Govt releases climate action draft bill

The federal government is seeking public comment on laws backing up its emissions reduction fund. Source: AAP

PUTTING in energy-efficient light bulbs and cutting gas in coalmines could be eligible for taxpayer funding under the federal government's climate policy.

There could also be scope for international carbon emission permits to be counted, despite the government saying they wouldn't be part of its emissions cuts.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt released draft legislation on Friday for the emissions reduction fund, which will replace Labor's carbon tax and carbon farming initiative.

Both major parties are committed to cutting carbon emissions by five per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.

Improving the energy efficiency of homes and factories, capturing landfill and mine gas, improving farm soil and upgrading vehicles will qualify for funding.

Those seeking funding, for projects lasting up to 15 years, will need to pass a new "fit and proper person" test.

And any project for which funding is sought would have to be something not likely to have occurred "under normal business conditions".

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) would be responsible for registering projects and issuing Australian carbon credit units for verified emissions reductions.

The CER would buy emissions reductions at the lowest available cost, generally through reverse auctions.

The draft bill does not set out the rules for a new safeguard mechanism, which would ensure emissions reductions paid for by the fund were not displaced by a rise in emissions elsewhere.

The safeguard, due to start on July 1, 2015, will be the subject of a separate bill.

Climate Institute chief John Connor said the draft laws were well short of a credible alternative to the current carbon pricing scheme.

The policy could put Australian emissions on track to rise by 30 per cent by 2030, he said.

Mr Connor said the draft laws left the door open for the purchase of international permits.

The CER's new powers would enable it to use almost any process it wanted to buy emissions reduction, undermining the claim to be a market mechanism.

"This draft legislation is still well short of a package that can credibly reduce pollution, let alone reduce pollution enough to help avoid costly climate disruption," Mr Connor said.

"Parliament should instead stay with the current laws, which price and limit pollution and can reduce emissions by up to 25 per cent by 2020 with deeper reductions thereafter."

Submissions on the emissions reduction fund draft bill close on May 23.

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Graffiti tag link to school chook killers

A GRAFFITI tag that appears to say "Siko" is a lead in a police investigation into the killing of 14 pet chickens at a Perth primary school.

The principal and assistant principal of St Brigid's Primary School in Middle Swan were shocked to find the birds bashed to death earlier this week.

The RSPCA and WA Police are investigating the incident.

Police are seeking help from the public to identify the person who left a graffiti tag at the scene.

RSPCA spokesman Tim Mayne said a similar incident occurred at Calista Primary School in Kwinana last month.

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'Bitterness' behind brutal murders: court

Lian Xie's "bitterness" was behind his murder of five members of the Lin family a court has heard. Source: AAP

NINE-YEAR-OLD Terry Lin was alive for up to two hours after he was allegedly asphyxiated and bashed by his uncle in the boy's family home in Sydney, a court has heard.

The graphic details of the boy's death and that of his four family members were revealed during the crown's opening address at Lian Bin "Robert" Xie's trial on Friday.

Xie is accused of murdering his wife's brother Min "Norman" Lin, 45, Mr Lin's wife, Yun "Lily" Li Lin, 44 and their sons Henry, 12, and Terry, 9 in the early hours of July 18, 2009.

He is also alleged to have killed Lily's sister, Yun Bin "Irene" Yin, 39.

He has pleaded not guilty.

In outlining the crown case, prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC said Xie was "motivated by bitterness" when he went to their North Epping home on the "particularly dark night" and turned off its electricity.

Without waking anyone, it is alleged Xie went into Min and Lily's bedroom first and murdered them in their beds.

He then killed the third adult, Irene.

These attacks, Mr Tedeschi said, involved numerous blows with a "hammer-like object" and likely happened while they were sleeping or "at most" while they were waking up.

Having killed those that represented the largest "threat", the crown says Xie then went into the bedroom the two boys Henry and Terry shared.

But here a struggle did break out.

Both boys, the crown said, showed signs of defensive wounds, with the crime scene indicating they had moved around their room.

