare guns.

"They fired black balls that exploded into fire sparks. They shot about six times. People ran away and they followed us," he said. "It's very hot."

Suu Kyi's visit to nearby Kan-Kone village had been scheduled before the crackdown.

The Nobel Peace laureate, elected to parliament after spending most of the past two decades under house arrest, unexpectedly went to the mine to meet with its operators before making her speech.

"I already met one side. I met with mine operators. I want to meet with villagers and protesters," she said.

"I haven't made any decision yet. I want to meet with both sides and negotiate," she said in a speech that lasted less than 15 minutes.

"Will you agree with my negotiating?"

The crowd shouted its assent.

Some of Suu Kyi's comments suggested that she may not fully embrace the tactics of the protesters.

"When dealing with people, I don't always follow what people like. I only tell the truth," she said.

"I will work for the long-term benefit of the country."

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Cut GST threshold on online goods: report

THE independent GST review has called for changes to the way the consumption tax applies to goods and services bought online.

The report - by former premiers Nick Greiner and John Brumby and tax expert Bruce Carter - says the way the 10 per cent GST applies to online purchases disadvantages Australian businesses and costs the states "hundreds of millions of dollars" in lost revenue.

The panel report, released on Friday, said the current low-value import threshold should be at least halved from $1000 to $500.

This could be done almost immediately with no change needed to either GST law or customs arrangements.

In the long-term, governments should look at replacing the "at-the-border" collection of GST with a system that imposed a GST liability directly on overseas suppliers of goods and services to Australia.

The review panel found the existing system was open to flagrant abuse.

One example was the sale of expensive cameras which were bought in their component parts, at a price under $1000, and assembled by the buyer without incurring any GST.

The talks between the federal and state governments on a long-term solution should focus on amendments to GST law to make overseas suppliers to Australian residents liable for remittance of GST on all supplies of both goods and services that would otherwise be subject to GST if purchased from a domestic supplier.

"Such an approach would enable the GST exemption threshold for physical parcels to be reduced to a nominal level, no more than $20 or $50," the report said.

However, Robert Jeremenko, senior tax counsel at the Tax Institute, said the recommendation amounted to "tinkering".

"The GST threshold for overseas purchases should not be tinkered with in the absence of a whole-scale review of reform options in Australia's tax system," Mr Jeremenko said in a statement.

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Australia lags in Asian tourism: Kennett

AUSTRALIA is an "embarrassment" in the Asian region, a tourism conference has heard.

Speaking at the annual Australian Tourism and Export Council (ATEC) meeting, chief economist from White Crane Group, Clifford Bennett, said Australia was being left behind in the region.

"We are an embarrassment and we are a great underperformer," he said.

"We have this enormous opportunity as being part of Asia, instead of thinking of Asia as being something distant from ourselves.

"While we have been thinking and worrying about things - they (China) have been moving forward."

Mr Bennett encouraged the industry to look to Australia's neighbours and market the country's natural beauty and assets.

"If you have ever been to Beijing you wouldn't be surprised to know that you seriously want to get out of there, if nothing else just to breathe the fresh air," he said.

"So I assure you the search for fresh air and sunshine in Australia will be quite strong."

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said much of Australia's underperformance was because of a lack in long term plans and vision.

"We consider ourselves to be a lucky country but we are fundamentally terribly complacent," he told the conference.

"We are not prepared to make the tough decisions, we don't work to a plan and we just hope that day on day someone is going to put food in our mouths and clothes on our back."

While the former Liberal premier said he hoped the situation would improve with a change of government in Canberra, he predicted the nation was in for an "awakening".

"I think we are in for a hard spot," he said.

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Ratify pirate treaty with Asia, MPs told

THEY may not brandish cutlasses or wear parrots on their shoulders anymore, but pirates still pose a real threat to Australian companies trading by sea in South East Asia, parliament has been told.

The incidence of piracy in the straits of Malacca and Singapore, a narrow strip of sea legendary for its reputation for swashbuckling adventure, is apparently on the rise again.

