Choppers, 16 crews battle fire

Sinead Duncan took photographs of the fires from Buderim and closer to Kawana Way. "We're just trying to get out of Brightwater at the moment .... it's getting bad." Reader picture: Sinead Duncan Source: Supplied

FIRE crews are asking Sunshine Coast residents to avoid an out-of-control grass fire near Mountain Creek.

3.50pm: Sinead Duncan took photographs of the fires from Buderim and closer to Kawana Way.

"We're just trying to get out of Brightwater at the moment because we've been visiting friends," she said.

"The smoke is still thick and billowing, but thankfully the wind is keeping most of the smoke away from the houses."

The grass fire near Mountain Creek. Picture: QPS/Sara Matulich

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

Jackie Clark said aerial support was trying to control the situation.

"It's getting bad," she said.

Resident Nadine Brooks took these pictures from her vantage point at nearby Grand Pde, Parrearra. Reader picture: Nadine Brooks

"Police, fire and ambulance have set up on Kawana Way."
 

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

Resident Nadine Brooks took these pictures from her vantage point at nearby Grand Pde, Parrearra. Reader picture: Nadine Brooks

3.30pm:  Resident Nadine Brooks said there seemed to be two or three different blazes from her vantage point at nearby Grand Pde, Parrearra.

"It looks like they are moving north," she said.

"We are lucky the smoke is not coming (our) way."

3pm: TRAFFIC is heavy along the Sunshine Coast Motorway thanks to a large grass fire.

Motorists are reporting congestion from the Dixon Rd turnoff to Mountain Creek.

Kawana Way has been closed as 16 fire crews battle the blaze.

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

1pm: The fire at Kawana Way, near Brightwater Estate, was first reported at 11.20am.

Helicopters are currently water bombing the fire between Brightwater Estate and the Chancellor Park area, and 16 fire crews are battling the blaze.

No property is under threat, but a large smoke haze has settled over Mountain Creek and neighbouring suburbs.

Residents have been advised to close windows and doors, with reports of ash the size of fingernails falling on the area.

Motorists using Kawana Way have been urged to drive to conditions.

GALLERY: Reader pictures of Sunshine Coast blaze

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Urban, Lorde receive Grammy nominations

Keith Urban has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Country Duo/Group. Source: AAP

VETERAN rapper Jay-Z topped nominees for the 2014 US Grammys with nine nods, while Taylor Swift and Daft Punk were among those in the running in major categories.

Australia's Keith Urban has been nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for his collaboration with Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift, called Highway Don't Care, while New Zealand teenager Lorde was nominated for four awards, mostly for her debut single Royals.

The 17-year-old schoolgirl, who performed live during the Los Angeles ceremony, is in the running for song of the year, record of the year, best pop solo performance and best pop vocal album for Pure Heroine.

In second place with seven nods apiece were California hip-hop star Kendrick Lamar and rapper Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, as well as Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams, while rapper Drake scored five.

The nominees in key categories were announced during an hour-long concert at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, including video-link performances by Swift from Australia and Katy Perry live from Canada.

In the coveted Album of the Year category, songstress Swift's Red will compete with French electro duo Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's The Heist, Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and Sara Bareilles' The Blessed Unrest.

Record of the Year candidates are Daft Punk and Williams' ubiquitous Get Lucky, Lorde's Royals, Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, Hawaiian crooner Bruno Mars' Locked Out Of Heaven and Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, made infamous by Miley Cyrus' twerking at the MTV Video Music Awards show.

Shortlisted for Song of the Year - for songwriters, as opposed to performers - were Just Give Me A Reason sung by Pink Featuring Nate Ruess; Locked Out Of Heaven sung by Bruno Mars; Roar sung by Katy Perry; Royals sung by Lorde, and Same Love sung by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis was also nominated for Best New Artist, up against James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, Kacey Musgraves and Ed Sheeran.

While big-hitters Jay-Z and Timberlake scored lots of nods, they were mostly in rap and pop/R&B categories respectively. Neither the rapper's heavily marketed Magna Carta ... Holy Grail, nor Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience made it onto the Best Album shortlist.

The 56th annual Grammys show - music's version of the Oscars - will be held on January 26 at the Staples Center.

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Abbott, Shorten to attend Mandela service

PM Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will attend a memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will present a united Australian front to honour and farewell Nelson Mandela.

The pair will this week fly to Johannesburg to join world leaders past and present, mourning the former South African president who died at his home on Thursday (local time) aged 95.

