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.

Vigil Planned to Support Australian Bishop Fired by Vatican

(Australia Twitter)-Supporters of an outspoken Australian bishop dismissed by Pope Benedict for his views on the ordination of women and married men are to stage a vigil to protest against his treatment. A Vatican statement Monday said that Bishop William Morris had been "removed from pastoral care".

William Morris has been forced by the Pope to retire early because of a letter in 2006 to his parish in which he discussed whether falling numbers of Catholic priests could be offset by the ordination of women and ministers from other churches.

His stance was considered by the church’s hierarchy to be rebellious and after an investigation the Vatican has removed him as bishop of the Queensland diocese of Toowoomba, 130 kilometers west of the state capital, Brisbane.

Bishop Morris said he was not advocating the change but pointing to local, national and international debate on the issues.

Last night Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby paid tribute to Bishop Morris and his care of the Toowoomba Diocese.

Former Catholic priest Peter Kennedy was forced to quit the church in Brisbane because of the same issue two years ago.

He says the Vatican wields absolute power over its Bishops.

Bishop Brian has diligently served as one of my auxillary bishops since 2002 and is a former General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference,” Archbishop Bathersby said.

“I am only too happy to assist Bishop Morris and Bishop Finnigan in this time of change for the Diocese of Toowoomba and its priests and people.

For many, the news brought tears and anger and the after-mass social gatherings common each weekend took on a different feel.

Realising little could be done to reverse the decision of Rome to seek a new bishop for the diocese, parishioners looked for ways to at least express support for their bishop of 18 years.

Yesterday, the Anglican Bishop of the Western Region in Queensland, Rob Nolan, said the forced retirement was unjust.

Supporters of Bishop Morris scheduled a candlelit vigil Tuesday to show their disappointment with the Vatican's decision to dismiss him. Parishioners will then march through the streets of Toowoomba to the city’s cathedral, where Bishop Morris has served for 18 years.

The Catholic Church in Australia is administered by the Vatican in Rome. Australia is a majority Christian country. It is estimated there are more than 5 million Australian Catholics - about a quarter of the population.

Budget cash splashed on roads

It was a steady-as-you-go economic program, very much in line with the Premier's approach since taking office late last year.

Critics would say it lacked the flourishes and panache new governments apply to their first economic programs.

Water projects totalling almost $282 million, more than $58 million in state-funded road redevelopment, $33 million towards school reconstructions and kindergarten funding, and $8.3 million in Geelong Hospital project funding topped Treasurer Kim Wells' spending in the region.

The Budget release coincided with the Reserve Bank's announcement that the official interest rate would be kept on hold at 4.75 per cent, for the sixth successive month.

Although the bank's decision had been widely anticipated, many financial commentators believe rates will rise by August, if not earlier.

House prices are also falling and yesterday's RBA statement noted a slowing of jobs growth in the year ahead.

Just looking at it very briefly it seems Geelong scores very highly, it looks very positive for the city," he said. "The devil is always in the detail but on the surface it looks very promising."

The huge amount of spending on Geelong came as Mr Wells revealed a budget that slashed spending across Victoria but still featured $1.7 billion worth of state-wide infrastructure investment.

In delivering his first budget, Mr Wells warned Victoria faced a difficult economic period and predicted the state's net debt would again climb despite measures to curb spending.

And next week, the Federal Government's anticipated belt-tightening Budget will be handed down.

The indications are that it will be extremely tough, particularly on households.

Added to this is general fear of a wages breakout. It's already on the cards in Victoria with demands from police and teachers.

Budget highlights include:

A $1.2 BILLION package to address cost of living issues.

HALVING the cost of stamp duty for first home buyers, pensioners and farmers over the next four years, including a 20 per cent cut this financial year.

A $100 MILLION school maintenance fund.

ROADS funding of $601 million.

$500 MILLION over four years for a regional growth fund.

A $5 MILLION investment to establish a new independent anti-corruption commission.

$602 MILLION committed to fund the training of 1700 police recruits and 940 Victoria Police protective services officers.

Students due just minutes after storm

The tornado struck Glenfield College and scattered pine trees across a road just minutes before students would have been walking underneath them.

Glenfield College principal Ted Benton said no one was injured at the school but the outcome could have been much worse.

Forty-year-old pines were uprooted in seconds, smashing onto the cars of waiting parents below.

Ravi Naicker was waiting to pick up his two teenage daughters after school, unaware he was waiting in the path of a tornado.

A ridge of trees bordering the school was the worst hit, the wrought iron fences twisted and collapsed.

