Sri Lankan court lifts Fonterra ban

SRI Lanka has lifted a temporary ban imposed on New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, but the company's consumer operations there remain suspended.

Fonterra says a Sri Lankan court has overturned an order preventing it from selling and promoting products in Sri Lanka.

"We have absolute confidence in our products and we are pleased the court has overturned the Enjoining Order," Fonterra Brands managing director Leon Clement said.

However, Fonterra's temporary suspension of its consumer operations would remain in place until the situation in Sri Lanka stabilised, he said.

Protest action outside the company's offices, north of Colombo, on Friday prompted Fonterra to suspended its operations and ask its 755 staff in Sri Lanka to stay home.

The protests and ban followed claims by Sri Lankan authorities traces of the fertiliser chemical dicyandiamide have been found in some Fonterra product. The company and New Zealand scientists dispute the claims.

Fonterra says it is working with Sri Lankan and New Zealand authorities on a long-term sustainable solution to enable it to continue its work in Sri Lanka.

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Shorten dismisses dire Labor poll

FEDERAL Education Minister Bill Shorten says the election will be decided by Australian voters, not opinion polls or newspapers.

Mr Shorten brushed off Saturday's Fairfax-Nielson poll, which after preferences gives the coalition a six-point lead over Labor - 53 per cent to 47 per cent.

"This election will not be decided by newspapers or by opinion polls, it'll be decided by the will of 15 million people voting," he told reporters at a Queensland Teachers Union meeting in Brisbane.

Mr Shorten also made a speech to delegates where he praised teachers and talked up the benefits of Labor's Better Schools plan, saying it was ironic that a lot of Australians would be lining up to vote in school halls built by the Labor government.

"These are good projects and we should never let be taken away from us some elements of the conservative media or those ignorant, book-burning, anti-education rabble who seek to become the government of Australia - the coalition," Mr Shorten told the crowd, which responded with a booming "here, here".

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Fiji constitution an important step: Aust

AUSTRALIA stands ready to support Fiji in making steps towards a return to democracy, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.

Senator Carr says the Fiji government's released its draft constitution and that's an important step forward for that nation's commitment to hold elections by September 2014.

"Australia stands ready to support Fiji in making credible steps towards a return to democracy," Senator Carr said in a statement on Saturday.

"We've provided $2.65 million to support development of Fiji's electoral processes and will continue consultations with other donors and the Fiji authorities to identify further needs."

Fiji's interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum released Fiji's new Constitution on August 22. It is expected to be formally promulgated on September 6.

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Horse play ends in battle for Sydney land

THE horse play is over and the big winners are the residents of Sydney's inner west.

The NSW government has wrapped up an ongoing stoush with a group of horse owners who kept their horses on the land by announcing it will be converted to public parkland for enjoyment by the wider community.

"Something along the lines of Centennial Park for the inner west," said Health Minister Jillian Skinner.

It brings to an end an episode described by Labor MP Luke Foley as the biggest equine scandal since the More Joyous affair.

About 30 privately owned horses were booted from government-owned land at the Yaralla Estate at Concord in May.

Public pressure forced the government to dump a secret deal to move NSW Police horses to the estate and the Sydney Local Health District, which manages Yaralla, then announced it was putting the land out to tender.

This move was dropped last week, sparking hope from the horse owners - who had staged repeated vigils and a demonstration outside parliament - that they might be allowed to return.

But during question time on Thursday, Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the thirteen hectares of paddocks next to Concord Hospital would be converted to public parkland.

"This land has been tied up by a private few, with links to the Labor party I might add, for 16 years," she said.

"I have no doubt the local community joins me in welcoming the decision to open up this magnificent waterfront estate to the wider public."

The move pre-empts the findings of an upper house committee which had been looking into the possibility of allowing the land to be used by members of the public to stable their horses.

"This will increase access to the estate for the wider community rather than the previous limited use of the paddocks by a small private group for horse agistment," Ms Skinner told parliament.

