'Thor' water-bombing aircraft arrives in NSW ahead of bushfire season

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'Thor' aircraft, capable of dropping 15,000 litres of water, arrives in NSW ahead of bushfire season

By Nick Dole

Posted September 01, 2015 15:15:21

Photo: The C-130 Hercules conducts a test run at the RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney's west. (Fairfax Media: Peter Rae)

Map: NSW

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service has unveiled its newest firefighting tool, a massive water-bombing aircraft nicknamed Thor, ahead of the bushfire season.

The plane has just arrived from North America for the Australian bushfire season and performed a practise water-bombing exercise near Richmond air base in north-west Sydney.

The air tanker can drop more than 15,000 litres of water or fire retardant on a blaze within a few seconds.

The people of NSW will be able to rest easy tonight, the first day of spring, knowing that Thor will be in the skies looking out for them.

NSW Emergency Services Minister, David Elliott

It has a loaded cruising speed of 545 kilometres an hour, meaning it will be able to reach most fires in the state within one hour.

Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said the aircraft would be a welcome sight for residents in fire-prone areas.

"The people of NSW will be able to rest easy tonight, the first day of spring, knowing that Thor will be in the skies looking out for them," Mr Elliott said.

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the specially configured C-130 Hercules will dwarf the capability of the smaller water-bombing planes in the fleet.

"This can carry five times the water of those machines," he said.

"They can take off and land on airstrips of less than two kilometres, they're very versatile."

Photo: A C-130 Hercules dubbed Thor has been converted into a water-bomber to help fight bushfires. (ABC News: Nick Dole)

The plane's pilot, Rickey Rau said Thor can fly fully loaded for at least five hours.

"Depending on where the fire is, we can launch out of here fully loaded and do two to three runs on the fire before needing fuel," Mr Rau said.

The plane will be based at the Richmond air base, but could also be moved to smaller bases at Williamtown, Tamworth, Dubbo and Canberra.

The aircraft will be leased to NSW for two fire seasons as part of a $10 million State Government funding package.

An ever bigger DC-10 air tanker will arrive in October.

Commissioner Fitzsimmons said much of NSW was facing an "above normal" risk of bushfires this season.

"That's largely caused by the moisture deficit," he said.

He said there has been solid rainfall in recent months, but it was not likely to have a lasting effect.

"With the onset of a strengthening El Nino still dominating the forecast for this season, the moisture is expected to be depleted fairly quickly, giving rise to a difficult fire season for 2015/16," he said.

Photo: The C-130 Hercules called Thor dumps water on the Richmond RAAF Base. (ABC News: Nick Dole)

Source: http://news.sky.com/

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Grange Resources posts $80m loss after iron ore prices dip lower

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Grange Resources posts $80 million loss after iron ore prices dip lower

By Sallese Gibson

Posted September 01, 2015 15:10:06

Photo: Grange Resources has not ruled out the need to cut jobs after the profit dip. (Eliza Wood: ABC Rural)

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Related Story: Savage River iron ore mine expansion plan clears final hurdle

Related Story: Iron ore producers feel the heat from lower prices

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Map: Rosebery 7470

Tasmania's largest iron ore mining company, Grange Resources, has posted a loss of nearly $80 million for the first half of the year.

Grange, which owns the Savage River mine on the state's west coast, has put the loss down to lower than forecast iron ore prices and has not ruled out job losses.

General manager of operations Ben Maynard said falling iron ore prices were having an impact.

"It's certainly putting pressure on," he said.

"This is one we continue to watch day-in, day-out. There's a lot of speculation out there as to where the market is going to go and there're a lot of complicated things that influence that.

"We will continue to do what we can to maintain our costs under control to make sure we stay in that sort of position.

"We are working hard to improve our efficiency, we continue to invest in major capital works."

Mr Maynard said despite the result there was room for optimism.

"The highlight for us is that we actually posted an underlying profit of about $33 million for the half," he said.

"Largely the loss is a result of the impairment and that's down to really a formulaic calculation that we have to make as a company.

