A ROCKFALL has trapped two men on a mountain ledge in Victoria.
A search helicopter and specialist rope teams have been sent to Mt Sturgeon, in the state's west, in a bid to rescue the pair.
Police received a mobile phone call from the men, aged 36 and 26, after the fall occurred about 1.30pm (AEST).
It is understood they do not have climbing harnesses.
A 15-YEAR-OLD boy was one of three people who suffered burns when a boat caught fire on the Murray River in South Australia.
The fire broke out at 12.15pm (CST) on the boat which was near the Morgan boat ramp north of Adelaide.
Police said four people were on board and managed to get to shore before the boat sank.
All were injured with three requiring hospital treatment for burns.
The boy suffered burns to his face and was taken to Waikerie Hospital.
A man and a woman, both in their 20s, were airlifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with burns to their faces, an ambulance spokeswoman said.
All remain in a serious but stable condition.
PM Tony Abbott's dad says 'Tony is the world's worst tipster' when it comes to horse racing. Source: AAP
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott may know about politics but he's not so good when it comes to horse racing - just ask his dad.
"Tony would be the worst tipster in the world on racing," Dick Abbott said of his son during a short break from their lunch outing at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Mr Abbott and his wife Margie had accompanied Mr Abbott's parents to day two of the rich new Championships carnival at Randwick.
The prime minister was in an upbeat mood, saying his day had started well with a 55km bike ride.
"And now I can I guess eat and drink to my heart's content this afternoon," he said.
Mr Abbott was not answering questions about a week of highs and lows that saw him welcome the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, to Australia on the same day his NSW Liberal colleague Barry O'Farrell resigned as state premier in sensational circumstances.
"I guess this is a week of sad endings and happy beginnings," Mr Abbott said.
The one tip staunch monarchist Mr Abbott was prepared to volunteer was for Carlton House, a horse owned by Queen Elizabeth and trained by Gai Waterhouse.
"I guess it couldn't have a better owner and you couldn't have a better trainer," the prime minister said.
He wasn't doing his own betting, however.
"I've sought advice and I've given $50 to my racing investment adviser and I've asked him to try to make sure he comes back with more than $50," Mr Abbott said, not revealing who that adviser might be.
Mr Abbott was filling in for the visiting royals, who were unable to attend Randwick for the presentation to the winner of the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday afternoon.
The outing was also a belated 90th birthday treat for Mr Abbott senior.
The prime ministerial party dined in the Directors' Room in Randwick's new grandstand as guests of Racing NSW with broadcaster Alan Jones and former News Limited boss John Hartigan at their table.
On the menu were starters of king prawns, rock oysters and Alaskan king crab while the main course was a choice of veal fillet and rock lobster medallions or poached pink snapper fillet with gingered kumera.
Dick and Mr Abbott's mother Fay are keen racegoers and have been members at Randwick for 35 years.
"I first came to the Randwick track in the 1960s when I was a kid," Mr Abbott said.
"Visits have been few and far between since then."
The PM said it was "nice to be able to give something back to your parents".
Fay Abbott said she favoured It's a Dundeel.
"I think it might be a quinella race - the Queen's horse Carlton House and It's a Dundeel," she said.
SURGEONS in Delhi have found 12 small gold bars inside a man complaining of pain in his gut, a news report says.
The 63-year-old businessman swallowed the 33 gram bars, known as gold biscuits, in Singapore and arrived in India on March 28, the Times of India reported on Friday.
But he was unable to recover them after they lodged in his small intestine, despite drinking lots of water and taking laxatives.
On April 7, the man requested surgery saying he had swallowed a water bottle cap and it was hurting.
He went into surgery on April 9 after X-rays confirmed the presence of foreign metal. When doctors unexpectedly struck gold, they informed the police and customs department.
Customs officials impounded the bullion, worth an estimated 1.2 million rupees ($A21,289.01), and the businessman was taken into police custody on Tuesday.
