Australia: more rain, floods and a dead cool

New rainfall caused flash floods on Monday and the death of another person, in northeastern Australia several days affected by unprecedented floods.

After heavy rain during the weekend, which increased the overflow of rivers, a torrent of water rushed through the streets of Toowoomba, 130 km west of Brisbane (Queensland, northeast). At least one person drowned

"There were at least one death. yet the exact number but there is at least one victim, and enormous damage, " said the mayor of the city of 130,000 people, Peter Taylor, the ABC radio.

The wooden houses were torn from their foundations and washed away several hundred yards through the torrents of water, which also projected vehicles against store windows and ripped the gas station pumps, said Steve Jones, Mayor of Lockyer Valley, near Brisbane.

North of Brisbane, the city of Gympie was cut in two by flood waters, while there were neighborhoods in Dalby, west of Brisbane, which were flooded for the fifth time, forcing some of its 130,000 residents to evacuate their homes.

In Brisbane, capital of Queensland, sandbags were distributed due to the projected threat of rain on the lower parts of this city of two million.

Australia divided by the measures against illegal immigration

Australia's government faces a wave of criticism for alleged unfair and inhumane treatment of immigrants and have agreed to send illegal immigrants to Malaysia in return for Burmese refugees.

Australia and Malaysia agreed on Saturday that the next 800 illegal immigrants access to Australian shores by boat will be moved to Malaysia to be procesedas their asylum applications.

In return, Australia will accept 4,000 refugees who have already been evaluated by the United Nations, mainly Burmese, who are in Malaysia as part of this controversial measure that cost the Administration Gillard about 292 million local dollars (218 million euros) over the next four years

 

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, today refused to be ruled out that his government sent to Malaysia to minors, sick or pregnant women and emphasized the "firmness" with which it will implement this controversial measure, whose details are still emerging.

 

A spokesman for Amnesty International in Sydney, Graham Thom recalled that Malaysia, which hosts some 92,000 refugees, is not a signatory to the Convention on the Status of Refugees of the United Nations.

Travel agents back in demand, following trend towards personal service in bank branches

• Agent bookings have risen to 55 per cent                                                                                            
• Figures show it's the first rise in four years
• Natural disasters may have prompted change
•  Holiday Ideas: Travel Australia                             
• 
  

THE travel industry has followed in the footsteps of banking as the latest sector, with a trend towards customers wanting increased face-to-face contact instead of just a computer.

Latest research shows the percentage of Australians booking international trips with traditional travel agents has risen for the first time in four years.

Figures show New Zealand was still the most popular destination for overseas travellers in April, followed by the US, Indonesia, Thailand, the UK and Fiji.

Roy Morgan Research showed 55 per cent of Australians used a travel agent to book their last overseas holiday or leisure trip in the year to March, up from 53 per cent in December.

But the number was still well below the 71 per cent who booked trips with travel agents in June 2007.

At the same time the percentage of people booking accommodation directly dropped slightly to 24 per cent while websites such as Wotif and Webjet were steady at 12 per cent.

A third of Australians booked their holiday directly through an airline.

Flight Centre executive general manager Colin Bowman said the uncertainty of recent weather events, from last year's volcano ash cloud to the Japanese tsunami and Christchurch earthquake, could be behind the change.

"The uncertainty of it all has highlighted the importance of having someone like a travel agent back at home to call on in a time of need," he said.

"Travellers feel a sense of security knowing that their travel agent can help out, should something go wrong."

Roy Morgan director of tourism, travel and leisure Jane Ianniello said long-haul holidays to places such as Europe, the US and the Middle East usually required a more complex itinerary and people still needed an agent to help with their bookings.

Bank customers back to branches

Commonwealth Bank’s retail sales general manager Lyn McGrath said after launching a campaign to win customers, the younger generation was leading the charge back to branches.

Ms McGrath said changes such as the introduction of concierge services in main branches and designer branches with coffee machines has “no doubt increased the numbers of customers coming into branches”.

“Customers are using online for simple things like paying bills, but we’ve certainly seen a demand for face-to-face contact for the bigger transactions,” she said.

ANZ’s managing director of retail distribution Mark Hand said many customers enjoyed access to internet and mobile banking but agreed people still wanted face-to-face contact.

“We’ve certainly noticed people are using branches differently these days and they’re visiting us to have more in-depth conversations with our personal bankers,” Mr Hand said.

