Choppers, 16 crews battle fire

Sinead Duncan took photographs of the fires from Buderim and closer to Kawana Way. "We're just trying to get out of Brightwater at the moment .... it's getting bad." Reader picture: Sinead Duncan Source: Supplied

FIRE crews are asking Sunshine Coast residents to avoid an out-of-control grass fire near Mountain Creek.

3.50pm: Sinead Duncan took photographs of the fires from Buderim and closer to Kawana Way.

"We're just trying to get out of Brightwater at the moment because we've been visiting friends," she said.

"The smoke is still thick and billowing, but thankfully the wind is keeping most of the smoke away from the houses."

The grass fire near Mountain Creek. Picture: QPS/Sara Matulich

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

Jackie Clark said aerial support was trying to control the situation.

"It's getting bad," she said.

Resident Nadine Brooks took these pictures from her vantage point at nearby Grand Pde, Parrearra. Reader picture: Nadine Brooks

"Police, fire and ambulance have set up on Kawana Way."
 

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

Resident Nadine Brooks took these pictures from her vantage point at nearby Grand Pde, Parrearra. Reader picture: Nadine Brooks

3.30pm:  Resident Nadine Brooks said there seemed to be two or three different blazes from her vantage point at nearby Grand Pde, Parrearra.

"It looks like they are moving north," she said.

"We are lucky the smoke is not coming (our) way."

3pm: TRAFFIC is heavy along the Sunshine Coast Motorway thanks to a large grass fire.

Motorists are reporting congestion from the Dixon Rd turnoff to Mountain Creek.

Kawana Way has been closed as 16 fire crews battle the blaze.

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

1pm: The fire at Kawana Way, near Brightwater Estate, was first reported at 11.20am.

Helicopters are currently water bombing the fire between Brightwater Estate and the Chancellor Park area, and 16 fire crews are battling the blaze.

No property is under threat, but a large smoke haze has settled over Mountain Creek and neighbouring suburbs.

Residents have been advised to close windows and doors, with reports of ash the size of fingernails falling on the area.

Motorists using Kawana Way have been urged to drive to conditions.

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

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Abbott, Shorten to attend Mandela service

PM Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will attend a memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will present a united Australian front to honour and farewell Nelson Mandela.

The pair will this week fly to Johannesburg to join world leaders past and present, mourning the former South African president who died at his home on Thursday (local time) aged 95.

A huge memorial service is planned for the nation's first black leader on Tuesday, with US President Barack Obama already confirming his attendance.

On Saturday Mr Shorten's office said the Labor leader had accepted an invitation from Mr Abbott to accompany the prime minister to South Africa. Both men will miss most of the final 2013 parliamentary sitting week.

It is unknown how long the men will be out of Australia.

"There is a long bipartisan history of Australian support for South Africa and the campaign to abolish apartheid," Mr Abbott said, announcing his intention to attend the service.

After facing criticism for not lowering flags at the news of Mr Mandela's death, Mr Abbott said Australian flags will be set at half mast on the day of the official memorial.

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Barnett won't be rushed on new WA laws

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has defended the state government's efficiency at passing legislation, saying parliamentarians shouldn't be rushed to vote on bills.

The state government has come under fire for not introducing by the end of this year a planned law that would send violent home invaders straight to jail.

It was the first election pledge by the Liberals in February before they convincingly won a second term.

And parliamentary debate over some of the bills that have been introduced has become bogged down, with a proposed law to increase regulation of the taxi industry descending into filibustering.

But Mr Barnett said he wasn't going to rush, reintroducing bills when necessary.

"Given there was a significant number of new members, I was not going to simply reinstate legislation at the stage it was before the election," he told reporters on Friday.

"That would have meant you would have had a significant number of members of parliament voting or conceding, if you like, on legislation that they hadn't had the chance to see.

"So I said we would actually go back and reintroduce legislation that had not finished its passage.

"I think that was a very proper thing to do."

Mr Barnett said he hoped bills on workplace reform, amalgamation of port operators, and the merger of utilities Verve and Synergy would be passed through the upper house next week.

Thursday was the last sitting day of the year for the Legislative Assembly but the Legislative Council has another week.

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DFAT confirms Dili embassy protest

FEDERAL authorities have confirmed a protest was held outside Australia's embassy in East Timor amid a spying row between the two countries.

About 100 protesters in East Timor's capital Dili reportedly threw rocks at the Australian embassy on Thursday, with police responding by using tear gas.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on Friday confirmed a protest had taken place outside the embassy.

"The Australian Embassy in Dili has advised that a small-scale protest was held outside the embassy on 5 December," DFAT told AAP in a statement.

More details on the protest are being sought from DFAT.