Terry's injuries were consistent with that of a "furious struggle" and the nine-year-old survived for approximately one to two hours after the attack, the court heard.

Everyone except Irene showed signs they were asphyxiated.

None of the Lin family's neighbours heard a thing.

After slaying the family, it is alleged Xie would have been "covered in blood" when he walked the 300 metres back to his own home.

Xie then placed something on his garage floor and "unbeknown to him ... left a small area of blood smear that contained a mixture of three, four or five of the deceased persons," Mr Tedeschi told the jury.

When he cleaned his garage floor the following morning, this spot remained.

The court heard that Xie and his wife Kathy had gone to her brother's home on the morning of the 18th, after Min failed to turn up to work.

After discovering the crime scene, the court heard Kathy "pleaded" with Xie to stay, saying she was scared.

But Xie knowing "he himself was responsible for their deaths" left before eventually driving to Merrylands to pick up Kathy's parents, Mr Tedeschi said.

It is alleged that "many, many months" after the murders, Xie told a prisoner at Long Bay Jail that he had disposed of the murder weapon during this trip.

He is alleged to have also confided that he believed Kathy wouldn't be a danger to him as she had been sedated on the night her family died.

The trial continues.

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WA's budget leaves state open to 'shocks'

THE ratings agency Standard & Poor's says Western Australia's budget has no measures in place to deal with structural problems and leaves the state subject to "external shocks" such as volatile commodity prices.

The 2014/15 state budget announced on Thursday did not immediately affect WA's credit rating, the financial services ratings agency said, despite mounting debt incurred by big spending on infrastructure projects.

Western Australia's credit rating was cut from AAA+ in September last year to AA+.

Standard & Poor's said the WA government's budget position remained susceptible to "external shocks".

"While we anticipate WA's operating performance will remain positive on a cash basis, the forecast operating margin of less than five per cent of operating revenues provides little buffer against a volatile revenue base," the agency said.

"While the additional revenue and savings measures announced today partially offset the state's weaker own-source revenues, operating expenses are forecast to continue to grow strongly."

Part of the revenue-raising measures were potential asset sales, but no timeframe was provided for the privatisations.

The state government did not estimate returns from the sales, not wanting to tip what it believed buyers were prepared to pay.

"The outcome of any asset sales on the state's credit quality is dependent on how the government uses the proceeds," Standard & Poor's said.

The lack of measures in place to address long-term structural issues meant general government operating expenditure growth over the forward estimates would exceed revenue growth at least until 2018, the agency said.

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Obama hangs with Spielberg and Springsteen

US President Barack Obama shared a table with Steven Spielberg and Bruce Springsteen at a benefit dinner, but broke away to chat with Barbra Streisand and Samuel L. Jackson.

The president was the guest of honour on Wednesday at a fundraising gala celebrating the USC Shoah Foundation, which Spielberg established 20 years ago to collect video testimonies from survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides.

Inspired by the making of Schindler's List, the video archive Spielberg created now includes more than 50,000 personal accounts and is available to schools across the globe.

"As long as we fail to learn, our work will be urgent work," he said of the foundation's mission.

"This institute exists because we know that the future can always be rewritten."

Obama accepted the foundation's Ambassador for Humanity award at the private event at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Springsteen provided musical entertainment, tucking his black tie into his white shirt to perform two songs with his acoustic guitar.

"I think anyone who has a boss wishes it was you," Spielberg told the stalwart rocker, who sang Promised Land and Dancing in the Dark.

The filmmaker called Springsteen "this nation's hardest working lyrical poet for our common humanity."

Conan O'Brien hosted the event, speaking in Yiddish and teasing the President for the traffic snarls he causes when visiting Los Angeles.

"You left Washington six hours ago, but I left Burbank seven hours ago," O'Brien joked.

Liam Neeson, who played Oskar Schindler in Spielberg's 1994 film, opened the evening.

But it was two non-famous women who left the audience most inspired.

San Diego high school teacher Michelle Sadrena Clark recited a poem about how the Shoah Foundation's work enriches her curriculum and connects her students to history.