She said an audit of the land had found it was in poor condition, and a risk to public safety, following years of use by the horses.

She said there had also been complaints that two horses had been found on the hospital's helipad and another in a resident's backyard.

Yaralla Estate was bequeathed to the state in 1938.

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Activist avoids jail for helicopter attack

A PEACE activist has avoided imprisonment for his role in damaging an Australian army helicopter in central Queensland.

A Rockhampton District Court jury on Thursday found Graeme Dunstan, 71, guilty of damaging Commonwealth property at Rockhampton airport in 2011.

Fellow activist Bryan Law used a garden mattock to smash a small hole in a Tiger helicopter on July 21, 2011.

Law died earlier this year.

Dunstan drove Law to the airport and opened the airport gate.

Judge Nick Samios sentenced Dunstan to two years' imprisonment, suspended immediately, and placed him on a three-year good behaviour bond.

Dunstan was ordered to pay $162,681.63 in reparation.

The court heard the helicopter was grounded for four months.

Dunstan said he had no regrets about the attack, which was inspired by a line from the Bible predicting the end of war: "They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks".

"We did manage to put the helicopter on trial and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on trial," Dunstan told AAP.

He said money would be deducted from his pension payments to pay off the reparation order, but given the size of the sum it was unlikely the full amount would be recovered.

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Toll says slowdown makes forecasts hard

THE slowdown in the mining sector and the uncertain business environment make it difficult to predict earnings for the year ahead, says transport and logistics firm Toll Holdings.

"It is too early to be certain about the shape of overall group earnings in 2014," Toll said on Thursday.

The company made a net profit of $85 million in the 2012/13 financial year, up 31 per cent from the previous year, on the back of solid earnings from its Australian businesses.

Managing director Brian Kruger said Toll was focused on doing more with its existing global businesses.

When one-off financial items were excluded from Toll result, its underlying profit was up three per cent in 2012/13 to $283 million.

One-off charges of $190 million included an impairment on Toll's Global Forwarding business, which provides international freight services, offset by smaller gains on the sale of several businesses.

The Global Forwarding business experienced a sharp decline in earnings, with air and ocean freight carriers continuing to perform poorly due to excess capacity and weak demand.

Its Global Resources business, providing services to the resources industry, generated earnings growth, boosted by the gas sector but tempered by a downturn in the coal sector.

Toll shares gained seven cents to $5.36.

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McGurk killer planned to take rat poison

AFTER murdering debt collector Michael McGurk, hitman Haissam Safetli says he planned to confess to "everything" then take rat poison in a bathroom.

Safetli was sentenced to at least six-and-a-half years in jail earlier this month for the murder of Mr McGurk, who was shot outside his Cremorne home in Sydney's north on September 3, 2009.

During his first day of giving evidence at the committal hearing of his co-accused, property developer Ron Medich and alleged triggerman Christopher Estephan, Safetli said that in the weeks before his October 2010 arrest he planned to go to the NSW Crime Commission and take the rap.

"I was going to go down to the Crime Commission and take responsibility for everything and say I did everything and no one else was involved," he told Central Local Court on Wednesday.

"And then I would ask to go to the bathroom and take rat poison."

Estephan's barrister Gregory Farmer SC put to Safetli that he had in fact gone to police with the view of minimising his role in the murder.

"No not really," Safetli replied.

His response prompted an outburst from a member of the gallery, who shouted: "Yes you did, you shot him you piece of s***".

As the man was pulled from the court by a sheriff, he yelled, "you set up a 19-year-old boy for the murder".

Like his co-offenders Lucky Gattellari and Senad Kaminic, Safetli has received a heavy discount on his prison term for giving evidence against Medich and Estephan.

The crown alleges that Medich, embroiled in several legal disputes with Mr McGurk, conscripted Gattellari to kill him.

Safetli says he and Estephan, then 19, went to Mr McGurk's home and the teenager fired the fatal shot.