"The Savage River operation ... is going very well, we're seeing great production results, we're seeing good movements and good ore supply.

"We're producing at record operational rates through our concentrator. We're producing a high quality project and we're doing it safely."

Mr Maynard said the company was not planning any major job cuts but could not rule out the possibility.

"We need to keep producing and we need people and operators to keep doing that," he said.

"For us, we're going to hunker down, we're going to continue to produce, we'll continue to optimise our business and run as efficiently as we can and I think that'll place us in good stead to ride out whatever comes.

"Investment is still happening in the business. The business is still producing well and we think it's going well at this stage."

Source: http://news.sky.com/

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Australian journalist acquitted in Thai navy defamation trial

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Australian journalist Alan Morison and colleague Chutima Sidasathian acquitted in Thai navy defamation trial

Posted September 01, 2015 14:59:26

Photo: Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison faced up to seven years in jail. (AFP: Ponchai Kittiwongsakul)

Related Story: Journalists facing seven years in Thailand jail for online news story

Related Story: Australian journalist returns to Thailand to fight criminal defamation charges

Map: Thailand

Two journalists, including an Australian editor, have been found not guilty of criminal defamation by a Thai court over a report implicating the kingdom's navy in human trafficking.

Alan Morison and his Thai colleague Chutima Sidasathian were also acquitted of another charge of breaching the Computer Crimes Act in a high-profile trial that had sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations.

Key points:

• Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian faced up to seven years jail for 2013 article
• Article quoted investigation saying Thai navy was involved in trafficking Rohingya Muslims
• Trial condemned by human rights groups
• Thai navy has 30 days to appeal

Morison and Chutima had faced up to seven years in jail over a July 2013 article quoting a Reuters news agency investigation which said some Thai navy members were involved in trafficking Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar.

"I feel fantastic. The bad dream has ended," Morison said.

"We're just so pleased that it's over. It's good news for Thailand and for media freedom as well.

"Our fight was for a good cause and justice has prevailed."

Morison and Chutima smiled, embraced and shook hands with people in the packed courtroom after the judge acquitted them on the grounds their report did not constitute defamation or threaten national security.

"The judge did the right thing. This is a big step for freedom of expression and freedom of the media in Thailand," Chutima said.

"I am happy that the court clearly said that the information we presented was useful to society and that they were not defamatory."

The journalists are based in Phuket, a holiday island off southern Thailand's Indian Ocean coast, and published the report for the Phuketwan news website.

Nexus for unchecked people smuggling networks

Southern Thailand has long been known as a nexus for lucrative and largely unchecked smuggling networks through which persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, and Bangladeshi economic migrants, among others, would pass on their way to Malaysia.

Officials have been accused by human rights groups of turning both a blind eye to, and complicity in, the trade.

But a crackdown in May led to the unravelling of vast people-smuggling networks and in July Thai prosecutors announced 72 people had been indicted, including local officials and a senior army general.

However no other military figures have been arrested, something that has raised eyebrows among rights groups and observers who say it is unlikely such an influential officer would have acted alone.

Reuters has not been charged over its reporting — part of a series honoured with a Pulitzer Prize last year — and rights groups had accused the navy of trying to muzzle the smaller Phuket-based English-language media outlet.

The navy has 30 days to appeal against the verdict.

AFP/Reuters

Source: http://news.sky.com/

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Husband of detained Iranian asylum seeker pleads for ministerial intervention

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Mojgan Shamsalipoor: Husband and teacher of detained Iranian asylum seeker fly to Darwin, plead for ministerial intervention

By Steven Schubert

Updated September 01, 2015 15:22:34

Photo: Mojgan Shamsalipoor (R) and Milad Jafari on their wedding in Brisbane. (Supplied)

Map: Darwin 0800

A young Iranian asylum seeker is pleading with the Immigration Minister to let her apply for a partner's visa so she can be with her husband and finish her schooling.

Mojgan Shamsalipoor, 21, came to Australia by boat from Iran in 2012 and was initially detained on Christmas Island, before being released into community detention in Brisbane.