"Your institute has literally changed my teaching and my life," she said. Several of her students attended the gala, where they showed guests the multimedia projects they developed using survivor testimonies. They were also introduced to the president.

Celina Biniaz was one of the Jews Schindler saved.

At 13, she worked in his factory, cleaning the machinery with her small hand.s

Now a grandmother whose story is included among the Holocaust testimonies, she said, "Oskar Schindler gave me my life, but Steven Spielberg gave me my voice."

Obama said that genocide survivors and the families they've created are "the ultimate rebuke to evil and the ultimate expression of love and hope."

"You are an inspiration to every single one of us," he said.

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Budget won't detract from growth: Hockey

Treasurer Joe Hockey got a pleasant surprise from the latest jobs figures before next weeks budget Source: AAP

JOE Hockey's basket of budget nasties will be delivered without a jobless rate soaring above six per cent.

The unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 per cent in April with an unexpected rise in full-time workers.

So far this year 106,000 jobs have been created, the best start to a calendar year in six years.

It has encouraged the treasurer, who will hand down his first budget on Tuesday, to believe unemployment might not hit the 6.25 per cent rate forecast by the previous Labor government.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz was more reserved about the latest figures that showed the number of people in full-time work rising by 14,200 in April against the expectation of economists who were tipping a small fall.

Month-to-month figures should be treated with caution, he said.

The coalition inheriting a tough fiscal position had also created a difficult position for jobs creation.

Labor described the April jobs rise as negligible, warning that closure decisions by car-makers Holden and Toyota had yet to be reflected in unemployment numbers.

"I think we are going to see more pain," opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor told reporters in Melbourne.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry points out the jobless rate is being supported by a drop in the participation rate.

Mr Hockey says there will be a "big" infrastructure package to support jobs in the budget.

"I don't think (the budget) will detract from growth at all in the short-term," he said as he put the final touches to the budget in a meeting with Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson in Canberra.

Dr Parkinson says there will be really good and well overdue structural measures in the budget.

The government, already under pressure from plans to increase the tax burden on wealthy Australians, has opened another battle front with reports it plans to lift the fuel excise and reintroduce indexation.

Motorists could be slugged an extra $1 billion a year at the petrol pump.

Australian Institute of Petroleum data shows tax on fuel in Australia is one of the lowest among OECD countries.

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Port privatisations hurt economy: Asciano

THE head of ports and rail operator Asciano fears the high-priced privatisation of Australia's ports is damaging the economy.

The short-term benefits to public coffers of realising massive prices by selling public assets could ultimately hurt people more, chief executive John Mullen says.

That happened when the consortiums that bought ports ensured returns by charging high rents to port operators such as Asciano, whose rental costs had jumped 350 per cent at one port.

Asciano and its competitors then pass costs on to importer and exporter customers.

But Mr Mullen says that then risks damaging competitiveness and causing higher costs to consumers.

"It starts to become a tax on trade," he told an American Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"Governments just want to get a fantastic price for it and use those funds to develop other things in the state and there is nothing wrong with that.

"But if the owner has to put prices up to try get a return, ultimately the consumer or manufacturers or exporters are paying that bill and it is probably not good for Australia in the long run."

Mr Mullen said he supported privatising freight and infrastructure assets but only if it improved Australia's productivity and way of life.

Control mechanisms on pricing should be inserted in the sales process, he said.

The NSW government received $5.07 billion for the sale of Port Botany and Port Kembla last year.

It will also reap more than $1 billion for Newcastle port's sale, while the Victorian government plans to private the Port of Melbourne.

There would always be a need for visionary, nation building investment from government even when it took years for the economic returns to come, Mr Mullen said.

Mr Mullen also called for a greater investment in rail infrastructure including a "nation building" inland rail track between Melbourne and Brisbane.

More than 95 per cent of total freight moved between Melbourne and Sydney was by road - the most intensive in the world - but rail could achieve the most economically efficient movement of goods, reduced congestion and helped the environment, he said.

