Indon ambassador returning to Canberra

INDONESIA'S ambassador to Australia says his return to Canberra comes after sustained work to repair ties severed after last year's spying scandal.

Najib Riphat Kesoema was recalled to Jakarta in November when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono learned Australia had tapped his phone, and those of his wife and other confidants.

He has been making more frequent trips back to Canberra as negotiations on a new code of conduct have progressed, but the president has now asked him to return for good.

He expects to move back within the coming month.

Asked if the circuit-breaker was this week's phone call from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who apologised for not attending a planned meeting in Bali, the ambassador said rather the move followed months of work on the code.

"The president and foreign minister have been considering this for a long time," he told AAP.

"It just happens that Mr Abbott recently made a phone call to President SBY."

In Tuesday's phone call, the leaders agreed Mr Abbott should visit Jakarta in June but it's understood no firm date has been set.

It's said the president, whose term in office ends later this year, hopes to depart with his legacy of strong relations with Australia intact.

However the Abbott government's policy of turning asylum seeker boats back to Indonesia remains a controversial issue in Jakarta.

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Young on DSP to face work ability scrutiny

YOUNGER people on the disability support pension (DSP) are set to have their ability to work reviewed under a budget plan to rein in the rising cost of social security payments.

That's set to be announced in the budget on Tuesday, targeting some 30,000 DSP recipients aged under 35, media reports say.

This is in line with the report of the National Commission of Audit which said a risk-management approach should be taken in assessing those with the greatest potential for work.

"Examples could include younger people under the age of 35 and recipients who currently earn some employment income," the report said.

Liberal MP Alan Tudge, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, said the DSP was growing rapidly with more than 800,000 current recipients and tens of thousands more assessed as disabled each year.

"What we would like to do is to ensure that those who are able to work are encouraged to do so," he told Sky News.

"At the moment the system tends to put a person on the disability support pension and then.... set and forget and leave them for a very long time, even though there might be a willingness, a desire and a capacity to at least make some contribution."

Labor frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite said Labor in government had introduced a number of reforms designed to get those on the DSP into work.

He said that aimed to ensure there was support available for those who wanted to work and the necessary home support available through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

"The Commission of Audit recommendations are to slow down the rollout of the NDIS," he told Sky.

"If that is the approach the Abbott government is going to take, then that's not the way we should be supporting people with disabilities, particularly encouraging them into work."

In its report, the Commission of Audit said the DSP was costing $15.8 billion a year.

However, new disability assessment criteria introduced in 2012 only apply to new entrants, creating inequalities between the newcomers and existing DSP recipients, an anomaly which should be addressed.

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Five injured in stolen car crash

FIVE boys were injured when the allegedly stolen vehicle they were riding in rolled over in Alice Springs.

A 12-year-old was allegedly behind the wheel when he lost control of the utility vehicle, which rolled over and hit a tree on a dirt road near Charles Creek at about 2am on Friday.

The other four in the vehicle were aged 15, 13, 11 and 10.

Police say the car had been stolen from an Alice Springs business, and that they had been following the car and attempting to engage the boys before it crashed.

A police spokesman said it was not a pursuit, but because police were at the incident, the matter was now subject to an internal review.

They were taken to Alice Springs Hospital with various injuries, none of which was considered life-threatening.

"There were a couple of broken bones, a leg and an arm. One's been released from hospital already," the spokesman told AAP.

Once investigations are completed, police will consider laying charges.

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Melbourne rail has business case: govt

THERE is a business case - albeit an interim one - for the multibillion dollar rail project at the centre of the Victorian government's infrastructure budget.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien said the project, unveiled on Tuesday, built on work carried out for the Melbourne metro rail project.

Labor's Martin Pakula, at a budget estimates hearing on Friday, said the government had not done its homework on the Melbourne rail link, calling it a "phantom project" for an election year.

Mr Pakula, opposition scrutiny of government spokesman, cited a Fairfax report that quoted Planning Minister Matthew Guy saying he had not planned a business case for a station at Fishermans Bend.

Mr O'Brien said the government had prepared and considered an interim business case for the Melbourne rail link.

"Does the Melbourne rail link project have a business case? Yes, it does," he said.

Mr O'Brien said the government had built on the work initially done for the metro rail project but it would not have delivered the capacity increase needed.

"What became apparent was the metro proposal was not going to deliver the sort of capacity enhancements that we need," Mr O'Brien said.

