Mixed reactions to summit on Qld's future

THE Queensland opposition says Premier Campbell Newman is too scared to hold his "future" summit in the southeast due to job cuts in the region.

Queenslanders have been invited to tell the state's 89 MPs what they want their state to look in 30 years' time at a meeting in Mackay on May 10.

A second summit will be held in September to review and prioritise feedback.

Mr Newman says those who contribute will help create The Queensland Plan which will influence the future decision making of all levels of government, industry and community groups.

"If we don't know where we want to be as a state, we could end up anywhere," he said.

"This is about Queenslanders taking ownership of our long-term future."

Those who can't make the summits can give feedback online.

The opposition says Mr Newman should have held the summit in the southeast, but couldn't handle the feedback over mass job cuts in the region and the push towards privatisation.

Deputy Labor leader Tim Mulherin says the Bligh government conducted six months of consultation at 13 forums before releasing the Queensland Regionalisation Strategy, the Queensland Infrastructure Plan, and the Bruce Highway Upgrade Strategy.

"If the premier had not fired all the senior public servants with all their corporate knowledge he would be aware that this data is already available to him," he said.

However, The Property Council of Australia welcomed the summit, saying it has long called for a strategy to map out where future generations will live.

Queensland executive director Kathy MacDermott said it should include necessary infrastructure, foster creativity and innovation, and provide measurable goals.

"It must go further than motherhood statements and generic reports," she said.

But Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says Mr Mulherin - the MP for Mackay - was failing his electorate by shunning the summit and the economic benefits it would bring to his community.

"I doubt any other community leaders within the Mackay region would share the member for Mackay's view that their city should not host this major conference," he said in a statement.

Mr Seeney described The Queensland Plan as "an inclusive, positive process" and said Labor's immediate response to oppose it showed how far out of touch the party was.

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It's time to improve NSW's accounts: A-G

NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat says he'll back any move to lift the dismal quality of the state's accounting, including sending senior financial bureaucrats to boot camp.

"I have been making the point since 2009 that we really do have to tighten up these figures," Mr Achterstraat said after releasing yet another damning audit.

A total of 1265 errors were made by government agencies in financial reports for the year ending June 2012, including 164 mistakes by the department of premier and cabinet and 359 errors by health.

This represents an increase of nine errors from the same period last year.

"There are just too many errors in them and 2012 was no different from 2011," Mr Achterstraat said.

"There are lots of different errors and the net result is quite a large number - there are a number (of mistakes worth) over $100 million."

The mistakes this financial year added up to about $1 billion, he added.

"Some of it is just basic maths, some of it is just spreadsheets, wrong formulas, but others are the evaluations of assets."

Mr Achterstraat said people were using a market value "when there may not be a market".

"Or they might be using discounted cashflow when there might not be any income coming in on a particular building," he said.

"There are accounting standards which say it needs to be done this way or that way, and they have to be followed."

The most common asset-related mistakes concerned the evaluation of buildings and other large infrastructure.

Other mistakes featuring smaller amounts of money involved spreadsheets and accruals.

However, Mr Achterstraat conceded some of it "was quite complicated" so people needed "a fair bit of training".

In response to the audit, NSW Treasurer Mike Baird has announced new financial reporting and accountability measures, which were endorsed by cabinet on Monday night.

"It's clear that we have a long way to go to turn around the problems in reporting and forecasting that have been systemic in NSW for a decade," Mr Baird said in a statement on Tuesday.

The changes include greater accountability for financial reporting via enhanced performance agreements for public-sector CEOs and CFOs.

The government also has the option of appointing an investigative accountant to an agency should there be poor ongoing financial management.

"I think any steps which are going to increase capabilities of the people preparing the reports and increase the quality of the finances are most welcome," Mr Achterstraat told ABC Radio.

Late last year, Mr Achterstraat identified 37 major errors in financial statements for the 2011/12 budget, changing the bottom line by $1 billion.

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Aquino warns sultan in Malaysian stand-off

PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino has warned a sultan he would face the "full force of the law" unless he withdraws his gunmen from Malaysia, but the elderly ruler remained defiant.

Dozens of followers of the little-known Sultan of Sulu have been facing off with Malaysian security forces for two weeks, after they sailed from remote southern Philippine islands two weeks ago to stake a territorial claim.

With the incident causing increasing embarrassment to the Philippine government, Aquino made a nationally televised address on Tuesday to try to pressure the sultan into bringing his gunmen back from Malaysia's Sabah state.