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CLP-linked research foundation under fire

THE Northern Territory's chief minister has refused to investigate links between his party and a private organisation that Labor is calling a CLP slush fund.

In her first parliamentary appearance since defecting to the Palmer United Party, former Country Liberal Party MLA Alison Anderson asked Chief Minister Adam Giles whether he or any other elected officials had ever received funds or favours from Foundation 51.

Ms Anderson also asked whether the foundation was affiliated with the CLP, and whether it had paid for any election campaigns.

Information on the private subscription-based organisation is scarce, save for a 2009 flier that states it is an initiative of the CLP and conducts commercial research, with annual membership levels then ranging from $5500 to $22,000.

Mr Giles responded with a single "no" on Wednesday during Parliament when asked whether he would have the legal and constitutional affairs committee investigate the revelations and establish an anti-corruption body.

During question time, Labor MLAs repeatedly called the foundation a CLP slush fund, but Mr Giles said questions about political donations should be directed to the party rather than MPs.

"A smart politician does not handle money," he said.

Shadow Minister for Justice Michael Gunner said Mr Giles is being "a little bit too cheeky and a little bit slippery."

"Adam Giles is the leader of the CLP in the NT. He is refusing to answer questions ... There is no doubt that Foundation 51 and its relationship with the CLP is worthy of inquiry," Mr Gunner said.

Magistrate and former CLP MLA Peter Maley and Graeme Lewis, NT Land Development Board chairman and CLP management committee member, are both directors of the foundation.

Mr Lewis previously denied setting it up to enable businesses to make large political donations without having to declare them.

He says Foundation 51 "is simply a supporter of the CLP in political terms, as are many other business organisations in the NT, and has no financial relationship with the CLP".

But when the CLP's former deputy treasurer Eli Melky looked into the matter, he was told it was none of his business whether or not the foundation was associated with the party, he told the ABC.

Mr Elky recently defected to the PUP along with Ms Anderson, before making his queries about the foundation public.

In an email sent to CLP president Ross Connolly, Mr Lewis said he had contributed significantly to last month's Blain by-election, which he later said was only research.

The email stated that Mr Giles was aware of his concerns that the foundation might need to be shut down following Mr Elky's probing.

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Second arrest over SA Riverland murder

A SECOND man has been charged over the murder of Lucio Caruso who was found dead in his home in the South Australian Riverland last year.

Police say a 55-year-old Berri man has been refused bail on the murder charge and will appear in the Berri Magistrates Court on a date to be determined.

Mr Caruso, 49, was found murdered in his Monash home on November 27. He had suffered severe head injuries and his car had been stolen.

In December a 45-year-old Mildura man was arrested and charged with murder.

He was extradited to South Australia and remains in custody.

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Greens to push for federal ICAC

THE Australian Greens want politics cleaned up by a national anti-corruption body after "on-going revelations" about corruption in NSW.

The party will next week push for a vote on the National Integrity Commission Bill, now before the Senate, which would create a federal level independent anti-corruption commission, similar to those operated by states.

Greens leader Christine Milne said the "revolving door" between business and political parties should be examined.

"We need to clean up politics right around the country and it should start here in Canberra," she told reporters on Tuesday.

The Greens will need the support of a major party to push through the legislation.

Senator Larissa Waters said a proposal by MP Clive Palmer's mining company Waratah Coal to tender for an Abbot Point coal terminal extension proves the bill's importance.

Mr Palmer would need approval from the government, which needs his vote in the Senate to pass legislation, Ms Waters said.

"It's about time we had these conflicts of interest properly dealt with," she said.

But at a media conference Mr Palmer, who is a shareholder in Waratah Coal, played down a suggestion he had a better chance of succeeding with the Abbot Point proposal now he had left Queensland's Liberal National Party.

"It's not a consideration for me, politically," he told reporters in Brisbane.

"I've retired from active business and I don't worry about those things."

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Westfield sweetens local split plans

SHOPPING centre giant Westfield Group has sweetened its plan to split its Australian and New Zealand assets from its international operations.

