Teens burned in stunt-bike jump

Trent Forester and Shane Bentley are out of hospital after being burned in a flaming bike jump stunt yesterday at Findon. Picture: Calum Robertson Source: adelaidenow

TWO teenagers who were burned while performing a dangerous bike stunt at Findon were attempting the feat for the first time.

Trent Forester and Shane Bentley, both 15, were released from Flinders Medical Centre this afternoon after the pair, along with a girl, suffered burns when performing the "jump through fire" stunt at Findon Skid Kids on Reserve Parade, Findon, about 4.30pm on Sunday.

They caught fire when the flaming cardboard they jumped through failed to break up as planned and instead stuck to the riders.

Spectators used blankets to douse the flames on the riders' protective clothing.

"It was the worst pain, so hot, on fire, just horrible," Trent said.

A spectator rushes to the aid of the stunt riders after they caught fire during a jumping stunt. Picture: Facebook

"I wouldn't do this thing again, but I'm still going to be doing stunts and racing."

Shane described the fire as "really hot, so hot".

"I took the cardboard with me and that's what burned me," he said. "Heading into it I was fine, I was feeling good and didn't think it was going to be that bad."

EARLIER

SPECTATORS desperately doused flames on three teenagers when a dangerous cycling stunt went spectacularly wrong yesterday.

The two boys and a girl, all believed to be aged 15, suffered burns when performing the "jump through fire" stunt in Adelaide at Findon Skid Kids on Reserve Parade, Findon, about 4.30pm.

They caught fire when the flaming cardboard they jumped through failed to break up as planned and instead stuck to the riders.

Spectators used blankets to douse the flames on the riders' protective clothing.

Three teenagers were burned during this bike-riding stunt at Findon. Picture: Facebook

St John Ambulance crews treated the riders before SA Ambulance crews arrived and took the trio to the Women's and Children's Hospital.

A hospital spokesman would not release details on their injuries or condition without parental consent last night but their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The fire-jump stunt was the final event of the club's 55th birthday celebration championship at the track yesterday.

Findon Skid Kids president Mick Harley said the stunt went wrong because it was incorrectly set up.

"We've been doing the fire jump for 55 years and every so often, somebody might get some burns," he said.

"The cardboard is normally in two sheets joined at the middle so it breaks when they hit it. They used cardboard that was a full sheet so it wasn't cut.

"On this particular occasion they took the cardboard with them and that's how they got burnt."

The riders were wearing protective clothing including overalls, goggles, helmets and balaclavas.

A man who also performed the stunt was unhurt.

"They are pretty well protected. It's just in this instance they took the fire with them and the heat has got to them," Mr Harley said.

The Findon Skid Kids display team gained global coverage for their stunt riding, including what Mr Harley dubbed the "world-famous fire jump" in the 1970s.

The display team ceased in 1996 but the club still performs the fire jump on some occasions, such as yesterday's birthday celebrations.

"We will be doing it again in the future," Mr Harley said.

"What we will be doing in the future is making sure (the cardboard) has the split down the centre and making sure it's done correctly."

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Rudd needs to put up or shut up: Joyce

Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce says Kevin Rudd should make a run for the Labor leadership before the election. Picture: Kym Smith Source: The Australian

COALITION frontbencher Barnaby Joyce says Kevin Rudd should show some ticker and challenge for the Labor leadership.

"If he was fair dinkum, have the ticker, stand up and say this is ridiculous and get this show back under control," he told reporters in Canberra this morning.

"If he is not just doing that, it is just some fit of pique where he is sulkily going around, trying to throw mud on everybody."

Senator Joyce said if Labor changed leaders, it should choose a new treasurer as well.

"If you are going to change the sheets, change both of them," he said.

John Howard hopes independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor lose their seats at the next election.

Fellow Nationals senator John Williams said Mr Rudd was playing games.

"What he is doing is saying here I am, you knifed me, you sacked me, if you want me to come back, I am not going to do it for you," he told reporters.

Opposition Senate leader Eric Abetz said Ms Gillard had been unable to fix policies on which Mr Rudd had stumbled, citing the mining and carbon taxes, border protection, and returning the budget to surplus.

