PNG wants to scrap Westminster

PAPUA New Guinea prime minister Peter O'Neill has asked the nation's Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) to consider scrapping the Westminster system of government in favour of federalism.

Under the proposal, first raised by former prime minister Sir Julius Chan in parliament last week, the prime minister would be directly elected by the people, Mr O'Neill said.

Sir Julius, one of PNG's founding fathers, has been campaigning strongly for a federal system and argued it was fair and representative for PNG and it's more than 850 cultures.

Mr O'Neill said on Tuesday the change will consolidate political stability.

"I fully share (Sir Julius') views because if we are to progress as a nation, we must continue to find ways to improve and consolidate what we have," Mr O'Neill said in a statement on Tuesday night.

"We must never be afraid of change that will bring stability and prosperity for the future."

Mr O'Neill urged the CLRC to undertake a year-long nationwide consultation and report their findings to Parliament.

The Chief Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc has been asked to liaise with the CLRC to work out the Terms of Reference for the consultation.

PNG last week celebrated its 38th year of independence from Australia.

Since then the country has been run by a single House of Parliament, where no one party has achieved the numbers enough to rule outright.

As a result, PNG's parliament has been periodically rocked by sudden and unexpected votes of no confidence as shaky coalitions realign.

In mid 2011 Mr O'Neill came to power by unseating PNG's longest serving PM, Sir Michael Somare, in a vote of no confidence while the veteran MP was in Singapore undergoing heart surgery.

The Supreme Court declared that move illegal, a decision that sparked a prolonged period of political unrest which included a failed military mutiny by supporters of Sir Michael.

At the end of the mid-2012 national election Mr O'Neill returned to the prime minister's chair, at the head of a coalition that included former prime ministers and former enemy Sir Michael.

Mr O'Neill earlier this year used his massive parliamentary majority to ban votes of no confidence in his government for 30 months.

Last week he convinced 82 of his 101 backers to pass constitutional amendments requiring a month's notice by a fifth of parliament to bring a vote of no confidence.

He pledged to resign as PM if ever lost the confidence of 56 of PNG's 111 parliamentarians.

The opposition, which currently number seven, have vowed to fight the vote of no confidence laws in the courts.

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Bligh to bear bald head in magazine

ANNA Bligh agreed to have her bald head photographed in a revealing interview about her "gruelling" chemotherapy experience.

The striking photographs will appear alongside an honest account about her cancer battle in an upcoming Woman's Weekly article.

Ms Bligh, 53, said it was a tough decision to open up about her battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma - but she has no regrets.

"I've just been through a very gruelling experience with chemotherapy and I guess I just wanted to be honest about what that was like," Ms Bligh told Nine Network Brisbane.

"It was a big decision to be part of it and a very difficult decision for me."

In June, Ms Bligh revealed she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The former Queensland premier had undergone surgery to remove a pea-size lump on her face two days after flying to Brisbane to front Queensland's health payroll inquiry in May.

She said she dreaded to think what would have happened if she didn't ask about the lump when visiting her GP for a niggling foot injury in late March.

Ms Bligh said she hoped her story would encourage others to express any health concerns to their own GP.

"Having lived with cancer now I know a little bit about what it's like and I just say to anybody - if you've got anything you're worried about, any lump or bump, go get it checked out," she said.

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Administrator for troubled Vic council

AN interim administrator has been appointed at the Wangaratta Rural City Council after its council was sacked for rampant bullying, intimidation and wasting $1.5 million in ratepayers' money.

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Case against Patel set to start

Ex-Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to a patient. Source: AAP

THE Crown is expected to open its case against former Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel on Tuesday following delays in selecting jurors.

Patel, 63, is accused of unnecessarily taking out the colon of patient Ian Vowles while he was a director of surgery at the Bundaberg Base Hospital in 2004.

He pleaded not guilty in the District Court in Brisbane on Monday to causing grievous bodily harm.

Several jurors were discharged and replaced after raising matters privately with Justice Terence Martin during a lengthy empanelling process.

Justice Martin warned the process would be more complicated than usual because of the extensive media coverage surrounding the case.

Once empanelled, jurors were required to answer a questionnaire assessing their ability to be impartial.

The trial continues.

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Prince Harry to visit Australia

Pair guilty of policeman murder

UPDATE: A jury has found two people guilty for the shooting murder of a Gold Coast police officer following an armed robbery at a tavern.

Man to road rager: 'Just shoot me'

UPDATE: A man shot in a road rage attack in Queensland told the gunman "go ahead and shoot me" because he thought the man was bluffing.

Pair guilty of policeman murder

UPDATE: A jury has found two people guilty for the shooting murder of a Gold Coast police officer following an armed robbery at a tavern.

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ALP wins McEwen in federal election

Labor's Rob Mitchell has retained the Victorian seat of McEwen by 345 votes. Source: AAP

THE ALP may have lost the election, but it has managed to hold onto the final undeclared Victorian seat of McEwen.

Counting is complete in the central Victorian seat and Labor MP Rob Mitchell has held onto it by about 345 votes.

Mr Mitchell will let the Australian Electoral Commission officially declare the seat, but said "it is just a formality now".

His Liberal opponent Donna Petrovich has contacted him and released a statement conceding defeat.

"It has been a long, challenging and extremely close count since election day, however as the final ballots are tallied I concede that Labor has retained the seat," she said in the statement.

Labor suffered a swing of about 10 per cent against it in McEwen and Mr Mitchell blamed this on the ALP's "internal issues".

