Crosby accused of racist statements

Australian Lynton Crosby leaving City Hall in London before the result of the Mayorial Election. Source: News Limited

THE Australian political strategist who helped John Howard win four consecutive elections has become embroiled in a race row in London, where he is heading Prime Minister David Cameron's campaign.

Lynton Crosby is accused of saying the Conservative Party should concentrate on traditional voters rather than "f ... ing Muslims" during this year's London mayoral campaign, when he worked for winner Boris Johnson. A spokesman said Mr Crosby had "absolutely no recollection" of using the term.

But Mr Cameron has no intention of changing his mind about appointing the strategist, despite the revelations.

Mr Crosby's outburst came this year as Mr Johnson's aides discussed whether to devote more attention to wooing the ethnic minority vote.

A source said: "Lynton's view was that chasing the Muslim vote and other ethnic groups was a waste of time and he frequently expressed himself in very strong terms. Some people found it very offensive."

A spokesman for Mr Crosby said he had "absolutely no recollection" of using the term.

His allies claimed Mr Crosby was the victim of a dirty tricks plot by Tory enemies to stop him taking charge of campaigns at Conservative HQ.

The spokesman said: "It is entirely mischievous to suggest Lynton is racist in any way.

"He campaigned vigorously for the Muslim vote during the mayoral race."

It is not the first time Mr Crosby, 55, has been involved in a row over campaign strategy.

He objected to the way Mr Johnson ordered advertisements to be removed from London buses which stated gays could be converted to heterosexuality.

Sources close to Mr Crosby denied he was opposed to the ads being taken down but he objected to the way the Mayor briefed newspapers without discussing it with him first.

Mr Johnson said he had "no recollection" of being present when Mr Crosby made his comment. He said his election chief was "the soul of sweetness and kindness".

Tory chiefs have just put the finishing touches to a pound stg. 200,000 ($307,400) a year deal whereby Mr Crosby and his Crosby-Textor political polling company will take charge of the next Tory election campaign.

Mr Crosby grew up in Kadina, South Australia and studied economics at the University of Adelaide.  He worked on four successful Howard Government election campaigns between 1996 and 2004.

He was first hired by the UK Conservative Party in 2005 for Michael Howard's unsuccessful election campaign.

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Health fund costs set to soar

A proposed 5 per cent rise in health insurance premiums would be more than twice the rate of inflation.
Source: National Features

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has to approve the rises. Picture: Ray Strange Source: The Daily Telegraph

HEALTH insurance could be pushed out of reach for many people with health funds set to lift premiums by $150 a year.

The rise is expected from next April, with industry sources warning the government will be asked to approve premium increases of at least 5 per cent.

Health funds must submit applications for a premium rise to the government by tomorrow and say it is hard to see how the rise could be lower than 5 per cent given private health inflation is 9 per cent. A 5 per cent rise would add about $150 a year to a $3000 family policy and $75 to the cost of a $1500 single's policy.

The rises follow a Sunday Telegraph report which told of seriously ill patients being forced to sell their homes to fund ever-increasing treatment costs.

Rises would make health insurance simply too expensive for many people, Consumers Health Forum chief Carol Bennett said.

Before Health Minister Tanya Plibersek approved the rise, it was important she considered the totality of the costs facing families, she added.

Next year's premium rise will be crucial because it will become the baseline premium for a major policy change in 2014, when the government will cease increasing the 30 per cent private health insurance tax rebate in line with health fund premium rises.

Last month the government announced from 2014 it would only increase the rebate in line with inflation, to save $700 million over three years.

The policy change will gradually erode the value of the private health insurance rebate and increase out-of-pocket expenses for consumers, meaning 10 million people will pay between $15 and $30 a year more for their health cover from 2014.

The proposed 5 per cent rise will be more than twice the rate of inflation.

In the year to September the consumer price index rose by just 2 per cent.

Health funds, however, argue health inflation is running well above general inflation.

From next year the government will also axe the 30 per cent subsidy that currently applies to lifetime health cover penalties for those who delay taking out private health insurance until after age 30, saving a further $390 million.

This is likely to cost someone on the maximum 70 per cent penalty about $525 a year.

In recent years health ministers have asked many health funds to rework applications for a premium rise to try to hold down costs.

Industry sources question whether the government should continue to have any role approving premium rises now that it plans to only increase the 30 per cent rebate by the inflation rate.

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Schoolies completely lose it in Bali

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro Source: adelaidenow

BALI has gone berserk with schoolies - with the teens' disregard for terrorism warnings just as crazy as their drunken partying.