"Julia Gillard has not been able to make a silk purse out of those sows' ears," he said.

Earlier former prime minister John Howard believes Kevin Rudd will make a move for the Labor leadership before the September 14 election.

While Mr Rudd has consistently denied reports he would challenge Julia Gillard, Mr Howard told 60 Minutes last night that he believed Mr Rudd would make a comeback.

"I don't think he's ever given up on the idea of coming back and that's human nature and understandable," Mr Howard said.

"In the end, leadership is determined by the laws of arithmetic and even the most popular leaders can be removed if people think they'll do better under another one."

Mr Howard said Tony Abbott's leadership of the Liberal Party was stable and ruled out a run by Malcolm Turnbull for the position.

"I don't believe for a moment the Liberal Party will be led at the next election by anyone other than Tony Abbott," he said.

"I'm an undisguised supporter of Tony Abbott. He got Kevin Rudd's scalp. The real story of the last three years is that if anyone other than Tony Abbott had been leading the Liberal Party, Kevin Rudd would have remained leader of the Labor Party and would have won the last election, in my opinion, with a clear majority."

Mr Howard also said independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor "don't deserve" to be re-elected because their electorates support the opposition.

 - with wires

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Google Street View 1872 unveiled

Holtermann Collection: Greatest Wonder of the World, Gulgong, 1872. Photo: State Library of NSW Source: Supplied

A REMARKABLE new exhibition of newly digitized antique photographs at Sydney's State Library shows how much Australia has changed over the past 140 years.

ABOVE: Sydney Harbour from Holtermann's House, 1872 and 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW

More than a century before a Californian search engine sent cars to record our houses for Google Street View, a German-born entrepreneur employed early photographers to rove Australia's boom gold towns with large format cameras, capturing every aspect of the rapidly developing colony.

Holtermann Collection: J Greens Pie and Coffee Rooms, Hill End 1872. Photo: State Library of NSW Source: Supplied

Nineteenth century gold towns were vibrant, bustling places packed with numerous tempting ways for cashed-up miners to splurge their wealth.

Holtermann Collection: Hill End Dispensary 1872 and same location 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW Source: Supplied

Imported clothing was all the rage, every man wore a hat: coffee shops did a roaring trade.

Holtermann Collection: Gold speciments from the Star of Hope mine, 1872. Photo: State Library of NSW Source: Supplied

However muddy and dirty the booming towns appeared, catchy signs helped shopkeepers snare customers. How could anyone resist a shop named The Greatest Wonder of the World?

ABOVE: The Greatest Wonder of the World, Gulgong, 1872 and 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW

Packed with informative multimedia and videos, the brilliantly staged new exhibition at the State Library of NSW showcases some of the first photographs ever taken in Australia.

One of the nation's greatest photo archives, the Holtermann Collection captures the goldfields of Victoria and New South Wales, and the rapidly emerging cities of Sydney and Melbourne.

Holtermann Collection: Post Office Hotel, Sydney April 1874. Photo: State Library of NSW Source: Supplied

Selected from a cache of 3,500 plate glass negatives rediscovered in a garden shed in 1951, the incredible images have now been digitised for the first time, revealing remarkable new details.

ABOVE: Herbert Street, Gulgong, 1872 and 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW

Bernhardt Holtermann made his money mining gold in rural NSW, his fortunes peaking with the discovery of the 1.5m long and 286 kg Holtermann nugget, the largest hunk of gold ever found.

Flush with cash, Holtermann bankrolled Victorian photographer Beaufoy Merlin and his young assistant Charles Bayliss on an extraordinary mission: commissioning them to record photos for his great International Travelling Exposition, in the hope the photos would encourage other immigrants to come to Australia and enjoy the same success he had. Not quite Gina Rinehart.

Holtermann Collection: Studios of American & Australasian Photographic Company, Hill End 1872. Photo: State Library of NSW Source: Supplied

Merlin and his young assistant Charles Bayliss began working together in 1869 as the grandly named American and Australiasian Photographic Company, gradually moving north into NSW, recording every town they visited.

