MH370 search above and below water

AN underwater search has entered its second day as authorities continue to race the clock to find a black box flight recorder belonging to a missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

Co-ordinated by Australia, the search and rescue mission in the southern Indian Ocean, some 1700 kilometres southwest of Perth, continued on Saturday spanning an area of about 217,000 square kilometres.

The focus has turned to the work of Australian navy vessel Ocean Shield and the British oceanographic survey vessel HMS Echo, which deploy "pinger detectors" in an attempt to trace a signal from the black box.

But the battery on the black box beacon is expected to run out of power within days.

Above the waves an aerial search continues for debris from flight MH370.

Up to 10 military planes, three civil jets and 11 ships will search on Saturday.

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Abbott's plea to WA voters

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has pleaded for Western Australian voters to back Liberal candidates. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has made a last-ditch plea to West Australian voters as they head to the polls for a Senate election re-run.

Before jetting out of the country to Asia on Saturday, Mr Abbott recorded a message saying Labor and the Australian Greens in the Senate were standing in the way of his government's plan to repeal the mining tax and carbon tax.

"If you want to get rid of these anti-West Australian taxes ... that means voting Liberal," Mr Abbott said.

He said coalition candidates are "absolutely committed" to scrapping the taxes and the government hoped to get the numbers in the upper house from July to pass the repeal legislation.

"Send a strong message to Canberra, send a strong message to the Labor Party," Mr Abbott said.

"You can't say one thing in Perth and do the opposite in Canberra.

"That's my plea."

The outcome of Saturday's election is important for Australia's future, the prime minister added.

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Boy's parents located

POLICE have tracked down the parents of a young boy who was found wandering alone through suburban southwest Sydney.

Residents of Claymore called police after spotting the boy in the street wearing pyjamas about 7.30am Saturday.

Estimated to be aged two or three years old, the boy was cared for by officers until his parents were located and the search was called off.

The police thanked and updated the public about 2pm.

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Cyclone tipped to hit Queensland

Dramatic firsthand footage shows what it's like being in the different categories of cyclones. Produced by Christine Nestel.

A cyclone forming in the Coral Sea is expected to hit Queensland's Cape York Peninsula later next week.

The low pressure system which has brought torrential rainfall and flooding to the Solomon Islands -- killing at least 17 people and leaving thousands homeless – is forecast to intensify into a tropical cyclone, which will be named Ita, tomorrow.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Amber Young said the weather system was moving slowly south-west and expected to be about 750km north-east of Cairns by Monday morning.

"The conditions are very favourable for it to develop into a tropical cyclone,'' she said.

Information issued by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre yesterday indicated the system could become a category two cyclone by Monday, strengthening to a category three by Tuesday.

Most models indicated it would continue to edge closer to Australia, possibly crossing the northern Cape York coast on Thursday, although some suggested it could stall and even turn back out to sea.

Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott said they keeping a close eye on the developing weather pattern.

"We keep our fingers crossed every time one looms.''

Cr Scott said Cooktown had been quite fortunate.

"The last time Cooktown was hit was 1949.  This one looks as if it might cross at Lockhart River or north.'

"I think we are as well prepared as we can be and the same goes for the other communities up the Cape. They all go through cycle preparation exercises every year.

"But if it brings the sort of rainfall that has hit Honiara, it would cause a lot of damage to our road network.''

Lockhart River Shire Mayor Wayne Butler was not available to comment.

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Reports of person shot in streets

THERE are unconfirmed reports of a police officer involved in a shooting as officers rushed to a disturbance in Capalaba tonight.

Police are investigating reports of shots fired in a Capalaba street amid reports of a policeman being involved in a shooting.

A police spokeswoman said officers were rushing to disturbance in Dennison Court, Capalaba after Triple Zero calls saying shots had been heard shortly after 7.30pm.

THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED AS MORE INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

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NT schools to double in attendance program

AT the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Thamarrurr Catholic College in the remote indigenous community of Wadeye in the north-western Northern Territory, average school attendance rates are about 51 per cent.

But the federal government is hoping to change that, now that it has almost doubled the number of schools signed up to its Remote School Attendance Strategy.

An additional 210 school attendance officers and 60 supervisors will be employed to boost attendance rates in a further 30 schools nation-wide from Term 2, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion said on Friday.

Fifteen of the new schools will be in the NT, seven in Queensland and three in Western Australia, with another five in other jurisdictions.

The schools were identified following consultation with state and territory governments, the minister said.