"If you choose not to co-operate, the full force of the laws of the state will be used to achieve justice for all who have been put in harm's way," Aquino said.

"This is a situation that cannot persist. If you are truly the leader of your people, you should be one with us in ordering your followers to return home peacefully."

Aquino, flanked by his interior and justice secretaries, also warned the sultan that he may have broken laws, including one banning citizens from inciting war that carries a maximum prison term of 12 years.

But the 74-year-old sultan, Jamalul Kiram III, showed no signs of buckling, calling a press conference from his home in a poor Muslim enclave of Manila to insist the stand-off would continue unless his demands were met.

"As far as we are concerned we have not committed (a) crime," Kiram said, adding his followers cornered in a fishing village in Sabah on Borneo island would not initiate any violence with the Malaysian security forces.

"But we are prepared to defend our lives and aspirations."

Kiram says he is the head of the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of Borneo including the site of the stand-off, as well as southern Philippine islands.

The sultanate leased northern Borneo to Europeans in the 1870s. While the sultanate's authority gradually faded as Western colonial powers exerted their influence over the region, it continued to receive lease payments for Sabah.

Kiram and his family, as heirs to the sultanate, still receive nominal annual compensation from Malaysia and they want more money.

Kiram said the gunmen would only lay down their arms if the Philippines and Malaysia agreed to negotiate terms for joint development of Sabah.

Pressed on details of the proposed development, Kiram's adviser Abraham Idjirani told reporters the sultanate should receive as royalties 50 per cent of proceeds from Sabah's economic growth.

But Kiram also said his followers wanted to remain in Sabah even if a financial deal was struck.

"(They want to) peacefully settle in Sabah, which is our homeland," Kiram said.

Malaysian authorities have sought to ensure tensions do not escalate at the site of the stand-off, surrounding the gunmen but keeping their distance.

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Argo wins best film as Oscars shared out

BEN Affleck's Iran hostage drama Argo has won the coveted best film Oscar, as other key prizes were shared among several films at the 85th Academy Awards, Hollywood's biggest night.

Taiwan-born Ang Lee on Sunday won best director for spectacular 3D fantasy Life of Pi, while Daniel Day-Lewis won a record third best actor trophy for Lincoln and Jennifer Lawrence was crowned best actress for Silver Linings Playbook.

But veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg, whose presidential drama had the most nominations with 12 nods, went home from Hollywood's biggest awards show with only two awards, best actor and a technical prize for production design.

Overall, Life of Pi won the most Oscars with four, against three for Argo and Les Miserables, two each for Django Unchained and Lincoln, and one for Zero Dark Thirty.

In a heavily musical show, Adele sang Oscar-winning 007 theme Skyfall as part of a segment feting 50 years of Bond films, while Shirley Bassey belted out Goldfinger.

Legendary diva Barbra Streisand also gave her first Oscars performance for 36 years, singing The Way We Were as part of a tribute to late composer Marvin Hamlisch.

Affleck, whose movie had taken virtually all of the top prizes during Hollywood's awards season during the past two months, paid tribute to Spielberg in his acceptance speech.

"Steven Spielberg, I want to acknowledge, I feel is a genius and a towering talent among us," said Affleck, who was not nominated for best director or best actor at the Oscars, in a perceived snub.

In an unexpected move, the best picture winner was announced by US first lady Michelle Obama, addressing the Oscars show - and final presenter, legend Jack Nicholson - by videolink from the White House.

"I was hallucinating when that was happening. I was just asking... 'Was that Michelle Obama?' The whole thing overwhelmed me. It was an enormous honour. It was very cool," Affleck said backstage afterwards.

Hunger Games star Lawrence got a standing ovation as her award was announced, over fellow nominees Jessica Chastain, French star Emmanuelle Riva, Naomi Watts and nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, the youngest ever nominee.

Day-Lewis, who had been widely expected to win best actor, appeared to fight back tears as he took the stage - and then joked as he was handed the golden statuette by Meryl Streep.

"Three years ago, before we decided to do a straight swap, I had been committed to play Margaret Thatcher," he said, referring to Streep's Oscar-winning performance as the former British premier in The Iron Lady.

"Meryl was Steven (Spielberg)'s first choice for Lincoln," he said, to laughs from the assembled A-listers at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday night. "And I'd like to see that version."

Austrian director Michael Haneke's Cannes-winning Amour won the best foreign language film prize at the Oscars, widely seen as the most unpredictable for years.

