Sydney bikie associate charged over arms

A Hells Angels associate has been charged with weapons offences after a raid in southwestern Sydney. Source: AAP

A HELLS Angels associate has been charged after police seized a stun gun, ammunition and steroids from a house at southwestern Sydney.

The items were seized by police from Strike Force Raptor as they undertook a raid at a house in Ambarvale.

Police arrested a 20-year-old man at the house and he was charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol, possessing an androgenic steroidal agent, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing ammunition.

He was refused bail and will appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.

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Second round of severe storms coming

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Two-time shark victim feels he was spared

An abalone diver who survived two separate shark attacks nine years apart feels God saved his life. Source: AAP

THE abalone diver who incredibly survived a second shark attack has revealed he did not see the great white that tried to bite his head off - but instead recognised the sound of teeth on bone.

Greg Pickering, 55, was diving for abalone off a remote part of Western Australia's southern coast last month when he was attacked by a suspected great white shark.

It was the second time Mr Pickering had lived through a shark attack, after being bitten by a 1.5 metre bronze whaler while in waters near Cervantes, north of Perth, in 2004 as he was trying to help a friend.

Speaking about his ordeal for the first time, Mr Pickering told the Seven Network's Sunday Night program about the circumstances of the attack, which left him needing 10 hours of surgery on facial and other wounds.

"I heard the sound, the thrashing sound, of teeth on bone - and I remembered the sound from the last time I was bitten," Mr Pickering said.

"I thought 'that is probably a shark', but I didn't see it - I heard the attack."

The show claims Mr Pickering is now the only man in the world to be attacked by sharks in separate incidents and live to tell the tale.

And the interview will also detail how Mr Pickering used his 40-year diving experience to hold his breath and rise to the surface slowly after the attack, despite the water turning red around him from the blood pouring from his horrific injuries.

A roll of duct tape and a towel was then used to hold Mr Pickering's shredded face together, as his eight-hour journey to hospital began.

Mr Pickering told reporter Mark Ferguson how he felt he had been spared his life.

"It (the shark) suddenly stopped and let me go - so I have definitely been given another chance," Mr Pickering said.

"I do believe I have been given a second chance. God has given me a second chance there is no doubt about that."

Soon after the attack, Mr Pickering's family expressed their thanks to paramedics, surgeons, doctors and nurses who helped save his life, while Fisheries Department director-general Stuart Smith slapped a kill order on the shark.

But the order was then called off because the shark was not sighted again and was no longer considered a threat to school-holiday campers in the area.

Mr Pickering returned to the area where he was attacked, Poison Creek at Cape Arid National Park, about 180km east of Esperance, to tell his story.

*The interview with Mr Pickering will air on the Seven Network's Sunday Night at 6.30pm AEDT on Sunday November 17

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Anyone could be a danger to kids: Qld cops

PEDOPHILES no longer fit the common image of an old man living alone, meaning anyone could be a danger to children, Queensland police and child advocates warn.

Federal police swooped on 65 Australian men, charging them with involvement in the Canadian website that allowed customers to trade and purchase sex images and videos of young males from the Ukraine, Romania and Germany.

Queensland police arrested 32 of those men, including four teachers, a student, a bank manager, a nurse, an accountant and a number of tradesmen.

Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Harsley says that offenders ranged in age between 22 and 76, with most towards the younger end of the range.

"The idea of an old man living alone is gone, they are young offenders," he told reporters on Friday.

"Those that were downloading these images are just as guilty as those who were procuring these boys.

"People in (positions of) trust, we put a higher value on their morals.

"It's very important to risk manage the contact your children have with members of the public or anybody, it's very important to communicate with your child every night."

Child protection advocacy group Bravehearts said stranger danger was coming back via the internet and mobile phones.

"It makes it very difficult, it makes people scared of every new person in their life really," the organisation's founder and executive director Hetty Johnston told AAP.

No Queensland children were exploited by the international ring, but Det Sgt Harsley said it could have easily gone that way.

"Where there's a market, there's a will for children, so I'm confident that if the opportunity existed for these people to exploit children in Queensland, they would," he said.