Hauling their darkroom on the back of a horse and cart, the new photographic equipment ignited excitement everywhere it went.

ABOVE: Hill End School and pupils, 1872 and 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW

In an age where we all carry cameras in our pockets, it's worth remembering that only a few decades after the medium's invention, 19th century photographers struggled with large cameras on heavy tripods, very long exposures and a tricky photographic process: with no auto preview option.

ABOVE: Great Western Store Hill End, 1872 and 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW

After a tremendous amount of hard work by Davies and his team over the last four years, the State Library of NSW have digitised the entire Holtermann Collection in high resolution, allowing readers to explore old posters on distant walls and bottle labels in pharmacy windows.

ABOVE: Clarke Street, Hill End, 1872 and 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW

ABOVE: Short Street, Hill End, 1872 and 2012. Photo: State Library of NSW

The Greatest Wonder of the World exhibition at the State Library of NSW runs until May 12

Simon Crerar is News Limited's Visual Story Editor, follow him at twitter.com/simoncrerar

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Polls shows NSW, Qld Labor languishing

WA's Opposition Leader has announced Labor would allocate $100 million over four years to combat cancer.

THE latest Newspoll shows support for NSW Labor is at its lowest point for six months as a corruption scandal dims the party's prospects at a state level and federally.

In Queensland, it's not clear if Liberal National Party support is increasing or falling, but voters still rate it well ahead of Labor.

The NSW poll conducted for The Australian newspaper in January and February shows primary support for state Labor at 27 per cent, two points down on a poll conducted in November and December last year.

Labor was last at 27 per cent in a poll conducted in July-August last year after dipping to only 24 per cent in March-April.

Support for the O'Farrell coalition government is up one percentage point, at 46 per cent, indicating a 60-40 split in favour of the coalition in two-party preferred terms.

The poll, published this morning, is bad news for federal Labor, with half of the party's 20 most marginal federal seats in NSW, and big swings against it widely tipped in western Sydney and on the NSW Central Coast.

Polls have shown support for Labor has been slipping since NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption began hearing last year into allegedly corrupt conduct by three former state Labor ministers.

Today's poll result is also bad news for state Opposition Leader John Robertson whose support as preferred premier has slipped back two points to 19 per cent.

PM Julia Gillard at The Lodge for the launch of the Government's new national 'reading blitz'. Picture: Strangeray

Premier Barry O'Farrell's support has risen four points to 48 per cent.

He has 43 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance and 38 per cent dissatisfied compared with 28 per cent satisfied with Mr Robertson and 35 per cent not satisfied.

Two Queensland polls released today reveal differing trends, but both show the LNP would still decisively defeat Labor in an election.

A ReachTEL poll shows primary support for the LNP rose by almost five per cent to 47.1 per cent over the last month, but a Galaxy poll indicates it fell to 43 per cent, down one per cent since November.

Labor's primary support slid by six per cent to 28.9 per cent, according to ReachTEL, but Galaxy respondents put support up at 34 per cent.

Premier Campbell Newman's management during the ex-tropical cyclone Oswald floods impressed ReachTEL respondents, with 20.8 per cent saying he is doing a very good job, up from 18.1 per cent in January.

But Galaxy says Mr Newman's support has fallen, with people unimpressed by his performance rising by four percentage points.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell visiting Coonabarabran. in wesern NSW after fires devastated over 50 homes. Picture: Bullard Simon

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk isn't faring well either with 18.6 per cent of ReachTEL respondents saying she is doing a very poor job, up three per cent since January.

Galaxy shows Ms Palaszczuk has recorded a seven percentage point increase in the number of people dissatisfied with her performance.

The ReachTEL poll shows 0.5 per cent of respondents don't know who Mr Newman is, while 13.5 per cent of respondents have not heard of Ms Palaszczuk.

The response to a separate question in that poll, asking people if they believe the Newman government should lift the ban on uranium mining in Queensland, will be released at a later date.

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New bill on Australia in migration zone

Proposed changes to Australia's migration zone. Picture: Renee Nowytarger Source: The Courier-Mail

A SENATE committee has given the go-ahead for a bill excising the Australian mainland from the migration zone.

