Teachers and principals wary of cash-bonus plan

(Australia Twitter)-Prime Minister Julia Gillard says education and training will be the budget's top priority, as she unveiled a new plan to help thousands of students with disabilities.

A week out from the federal budget, Ms Gillard visited a Canberra primary school to announce a $200 million plan for more speech and occupational therapy, technology, teacher aides, health professionals and specialised curriculums.

The payment -- varying from $8100 for experienced teachers to $5400 for those starting out -- would be based on NAPLAN test results, lesson observations and parental feedback.

No new details about the policy were released yesterday but Mr Garrett said the intention was to clarify the government's commitment to the scheme ahead of next week's budget.

She recognised that she had "a lot of hard work to do as prime minister".

"We've got a lot of hard work to do as a government and we'll get on with doing that work," Ms Gillard said.

Australian Primary Principals Association president Norm Hart said they welcomed additional investment in teaching but had concerns about the way the bonus scheme would be calculated.

All public and private schools that teach disabled students will be eligible for a share of the money, which will flow from early next year until mid-2014, when new school funding arrangements begin to take effect.

Mr Abbott said the funding was a "small step towards addressing a very big problem"

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the government was mistaken in thinking a one-off bonus was the right approach in retaining good teachers and addressing staff shortages.

"It is not a long-term solution to the problems we have," he said. Mr Gavrielatos said a similar scheme in the US "failed spectacularly.

Undersea robotic mining a concern for the Greens

(Australia Twitter)-THE AUSTRALIAN Greens leader Senator Bob Brown has told the ABC that he is worried about undersea mining using robot technologies.

Senator Brown will push for an Australian Senate inquiry into the impact of undersea mining.

Senator Brown said the committee hearings in Brisbane were told there were now "well less than 100,000" koalas left on the continent.

He said all the factors involved in the population disaster, such as land clearing and the destruction of trees, are continuing.

Senator Brown said the investment in tackling an AIDS-like disease and chlamydia is pathetic.

Papua New Guinea is the first country to have undersea mining projects.

Brown said he is concerned about the environmental impacts the Solwara One gold and copper projects would have, which he said is using new robot technologies to mine the sea floor.

It's the national icon (but) there are fewer left in Australia now than there were in the slaughter years in the 1920s, and the numbers are crashing.

"We have to deal with that.

t's a very, very worrying direction for mining to be taking."

The Greens have been vocal about their opinion that all mining should cease in Australia, with renewable energy sources used in its place.

Brown attracted a barrage of criticism in January, when he linked the devastating Queensland floods on climate change caused by coal mining.

Rudd: Bin Laden's Death Won't Speed Up Australia's Afghan Exit

(Australia Twitter)-Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has said the al-Qaeda leader's death in a US mission in Pakistan won't hasten a withdrawal.

But Senator Brown says it's time for the government to rethink its position.

Mr Rudd, who met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC on Monday, also re-affirmed Australia's troop commitment in Afghanistan.

The former Premier insisted that "we will stay the course in Afghanistan until our mission is complete."

Australia is the largest contributor - among non-NATO members -to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with 1,550 troops currently deployed in the southern province of Uruzgan.

He said he was concerned a new contingent was about to be sent from Townsville to Afghanistan.

"The questions is: is this Australia's war? Is this where Australian troops should be deployed?"

Senator Brown said Australia shouldn't respond to threats made against allied troops since bin Laden's death.

Australian forces are deployed in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a timetable for Afghan forces to take charge of security by 2014.

Mr Rudd said Australian troops "will stay the course in Afghanistan until our mission is complete".

However, the question is whether the deployment of Australian troops and the continuing death toll, and the injury toll, which is heart-rending, is in Australia's wider interests.

"Our view is we should bring our troops home."

He also cautioned people not to "gloat at the death of this criminal.

We respect President Karzai's 2014 date, and we are well on track towards achieving that, and we see no change as a result of the events of the last 24 hours," he said.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALS who raided his compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a timetable for Afghan forces to take charge of security by 2014 and Mr Rudd said Australia was committed to that.

"We see no change as a result of the events of the last 24 hours," Mr Rudd said.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALS who raided his compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Queensland roadshow underway

(Australia Twitter)-On a day when 200 Queensland tourism operators left the capital on a two-state bus tour to promote the state as a warm, sunny winter holiday destination, the skies over Brisbane opened, dumping heavy rain and sparking flash flood warnings.

Tourism Queensland today embarks on the next stage of its recovery as 200 operators begin a five-day roadshow from Brisbane.

Four groups will criss-cross New South Wales and Victoria promoting the Nothing Beats Queensland message.

During the campaign, the 200 operators will travel to 13 cities across New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT on two brightly branded Tourism Queensland buses.

They’ll include representatives from wineries to B&Bs and surf schools.

The tour is part of the State and Federal Government’s $12 million recovery package.

Cairns-based federal senator Jan McLucas said the campaign was ‘‘smart, cheap, and I believe it'll be very effective.

Federal tourism minister Martin Ferguson said: “The Queensland on Tour road show will roll into towns from Ballina to Bendigo and Wagga Wagga to Wollongong personally promoting a range of Queensland holiday deals and giveaways.

[Today’s weather] is an aberration. This is not what Queensland’s like. It’s not happening anywhere else in Queensland except just over Brisbane right now.’’

The buses left Brisbane today for the tour and will converge in Sydney on Saturday.