Her application for a protection visa was rejected in 2012, along with a bridging visa which was rejected in 2013.

She is married to an Australian permanent resident and is part of an Australian family.

Darwin-based lawyer, Kevin Kadirgamar

Her lawyer said she was raped by family members in her home country and would be persecuted if she returned due to the social stigma attached to rape victims.

Ms Shamsalipoor's husband, Milad Jafari, 21, lives in Brisbane with his parents and is a permanent resident of Australia.

The family also follow the Bahá'í faith, which is persecuted in Iran.

The couple's lawyer, Darwin-based Kevin Kadirgamar, said Immigration Minister Peter Dutton had the power to allow Ms Shamsalipoor to apply for a partner's visa, as Mr Jafari has permanent residency status.

A spokesperson for Mr Dutton said in 2014, then immigration minister Scott Morrison decided it was not in the public interest to intervene in Ms Shamsalipoor's case.

"Ms Shamsalipoor's last visa ceased in 2013 and she remained unlawfully in the community," the spokesperson said, adding that the case had been thoroughly considered.

The visa rejection was affirmed by the Refugee Review Tribunal and the Federal Circuit Court.

The 21-year-old Iranian national was detained again in December 2014 in Brisbane, before being transferred to Darwin in early August this year.

New application based on family ties, not rape claims: lawyer

Photo: Ms Shamsalipoor's husband Milad Jafari, Yeronga High School teacher Jessica Walker, and lawyer Kevin Kadirgamar in Darwin. (ABC News: Steven Schubert)

The couple's lawyer said Ms Shamsalipoor was not challenging the earlier visa outcomes, and that she was instead asking for a visa based on her marriage to an Australian permanent resident.

"She is married to an Australian permanent resident and is part of an Australian family," Mr Kadirgamar said.

"It's not about her protection claims any more, it's about the fact that she's a member of an Australian family and we should allow her to apply for a partner visa.

"But her status as an asylum seeker means she can't apply for that visa unless the minister allows her to apply for that visa."

Whilst detained in Brisbane Ms Shamsalipoor had been attending high school, and was taken by armed guard to attend classes at Yeronga State High School each day.

When she was moved to Darwin Ms Shamsalipoor had been just weeks off finishing Year 12.

For her to be taken the way that she was, it's not something that you just let go.

Mr Jafari has since flown to Darwin with two of Ms Shamsalipoor's teachers, who brought schoolwork so she can continue her studies, which they say she hopes to use to become a midwife.

Mr Jafari said he had been separated from his wife since her detention in December.

"Separating a family is just unbelievable, hopefully there will be no more family separation," he said.

"The first month I could not study, I could not have any food, I could not talk to my parents."

Mr Jafari said his wife remained hopeful that she would be allowed to apply for a partner's visa.

"It's very hard but she's coping because of the support from her school," he said.

One of Ms Shamsalipoor's teachers, Jessica Walker, said there was a lot of support from both teachers and students at her school in Brisbane.

"For her to be taken the way that she was, it's not something that you just let go," Ms Walker said.

She said it was of "paramount importance" that Ms Shamsalipoor completed her Year 12 studies.

"Mojgan's been with us since Year 10, she's put in huge amounts of effort in the last two years to get to where she is now," she said.

"It would be such a waste for her not to be able to complete her education and reach that dream of finishing Year 12."

Mr Dutton's spokesperson said people who have exhausted all avenues to stay in Australia were expected to depart.

Source: http://news.sky.com/

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New laws to protect elderly from financially abusive family members in Victoria

The World Today

By Stephanie Corsetti

Updated September 01, 2015 16:00:23

Photo: Economic abuse is a "form of family violence". (ABC News)

Related Story: Tougher laws urged on 'financial abuse'

Map: VIC

Laws designed to better protect the elderly and people with disabilities from economic abuse, particularly from their own family members, come into effect in Victoria today.

As the population ages, older parents can rely on their children to manage their affairs, but the Office of the Public Advocate said it was all too common for the next of kin to take advantage of the situation.

