Dangerous NSW surf prompts beach warning

ROUGH surf along the Sydney coast has left one man dead and another missing.

Lifesavers patrolling Warriewood, on the northern beaches, pulled an unconscious man from the surf on Saturday morning.

Ambulances NSW said CPR was performed but he died at the scene.

It is believed the 23-year-old was swept from rocks.

At 1.15pm (AEDT) another 23-year-old man was swept into the water at nearby North Curl Curl beach, police said.

A search involving jet skis and helicopters was still under way on Saturday evening.

NSW Lifesaving manager Dean Storey said with dangerous surf conditions and sunny weather set to continue people should not let the temptation of a swim trump their better judgment.

"We're imploring people to use common sense and respect the conditions," he said in a statement.

"We'd advise people to stay out of the water and away from rock platforms and headlands until these conditions moderate."

The state's ambulance service issued a warning of its own, urging beachgoers not to swim alone and not to drink alcohol before entering the waves.

Ambulances NSW reminded parents to supervise children near water after a one-year-old boy was taken to Nepean Hospital in a critical condition.

He had fallen into a pool at Mulgoa in Sydney's west.

Paramedics on Saturday took a man to St Vincent's Hospital after he was rescued by surf lifesavers at North Bondi. A 40-year-old man was pulled from the water at Bondi Beach and taken to hospital in a stable condition.

At Cronulla a 40-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman were treated after they got into difficulties in the water.

At Mona Vale paramedics treated a 13-year-old boy and took him to hospital with a head injury after he was swept off rocks.

Meanwhile a fisherman at Merry Beach, on the NSW south coast, had to be rescued from the water after trying to reel in a catch.

Police have been told the 42-year-old man was fishing with a friend at 12pm (AEDT) on Saturday when he hooked a large fish.

He walked to the edge of the rocks to reel it in but toppled into the water. The man had to be winched to safety by helicopter.

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Pope sets date to visit predecessor

Pope Francis has set a date to visit Benedict XVI at the papal summer residence, Castel Gandolfo. Source: AAP

POPE Francis will visit his predecessor Benedict XVI on March 23.

The Vatican said on Saturday that former Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would travel by helicopter to the papal summer residence, Castel Gandolfo.

Benedict has been staying at the residence since his resignation last month.

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Sri Lanka bars Briton with Buddha tattoo

SRI Lanka has denied entry to a British tourist sporting a Buddha tattoo on his arm because he showed disrespect to Buddhism.

The unnamed Briton was turned back at Bandaranaike Airport, the daily Lankadeepa Sinhalese reported on Saturday.

"When questioned about the tattoo, he spoke very disrespectfully about Buddhism," an immigration official told the newspaper.

"If he expressed such views after entering the country, it would have been a threat to his own safety."

An airport official confirmed the report, but declined to give details.

Last August, three French tourists were sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for five years, for kissing a Buddha statue in what the authorities considered was a sign of disrespect.

In 2010, Sri Lanka prevented US rap star Akon from visiting because one of his music videos featured scantily clad women dancing in front of a Buddha statue.

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Pakistan man arrested for Kashmir attack

A PAKISTANI and a local man have been arrested in connection with a Kashmir attack in which men pretending to be cricketers killed five paramilitary personnel.

The militant, identified as Abu Talha, is a resident of Pakistan's Multan district in Punjab. He was arrested on Thursday night in the old quarter of the state capital, Srinagar, police said on Friday.

A Kashmiri, Bashir Ahmed, was also arrested on Thursday in the border town of Uri on charges of aiding the perpetrators of Wednesday's attack in Srinagar.

Two militants were shot dead in the attack, the first in the area for three years.

On Thursday, federal Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told Parliament the two dead militants appeared to be of Pakistani origin and diaries recovered from them contained Pakistani phone numbers.

Pakistan has denied any link to the attack. Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist separatist group based in Pakistan, had claimed responsibility.

More than 45,000 people have been killed in Kashmir, a region claimed by both India and Pakistan, since the late 1980s.

New Delhi has accused Islamabad of aiding militants, a charge Pakistan has denied.

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Japan set to accept child abduction treaty

JAPAN is moving closer to accepting a long-delayed treaty on child abductions.

The cabinet on Friday gave approval to the 1980 Hague Convention, which requires children be returned to their usual country of residence if they are brought to the country during the collapse of an international marriage.