"He is a wealthy man with a good business in Chandni Chowk," said CS Ramachandran, the doctor who treated him.
"It is both surprising and shocking to know that he could do something like this."
There has been a spike in gold smuggling since the government imposed a 10 per cent duty on gold bullion imports in April, up from eight per cent.
AS General Motors executives show off their newest cars and trucks in New York this week, analysts are watching for signs that consumers are shying away from the ones sitting on dealer lots.
Many expect GM sales to take a hit from a mishandled recall of small cars, though it's unclear when and how severe.
Any decline would hurt the automaker's market share and potentially its credit rating.
Concerned investors have sent GM stock to a 10-month low.
Data collected from dealers by JD Power and Associates show GM US sales fell 6.3 per cent in the first five days of April compared with a year ago, while the overall market dropped just 0.3 per cent.
The same data show an even larger decline for Ford Motor Co.
April is expected to be a rebound month in the US after a rough winter, and analysts expect sales to pick up in the month's second half.
GM began recalling 2.6 million small cars worldwide in February to replace faulty ignition switches.
The company says at least 13 deaths have been linked to the switch problem. CEO Mary Barra's appearance before congress this month drew even more attention to the issue.
Historically, big, highly publicised safety problems eventually affect sales, said Jesse Toprak, chief analyst for the car-buying site Cars.com.
GM's sales weren't hurt in February or March, but data from April is starting to show weakness, Toprak said.
He said buyers trying to decide between a GM brand car and a rival "might just take GM from their consideration list, thinking that it's not worth it".
Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of sales forecasting for LMC Automotive, an industry consulting firm, expects GM sales to show a gain this month, but only about half the 8 per cent increase he forecasts for the industry overall.
The recall might have an impact, but GM has also been struggling to match Ford and Chrysler in pickup sales, he said.
Schuster doesn't think GM's market share will plunge as much as Toyota's did in 2010, when it recalled millions of cars because of unintended acceleration.
The difference - GM no longer makes most of the cars it's recalling. In 2010, Toyota was recalling cars currently on sale.
In the second half of that year, Toyota sales fell more than 8 per cent.
For the full year, Toyota's share of the US market dropped 1.5 percentage points, according to Autodata Corp.
So far this year, GM's sales are down 2 per cent, but its car sales have outperformed the market, rising 3.4 per cent through March. And they could be helped later this year by models being introduced at the New York International Auto Show.
GM will display a freshened Chevrolet Cruze compact for 2015, a high-performance Corvette convertible and a new small SUV that gives Chevy an entry in one of the hottest-selling market segments.
A sales decline or increased use of discounts could have broader repercussions for GM. The Standard and Poor's ratings agency last week said the recalls could prevent GM's credit rating from returning to investment grade for the first time since 2005.
The agency warned that it is watching for "any significant deterioration" in GM sales. GM's US market share in March was 16.7 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points from a year ago.
Ford Motor Co, GM's chief US rival, is also off to a slow start in April, according to the JD Power data, with sales down 10 per cent for the first five days.
Buckingham Research analyst Joseph Amaturo said this confirms his view that Ford will lose market share due to a lack of new models.
Through March, Ford's car sales were down 7 per cent, while truck sales were off 0.4 per cent. He expects GM sales to improve through the month.
Several GM dealers say their sales haven't been hurt by the recalls, with some reporting better months than last year thus far.
"I haven't noticed any impact on sales at all," said Anthony Augelli, owner of a Buick-GMC dealer in Gurnee, Illinois, north of Chicago.
GM CEO Mary Barra, in a speech ahead of the New York show, said the company's retail sales to individual buyers were up 7 per cent last month, higher than the rest of the industry.
In addition, GM's average sale price set a record at $US34,000 ($A36,400), up about $US2000 from February and more than $US3800 from last year, she said.
Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of the Americas, said on Tuesday that sales were so strong at the end of March, it caused a slowdown at the start of April. The rest of the month should be stronger, he said.