A huge memorial service is planned for the nation's first black leader on Tuesday, with US President Barack Obama already confirming his attendance.

On Saturday Mr Shorten's office said the Labor leader had accepted an invitation from Mr Abbott to accompany the prime minister to South Africa. Both men will miss most of the final 2013 parliamentary sitting week.

It is unknown how long the men will be out of Australia.

"There is a long bipartisan history of Australian support for South Africa and the campaign to abolish apartheid," Mr Abbott said, announcing his intention to attend the service.

After facing criticism for not lowering flags at the news of Mr Mandela's death, Mr Abbott said Australian flags will be set at half mast on the day of the official memorial.

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Barnett won't be rushed on new WA laws

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has defended the state government's efficiency at passing legislation, saying parliamentarians shouldn't be rushed to vote on bills.

The state government has come under fire for not introducing by the end of this year a planned law that would send violent home invaders straight to jail.

It was the first election pledge by the Liberals in February before they convincingly won a second term.

And parliamentary debate over some of the bills that have been introduced has become bogged down, with a proposed law to increase regulation of the taxi industry descending into filibustering.

But Mr Barnett said he wasn't going to rush, reintroducing bills when necessary.

"Given there was a significant number of new members, I was not going to simply reinstate legislation at the stage it was before the election," he told reporters on Friday.

"That would have meant you would have had a significant number of members of parliament voting or conceding, if you like, on legislation that they hadn't had the chance to see.

"So I said we would actually go back and reintroduce legislation that had not finished its passage.

"I think that was a very proper thing to do."

Mr Barnett said he hoped bills on workplace reform, amalgamation of port operators, and the merger of utilities Verve and Synergy would be passed through the upper house next week.

Thursday was the last sitting day of the year for the Legislative Assembly but the Legislative Council has another week.

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Fuel deal a win for consumers, business

CONSUMERS should expect lower grocery prices at Coles and Woolworths in 2014 due to an agreement from the supermarket giants to limit fuel discounts.

Hailed as a win for independent supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths agreed on Friday to limit discounts to a maximum four cents a litre as part of undertakings given to the nation's competition watchdog.

The retail behemoths told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) they would stop funding the discounts through their supermarkets division, and any future discounting would need to be covered by their fuel retailing business.

The chains made the voluntary undertakings to address ACCC concerns their discount offers would reduce competition in the fuel retail sector.

The move comes after the consumer watchdog probed the supermarkets' shopper dockets following extended periods of eight cents a litre discounts.

Coles managing director Ian McLeod said the supermarket chain didn't believe its discounts amounted to a breach of law, but he recognised the ACCC's concerns.

Woolworths, meanwhile, denied there had been a competition problem arising from the discounts.

Consumer advocate Choice said the pledge should mean lower prices at Coles and Woolworths from January 1.

"Consumers have every right to expect grocery prices will fall at Coles and Woolworths as the supermarket giants reverse the flow of subsidies away from fuel," Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey said in a statement.

He said anything less would "expose the so-called price wars as nothing more than advertising slogans".

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said the deal was "the first step in fixing serious misuse of market powers issues".

He told AAP small, independent supermarkets had been "really badly hurt" by deep fuel discounts given by Coles and Woolworths.

"It does give (independent supermarkets) an opportunity to compete on a more level playing field."

The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association, which represents independent service stations, also backed the deal.

"It's not perfect, but we welcome it as a step towards levelling the playing field in the fuel industry," group chief executive Nic Moulis said.

He said about 1000 independent service stations had shut in the past four years, partly due to cost pressure caused by heavy fuel discounts at Coles and Woolworths.

Coles said it would continue to offer fuel discounts of four cents a litre.

Woolworths said it would offer eight cents a litre discounts to supermarket customers who spent an additional $5 on merchandise at its petrol stations.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon said the undertaking would still "lead to the widespread ripping off of supermarket shoppers and petrol station customers".

Senator Xenophon said the fuel discount limit would be offset by Coles and Woolworths "scams" like increased supermarket prices and high fuel prices at the bowser.

"Smaller independent supermarkets and service stations will still be driven out of the market by this unfair system," he added.

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DFAT confirms Dili embassy protest

FEDERAL authorities have confirmed a protest was held outside Australia's embassy in East Timor amid a spying row between the two countries.

About 100 protesters in East Timor's capital Dili reportedly threw rocks at the Australian embassy on Thursday, with police responding by using tear gas.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on Friday confirmed a protest had taken place outside the embassy.