Japan is the only member of the Group of Eight major industrialised nations that has not joined the convention.

Hundreds of non-Japanese parents, mostly men, have been left without recourse after their estranged partners took their children back to Japan.

Unlike Western nations, Japan does not recognise joint custody and divorce courts usually award custody to mothers.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said following cabinet approval, the government would swiftly submit the necessary legislation to parliament.

"It is important for our country to join the Hague Convention that sets international rules on dealing with illegal kidnapping of children, now that the numbers of international marriages and international divorces have increased," he said.

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Abbott vows to 'engage' with Aborigines

TONY Abbott says a coalition government would have a "new engagement" with indigenous affairs, including constitutional recognition of Aboriginal people as the first Australians.

Speaking in Sydney, Mr Abbott said indigenous affairs will be a priority and focus for a coalition government if it's elected to govern at September's federal election.

"I want a new engagement with Aboriginal people to be one of the hallmarks of an incoming coalition government - and this will start from day one," he told a Sydney Institute function.

Mr Abbott said in the first 12 months of taking office the coalition would seek bipartisan support to amend the constitution to acknowledge indigenous Australians.

"An acknowledgment of Aboriginal people as the first Australians would complete our constitution rather than change it," he told the audience, which included NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell and indigenous leader Warren Mundine.

Mr Abbott said a constitutional amendment meant people would know that Aboriginal people "will never be regarded as just a historical footnote to modern Australia".

"Done well, such an amendment could be a unifying and liberating moment," he said.

He also said a coalition government would handle indigenous affairs within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

"This means that along with Nigel Scullion as minister, there will be, in effect, a prime minister for Aboriginal affairs," Mr Abbott said.

He committed to address "deep disadvantage" in indigenous Australia by visiting remote Aboriginal communities each year, as well as by getting doctors and teachers to take longer postings in communities.

A coalition government would also expand an indigenous job program to fund job-training trials developed by Andrew Forrest and Warren Mundine, he said.

Mr Abbott promised there were "better days to come" for indigenous affairs.

"Should the coalition win the election, Aboriginal people will be at the heart of a new government, in word and in deed," Mr Abbott said.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Abbott adopted the words of former Labor prime minister Paul Keating, saying the state of indigenous Australians constitutes a "stain on our soul".

"We certainly have to do it better in the future than we have done it in the past," he told ABC radio.

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N Korea takes sexist swipe at president

North Korea has taken its first official swipe at South Korea's new president Park Geun-Hye. Source: AAP

NORTH Korea has taken its first official swipe at South Korea's new president, using a sexist phrase to paint Park Geun-Hye as overbearing and manipulative.

A statement released on Wednesday by a spokesman of the North's armed forces ministry said South Korean officials were engaging in a round of "warmongering" orchestrated by the "poisonous swish" of the president's skirt.

The spokesman did not use Park's name or title, referring to her only as the current "owner" of the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

"Swish of the skirt" (or "chima baram") is a common derogatory Korean term used to criticise women seen as overly bossy or domineering.

North Korea's propaganda machine had slammed Park repeatedly during the presidential campaign, warning that she would adopt the dictatorial methods of her father, the late military strongman Park Chung-Hee.

But Wednesday's official comment was the first since she was sworn in a little more than two weeks ago as the first female president of what remains a largely male-dominated country.

It also slammed recent comments by Park - that the North's obsession with nuclear weapons would bring about its own collapse - as "utter ignorance".

Handling North Korea is a major challenge for any South Korean president and, in many cases, has been the issue by which their entire presidency is defined.

Park had campaigned on a promise of greater engagement with the North, but just two weeks into her term is facing threats from Pyongyang to unleash a second Korean War backed by nuclear weapons.

Addressing a lunch function on Wednesday, Park made no mention of the sexist slight and stressed her total commitment to ensuring national security.

"I will certainly safeguard the security of the Republic of Korea and its people no matter what sacrifices it takes," Park said, using the South's official name.

"North Korea's nuclear programs are unacceptable and we will respond thoroughly to provocations," she said, while adding that she was not ready to give up her campaign pledge to build more trust between North and South.

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Cardinals start second day of voting

No new pope has been elected following a first vote by cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. Source: AAP

CARDINALS have entered a second day of conclave to elect a pope.