A spokeswoman for East Timor said the protest was small and non-violent. Further details are being sought.

The protesters, mostly students and young Timorese rights activists, carried banners reading "Australia is a thief" and "Australia has no morals", Agence France-Presse reported.

The protest comes after East Timor expressed outrage over reports that Australia secretly bugged ministerial deliberations in Dili in 2004 to gain leverage in negotiations on an oil and gas revenue-sharing deal.

On Tuesday, Australian intelligence agents raided the Canberra office of a lawyer representing East Timor in an arbitration case at The Hague over the deal.

East Timor says it won't be deterred from challenging the multi-billion dollar oil and gas treaty with Australia despite the raid.

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Brooks 'agreed to buy William snap'

FORMER News International executive Rebekah Brooks sanctioned a payment of STG4000 ($A7,300) to a public official for a picture of Prince William dressed as a Bond girl in a bikini at a Sandhurst party, a UK jury has heard.

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Indigenous shake up on council's agenda

THE man charged with leading Tony Abbott's indigenous affairs shake up hopes to help reverse the trend of prime ministers leaving office regretting they didn't do enough for Australia's first people.

Former ALP president Warren Mundine, who chairs the prime minister's newly formed indigenous advisory council, and the body's 11 other members met with Mr Abbott for the first time in Canberra on Thursday.

Improving indigenous children's school attendance and educational levels is their top priority, followed by boosting employment opportunities and reviewing land ownership and other drivers of economic development.

Mr Abbott told the council they had a mammoth task ahead.

There has been much goodwill in recent years and lots of money spent but not enough change at the grassroots, he said.

"Let it not be said in three years' time that this was just another talkfest," Mr Abbott said.

"Let people be able to say ... that practical change is happening."

Mr Mundine said efforts to close the gap on Aboriginal disadvantage, social stability and empowering communities were key issues.

"We're going to be looking at that through economic and commercial eyes," Mr Mundine told AAP.

Mr Mundine hopes the advisory council can help reverse an historic trend.

"Every prime minister in our lifetime has left office and they have always said that one of the saddest things is they didn't do enough in this area," he said.

Council members include Westpac Bank chief executive Gail Kelly and Rio Tinto Australia managing director David Peever.

The council will also be involved in mining magnate Andrew Forrest's review of indigenous employment and training programs as well as a separate review into Indigenous Land Corporation and Indigenous Business Australia.

The federal government is reviewing two embattled government-funded indigenous bodies to determine if they should be merged.

The Land Corporation has been under fire for going $200 million into debt to purchase Ayers Rock Resort for $317 million in 2010.

The resort has hit financial woes, reporting losses of more than $100 million.

Indigenous Business Australia was last year warned not to hold conferences that looked like "junkets" after senior staff travelled to Gold Coast theme parks.

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Analysts tip positive start for Nine share

Analysts expect shares in the Nine Entertainment Company to start trading on a positive note. Source: AAP

NINE Entertainment Co's shares are tipped to make a successful stock market debut but analysts say there are longer term doubts about the company's earnings.

The company, which owns the Nine Network, Ticketek and ninemsn, will list on the Australian Securities Exchange at noon AEDT on Friday with a list price of $2.05 per share.

That price is at the bottom of the range put forward in the company's prospectus, which analysts say will give its shares room to move higher on Friday.

"The IPO price at $2.05 does give it a bit of room to move on the upside," IG market strategist Evan Lucas said.

"I think tomorrow they will probably get away nicely... it should be an okay float," he said.

At its listing price, Nine will be valued at $1.93 billion, making it the biggest initial public offering this year.

Mr Lucas said Nine's first day performance should be better than that of Dick Smith Holdings, which finished its first day of trading on Wednesday flat at its list price of $2.20.

But he said questions remained about Nine as a long term investment due to the uncertain outlook for free to air television.

"There is always going to be a question regarding the advertiser revenue it is generating but its digital assets do look reasonable," he said.

CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said Nine shares wouldn't be for everyone.

"It's an industry where evaluations should carry a reasonable amount of risk premium and some investors may prefer to steer clear of it altogether," he said.

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Eight carry great ape 'stud' to check-up

PERTH Zoo's primate patriarch, 126-kilogram Sumatran orang-utan Dinar, will remain the key player in a world-famous breeding program after getting full marks in a detailed health check.

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Trade talks in doubt, yet again

Trade Minister Andrew Robb urged delegates of the WTO to strike a deal to liberalise global trade. Source: AAP

TRADE Minister Andrew Robb has urged delegates at a crucial World Trade Organisation meeting in Bali to strike a deal to liberalise global trade amid growing signs negotiations will once again fail.

Speaking in front of trade ministers and representatives from around the world, Mr Robb on Wednesday said that further delays in reaching a deal to reduce trade barriers would risk the credibility of the WTO.