GM shares rose 81 US cents, or 2.5 per cent, to close at $US33.36.
They are down 6 per cent since the string of recalls started on February 13.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will join thousands of Australians at the Royal Easter show. Source: AAP
IT'S been a very Good Friday for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and for their host - Sydney.
The bright young stars of the British royal family have attracted thousands to every event they've had since arriving in Australia on Wednesday, and this perfect, autumn day was no different.
From their visit to the Royal Easter Show to stepping onto the famous sands of Manly beach, there was no let up in the enthusiasm.
Kate wowed by wearing a white cotton lace dress by Australian designer sisters, Nicole and Simone Zimmermann to Friday's events.
But it wasn't just about cheering crowds. The royal couple also spent an hour with sick children and their families at the Bear Cottage hospice in Manly, one of only two such hospices in Australia and a cause very close to Kate's heart.
The duchess, who is royal patron of the East Anglia Children's Hospice in the UK and has also visited children's hospices in Malaysia and New Zealand.
In her first speech of the Australian visit, the duchess told parents, staff and kids, it was "wonderful to be here today".
"The haven that you have created here is inspirational, and there is so much that you can share with each other as you continue to support and nurture those in your care," the duchess told the packed room that included Prime Minister Tony Abbott and NSW Premier Mike Baird.
She also used the opportunity to thank Australia for their welcome.
"To be here together as a family has been very special and we will always remember it with fond and happy memories," she said.
"Thank you for inviting us here and for such a generous welcome."
Everyone who has had the chance to say hello to Kate or William - or just catch a glimpse of them - has been delighted.
Sophie Martyr, 16, was still shaking after making the presentation to the royal pair at Bear Cottage.
"It was amazing, it was unforgettable," she told AAP.
At the show, Margaret Bryant and her pals Margaret Wright and Marie Whiteman - all in their 80s - arrived in Sydney from Cowra at 3am (AEST) to see the Cambridges.
"They're such a lovely couple. They're so much in love," Ms Bryant from Cowra told AAP.
"I thought they were spectacular and I'm glad they've come," Ms Wright said.
Kate and William took in some displays at the show, with Kate light-heartedly ribbing her husband when inspecting a display featuring alpaca wool.
"The princess said (the Duke) should put some on his head," said Lyn Cregan, 67, from Glen Innes.
"She pointed at him and said 'You need it more than me.' He laughed."
However, like many eight-month-olds, Prince George was deemed too young to see the show - but it didn't mean he was forgotten.
A trolley was brought to cope with number of presents being offered by the crowds - including books, Possum Magic and Peppa Pig toys and bouquets.
At Manly, there was barely room to move behind the cordoned-off areas. The royal couple were delighted with the late afternoon surf lifesaving display. There was also another present for George - a surfboard.
Kate told former world ironwoman champion Naomi Flood that she was loving being in Australia.
Prince William chimed in: "We are just trying to see more."
That will happen on Saturday, when for the first time they head interstate to Amberley RAAF base and Brisbane.
On Sunday, they'll visit Taronga's Zoo before moving camp to Canberra. Next week, Uluru and Adelaide are on the itinerary.
Travel agency Flight Centre has appealed an $11 million fine for anti-competitive behaviour. Source: AAP
TRAVEL agency Flight Centre has appealed an $11 million fine for anti-competitive behaviour.
Federal Court judge John Logan imposed the fine in March after the court ruled in December that Flight Centre had threatened to stop selling flights on several airlines in order to offer the lowest fares.
In a case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Flight Centre was found to have induced Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Emirates to stop offering international airfares that were lower than fares offered by the travel agency.
The court found Flight Centre had broken the law on five occasions between 2005 and 2009.
Flight Centre lodged an appeal on Thursday, saying the judgment contained "errors and inappropriate extensions" of the law.
"The penalties are manifestly excessive given the circumstances and the lesser penalties handed down in other cases, where the law was knowingly breached and there was a clear impact on the market," Flight Centre statement said.