During the hearing, Safetli told the court that Estephan was one of four men he had approached to help carry out the hit on Mr McGurk.

As Gattellari continued to place pressure on him, Safetli said he felt "stuck" and "had no choice".

"You were walking around asking anyone you met if they could do the job," Mr Farmer put to him.

"Don't make it sound like I had an ad in the trading post," Safetli replied.

The hearing continues before Magistrate Jan Stevenson.

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SA to pitch new idea to save Holden

SOUTH Australia wants to pitch a new idea to auto giant General Motors to try to help secure the future of Holden's Australian car making operations.

As well as seeking a commitment from Holden to produce two new vehicles for the domestic market from 2016, Premier Jay Weatherill says the state government believes SA can play a wider role in GM's global operations.

That would include producing a right-hand-drive model in Adelaide that could be sold into regional markets.

"That's a role that we want to pitch with General Motors internationally, and we think that they will be receptive to that," the premier said after talks with Holden chairman and managing director Mike Devereux in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Mr Weatherill presented the Holden boss with a contract the government wants the company to sign in return for $50 million in assistance.

He said progress was made but the government needed safeguards and assurances about job numbers in Adelaide and over Holden's ongoing support for the component sector.

So far Holden is sticking firmly to its plan to wait until after the federal election before making any firm commitments.

It will have detailed discussions with the incoming government and won't finalise any agreements with state governments until after those talks.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall criticised Mr Weatherill's trip to Melbourne as an example of the premier jumping on planes and calling press conferences just to demonstrate he was doing something.

He said the state opposition remained fully committed to Holden but needed to ensure any agreement flowed from a proper cost-benefit analysis and offered support for the entire auto supply chain.

"We need to sit down and do a deal which is good for Holden, good for the workers but also good for South Australia," Mr Marshall said.

"We can't have a situation where we just write out a blank cheque to a foreign company with no safeguards for the investment that we'll be making."

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Bad loans hit Suncorp for the last time

Suncorp has posted a 32% drop in net profit due to losses from its non-core of "bad bank" portfolio. Source: AAP

SUNCORP is focused on growing its insurance and banking operations after its annual profit was weighed down for the last time by its exposure to bad loans.

The financial services firm made a net profit of $491 million in the 2012/13 financial year, a drop of 32 per cent from $724 million in the previous year.

The result included a $632 million loss from what the company calls its 'non-core bank' - a portfolio of commercial loans that have weighed on the company due to the impact of the global financial crisis.

Suncorp sold off the last of those loans to Goldman Sachs in July.

The group's profit from operations excluding the non-core bank was $1.23 billion, up 19 per cent from the previous year.

Profit from Suncorp's general insurance division, which owns brands including AAMI, GIO, Apia and Shannons, almost doubled to $883 million, as the volume of policies it wrote increased.

Suncorp bank made a profit of $289 million, the same as in the previous year.

Its life insurance business was hit by increased discount rates, and its profit of $60 million was down from $251 million in the previous year.

Chief executive Patrick Snowball said the year had been a major turning point for the company.

"Everyone at Suncorp is now firmly focused on the future and driving value from our core franchise," he said.

Morningstar analyst David Ellis said he expects Suncorp's continued cost savings will help to deliver future profit growth.

"The sale of the non-core bank is a relief and enables the group to focus on the profitable core businesses," he said.

Suncorp will pay its shareholders a final dividend of 30 cents per share, and a special dividend of 20 cents per share.

Its shares gained 19 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $12.60.

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Aust ferry owner faces mass charges in PNG

AAP Papua New Guinea Correspondent

PORT MORESBY, Aug 20 AAP - An Australian expat is facing as many as 162 charges of manslaughter following an investigation into last year's sinking of the Rabaul Queen.

Peter Sharp, who owned the ferry when it sank in rough weather off Lae in February 2012, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon in Rabaul, in PNG's East New Britain province.

PNG radio station Legend FM is quoting police as saying Mr Sharp was charged on Tuesday afternoon with 162 counts of manslaughter and one count of operating an unseaworthy vessel.