Mr Pakula said the government had had a business case "retrofitted" to an announcement it had made.

Mr O'Brien said considerable work had been done and the Melbourne rail link was the better option of the two projects.

Shadow treasurer Tim Pallas said all the Melbourne rail link did was keep the south-east out of the city.

"You get a second rate, poor performing rail network that doesn't double the size of the city loop and that extracts and excludes the people of the south east out of the city," Mr Pallas told reporters.

He said the Melbourne metro plan - which Labor says it will build if it is elected in November - had been costed and described as "shovel ready" by Infrastructure Australia.

"The costs associated with this government's project, well who knows? It's been made up on the back of an envelope."

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ICAC probes false complaint

THE Liberal staffer at the centre of a NSW probe into donation rorts enlisted his little brother in a "black ops" mission to smear a senior bureaucrat, the corruption watchdog has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is investigating EightByFive, a "sham" company set up by former NSW minister Chris Hartcher's ex-staffer Tim Koelma.

EightByFive was allegedly used to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars from banned political donors to NSW Liberals.

The ICAC has obtained a 2010 email exchange in which Koelma asked his brother Eric to print out and send off a document, signing off: "Yay! Black ops".

Eric Koelma, who was 20 at the time, replied: "Can do brother. Heard a news report just then on it. 000000."

He said at the hearing on Thursday he did not realise "black ops" was a military term that suggested manoeuvres "under cover of darkness".

Days later an anonymous - and baseless - corruption complaint against then-Sydney Water managing director Kerry Schott lobbed at the ICAC's offices in an unmarked envelope.

At the time, Dr Schott was locked in a dispute with alleged EightByFive donor Australian Water Holdings.

On Thursday, Eric Koelma told the watchdog he understood "black ops" to be a reference to night time excursions by Young Liberals to post election signs, and that 000000 represented the colour black in computer coding.

But he did not know who Dr Schott was, nor what ICAC did, he said on Thursday.

"You've forwarded on a complaint by someone you don't know about, people you don't know, to an entity that you just said you'd never heard of?" junior counsel assisting Greg O'Mahoney asked.

"That's correct," the witness replied.

Eric said after ICAC investigators came knocking, he questioned his brother about why he had involved him in the scheme and Tim told him his printer might have been out of ink at the time.

But Mr O'Mahoney described it as a deliberate attempt to disguise Tim Koelma's role in lodging the false complaint.

"You knew exactly what you were doing. You'd had a discussion with your brother about it, and you understood that this was black ops in the military sense - this was under cover of darkness, this was something quite inappropriate and covert," Mr O'Mahoney said.

"I don't agree," Eric replied.

The inquiry continues on Thursday afternoon with NSW upper house MP Marie Ficarra due to give evidence.

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Qld deputy attacks Palmer in parliament

Queensland's deputy premier has used parliamentary privilege to criticise Clive Palmer (pic). Source: AAP

JUST a day after Clive Palmer applied to sue Queensland's premier for defamation, the deputy premier has called the federal MP a "crook" in parliament.

Using the protection of parliamentary privilege, Jeff Seeney told Palmer United Party's state leader Alex Douglas he was in "the best party money could buy".

"It's not even Australian money - the best party Chinese money can buy," Mr Seeney told state parliament on Thursday.

"The best party that fraudulently obtained money can buy.

"The best party that a crook using other people's money can buy."

Mr Seeney was referring to a News Corp Australia report that Mr Palmer's private company Mineralogy had been accused of siphoning more than $12 million from Chinese business partners and using some to fund his party's federal election campaign.

Mr Palmer on Wednesday lodged papers in the Supreme Court and served papers on Premier Campbell Newman through the Crown Solicitor.

Mr Palmer said the premier's claims during a recent media interview were false and damaged his integrity.

The federal MP for Fairfax is seeking $1.1 million in damages.

If he wins the case, he's promised to give the money to a charity that's working with public servants sacked by the Newman government.

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Health regulator too slow to act: minister

Queensland's health minister has reassured patients about the abilities of foreign-trained doctors. Source: AAP

THE national health regulator isn't acting quickly enough against a doctor accused of a string of serious surgical errors, Queensland's health minister says.

A urologist has been stood down from Rockhampton Hospital while he is being investigated for allegedly botching four operations.