Westfield's Australian and New Zealand assets, which includes 47 shopping centres, are set to merge with Westfield Retail Trust, a joint owner of the Australian shopping centres.

The merged entity will be called Scentre Group, and under new changes to the proposal, Scentre Group will now carry $300 million less in debt than originally planned.

Westfield chairman Frank Lowy said key investors supported the merger, but the new debt arrangements were made to address some concerns raised.

Security holders are due to vote on the split on May 29.

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Woman stabbed in heart three times: court

A QUEENSLAND woman has recalled a brutal knife attack that she was not expected to survive, telling a court her former partner had put his arm around her, before calmly pushing his thumb into her chest after which he stabbed her in the heart three times.

Margaret Revesz says her lips went numb and her whole body ached during the alleged murder attempt.

The mother of three says that her ex-partner, David Allan Baldwin, 53, had been visiting at her house north of Brisbane in 2009.

The couple had broken up a year earlier but Baldwin was desperate to rekindle the romance and said he couldn't live without her, the court was told.

Baldwin had put his arm around Ms Revesz and then calmly pushed his thumb into her chest, "and the next moment he puts a knife into me", she told the court.

"I said, 'David are you going to kill me?' and he said, 'yes.'"

"He then put the knife back into me."

Ms Revesz, then 42, was allegedly stabbed three times in the heart and hit in the head with a piece of wood.

"I remember quite clearly asking myself what's happening to me," she told the Supreme Court.

"I could feel my lips going cold and numb and I could feel an extreme ache going through my entire body."

The witness said she woke up with Baldwin standing over her saying, "Oh Margie, what have I done? I will be going away for a long time for this, will you wait for me?"

Ms Revesz says she replied yes, and then asked Baldwin to ring triple-zero, which he did.

On arrival at hospital, the injured woman was labelled a "red blanket case" which meant she was expected to die, Crown Prosecutor Dennis Kinsella said.

Ms Revesz recovered following open heart surgery, although told the court she still suffers nightmares and doesn't like going out.

Baldwin has pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm but not guilty to attempted murder.

The trial continues.

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Tax office takes up laundering

TAXPAYERS will foot the bill for washing machines, a tumble dryer and sandwich makers for the Australian Tax Office.

A tender closes this week for whitegoods to go into ATO offices around the country over the next four years.

Among the items being sought are two washing machines and washing powder, a tumble dryer, triple-door glass-fronted fridges, 354 bar fridges, 32 pie ovens and 454 sandwich presses.

The tender documents state the items will meet the ATO's "business requirements" and ensure that "breakout areas, communal spaces and beverage points are equipped with quality whitegoods".

The ATO is seeking one national contractor to supply, deliver, install, maintain and replace the goods to all of its sites, including new buildings and refurbished offices.

It also requires the "bulk supply of consumables" such as dishwasher tablets and washing powder.

Among the objectives of the tender, according to the documents, is to "represent value for money" and provide a "healthy and safe working environment".

Comment is being sought from the tax office.

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Westpac shares down despite record profit

Westpac has announced a first half cash profit of $3.77 billion and has lifted its interim dividend. Source: AAP

SHARES in Westpac are flat in early trading after the bank revealed a record first half cash profit of $3.77 billion.

Australia's second-largest and oldest bank opened higher before pulling back - just as ANZ did after its record profit was announced on Thursday.

Westpac shares were seven cents down at $34.80 at 1025 AEST on Monday.

ANZ shares were down again on Monday while rivals Commonwealth and NAB had made gains.

Westpac's shares had been predicted to fall given the record run in bank shares of late with many investors regarding them as being full-valued.

Westpac's cash profit - the bank's preferred performance measure - was up eight per cent from the prior corresponding period, beating analysts' expectations.

Net profit for the six months to March 31 was $3.62 billion, up from $3.29 billion a year ago.

Westpac lifted its fully-franked interim dividend to 90 cents, from the previous 86 cents.

However, unlike the two previous half years, no 10 cent special dividend will be paid on top of the distribution this time as some had expected.