Australia calls on the ONU to take the Syrian leader to international court

Australia has asked the UN to take the Syrian president, Basharal-Assad, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the regime's repression against civilians, today announced the AustralianForeign Minister, Kevin Rudd.
"It is time that the Security Council formally considers PresidentAssad referred to the International Criminal Court, " Rudd told theNational Press Club in Canberra, noting its doubts about thelegitimacy of the Syrian government.
The Australian foreign minister made ​​this request in writing to theSecretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and the presidency of theSecurity Council due to the violent repression of demonstrationsagainst the regime of Assad.
Organizations defending human rights estimate that between 700and 850 people have died in Syria since the start of the protests.
Since April, Australia has imposed several measures against theregime of Assad and the arms embargo and economic sanctionsagainst the Syrian government representatives.
Rudd said today that it has included other officials of the Syrian regime in the list of economic sanctions has been extended a third time.

Julia Gillard feels the heat over carbon tax backlash as voters call for new election

• PM faces rising voter backlash on carbon tax
• Less than a third of voters support move
• Voters fear they'll be worse off under tax - poll

With less than a third of all voters now claiming to support the tax, the federal government is facing a nationwide backlash if it proceeds.

An exclusive Galaxy poll commissioned by The Daily Telegraph has revealed 73 per cent of people claim they will end up worse off under the tax. Just 7 per cent believe they could end up better off in some way.

More fatal for the Prime Minister, however, was the overwhelming support for an election to be called on the issue - confirming widespread anger over her broken election promise not to introduce a carbon tax.

A total of 64 per cent said they wanted a fresh election. Only 24 per cent believed the PM had a mandate.

And in a growing sentiment that the tax would not help solve the climate change problem, 75 per cent believed it would have only a minor impact on the environment - or no impact at all.

The devastating poll results, showing total opposition now at 58 per cent, confirm the government has so far failed to make an effective case for its tax.

They also reflect Liberal Party internal polling showing support for Tony Abbott's campaign to force the government to an early election, despite analysis showing the Coalition's alternative direct action plan would be even more costly.

Galaxy pollster David Briggs said opposition to the tax was entrenched.

"The problem for the government is that most voters believe the personal cost outweighs the environmental benefits," he said. "Such is concern over the carbon tax that the majority of voters believe Julia Gillard should call an early election to seek a mandate for the tax rather than have the legislation passed in this parliament."

The federal government is expected to announce details of the tax within weeks. It will not only set the carbon price - believed to be between $20 and $30 per tonne - but also the level of compensation households will receive to offset the cost of living rise that will accompany the tax.

The carbon tax is only planned to be an interim measure before a transition to a market-based price - an emissions trading scheme.

Opponents of the scheme have succeeded in casting fears that the price is likely to rise significantly no matter what is set in the short term. The government has tried to assuage fears by assuring people that lower and middle-income families will be compensated for the associated price rises - particularly around electricity bills, which could rise by between $300 and $500 a year in Sydney. Ms Gillard has said the political fight over climate change policy was "a long game". The poll was conducted between June 1 and 2, based on a national sample of 500 voters.

$40 million worth of recycled water 'dumped' into Brisbane River Read more:

MORE than $40 million worth of water has been funnelled through Queensland's costly purification pipeline only to be dumped directly into the Brisbane River.

The daily waste of an average 25 million litres comes as the State Government struggles to attract industrial customers to recycled water but is still moving ahead with the pipeline's commissioning.

While southeast consumers battle escalating water prices, authorities have defended their flushing of about $38,000 worth of water a day.

SEQ Water Grid, which manages the Western Corridor scheme, claimed recycled water was "sometimes" produced for testing and operational purposes.

But The Courier-Mail can reveal nearly 40 per cent of the 70,000 megalitres of wastewater purified through the scheme since 2007 has been ditched into the river.

The 27,000ML would be valued at more than $40 million if sold to council-run retailers at the current wholesale price.

An SEQ Water Grid spokeswoman insisted the production costs were far lower at $425 a megalitre, or $11.4 million overall, and only about 10ML a day had been discharged over the past three months.

She said releasing the purified water also meant pollutants such as phosphorus and nitrogen were not pumped into Moreton Bay.

The water waste adds to a string of multimillion-dollar failures chalked up by the Bligh Government as it rushed to secure the southeast water supply at the height of the drought, including the mothballed Tugun desalination plant and failed Traveston Dam.

Opposition water spokesman Steve Dickson said the Bligh Government had invested unwisely and Queenslanders were now stuck with the consequences.

He called for the extra recycled water to be gifted to community groups or offered to industrial consumers at a reduced price, fearing steep prices were pushing away potential business.

Queensland Urban Utilities, which sets prices for industrial users, refused to disclose prices proposed during negotiations with industrial users.

The Government was forced to seek alternative customers after backflipping on a promise to add recycled water to the drinking supply amid community backlash in 2008.

But so far only two power stations have signed on.