"The Australian Embassy in Dili has advised that a small-scale protest was held outside the embassy on 5 December," DFAT told AAP in a statement.

More details on the protest are being sought from DFAT.

A spokeswoman for East Timor said the protest was small and non-violent. Further details are being sought.

The protesters, mostly students and young Timorese rights activists, carried banners reading "Australia is a thief" and "Australia has no morals", Agence France-Presse reported.

The protest comes after East Timor expressed outrage over reports that Australia secretly bugged ministerial deliberations in Dili in 2004 to gain leverage in negotiations on an oil and gas revenue-sharing deal.

On Tuesday, Australian intelligence agents raided the Canberra office of a lawyer representing East Timor in an arbitration case at The Hague over the deal.

East Timor says it won't be deterred from challenging the multi-billion dollar oil and gas treaty with Australia despite the raid.

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Flames leap 8m high in WA bushfire

FIREFIGHTERS are battling to create containment lines around an out-of-control bushfire with flames up to eight metres high in Western Australia's Mid West region.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said 70 volunteer firefighters were at the scene protecting assets, including homesteads.

The blaze, started by lightning, was reported north of Dongara just after 8am (WST). The fire jumped the Brand Highway and was initially moving fast in a southwesterly direction.

By mid-afternoon it had slowed, and was burning in the same direction towards the ocean.

About 600 hectares have been burnt.

Two fixed-wing water bombers are on standby to assist ground crews if needed.

Loaders, grazers and dozers are being used to create containment lines.

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Hockey works 'miracle' for debt deal: PM

Labor's Chris Bowen says a debt deal between the coalition and the Greens won't boost transparency. Source: AAP

THE political row over Australia's debt ceiling looks set to be resolved early next week with a nod of approval from federal parliament.

Business and economists are relieved the coalition government secured a deal with the Australian Greens to scrap the $300 billion debt ceiling before the limit would have been reached on December 12.

However, as Labor questions how the coalition could stoop to an agreement with the minor party, particularly on debt, the government branded the opposition "hypocrites".

Prime Minister Tony Abbott congratulated Treasurer Joe Hockey on the deal.

"We couldn't get responsibility out of the Labor Party," Mr Abbott told a rowdy parliamentary Question Time on Thursday.

"But (Mr Hockey) did get responsibility out of the Greens, what a miracle worker this treasurer is."

Mr Hockey on Wednesday finalised the agreement to scrap the ceiling in exchange for greater transparency.

The deal requires additional debt reporting in the budget and its updates, and a debt statement whenever borrowings increase by $50 billion.

The Senate considered the Greens' amendments on Thursday but time ran out.

With the government having the numbers in the upper and lower houses, it should be passed on Monday.

Greens leader Christine Milne said the debt ceiling had been a "toxic political tool" that rendered the Australian debate around debt artificial.

But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wondered how the government could enter the "tawdry deal" with the Greens.

Mr Abbott said the government was relying on the Greens to pass one particular piece of legislation, whereas Labor relied on the minority party to survive in government for three years - "really and truly the extraordinary hypocrisy and double standards of the members opposite".

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said the suggestion the new requirements would boost transparency was "a big call".

He accused the Greens of an about-face on debt, saying Senator Milne had originally opposed Mr Hockey's proposal to lift the ceiling to $500 billion.

Mr Hockey said Labor's reaction was "like a husband being upset that their ex-wife went off and had a cup of coffee with some other man".

But Labor MP Kelvin Thomson joked that the Greens-coalition alliance was "a bit more than a cup of coffee".

"I think it's the candle-lit dinner and flowers," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

JP Morgan chief economist Stephen Walters said while the coalition and the Greens did not usually make "comfortable bedfellows" on economic policy, an unfortunate fiscal "mishap" had been avoided.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox strongly supported the removal of the ceiling, describing it as "artificial device" that imposed unnecessary inflexibility and created unhelpful openings for political opportunism.

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Bilateral hotline for Canberra, Jakarta

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has begun face-to-face talks with her Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natelgawa, as part of efforts to heal a diplomatic rift sparked by recent spying revelations.

Ms Bishop arrived at the foreign ministry in Jakarta on Thursday accompanied by senior Australian officials, including former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Dennis Richardson, who is now secretary for the Department of Defence.

Peter Varghese, the secretary for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Andrew Shearer, who was the last foreign policy adviser in John Howard's office and currently a senior adviser for national security to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, have also made the trip to Jakarta.