The 115 cardinals held a first inconclusive vote in the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday as they began the process of finding a successor to Benedict XVI.

Black smoke billowed into the night air above the Vatican, indicating no one had gained the two-thirds majority needed to become the 266th pope.

White smoke - produced by mixing the smoke from burning ballots with special flares - will eventually indicate a new pope has been chosen.

No clear frontrunner has emerged, but the three favourites are Italy's Angelo Scola, Brazil's Odilo Scherer and Canada's Marc Ouellet, all conservatives like Benedict.

"So far there is no majority, but some candidates with little support will fall out soon," an anonymous cardinal who is too old to vote told the Italian daily La Stampa.

Some analysts suggest that Benedict's dramatic act - the first papal resignation in over 700 years - could push the cardinals to take an equally unusual decision and that an outsider could emerge as a compromise candidate.

However, two-thirds of the cardinals are from Europe and North America, and the view among many experts is only someone with experience of the inner workings can reform the scandal-tainted Vatican bureaucracy, the Roman Curia.

In interviews given before the conclave, cardinals pointed to new job requirements arising from the problems facing a church that is struggling in many parts of the world with scandals, indifference and conflict.

"Managerial skills will surely be useful," Vienna Archbishop Christoph Schoenborn told La Stampa newspaper.

And in an indication of a fault line among voting cardinals between Vatican insiders and those running far-flung dioceses, Nigerian John Onaiyekan spoke of "new and innovative methods to boost collegiality".

"In this regard there is a lot of room for development," said Onaiyekan, the archbishop of the Nigerian capital Abuja.

All were appointed by Benedict or his predecessor and ideological soul mate John Paul II.

What many cardinals want is a leader who can re-ignite Catholic faith - particularly among young people - in the way the charismatic John Paul II did.

There have been calls too from within the church for a rethink of some basic tenets such as priestly celibacy, the uniform ban on artificial contraception and allowing women to be priests as in other Christian denominations.

The scandal of sexual abuse of children by priests going back decades - and the cover-up of their actions by senior prelates - also cast a long shadow on the Church that the next pope will inherit.

And in a reminder of the relentless pace of the scandal, new details emerged implicating one of the cardinals, Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahoney, of protecting predator priests.

Lawyers said on Tuesday the archdiocese had agreed to pay nearly $US10 million ($A9.75 million) to four men who alleged they were molested by a priest in the 1970s.

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Strong economy vital for NDIS: Abbott

Australia can only afford the NDIS with the coalition in power, Tony Abbott has told parliament. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION leader Tony Abbott says a strong economy is vital to delivering the National Disability Insurance Scheme and only the coalition can deliver both.

Joining the NDIS debate in parliament on Wednesday, Mr Abbott said a strong economy was the only guarantee the scheme would succeed.

"A rich country can afford a National Disability Insurance Scheme, a poor country cannot," he said.

"The party that you can best trust to deliver a National Disability Insurance Scheme is the party that you can most trust to deliver strong economic growth.

"Such a party is in fact the coalition," he said.

The opposition leader used his speech to renew his offer to work with the Gillard government in a bi-partisan parliamentary committee to oversee the scheme from introduction to completion.

Labor has not moved to legislate for such a committee but Mr Abbott said he would if elected.

The opposition leader called the NDIS bill one of the most complex pieces of policy ever put before the Australian parliament but said it was still a work in progress.

"It is a building site ... Is it to be a scheme such as Medicare, is it to be in effect Medicare for people with disabilities?" he said.

"Or is it to resemble more closely the workers' compensation schemes."

Earlier on Wednesday, Disability Reform minister Jenny Macklin told parliament the bill should pass both houses by the end of next week.

Debate on the NDIS has been adjourned.

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1.7 million apply for 1500 Indian jobs

INDIA'S largest state-run bank has received 1.7 million applications for 1500 entry-level clerk jobs - and has promised to examine all of them.

State Bank of India chairman Pratip Chaudhuri attributed the huge interest to good marketing and attractive employment terms, with the number of applications underlining the appeal of "jobs for life" in the Indian public sector.

For positions in Mumbai, the bank offered a starting package of 69,000 rupees ($A1,245) a month.

Job opportunities in the Indian private sector have fallen in the past 18 months as economic growth has dropped to its lowest level in a decade.