He is also being charged with negligence.

When contacted by AAP, police would only confirm Mr Sharp was being interviewed.

"He is facing charges," assistant commissioner Anton Billie told AAP.

"The men are interviewing him now."

The exact death toll from the disaster is unknown because Mr Sharp's company, Rabaul Shipping, did not have a complete passenger manifest.

There were as many as 350 people aboard the ferry when it sank.

An official inquiry found the ferry was unsafe, overloaded and should not have been at sea.

Mr Sharp is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.

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Meagher killer should have been locked up

Jill Meagher's killer should have been locked up after he admitted breaching parole, a report says. Source: AAP

JILL Meagher's killer should have been locked up after he admitted breaching parole months before he raped and murdered the Melbourne woman, a report has found.

In a scathing review of the Victoria's parole system, former High Court justice Ian Callinan found it was "not easy to understand" why the serial rapist wasn't jailed when he was convicted of assaulting a man about eight months before he killed Ms Meagher.

"He ought to have been known by then to be a recidivist serious, violent, sexual offender, with a history of being so from a young age and with an established pattern of doing so," he wrote in the report, released on Tuesday.

Bayley was on bail while he appealed the assault sentence and on parole for multiple rapes when he killed Ms Meagher as she walked home from a Melbourne pub in September last year.

"The Parole Board had both cause and opportunity to cancel Bayley's parole," Mr Callinan said.

The case is one of more than a dozen recent murders by parolees in Victoria that were examined as part of Mr Callinan's review.

His 122-page report describes a parole board that is overworked, mismanaged and focused on releasing offenders, not community safety.

"It has proved to be too easy for serious violent and sexual offenders to obtain and to remain on parole," the report said.

In Bayley's case, his parole file was "ill-organised" and didn't even include the names of those who released him in 2010 for rape convictions.

He did not even have to appear before the board to be granted parole.

The board has no computer database and members make parole decisions in a matter of minutes in most cases, the report found.

It recommends the parole board overhaul its priorities so violent offenders are only released when there is a "negligible" risk of reoffending.

Serious offenders should also face a two-stage parole review before being released and be forced into applying themselves rather than have their cases heard automatically, the report said.

Premier Denis Napthine agreed with the recommendations as he introduced a string of further changes designed to make community safety the top priority of the parole board.

"The consequences have been totally and utterly unacceptable," he said of past parole system failures.

"That will change and that will change from today."

But victims are angered it took so many deaths to finally prompt action.

"The warning bells were ringing many, many years ago," said Steve Medcraft of the People Against Lenient Sentencing.

"Twelve people have died to make them accountable."

The mother of Sarah Cafferkey, who was murdered by a killer nine days after his parole ended, said she never should have needed to put pressure on the government.

"It's disgusting," Noelle Dickson said.

But justice advocate Peter Norden cautioned that the system needs better supervision of parolees, not just barring prisoners from release.

"What we'll see is people warehoused in prison for another year or two, and then released without effective supervision," he said.

The government has already moved to make breaching parole a crime and plans on giving police greater powers to deal with those who breach parole.

The state opposition stressed how more funding was key while the Adult Parole Board vowed it's ready for more change.

Dr Napthine said most of the board will be replaced within a year.

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Labor, coalition battle over leave scheme

LABOR has seized on the coalition's inability to say how it will fund a $5.5 billion a year parental leave scheme as evidence spending cuts will be hidden until after the election.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and senior coalition frontbenchers could not specify how the scheme would be funded, or the role of the states, when quizzed about it on Tuesday.

The coalition, which opinion polls say will win government on September 7, offers women six months' leave on full pay, capped at $75,000, plus superannuation for each baby born from July 1, 2015.

Part of the funding will come from a 1.5 per cent levy on about 3000 companies, the scrapping of Labor's existing scheme and an end to "double dipping" by federal public sector workers.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the coalition's budget management was a key question for voters.