The Wadeye community faces numerous obstacles to getting students to school, says Principal Dr John Young, due to the 22-plus different clans based there.

"When there's fighting in the community the attendance drops pretty dramatically," he told AAP.

"There's a lot of clan conflict issues, and a lot of kids don't get the amount of sleep they should, which has a real major effect on learning."

Factors affecting children's sleep and school attendance include loud music, parents gambling late into the night and overcrowding at home, where 16 people can live in a three-bedroom house, Dr Young said.

Some of the conflict spilled into school.

"Whether people say it's payback from the old days or they're fighting because every clan here has their own country, I don't know who to blame. Why is the government putting everyone in one place when years ago they wanted to kill each other?" resident Harold Anderson told AAP.

"The generation coming through now are hearing the same stories and the violence is getting worse and worse."

Dr Young said the key attendance data measures how many students attend school at least four days out of five.

22 per cent, or 177 students are coming to school 80 per cent of the time or more, he said.

"Those kids are making very good progress; the best thing we can do is move the 111 students who come 60 to 80 per cent up to coming four to five days a week... That makes the biggest difference."

School attendance personnel are already working in more than 40 schools across Australia and some schools in the NT have reported increases in attendance of nearly 20 percentage points since the strategy was implemented at the start of school this year, Minister Scullion said.

Early data from schools involved in the scheme's first stage show encouraging signs of increased school attendance, with more than 600 more children in school this year compared to last year.

Total government funding for the strategy now stands at $46.5 million.

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Boat incursion secrecy continues

CUSTOMS has refused to disclose whether Australian border protection vessels were turning asylum seeker boats back when they breached Indonesian territorial waters on six occasions.

The incursions took place between December 2013 and January 2014 under Operation Sovereign Borders and the discovery of the "inadvertent" breaches prompted the Abbott government to issue a swift apology to Indonesia.

Customs and Defence conducted a joint internal review into the incidents but only the executive summary with five recommendations was publicly released in February.

But a copy of the full report, under Freedom of Information laws, shows that damage to international relations and national security and defence are cited as reasons for the 18 blacked out pages and other redacted sections.

The document shows the joint review actually made seven recommendations but two have not been made public.

Sections identifying which boats were involved and the circumstances are also blanked out.

The discussion about the Abbott government's policy parameters on boat turn backs - only when safe and outside 12 nautical miles from Indonesia's archipelagic baseline - was also heavily redacted.

Last month, a Senate inquiry into the breaches found those two aims may not be achievable.

The document, obtained by AAP, shows the review team made up of three Defence personnel, and two Customs officers sought advice from the Attorney General's Department and Department of Foreign Affairs but the names of other bodies were blanked out.

It said the review took into account the potential for further inquiry into the events as a justification for making no findings against individuals.

The report said territorial seas declared by foreign nations are generally not depicted on Australian hydrographic charts.

The review blamed the breaches on incorrect calculations of boundaries of Indonesian waters rather than deliberate actions or navigational error.

The breaches have added to tension in Australian Indonesian relations following allegations Australian spies tapped the mobile phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife in 2009.

Customs and Defence are still assessing whether lapses in judgment contributed to the breaches.

Training regimes are under review and revised force preparation training will be introduced by May.

Officers will also be given special training on the United Nations convention of the law of the sea from the end of June.

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Shark victim's husband opens up

Police have found remains believed to belong to a woman killed by a shark off the NSW south coast. Source: AAP

THE husband of shark attack victim Christine Armstrong knew something was wrong when a bird swooped him in the water.

Rob Armstrong then spotted a large bronze whaler shark and swam carefully in a tight formation with the rest of his swimming group back to shore at Tathra Beach.

He did not initially fear for the safety of his wife of 44 years at the NSW south coast tourist spot, more concerned about the welfare of a 70-year-old swimming buddy.

"We thought everything was safe and we just hugged each other (on the beach) and then we found that Chris wasn't in the change rooms," Rob Armstrong said.

"We immediately got in the IRB (inflatable rescue boat), went out and very shortly we found evidence that Chris was no more.

Mr Armstrong is convinced his wife suffered a quick death at the spot south of Bega.

"She would not hold anything against what happened," he told reporters.

He wanted to assure friends she died doing something that she loved and he "is certain Chris would not have known what had hit her".

"The shark was such a size and it's consumed her basically completely - she wouldn't have even known it happened."

Mrs Armstrong's swimming cap and goggles were located on Thursday evening and police say human remains will undergo forensic testing.

