Two more Nauru opposition MPs banned

TWO more opposition MPs have been suspended from the Nauru parliament amid claims the government is trying to avoid scrutiny of a budget that contains Australian funding for asylum seekers.

The Nauru government is expected to hand down its budget later on Thursday.

Three opposition MPs were banned from parliament in May amid chaotic scenes that included a police stand-off.

Another two - former president Sprent Dabwido and Squire Jeremiah - were suspended on Thursday for behaving in an "unparliamentary, disorderly, shameful, disgraceful way" during the last sitting day in May.

A committee will examine whether to freeze their entitlements.

They had opposed the earlier suspensions of Roland Kun, former foreign minister Kieren Keke and Mathew Batsiua.

That trio had been booted from parliament for talking to foreign journalists and criticising the government's decision to expel the country's chief justice, Australian Geoffrey Eames, and the dismissal of its only magistrate, Peter Law, another Australian.

There are now only three non-government MPs left in the parliament, facing 11 from the government.

"The whole thing has gone pear-shaped," Mr Kun told AAP from New Zealand.

"We're pleading for the Speaker to save the legislature because the government has already killed the judiciary."

The opposition is unable to seek a Supreme Court ruling because no chief justice has been appointed to replace Mr Eames.

Mr Kun believes the latest suspensions are connected to budget timing.

"There are numerous holes in the budget but we can't put a finger on them until they actually present the paper work," he said.

Australia provides much of the government's budget, which it uses to run an immigration detention centre and resettlement program.

So far Nauru has resettled 41 refugees on a temporary basis until a third country, expected to be Cambodia, agrees to a deal with Australia.

The detention centre is accommodating more than 1100 asylum seekers.

Opposition MPs are concerned that funding for health care, education, transport and utilities is going backwards.

Mr Kun believes money has been diverted to a pool of fund used to pay cash bonuses to "selected individuals".

If the budget passes on Thursday parliament may not sit again until next year, he said.

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Australia looks beyond China for growth

AUSTRALIA won't be putting all of its economic and investment eggs into China's basket, Trade Minister Andrew Robb says.

Mr Robb and Prime Minister Tony Abbott will embark on a trade and investment tour of Canada and the United States next week.

It will include Mr Abbott's first meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House.

Mr Robb will lead a separate business delegation to Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Houston.

China accounts for 30 per cent of Australia's exports and about $151 billion in two-way trade.

Critics say this leaves the Australian economy open to danger should the Chinese economy slow down.

But Mr Robb said the argument was misguided, particularly given the interest in Australia from the US, Canada, Indonesia, the Gulf States and Singapore.

"I've done 28 investment roundtables in 10 countries," he told AAP.

"They want a stable, certain investment environment.

"I think we are quite attractive and we are restoring the gold standard for sovereign risk."

The US had 10 times more invested in Australia than it had in China, and Australia had $30 billion invested in China but $450 billion in the US.

"I'm very conscious of the fact that the long-term investors - the US, UK, Switzerland and Japan - will continue to be the mainstay of our investment," Mr Robb said.

"A lot of the growth may come out of China and others but you still need the mainstay.

"We can't put our eggs in the one basket but it's fair to say we are not."

The focus of Mr Robb's mission will be pension funds and other investors in North America with an interest in tourism and hospitality, medical research and devices, resources and energy, education and agribusiness.

"These are five things we feel we are as good as anybody and better than most," he said.

There was also the potential for investment in some of the $200 billion in potential state asset sales spurred on by the government's offer of a 15 per cent bonus if the money is put back into infrastructure.

Capital was needed to build five-star hotels to service the growing number of high-spending Chinese tourists.

Agribusiness investment was essential to growing high-value food and fibre products, processing it and shipping it overseas.

Mr Robb's next trip after North America will be to Switzerland and the UK.

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Dredge spoil dumping near reef approved

Last updated: June 05, 2014

THE government body that protects the Great Barrier Reef has approved the dumping of more than 370,000 cubic metres of dredge spoil in the marine park.

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Long-term effect of Vic mine smoke unknown

HEALTH officials don't know the long-term effects of exposure to smoke will have on residents living near a Victorian coal mine that burned for 45 days, a senior health official says.

But he also said there was a lot of anxiety caused by misinformation.

State health commander Chris Brook said it was unlikely there would be long-term effects from exposure to the Hazelwood mine fire smoke, but a study was needed.

"The literature at best suggests that it's unlikely there are long-term effects but you are right, there is a gap," Mr Brook told an inquiry into the blaze on Tuesday.

"That's a gap that we are attempting to close."

Some Morwell residents left after the fire shrouded the town in smoke and ash after it ignited on February 9.

The CEO of a local asbestos support network, Vicki Hamilton, said the department gave mixed messages about the smoke, including saying there would be no long-term health effects.

"My understanding is there has been no fire like this that I know in Australia so how can you say there are no longer-term health effects?" Ms Hamilton said on Tuesday.