Thousands of overly excited schoolies making the pilgrimage abroad have touched down in Bali despite Australian Government warnings that there is a high chance they could become victims of a terrorist attack.

While Queensland's Gold Coast remained the preferred choice to celebrate school's end, an increasing number of Year 12 students are choosing Bali as their schoolies venue.

It is estimated that 6000 Australian school-leavers will pour into the region over the next three weeks to revel in the 32-degree heat.

Cheap airfares and accommodation, low-price booze and cigarettes, a lack of parental supervision and no enforcement of a drinking age means the first taste freedom for schoolies partying under neon lights is even sweeter.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

"I am going to spend $500 here for my whole stay, that's everything, you can't do that in Aussie," said 18-year-old Michael Del Callo from St Josephs College in Geelong, Victoria.

But Foreign Minister Bob Carr has issued a fresh warning that the Indonesian party hub faces a high and genuine risk of terrorist attack. The bombings in 2002 and 2005 claimed the lives of several Australian party-goers.

That message appears to have fallen on deaf ears, with schoolies in and around Kuta saying they had no idea such a warning existed.

Senator Carr also warned there is little that can be done to help young Australians who find themselves on the wrong side of the law with drugs and violence.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

"I had no idea whatsoever," said 18-year-old Ben Phillips of Carroll College. The NSW teenager added: "My mum would freak out if she knew that."

Mr Phillips said within 24 hours of arriving in Bali he had been approached to purchase drugs on countless occasions.

"It feels like they have tried to sell me mushrooms, cocaine and marijuana about 300 times. But I just shake my head and walk past."

Like a string of students News Limited spoke, Mr Phillips said the highly publicised cases of Schapelle Corby and the 14-year-old "Bali Boy" made them think twice before buying illicit substances.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

"Nobody wants to end up like them, imagine that."

A student from Tomaree High School in Salamander Bay, NSW, who did not give his name, said despite the travel advice he was determined to party on.

"If something happens, it happens. You only live once, I doubt we will get bombed."

Schoolies decided to venture into Bali because the Gold Coast had become tired and cliched. They desired an international feel to their celebrations, void of rules and structure.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

"F*** the Gold Coast, it's overrated, I want to get really loose with my mates," commented Nathan Dawe from Victoria Point in Queensland.

And loose they have been - and the cliched behaviour travels too.

At the weekend, thong-wearing schoolies packed Kuta's famous nightclubs Sky Garden, Paddy's Pub, Bounty and Tavern Bar to let their hair down - literally - and dance to top-40 hits in ways that would cause their parents' toes to curl back home. Here it is one big 24-hour never-ending party.

At the Engine Room nightclub some female schoolies stripped off almost all clothing to gyrate and perform on steel poles while their sweaty male counterparts, with silk boxers riding high above their waists, enjoying the dancing company of $40-per-hour sex workers who frequent popular night-spots chasing foreign dollars.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

Countless numbers of barely-comprehensible schoolies wandered Kuta late into the night, often alone, illustrating how over-indulgence of $2 Bintang pilsener and cheap cocktails with names like Sexotic and Bali Aussie can cause a night that may not be remembered the next day.

One schoolie was visibly struggling to get himself home to his hotel room as he stumbled down Legian St skulling a 40-ounce bottle of Grey Goose vodka.

In a human-sized bird cage during the early hours of Sunday at least eight schoolies kissed and touched each other intimately all while playing it up for the cameras owned by local men. Bali really has gone berserk.

One self-described "toolie" - the term given to men who are not celebrating the end of high school but rather want to seduce female schoolies - said he had enjoyed little success.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

"They are really hard to crack on to so I have just been going for the prostitutes, they are cheap," said the fitter and turner.

Tomaree 17-year-old Paige Russo is on holiday for 13 days and said her mother had warned her about the dangers of Bali and the individuals likely to prey on schoolies.

"She has been quite worried, she wants me to contact her every day," said Ms Russo. "But I am fine, all our mates are looking after each other."

While News Limited spoke to the teenager, who is about to embark on a radiology degree, she and her friend Jasmine Meagher were offered ephedrine on two occasions. They declined.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

Government officials were unable to confirm last night how many schoolies had required consular assistance or been arrested.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said no additional resources would be deployed to Bali for schoolies.

Local police officers reported no trouble except for increased road congestion caused by schoolies riding scooters.

Australian schoolies partying hard in Bali during their end-of-year holidays. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

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Don't use the F-word, says dietician

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young has called for parents to ban children from drinking soft drink and juice. Picture: Sarah Marshall Source: The Courier-Mail

A LEADING dietician wants to ban the words "fat" and "diet" to win the war against childhood obesity.