Best supporting actor went to Austrian Christoph Waltz, who played a dentist turned bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino's blood-spattered spaghetti western tribute Django Unchained. Tarantino won for best original screenplay.

Best supporting actress went to Anne Hathaway - who joined fellow Les Miserables cast members in singing hits from the movie. The cast of Chicago also reunited in song, on the 10th anniversary of its best picture Oscar win.

The best animated feature film award went to Scottish-themed Brave, which beat fellow nominees including video game adventure Wreck-It Ralph, which had been tipped as the marginal frontrunner.

The star-studded show was preceded by a two-hour A-list fashion parade on the red carpet, with a healthy serving of old-school Hollywood glamour on display.

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane started off as Oscar host with a joke about Affleck, quipping about the lack of best director nomination by saying he was "unknown to the Academy".

Later one of his more recent creations, potty-mouthed bear Ted, appeared with his big screen buddy Mark Wahlberg and made some off-colour jokes about an orgy at Nicholson's place afterwards, and being Jewish in Hollywood.

Affleck - the first person to win best picture without being nominated as director since Driving Miss Daisy in 1990 - had been given a diplomatic boost on Saturday when new US Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted best wishes.

Afterwards the first lady took to Twitter to congratulate him.

"It was a thrill to announce the #Oscars2013 best picture winner from the @WhiteHouse!," she wrote.

"Congratulations Argo! -mo," she signed off.

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Frantic search before brothel death: court

A MELBOURNE man who was allegedly murdered outside a brothel had been frantically searching for his girlfriend who he believed was being held as a sex slave, a court has heard.

Two days before his death Abraham Papo told his best friend he had called his girlfriend's telephone but a man had answered saying the girls were not supposed to give out their numbers and to "piss off".

Mr Papo took this to mean his girlfriend was "back working in a brothel and was being held against her will", the friend Andrew Marks said in a statement tendered in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Mr Papo was desperate to find his girlfriend, whom he believed may be in Sydney, and was "frantic" about her, Mr Marks told the court on Monday.

On the night before he died, Mr Papo said he had found her "here", which Mr Marks took to be in Melbourne.

De Jun "Kevin" Zheng, 33, is charged with murdering Mr Papo outside South Melbourne brothel Madam Leona's in February 2009.

He told police Mr Papo had robbed him.

Senior Constable Rachel Dunkinson told the court she approached Zheng, who was standing outside a car and had blood on him.

Zheng told her "he robbed me".

Sen Const Dunkinson noticed Zheng was holding an iron bar.

She saw a man in the driver's seat of the car covered in blood who appeared to be dying.

Sen Const Dunkinson asked Zheng if he had used the iron bar to smash a window in the car and he said he had.

But Zheng said he did not know if he hit the man in the head, the court heard.

Brothel manager Cheng Chang Wang told the court he saw an "Australian male" punch Zheng in the face inside the brothel.

Both men then ran out into the street and he heard them arguing.

In a statement tendered in court, Mr Wang said he could see Zheng standing at the driver's door smashing into the car.

He did not know if Zheng had anything in his hands.

Mr Wang said when he returned to his office two cordless phones and a couple of hundred dollars were missing.

Zheng is also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by paying Mr Papo's family $20,000 the day after he died to ensure they did not pursue their son's death with authorities.

The committal hearing before Magistrate Ian Watkins continues on Tuesday.

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Senate on steroids over mining tax

MIX a pathetic tax, a messy political divorce and an unaccustomed spotlight and you get a Senate on steroids.

The upper house is supposed to be a little more measured, a tad more civil, than the unruly mob in the Reps.

Not on Monday, as a rare week when only the Senate is sitting started with a goodly audience of journalists rather than the usual lone scribe or two.

Question time seemed a place of surrogates - Stephen Conroy for Julia Gillard, Penny Wong for Wayne Swan and so on.

But the subject matter - mainly that under-performing mining tax - and the insults were familiar.

There was plenty of "reckless negativity" and many references to Gina Rinehart and other rich miners from government ranks. The opposition replied with periodic shouts about Eddie Obeid.

Then Eric Abetz, the opposition leader in the Senate, interrupted the session with a motion of no confidence in the government over its handling of the tax.

This is a quite common ploy in the Reps and is usually disposed of rapidly. It's very unusual in the Senate, and the result was an interminable exchange of insults as speaker after speaker went on for 20 minutes.

