Confusion over why PM cancelled Bali trip

The federal government won't say why Prime Minister Tony Abbott cancelled a trip to Indonesia. Source: AAP

LABOR is demanding to know why Prime Minister Tony Abbott cancelled a planned trip to Indonesia, accusing him of further straining the relationship with one of Australia's closest neighbours.

Arrangements were being made for Mr Abbott to visit Bali early next week, where he'd been invited by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to attend a regional forum on open government.

But the trip has been put on ice, with speculation an asylum seeker operation underway northeast of Australia could be the reason behind the last-minute decision.

The prime minister's office has not confirmed why the visit was junked just days before the two leaders were expected to meet on the sidelines of the conference.

The invitation was seen as an opportunity to salvage relations damaged after a spying scandal late last year that saw Indonesia suspend high-level co-operation with Australia.

Shadow foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek is calling for answers.

"Rejecting this invitation at this late stage really does put extra strain on the relationship," she told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.

"It's very important that the prime minister discloses the reasons that he's really not going."

It's understood the trip was deemed too politically risky while Australian authorities were in the process of intercepting an asylum seeker vessel heading towards the mainland.

Turning back or towing an asylum seeker boat to Indonesia during the prime minister's visit could have caused embarrassment President Yudhoyono, sources say.

The Australian Greens said Mr Abbott's "cruel" asylum seeker policy had robbed Australia of a real chance to mend ties with Indonesia.

"That's the extent of the embarrassment that Tony Abbott is to Australia both domestically and internationally," Greens leader Christine Milne told reporters in Hobart.

"He's hoist on his own petard."

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said there was nothing unusual or remarkable about the decision to cancel the trip, suggesting the impending budget was the reason.

"The prime minister is obviously very focused on his responsibilities here in Australia, 10 days out from our first budget," he told Sky News on Saturday.

Labor frontbencher Ed Husic rejected this explanation, accusing him of undermining Australia's foreign interests by snubbing Indonesia.

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Man abducts, attacks Qld woman in her car

A MAN has attacked a woman after jumping in her car at a north Queensland car wash and telling her to drive to an industrial area.

Police say the woman was cleaning her car in the early hours of Saturday morning when a man jumped in and told her to drive to a nearby industrial area.

When they stopped he snatched the keys from the ignition and the pair began to struggle.

But the sight of a patrolling police car caused the man to run away.

The woman was taken to hospital with cuts and abrasions to her face, back, legs and an injury to her arm.

Police are searching for the man.

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NSW police minister stands down

NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher has stood down following evidence at a corruption inquiry. Source: AAP

NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher has stood down from the ministry, pending the outcome of the NSW corruption watchdog's explosive inquiry into banned donations.

The announcement was made by barrister Arthur Moses SC at the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in Sydney.

He asked counsel assisting Geoffrey Watson SC to confirm he would pursue a corruption allegation against Mr Gallacher.

"Oh, yes," came Mr Watson's prompt reply.

"My learned friend has said that - I assume - having given it some thought," Mr Moses said.

"Having stated that, then the position of the minister, which will be announced shortly, (is that he) will stand aside as minister pending the outcome of the inquiry."

NSW Premier Mike Baird is expected to release a statement shortly.

The corruption watchdog earlier heard a top executive at Nathan Tinkler's Buildev group had Mr Gallacher and former Liberal frontbencher Chris Hartcher "on tap", thanks to tens of thousands in secret donations.

Mr Gallacher is the second cabinet minister and fifth Liberal MP to be sidelined as a result of the current inquiry, dubbed Operation Spicer.

The developments come only weeks after Barry O'Farrell's shock resignation as premier for providing misleading testimony at ICAC over an unregistered $3000 bottle of wine.

Mr Watson on Friday accused Mr Tinkler associate Darren Williams of hatching a corrupt scheme with Mr Gallacher and Mr Hartcher to funnel $66,000 from Buildev to the NSW Liberal Party.

Mr Williams is accused of arranging the payments in return for favourable decisions about a lucrative coal terminal proposal at Newcastle, which he agreed was worth "a fortune" to Mr Tinkler.

"You were paying good money to get good access to politicians," Mr Watson said, as phone records showing extensive contact between Mr Hartcher, Mr Gallacher and Mr Williams were flashed before the inquiry.

"I always had good access to politicians," Mr Williams replied.

"You had them on tap," Mr Watson pressed on.

"You could ring them any time for a favour."

It is alleged the controversial donations were funnelled via Mr Tinkler's stud farm Patinack and then through a slush fund set up by Mr Hartcher's staffer Tim Koelma.

It is alleged Mr Hartcher helped "work up" the crooked scheme but that Mr Gallacher was central to the plan.

Mr Baird is in Canberra for the Council of Australian Governments meeting.

The stunning new allegations came less than 24 hours after the emergence of a damning 2010 email exchange that implicated Mr Gallacher in the unfolding cash-for-favours scandal.

In one email, Mr Williams asked an associate of Mr Tinkler, David Sharpe, "which entity will I give Mike Gallagher (sic)".

Mr Sharpe replied: "Ask Nathan as I think it's best to come through patnack (in reference to Mr Tinkler's horse stud Patinack) get right away from property minning infristructure (sic)."

Developers have been barred from making political donations in NSW since 2009.

Another email sent by Mr Williams to Patinack Farm director Troy Palmer in November 2010 carried the subject heading: "Mate can you get the payments to Tim the Liberal Party please mate as there 2 months behind (sic)".

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Cyber extortion ring busted in Philippines

DOZENS of people have been arrested in the Philippines for their involvement in a giant, global Internet "sextortion" network, local police and Interpol say.

Victims in foreign countries were lured by people in the Philippines into giving sexually explicit photos or videos about themselves online, then been blackmailed for many thousands of dollars, the authorities said in a joint press conference in Manila on Friday.