Labor MP Kelvin Thomson said the number of piracy incidents in the straits had jumped from 75 at the turn of the century to more than 130 last year.

"This represents a significant threat to the $130 billion worth of Australian trade that passes through these straits each year," he told the lower house on Thursday.

The federal parliament's treaties committee is recommending that Australia ratify an agreement to combat renewed piracy in the straits, the historic passageway that has connected Asian traders with the rest of the world for centuries.

The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia, or ReCAAP, boosts cooperation between Australia and its Asian neighbours to protect traders from armed robbery.

Mr Thomson said it would improve responses to acts of piracy, and Australia would benefit by gaining access to a regional maritime security network targeting this emerging local threat.

The committee's report also supported proposed treaties between Australia and Vietnam over extradition and Australia and Spain over classified defence information and radio telecommunications revision.

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Frenchman's interpreter request for trial

A FRENCH backpacker charged with murdering a man in Broome on Christmas Day last year has requested the court provide an interpreter for his family who will attend his trial.

Thomas Camus, 23, is accused of fatally stabbing Kristopher Eric Dixon, 32, outside the Bungalow Bar.

Mr Dixon, of the mining community of South Hedland, was allegedly involved in a brawl with several people before he was fatally wounded.

Camus appeared in the West Australian Supreme Court via video link from Hakea Prison on Thursday with a French interpreter translating proceedings for him.

The court heard the trial, set for May, could take about four weeks.

A forensic report was recently filed but lawyers are still waiting for the release of CCTV footage.

Camus's lawyer Mara Barone said her client would need an interpreter for his trial and also requested the court provide an interpreter for his family, who do not speak English and will fly to WA for the proceedings.

Justice Lindy Jenkins said she would inquire about the possibility of a second interpreter for the family.

If it was not possible, the defence team would organise its own interpreter, Ms Barone said.

Camus will next appear in court on February 21 for another status conference.

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Gambling ex-banker gets home detention

A FORMER Commonwealth Bank employee who stole almost $250,000 from customers' accounts has been described by a magistrate as intelligent and resourceful but gripped by "chronic gambling".

Karen Myhanh Chau, 40, stole almost $250,000 from wealthy clients, including author Thomas Keneally, and transferred the funds into a personal account.

She committed the crimes between October 2010 and January of this year.

Chau pleaded guilty in August to six counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and in October was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of one year.

In Downing Centre Local court on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Magistrate Jane Mottley ruled that Chau could serve out her sentence in home detention.

"She is clearly a resourceful and intelligent woman," Ms Mottley told the court.

"She is likely to find it difficult to get employment in the financial industry as a result of this offence."

Chau took the money from the clients in 72 separate transactions and put some funds back into some of the victim's accounts to indicate interest was being earned.

The Commonwealth Bank has said it had refunded all the money to the clients.

Ms Mottley said Chau had endured tough personal circumstances in the early 2000s, including a miscarriage, and this had led to depression, contributing to her gambling addiction.

She said Chau was "gripped by a chronic gambling problem" and gambling had become a coping strategy for her.

"This offence is a clear manifestation of an unresolved addiction," she said.

Chau has no prior convictions and was described as a "model citizen" during sentence submissions in October.

The court heard she has been making excellent progress at gambling counselling sessions.

Her minimum home detention period expires in October next year.

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Govt ignoring wheat industry, Senate told

MOVES to deregulate wheat exports ignore the industry's need to ensure quality and oversight, a Liberal senator has told parliament.

Debate in the Senate resumed on Wednesday over a government bill to abolish the wheat export accreditation scheme and the wheat export charge.

Under the proposed changes, the administrative body, Wheat Exports Australia, will be wound up at the end of 2012.

Senator Sean Edwards says the industry requires national oversight on information, transport and the quality of wheat exported from Australia.

"This bill does not tell us who is going to ensure grain quality standards for wheat," he said.

More deregulation in the industry could occur once it was ready for a further reduction in state regulations.