"I think the market is flourishing, I think we have got to be vigilant all the time."

But law enforcement officials and parents can only do so much.

Most of the men charged have already appeared in court and are due back in the dock over the next two months.

One, a bank manager from northern Brisbane, has already faced court and was fined $1000 with no conviction recorded.

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Australians in global child sex sting

33 Queenslanders have been arrested in a global sting that uncovered a massive child porn ring. Source: AAP

A WEST Australian teacher charged with sexually abusing and filming five of his students is among 65 Australians arrested as part of a worldwide operation to dismantle an international child exploitation network.

Australians from six states and territories - including teachers, priests, a nurse, a policeman, a carer and an accountant - were among the 348 people arrested as part of the Canadian-led investigation.

The five pupils from WA's Goldfields region, and one from the ACT, were now safe from further abuse, the Australian Federal Police said.

"They were all being filmed or had photos taken of them in horrible circumstances," AFP national co-ordinator of child protection operations Todd Hunter said on Friday.

They are among 386 exploited children around the world rescued as a result of Operation Spade.

The WA children were all primary school-age pupils of the 30-year-old teacher who was arrested after his details surfaced on a Canadian website, www.azovfilms.com, run by Toronto man Brian Way.

The teacher was sacked in June and faces more than 100 charges of indecently dealing with and indecently recording a child under 13.

WA police are still investigating whether the films he made were distributed to other online pedophiles via the azovfilms website.

Officers are concerned that, as they delve deeper into their investigation and make more arrests, more children will be identified, Superintendent Hunter said.

Five other West Australians, including another teacher, were charged with possessing child abuse material and have already appeared in court.

Federal authorities say they anticipate more charges being laid as investigations continue.

In Queensland, 33 people were charged with 209 offences. Among the nine men charged in NSW were a 42-year-old school teacher from Cowra and another 42-year-old teacher from Emu Plains.

A 72-year-old retired Catholic priest, and a 57-year-old priest are also facing NSW court dates.

State police also confirmed five arrests in Victoria and 12 in South Australia.

Many of them have already appeared in court.

Glen McEwen, the AFP's manager of cyber crime operations, said police executing more than 100 search warrants across the country were shocked by the "abhorrent and disgusting" quantity of child exploitation material uncovered.

"It gives just a snapshot of the sort of enormity of what we're dealing with, and the appetite of people," he said.

The Toronto operation was launched three years ago to investigate Way's film website, which claimed to depict "nudist life in Russia and Ukraine" according to its Twitter feed - but Canadian police allege it in fact sold child exploitation movies and images across the world.

Way is said to have paid people to film children around the world for the purpose of creating movies for sale on his website, with over 45 terabytes of data seized. He was reported to have made $4 million out of his website.

Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, the Commander of the Toronto police sex crimes unit, said the international operation was unprecedented.

"When we work together, regardless of the borders that divide us, we can successfully track down those who not only prey on our most vulnerable but also those who profit from it," Ms Beaven-Desjardins said.

Police in Spain, Mexico, South Africa, Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Greece and Gibraltar were all involved.

"The company operated a website - www.azovfilms.com - where customers from around the world placed orders to have movies sent to them through the mail or internet," Ms Beaven-Desjardins said.

Superintendent McEwen said the operation showed professions were also irrelevant - anyone could be involved.

"Professions do not dictate the behaviours or the interests these people have," he said.

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Devil-heavy zoo adds echidnas to menagerie

A FAMILY-OWNED zoo south of Perth is expanding its sizeable menagerie with two young echidnas whose enclosure was provided thanks to the kindness of strangers.

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Govt refuses call for RBA papers

THE Abbott government has refused to produce documentation about its decision to give $8.8 billion to the RBA's Reserve Fund, saying it would breach cabinet confidentiality.

Labor's Doug Cameron earlier this week called for the production of all documents and communication relating to the one-off grant, which Treasurer Joe Hockey said was needed to buffer the central bank against economic volatility.

But in a letter tabled in the Senate on Thursday, Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos knocked back the request, in recognition of the public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of the deliberative process of Cabinet.