"Every day this is like a train wreck unfolding," he said while campaigning in Brisbane.

"You've got huge challenges on the costings.

"Mr Abbott, because he believes he's already won this election, believes he can arrogantly not tell ordinary Australians where he's going to cut."

Mr Abbott said the scheme was "fully funded and fully costed" and rejected criticism it was a "Rolls Royce" scheme.

"This isn't a question of being generous - it's a question of being fair," he said.

However, he declined to say what proportion of the scheme would be funded by the company levy or commit to a cost-benefit analysis.

Shadow assistant treasurer and campaign spokesman Mathias Cormann said it had been costed at $6.1 billion over the forward estimates and at $5.5 billion a year "once it is in train".

Further funding details would be released "in the normal course of events".

"Contrary to what Labor is asserting, there will be no cuts, absolutely no cuts, in any other programs to fund our paid parental leave scheme," Senator Cormann said.

The states have been drawn into the debate because their public servants would have the option of shifting to the federal scheme, meaning there could be some shift of funds to the commonwealth.

West Australian Liberal premier Colin Barnett was adamant WA wouldn't contribute any money to the federal scheme.

However, the WA government on Tuesday said it understood a federal coalition government would fund the "gap" between its scheme and state schemes.

South Australian Labor premier Jay Weatherill said he was in the dark about the details, but Queensland and NSW have said they will back it.

Mr Abbott said he would have an "adult discussion" with the premiers after the election if he won.

Education Minister Bill Shorten said the release of the coalition's costings - expected in the final week of the campaign - would be a turning point for Labor's fortunes.

Meanwhile, a Liberal candidate whose personal website contained lewd and sexist content has resigned, after Mr Rudd challenged Mr Abbott to disendorse him.

Kevin Baker, contesting former Labor minister Greg Combet's NSW seat of Charlton, was forced to shut down his "Mini-Mods" forum site for car enthusiasts.

The site contained references to incest, domestic violence, racism and child abuse.

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Pistorius back in court

Prosecutors in South Africa are set to indict Oscar Pistorius for murdering his girlfriend. Source: AAP

PARALYMPIAN sprint star Oscar Pistorius is back in court in South Africa with prosecutors expected to formally charge him with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and confirm a trial date.

Looking subdued, the 26-year-old double amputee walked into the Pretoria court wearing a black suit and light blue shirt, and started praying with his sister Aimee and brother Carl, holding hands with them and crying.

Pistorius is back in the dock for a procedural hearing six months after shooting dead Steenkamp in the bathroom of his upmarket Pretoria home on Valentine's Day.

The platinum blonde cover girl and law graduate, who died with gunshot wounds to the head, elbow and hip, would have turned 30 on Monday.

Pistorius, who is out on bail and faces a life sentence if found guilty, has denied murder, saying he shot Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.

Prosecutors are expected to unveil a 10-page indictment for premeditated murder against the "Blade Runner", according to sources close to the investigation.

Pistorius may receive two further charges of discharging a gun in public as the state tries to cast him as aggressive and trigger-happy, according to local media reports.

Pistorius allegedly fired a gun through the sunroof of an ex-girlfriend's car, and earlier this year reportedly discharged a gun by accident at a Johannesburg restaurant.

A former girlfriend is reportedly on the state witness list.

Monday's hearing is expected to be brief and lawyers have already agreed to start the trial in 2014 amid backlogs in the South African courts. It should run for around a month.

"The trial will be in March next year. It will be from the first week of March until end of March," his attorney Kenny Oldwage, told AFP.

A single senior judge will hear the case as South Africa does not have a jury system.

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Legal blow for massive Browse gas hub

DEFIANT West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has attempted to shrug off the embarrassing legal defeat which places even more doubt around the proposed multi-billion dollar gas hub in the Kimberley.

Mr Barnett's dream of a massive onshore gas hub at James Price Point was dealt yet another blow on Monday, when WA's Chief Justice Wayne Martin ruled the environmental approval for the project was unlawful.