The appeal is likely to be heard before the end of 2014, the company said.
SEARCHERS for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight say they'll push on over the Easter long weekend.
The Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said both the aerial and underwater hunt for MH370 would continue for the next four days, but did not elaborate on planned activities thereafter.
That came despite JACC telling AAP on Monday, when the search went underwater because the black box batteries had clearly expired, that the aerial search for floating debris "will be completed in the next two to three days".
"Any decision on ceasing search activities will be made in conjunction with our international partners," it said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
"At the moment, we are focused on pursuing the best lead we have in relation to missing flight MH370."
This Saturday will mark six weeks since flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that based on acoustic signals detected by a pinger locator towed by the Australian naval vessel Ocean Shield on April 5 and 8, he was confident the search was focused on the right place.
But he said a rethink would be needed if the Bluefin-21 underwater drone scanning the Indian Ocean seabed, more than 2000 kilometres northwest of Perth, failed to find wreckage.
Mr Abbott told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the best leads would be exhausted in about a week.
"If we don't find wreckage, we stop, we regroup, we reconsider," he said.
While Thursday's search was expected to cover 40,349 square kilometres, the Bluefin-21 is focusing on an area with a radius of some 20km, equal to a 1300sqkm portion of the ocean floor, where the four acoustic detections occurred.
The US Navy has estimated it would take the sophisticated device "anywhere from six weeks to two months to scan the entire search area".
So far, the Bluefin-21 has searched 90sqkm.
Data from the automated vessel's first full mission is being analysed.
The first mission was aborted when it exceeded the depth beyond where its sonar imaging is effective, while an unspecified technical issue truncated the second.
Meanwhile, the man who led the search for aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart's plane in the Pacific Ocean has told CNN that the Bluefin-21 "didn't work for us".
"The Bluefin-21 couldn't perform reliably," International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery founder Richard Gillespie said.
"We had extremely frustrating aborted missions, just as we have seen in the Indian Ocean.
"We saw malfunctions."
Mike Dean, the US Navy's deputy director for salvage and diving, told CNN one of its Orion-towed search systems was available in Maryland for use in the search if Australia requested it.
Unlike the Bluefin-21, the Orion can send back real-time data to searchers.
Other search experts say a REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle, used to find Air France flight 447 after it went down in 2009, would be more suitable.
PARTICIPATION in the labour market by Australia's youth is as low as it's been since at least 1978.
That's as far back as the figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics go.
But realistically, it's a safe bet that participation is a low as it's been since Arthur Phillip landed at Botany Bay with his 11 shiploads of convicts, guns and exotic news diseases in 1788.
The Bureau's figures show participation in the jobs market by 15 to 24-year-olds averaged 66.6 per cent over the year to March, a record low.
Five years earlier, in the year to March 2009, participation for this age group averaged 70.4 per cent, after mostly hovering around 70-72 per cent since the late 1970s.
The obvious explanation for the fall that the young are staying at school and university for longer these days.
It's an attractive explanation, but has a couple of catches.
First, you can be a full-time student and still be unemployed, as long as you are looking for a job - even a three-hour shift at a dress shop or cafe.
In fact, nearly half - 47 per cent, to be exact - of the unemployed in this age group are in full-time education.
So being a student doesn't stop you being unemployed.
The other catch is that there's a better explanation for falling participation.
The latest downturn in participation is around the time of the global financial crisis in 2008.
This type of thing has happened before, typically when the labour market turns its back on jobseekers, as it did in the latter half of the 1990s and the recession early that decade.
In the six years since 2008, the number of people with jobs grew at less than half the pace of the six years before.
So the latest downturn in participation, coinciding with unusually slow employment growth, is just history repeating.
And there's plenty of evidence that labour market weakness is affecting younger would-be workers.
The long-term unemployment is the number unemployed for a year or more as a percentage of the number active in the jobs market, either employed or jobseeking.