He's accused of misdiagnosing a twisted testicle causing it to ultimately be removed, taking out a patient's right kidney instead of the diseased left one, nicking another's artery and incorrectly positioning a stent.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) said on Tuesday that it was reviewing the urologist's registration "as a priority", but is yet to make a ruling.

While the doctor has voluntarily stepped down from his private roles, he is still technically able to work in the sector.

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said problems with APHRA would hopefully be fixed when the state takes control of notifications and serious complaints through an appointed health ombudsman from July 1.

"I've previously indicated my concerns about how long it takes the national health regulator to respond, but I don't control that national regulator," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Mr Springborg said he was happy with the Central Queensland Hospitals and Health (CQHH) board's swift response to stand down the doctor and sack the hospital's director of surgery and the acting executive director of medical services.

He also said it was "refreshingly honest" of board chairman Charles Ware to concede there was a systemic failure at the hospital.

The health minister said that's why he was not travelling to Rockhampton to oversee the controversy.

"If this was in the old days ... the only thing they did was cover-up," he said, referring to the notorious Dr Jayant Patel saga.

"There is nothing they (health board) have done that requires intervention centrally and nor should there be other than them asking us to conduct independent investigations and that has been done."

Mr Springborg said the incident was isolated and reflected on the individual doctor, not against all foreign-trained doctors.

The urologist, from South America, trained in medicine in Spain and then went on to gain specialist qualifications in London, where he was awarded honours.

He later came to Australia where he underwent two further years of training and won accreditation in 2011 to practise unsupervised, including the right to train other doctors.

"There is no evidence there is any greater issue with doctors that are trained in Australia or overseas," Mr Springborg said.

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Investment needed to create jobs: Vic govt

THE Victorian government made a decision to strengthen the state's finances so it could deliver infrastructure to improve the economy and the cost of living, Treasurer Michael O'Brien said.

Tuesday's state budget included billions of dollars for major infrastructure, including a rail link to boost capacity, a train line to the airport and the construction of the second stage of the East West Link road project.

Critics say it neglected the basics, with Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews saying it failed to focus on education, health and emergency services.

But Mr O'Brien said the budget was achieved by getting expenditure under control and that it would grow the economy.

"We made the decision that we wanted to strengthen Victoria's finances so we can afford the sort of job-creating infrastructure projects Victoria needs," Mr O'Brien said on Wednesday.

"We need these projects, they will create jobs, they will improve productivity in this state and we can afford them.

"If Labor wants to come in and try and spend the surpluses they will kill those projects."

Mr O'Brien said the investment in infrastructure was vital because as the mining sector moved from the investment phase to the production phase there would be a drop-off in economic activity.

"Improving infrastructure is one of the ways we're going to get the economy growing again," he said.

Infrastructure projects are expected to create thousands of jobs, including 3700 jobs from the Melbourne Rail Link, 3000 from the western section of the East West Link and 700 from the project to widen the CityLink tollway.

Mr O'Brien rejected opposition claims the Melbourne Rail Link would cause chaos for Southern Cross station and at South Yarra, saying the project was better than Labor's alternative.

"It will not require the digging up, and shutting down, of Swanston Street for years on end," Mr O'Brien said.

"Obviously any significant scale project will have some level of disruption but ours is far, far less damaging to the Melbourne economy and Melbourne jobs than what Labor's proposing."

The budget papers show Victoria has an operating surplus of $1.3 billion for 2014/15, and this would grow to $3.3 billion in 2017/18.

"You need to have strong surpluses, multi-billion dollar surpluses of that scale, in order to be able to deliver multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects," Mr O'Brien said.

Proceeds from the lease of the Port of Melbourne will also help to fund the infrastructure projects, he said.

The budget comes six months out from the state election in November, and Mr O'Brien said the government was in a competitive position.

"Victorians need to consider what sort of future they see for this state," he said.

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Job ads signal employment growth

FURTHER growth in job advertisement numbers suggests continued improvement in the labour market, but a tough federal budget could damage the employment outlook.

Job ads rose for a fourth consecutive month in April, up 2.2 per cent, figures from ANZ show.

Labour demand had strengthened in 2014, with a rise in hiring intentions suggesting the unemployment rate should be close to its peak at around six per cent or slightly lower, ANZ chief economist Ivan Colhoun said.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.8 per cent in March, down from 6.1 per cent in February.