"The 'decision' referred to in the Order was a decision of the Cabinet, and the various categories of documents listed relate directly to that Cabinet decision," Mr Sinodinos said in the letter.

Labor has accused Mr Hockey of playing politics with the RBA, after the treasurer accused the former government of refusing an RBA request for more funding.

Speaking in parliament, shadow treasurer Chris Bowen asked what Mr Hockey had to hide.

"You say the Reserve Bank asked for $8.8 billion this year. Well, show us the request," Mr Bowen said.

"The Reserve Bank transfer of $8.8 billion, of course, increases this year's deficit by that amount.

"Not only has the Treasurer declined to outlined the reasons for that, he has outright refused to release the documentation in breach of an order of one of the houses of the Australian parliament."

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Vic parly shut down in day of drama

• by: By Melissa Iaria
• From: AAP, AAP
• November 14, 2013 7:25PM

THE Victorian government and opposition are pointing the finger at each other after parliament was shut down in uproar, sitting for just nine minutes.

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Six soldiers booted for demeaning women

DEFENCE has booted out six soldiers for their part in the so-called "Jedi Council", an informal ring that shared offensive material including vision of secretly filmed sex acts.

Another seven may be sacked.

Army chief Lieutenant General David Morrison said their services had been terminated for production or distribution of highly inappropriate material demeaning women - and the message was clear.

"If you engage in misconduct, or you fail to uphold the army's standards, then you will be held to account," he said in a statement.

The "Jedi Council" scandal emerged in June when it was revealed a group of about 100 people, mostly soldiers, had been exchanging offensive material on the Defence computer system and the internet.

The group was allegedly co-founded by a former commando reservist officer who emailed video of himself having sex with a woman to associates on the network.

Up to 60 Defence personnel viewed the imagery, commenting on her appearance and performance.

Police identified several female victims of the "Jedi Council", variously referred to as "married moll number five" or "virgin moll". The group made references to gang-bangs and demands for more images.

Group members also allegedly exchanged images of women accompanied by offensive commentary, digitally altered images and images of naked women.

Of the six now discharged - ranging in rank from sergeant to major and from regular army and reserve units - NSW police are still investigating three who might face civil charges.

Another 11 have been implicated and Defence is considering whether to sack seven. The other four have faced, or will face, internal action.

General Morrison said Defence had concluded investigations into another 172 mostly army members identified as peripheral to the group's email exchanges. They too may face internal action.

"The Australian Army is overwhelmingly an organisation of 44,000 talented and professional men and women, who serve their country with pride and distinction," he said on Thursday.

"The standard of behaviour we expect of our serving members is clear."

He revealed on Thursday that 122 army members had been sacked this year.

That includes 15 officers and 35 soldiers for misconduct or unacceptable behaviour, one officer and 52 soldiers in relation to drugs and 19 soldiers for civilian offences.

"Where any serious case of misconduct or unacceptable behaviour is proven, the Chief of Army is resolved to take every step available to remove the individual responsible from the army," Defence said in a statement.

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16,000 Australians a week fly to Bali

AUSTRALIANS are still flocking to the Indonesian island of Bali at the rate of more than 16,000 a week - making up more than quarter of the visitors to the holiday idyll every year.

New figures from Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency reveal that of the near 2.5 million arrivals in Bali from January to September this year, more than 600,000 came from Australia.

That is despite increasing warnings of potential illness amongst travellers, with at least seven Australians recently catching measles while holidaying on the island, and a dramatic increase in other infectious diseases caught while there in recent years.

Local tourism bosses in Bali are upbeat that the number of Australian visitors will continue to grow as infrastructure improves and the number of direct flights increases.

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Combet joins SA manufacturing group

FORMER federal Labor minister Greg Combet has been appointed to South Australia's Advanced Manufacturing Council.

Mr Combet was industry and innovation minister from December 2011 to July 2013 and retired from politics at the September federal election.

He previously held a number of trade union positions, including secretary of the ACTU from 1999-2007.

South Australian Manufacturing and Trade Minister Tom Kenyon said Mr Combet would bring a wealth of experience to the manufacturing council.