Wesley Weight Management Centre dietician Nicola Moore said some parents were so afraid of sparking an eating disorder that they avoided talking about weight issues with their children at all costs.

But other parents were risking long-term psychological damage by calling their children fat and insisting they go on a diet.

How parents talked to their children about food choices - not their weight - was key to solving the nation's growing waistlines, she said.

If done properly, this would set the child up for a healthy adulthood.

"Fat is a negative word, a rude three-letter-word," Ms Moore said.

"I hate the word diet as well. It says that we are going to be doing something that is so removed from normal that when it is finished we can go back to old habits."

The Queensland Health Report Card, released this week, states that one in five children are overweight, and one in 10 are obese. In response, Queensland's chief health officer, Jeannette Young, called for parents to ban children from drinking soft drink and juice.

Ms Moore said parents needed to exercise caution when talking to their children about obesity.

Any changes should apply to the entire family and the focus should be on choosing food to promote overall health.

"Start making subtle changes, without drawing attention to it, such as replacing full cream milk with skim," she said. "And never call a kid fat."

Heart Foundation nutrition manager Maria Packard said if a health professional recommended a child reduce weight, a softly-softly approach would achieve the best results.

"Tell them that there are foods that will help you grow and perform, that give you energy to play, give you the ability to think and concentrate well in class," Ms Packard said.

"Look at portion sizes and work on that.

"If necessary, explain that they have a special medical condition and the changes need to be made because of that.

"But ensure the child knows that the healthy food choices apply to the whole family, for the long term."

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ALP 'can't throw allegations around'

Labor Senator Doug Cameron says he's concerned by the way the party is targeting Liberal MP Julie Bishop and critiquing her time as a lawyer. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: News Limited

A FEDERAL Labor backbencher has warned both sides of politics against throwing around allegations against individual MPs.

Senator Doug Cameron was responding to government questions about the role deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop played while she was acting as a lawyer for CSR in asbestos compensation claims against the company during the 1980s.

Labor has suggested Ms Bishop used procedural rules to delay the claims.

Ms Bishop has led the coalition attack against Julia Gillard over the prime minister's conduct as a lawyer for the Australian Workers Union 17 years ago.

Senator Cameron said he was concerned about politicians raising claims against each other without evidence.

"I'm concerned about this whole approach," he told reporters in Canberra earlier today.

"I think that's happening against the prime minister, it shouldn't happen against any politician."

If claims were going to be made there should be some evidence, Senator Cameron said.

"That's lacking in where we are at the moment."

"We just can't simply throw allegations around against individual MPs, whether it's the prime minister or Julie Bishop.

Ms Bishop said she was advised by two of the nation's most senior barristers - including the current High Court chief justice - on the asbestos cases.

Procedural advice for one asbestos case she worked on as a lawyer was provided by Robert French, QC, now the chief justice of the High Court.

On two other asbestos test cases, advice was provided by David Malcolm, QC, who is a former chief justice of the West Australian Supreme Court.

"At no time did I act other than in accordance with their (her clients) instructions and on advice from some of the most senior barristers in Western Australia," Ms Bishop told The Australian on Monday.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said if Ms Gillard had answered questions truthfully about the AWU scandal then there was nothing more to say.

He said a Labor MP labelling him deranged was unhelpful to the federal political scene.

"I don't mind those sort of slights but I just think it is not helping the political process if we start using language like that," Senator Joyce told reporters in Canberra.

"The public are starting to put a pox on both houses and they are starting to ask questions about are we acting like adults."

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Man, 26, 'critical' after 10-storey fall

CRITICAL: A City Beach man remains in a critical condition with spinal injuries after surviving a fall from a 10-storey Wembley apartment block. Source: PerthNow

A 26-YEAR-old man remains in a critical condition in hospital this morning after he jumped from the roof of a Wembley apartment block to a tree in the early hours of yesterday.

Police say the City Beach man was among a group of six people who climbed to the roof of the apartment building near the corner of Cambridge and Selby Streets to watch the sun rise over the city about 5.30am Sunday morning.

"He has jumped from the roof to the tree in an attempt to scale down the tree," police spokesman Det-Sgt Carl Casilli said yesterday.

"Unfortunately he has missed the tree and landed on the ground."

The incident bears a tragic similarity to the death of Port Adelaide footballer John McCarthy, in Las Vegas in September.

McCarthy had gone to the top of the Flamingo Hotel and then jumped out onto a palm tree, in an apparent attempt to get to the ground.    