Ms Petrovich gave up her upper house Victorian seat to contest the federal seat.

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Flight chaos as HK readies for typhoon

SEVERE Typhoon Usagi is barrelling towards Hong Kong, shutting down one of the world's busiest sea ports and throwing flight schedules into disarray from Europe to the United States.

Usagi - which means rabbit in Japanese - packed winds of 165 kilometres per hour as it closed in on China's densely populated Pearl River Delta, forcing some residents in vulnerable areas to tape up windows and stock up on supplies.

The storm, described by meteorologists as the most powerful anywhere on Earth this year, killed two people in the Philippines and unleashed landslides in Taiwan en route to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Observatory, issuing the second of a five-step tropical storm warning, said it was likely to bring "severe" disruption to the city with transport systems affected and expectations of high waves and flooding in low-lying areas.

At the Chek Lap Kok airport, airline counters were besieged by anxious passengers hoping to rebook their flights after the Cathay Pacific group said it was cancelling all its flights from 6pm (2000 AEST)on Sunday.

With many other airlines following Cathay's lead, only a handful of flights were still scheduled to land or take off after 6pm.

Incoming flights from London, Sydney and Chicago among other cities were cancelled, and thousands of people risked being stranded at their point of origin or in Hong Kong.

Operators at Hong Kong's maritime cargo port, one of the busiest in the world, ceased work late on Saturday, stranding many giant tankers in sea channels not far from shore.

The financial hub is well versed in typhoon preparations and enforces strict building codes, so rarely suffers major loss of life as a result of tropical storms.

But the observatory warned against complacency, saying that Usagi was set to become the strongest storm to hit Hong Kong since 1979 when typhoon Hope killed a dozen people and injured 260.

On its way to Hong Kong and southern China, Usagi forced the evacuation of some 3400 people in southern Taiwan, dumped more than 70 centimetres of rain on Hualien city, and forced more than 100 flights to be cancelled to and from the island.

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Community vote for NSW Labor candidates

Abduction alerts as kids grabbed

FRIGHTENING details of attempted child abduction reports have been revealed as police investigate suspicious incidents in Brisbane. FIND OUT WHERE

Where's Brisbane's towering icon?

DEBATE over whether Brisbane needs a famous landmark was reignited last week with the release of City Hall's draft City Centre Master Plan.

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Keith Urban has No.1 album in Australia

Country music star Keith Urban has scored his second No.1 album in Australia with Fuse. Source: AAP

KATY Perry has reclaimed No.1 on the ARIA singles chart with her track Roar.

Having been superseded by Redfoo last week, Perry returns to the top for a fourth week.

Redfoo's Let's Get Ridiculous has dropped to No.3, behind Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball.

At No.4 this week is Jason DeRulo with Talk Dirty, featuring rapper 2 Chainz.

Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness remix is steady at No.5.

Climbing to a new peak of No.6 is Something I Need for OneRepublic.

Avicii is back up one spot to No.7 with Wake Me Up, while Love Me Again by John Newman drops back two spots to No.8.

Drake's Hold on, We're Going Home has shot up five places to No.9 ahead of Eminem's Berzerk at No.10.

The top three albums in the country are all new entries this week, with Australian country music star Keith Urban taking out the top spot with his ninth studio album Fuse.

This becomes his second No.1 album in Australia after 2012's The Story So Far.

The debut album for Tom Bergling, better known as Avicii, enters at No.2.

Jack Johnson, who is heading to Australia for a national tour in December, has debuted at No.3 with his sixth studio album From Here to Now to You.

With three big new entries, it pushes last week's top four albums down three places each, with AM for The Arctic Monkeys down to No.4, If You Wait by London Grammar at No.5, The Truth About Love for Pink at No.6 and Fleetwood Mac's 25 Years - The Chain at No.7.

Passenger is back up one place to No.8 with All the Little Lights, followed by Loud Like Love from Placebo at No.9

Bruno Mars returns to the Top 10 at No.10 with Unorthodox Jukebox following the release of his new single Gorilla.

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UK island swimmer going strong

AN endurance swimmer has made good progress through the night in her attempt to become the first person in nearly 30 years to swim solo, non-stop, around the Isle of Wight.

Anna Wardley is undertaking the challenge as part of her bid to complete circumnavigations of five islands.

The 37-year-old, from Gosport in Hampshire, set off yesterday at 10.31am from Ryde Sands and is expected to complete the 56.4-mile swim in about 30 hours.

Only three people have completed the feat, with the last successful attempt in 1984.

She has passed the famous Needles landmark and is making her way round to the east side of the island this morning.

Heather Ewing, spokeswoman for the challenge, said: "She's looking good this morning, although her arms are looking a bit tired and it has got to be hurting by now. That said, she's very cheerful and demanding a bacon sandwich if any are made for the support team."

Wardley said before setting off: "It's been nearly 30 years since this challenge was last successfully completed, so I'm under no illusions how tough it will be.

"There will be a time when I'll be swimming against the tide through the night, almost on the spot for hours. I'll also see the sun set and rise, and we'll be racing against the clock to reach critical points to beat the tide.

"However just knowing people are thinking of me and willing me on will definitely help when the going gets really tough, and it's a huge boost knowing that I'm raising money for such fantastic charities."

Wardley is attempting the swim under the rules of the British Long Distance Swimming Association wearing just a standard swimming costume, goggles and a swimming cap.

It is the culmination of her two-year Five Island Swim Challenge raising funds for the Samaritans, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and Sail Africa, with her target set at STG50,000 ($A85,470).

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