The government forecasts that India's once-booming economy will grow by five per cent in the financial year to March 31.

Last year, it grew by 6.2 per cent but even that rate is insufficient to create the jobs India needs for its fast-growing young population.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a former economist, believes the country needs at least eight per cent growth to create enough jobs.

Chaudhuri said all 1.7 million applicants - more than 1,100 per position available - would be assessed.

"We have conducted such examinations in the past by hiring schools across the country. This time, we may have to do two shifts," he told the newspaper.

Nine out of ten Indians are employed in the "informal" sector in jobs that offer no security, few perks and often illegal working conditions, government data shows.

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Court battle over Irwin reserve in Qld

CAPE York traditional owners are continuing their fight to overturn a decision by the Queensland government to declare part of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve a nature refuge.

The Cape York Land Council wants a say in the management of the land.

The council alleges Environment Minister Andrew Powell failed to follow due process before making a decision in September to turn a 125,000 hectare area, near Weipa, into a protected reserve.

The council launched action in the Planning and Environment Court in Cairns last month and the case was mentioned in the same court on Monday.

The case is to be mentioned in Cairns on June 3.

The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve, a part of the Wenlock River basin, was purchased by the federal government as a tribute to Steve Irwin following his death in 2006.

Resources company Cape Alumina Limited resumed planning a bauxite mine on the reserve in October last year after the state's co-ordinator general gave it significant project status.

The plans were shelved after the former Queensland government in 2010 declared the Wenlock River to be a wild river, placing stringent environmental regulations on the entire basin.

The current state government has promised to repeal the Cape York Wild Rivers declarations.

A Cape York Regional Planning Committee has been established to identify zones of economic development and environmental protection.

Some indigenous groups have said the Wild Rivers protections hold them back from economic development.

But the Wilderness Society fears it will lead to widespread environmental damage and weaken protection for some of the state's most beautiful rivers.

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Fire sparks evacuation in southwest Vic

A LARGE grassfire burning around the Cashmore area in Victoria's southwest is under control and no longer threatening houses.

Some residents were evacuated as the 145-hectare fire threatened homes but the CFA said shortly after 8pm (AEDT) on Wednesday it was under control and some roads had been reopened.

An emergency warning has been downgraded to a watch and act alert and residents are being allowed back to their properties.

About 130 firefighters and seven water bombers battled the blaze in temperatures that nudged 37 degrees.

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Giant snail destroyed in Brisbane

A SNAIL the size of a cricket ball and posing a serious threat to Australia's biosecurity has been destroyed after it was found creeping across a Brisbane container yard.

Staff called the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) after finding the large snail crawling across the cement yard.

It was a Giant African Snail.

The exotic pest has an insatiable appetite and is capable of destroying 500 hundred types of plants including vegetable crops, fruit trees and Australia's native eucalypts.

Giant African Snails can live through harsh conditions, growing up to 20 centimetres in length and weighing up to a kilogram.

Acting DAFF regional manager Paul Nixon said on Monday officers found no evidence of other snails, eggs or snail trails when they inspected the container yard.

They will continue precautionary surveillance over the coming week.

"Giant African Snails are one of the world's largest and most damaging land snails," Mr Nixon said in a statement.

"Australia's strict biosecurity requirements and responsive system has so far kept these pests out of Australia and we want to keep it that way."

Meanwhile, a 42-year-old man was on Monday convicted and fined $7000 in the Brisbane Magistrate's Court for illegally importing 48 plant cuttings from France into Australia.

He had asked the seller to make a false declaration on the package when sending it to Australia, DAFF said.

It was found by a detector dog.

The department says plant cuttings pose a significant biosecurity risk and can carry disease as well as harbour exotic pests.

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Insulation deaths inquest underway in Qld

THE employer of a teenager electrocuted installing home insulation under an axed federal government scheme has told an inquest the 16-year-old didn't receive formal safety training because staying safe was "common sense".

The director of Rockhampton-based Arrow Property Maintenance has told the Queensland Coroner's Court the only safety training provided to his workers installing insulation was being told "to keep their eyes out and their ears open" for hazards.

Rueben Barnes, 16, had been working for Arrow for just three weeks when he was killed laying fibreglass insulation batts in the ceiling of a house at Stanwell, near Rockhampton, in November 2009.