A police spokeswoman said today the man's injuries consisted of "quite bad" spinal injuries.

This morning, the man's condition in Royal Perth Hospital was listed as critical but stable.

The man was rushed to nearby Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital yesterday in a critical but stable condition and was then transferred to Royal Perth Hospital.

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Super storm 'just blew up on the city'

Queensland's weather bureau boss has hit back at claims it dropped the ball during one of Brisbane's worst storms in recent years

THE Weather Bureau's Queensland chief says Saturday's superstorm didn't meet warning parameters after complaints it failed to issue timely alert - but they'll review weekend decisions.

Regional director Rob Webb said because it was an unusual event that happened early in the morning and that they didn't think it was going to be a severe event.

"It just blew up on the city," he told The Courier-Mail after the press conference.

Mr Webb said as the storm was approaching it didn't meet the Bureau's parameters for issuing a storm warning.

"You aim to put out warnings ahead of the weather but it's not always possible. The forecaster made a call that this one would stay under the parameters and pass through".

Mr Webb denied staffing was an issue and that they had six staffers on both Saturday and Sunday.

How the Energex Lightning Tracker showed the passage of the weekend storms.

South-east Queensland residents who complained the storm took them by surprise complained on social media about the lack of warning and Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk today joined the criticism and called for a review of the bureau.

Cr Quirk said the forecasting was either a feast or a famine with few warnings issued on Saturday while dozens were issued on Sunday.

Mr Webb told ABC breakfast radio this morning he had full confidence in the team but would be reviewing the weekend's forecast decisions to learn from them.

"We review those decisions so we can learn to make best decisions for the next one. What we don't want to do is reach for the warning trigger for every thunderstorm" he said.

"We focus more attention on the point when a storm gets to the point where it gets to the point where it causes damage."

"We will go back and look at those decisions we made and we won't just be moving on. We'll be watching it closely."

Brisbane has been battered by storms for a second day, with the airport closed and large hailstones falling.

Mr Webb said the Bureau watches the weather every six minutes, and would have been weighing up whether to issue a message "as the community [was] prepared already".

"There is a lot of messaging out in the community that the weather would be bad; we don't want to warn for every thunderstorm that would lead to complete complacency in the community," he said.

He said that the message he wanted to get out was that, even without the warnings from BOM, thunderstorms can be very dangerous.

"Once we are forecasting thunderstorms, people should be aware that they can change in their structure fairly quickly and really need to be keeping an eye on the environment, as well keeping an eye on our website for warnings," he said. 

The Courier-Mail reported this morning that the Federal Government was warned a year ago the Bureau was "at the limit of its human capacity" to provide an extreme weather forecasting and warning service.

But it has so far provided less than $5 million in this year's Budget to boost frontline staff numbers, which have fallen by almost 42 per cent in a decade, according to an Environment Department-commissioned review of the bureau.

Lightning over Brisbane City from Ascot hill. Picture: Marc Robertson

It is not known if staffing levels were the reason the bureau failed to issue any specific warning about the freak storm that smashed into Brisbane's inner suburbs late morning on Saturday - but calls continued yesterday for a proper please-explain.

The front of Saturday's freak storm smashed into the inner northern suburbs about 10.30am. Twenty minutes later, the bureau issued its first specific storm warning.

By then the front of the storm had passed over the inner-western suburbs and the central business district and was almost at the coast.

LIGHTNING TRACKER: See how storms moved across the southeast between 6am Saturday and 6am Sunday (8mb)

The Courier-Mail yesterday contacted the bureau's Queensland regional director Rob Webb direct on his mobile phone, but he referred the inquiry to a spokeswoman - who first complained about having to work on the weekend - and then reissued a statement issued Saturday.

That statement said it was "difficult to predict in detail" what would happen with particular storm cells, and that the freak event had only started to show signs of severe storm characteristics as it approached the central business district.

It said: "The Bureau of Meteorology doesn't aim to issue warnings for every thunderstorm, but uses thresholds to ensure there isn't complacency in the community due to over-warning."

That threshold includes expected winds over 90km/h, hailstones bigger than 2cm, and very heavy rainfall.

Nevertheless, following the criticism of its lack of action on Saturday the bureau was in warning overdrive yesterday - issuing dozens of warnings throughout the day as storms rolled across the southeast.

Despite nobody from the bureau being willing to talk to The Courier-Mail yesterday, Dr Richard Wardle from the bureau managed to make himself available to speak on-camera to Channel 7 last night.