"I had members ringing me up and saying to me 'is there a study out there that shows that' and I'm going 'no I don't know of one'."

Mr Brook said it was difficult for the department to communicate its message to Morwell residents during the fire because it was not believed.

He also said "high levels of anxiety" were caused by misinformation, such as concerns about heavy metals being present in the smoke.

"Latrobe Valley brown coal is not a pollutant source for heavy metals," Mr Brook said. "It just isn't."

Community submissions to the inquiry reveal many residents suffered headaches, nose bleeds and those with existing conditions, such as asthma, found their health had deteriorated.

Mr Brook said there was no statistical increase in the number of people presenting to the local emergency department or calling ambulances, but more than 2000 people were assessed at a community health centre set up to respond to the fire.

The inquiry earlier heard air pollution was 10 times the acceptable levels during the peak of the fire, but scientists weren't able to measure it accurately at the time.

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Top Tasmanian health bureaucrat sacked

Last updated: June 03, 2014

TASMANIA'S government says the sacking of a top health bureaucrat is not the result of her being named in an Integrity Commission report.

Don't get your hopes up, we are no chance

DESPITE the possibility Qatar will be stripped of the 2022 World Cup, Australia is next to no chance of being awarded it instead, says Tom Smithies.

#SPOTTED on social media

STARS brought the glamour as they arrived in Los Angeles for the 2014 CFDA Fashion Awards. Check out a behind-the-scenes look at the big event on social media.

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Sniffer dogs search for Madeleine

SNIFFER dogs are being used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal seven years ago.

The development came as British officers, accompanied by their Portuguese counterparts, spent a second day investigating the hilly area in the resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve.

Two sniffer dogs accompanied by British police spent around five minutes on a flat area of the scrubland, at the bottom of a slope.

They were then taken away out of sight, while around 10 officers stood around in discussion.

Specialist teams are thought to be using ground-penetrating radar equipment to probe the ground, looking for disturbed earth.

The large section of land is being guarded day and night by armed local police with dogs, and a large yellow-and-white cordon was put in place ahead of the search for clues about Madeleine, who disappeared in May 2007 aged three.

A number of small tents have been erected inside the cordon, thought to be where officers are concentrating their efforts.

The land, a few minutes' walk from the Ocean Club resort apartment where Madeleine was staying with her family, has been searched before.

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Bali flights under cloud but Darwin clear

Last updated: June 01, 2014

FLIGHTS to and from Darwin have resumed after they were grounded by an ash cloud from an Indonesian volcano, as Jetstar grounds flights to Bali.

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Qld still on track for surplus

Queensland premier Campbell Newman isn't phased by a massive increase to the fiscal deficit. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND is still on track for a surplus despite the budget deficit quadrupling to a projected $2.27 billion next financial year.

The mid-year budget update in December estimated the fiscal deficit would be $664 million for 2014/15, but a $600 million write down in coal royalties has worsened the bottom lime.

So too has a lag in natural disaster relief repayments from the Commonwealth.

Premier Campbell Newman doesn't see the loss as a budget deterioration, rather he insists it's an accounting problem.

"It's a timing issue," he said.

Two years of job and service cuts have given enough of a buffer to sustain the hit, with the state still on track for a surplus in 2015/16, as promised.

"It will be the first time in over a decade that Queensland taxpayers won't have to borrow money," Mr Newman said.

On Tuesday, the Newman government will hand down its third and final budget before next year's election.

It has all but confirmed it will sell assets, instead of increasing taxes and reducing services, to help pay down $80 billion debt and build new infrastructure.

Two ports could be leased and two electricity generators and the commercial parts of Sunwater sold.

"The only way we can build the new infrastructure is through cutting front line services, putting up taxes and charges, or asset sales," Mr Newman said.

On Sunday, it was announced that $6.5 million had been set aside in the budget to hire 70 child safety officers.

Another $25 million will be spent on child safety initiatives, such as more referral services, support for families to care for children at home instead of out-of-home care, and improved support for indigenous families.

Child Safety Minister Tracy Davis says $406 million will be spent over five years, to allow an overhaul of the child protection system.

The funding boost is in response to the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry and the final report by Commissioner Tim Carmody QC.

He recommended keeping families together, with more prevention and early intervention services.

"Parents should be able to care for their own children at home safely, with early intervention services and support easily accessible for those families who need it," Ms Davis said.

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Aust pledges $100m for polio fight

Australia has pledged 100 million dollars to go towards eradicating polio in northern Africa. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA has pledged $100 million to help eradicate polio for good.

The funds will be spread over five years and will go towards making countries in northern Africa and the Middle East - where outbreaks have been reported - polio-free.

It will also help Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, where the disease is endemic.

About $20 million will be provided over the next year to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for immunisations to fight the disease's re-emergence.

Announcing the pledge on Sunday, Foreign minister Julie Bishop said Australia is committed to helping finish the job of eradicating polio.

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