He said there had been progress in the industry since the abolition of the single wheat desk in 2008.

"But to completely abandon oversight now, at some arbitrary date set five years ago, would be like removing the training wheels from your child's bike for the first time without equipping them with a helmet," Senator Edwards said.

He said buyers needed certainty that the wheat they received was what they ordered, while the industry required oversight of shipping slots and auctions to ensure fair access for all.

The bill caused division in the opposition during its path in the lower house in October.

West Australian Nationals MP Tony Crook crossed the floor, while his state Liberal colleague Dennis Jensen abstained from voting after earlier telling the lower house he could not oppose the bill.

Debate on the Wheat Export Marketing Amendment Bill 2012 was adjourned.

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Arafat exhumation to test poison theory

ONE of the biggest Middle East enigmas could come closer to a resolution on Tuesday, as remains of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are exhumed to seek traces of poison.

The process will cap eight years of speculation about whether the former president was murdered, as many Palestinians believe.

French judges in charge of the investigation arrived on Sunday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Arafat's mausoleum stands in the grounds of the Muqataa complex, from which the late leader ruled and where president Mahmud Abbas has his headquarters.

Rumours and speculation have surrounded Arafat's death ever since a quick deterioration in his health before he died at the Percy military hospital near Paris in November 2004 aged 75.

Doctors were unable at the time to say what killed the Palestinians' first democratically elected president and an autopsy was never performed, at his widow Suha's request.

But many Palestinians believed he was poisoned by Israel - a theory that gained ground in July when Al-Jazeera reported Swiss findings showing abnormal quantities of the radioactive substance polonium on Arafat's personal effects.

France opened a formal murder inquiry in late August at Suha's request.

Polonium was the substance that killed Russian ex-spy and fierce Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Experts from the Swiss lab that tested the samples for the Al-Jazeera news network will work alongside the French investigators. Russian specialists will also be taking part in the process, at the request of the Palestinian leadership.

The exhumation is to take place behind blue plastic sheets and far from the public view, with the French investigators overseeing.

Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian team investigating Arafat's death, said the tomb would be opened, samples taken and a reburial ceremony held all on the same day.

An official statement is expected at the end of the process.

The samples will be flown to laboratories in the three countries involved, with results expected within several months.

Some experts have questioned whether anything conclusive will be found because polonium has a short life and dissipates more quickly than some other radioactive substances.

And Jean-Rene Jourdain, deputy head of human protection at the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), cautioned it would take several weeks of analysis to be sure that the traces were man-made polonium rather than just coincidental contamination by naturally occurring polonium.

"Even if traces of polonium are found, it doesn't mean that they are man-made," the French nuclear expert told AFP on Monday.

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Coalition to support Murray-Darling plan

THE coalition will support Australia's first national strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin, ensuring the landmark water reform remains law.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Tuesday told colleagues of the coalition's intention to back the plan, despite some within the coalition still strongly opposing it.

Environment Minister Tony Burke tabled the final version of the plan on Monday.

South Australian Liberal MP Andrew Southcott took to Twitter to welcome the news that the coalition would not scuttle the plan in parliament.

"Very pleased that today Tony Abbott has shown strong leadership to commit the coalition to supporting the basin plan," he tweeted.

The plan is now expected to go ahead, despite Nationals MP Michael McCormack giving notice of a disallowance motion on Monday.

Mr McCormack represents the Riverina, a major NSW agricultural hub in the heart of the basin, and the scene of some of the most strident opposition to the basin plan.

He said while some irrigating communities might be able to live with the plan, the Riverina could not.

"I can't in all good faith, in good conscience, stand by and let a bad plan just go through without voicing my opposition to it," Mr McCormack told AAP on Tuesday.

His motion was seconded by the Liberal MP for Murray, Sharman Stone, but so far no other coalition colleagues have offered any support.

"If that means that Sharman and I sit alone on one side of the parliament and everybody else stands on the other, well so be it."