"The scale of this extortion network is massive," the director of Interpol's Digital Crime Centre, Sanjay Virmani said.

"These crimes are not limited to any one country and nor are the victims. That's why international cooperation in investigating these crimes is essential."

Philippine police chief Alan Purisima said the 58 people arrested would be charged over a range of crimes, including engaging in child pornography, extortion and using technologies to commit fraud.

It was not immediately clear whether all 58 arrested were Filipinos, although authorities initially made no mention of any foreigners who may have been directly involved in the Philippines.

However, authorities emphasised the Philippines was not the hub of the global sextortion network, only that the current investigation had focused on the Southeast Asian nation.

Purisima said the scam typically involved someone posing as an attractive, young lady making contact with people overseas via Facebook and other social media, then seeking to establish a relationship with them.

"After getting acquainted with the victims ... they engage in cybersex, and this will be recorded unknown to the victims," he said.

"They then threaten to release it to friends and relatives."

He said victims had paid between 500 Philippines pesos ($A12) and 500,000 pesos ($12,075).

While he said elderly men were often targeted, children were also victims.

A Scottish police chief who also briefed reporters at the press conference said one boy in Scotland had committed suicide after being extorted.

He said the boy was 17 when he killed himself.

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Pink batts costings were 'drawn on napkin'

The royal commission into the Rudd government's home insulation program resumes on Thursday. Source: AAP

THE costings for Labor's home insulation program were drawn on the back of a napkin by a senior politician, possibly Kevin Rudd, and an industry representative, a former government contractor claims.

Troy Delbridge, a technical advisor for the scheme, has told a royal commission how he learned about the napkin when he asked a departmental colleague to see the program's costings.

Under-cross examination by counsel assisting Keith Wilson, Dr Delbridge said the senior politician who wrote on it might have been Mr Rudd.

"It was one the prime minister's inner circle, whether it was himself I'm not sure," Dr Delbridge told the inquiry.

"It was the kind of message that was going around that was 'you didn't hear that from me'."

Dr Delbridge said he believed the industry representative was Insulation Council of Australia and New Zealand (ICANZ) chief executive officer Dennis D'Arcy.

He said he ended up being provided with a basic spreadsheet of the costings, which he may still have.

Earlier, Dr Delbridge told the inquiry he was seen as a squeaky wheel, who was told to basically shut-up, when he raised concerns about safety aspects of the home insulation program.

The use of foil insulation was among his concerns.

When asked whether there was any discussion early in the program about whether certain insulation products shouldn't be used, he said the suitability of foil was discussed.

"Absolutely, and foil was the main example of that," he told the inquiry.

"We actually considered the banning of foil from the program because of the risks."

The three Queensland tradesmen who died under the scheme were installing foil insulation.

The $2.8 billion home insulation program has also been linked to the death of a NSW tradesman and more than 200 house fires.

The royal commission before Ian Hanger QC continues.

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Toronto mayor seeks substance abuse help

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will go on leave to seek help for substance abuse, his lawyer says. Source: AAP

TORONTO Mayor Rob Ford will take a leave of absence to seek help for substance abuse, his lawyer says, as a report surfaced about a second video of the mayor allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday it had viewed a second video of Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine in his sister's basement.

The national newspaper reported two Globe reporters viewed the video from a self-professed drug dealer showing Ford taking a drag from a pipe early on Saturday morning.

The video is part "of a package of three videos the dealer said was surreptitiously filmed around 1.15am, and which he says he is now selling for 'at least six figures'," the paper reported.

News reports of the existence of an earlier video of Ford apparently smoking crack first surfaced last May, igniting a media firestorm around Ford.

The latest crack tape report comes as Ford's lawyer, Dennis Morris, said the mayor will take a leave of absence for substance abuse. Ford is seeking re-election in the October 27 vote.

Morris said he spoke to Ford earlier on Wednesday and said Ford accepted he had a problem.

"He acknowledges he has a substance abuse problem and he wants to do something about it," Morris told The Associated Press.

Ford, who launched his campaign for re-election earlier this year, acknowledged last year after months of denials that he smoked crack in a "drunken stupor" after police said they obtained a video that appears to show him smoking crack. The video has never been released to the public.

Ford has lurched from one scandal to another, becoming a national embarrassment for many Canadians.

The mayor has refused to resign, despite mounting pressure after a string of incidents, from public drunkenness to an appearance in another video that showed him threatening "murder" in an incoherent rant.

Toronto's city council has stripped him of most of his powers.

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Gold stars at refurbished Perth Mint

THE biggest, heaviest and most valuable gold bullion coin in the world is the centrepiece of a new permanent exhibition at the refurbished Perth Mint.

The piece is one tonne of 99.99 per cent pure gold - making it worth more than $50 million.

The coin, which is 80 centimetres in diameter and more than 12cm deep, depicts a red kangaroo surrounded by rays of sunlight.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said the $5.5 million redevelopment of Perth Mint, which was completed in two stages, was the biggest since it was founded 115 years ago.

Other items on display in the exhibition include more than $25 million worth of natural and refined gold, a rare opportunity to handle a solid gold bar worth more than $500,000, gold pours, the minting of Australian precious metal coins, and a multimedia heritage tour.

Perth Mint was established as a branch of Britain's Royal Mint in 1899.

Its primary functions of refining gold from the eastern goldfields and striking gold coinage continues today but at its refinery near Perth Airport, with precious metal coins struck onsite at the mint.

The Mint, which attracts almost 80,000 visitors a year, also issues the nation's official bullion and commemorative coins.

In 2012-13, Perth Mint refined more than 300 tonnes of precious metals, reported close to $3 billion worth of holdings in its depository, and sold 4.3 million gold, silver and platinum coins.

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