Samples: Kevin Rudd deserved to be ousted, but Gillard has been 10 times worse (Abetz); having known Wayne Swan since uni 35 years ago, he was a dope then and is a dope still (George Brandis).

From the government side, we had Wong imagining Abetz preparing for his speech by puffing himself up in front of the mirror.

Having plenty of journalists watching helped explain the hyperbolic performances. At one stage Abetz turned to the press gallery with "To our friends in the media..."

But it probably wasn't the main reason.

The Nationals' Barnaby Joyce interrupted Wong with a point of order supposedly on relevance, saying the only relevant matter was whether the Greens would vote with their old partner.

That sort of spurious point of order would get him kicked out down below, but they don't kick people out in the Senate. And, of course, given Christine Milne ripped up her agreement with the government last week, it was one of the more acute observations of the afternoon.

Milne, who'd been doing a lot of consulting during earlier speeches, dealt with it quite cunningly.

She moved an amendment whose effect would be to have the Senate call for a mining tax that raised enough money to pay for long-term reforms like Gonski and the national disability insurance scheme.

Then she launched into "a pox on both your houses" speech, with the opposition copping the greater part of the disease.

Her quick footwork meant she was continuing the Greens' product differentiation from the government, which was behind the divorce in the first place, without in any way moving into the opposition's camp.

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Cyclone threat to north coast of WA

RESIDENTS have been warned to prepare for dangerous weather as a cyclone intensifies off Western Australia's north coast.

Tropical Cyclone Rusty is expected to bring gales late on Sunday night or early on Monday, as it tracks towards the coast, followed by very heavy rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A blue alert for dangerous weather has been issued for coastal communities from Broome to Whim Creek, including areas around Port Hedland, Wallal and Broome.

At 2pm (WST) on Sunday, the category one cyclone was estimated to be 350km north of Port Hedland and 435km west of Broome, moving south at 8km/h, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

It will continue to intensify on Monday and there is a high risk that it will cross the coast as a severe tropical cyclone on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Tropical Cyclone Rusty is large and expected to move more slowly than usual, resulting in higher than normal rainfall, the bureau says.

Widespread very heavy rainfall is expected on Tuesday and Wednesday and is likely to lead to major flooding in the De Grey catchment and in the Fortescue.

Residents have been warned to review their family cyclone plan and organise an emergency kit with a portable battery-operated radio, torch, spare batteries and first aid kit.

The Port Hedland Port Authority said anchorage evacuation had begun and inbound shipping movements had been suspended.

Outbound movements will continue as scheduled overnight, but could be amended if flying is made difficult.

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Storms destroy homes as floods swamp NSW

Homes on the NSW mid-north coast have been destroyed as waters continue to rise across the state. Source: AAP

GALE force winds have wreaked havoc across Sydney and the NSW south coast, while around 20,000 people are isolated by floodwaters in the state's north.

The SES received more than 4000 calls for assistance overnight, including around 2000 in Sydney, where 100km/h winds resulted in an asbestos scare.

In the city's southeast, savage gusts extensively damaged the roof of the RSL club in Malabar, causing sheets of asbestos to fly onto nearby homes and roads.

A number of streets were blocked off by Fire and Rescue NSW crews on Sunday, as private contractors were tasked with cleaning up the area.

Residents were told not to panic about air contamination but to contact the NSW Environment Protection Authority if they noticed asbestos near their homes or backyards.

"It was an asbestos roof and to be concentrated like that in an area is of some concern but there is no need for residents to be concerned that the air they breathe is contaminated," Superintendent Paul Bailey told Fairfax Media.

Elsewhere in Sydney's east, locals described wind gusts that felt like "mini tornadoes", which damaged a primary school and tore part of the roof off Fox Studios.

The SES also responded to around 400 calls on the south coast, where Kiama was the hardest hit, SES spokeswoman Becky Collings said.

"We had three homes that were completely written off, and seven others that suffered significant damage," she told AAP.

"We had a lot of trees down and roof damage."

Also on the south coast, seven campers were rescued by a helicopter on Sunday morning from their camping site beside the Clyde River near Ulladulla after they were stranded by rising waters.

It was one of 70 rescues carried out by the SES since the heavy rain and flooding began on Friday.

In the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, police and paramedics worked together to successfully locate three separate groups of bushwalkers who got lost in the extreme weather conditions.

Meanwhile, around 20,000 people isolated in the state's north - from the north coast to the mid-north coast - could remain cut off for up to a week.

"It really just depends how quickly the water can drain away," Ms Collings told AAP.