"The adult children of a parent, for instance, with dementia can be unscrupulous in misusing an enduring power of attorney to transfer ownership of a home to their name and for instance set up the quintessential granny flat out the back and put their parent in that or indeed put their parent somewhere else," John Chesterman from the Office of the Public Advocate said.

He said the new laws were important to protect people from abuse.

"A form of family violence is economic abuse and powers of attorney can indeed be instruments of abuse," Mr Chesterman said.

"So that's one of the reasons why this new legislation is important."

The changes also include greater witnessing requirements and new offences for people that abuse those powers, and in an Australian first, supportive attorneys will be able to collect information and put decisions into effect, without overpowering the main authority.

The Law Institute of Victoria said it was expecting an increase of power of attorney cases at the state's legal administrative umpire, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Law Institute of Victoria president Katie Miller said victims of elder abuse who had been ripped off could now apply for compensation.

"I think this is one of the most significant pieces of legislation to be passed by our Parliament in the last 10 years," she said.

She said another significant step was allowing family members to head to VCAT before damage was done if they were unsure about how finances were being handled.

"If an attorney is not sure about what they should be doing or if there's a genuine dispute between family members about how an attorney should be exercising the powers, they can actually go VCAT before the transaction takes place and they can essentially get an advisory opinion," Ms Miller said.

Source: http://news.sky.com/

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Mustapha Dibb appeals against conviction for murdering wife of Sydney police informant

By court reporter Karl Hoerr

Posted September 01, 2015 14:30:28

Map: Punchbowl 2196

A man jailed for murdering the wife of a police informant in Sydney is appealing against his conviction.

Mustapha Dib is serving a minimum 30-year sentence for shooting Ahmed Banat and his wife Anita Vrzina at Punchbowl in November 2000.

Mr Banat, who was driving their car on the night, survived but his wife was killed.

Mr Banat had provided a statement about the stabbing of schoolboy Edward Lee in 1998.

Dib ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter over this case, but was not charged at the time.

Dib's barrister Tim Game SC told an appeal hearing the trial judge failed to acknowledge problems with the identification of his client including how dark it would have been at the time.

Mr Banat wrote Dib's nickname on a piece of paper provided to police as he recovered in intensive care, but later retracted it.

"There was a very limited time for observation," Mr Game said.

Justice Clifton Hoeben told the court it would be "utterly unreasonable" for the trial judge to repeat all of the defence's concerns about identification during his summing up of the case.

Mr Game said there was no evidence Dib knew about Mr Banat's statement regarding the Edward Lee stabbing and the case should not have been put to the jury.

The court was told prosecutors were selective about Mr Banat's evidence.

"He lies all the time, except for this one occasion," Mr Game said.

The appeal hearing continues.

Source: http://news.sky.com/

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Reserve Bank leaves rates on hold

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Reserve Bank leaves interest rates on hold at 2pc despite global market volatility

By business reporter Stephen Letts

Updated September 01, 2015 14:55:14

Related Story: Subdued inflation strengthens case for steady rates

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Map: Australia

The Reserve Bank has left interest rates on hold at their historic low of 2 per cent for the fourth consecutive month.

The lack of action was widely expected, with markets pricing in less than a 10 per cent chance of a change and a recent Bloomberg survey of 27 economists forecast no change.

The RBA cut rates to their historic low in May.

The central bank has not been swayed by recent global market volatility, holding to its stance of further monitoring the Australian economy before deciding its next move.

"Equity markets have been considerably more volatile of late, associated with developments in China, though other financial markets have been relatively stable," RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a prepared statement.

Mr Stevens said the economy should continue its modest expansion.

"While growth has been somewhat below longer-term averages for some time, it has been accompanied with somewhat stronger growth of employment and a steady rate of unemployment over the past year," he said.

The RBA appears to be becoming more sanguine about exchange rates, noting: "The Australian dollar is adjusting to the significant declines in key commodity prices."

After the announcement the Australian dollar remained largely unmoved, trading at 0.7145 cent against the US dollar.

Source: http://news.sky.com/

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