But it needs to be amended to require the government to give a full report on processing of asylum seekers to both houses of parliament each year.

The legal and constitutional legislation committee said it was desirable that there be comprehensive reporting arrangements to ensure transparency and accountability of regional processing of  asylum seekers.

"The details to be provided to the parliament should cover issues such as refugee status determination procedures and their outcomes, as well as arrangements for the accommodation, health care
and education of unauthorised maritime arrivals in regional processing centres," the committee said.

In a dissenting report, Greens Senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Penny Wright said the bill should not be passed.

"The primary effects of this bill is that it would extend the punitive offshore processing regime to a new class of people - all asylum seekers who arrive on the Australian mainland," they said.

The legislation, the Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Measures) Bill 2012, seeks to amend migration law to implement a key recommendation of the expert whose report
led to the government reintroducing offshore processing of asylum seekers.

The panel, headed by former defence chief Angus Houston, recommended that arrival by boat anywhere on Australia should not provide a different lawful status than for those who arrived at an
offshore location already excised from the Australian migration zone.

Under the bill, anyone arriving irregularly in Australia waters by boat would be subject to regional processing.

This aims to dissuade people from trying to reach the Australian mainland in a bid to avoid being sent for offshore processing, as would happen if they arrived on Christmas Island or Ashmore Reef.

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Conspiracy Assange claims are 'fantasy'

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has addressed supporters from his London safe haven

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks speaks to the media and members of the public from a balcony at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Assange who faces extradition to Sweden over sexual assault, claims which he denies, took refuge in the embassy in June. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Source: AP

CLAIMS the Swedish prosecution against Julian Assange is part of a conspiracy to have him extradited to the United States is sheer fantasy, and the Wikileaks founder would be safer in Sweden than the UK, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.

Senator Carr said it would be harder to extradite Assange from Sweden than the UK, because "the Swedes say it is our policy ... that we never extradite someone on a matter to related to military or intelligence".

"They just don't do it," he told ABC's Q&A program.

Assange has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London for the past eight months as part of his bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where authorities want to question him over sexual assault allegations.

Assange says he fears the US will seek to extradite him from Sweden to face charges relating to WikiLeaks' release of thousands of classified US documents.

"To suggest that the Swedes are after him as a CIA conspiracy to get him to Stockholm and allowing him to be bundled off to Langley, Virginia is sheer fantasy," Senator Carr said on Monday night.

"If the Swedes had him in Stockholm it would be even more harder for the US to extradite, if that's what they want to do, than he's been for the last two years in the United Kingdom."

US ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, said claims the US wanted to extradite Assange from Sweden were "ludicrous".

"Julian Assange was in London living freely for two years, so if the United States had wanted to extradite him from England they could have done so," ambassador Bleich said.

"We have a more robust extradition treaty with the UK than we have with Sweden.

"There is no reason to come up with some convoluted false charge by two women who claim that he slept with them and forced himself on them without a condom."

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Banks make $80,000 profit on mortgages

Big Four banks making more profit with mortgages. Source: News Limited

BANKS are making a profit of almost $80,000 on each new mortgage customer over the lifetime of the loan - the highest level in almost a decade - making out-of-cycle reductions in lending rates "inevitable" as competition grows.

Experts said the surge in bank profit levels with the Big Four pocketing more than $25 billion last year has been driven in recent months by a huge lift in the profit margin of millions of Australian's home loans.

And UBS analyst Jonathan Mott yesterday warned of a political backlash if the majors didn't cut rates outside of Reserve Bank movements.

There is a real risk politicians will step-in and regulate the market to ensure consumers get a better deal, he said.

The new research shows the banks are making an annual profit of about $2,640 on the average $300,000 mortgage that is being written - this would represent a profit of $79,200 over the lifetime of a 30-year mortgage.

But Mr Mott said the surge in profits stemming from the mortgage sector is being eroded by the the growing losses being made by the bank's generous term deposit rates - which he expects to continue falling over coming months "Banks are in a purple patch," he said.