For 15 to 24s the long-term jobless rate averaged 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
That was the worst quarter in the available 13 years of data.
The figures also show the unemployed are spending an extra seven weeks longer without work than they did a year ago, 27 weeks this March versus 20 last March.
It's still not a patch on the 61 weeks the average jobseeker aged 55 or more has spent on society's rubbish heap, but it's significantly more than it was.
So all the evidence suggests the reason young people are becoming less engaged with the labour market is that it's simply a lot harder to find a job these days.
STOCKS to watch on the Australian stock exchange at the close on Wednesday:
ALZ - AUSTRALAND PROPERTY GROUP - steady at $4.25
Property developer Australand is preparing for a possible takeover from fellow developer Stockland.
API - AUSTRALIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES - trading suspended, last traded at 56.5 per cent
Shares in Australian Pharmaceutical Industries have been suspended from trade while the drugs distributor and pharmacies operator assesses the carrying value of its assets.
BHP - BHP BILLITON - up 16 cents, or 0.4 per cent, at $37.94
BHP Billiton has raised its full year guidance for iron ore and metallurgical coal production after achieving record output so far this fiscal year.
BRL - BATHURST RESOURCES - down 0.8 cents, or 11.4 per cent, at 6.2 cents
Bathurst Resources has raised $A7.39 million ($NZ8 million) in a discounted placement to institutional investors to help fund development of its Escarpment open-cut coal mine on New Zealand's Denniston Plateau near Westport.
BSL - BLUESCOPE STEEL - up seven cents, or 1.1 per cent, at $6.42
Australia's largest steelmaker and owner of the New Zealand Steel mill, BlueScope Steel, has gained approval to acquire the assets of Fletcher Building's Pacific Steel in a $NZ120 million ($A111.73 million) deal.
FMG - FORTESCUE METALS GROUP - up six cents, or 1.1 per cent, at $5.39
Fortescue Metals plans to boost production by 35 per cent over the next three months, a target boss Nev Power says is "absolutely realistic".
ILU - ILUKA RESOURCES - down 66 cents, or 6.8 per cent, at $9.11
Mineral sands miner Iluka Resources has recorded a drop in production and revenue.
TPM - TPG TELECOM - up 21 cents, or 3.7 per cent, at $5.93
Telco TPG has been fined $400,000 for failing to provide access to emergency numbers for customers who had not paid bills.
Also, NBN Co boss Bill Morrow says competition from TPG Telecom will undermine its business model and may see Australians paying more for internet access.
YAL - YANCOAL - down three cents, or 7.7 per cent, at 36 cents
Two coal miners have been killed in an underground mine collapse at Yancoal's Austar Coal Mine in the NSW Hunter Valley.
A HIGHLY-PAID project consultant says although she provided helpful advice about the federal home insulation program, she couldn't remember what it was.
Janine Leake, who was paid up to $1840 per day, was hired by the Rudd government to provide strategic management assistance on the scheme in 2009.
Ms Leake has told a royal commission how she was a "generalist" who was careful not to overstep the mark when providing advice to the federal environment department.
But under cross-examination by Richard Perry, QC, she was unable to recall what advice she gave.
"You described yourself as a generalist who could give helpful advice to the department," said Mr Perry, who is representing the families of two men killed under the scheme.
"What helpful ideas ... did you, during the time you were there, give the department?"
Ms Leake replied: "I'd have to think about that."
She had previously told counsel assisting the commission Keith Wilson that she needed time to think about what strategic advice she gave and agreed to provide a supplementary statement to the inquiry.
Former federal environment department assistant secretary Kevin Keeffe had previously given evidence that Ms Leake was used as an expert to guide the ultimate decision makers on the program's management.
But Ms Leake says Mr Keeffe was managing the program and she did what was asked of her.
Ms Leake said she helped organise workshops and meetings, helped finalise the project plan, updated the project schedule and prepared a stakeholder management plan.