The search, which is focusing on the southern end of Tathra Beach, resumed on Friday morning despite wet weather and grey skies.

"Chris only knew one way in life and that was love, and everyone loved her," Mr Armstrong said.

Divers from Sydney have arrived to assist the search along with lifesavers from nearby regions.

Patrols of Tathra Beach will start again at about 8am on Saturday, including a helicopter search of nearby beaches.

Tathra Beach will be reopened at 10am on Saturday.

"This decision is supported by the Armstrong family and the Tathra Surf Life Saving community," police media said.

The Department of Primary Industries says large schools of baitfish could soon gather near the shore, which may mean sharks will also be attracted to the area.

People who see sharks are urged to notify life savers immediately.

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M.I.A., Janelle Monae in hologram duet

SINGERS MIA and Janelle Monae have shared the stage during separate concerts on opposite coasts through the magic of holograms.

MIA performed in New York with a 3-D projection of Monae on Thursday night while Monae sang on the West Coast with MIA's likeness.

Both artists have ideas for how they might use performance holograms beyond their bi-coastal duet.

The duet was sponsored by Audi to launch its A3 model.

M.I.A. and Monae performed together in person to help create the holograms, but each saw the results for the first time onstage.

"I wish I were in the audience because I'm sure it looked cooler from the audience but it felt great," Monae said after closing her 40-minute set at Quixote Studios by singing with a hologram.

"I felt MIA's spirit up there."

A life-size hologram of the British rapper joined Monae onstage with an original addition to her song Q.U.E.E.N.

Wearing a spangled top and pants reminiscent of C-3PO, MIA appeared to dance and sing, her image at times bathed in coloured lights. Monae's hologram sang a verse of MIA's "Bad Girls" with her at New York's SIR Stage 37.

Neither artist got to see what their own hologram looked like.

"I'm going to go online and see if I could see it," Monae confessed.

But both said they'd try the technology again.

"It's definitely cool for us and it's cool for me. I could be in 10 places at once," MIA said by phone.

The technology has been prohibitively expensive and cumbersome to use on tour, she said: "I hope they get it together to the point that it's accessible."

If so, Monae has some ideas about how to apply it.

"I'd be honoured to experiment more with holograms and maybe make a whole band - but I love my band, I wouldn't want them to be holograms," she said. "I would do some experimenting with different versions of myself, playing different instruments."

Not that either artist has the time to go hologram crazy. Both are touring in support of albums released last northern autumn: MIA's Matangi and Monae's Electric Lady.

Monae also contributes the theme song to the upcoming animated film Rio 2 and covered David Bowie's Heroes for a Pepsi global ad campaign.

MIA is busy with her fashion collection for Versace and her ongoing snarl with the National Football League, which is seeking $US16 million ($A17.38 million) from the singer on claims that she ruined the league's reputation when she stuck out her middle finger during a halftime performance with Madonna two years ago.

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US Marshals take custody of Brown

US singer Chris Brown has been taken into custody ahead of his misdemeanour assault trial. Source: AAP

THE US Marshals Service has taken R and B singer Chris Brown into custody to transport him to Washington for his upcoming misdemeanour assault trial.

Marshals spokeswoman Laura Vega says Brown was transferred into the agency's custody from a Los Angeles jail on Wednesday.

She declined to say when the Grammy winner would be sent to Washington.

Brown is scheduled to go on trial later this month on the misdemeanour charge.

The singer and his bodyguard are accused of hitting a man outside a hotel in October.

Brown has been in a Los Angeles jail since mid-March, when a judge ordered him taken into custody after the singer was dismissed from a court-mandated rehab program.

Brown's attorney Mark Geragos had been seeking to block Brown's transfer into the marshals' custody.

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More double demerits for WA drivers

DOUBLE demerit penalties will now apply to West Australian motorists caught using their mobile phones while driving and running red lights during holiday periods.

Road Safety Minister Liza Harvey said the change would come into effect in time for the Easter long weekend and would be reviewed after three years.

"We know that both running red lights and using your mobile phone while driving are linked to fatal and serious crashes," she said.

"We don't want anybody to lose a loved one on our roads over the Anzac and Easter holidays."

Double demerits already apply to drink and drug driving, speeding and not using seatbelts.

Earlier this year, the Road Safety Council undertook a review of the double demerits system and advised that illegal mobile phone use and running red lights should be included.

Over the past five years, road fatalities had dropped by 30 per cent, but WA still had one of the worst road tolls in Australia, Ms Harvey said.

