It's time for Tiwi recognition, elder says

IT'S time for Tiwi Islanders to take control of their own destiny, an elder says.

Elders on the islands, 80km north of Darwin, formed a land council in 1979 with the goal of taking control of their own affairs.

In the meantime they've watched the establishment of the Torres Strait Regional Authority.

But despite Tiwi aspirations for a similar authority, a local council still controls housing, healthcare, schooling, infrastructure and planning.

Elder Marius Puruntatameri says the idea has been discussed on the Tiwi Islands for 30 years.

"We were thinking about it then, we're still talking about it now," the softly spoken elder told AAP.

For Mr Puruntatameri, the duplication and wasted money is most frustrating.

"Everyone's just doing their own thing, there's no unity," he said.

"A lot of people out here are working for themselves instead of our people."

The elders have renewed their push for a regional authority as the Northern Territory reviews local governments.

"We've never stopped believing Tiwi people should be responsible, should be trusted," Mr Puruntatameri said.

"We'll never stop talking about it.

"Sure we'll have our problems, there will be ups and downs.

"But we can learn and we will learn."

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No-show by North Koreans at Kaesong

North Korean workers have failed to show up at the joint-Korean Kaesong industrial zone on Tuesday. Source: AAP

NORTH Korean workers have failed to show at the Kaesong joint industrial zone, a day after Pyongyang said it was withdrawing labour and suspending operations at the Seoul-funded complex.

"As of now, no North Korean workers have reported to work this morning," said a spokeswoman for the South's Unification Ministry on Tuesday.

North Korea announced the temporary closure of Kaesong on Monday, following a tour of the zone by senior ruling party official Kim Yang-Gon.

Some 53,000 North Koreans work for the 123 South Korean companies set up in Kaesong, which was established in 2004 and lies 10km inside North Korea.

After pulling out the workforce and temporarily suspending operations, Pyongyang will "examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it," Kim said.

A rare symbol of cross-border economic co-operation, Kaesong is a crucial hard currency source for the impoverished North, through taxes and revenues, and from its cut of the 53,000 workers' wages.

Turnover in 2012 was reported at $US469.5 million ($A452.99 million), with accumulated turnover since 2004 standing at $1.98 billion.

But Pyongyang has blocked South Korean access to Kaesong since Wednesday, forcing 13 of the 123 South Korean firms operating to halt production.

South Korea's unification ministry said the unilateral withdrawal "cannot be justified in any way" and that North Korea would be held responsible for all the consequences.

"The (South) Korean government will calmly but firmly handle North Korea's indiscreet action and we will do our best to secure the safety of our people and the protection of our property," the ministry said.

The US State Department said permanent closure of the complex would be "regrettable".

"It would not help them achieve their stated desire to improve their economy and better the lives of their people," acting deputy State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said at a press briefing.

More than 300 South Koreans have left Kaesong and returned to the South since North Korea banned access last week. The unification ministry said 475 South citizens were still staying at the complex as of Monday.

"How the situation will develop in the days ahead will entirely depend on the attitude of the South Korean authorities," said Kim, who blamed the pull-out on "military warmongers" who had affronted the North's "dignity".

The Korean peninsula has been locked in a cycle of escalating military tensions since the North's third nuclear test in February, which drew toughened UN sanctions.

The South's defence ministry said on Monday that activity detected at the North's Punggye-ri atomic test site was "routine" and should not be interpreted as final preparation for another detonation.

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Qld inquest told of blood-curdling screams

A FORMER Queensland police officer has told a cold-case inquest he heard "blood-curdling screams" that could have come from two nurses who were murdered near Toowoomba nearly 40 years ago.

Ian Hamilton told the inquest he and his partner were called to the site of a youth camp near Murphys Creek near the foot of the Toowoomba range one night in October 1974.

Caretakers had been disturbed by screams.

He said he also heard the screams of two women over about 40 minutes that night.

The incident came a month after Sydney nurses Wendy Evans, 18, and Lorraine Wilson, 20, went missing while holidaying in Queensland.

Their bodies were found two years later about four or five kilometres from the youth camp.

"(It's) probably the only time in the service I've ever experienced the hairs stand up on the back of my neck," Mr Hamilton told the court.

"They were just the most blood-curdling horrendous screams I've ever heard in my life.

"It was obvious that they were in desperate trouble."

He recalled the screams growing fainter before they died out.

The retired officer spoke of being annoyed and upset about not being able to pinpoint where the screams were coming from because it was a windy night.

Mr Hamilton said police only made a link between the screams and the Sydney nurses when their bodies were found in 1976.

Earlier a former police investigator said he would have arrested one of the persons of interest in the case if he was alive today.

Former senior sergeant Graham Ruge said Wayne Hilton, who died in a car crash in 1986, was one of a group of men who had been named as persons of interest.