She said she wasn't an expert on training or safety, and that potential risks were the responsibility of everyone involved in the program.
However, it appeared environment department staffers lacked risk management skills, she said.
Ms Leake also told the inquiry she had doubts about the stimulus project's tight time frame, but getting money out the door was the government's priority.
She also had serious concerns about whether an audit and inspection process could be implemented in time.
A coroner has already found the scheme's rushed roll out was a significant factor in the deaths of three Queenslanders.
A NSW installer was also killed.
The royal commission is investigating what warnings the Rudd government received about the program and whether the four deaths could have been avoided.
The inquiry was adjourned until May 1.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd, former environment minister Peter Garrett and former Labor senator Mark Arbib are expected to appear in the last week of public hearings which begin on May 12.
ASTRONOMERS have a powerful new stargazing gadget to explore the origins of the Milky Way at unprecedented speed.
The federal government believes it will not only help Australia remain a world leader in astronomy but also drive breakthroughs in other areas like big data and high performance computing.
These new instruments can capture and analyse light from up to 400 stars at the same time, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said as he launched the $13 million HERMES at Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran on Wednesday.
Funding science can be risky but the federal government is totally committed to funding science research and development, he said.
"If we only pursue the sure shots then knowledge will not progress either here or anywhere else," he said.
The science developed in the design, construction and use of HERMES is flowing through to other areas such as big data analysis which could boost productivity in a range of industry.
Professor Brian Schmidt says astronomers deal regularly in huge amounts of data.
So this field provides a great vehicle for trying new ideas and techniques and training people to sift vast amounts of information for interesting bits.
But HERMES' key job at the moment is a multinational survey of one million stars to explain the formation of the Milky Way, says HERMES project astronomer Ken Freeman.
"Before HERMES it would have taken about 300 years, now it will take a good five years," he said.
HERMES, or High Efficiency and Resolution Multi-Element Spectrograph, was developed over five years by the Australian Astronomy Observatory and is attached to the Anglo-Australian Telescope.
Treasurer Joe Hockey says officials know that hard decisions await on dealing with budget deficits. Source: AAP
THE world's top finance officials say the global economy is recovering and they hope well-run economic programs will avoid the risks that threaten that rebound.
The 188-country International Monetary Fund concluded weekend meetings with pledges to work toward faster growth that will alleviate still-high unemployment.
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said officials know that hard decisions await regarding overhauling labour market policies and dealing with budget deficits.
"It is hard but that is the only way we are going to grow the economy," Hockey, the Group of 20 countries chairman this year, told reporters after the group's two days of discussions.
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde told reporters that the world had gone through a lengthy economic "disaster" and now was moving through a period of strengthening growth.
"Creating a more dynamic, sustainable, balanced and job-rich global economy remains our paramount collective goal," the IMF's policy committee said in a statement.
The United States came in for criticism in that statement.
It said officials were "deeply disappointed" with the continued delay in congressional approval of the legislation to provide expanded loan resources to the IMF to help countries in trouble.
The IMF said that if the US Congress failed to pass the measure by the year's end, it would explore other options.
But officials said those options could weaken the US's ability to influence the global economy and lead to a more fragmented world.
Singapore's finance minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, chairman of the IMF committee, said a US failure to act could cause a "disruption to the multilateral system" and make the world less safe.
The IMF panel endorsed the target set by the Group of 20 countries to boost global growth by $US2 trillion ($A2.13 trillion) in the next five years.
But the IMF said achieving this result will require putting the proper government policies in place, including continued efforts by major central banks to keep interest rates low to boost growth.
In the G20's statement on Friday, after two days of talks, officials pledged to keep working on economic reforms that could increase growth by 2 per cent over the next five years but they acknowledged the political difficulty in the changes needed to reach that goal.
"We remain vigilant in the face of important global risks and vulnerabilities," the G20 statement said.
"We are determined to manage these risks and take action to further strengthen the recovery, create jobs and improve medium-term growth prospects."