Double demerit penalties will be enforced between April 17 and 21, and between April 24 and 27.

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SA and Canberra closer on road plan

The SA and federal governments have held talks on Adelaide's north-south road corridor. Source: AAP

THE federal and South Australian governments have held talks aimed at overcoming disagreements on how to fully redevelop Adelaide's north-south road corridor.

The two governments had been at odds before the recent state election, with the Commonwealth wanting to start the project with an upgrade at Darlington in the city's south.

The state government maintained a section of the road further north should be the priority.

But a meeting on Thursday between federal Assistant Minister for Infrastructure Jamie Briggs and new SA Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan appears to have closed the gap.

Mr Briggs said he was now more confident about the project.

"We want to get the north-south corridor upgraded in a decade," he said.

Mr Mullighan described Thursday's meeting as productive.

"We've made very clear what our priority is and they've made very clear what their priority is," he said.

"What we're working on is how we can deliver both projects."

Mr Mullighan said talks would continue.

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Safety overlooked in batts scheme rush

FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd's "horrendous" timeline for the home insulation program denied bureaucrats adequate time to consider safety risks, an inquiry has heard.

Public servants were given five months to devise the $2.8 billion scheme.

Safety considerations were overlooked as they scrambled to have it up and running by July 1, 2009, a royal commission has been told.

Former environment department deputy secretary Malcolm Forbes, who oversaw delivery, says potential risks would have been properly considered if time wasn't so tight.

Commissioner Ian Hanger QC asked what was "so magic" about July 1, 2009.

"That's what the prime minster wanted," Mr Forbes replied.

Asked why nobody told Mr Rudd it couldn't be done, Mr Forbes said doing so would have gone against the public service culture, which was to remain positive and get the job done.

Mr Forbes said he did raise concerns about the challenging deadline with former co-ordinator general Mike Mrdak.

"We were flagging early that this was a significant challenge to us," he said.

A coronial inquest has already blamed the scheme's rushed rollout for the deaths of young Queenslanders Matthew Fuller, Rueben Barnes and Mitchell Sweeney.

NSW tradesman Marcus Wilson also died installing home insulation.

Mr Forbes said he had never, in his 33 years as a public servant, seen such a short gap between a government program being announced and rolled out, as occurred with the home insulation program (HIP).

"The HIP implementation timeline was horrendous," he said in a statement to the inquiry.

" ... some compromises were made that left risks remaining to achieve the timeline."

The scheme wasn't fully implemented until September 2009 but even then inspections were happening slowly.

While 400,000 homes had been insulated by October, only 172 roof inspections had taken place.

The inquiry resumes on Friday.

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'500 dolphins caught in WA nets' in decade

Western Australian scientists say methods to reduce dolphin bycatch are not working. Source: AAP

ABOUT 500 dolphins have been caught in the Pilbara trawl fishery in the past 10 years, West Australian scientists say.

Murdoch University PhD candidate Simon Allen and colleagues from the Cetacean Research Unit have made the claims based on independent observer data, which shows methods to reduce dolphin bycatch are not working.

"Independent observers reported bycatch rates of about 50 dolphins per year, which is double the number reported by the skippers of these vessels," Mr Allen said.

Under-reporting was not unusual around the world, especially where marine mammal capture was illegal, he said.

"This doesn't necessarily mean that skippers are deliberately under-reporting," Mr Allen said.

"Fishers are concentrating on the job at hand and may not see a dead dolphin fall out of the net on winch up."

A report by the WA Fisheries Department detailed similar findings, but instead suggested self-reporting mechanisms in place were accurate and the impact posed negligible risk, Mr Allen said.

But researchers said modified bycatch reduction devices with top-opening escape hatches could be more effective.

The scientists have also called for a reinstatement of independent observers and in-net video collection to accurately measure bycatch.

"The next step is to calculate the acceptable levels of human-caused dolphin mortality, which requires an estimate of the dolphin population size in the region," Mr Allen said.

"If the ongoing bycatch exceeds that threshold, switching to alternative, less destructive fishing methods, like trap or line fishing, should be considered."

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Second man charged on NSW double shooting

A MAN has been charged with attempted murder and several robbery offences for his part in a western Sydney double shooting that left a teenager and an innocent bystander in serious conditions in hospital.

Police had been looking for the man after he and three others ambushed three teenagers in their car last week, shooting one before running away and firing on an innocent bystander who confronted the group in the front yard of his Merrylands home.