Thousands turned out in Griffith, a regional city in the Riverina, to burn copies of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's guide to the proposed plan upon its release in 2010.

At a later town meeting, protesters wearing black armbands interrupted an address by Mr Burke by placing a coffin behind him.

Mr McCormack said he did not agree with the coffin stunt, but the guide needed to be burnt.

"It's just a shame we had to actually waste some water to put the fire out," he said.

Mr Burke says the coalition is on the right side of history by supporting Australia's first national plan for the Murray-Darling Basin.

"I want to acknowledge that, and welcome that," he told parliament on Tuesday.

The minister lashed out at the Greens, arguing there could be nothing worse for the Murray-Darling ecosystem than for the plan to be rejected.

"There is nothing good for the environment in the approach that the Greens are taking on this issue," he said.

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Japan would-be PM's plan 'reckless'

PLANS by Japan's prime ministerial frontrunner to force the central bank to buy government bonds have been criticised as "reckless" by the head of a major business lobby.

Opposition leader Shinzo Abe called for "unlimited" central bank easing and told supporters earlier this month he would make the Bank of Japan participate in his bond-buying scheme - effectively printing money to generate inflation.

Japan has been mired in deflation for years, a situation that discourages consumers from spending in the knowledge that products will be cheaper in the future, sapping demand and dissuading firms from investing.

But the plan has been criticised from all quarters and on Monday, Hiromasa Yonekura, the chairman of Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), a habitual ally of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, joined the chorus.

"It's reckless rather than bold," he said, according to media reports Tuesday.

To force the central bank to buy government bonds "could create a problem with the international credibility" of Japanese government bonds, Yonekura told reporters in a rare criticism against the leader of the business-friendly LDP.

"I don't think the market is moving because of President Abe's comments," Yonekura continued, referring to the recent depreciation of the yen which has been attributed to market expectations that Abe would press for aggressive monetary policy as prime minister.

"Rather, the cheaper yen is the fruit of the BoJ's additional monetary easing," Yonekura said.

The influential business lobby has traditionally had close ties with the LDP but Yonekura said it will now support parties "based on policies".

Last week, Bank of Japan chief Masaaki Shirakawa slapped down Abe's challenge to the central bank's independence, dismissing his fix for the economy.

Abe later appeared to be rowing back from a strident call for the Bank of Japan to buy government debt.

Using his Facebook page, Abe said "I'm not saying (the Bank of Japan) should directly purchase government bonds".

"I'm saying the purchase should be done through market operations," he wrote.

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Bangladesh garment factory blaze kills 110

A fire in a nine-storey garment factory in Bangladesh has left at least 110 people dead. Source: AAP

FIRE raced up the floors of a Bangladeshi garment factory with no emergency exits, killing at least 112 people, some of whom jumped from the eight-story building where they made clothes for major global retailers.

The factory outside the capital, Dhaka, is owned by Tazreen Fashions Ltd., a subsidiary of the Tuba Group, which makes products for Wal-Mart and other companies in the US and Europe.

Firefighters recovered at least 100 bodies from the factory and 12 more people died at hospitals after jumping from the building to escape, Major Mohammad Mahbub, fire department operations director, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

"Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," Mahbub said.

Local media reported that up to 124 people were killed. The cause of the blaze that began late on Saturday was not immediately clear, and authorities ordered an investigation.

Army soldiers and border guards were helping keep order as thousands of onlookers and anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered, Mahbub said.

Relatives of the workers frantically looked for their loved ones. Sabina Yasmine said she saw the body of her daughter-in-law, but had seen no trace of her son, who also worked there.

"Oh, Allah, where's my soul? Where's my son?" wailed Yasmine, who works at another factory in the area. "I want the factory owner to be hanged. For him, many have died, many have gone."

Tazreen was given a "high risk" safety rating after a May 16, 2011, audit conducted by an "ethical sourcing" assessor for Wal-Mart, according to a document posted on the Tuba Group's website. It did not specify what led to the rating.

Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said online documents indicating an orange or "high risk" assessment after the May 2011 inspection and a yellow or "medium risk" report after an inspection in August 2011 appeared to pertain to the factory. The August 2011 letter said Wal-Mart would conduct another inspection within one year.

Gardner said it was not clear if that inspection had been conducted or whether the factory was still making products for Wal-Mart.

If a factory is rated "orange" three times in two years, Wal-Mart won't place any orders for one year. The May 2011 report was the first orange rating for the factory.

Neither Tazreen's owner nor Tuba Group officials could be reached for comment.

The Tuba Group is a major Bangladeshi garment exporter whose clients also include Carrefour and IKEA, according to its website. Its factories export garments to the US, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, among other countries. The Tazreen factory, which opened in 2009 and employed about 1,700 people, made polo shirts, fleece jackets and T-shirts.

Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. The country annually earns about $US20 billion ($A19.21 billion) from exports of garment products, mainly to the US and Europe.

Many victims were burned beyond recognition. The bodies were laid out in rows at a school nearby. Many of them were handed over to families; unclaimed victims were taken to Dhaka Medical College for identification.

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US aims to keep 10,000 troops in Afghan

THE administration of President Barack Obama aims to keep around 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan after formal combat operations in that country end in 2014, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Citing unnamed senior US officials, the newspaper says the plan is in line with recommendations presented by General John Allen, commander of US and international forces in Afghanistan, who has proposed a force between 6,000 and 15,000 US troops.

This force will conduct training and counterterrorism operations after the NATO mission in Afghanistan formally concludes at the end of 2014, the report said on Sunday.

About 67,000 US troops are currently deployed in Afghanistan alongside 37,000 coalition troops and 337,000 local soldiers and police that make up the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

The United States and Afghanistan launched crucial talks on November 15 on the status of US forces remaining in Afghanistan after the NATO withdrawal of combat troops in 2014.

The US has stressed that it is not seeking permanent bases in Afghanistan. It is also considered likely to shy away from a security guarantee, which would require it to come to the nation's assistance against aggressors.

That, however, is seen as one of the targets of Afghan negotiators.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is said to be willing to accept a US troop presence post-2014 as long as his key demands are met.

According to the Journal, his main request is that American forces come under the jurisdiction of Afghan courts.

However, the paper said, some defence analysts outside of the US government believe that the training and counterterrorism mission would require a much larger US presence -- perhaps as many as 30,000 troops.

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Gillard fends off oppn question on AWU

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has batted opposition questions on the AWU matter in parliament. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has batted opposition questions on the AWU matter in parliament, by referring to answers she gave at a 50-minute media conference before question time.

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop opened question time on Monday by asking Ms Gillard why she provided legal advice to AWU officials Ralph Blewitt and Bruce Wilson to establish the Australian Workers' Union Reform Association, in contravention of union rules.

"I have just dealt with this precise question at a press conference," Ms Gillard told parliament.

Liberal frontbencher Bronwyn Bishop then raised a point of order, saying Ms Gillard did not deserve to be prime minister if she thought questions by journalists substituted for questions by members.

Ms Gillard belittled the interjection, saying she had just had one of those "ultra-secret things" called a press conference.

"That's what you do: you call a press conference in front of the full press gallery and conduct it for the best part of an hour if you don't want people to know what you said," Ms Gillard joked.

In a subsequent question from the deputy leader of the opposition, Ms Gillard said she stood by the statements made in Monday's media conference and a marathon media conference she had held in August.

"My role in relation to this matter was as a lawyer, providing advice to clients based on their instructions to me," she said.

She said she did not operate the association, she was not an office bearer of it, and she did deal with any transactions associated with any bank accounts.

"I say to the deputy leader of the opposition, and really it goes to much of the sleaze and muck-racking the opposition has been engaged in, if she has a real allegation of wrongdoing by me, then put it," she said.

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Bangladesh factory death toll rises to 121

At least nine people have died after a blaze tore through a garment factory in Bangladesh. Source: AAP

THE death toll from a fire at a Bangladeshi clothes factory has soared to at least 121 as rescue workers recovered 112 bodies.