"If he had have been alive I would definitely have had sufficient evidence that I would have arrested him for the murders," he told the court.

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Gillard condemns 'provocative' North Korea

AUSTRALIA has condemned the "provocative words" of the rogue nation state of North Korea as Prime Minister Julia Gillard prepares to meet China's premier.

Ms Gillard was due to leave Shanghai on Monday for the Chinese capital of Beijing, where she will have a private dinner with Australia's Ambassador Frances Adamson.

On Tuesday, she will meet Premier Li Keqiang and is likely to again raise concerns about an escalation in North Korea's anti-US and South Korean rhetoric, which is raising fears the North could start a war on the Korean peninsula.

"We absolutely condemn the provocative words from North Korea," Ms Gillard told reporters in Shanghai on Monday.

"Of course we would condemn any provocative conduct which is aimed at raising tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the region and brings an inherent risk of miscalculation."

The chief national security adviser to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye warned on Monday the North could test-launch a missile this week.

Kim Jang-Soo said the launch, or another provocation, could come before or after Wednesday - the day by which North Korea has suggested international diplomats leave Pyongyang.

North Korea has been angered by UN sanctions following its nuclear and missile tests, and by South Korean-US military drills.

Over the past weeks, it has issued a series of apocalyptic threats of nuclear war which so far show no sign of abating.

North Korea has reportedly loaded two medium-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast, raising speculation it is preparing for a launch.

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Police fire tear gas at Cairo protesters

Witnesses say police have fired tear gas at anti-Morsi protesters outside a Cairo court. Source: AAP

POLICE have fired tear gas at protesters outside a Cairo court, with several thousand people rallying in Egyptian cities to mark the founding of a key group opposed to President Mohamed Morsi.

Witnesses said police on Saturday fired tear gas at protesters outside the Superior Court building, which also houses the offices of the state prosecutor who has opened several investigations into opposition figures.

Live television showed clouds of tear gas rising from the court in central Cairo.

Supporters of the April 6 group also held rallies in the Nile Delta industrial town of Mahalla, where a labour strike turned into deadly clashes with police five years ago.

The Mahalla clashes on April 6, 2008 marked an escalation in the burgeoning protest movement against long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak, eventually overthrown in an early 2011 popular uprising.

Activists with the group also rallied in the coastal city of Alexandria.

Hailed as heroes in the aftermath of Mubarak's overthrow, the youth-led group, which splintered into two factions, clashed with the military that ruled Egypt between Mubarak's ouster and Morsi's election in June.

The group is now part of a coalition of secular-leaning movements that have organised sometimes violent protests against the Islamist Morsi, whom they accuse of mimicking Mubarak's practices.

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Live donors to get financial support

AUSTRALIA will never adopt a cash-for-organs scheme, but will follow other countries in paying donors who take leave off work, Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says.

Workers who want to donate a kidney will be offered up to six weeks' paid leave on minimum wage up to $3600 under a federal government plan to reduce the waiting list for life-saving organs.

Ms Plibersek said the government will put up a "relatively modest contribution" of $1.3 million from the federal health budget in a two-year trial period that will be reviewed in 2015.

"We know that there are a number of people who just cannot afford to take six weeks off work," she told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

"This reduces the financial burden on someone who is making the greatest gift that they can to a family member, or even to a stranger."

As well as those working full-time, part-time and self employed workers will receive payment, while the unemployed will get sickness benefits.

"You won't be financially better off, we just want to reduce the financial burden of taking time off," Ms Plibersek said.

The scheme brings Australia in line with other countries that have adopted similar schemes.

But Ms Plibersek said a system where people would be paid to sell organs would never be acceptable here.

"I do not think it is right to pay for organ donations.

"I think that is crossing a moral and ethical bridge that I would not be able to cross."

Kidney Health Australia chief executive Anne Wilson said the announcement was a "big win" for those suffering from kidney disease.

Recent figures from the Australian & New Zealand Organ Donation Registry show there were 1080 people on the kidney transplant waiting list in Australia in 2012, but only 237 live kidney donors.

Ms Wilson said it was a step toward reducing the gap between donors and recipients.

"People have come to us saying that this is a barrier and that's why it's an initiative that we applaud.

"We get calls one or twice a week from people talking about problems associated with being an organ donor.

"It's very heart-breaking. If you can't (donate organs) because of financial barriers, you can imagine that must build lot resentment (between families) and make them feel dreadful."

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Man charged over Easter fight in Qld

A MAN who started a street fight at a busy Gold Coast intersection has been charged.

Police say the 24-year-old man assaulted a 50 year old man at the intersection of Bundall Road and Thomas Drive, near the Chevron Island Bridge, Southport on March 30.

A video of the fight was circulated widely online.

The younger man has been charged with one count of affray.

He is due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on April 15.

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