The bank followed ANZ's lead last week in posting a decline in margins due to high competition for mortgage customers.

Westpac had been expected to increase net interest margins - the difference between its funding and lending costs - but it declined eight basis points to 2.11 per cent.

The bank still increased housing loans by five per cent. It already has Australia's second largest share of housing loans, behind Commonwealth Bank.

Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly said that the world economy had improved in recent times with Europe pulling out of recession and the US slowly moving towards trend growth.

Mrs Kelly said that she was positive about the second half for the bank.

The bank's tier capital adequacy ratio of 8.82 per cent - equity capital versus total risk-weighted assets - is the best of the big four banks.

"Our focus on tilting to growth is delivering, and this is expected to continue into the second half of the year," she said.

IG market strategist Evan Lucas said the profit result was stellar but, digging deeper, the result looked benign with institutional banking's earnings going backwards - an area in which the other major banks have increased.

"At the moment, the banks are really easy to poke holes in because they are so fully (share price) valued," he told AAP. He predicted a repeat of ANZ, with a possible fall in its share price on Monday despite a record profit.

"(The profit) comes down to their consolidation rather than growth story ... they are eking out profits that way."

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Budget reason for ditching trip: minister

THE only reason Prime Minister Tony Abbott dumped a planned trip to Indonesia was for hands-on involvement in his government's first budget, a senior minister insists.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison denies a reported boat turn-back operation is behind Mr Abbott's cancelled plans to attend a regional forum in Bali on Tuesday.

The minister also refused to say whether a boat had in fact been intercepted, in line with his policy of not commenting on "on water" matters.

"The prime minister's reason is as articulated," he told Sky News on Monday.

Mr Abbott's office has not given a reason for cancelling the trip.

But Mr Morrison said it demonstrates Mr Abbott's "very hands-on" approach to the budget.

"He's steering the ship."

The Indonesian government says it was given no explanation on Friday for Mr Abbott's decision to postpone the meeting, nor any indication that asylum seekers are being sent back.

In the lead up to the budget Mr Abbott has attended every meeting of cabinet's razor gang - unusual for a prime minister.

The final full cabinet meeting ahead of the budget this week was pushed back to Wednesday to accommodate Mr Abbott's planned trip.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono invited Mr Abbott to attend the Open Government Partnership forum in a move that was seen as a real step towards repairing the bilateral relationship, which hit rocky waters last year.

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Vic govt to unveil infrastructure spend

Tuesday's Victorian state budget is expected to contain a number of major infrastructure projects. Source: AAP

MELBOURNE'S East West Link tunnel will get more funding and light will be shed on plans for a Melbourne airport rail link in Tuesday's state budget.

Victoria is expected to remain in the black with the state on track to reach its net surplus target in a budget that will focus on major infrastructure projects six months out from an election.

State funds will flow for the second stage of the $18 billion East West Link road project, including $1.5 billion from the Commonwealth, while details of a plan to link Melbourne's CBD by rail to the Tullamarine airport will be unveiled for the first time.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien says that in contrast to the federal budget, which is expected to include significant spending cuts and possible tax increases to cut the deficit, Victorians can expect strong surpluses over the next few years.

Net debt will also fall over the forward estimates and there will be a focus on major infrastructure projects which create jobs, he says.

"The Victorian budget is in a very different position to the federal budget," Mr O'Brien told reporters on Friday.

"We're in surplus here in Victoria and we're going to have strong surpluses across the forward estimates."

Mr O'Brien says the government will be delivering the major infrastructure projects Victorians want to see to improve their quality of life, thanks to good economic management.

"We're funding major job creating infrastructure through strong surpluses, through good economic management and through asset recycling," he said.

The budget is expected to contain more money to progress the Melbourne Metro Rail project, a $10 billion underground cross-city tunnel designed take on thousands of extra passengers and connect the Dandenong and Sunshine rail corridors.