The proposed scheme was already in limbo, after energy giant Woodside announced earlier this year it would instead consider processing Browse Basin gas on a vessel stationed far offshore.

On Monday, Justice Martin gave the government another major headache, handing down damning verdicts on its environmental approval process.

Mr Barnett described the ruling as "regrettable" - and signalled the government would fight on.

"The decision relates to the process ... he did not in any way question the environmental conditions or approvals themselves," Mr Barnett said.

"All the environmental evidence and surveys and research has been done over many, many years. I am confident that still stands.

"It is now simply up to the state government to resubmit the environmental evidence and the recommendations on conditions attached to the use of James Price Point. That is, in all likelihood, what we will do."

The Wilderness Society, and Goolarabooloo elder Richard Hunter, had argued conflicts of interest in the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) assessment process resulted in just one EPA board member - chairman Paul Vogel - making the final decision.

They also said the state's then-environment minister Bill Marmion had erred by granting his approval despite the conflicts. Chief Justice Martin agreed with both arguments.

"The minister's statement that the Browse LNG Precinct proposal could be implemented subject to conditions was not a valid exercise of the powers conferred upon the minister," the judgment said.

Peter Robertson of The Wilderness Society says the onshore project is now "dead and buried".

"Premier Colin Barnett must face facts, drop this unhealthy obsession," Mr Robertson said.

He also called on both Mr Vogel and Mr Marmion to resign, which Mr Barnett dismissed.

Mr Hunter said the ruling was also a vindication for the land's traditional owners.

"Our people are strong - we won't be bullied into a corner by the government," Mr Hunter said.

After Woodside dumped plans for a liquefied natural gas processing facility at James Price Point in April, the WA government went ahead with acquiring the land, saying it wanted to keep the area available for future projects.

Asked why the WA government would not simply abandon its bid, Mr Barnett said: "I don't give up".

It is open to the WA government to appeal against the ruling, but the Wilderness Society warned it would then cross-appeal.

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Steenkamp uncle forgives Pistorius

Reeva Steenkamp's uncle says he has already forgiven Oscar Pistorius (pic) for killing the model. Source: AAP

REEVA Steenkamp's uncle has said he has already forgiven Oscar Pistorius for killing her.

Mike Steenkamp said the family have coped with her death by concentrating on her life rather than how she died.

In an interview on ITV's Daybreak, Mr Steenkamp said: "I think from the beginning and onset that we decided that we could never be sidetracked from Reeva's life, and I think that's helped us tremendously.

"I just think of Reeva's life. How happy she was, and what she actually meant to the family. Not only to her own parents, but to her cousins and myself and my wife. She was an exceptional person."

He said he has forgiven Pistorius, who is appearing at Pretoria Magistrates' Court on Monday, for killing his niece because of his firm believe in God.

He added that the family have not faced the Paralympic champion in court but would want to know the outcome of the case.

"We haven't attended anything and we haven't actually applied our minds to the court case or Oscar's side," he said.

"I know my brother and his wife would like to know at the end of the day why, quite rightly so. And I think that will come out."

Pistorius's friend Mike Kendrick also appeared on the program and said his loved ones were worried about his mental state.

"He's not doing well," he said.

Asked about reports that Pistorius, who is on bail, is throwing himself into training, Mr Kendrick said this was untrue.

"He's unable to do that mentally and the family is focused on getting him into a state of mind where he can defend himself properly," he said.

"He's a very withdrawn character at the moment and they are worried about him."

Mr Kendrick said he had not been able to discuss what happened on the night Ms Steenkamp died.

"He just breaks down when he talk about it," he said.

"He's lost the love of his life, albeit by his own hand and he admits that, he was the first to admit it. But I'm not really asking him too much because I want to see what happens.

"Let's get that facts out there so we can all make some informed judgments."

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Our robot future on display in Brisbane

Robot farming is just one possibility that was on display at the robot convention in Queensland. Source: AAP

SWARMS of robots tend to crops in central Queensland.