Next up is a September meeting in Australia, ahead of a G20 summit on November 15-16 in Brisbane that US President Barack Obama and other world leaders will attend.
Cyclone Ita will menace the Queensland coast for at least another day bringing torrential rain. Source: AAP
CYCLONE Ita will menace the Queensland coast for at least another day.
It is expected to remain a category one cyclone until late on Monday as it weaves on and off the coast south to central Queensland.
Since pummelling into land north of Cooktown as a category four storm on Friday night, Ita has travelled about 1000 kilometres.
Power and communication blackouts and water shortages have been left in its wake.
Premier Campbell Newman predicts it will take about eight to 12 weeks to "really crack the back of the recovery task".
"It's good that there is no loss of life but I can't stress enough (that) people have got to sit tight," he said during a tour of Hope Vale and Cooktown on Sunday.
The water supply in Cooktown is critically low and will run out by Sunday evening if locals ignore strict restrictions.
Police are patrolling the isolated town and anyone caught using a hose will be fined.
"We're hoping once we get the power to the treatment plant we'll be able to resupply water by tonight if everything goes well," Cook Shire Council CEO Stephen Wilson told AAP.
The local bottle shop and pubs finally opened on Sunday afternoon and sales are rivalling Christmas trading.
Proserpine is the next regional town in Ita's path.
At midnight, it is due to hit Mackay.
Gusts up to 110km/h, abnormally high tides and large waves are expected, the Bureau of Meteorology warns.
But possibly the biggest worry is torrential rain and flash flooding, with isolated falls up to 400mm possible.
Thankfully, once the cyclone passes each community, the rain is tending to clear quickly.
"There's not much on the north of the cyclone," senior forecaster Pradeep Singh told AAP.
"The rain should ease as the system moves away off the coast late on Tuesday, and we'll be left with coastal showers."
Earlier on Sunday, Ita struck Ingham, south of Townsville, flattening its vast sugar cane fields.
The town is cut in two by a swollen creek and the Bruce Highway remain closed to its south.
Mayor Rodger Bow warned locals there is raw sewerage in the water and people risk disease if they venture out.
"We had severe rain, about 300mm, and I don't know what kilometre an hour winds, but we have trees blown down," Cr Bow said.
"We've got sunshine now."
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said there had been two swift water rescues in her city, and some 7000 homes are without power.
While the winds felled some trees, there was no significant damage to property.
"It's what the locals here call a baby blow," she said, adding that Townsville was built to sustain cyclonic conditions.
PASSENGERS for the Melbourne Airport service from Southern Cross Station could be waiting several years for their train to arrive, but they have been told it is on its way.
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine says his government will build the long-awaited airport rail link, with a promise of a 25-minute service from the city.
The premier says the electric trains will be high-capacity, affordable and run every 10 minutes during peak times.
Dr Napthine was scarce with precise details when announcing the pledge at the Victorian Liberal Party conference, saying the time and cost of the project will be revealed in the state budget next month.
He said the project was long overdue.
"This project has been on the books for over 40 years," Dr Napthine told the conference on Sunday.
"It is time this rail link was built."
Melbourne airport attracts 30 million passengers a year, and this was expected to double in 20 years, he said.
"This is an enormous step forward for Melbourne Airport, for Melbourne and Victoria," Dr Napthine later told reporters.
"It's absolutely essential that Melbourne and Victoria has a rail link to the airport."
The link will use the existing Albion-Jacana goods rail corridor between the city's west and north.
Dr Napthine says the project will be publicly run but private involvement would be sought.
Deputy Opposition Leader James Merlino said the state had higher public transport priorities.
"This won't fix train congestion, this won't fix delays, this won't fix level crossings," he told reporters.
Mr Merlino said he was doubtful the government would fulfil the pledge.
"Denis Napthine and the Liberal Party promised rail links to Avalon, to Doncaster, to Rowville. None of them have been delivered," he said.