Dr Wardle said: "(On Saturday morning) we were tracking the system well out to the west and Darling Downs and it just - I won't use the word exploded - but it developed rapidly over a few minutes."

Ipswich city councillor Paul Tully accused the bureau of having been "asleep on the job" on Saturday morning. He had managed to warn of the storm on his Facebook page at 10.21am - nearly 30 minutes before the bureau's warning.

LIGHTNING TRACKER: See how storms moved across the southeast between 6am and 6pm Sunday (8mb)

Other critics inundated the bureau's Facebook page on Saturday asking why there had been no warning until after the event. The bureau did not respond to their concerns.

Weatherwatch's Anthony Cornelius yesterday said it was "unfortunate" there had been no specific warning issued, and that he would have issued a warning when it hit Gatton, just before 10am." In my opinion there was definitely grounds for that storm to be warned," Mr Cornelius said.

Jeff Higgins from Higgins Storm Chasing said the bureau's strict adherence to its warning "threshold" made it difficult for residents to be alerted in time.

The bureau came under fire during last year's floods after it failed to issue a flood warning for the hardest-hit town of Grantham until 4.16pm, more than an hour after the disaster. A second top priority flash flood warning came at 5pm.

Mr Cornelius, a meteorologist, had predicted devastating flash flooding hours earlier and at the time questioned why the bureau had failed to make a similar prediction.

- additional reporting Robert Macdonald and Sophie Elsworth

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Man hunt launched over Sarah's death

Facebook friends of missing Victorian Sarah Cafferkey are hoping the body of a woman found is not hers.

A MAN considered a person of interest in the murder of Sarah Cafferkey is a convicted killer who once escaped from jail .

The 47-year-old, who recently moved into Point Cook, is at the centre of a nationwide hunt as police piece together the last moments of Ms Cafferkey's life.

The force has appealed to the person of interest to hand himself in.

Friends in shock, disbelief

Charlie Bezzina: What we know

Ms Cafferkey's body was found in a Point Cook house after the homicide squad executed a warrant to search it on Saturday night.

A satellite image taken in October of a yellow car in the driveway where a body was found.

The 22-year-old Bacchus Marsh woman went missing on November 9, her car found in Maribyrnong days later but police did not hold fears for her safety until Friday.

The homicide squad has focussed on posts made via Facebook to Ms Cafferkey, which include him messaging: "Love the pics....Looking good Heartbreaker lol" and "Catch up when you get free time...."

The Herald Sun can reveal the person of interest has a violent history and recently split from his girlfriend.

In 1986 he was convicted of murder after stabbing an 18-year-old woman to death - a crime for which he was sentenced to a minimum 13 years jail.

He also staged a breakout from Pentridge Prison in 1990, but was caught in a Coburg backyard after 30 minutes bleeding from cuts caused by razor wire. He was found hiding under a trampoline.

Police are hunting a suspect in the death of 22-year-old Sarah Cafferkey.

Facebook pages reveal the man dubbed his former home in Werribee a "rape dungeon".

Police yesterday confirmed Miss Cafferkey's case was considered a murder investigation. Her body has been formally identified.

Police have not revealed how Ms Cafferkey was killed after a post mortem was conducted yesterday. But a yellow Commodore has been linked to the investigation.

The Herald Sun understands police investigating the case set up a crime scene around a stripped down yellow sedan on the Western Hwy near Bacchus Marsh on Friday.

It is believed the car belongs to the person of interest.

Forensic police inspect the Point Cook home today after the grim find. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Images of a yellow car parked in the driveway of the house where Ms Cafferkey's body was found can be seen from aerial images of the property taken last October.

Interactions with Ms Cafferkey are among several leads police are following.

Meanwhile, Det-Inspector Michael Roberts of the homicide squad has ruled out an ex-boyfriend of Ms Cafferkey's as a person of interest.

The father of another man who lived at the property where the body was found said his son had been through a "considerable ordeal".

Denis Weily, dad of Point Cook man Adam Weily said: "Adam has been through a considerable ordeal. He's been referred to a psychologist due to the high degree of trauma."

Investigations are continuing following the discovery of human remains at a house in Melbourne

"It's been extremely traumatic for all involved and we are 12,000 km away in Tanzania and can't help or do anything."

A staff member at El Zorro Transport where Adam works as a national transformation manager said: "He's not here.

"I don't know when he'll be back. I'm just taking messages for him and emailing them through to him. He phoned this morning to say he wouldn't be in."

Anyone with information is urged contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
 

- with Chris Gillett

A neighbour described Ms Cafferkey as a "good girl just trying to find her way".

anthony.dowsley@news.com.au       

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