The visit comes almost three weeks since Indonesia suspended military, intelligence gathering and people-smuggling co-operation after it emerged that Australian spies attempted to tap Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's mobile phone, as well as those of his wife and other close political allies, in 2009.

It is Ms Bishop's fourth trip to Indonesia since the Coalition won office three months ago, but her first since details of the spying came to light.

Dr Natalegawa welcomed Ms Bishop, although he has repeatedly warned in recent weeks and as recently as Wednesday that the talks in Jakarta are only the first step in a long road towards normalising relations.

"Welcome to Jakarta, you're always welcome to Indonesia," Dr Natalegawa said.

"I thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today," Ms Bishop told the Indonesian foreign minister before the talks were closed to the media.

The meeting was expected to take about two hours.

Before leaving Australia on Wednesday, Ms Bishop said in a statement that the "high level delegation" would discus a broad-range of issues regarding the bilateral relationship.

But the meeting comes as relations between Jakarta and Canberra remain at their lowest point since the East Timor crisis in 1999, and amid demands from Dr Yudhoyono for Australia to sign up to a code of conduct that will include guarantees around spying.

Speaking on Wednesday, Dr Natalegawa said he hoped discussions would be "constructive", but warned the onus was very much on Australia in terms of responding to a six-point plan Indonesia insists must be followed if relations are to be repaired.

Asked if there were indications that Australia were willing to sign up to the plan, Dr Natalegawa said he had received positive signals.

"I haven't heard anything to the contrary, which is always a good sign. We wish very much to move forward and to discuss this issue in a positive and constructive way," he said.

Dr Natalegawa also reiterated that Indonesia still wanted a detailed explanation about the spying before negotiations could move forward to the point where the proposed code of conduct would be officially discussed.

"Up to now, it has always been the case that Indonesia and Australia are very close and very pragmatic when dealing with one another," Dr Natalegawa said.

"We need to draw a line and move forward, but before we move forward, we have to be informed about what happened in the past, and assured that there's no more surprises, no more shocks to the system."

Dr Yudhoyono has demanded Australia sign up to the "code of ethics and protocols", insisting it is needed to map out the future bilateral relationship.

The president has insisted that the code of conduct must address the spying issue and contain protocols to ensure similar espionage activities do not occur again, and that it is signed by himself and Mr Abbott.

However, even if the code of conduct is implemented, there would be a period of evaluation, before Indonesia would agree to restoring co-operation in areas such as the military and police, including joint efforts aimed at combating people smuggling.

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Pratt mistress' claim delayed by NSW claim

AN ex-mistress of late cardboard king Richard Pratt will have to wait before she can proceed with her claim on his estate until a claim by another mistress is heard.

Lawyers for Shari-Lea Hitchcock, the mother of Pratt's youngest daughter Paula, appeared in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday wanting her claim for a share of the Pratt estate to be moved to mediation.

Russell Armstrong told the court his client had filed a claim seeking further provision from Mr Pratt's estate but the matter had been delayed by proceedings in NSW.

He told reporters outside the court his client's claim had been launched in 2010 and Ms Hitchcock was seeking a greater share of the estate.

Ms Hitchcock is one of two former mistresses of the late billionaire cardboard magnate seeking money from the Pratt fortune.

Former escort Madison Ashton in 2010 also filed a claim against the Pratt estate, saying Mr Pratt had promised to set up two trust funds worth $2.5 million each for her two children and would pay her $500,000 as a "retainer" to stop working as an escort and become his mistress.

Ms Ashton is appealing the NSW Supreme Court decision to reject her claim.

Leon Zwier, for Mr Pratt's wife Jeanne, told Judge Rita Zammit on Wednesday Ms Ashton's children had also sought to appeal against the NSW decision.

He said it would be a waste of time and the estate's money to proceed in Victoria until the NSW Court of Appeal had heard the claims being made on the estate in that state.

Judge Zammit agreed and adjourned the matter until December 18.

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Government defends ASIO raids

George Brandis says he issued warrants to raid two Canberra homes based on a request from ASIO. Source: AAP

THE federal government has defended ASIO raids on the home of a former spy and his lawyer's office, saying they were done to protect Australia's national security and not to disrupt a legal challenge to a multi-billion dollar oil and gas treaty with East Timor.

Senator Brandis confirmed that Tuesday's raids targeted the Canberra homes of an unnamed former Australian Security and Intelligence Service (ASIS) officer, as well as lawyer Bernard Collaery.

The attorney-general made a statement on the raids to the Senate on Wednesday to clear up "misleading" information.