They arrested the 23-year-old on a street corner at Guildford early on Thursday afternoon and charged him with shooting at with intent to murder, robbery armed with offensive weapon causing wounding or grievous bodily harm, assault with intent to rob while armed with an offensive weapon causing wounding and or grievous bodily harm and robbery while armed with dangerous weapon.

He was refused bail and is due before Parramatta Local Court on Friday.

After the bungled armed robbery, a 19-year-old man was rushed to hospital with chest, stomach and arm wounds and a 62-year-old man was left in a critical but stable condition from a gunshot to the chest.

Both shooting victims remain in hospital.

Police say the 19-year-old had gone to Merrylands with two mates, 17 and 18, late on the night of March 26 to buy a mobile phone advertised on a social networking site.

But they were stopped in their car on a residential street by two men.

Two more men appeared and a fight broke out.

The 19-year-old was shot after a man jumped into the teen's car allegedly demanding cash and property.

The two other suspects remain at large.

Yousiff Chami was last week also charged over the Merrylands shootings.

The 27-year-old, who's facing firearm and robbery charges, was remanded in custody until his matter appears before Parramatta Local Court on May 22.

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Aboriginal alcoholism worsening: inquiry

ALCOHOLISM in Aboriginal communities is bad and getting worse, says the chairwoman of a federal inquiry into the issue.

After hearings in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs is in Darwin conducting its inquiry into the harmful use of alcohol by indigenous communities.

Chairwoman Sharman Stone says the feedback from communities is that the situation is dire.

"An overarching message is things are getting far worse than they've been before ... People now are desperate about finding a solution to these problems," Dr Stone told AAP.

"As a woman said to us in Tennant Creek yesterday, 'our young people are getting angrier and too many people are dying'.

"And that's just an appalling situation in a developed country like Australia - one of the richer countries in the world - to have this circumstance for its indigenous population."

Homelessness and housing pressures are a key factor in explaining why indigenous people drink to excess, the inquiry heard on Wednesday.

Indigenous people are highly mobile but often have trouble finding somewhere to stay when they come to cities such as Darwin to attend events, to see family or to seek work, and end up putting stress on relatives and overcrowding properties.

Those who end up in the long grass, or sleeping rough, are usually the problem drinkers, said Toni Vine Bromley, CEO of NT Shelter.

She said accessing the NT rental market was difficult enough before taking into account the obstacles Aboriginal people from remote areas might face when moving to towns.

The NT has 15 times the national average of homeless people, 30 to 40 per cent of which are children aged under 18.

Young disadvantaged women who drink during pregnancy are having babies with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, and the inquiry is looking at its prevalence and whether it should be declared a disability.

Dr Stone called it a form of "cultural genocide".

"(Brain-damaged children) who will never be able to learn like others, who will probably end up incarcerated as soon as they reach adult status, who will be more likely to suicide, more likely to be victims of violence and to perpetrate violence - that is a tragedy for any community," she said.

Dr Stone also said she was disappointed the NT government would not permit its employees, such as the police and doctors, to give evidence to the inquiry, but rather would submit a "whole of government report".

"It's an inquiry loaded with politics and emotional stress for a lot of people, because the Australian population as a whole has a major problem with alcohol consumption," she said.

Hearings will continue in Darwin on Thursday.

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Mine application filed despite concerns

A COMPANY under administration has applied to restart and expand work at a Blue Mountains mine rejected previously due to "unacceptable environmental impacts," environmentalists say.

Coalpac Pty Ltd on Wednesday put a development application to mine 315 hectares of the Ben Bullen Forest, near Lithgow, on public display, the NSW Nature Conservation Council said.

"It is very disappointing that Coalpac has been permitted to submit new plans to destroy a significant area ... that the Office of Environment and Heritage has recommended should be protected in a conservation reserve," the group's chief Pepe Clarke said.

NSW planning minister Brad Hazzard last October referred himself to the state's corruption watchdog over allegations of a conflict of interest relating to the mine.

Media reports at the time claimed his chief of staff, Kath McFarlane, failed to disclose owning properties near the previously proposed coal mine extension, which was rejected by the planning department.

It was abandoned despite the support of Treasury and Trade and Investment, which was in favour of 150 direct jobs being created.

The allegations, Premier Barry O'Farrell said, were "baseless."

In 2010 a report commissioned by then-premier Bob Carr found the mine had caused hundreds of cliffs to collapse, damaged Aboriginal rock art and polluted drinking water supplies.

Comment is being sought from the government.

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BP Brisbane workers weigh up their futures

DREW McQueen knew his two decades at BP's Brisbane oil refinery were coming to an end.