He was one of three Queenslanders killed while installing insulation in 2009 and 2010 under the federal government's axed Home Insulation Program.

The first-year carpentry apprentice collapsed when he came into contact with a metal part of the ceiling that was "live" due to a pre-existing electrical fault in the house.

Arrow director Richard Jackson gave evidence on the first day of a coronial inquest into the three deaths on Monday.

Appearing via video link he admitted the only safety training he gave workers installing insulation was to look out for hazards such as bare wires.

Asked how Rueben could have known what to look out for, Mr Jackson said: "I've got no idea, I suppose it's just common sense .... do the right thing and look out I suppose."

He agreed he thought the work was so simple no training was needed and said you "haven't got to have a degree" to complete it.

Arrow Property Maintenance was removed from the federal government's Home Insurance Program (HIP) after Rueben's death and subsequently fined $135,000 for breaching safety standards.

The company is now in liquidation.

Mr Jackson told the court it was common practice in the industry to leave the power on at a house when installing insulation.

He said signing up to the Home Insulation Program had been surprisingly easy and he and Arrow co-director Chris Jackson were told by someone from the scheme after they signed on to "go make money while the sun shines".

Mr Jackson said he couldn't remember seeing any of several federal and state government safety guideline notices sent to home insulation installers prior to Rueben's death.

Earlier, Rockhampton workplace health and safety investigator Sara Francis told the court according to her probe Arrow had not provided Rueben or two other workers accompanying him with any safety gear apart from sunscreen.

Matthew James Fuller, 25 and Mitchell Scott Sweeney, 22, also died while working on the same insulation program in 2009 and 2010, when they shot metal staples into live electrical cables.

The inquest will run for the rest of the week, with a further three days set down in early May.

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Hong Kong stocks end flat

HONG Kong shares closed flat on Monday, with disappointing Chinese economic data offsetting better-than-forecast US jobs figures and another record close on the Dow on Wall Street.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index edged down 1.13 points to 23,090.82 on turnover of HK$59.03 billion ($A7.50 billion).

The US Labor Department said the economy generated a net 236,000 new jobs in February, far more than expected, pulling the unemployment rate down to a four-year low of 7.7 per cent from 7.9 per cent.

The report reinforced views the recovery is strengthening, while analysts said underlying figures and upcoming spending cuts meant the Federal Reserve was unlikely to take its foot off its monetary easing soon.

The Dow broke the 14,400 line for the first time, before finishing at 14,397.07, up 0.47 per cent and a new record for a fourth straight session.

The S&P 500 also rose 0.45 per cent to 1,551.18, approaching its own record high, while the Nasdaq added 0.38 per cent.

However, results from Beijing on Saturday showed inflation at a 10-month high of 3.2 per cent in February while growth in industrial output and retail sales slowed.

The figures raise concerns that the pick-up in the economy may be slowing while dealers are also worried the government will unveil tightening measures to temper prices.

"The world's largest economy continues to recover, while the world's second-largest economy looks like it has run into a bit of a soft patch," Matthew Sherwood, head of investment market research at Perpetual in Sydney, told Dow Jones Newswires.

China Mobile rose 0.48 per cent to HK$84.60, HSBC added 0.35 per cent to HK$85.25 and Bank of China HK climbed 1.89 per cent to HK$26.90.

Among the losers, Foxconn slipped 0.30 per cent to HK$3.29 and Sun Hung Kai Properties eased 0.26 per cent to HK$114.60.

Chinese shares ended down 0.35 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 8.02 points to 2,310.59 on turnover of 73.9 billion yuan ($11.9 billion).

"The market will start consolidating as it digests signals from higher inflation and tighter property measures," Soochow Securities analyst Deng Wenyuan told Dow Jones Newswires.

Beijing this month issued rules to rein in housing prices, including a nationwide capital gains tax of 20 per cent on profits from the sale of residential properties.

Banking stocks led the declines. China Minsheng Banking lost 3.22 per cent to 10.22 yuan while Industrial Bank fell 3.15 per cent to 19.09 yuan.

Railway stocks bucked the trend, rising on hopes for improved profitability after China on Sunday announced plans to split its railway ministry into administrative and commercial arms to curb corruption.