The warrants to conduct the raids were requested by ASIO director-general David Irvine.

"The attorney-general never initiates a search warrant," Senator Brandis said.

"The request must come from ASIO itself."

On the basis of the intelligence put before him by ASIO, Senator Brandis said he was satisfied the documents and electronic media identified satisfied the statutory tests.

"Therefore I issued the warrants," he said.

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Labor worse than Greens on economics:PM

Tony Abbott has accused Labor of being worse than the Greens when it comes to the economy. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has accused Labor of being worse than the Australian Greens for economic vandalism.

The Greens are in discussions with the government to try and resolve the debt ceiling row before the current $300 billion limit is reached on December 12.

The government wants to raise the debt limit to $500 billion, but Labor wants to limit the increase to $400 billion.

The Greens are happy to scrap the ceiling altogether as long there is greater transparency over why debt is being raised.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten asked Mr Abbott how he could be considering doing a deal with the Greens when he once labelled them "economic fringe dwellers".

"Bad as the Greens are, it wasn't the Greens that gave us the five biggest deficits in Australia's history, it was members opposite," Mr Abbott told parliament on Wednesday.

"I agree that the Greens have been economic fringe dwellers and that just means that members opposite are worse, worse than the Greens when it comes to economic vandalism."

Treasurer Joe Hockey agreed, saying Labor is the party of debt.

"I never would have thought I would be standing at this dispatch box and saying 'the Greens are proving to be more reasonable than the Labor'. I can't believe it," he said.

"Just because you leave us with your problems do not stop us from fixing them."

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NSW girl made up assault claim: police

POLICE say a teenage girl who claimed she was assaulted in Lake Macquarie made the story up.

The 15-year-old told police she was walking along Freemans Drive at Cooranbong on Saturday morning when a man emerged from bushland.

She told police the man grabbed her from behind, placed his hand across her mouth and assaulted her.

The girl ran to a nearby church, where staff called police.

Following further inquiries on Monday, detectives have established the claims were fabricated.

Police say no further action will be taken.

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Commission cases go to police

THE national inquiry into how institutions handled allegations of sex abuse against children has referred 54 matters to authorities, including police.

The royal commission, which has been holding public hearings since September, will open a two-week inquiry in Sydney next Monday into the Catholic Church's Towards Healing process adopted by the church to respond internally to sex-abuse allegations.

This will focus on the experiences of four people who came through that system.

They are Queensland residents who were abused by priests and brothers of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, the Catholic diocese of Lismore and Marist Brothers.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has so far received 8500 phone calls, 3000 emails and 170,000 visits to their website.

In a statement on Monday it said it has also held more that 917 private sessions. These are continuing across the country.

The private sessions form the basis for case studies which are then examined at public hearings.

At the three public hearings in Sydney the commission has heard from 60 witnesses.

The inquiry, which concluded last week, was into how the Anglican Diocese of Grafton handled allegations of abuse at a children's home in Lismore.

The commission also said that as well as the 54 matters referred to authorities, more than 250 notices to produce documents have been served on a range of government and non-government institutions.

The royal commission will bring in an interim report in June of next year.

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RBA commodity price index up again

EXPORT commodity prices started rising again in November.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) index of commodity prices was 0.1 per cent higher in the month, in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) terms, after falling by 0.4 per cent in October.

The price index is measured in terms of special drawing rights (SDRs), an average of four major currencies - the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, and British pound.

The RBA said prices for gold, coking coal and wheat fell.

These were offset by increases in the prices of iron ore and thermal coal.

Over the 12 months to November, the index declined by 1.9 per cent.

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PM stands by election schools promise

PM Tony Abbott has denied the government is breaking its pre-election schools funding promise. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott insists the government will keep the promise it made on school funding before the election - not the promise some people think it made.

But the Opposition's education spokeswoman Kate Ellis says that's just "clever words".

And she hasn't ruled out backing any industrial action by teachers angry at the coalition reneging on school funding deals struck between the former Labor government and a majority of the states and territories.

Before the September election, the coalition said schools would receive the same amount of funding as under the so-called Gonski model.

"We are going to keep the promise that we made, not the promise that some people thought we made or the promise that some people would like us to make. We are going to keep the promise that we actually made," Mr Abbott told Network Ten on Sunday.

The prime minister refused to repeat the promise word for word, but said schools will get "the same quantum of funding over the four years that they would have under Labor".

The coalition will fund schools as planned for 2014 before introducing a new scheme from 2015, which Education Minister Christopher Pyne is trying to nut out with state and territory counterparts.