The 53-year-old crane rigger is one of 355 workers who will lose their jobs when the Bulwer Island plant ceases production in mid-2015.

The Pinkenba site in Brisbane's north will stop refining 102,000 barrels a day, ending half a century of history.

It will instead be used to store jet fuel, leaving another 300-plus contractors out of work.

The closure of yet another oil Australian refinery has energy experts predicting the end of a local industry within a decade, as Asian refineries continue to produce much higher volumes more efficiently.

The news also follows Holden and Toyota heralding the end of local car making by 2018, and a string of retrenchments at Qantas and throughout the resources industry.

Mr McQueen, who still has a teenage daughter to support, knew there was bad news before Wednesday morning's announcement.

"There's always been talk of closing these joints. Today we hear about it," he told AAP outside the front gates.

"I've been here 20 years. I've had a good run."

Fellow crane operator John, who is also in his mid-50s, said the news gave him "a bit of sadness" after seven years at the plant.

He is now weighing up whether to leave Brisbane to find work.

"I'm in a situation where I don't particularly want to do that but if it arises, then it's something I will have to eventually look at," he said.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Queensland secretary Rohan Webb said the retrenched workers were "quite shell shocked".

"We're seeing massive job losses across the state so the employment opportunities for these workers are going to be somewhat short," he told reporters.

Addressing reporters on site, the Bulwer Island refinery's managing director Tim Wall said much higher production volumes in Asia were to blame, stressing Australia's carbon tax wasn't responsible.

"There's a very large difference between the operating costs of a 100,000-barrel-a-day refinery compared to a refinery ... in India that's operating at over a million barrels a day," he told reporters.

Australia has just four refineries left, including BP's Kwinana plant near Perth.

BP Australasia president Andy Holmes said its West Australian refinery was not yet earmarked for closure but declined to commit on its future.

The future is considered marginal for Brisbane's other refinery at Lytton, run by Caltex, and the other refineries in Geelong and Melbourne.

Energy analysts including Credit Suisse's Mark Samter and State One Stockbroking's Peter Kopetz believe the end of local refining may be less than a decade away.

BP's latest announcement follows Caltex closing its Sydney refinery during the second half of 2014 and converting it to an import terminal.

BP's latest announcement also comes just four months after the company sacked 300 workers at its Australian headquarters in Melbourne.

The Bulwer Island refinery was built in 1965 by Amoco and bought by BP in 1984.

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Cancer risk for 1000 Fukushima children

A GROUP of children exposed to higher radiation levels from the Fukushima nuclear accident faces a slightly higher risk of thyroid cancer, UN experts say.

However, there would be no measurable rise of cancer in the Japanese population overall, the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) said in its final report on the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

About 1000 children who were evacuated from the vicinity received a radiation dose of up to 80 milligrays.

"If we are honest, we must say there is a chance that a few of these children will have received thyroid doses which are high enough that sometimes in the future, thyroid cancer can develop," said German expert Wolfgang Weiss, who co-ordinated the UNSCEAR investigation.

For the study, more than 80 scientists from 18 countries analysed the radiation levels to which people in Japan were exposed, and the likelihood that the rate of cancers affecting the thyroid, blood, breasts or other organs will rise.

The Japanese people were rightly concerned, UNSCEAR chairman Carl-Magnus Larsson said.

"Based on this assessment, however, the committee does not expect significant changes in future cancer statistics that could be attributed to radiation exposure from the accident," he said on Wednesday.

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PM labels PUP 'one man personality cult'

Labor MP Jason Clare (pic) says the coalition will regret its pre-election attacks on Clive Palmer. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has taken another swipe at Clive Palmer, dismissing his political outfit as "a personality cult for one person".

Mr Abbott has repeatedly accused Mr Palmer of trying to buy seats in parliament in a bid to further his own interests.

And on Wednesday, he asked what it meant for democracy when candidates were "a proxy for a minor party that is a personality cult for one person".

"It's something for voters to ponder in the lead-up to Saturday," he told ABC radio in Perth on Wednesday during the West Australian Senate election campaign.

On the party's appeal, Mr Abbott said: "I think there is a certain novelty value and obviously there has been a massive, massive, massive advertising spend.

"So far, the gentleman in question has spent - presumably from his own money - far more than the combined spending from both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party," he said.

But Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, also campaigning in Perth on Wednesday, said it was up to each party to determine how much was spent on a campaign.

"We believe in a democracy," Ms Plibersek said.