"Over the last 12 months a rapid reduction in credit spread and mortgage repricing implies that writing a wholesale funded home loan has never been more profitable. And we believe that if the global economy continues to show signs of stability and growth, debt markets continue to rally (reducing wholesale funding costs) leading to an easing in deposit competition, then the banks will be in a position to begin passing through out-of-cycle rate cuts to mortgage customers."

Since this rate-cutting campaign began in November 2011, the Reserve Bank has lowered the official cash rate by 1.75 percentage points to 3 per cent, equal to the "emergency lows" of the financial crisis.

But over the same period on average the Big Four have dropped their mortgage rates by only 1.36 per cent from a peak of 7.79 per cent to the current standard variable rate of 6.42 per cent.Three smaller banks last week cut mortgage rates outside of the Reserve's cycle for the first time, putting pressure on the major banks to lower the standard variable rates (SVR).

After handing down a another bumper profit result Commonwealth chief executive Ian Narev this month conceded the competitive nature of the Australian mortgage market and the fall in funding costs, meant it was "conceivable'' the big banks might cut lending rates even if the Reserve kept the official rate on hold.

But the Australian Bankers Association yesterday said there have been only two periods in the past 23 years when mortgages rates have been lower than today.ABA chief executive Steven Munchenberg said mortgage rates have fallen significantly in the past five years which should be good news for consumer and business confidence.

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Aussies struggle to afford health bills

Ryanne Messina... with 16-month-old Kobie. Picture: Jason Edwards Source: Herald Sun

THERE has been a disturbing increase in the number of Australians downgrading their health insurance or ditching it altogether because they can no longer afford it.

The second-largest insurer, Bupa, with 3.5 million members, has seen a "growing trend" of downgrades and "discontinuances" in recent months.

"We believe (it) is a direct result of government changes - most notably the introduction of means testing of the rebate," a Bupa spokesman said yesterday.

Join the campaign today at www.bighealthinsuranceswitch.com

Have you joined the Big Health Insurance Switch campaign? Want more answers? Chat with Christopher Zinn today from 1.30pm AEDT today about  it below.

This trend is confirmed by initial data from the Big Health Insurance Switch campaign.

Among the first 16,000 to join the movement, 41 per cent said they had been looking to downgrade.

Further evidence comes from the Private Health Insurance Administration Council commissioner Lynn Ralph, who recently told the Federal Government that more people were choosing less cover for a lower premium.

Christopher Zinn explains why you would register with One Big Switch and look at your health insurance options.

"The recent rapid rise in the number of products with important exclusions of cover is a matter for some concern," Ms Ralph said.

"This might indicate that the full cover products offered by insurers have reached their price/value limit with more and more policy holders choosing less cover in exchange for lower prices."

Christopher Zinn shows you how to make One Big Switch on your health insurance.

People are also raising the excess they pay so as to reduce the premium.

At the largest insurer, Medibank, 20 per cent of the 3.7 million members are now on the maximum excess, up from 10 per cent three years ago. The Big Health Insurance Switch aims to deliver relief for the people who can't afford to pay more by creating the first discount cover open to all Australians.

The goal is to reduce the cost by 10 per cent without reducing the level of cover.

The Switch, which is supported by News Limited, passed its initial goal of 25,000 registrations yesterday - the second day of the campaign.

The new goal is 50,000 supporters by March 22.

The 25,001st registrant was Ryanne Messina of the Melbourne suburb of Hadfield.

Ms Messina, who is expecting her second child in June, said she was looking to change insurers because of the cost of her existing cover.

Premiums will rise 5.6 per cent in April after rising 5.1 per cent last year.

Millions of people also lost some or all of the 30 per cent rebate in 2012.

That added as much as 42 per cent to premiums. 

A spokesman for Health Minister Tanya Plibersek yesterday said the Government introduced means testing to make insurance "fairer".

"No longer will working families be subsidising the insurance of the most wealthy," he said.

Addressing revelations that 232,000 faced tax debts for claiming the rebate despite being stripped of it by the Government, the spokesman said: "It is important that people tell their fund what they expect their taxable income to be, so that they receive the rebate for which they qualify."

The Big Health Insurance Switch campaign was "another opportunity to let people know" that needed to contact their insurer.

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