Review of SA laws that suppress the identity of accused sex offenders

(Australia Twitter)-The ALP state executive is due to meet at 10am today, in conjunction with a special meeting of the national executive, to suspend the MP from the party before state parliament resumes tomorrow.

The move allows the MP to remain in Parliament as an independent. However, conviction would result in immediate expulsion from office and the party.

Mr Rann led the push to have the Labor MP charged with child pornography charges suspended from the ALP during a phone hookup this morning, which included members of the state and national executive.

Mr Brown yesterday made no apologies for the hardline approach, even as some members of caucus expressed concern the presumption of innocence had been cast aside for political reasons.

Earlier, Mr Rann said he had asked the ALP to suspend the member while the MP's case was before the courts.

"I have asked the Labor Party both at the state and national level to suspend the MP who's been charged," Mr Rann said this morning.

Mr Iles said he could not reveal the "instructions" he had from the MP about whether he would take his seat in parliament as an independent if he were suspended from the Labor Party.

All references to the Labor MP have been removed from the ALP website.

Parliament will tomorrow be warned not to name the Labor MP at the centre of a child pornography scandal as doing so would jeopardise the court case.

Speaker Lyn Breuer yesterday said she would also intervene to prevent the accused being named if she believed an MP was intending to do so.

Mr Rau is the dominant Right faction's choice to replace Mr Rann, should he step aside or be forced to quit before the next election.

Mr Rann and possibly Right faction powerbroker Tom Koutsantonis will miss tomorrow's caucus meeting, the first since the child porn scandal erupted last month.

Ms Breuer said she would warn Parliament when sitting resumed of serious consequences for naming the charged Labor MP.

"It's about the impact it can have actually on the trial we've got to be careful about," she said yesterday.

"Sometimes somebody can release a name or something in public and the trial falls into a heap because the evidence has been distorted.

"They need to be very, very careful about what they say

Education focus for budget - Gillard

(Australia Twitter)-Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the budget will focus on education, as she announced $200 million for students with disabilities.

A week out from the federal budget, Ms Gillard visited a Canberra primary school to announce a $200 million plan for more speech and occupational therapy, technology, teacher aides, health professionals and specialised curriculums.

The Coalition continues to poll strongly against the Gillard government, with a primary vote last weekend of 44 per cent, compared to 45 per cent at the beginning of last month, while Labor's primary vote was 33 per cent, up one point.

The one-point shift either way on the primary vote and an unchanged Greens primary vote of 12 per cent meant two-party-preferred support, based on preference flows at last year's election, was 53 per cent for the Coalition, down two points, and 47 per cent for Labor, up two points.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Penny Wong - who has been working with Treasurer Wayne Swan to put the final touches to the budget - says changes to family and age pensions and health care are expected to save an average $7.5 billion a year over the coming four decades.

'This is $30 billion that can be allocated to helping those most in need, investing in education or improving access to health care,' Senator Wong said.

'The Gillard government is acting today to ensure higher living standards and better services for the next generation.

Aussie Teen Gang Didn't Hate Indians

(Australia Twitter)-MELBOURNE, Australia – An Australian teenage gang targeted Indians in a series of violent robberies because they were considered easy targets, not because of racial hatred, a judge said Tuesday.

The seven-member gang targeted six Indian men in separate robberies during a four-day spree in Melbourne in December 2009, a time when high-profile crimes against Indian students were creating diplomatic tensions between Australia and India.

Over a four-day period in December 2009, the gang of seven attacked six Indian men in four separate night-time robberies in Melbourne's western suburbs.

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One of the group described the attacks as "Punji hunting", the court heard on Tuesday.

But County Court Judge Liz Gaynor said, although an immediate jail sentence was otherwise warranted, Petrusic had shown exceptional effort to rehabilitate and was filled with shame for his part in the attacks which his co-accused had labelled "Punji hunting.

Notwithstanding that Indians were targeted, this was not done on any basis of racial hatred, but because Indians were for some reason considered by you to be soft targets," she said.

"This sort of offending is all too commonplace within our community ... violent and lawless behaviour perpetrated on innocent people simply walking the street.

She said despite the offences being extremely serious, Petrusic - who pleaded guilty to robbery, armed robbery and attempted robbery - had shown grave remorse and received "glowing" reports from counsellors who described him as having been led into the offending.

Judge Gaynor ordered Petrusic's Holden Commodore be forfeited and he pay $650 compensation.

No bail for accused Sydney journo killer

(Australia Twitter)-A man charged with murdering a freelance journalist outside a hotel in Sydney's inner west 13 years ago has been formally refused bail by a magistrate.

Following an extensive investigation by NSW Police's Unsolved Homicide Team over the last 12 months, detectives stopped a vehicle on Ross Street at Forest Lodge about 9.20am today, where they arrested a 52-year-old man.

The 32-year-old from Elizabeth Bay, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, died a short time later of severe head injuries.

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A strike force was formed in 2010 following a coronial inquest into her death.

Strike Force Tooral was established in 2010 by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Unsolved Homicide Team, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.

An inquest into Ms Smith's death was terminated in 1999 after a coroner found there was sufficient evidence for charges to be laid over her killing.

He used "corporal violence" and inflicted grievous bodily harm on her, the documents said.

Ms Smith had lived in Elizabeth Bay for five years and was a freelance journalist for various publications.

Castle's case was adjourned to Sydney's Central Local Court on June 28.