"We've found 112 dead bodies this morning," fire brigade director general Brigadier General Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah told AFP on Sunday, adding the toll did not include the nine initially reported killed overnight.

"We resumed our search this morning and found the bodies lying on different floors of the factory building."

Police inspector Mostofa Kamal said many workers jumped from the Dhaka factory's upper floors to escape the raging fire before firefighters arrived to put the blaze out on Saturday night.

Fatal fires are common in Bangladesh's large garment manufacturing sector.

Lax safety standards, poor wiring and overcrowding are blamed for causing several deadly factory fires every year.

It is still unclear what caused the blaze.

In December 2010, a similar fire in another clothes factory in the same industrial zone killed at least 25 people and was caused by a wiring problem.

There are around 4500 factories in Bangladesh, employing more than two million people.

Clothes account for up to 80 per cent of Bangladesh's $US24 billion ($A23.23 billion) annual exports.

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Vic rolls out CCTV at housing estates

VICTORIA will expand its CCTV network at public housing estates after a one-year trial pointed to reductions in crime and drug use.

Premier Ted Baillieu says overall crime around public flats at Richmond in inner Melbourne has dropped by 20 per cent since live-streaming security cameras and a police command post were set up last year.

"We're very pleased with these results," Mr Baillieu told reporters on Sunday.

Public housing estates in Collingwood and Fitzroy will now have live-streaming cameras installed during a one-year trial while the Richmond site, home to 2500 people, will continue to have such technology for another two years.

A review of the program will then determine if cameras should be rolled out elsewhere.

"After those reviews take place we'll obviously look at what other opportunities there are," Mr Baillieu said.

Police say there has been some displacement of crime and injecting drug use to other areas since the cameras and command post were set up.

But Assistant Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the security cameras had led to several arrests while officers had also helped addicts get the help they needed.

"We've seen a turnaround ... but we've still got some way to go," Mr Crisp said.

The state government continues to reject calls to open a safe drug injecting site similar to the one running in Sydney.

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Hopper defects from LNP to join Katter

Veteran Queensland MP Ray Hopper (R) has resigned from the Liberal National Party (LNP). Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman says Ray Hopper's defection is not a sign of division within his government.

Mr Newman told reporters he's confident there won't be any more defections despite Mr Hopper's claims four other MPs will quit the Liberal National Party (LNP) early in the new year.

"Already we've seen the people he's nominated (to be considering defection) as being rock solid," Mr Newman said on Sunday.

He challenged reporters to "ring them all; go for your life".

Mr Hopper, MP for the rural Darling Downs' electorate of Condamine, resigned from the LNP on Saturday night to join Katter's Australian Party (KAP).

His departure comes after mining billionaire and LNP life member Clive Palmer quit the party on Thursday.

In a written statement on Sunday, released after Mr Campbell had appeared with Treasurer Tim Nicholls, Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney and LNP president Bruce McIver to deny any party discord, Mr Hopper said there were "worsening internal conflicts" in the LNP.

"The LNP are not interested in governing for regional communities and the party is at war with itself," he said.

"The Liberals are trying to take complete control and the National Party has been slain."

Mr Hopper was rumoured to have entertained joining the KAP before the March election, but Mr Newman said he had given a written assurance he would serve a full term as a LNP member.

The premier said Mr Hopper had "betrayed the people of Condamine".

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said his departure was a sign of discontent within the LNP.

"We are seeing members of the LNP disgruntled and as we see with Ray Hopper, defecting to another party," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters.

She dismissed suggestions the KAP could end up having more numbers and replacing Labor as the state's opposition, saying she was not going to "deal with hypotheticals".

Federal independent and KAP leader Bob Katter told AAP Mr Hopper had been unhappy with the government's leadership for some time.

He said Mr Hopper had felt pressure from the party to give in to coal seam gas (CSG) and the sell-off of Cubbie Station.

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