Guangshen Railway gained 1.87 per cent to 3.26 yuan and Daqin Railway rose 0.78 per cent to 7.77 yuan.

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900 dead pigs found in Shanghai river

CHINESE officials say they have fished out 900 dead pigs from a Shanghai river that is a water source for city residents.

Officials are investigating where the pigs came from. A statement posted on Saturday on the city's Agriculture Committee's website says they haven't found any evidence that the pigs were dumped into the river or of any animal epidemic.

The statement says the city and Songjiang district governments started retrieving the pigs on Friday night. By late Saturday afternoon they had recovered and disposed of more than 900.

The statement says the water and environmental protection bureaus are ramping up monitoring of the river's water quality.

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Identity of WA gunshot victim released

THE identity of a man found dead with gunshot wounds to his head in a Perth beachside park has been released.

The body of the man, David Liam Johnson, 32, was discovered at Lime Kiln Field in Swanbourne just before midnight (WST) on Friday.

A witness said they heard a gunshot shortly before the body was found.

Others reportedly heard tyres screeching afterwards.

Police, who are treating the man's death as murder, say the victim preferred to be known as Liam.

They said he was known to frequent Mandurah and Fremantle, and moved around a lot. No fixed address has been identified at this stage.

Police are seeking any information that could assist their investigation.

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Attacks sway WA voters to Lib win: premier

WA Premier Colin Barnett says his party's win at the polls proves the Labor party is "on the nose". Source: AAP

WEST Australian Labor's last-ditch attempt to sway voters with personal attacks on the Liberals not only backfired, it may well have ensured the previously minority government romped it in.

Premier Colin Barnett's re-election was so overwhelming it will be a major shot in the arm for his federal counterpart Tony Abbott - who recently said he would model himself on the Perth politician - for the September 14 election.

While presiding over a booming economy and the historical likelihood of winning a second term was in the Liberals' favour, Labor kicked an own goal as the campaign drew to a close by repeatedly saying scandal-prone Treasurer Troy Buswell was the heir apparent to Mr Barnett.

While the opposition denied it, all fingers pointed to the Labor party when rumours swirled about Mr Barnett's age and health, and its transport spokesman Ken Travers conceded he had said the 62-year-old looked tired.

Mr Barnett was quick to dismiss the talk as grubby tactics and utter rubbish, and on Sunday he said the personal attacks had helped swing some voters' minds.

"People around the state don't like personality politics," Mr Barnett said.

Mr Buswell, dogged by bad press about his frat-boy sense of humour outside of parliament and sometimes in it, said Labor had wasted its breath, given most voters had already made up their minds about him.

Indeed, he achieved a swing of more than eight per cent in his seat of Vasse.

His swing matched that of the party which went from winning 24 seats in 2008 and needing an alliance with the Nationals to form government to potentially winning as many as 34 seats - and up to 40 for the coalition- to Labor's 19.

Along the way, the Liberals picked up previously safe Labor seats like Perth, Joondalup, Forrestfield, Balcatta and Belmont.

Counting will resume on Monday after being suspended on Sunday with 75 per cent of votes counted by Saturday night and a handful of seats still in doubt.

With the Liberal Party winning enough seats to govern in its own right, the make-up of the alliance will be of immediate interest to many, especially Nationals leader Brendon Grylls who reclaimed the seat of Pilbara off Labor.

Mr Barnett hinted strongly there would be a more Liberal imprint on where the Royalties for Regions money would flow.

"The focus will be more on basic services, country roads, rail upgrades, power distribution - those fundamental services, I think there is a need," Mr Barnett said.

On Sunday, Mr Barnett indicated it was insulting many had suggested his party's landslide win was because Labor was on the nose across the country.

It had more to do with good governing on local issues, he said.

"If it is all about federal issues, why is Labor ahead of the Liberal Party in Victoria? It does not add up," Mr Barnett said.

The party had its candidates selected long before the election was called, and they had put in the hours seat by seat, whereas the same could not be said for Labor.

Speculation has now turned to his cabinet line-up later this week, with environment minister Bill Marmion a contender for the crucial mines portfolio being vacated by the retiring Norman Moore.

And economists said it was business as usual for resources companies so active in the mineral-rich state.

The companies would continue to enjoy the support of a pro-business state government and a premier prepared to fight the federal government's mining tax.

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