Labor says the coalition is making excuses.

"The government is clearly determined to break their word - that's what's happening," Labor senator Penny Wong told ABC TV.

"They aren't the government they said they'd be before the election."

Ms Ellis says there's no way the government can justify its move.

"A promise is a promise," she told Network Ten.

"They were very specific in their words before the election ... a promise they have now walked away from."

Ms Ellis said teachers and parents across Australia had a right to be angry about the government's decision and didn't rule out backing industrial action.

"I would certainly support ... us fighting to make sure these huge and important reforms are not tossed aside," she said.

State and territory leaders will get the chance to eyeball the prime minister about school funding at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on December 13.

"It will absolutely be an agenda item," Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings said on Sunday.

"This Gonski reform is one of the top issues."

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, who faces a state election in 2014, said the school funding issue may filter through to be an influencing factor.

"(The government) know that they can't be seen to break a promise so that's why they're pretending that they haven't broken a promise," Mr Weatherill said.

The Australian Education Union accused the prime minister of spinning a line on school funding.

"No school worse off over four years, promised Tony Abbott," Union deputy president Correna Haythorpe said in a statement.

"It's an insult to parents and teachers to hear the prime minister now say that this clear, unambiguous commitment from the Coalition is something 'some people' thought he said, or 'some people' would like him to have said."

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Political violence shakes Thai capital

One protester has been killed after an attack on a bus carrying government's supporters in Bangkok. Source: AAP

THAI police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters trying to force their way into Government House to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, after violence in the capital left two dead and dozens wounded.

The bloodshed is the latest in a series of outbreaks of civil strife in the kingdom since royalist generals ousted billionaire tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother, seven years ago.

The mass street rallies, aimed at replacing Yingluck's government with an unelected "people's council", are the biggest since political violence in Bangkok three years ago left dozens dead in a military crackdown.

Protesters were amassing outside Government House on Sunday following a threat by their leader to seize the offices of Yingluck, who was overseeing the situation from an emergency base elsewhere in the city.

Police acted after protesters tried to breach barricades and cut barbed wire protecting the seat of government, which was heavily guarded by security forces including unarmed soldiers, according to an AFP reporter.

Tear gas was also fired near the city's metropolitan police headquarters several kilometres away where demonstrators were also gathering, television footage showed.

Tensions were high after violence broke out late Saturday in the area around a suburban stadium where tens of thousands of pro-government "Red Shirts" had gathered in support of Yingluck, who has faced weeks of street protests.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths were unclear but the violence came after an anti-government mob attacked Red Shirts arriving to join the rally in Ramkhamhaeng district.

"The confirmed toll is now two dead and 45 injured," an official at the city's Erawan emergency centre told AFP, amid reports of sporadic outbreaks of violence near the stadium on Sunday morning.

They were the first deaths since the mostly peaceful demonstrations began a month ago. Both sides blamed each other for attacking their supporters.

The violence prompted Red Shirt leaders to end their rally, which had drawn tens of thousands of mainly rural poor in support of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile but remains a hugely divisive figure in Thailand.

"In order to avoid further complicating the situation for the government, we have decided to let people return home," Red Shirt leader Thida Thavornseth told the crowd.

Authorities are deploying more than 2,700 troops to reinforce security in Bangkok, the first time a significant number of soldiers have been deployed to cope with the unrest.

Protests were triggered by an amnesty bill, since abandoned by the ruling party, that opponents feared would have allowed the return of fugitive former premier Thaksin, whose overthrow by royalist generals in 2006 unleashed years of political turmoil.

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Call to benchmark drugs to overseas costs

A THINK tank has called on the federal government to benchmark local drug prices with those paid overseas to drive down the cost to local consumers.

The Grattan Institute says the government's "price disclosure" system has failed to lower prices in Australia, which are on average 14 times higher than in the UK.

The price disclosure system takes note of the discounts manufacturers and wholesalers offer pharmacies, and cuts prices accordingly.

However, the Grattan Institute says Australians still paid significantly higher prices than people in the UK, New Zealand and Canada.

"On average, Australian prices remain almost 16 times higher than the best price in these three places," a new report from the think tank said.

Grattan Institute director Stephen Duckett said price disclosure was working, "but it is not working well enough".

Instead, he said the government should benchmark Australian prices against international drug prices.

"In the end, what's happening is the prices that the Australian government is paying are way above what comparable countries pay," Dr Duckett told AAP.

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