"Mr Combet has extensive experience in developing and implementing industry and innovation policy at a national level which positions him to make a significant contribution to the council's work and to SA more broadly," Mr Kenyon said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Combet takes up his position immediately and will serve until June 30, 2015.

The Advanced Manufacturing Council steers development and implementation of policies and programs to support the growth and international competitiveness of South Australia's manufacturing sector.

It meets every two months.

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Govt urged to scrap Sydney plane cap

MORE planes should be allowed to fly in and out of Sydney Airport until a second airport is built at Badgerys Creek, a tourism industry body says.

The Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) believes the current cap of 80 plane movements per hour at Kingsford Smith Airport should be lifted to boost visitor traffic in and out of Sydney.

TTF chief executive Ken Morrison said the cap - brought in two decades ago - was outdated.

"The number of people flying to and from Sydney is forecast to double over the next 20 years," he said in a statement.

"The current restrictions make it harder than it needs to be for Sydney Airport to manage that demand."

But should the federal government heed the TTF's call, Labor says it won't support an increase to the cap on aircraft movements at the Sydney Airport.

Shadow minister for infrastructure and transport Anthony Albanese says the solution to Sydney's aviation capacity constraints is a second Sydney Airport.

Mr Morrison backed the construction of another airport at Badgerys Creek, in western Sydney, but said it would be years until any second airport opened.

In the meantime, freeing up capacity at Sydney Airport would help NSW double its visitor intake by 2020.

"We are urging the federal government to ensure the need to modernise Sydney Airport's operating conditions is part of any consideration of Sydney's future aviation needs," Mr Morrison said.

The call comes after Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce last month confirmed there was no reason why Qantas and Jetstar couldn't operate out of Badgerys Creek - putting to bed the idea that major airlines wouldn't use the facility.

Locals oppose the Badgerys Creek plan, first proposed 30 years ago, saying it would mean round-the-clock noise.

The federal government has previously called the Badgerys Creek site a "prime contender" for a second airport, but says it will also look at the capacity of Richmond and the existing airport at Mascot.

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Sydney's second casino one step closer

SYDNEY'S second casino is one step closer to opening its doors after the NSW government entered into a binding agreement for James Packer's $1.5 billion development.

The third stage of the approval process for Mr Packer's Crown Group project was signed off on Monday.

The restricted gaming development will include a luxury six-star hotel and VIP-only casino at Barangaroo.

Premier Barry O'Farrell said legislation would be introduced into parliament this week to enable the casino's approval.

"What we have agreed is to introduce legislation for a restricted gaming facility to be allowed to operate at Barangaroo south from November 2019," he said.

Mr Packer, Crown Resorts chairman, said in a statement he was going to do everything he could to make Crown Sydney the best hotel in the world.

"I am humbled that we have reached formal agreement with the New South Wales government," he said.

"We believe that Crown Sydney will help attract Asian high net worth travellers to Sydney, in particular from China, creating economic growth, extra taxes and over 1200 jobs for the people of New South Wales."

A independent assessment committee assessed earlier this year Crown's bid as well as plans Echo Entertainment, owner of Sydney's existing casino The Star, put forward.

The committee - chaired by former banking chief David Murray - found Crown's contribution to gross state product and tax was 26 per cent and 31 per cent larger than Echo's respectively.

Mr O'Farrell said on Monday minimum bet standards would apply to Crown's casino.

For baccarat, the minimum bet would be $30 but that equated to an hourly betting minimum of more than $2000, Mr O'Farrell said.

"This is as we said when approving stage two about the Asian-based high-range gaming market," he said.

"It's about high worth individuals. It's about that tourism which Australia catches a very small part of and NSW is determined to be a bigger part."

The government says at least $1 billion will be gained in the first 15 years from licence fees and gaming taxes.

Mr O'Farrell said statutory approvals were still needed from liquor and gaming authority and planning consent for construction, which would include public consultation.

But NSW Greens MP John Kaye said the approval process to date had been anything but independent and accountable.

"It is not surprising NSW is a step closer to another casino with all of the corruption risks, all of the gaming risks and all of the economic risks it brings with it," he told AAP.

Sydney Business Chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe welcomed the announcement.