She said evacuation orders remained in place on the mid-north coast around the Macleay and Hastings rivers.

Properties at Port Macquarie were flooding on Sunday morning as the Hastings River swelled to its expected peak of 1.8 metres.

The Macleay River at Kempsey peaked at 7m on Sunday near the town's CBD, about 30 centimetres below expectations.

"A lot of the shops and homes have avoided inundation," Ms Collings said, but some parts of the town were under a metre of water on Sunday morning.

Townships on both the upper and lower Macleay remain isolated but were beginning to drop.

With calmer weather in many parts of the state on Sunday, the SES said its focus in the next 24 hours would be on recovery.

"The weather conditions have eased somewhat, so that will mean we can hopefully get through the rest of our jobs," Ms Collings said.

Flood warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) remain in place for 16 river systems across the state.

Power supplier Ausgrid said about 6,500 homes remained without power, mainly in Sydney's north and east and on the central coast, while Essential Energy estimated a there were a further 8,000 homes across Greater Western Sydney, the Illawarra, the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven.

Two people have died in the floods.

On Saturday afternoon, the body of a man was found in his submerged car on a flooded road at Mylneford, about 20km northwest of Grafton.

On Friday, a 17-year-old boy died after he was swept into a drainpipe while collecting golf balls in waist-deep water in the town of Kew, near Port Macquarie.

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RAAF flare drop in Vic cancelled

THE planned flare drop over Port Phillip Bay has been cancelled because of technical problems with the RAAF plane.

The airforce says the C-130J Hercules, which was due to fly over Port Phillip Bay towards St Kilda around 8pm (AEDT) as part of an anti-terrorism exercise, has returned to its base at Richmond.

The flare display was to recognise this month's 10th anniversary of continuous deployment of Australian Hercules to the Middle East, the longest such deployment in RAAF history.

The C-130J is to be part of the Australian International Airshow at Avalon Airport from Tuesday.

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Ex-Canada envoy offended by Affleck film

THE Canadian former ambassador to Iran who protected Americans at great personal risk during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis says it will reflect poorly on Ben Affleck if he doesn't say a few words about Canada's role if the director's film Argo wins the Oscar for best picture.

But Ken Taylor - who said he feels slighted by the movie because it makes Canada look like a meek observer to CIA heroics in the rescue of six US citizens caught in the crisis - is not expecting it.

"I would hope he would. If he doesn't than it's a further reflection," Taylor said.

"But given the events of the last while I'm not necessarily anticipating anything."

Taylor kept the Americans hidden at the embassy in Tehran and facilitated their escape by getting fake passports and plane tickets for them.

He became a hero in Canada and the US afterwards. The role he played in helping the Americans to freedom was minimised in the film.

"In general it makes it seem like the Canadians were just along for the ride. The Canadians were brave. Period," Taylor said.

Affleck's thriller is widely expected to win the best picture trophy.

Two other high-profile best picture nominees this year, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty and Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, have also been criticised for their portrayal of some factual issues.

Affleck said in a statement on Friday night he thought his issue with Taylor had been resolved.

"I admire Ken very much for his role in rescuing the six houseguests. I consider him a hero. In light of my many conversations as well as a change to an end card that Ken requested I am surprised that Ken continues to take issue with the film," he said in a statement.

"I spoke to him recently when he asked me to narrate a documentary he is prominently featured in, and yet he didn't mention any lingering concerns."

Taylor noted that former US President Jimmy Carter appeared on CNN on Thursday night and said "90 per cent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian", but the film "gives almost full credit to the American CIA".

Carter also called Argo a complete distortion of what happened when he accepted an honorary degree from Queen's University in Canada in November.

"I saw the movie Argo recently and I was taken aback by its distortion of what happened because almost everything that was heroic, or courageous or innovative was done by Canada and not the United States," Carter said.

Taylor said there would be no movie without the Canadians.

"We took the six in without being asked so it starts there," Taylor said. "And the fact that we got them out with some help from the CIA then that's where the story loses itself. I think Jimmy Carter has it about right, it was 90 per cent Canada, 10 per cent the CIA."

He said CIA agent Tony Mendez, played by Affleck in the film, was only in Iran for a day and a half.

The movie also makes no mention of John Sheardown, a deputy at the Canadian embassy who sheltered some of the Americans.

Taylor said it was Sheardown who took the first call and agreed right away to take the Americans in. Sheardown recently died and his wife, Zena, called the movie disappointing.

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