Efforts to slash barriers to world trade and establish a global set of rules began with the so-called "Doha Round" in Qatar in 2001, but a deal has always remained out of reach amid ongoing disputes between rich and poor countries.

The comments came as India's Anand Sharma earlier told delegates at the same plenary session that his country could not accept a proposal on food security under a package being considered.

A proposal that New Delhi feels could endanger its efforts to subsidise food in the huge nation "cannot be accepted", Mr Sharma said.

"Agriculture sustains millions of subsistence farmers. Their interests must be secured. Food security is essential for four billion people of the world," he added.

"Yes, we have rejected it," he later told reporters, calling it a "final decision".

But Mr Robb warned that it was developing nations that had the most to lose if a deal was not struck by Friday, when the summit is scheduled to wrap up.

"For the first time since the WTO was established nearly 20 years ago, we can see the prospects of a first-harvest outcome from the Doha negotiations, and we must seize that opportunity," Mr Robb said.

"If we succeed this week, we will pave the way for more ambitious negotiations and the promise of significant growth in income and jobs around the world."

"The cost of failure this week will fall most on developing countries who will lose the opportunity to boost sustainable economic growth and jobs."

Despite India's position casting doubt over whether the summit would finally deliver a deal, other delegates continued to talk up prospects of a successful conclusion to negotiations that have already been underway for 12 years.

United States Trade Representative Michael Froman said an agreement in Bali would prove to a sceptical world that the WTO was a vital institution, while also warning the talks in Bali were "perilously close to a different path".

"In the past few weeks in Geneva we have crept closer to disaster on multiple occasions, yet at each moment of crisis, the vast majority of members considered the consequences of failure, pulled back from the brink and pulled together instead," Mr Froman said.

"Leaving Bali this week without an agreement would deal a debilitating blow to the WTO as a forum for multilateral negotiations. If that happens, the unfortunate truth is the loss would be felt most heavily by those members who can least afford it."

Mr Robb told delegates that Australia would support "whatever steps are necessary" to finalise the WTO package by Friday.

"We all have a collective responsibility to ourselves and to the multilateral trade system to conclude the package by the end of this week," he said.

The main stumbling block to completing a deal, Mr Robb said, was agriculture.

The WTO's insistence that any deal should be unanimous has also been blamed as a reason for the organisation's failure to reach an agreement.

It has been estimated that a successful conclusion to talks in Bali could eventually add tens of millions of jobs across the globe, of which many would be created in developing countries.

Mr Robb was expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan on Thursday on the sidelines of WTO summit, which is scheduled to wrap up on Friday.

The trade minister was expected to travel to Singapore for another round of talks on Saturday on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, seen by some delegates at the Bali summit as an impediment to the WTO deal being struck.

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O'Neill turns Senate into classroom

NEW Labor senator Deb O'Neill wants visitation rights to her old chamber for a good cause - to increase awareness of the effort to close the gap on Aboriginal disadvantage.

During her first Senate speech on Wednesday, in which she read from a centuries-old John Donne poem, the former lower house MP flagged her desire to see a joint sitting of federal parliament when the prime minister and the opposition leader provide the yearly Closing the Gap report card.

"Until we overcome the 20-year life-expectancy gap, we cannot turn our heads away," she told the Senate.

Senator O'Neill lost her marginal lower house Central Coast NSW seat of Robertson at the September 7 election but has moved to the upper house, filling the vacancy left by Bob Carr, who resigned six weeks after being re-elected.

The former teacher gave the Senate an impromptu literature lesson, reading an extract from a 1669 poem, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, by John Donne.

She said the poem explained how strong the love at home bound people, despite great distances - which rang true for politicians' families.

"My dear family, you can always be assured that my heart is with you, and when my work is done I'll be home, hang in there with me," Senator O'Neill said as her three adult children, Caitlin, Brianna and Noah, watched from the public gallery.

Senator O'Neill explained what she believed constituted quality teaching and learning in Australian schools and how the Gonski needs-based funding model was long overdue.

"In our hearts we know the power of a great teacher to effect great learning ... we know education is an investment worth making," Senator O'Neill said.

"Money is part of the answer."

She pleaded for the "war of words" on school funding to end, otherwise students would be the ultimate casualties.

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Video shows Vic premier desperate: Oppn

THE release of a video by Victorian Premier Denis Napthine ruling out laws that would restrict a woman's right to choose to have an abortion was a move by a rattled and desperate premier, the opposition says.

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Political violence shakes Thai capital

One protester has been killed after an attack on a bus carrying government's supporters in Bangkok. Source: AAP

THAI police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters trying to force their way into Government House to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, after violence in the capital left two dead and dozens wounded.