"As long as a political party declares all its donations, as long as it abides by the rules, they've got every right to spend the money they raise."

Despite the Greens being the second biggest spenders in the re-run WA Senate election, leader Christine Milne said the party wanted to see expenditure on campaign ads capped in light of the Palmer United Party ad blitz.

"This is the first time in Australian politics where we've had a rich individual being able to so manifestly influence the vote," she said.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said his party's ad spending was different to PUP's because the funds came from a large amount of small donations.

Mr Palmer said PUP's advertising cash splash was his personal money to do with what he wished.

He said he had only spent a third of what the Liberal Party did at the 2013 federal election.

"No matter how much money you spend on advertising, if you have a bad idea people won't vote for you," Mr Palmer told Network Ten.

If PUP wins a WA Senate seat on Saturday, it will have three members on the upper house crossbench after July 1.

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Search for MH370 could drag on: Houston

Authorities are in a race against time to locate the black box in the Malaysia Airlines plane wreck. Source: AAP

AS Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak prepares to travel to Perth to thank those searching for Malaysia Airlines flight 370, Australia's former defence chief has warned the operation could take a long time.

Mr Najib will arrive on Wednesday and stay until Thursday, visiting the RAAF Pearce air base to the city's north, the departure point for the seven-nation search effort.

Danica Weeks - the wife of missing Perth passenger, Paul Weeks - visited the air base on Tuesday, prompting Air Chief Marshal Houston to urge the mother-of-two to come to the new Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre near the West Australian parliament for a full briefing.

He also passed on his personal phone number to her.

Air Chief Marshal Houston is leading the centre, which has taken over from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in co-ordinating the search and distributing information about it.

He said the operation would be pursued with vigour, but with no objects pulled from the Indian Ocean identified as being from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, it could drag on for weeks, maybe months.

"I have to say in my experience - and I have got a lot of experience in search and rescue over the years - this search and recovery operation is probably the most challenging I have ever seen," he told reporters in Perth on Tuesday.

The last known position of the plane was a long way away from the area being examined and until some debris was found to narrow down the search, it "could drag on for a long time".

"I say that because the starting point whenever you do a search and rescue is the last known position of the vehicle or aircraft.

"In this particular case, the last known position was a long, long way from where the aircraft appears to have gone.

"We've been searching for many, many days and so far have not found anything connected with MH370."

Air Chief Marshal Houston said it was not known what altitude and speed the aircraft was travelling at and authorities were relying on the best information available.

"I think at this stage that it's very important to pursue all the leads," he added, as 10 planes and nine ships, some with helicopters, resumed the search.

He also said updated information about the pilot's final words provided some "clarity".

The pilot was originally reported as signing off: "All right, goodnight".

But it emerged on Monday that he had actually said: "Goodnight Malaysian three seven zero".

"The last communication was more formal than what was reported some weeks ago," Air Chief Marshal Houston said, and declined to comment further.

Defence Minister David Johnston said about a week remained to find the plane's black box, given the satellite "pinger" had about 30 days of battery life and the aircraft vanished on March 8.

"It depends on the temperature of the water and water depth and pressure as to how long the battery power will last," Senator Johnston told ABC radio.

He said it would take two or three days for the Australian naval vessel Ocean Shield, which has been fitted with a pinger locator, to reach the search zone, some 1850km west of Perth.

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Aust students equipped to tackle problems

AUSTRALIAN students are relatively well-equipped to face the modern world, with new international test results showing they're better problem solvers than expected.

Australia came ninth out of the 44 countries examined in the Programme for International Student Assessment's 2012 problem solving tests.

The tests look at how well 15-year-olds can solve problems they have never encountered before, where there isn't a learned, routine solution.

Questions included working out how to use a virtual MP3 player they'd never seen before, buying train tickets from a machine and using GPS and traffic information to decide travel routes.

Students in Australia performed much better in problem solving than those in countries with similar average results for maths, science and reading.

The best students in maths also had excellent problem-solving skills, the results released on Tuesday showed.

It suggested this meant that in Australia top maths students have access to the kinds of learning opportunities that are also useful for improving their problem-solving skills.

Particular strengths for Australian students were exploring, understanding and representing problems and formulating hypotheses about them.

But their weaknesses lay in planning and executing solutions.

In general, Australian students performed better than expected on problems where all the information needed is given at the start and doesn't change, known as static tasks.

About one in six got top level results while a similar number were at or below the bottom level.

Singapore, Korea and Japan topped the countries tested.