A robotic clone hosts a lecture at a Brisbane university for his master, who is more than 7000km away in Japan.

A band plays while flying robots light up the sky around them.

This isn't the future. It's Robotronica - a futuristic event held at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane on Sunday.

QUT creative director Jonathan Parsons says the event doesn't just showcase future possibilities, but highlights how advanced robotics presently is.

"We tend to use the term robots when it's something a bit alien or strange, but in the '50s dishwashers were robots, but we don't refer to them as that anymore," he told AAP.

"Now their completely part of the fabric of our society and one day, all these things will be too."

Swarm Farm Robotics Director Andrew Bate says his project is the future of agriculture.

One his farm near Emerald in central Queensland, Mr Bates is developing small tractors that will operate unmanned with others in a swarm, to replace the bulky, expensive models currently used.

"We keep getting bigger and bigger, but now the focus is on being smaller and more efficient," Mr Bate said.

"It's better for the soil and it's far more cost effective."

The star of the show was Geminoid, a robotic "clone" of his creator, Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro.

Geminoid, who blinks and has other subconscious human traits, had his crowd entranced when he re-presented a lecture his creator did at QUT just days before.

Robotics workshops and a gig from Brisbane pop group 7-Bit Hero, who incorporate smart phone gaming with their live show, was also featured at the event.

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PNG committed to boat deal: Rudd

Kevin Rudd insists Papua New Guinea is committed to his hardline asylum seeker resettlement plan. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea stand by their agreement that asylum seekers arriving by boat will be sent to PNG for processing and eventual settlement, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

Mr Rudd was queried on Sunday about the deal, signed on July 19, after PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill told Fairfax Media he had not agreed to settle all asylum seekers processed on Manus Island and found to be genuine refugees.

Mr O'Neill was reported as saying Australia would need to take back a share of them.

Mr Rudd said his PNG counterpart was simply reaffirming the conditions of their deal.

"These are all contained and outlined in absolute detail in the agreement that we reached with Papua New Guinea," he told reporters in Sydney.

"He stands by that, I stand by it and frankly, it's there in black and white."

On Saturday night, Mr O'Neill said PNG was "100 per cent committed" to the deal.

"People who are found to be refugees ... will be settled in Papua New Guinea and other participating countries in the region," he said in short statement.

"They will not be returned to Australia under the agreement."

Meanwhile, Immigration Minister Tony Burke says media reports that people smugglers are now offering to fly asylum seekers to Australia show Labor's hardline policies are discouraging people from taking dangerous boat journeys.

Some asylum seekers in Indonesia are apparently being told they can fly to Australia on fake tourist visas to sidestep the Rudd government's Pacific resettlement policy.

"This is just another desperate measure from people smugglers realising that the game's up," Mr Burke told reporters in Sydney.

Mr Burke denied flying was a loophole available to asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.

"If they could have gotten away with this they would have tried it years ago," he said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison also sought to downplay the report.

"We have very strong controls on who can get on planes and who can get into the country," he told ABC television.

"That's why people get on boats and pay people smugglers many times over what they would pay to get on an airplane to come to Australia."

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Fears for 3yo girl's missing NSW parents

SHE is a pre-schooler whose name is Monique or Nikki.

But that's all the little girl, who is aged about three, has been able to tell police after she was found wandering along a street at Springfield on the NSW Central Coast about 10am (AEST) on Sunday.

By Sunday evening, fears were growing for the welfare of her parents, who have not yet come forward to claim her.

Police officers spent the day canvassing the local area, but no one was able to shed light on the child's identity.

A photo of Monique went viral on the NSW Police Facebook page, garnering 167,000 views in just a few hours, a police spokesman told AAP.

The little girl is described as having shoulder-length blonde hair, green eyes and pierced ears.

She was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt bearing the logo 'CUTE', pink three-quarter-length pants and pink slip-on shoes when she was found.

The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) has been alerted.

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