The bloodshed is the latest in a series of outbreaks of civil strife in the kingdom since royalist generals ousted billionaire tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother, seven years ago.

The mass street rallies, aimed at replacing Yingluck's government with an unelected "people's council", are the biggest since political violence in Bangkok three years ago left dozens dead in a military crackdown.

Protesters were amassing outside Government House on Sunday following a threat by their leader to seize the offices of Yingluck, who was overseeing the situation from an emergency base elsewhere in the city.

Police acted after protesters tried to breach barricades and cut barbed wire protecting the seat of government, which was heavily guarded by security forces including unarmed soldiers, according to an AFP reporter.

Tear gas was also fired near the city's metropolitan police headquarters several kilometres away where demonstrators were also gathering, television footage showed.

Tensions were high after violence broke out late Saturday in the area around a suburban stadium where tens of thousands of pro-government "Red Shirts" had gathered in support of Yingluck, who has faced weeks of street protests.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths were unclear but the violence came after an anti-government mob attacked Red Shirts arriving to join the rally in Ramkhamhaeng district.

"The confirmed toll is now two dead and 45 injured," an official at the city's Erawan emergency centre told AFP, amid reports of sporadic outbreaks of violence near the stadium on Sunday morning.

They were the first deaths since the mostly peaceful demonstrations began a month ago. Both sides blamed each other for attacking their supporters.

The violence prompted Red Shirt leaders to end their rally, which had drawn tens of thousands of mainly rural poor in support of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile but remains a hugely divisive figure in Thailand.

"In order to avoid further complicating the situation for the government, we have decided to let people return home," Red Shirt leader Thida Thavornseth told the crowd.

Authorities are deploying more than 2,700 troops to reinforce security in Bangkok, the first time a significant number of soldiers have been deployed to cope with the unrest.

Protests were triggered by an amnesty bill, since abandoned by the ruling party, that opponents feared would have allowed the return of fugitive former premier Thaksin, whose overthrow by royalist generals in 2006 unleashed years of political turmoil.

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Flume, Sebastian early winners at ARIAs

ELECTRONIC wunderkind Flume has taken out his first ARIA award after being named Breakthrough Artist of the Year.

The 22-year-old producer/remixer, whose real name is Harley Streten, is up for six more awards on Sunday night.

"Jesus. Wow. Thank you," he said as he accepted the award.

"It's kind of funny that this Flume thing started as a house project.

"I never thought much of it. It wasn't until Chris, my friend, he suggested that I sign onto future classic and I did that and it's kind of taken off and it's been a whirlwind."

Guy Sebastian won best pop release for his album Armageddon, outgunning Empire Of The Sun, San Cisco, The Preatures and Vance Joy.

Sebastian missed out on picking up the award as he was running late but it was reannounced later so he could accept it.

He thanked his pregnant wife Jules and son Hudson who he said had inspired him.

"(This award) is very unexpected. I can say that because I think I've been nominated for twenty something (awards) and I haven't won yet and here I am," he said.

Five piece Perth band Karnivool won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album with Asymmetry.

"First up thanks aria for the 'bogan' award," guitarist and founding member Andrew Goddard said.

"There's a lot more to heavy music ... it can even be intellectual, believe it or not.

"Let's face it it's the best f***ing genre here tonight."

Veterans Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' album Push The Sky Away took out the award for Best Adult Contemporary Album, just moments after it was named Best Independent Release.

Cave, who wasn't in Australia to receive the award, accepted the gongs via video.

Country crooners Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson have won the award for Country Album at the ARIA awards in Sydney.

The duo, who have released two number one albums, took out the award with one of them, Wreck and Ruin, a warts-and-all look at married life.

The couple is no longer together.

Asked if it was a breakup album, he said: "If it is, it was some kind of fortune telling, like a future ... I find I don't really listen to albums once they're made but I've gone back and heard this record since... And that did occur to me.

"There were so many moments on that record that were signalling things that came further down the road."

X Factor winner Samantha Jade won best video for Firestarter.

"I'm shaking wow. This is very unexpected," she said.

"The video was classic. It was black and white... I guess that connected with people."

Best Blues and Roots Album was won by Sharkmouth by Russell Morris, who said he felt like "Moses coming out of the wilderness" with his first ARIA award.

He accepted the award in memory of his mother Helen.

Seventies soft rockers Air Supply were inducted to the ARIA Hall of Fame received a lifetime achievement award.

Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock thanked everyone who knocked their "drippy love songs".

"Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart," Lead guitarist Graham Russell said.

"Without you we never would have learned how to get up and fight back."

The audience was played a video montage tribute to the duo behind the hits lost In Love and All Out Of Love.

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