However, any tax hike in the federal government's May budget could dampen the economic recovery, Mr Colhoun said, which would impact consumer and business confidence.

"The mooted introduction of a temporary deficit reduction levy will impact consumption both directly and indirectly," he said.

"The direct hit to incomes from the tax as is currently suggested will likely trim growth and consumer spending a little this year."

Mr Colhoun said discussion in the media of tighter budget policies was already weighing on consumer confidence.

ANZ's view was that the impact of these factors was likely to keep the recovery in the economy moderate, and interest rates unchanged this year, he said.

ANZ's report showed online job ad number strengthened in April, while newspaper ads declined, but that was likely due to the Easter and Anzac Day holidays, which may have seen some businesses delay their advertising.

Official employment data for April will be released on Thursday.

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Scientists make bacteria-killing fabric

AN antibacterial fabric which has been shown to kill off two of the world's most infectious and deadly pathogens has been developed by scientists in Melbourne.

Both E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus were shown to die off within 10 minutes of contact with the fabric, which utilises the antibacterial properties of silver.

Potential applications include bandaids and wound dressings, surgical gowns and bed sheets as a hi-tech means to reduce hospital-acquired infections.

"It has been known for the last hundred years that silver is anti-bacterial," explains Associate Professor Vipul Bansal, from RMIT University's School of Applied Sciences.

"Silver metal, when it comes into contact with body fluids, releases silver ions and these ions are actually toxic and have anti-microbial and antibacterial properties.

"Instead of using silver metals, we developed a new material called silver TCNQ which releases these silver ions quite slowly so the antibacterial effect is long-term."

The new material is suited to use as a fabric coating, Assoc Prof Bansal said, and its potency has been found to survive multiple washes.

Ordinary fabric is dipped into a special solution to give it the desired antibacterial properties.

"We have shown that we can do up to one metre in one go with this simple immersion process," Assoc Prof Bansal said.

"We also took one of our old used T-shirts ... dipped it into solution and the whole T-shirt became this material so it is quite an efficient process."

The T-shirt remains off-limits for wear until testing confirms the material has no negative effect on human cells.

The research has been ongoing for a year in collaboration with CSIRO, and a paper describing the new material was recently published in the prestigious journal Advanced Functional Materials.

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British princes go to Graceland

Fans have gathered in Memphis to spot Princes William and Harry as they attend a friend's wedding. Source: AAP

PRINCE William and Prince Harry toured the home of the King - Elvis, that is - and then went to a friend's wedding during their trip to Tennessee.

Their visit inspired dozens of fans, paparazzi and news media to wait for hours outside the Memphis Hunt and Polo Club for the chance to see royalty. Instead, they saw police and several black sport utility vehicles pull into the club.

For 15-year-old Danny Harp, that was enough. Just being metres from a future king was a dream come true, he said.

"Absolutely blown away. I feel like I waited three years since the wedding to see this in person," said Harp, referring to Prince William and Kate Middleton's ceremony.

Harp drove about 320km from Nashville with his mother and a friend. They waited for the royals for about five hours as he held a small England flag and magazines with Princess Diana and the royal wedding on them.

"I thought I'd rather be here and not see anything than be at home and feel like I missed something," he said.

He did get to see the bride, Lizzy Wilson, drive up in a 1950s-style turquoise Cadillac.

Wilson is the granddaughter of the late Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson. She married London night club owner Guy Pelly.

The royal brothers took a private tour of Graceland, the home of Elvis, on Friday.

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Pedestrian killed in Sydney bus crash

A MAN has died after being trapped under a bus which witnesses say mounted a footpath in Sydney's Haymarket.

Emergency services were called to Hay Street in the inner city around noon on Sunday following reports a pedestrian had been hit by a coach.

Witnesses have told police the bus was travelling west when it veered to the opposite side of the road, mounted the footpath and hit the awning of a restaurant on the corner of Hay Street and Dixon Street.

They say a man was hit by the bus and was trapped under it.

He died at the scene.

Another pedestrian died on Saturday evening when trying to cross a major highway at Parramatta in Sydney's west.

Police say the man was walking south across three lanes of the M4 when he was hit.

About seven other cars then slammed into the back of the two vehicles that struck the man, a police spokeswoman told AAP.

The man died at the scene.

Police aren't sure why the man was trying to cross the elevated highway, which has no footpaths.

The drivers of the cars which hit the man have been taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol testing.

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