She said if the state was not attracting the high rollers there were plenty of other locations for them to go.

"It's restricting the casino to the so-called high rollers, so it's restricting the gambling to a very narrow group," she told AAP.

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Ex-Sydney priest among Philippines dead

An Australian man, believed to be a former priest, has been killed by a typhoon in the Philippines. Source: AAP

A FORMER Sydney priest who secretly married a woman he met in the Philippines is among the hundreds killed in the typhoon that has devastated the archipelago nation.

Kevin Lee, a whistleblower on child sex abuse in the Catholic church, was defrocked last year after he went public about his 2011 marriage and admitted to having had girlfriends during his 20 years as a priest.

Mr Lee founded the Padre Pio parish in Glenmore Park, in western Sydney, but moved to the Philippines after leaving the ministry.

It's been reported he went swimming as part of a religious ritual, as Super Typhoon Haiyan lashed the Philippines with winds of around 315km/h.

On Sunday the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, paid tribute to the late father and husband.

"I extend my deepest sympathy to his widow Josefina and her children during this time of personal tragedy for them and devastation for the people of the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan," he said.

He also expressed his condolences to Mr Lee's parents and family in Australia and paid tribute to the work Mr Lee did for his parish.

"Last year, Kevin left his ministry as a Catholic priest in very public circumstances and was recently 'laicised' at his request," Bishop Fisher said.

"He had made a new life with Josefina and they recently celebrated the birth of a daughter.

"Difficult as was the mode of his departure, we honour the work Kevin did as the founding parish priest of Padre Pio Parish, Glenmore Park, and his ministry as a chaplain with NSW Police."

Ray King, who as a former Fairfield police commander was once a colleague of Mr Lee's and, more recently, beat him to a Liberal party pre-selection for a tilt at federal MP Chris Bowen's seat of McMahon, has described his death as a shock.

But he said it was "fairly reckless" for Mr Lee to go swimming during the storm, ABC Radio reports.

"Kevin had a choice when he went into the surf," he told the broadcaster.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the death of a 50-year-old NSW man in the typhoon but declined to name him.

"Consular officials are providing assistance to his family," a DFAT spokesperson said.

Officials fear the death toll in the Philippines could reach 10,000 people after Haiyan tore into the eastern islands of Leyte and Samar on Friday.

The Abbott government has pledged nearly $400,000 worth of emergency aid to devastated communities and says it stands ready to do more.

DFAT says Australians concerned for the welfare of family and friends in the region should first attempt to contact them directly.

If unsuccessful, they should call DFAT's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 or +612 6261 3305.

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Four die in SA in weekend crashes

A SWISS national and a pedestrian are among four people killed in crashes on South Australia's roads this weekend.

A Victorian woman has been charged over one of the crashes which killed a Swiss woman and injured two others on Saturday.

A sedan and four-wheel drive crashed head-on at Langhorne Creek, south of Adelaide just after 4pm (CDT).

The sedan driver, a 56-year-old woman from Switzerland, died at the scene.

Another passenger and the driver of the other vehicle were airlifted to the Flinders Medical Centre with serious injuries.

Both are in a stable condition.

Police arrested and charged a 61-year-old woman from Victoria with aggravated careless driving.

Meanwhile, a young man died when a car veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit a taxi and then a tree at Clearview, north of Adelaide, just before 6am (CDT) on Sunday.

Police said a passenger of the car, believed to be a 23-year-old male, was killed while six others from both cars were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Another young man was killed in a separate hit-and-run collision south of Adelaide.

Police say the 21-year-old was struck by a car as he walked along Hermitage Drive, Angle Vale, early Sunday morning.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old man from Angle Vale after he presented himself to police following reports of a fatal hit-and-run.

He is being interviewed.

In a separate collision, one person was killed and five others hospitalised after a head-on crash between two cars at Northfield, in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

The cause of the crash is yet to be determined.

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No Iran nuclear deal in Geneva

IRAN and world powers have failed to clinch a long-sought deal on Tehran's nuclear program despite marathon talks in Geneva but kept hopes alive by agreeing to meet here again on November 20.

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