In Singapore, nearly one in three students achieved top results - twice as many as in Australia.

Some 85,000 students around the world took part in the problem-solving tests.

PISA says testing students' skills in tackling real-life problems helps them and their teachers and schools identify better ways to give young people the skills they'll need to be employable in the 21st century.

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Bushfire threatens homes in small Vic town

An out-of-control bushfire is threatening homes in the small Victorian town of Narrawong. Source: AAP

RESIDENTS whose homes are threatened by a fast-moving bushfire near the small Victorian town of Narrawong have been warned to leave.

An emergency warning has been issued for the blaze in Victoria's southwest and a relief centre has been set up in the town and community meeting held for residents.

The fire has already burnt through more than 270 hectares.

It is travelling in a southerly direction from Golf Course Road, Mt Clay State Forest and towards Mt Clay fire tower, a Department of Environment and Primary Industries spokesperson says.

Residents in the vicinity of the bushfire have been warned they should leave now, before conditions become too dangerous.

The message applies to residents in the vicinity of Blackers Road, Devlins Road, Beavis Road, Brabender Lane, Kerrabrae Road and Angelino Road.

Community meetings were held at the Narrawong Hall and Portland Civic Centre on Tuesday night and a relief centre has been set up at the Portland Civic Centre.

Several roads have been closed and should be avoided.

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Palmer company coughs up carbon tax bill

Clive Palmer says Queensland Nickel's $36 million carbon tax bill has been paid. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND Nickel has paid its overdue carbon tax debt of nearly $7 million, but the company owned by federal MP and mining magnate Clive Palmer is not out of the woods just yet.

The Clean Energy Regulator has confirmed that on Tuesday it received a payment from Mr Palmer's company Queensland Nickel for $6.8 million.

The payment was for the company's outstanding $6.1 million carbon tax debt to June 2013, plus 20 per cent interest a year through to the end of the year.

This clarification from the regulator backs Mr Palmer's insistence earlier on Tuesday that he'd already authorised the payment. But the regulator also said the amount it received did not include the interest accrued on the debt since December 31, and Queensland Nickel still had more cash to cough up.

"A further debt in the amount of $2.27 million fell due in February 2014 at the end of the final surrender period," a spokesperson for the regulator told AAP in a statement on Tuesday evening.

"The Clean Energy Regulator will continue to pursue the debts using appropriate means, including payment plans and court proceedings."

Queensland Nickel also confirmed it paid around $6,815,000 to the regulator on Tuesday, reducing its carbon tax liability as of December 31 to zero.

A statement from the company said as an exporter trading in international commodity markets, Queensland Nickel could not pass on the costs of the carbon tax to its customers.

"Queensland Nickel's international competitors are not plagued by the same high level of carbon pricing," the statement read.

Mr Palmer earlier said the payment was authorised to be made this week, well before the April 5 deadline imposed by the regulator.

But he did not know exactly when the authorisation was made, but denied it was done at the very last minute.

"Do you pay your tax months in advance?" he told reporters in Perth on Tuesday.

"Most people will pay their tax just before it's due and that's what our company's decided to do."

He said Queensland Nickel would continue with its High Court challenge to the legal validity of the carbon pricing scheme.

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Palmer plans 'anonymous' news website

Clive Palmer is planning a news website containing anonymous posts by professional journalists. Source: AAP

A NEWS website filled with anonymous editorial written by journalists is being set up by wealthy businessman and federal MP Clive Palmer.

After lodging a trademark for The Australian Times last year, the Palmer United Party leader continues to toy with the idea of taking on media mogul Rupert Murdoch in the same spirit as his bid to break the nation's political duopoly.

He said it should go live before the end of the year.

"I'm setting up a website - I haven't got time to do it at the moment - called News on News," Mr Palmer told AAP in Perth, where he was campaigning on Tuesday for Saturday's re-run West Australian Senate election.

"I'm trying to get the editor of one of the newspapers to be the editor of it.

"And I'm trying to have it so that news (reporters) worldwide can log on and post an anonymous article - what's happening in Cincinnati, what's happening in Australia - all over the world.

"You might be a journalist who for some reason can't run a story, you can go and put it on News on News."

Mr Palmer said he still avoided speaking with News Corp Australia, saying he was often denied a right of reply, but still thought its journalists were largely nice people just following orders.

"There's only a point talking to a journalist if you get some fair coverage. You might get 10 per cent fair and that's still worth putting your point of view. But if you get zero coverage, you're only talking to them because they're looking for a headline."

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