A swag of pre-budget announcements have been made, so far including: more than $1 billion to remove eight level crossings across Melbourne; $190 million to cut elective surgery waiting lists; a $220 million project to upgrade country rail and build a standardised rail link between Mildura and Geelong.

Mr O'Brien says the public service is safe from further cuts this budget, but it is yet to be seen what further pain may be in store for Victorians.

The government has already blamed a cut in the state's GST revenue from 90 cents in the dollar to 88 cents in 2014-15 for a $32 hike in car registrations and an increase in vehicle stamp duty.

The government says the extra charges would fund major transport infrastructure in the budget.

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Firefighter bravery recognised

FIREFIGHTERS who attended a fuel spill with the potential to ignite and threaten a Sydney peninsula faced a choice.

Leave the two million litre tank to leak, evacuate the peninsula around Banksmeadow on Botany Bay and wait for a catastrophic explosion.

Or volunteer to wade through the fuel pool and repair the leaking valve.

NSW Fire and Rescue (NSWFR) station officer Ron Morasso looked at his colleagues and made his choice.

"I said to him, 'what was going through your mind'?" NSWFR commissioner Greg Mullins told AAP after presenting Mr Morasso with the fire service's highest bravery award.

"[Mr Morasso] said to me, 'I looked at my crew and thought - he has two young kids, his wife is pregnant, he is only young...it's got to be me'."

Mr Mullins said even a spark from a car passing the Caltex fuel terminal would have risked an explosion with enough ferocity to close Sydney airport and any subsequent fire might have taken days to extinguish.

Mr Morasso, who has since retired, was presented with the NSWFR medal for conspicuous bravery on Saturday.

Other crew members who responded to the spill in July 2013 also received commendations.

Meanwhile, two firefighters who rushed to the aid of a man on fire after a petrol tanker crash on Sydney's northern beaches were also recognised.

Mosman crew members Lloyd Mulder and George Cheeke stayed with the man, who crawled from his car after it burst into flames, until he died at the roadside last October.

Witnesses Andrew Cochran and Maria Tosone also received commendations for trying to pull the man and another person from the car on Mona Vale Road.

And 12 firefighters who responded to a fire at a unit complex in Bankstown in the city's west, where two women attempted to escape by jumping from a fifth floor window, were also among commendation recipients.

Mr Mullins said the blaze was so intense that firefighters' uniforms caught fire and helmets melted.

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Greens say they're the party to fix NSW

The Greens have announced their upper house line-up for the upcoming March 2015 NSW state election. Source: AAP

THERE'S a smell wafting from the Labor and Liberal party rooms in NSW parliament, the Greens say.

Just days after police minister Mike Gallacher stepped aside following claims in front of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) over illegal donations to the Liberal Party, Greens NSW MP John Kaye announced on Sunday his new upper house team for the March 2015 election.

Joining him on the ticket will be existing MP Mehreen Faruqi, as well as coal seam gas campaigner and political advisor Justin Field.

Mr Kaye said the team would be highlighting their credentials as an alternative to the major parties.

"NSW politics has been plunged into crisis, not just by the Labor party but also by the Liberal party's endemic addiction to collecting funds from tainted sources," he told AAP.

"This is the time for reform. This is the election campaign where politics needs to change."

Mr Field, who is third on the ticket, said he will be taking out the message of clean water, energy and politics out into the community.

"A stench of corruption now hangs over NSW parliament, but only the Greens are able to say they can clean up politics."

The announcement comes after the Labor party revealed on Sunday that a "record number" of their party's supporters had voted for former MP Verity Firth to be the next state candidate in the Sydney seat of Balmain.

She narrowly lost the marginal inner-city seat to Greens candidate Jamie Parker at the 2011 election.

Mr Parker said the Greens were confident that there needs to be change.

"It doesn't matter who the candidate is, we have seen before that he structure of Labor means they are silenced ... I stand for a different approach to politics," he told AAP.

He said one of the bills the Greens would be be introducing to parliament in the following months is a push to implement 2010 ICAC recommendations on lobbying in NSW.

This included a recommendation to set up an independent body to oversee the role of lobbyists.

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