Although chaotic at times, administrators were calling the first day back a “success.”

Greene Central High School Principal Don Marr said the middle school portion of the day and the transition of students would be the most difficult part of the day.

“So far I think it is going really well,” Marr said. “I guess the proof in the pudding is going to be when we have one group coming into the school and one group leaving.

O'Hara is just one of several students on York College's campus with their guard up a little more than usual. He's reacting to news that two groups of students were robbed at gunpoint, just 15 minutes and a few blocks apart.

At 10 pm Saturday, two students were walking in the commuter lot on West Jackson Street. Three males, including one with a gun, ordered the students to the ground.

Then, the same thing happened to two other students walking in the 300 block of Springettsbury Avenue.

Students were made aware through bulletins, Residential Assistant's and Safety Officers. York College leaders say they do all they can to keep students protected, but something like this is a reminder they aren't immune to the real world just outside their campus.

Since the students will no longer have afternoon classes, many teachers are adding more homework to prepare the students.

Ginn told her class to expect homework on a nightly basis.

As high school students arrived at the school they were sent to the gym to wait for the middle school day to conclude. Administrators said the high school students would start their day in third period — their lunch period — and finish the day in second period.

The tornado went across the tennis courts of the school.

Ms White said no one at the school was injured. Students were kept in their classrooms for about half an hour and school buses were delayed.

Nearby, Albany Junior High School principal Mike Jackson said the tornado hit just as students were leaving school.

"It was a strange way to finish the day really."

He watched from his office window as the tornado, carrying roofing iron, "touched down" twice.

Tornado kills 1, leaves 14 injured

The destructive tornado which swept across Auckland's North Shore today killed one person, injured 14 others and left a trail of destruction from Albany to Glenfield.

While this is at the lower end of the scale compared to the type of tornadoes that have been ripping through the United States in recent weeks, it is still the largest tornado to hit New Zealand in several years.

"If the winds were strong enough to lift cars, they would probably be more than 200kmh and we just don't get events like this in New Zealand very often. Usually they are EF0 or 'mini-tornadoes.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown later told Campbell Live a man in his 30s had died, while other reports said he was found in the Albany Mega Centre carpark.

St John Ambulance northern region operations manager Murray Holt said a triage centre was set up at Albany shortly after the tornado swept through.

There's probably six or seven seriously damaged cars, and I saw cars flying off the ground about 30 metres in the air. They landed in car parks and some went through the old Placemaker's building."

The twister hit Albany, about 15km north of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, just before 3pm, ripping roofs off houses and commercial buildings in teh suburb's commercial centre, uprooting trees and turning cars and a campervan on their sides.

Tornadoes were very rare in New Zealand because the land mass in much colder than tornado-prone areas like the southern US, Hickey said.

During May 1991, a tornado hit Albany causing roofing iron to be lifted from homes and the destruction of a small church on the south-western side of the village.

New Zealand's worst tornado hit Hamilton in 1948, killing three people, injuring 80 others and destroying more the 200 homes and businesses.

Albany tornado around 200km/h

Metservice has confirmed there is a slim risk of more tornadoes this evening as a storm system passes over the upper North Island.

However, it says any more tornadoes will be smaller than the one that devastated buildings and killed one person in Albany this afternoon.

North Shore Hospital spokesman Paul Patton said 20 injured were due to arrive at the hospital with another two being sent to Auckland Hospital.

Manley said at least 14 were injured in today's tornado which had winds averaging 200km/h, forecasters says.

A North Shore police spokesman said emergency services were busy fielding calls from the public with reports of damage to homes and cars.

Witnesses reported cars with people inside being tossed across carparks when the tornado ripped through the suburb of Albany like a freight train about 3pm.

It was earlier reported that two had died, but it was later said there had been confusion in the immediate chaos.

An Auckland Council spokeswoman said it has activated its emergency co-ordination centre, based in the city's cbd.

The spokeswoman said Civil Defence staff were heading to the North Shore to evaluate the scene.

A spokesman for Auckland Mayor Len Brown said he was with councillors attending meetings this afternoon.

''He knows of the tornado and is aware of the reports of multiple injuries and is being kept briefed on the situation.

Most tornadoes take place in Autumn and Spring, and we thought there was the possibility of flash flooding with the weather today, but this has gone one step ahead with the rotation of the air.

"They are very hard to predict and the weather in today's situations can go from heavy downpour to light showers in a matter of minutes. But today did have perfect conditions for a tornado with the storms and all this unstable air swirling about.