FMG minesite worker crushed to death

WorkSafe WA is investigating the death of a mine worker at FMG's Christmas Creek iron ore mine, south of Nullagine. Source: Supplied

A MAINTENANCE worker has died at FMG's Christmas Creek minesite, the first death at a WA mine in almost two years.

Department of Mines and Petroleum Resources Safety Executive Director Simon Ridge said a contractor aged in his mid-twenties sustained fatal crush injuries while working in an ore processing plant.

The man was employed by Fortescue's contractor Crushing Services International (CSI).

A team of DMP mines safety inspectors will arrive at the site today to commence a thorough investigation, while operations at the incident site have been suspended.

"Our thoughts are with family, friends and colleagues who have been impacted by this tragic incident," Mr Ridge said.

"This is a sad day for the entire Western Australian resources industry.

"Our safety inspectors and investigators will now commence a full and thorough investigation into this incident, to get to the bottom of how this has occurred."

Mr Ridge urged everyone involved in onsite mine works to be vigilant.

"Know the hazards in your workplace and employ the right risk management processes to control them," he said.

Electrical Trades Union WA secretary Les McLaughlan said the union had previously raised general concerns about CSI's safety practices and specific concerns about the kind of work the man was undertaking.

"This man's death is a tragedy and we believe it may have been prevented if CSI had listened to our concerns about its safety practices,'' he said.

"Working on live equipment is inherently dangerous.

"What we need to know is whether the company took any extra safety precautions after we raised these concerns.''

The incident also highlighted the danger of people working alone at night, Mr McLaughlan said.

Resources Minister Gary Gray said the death was sad and unfortunate.

"We went nearly two years without a mine site death - the longest period in the mining history of Western Australia,'' he told a mining conference in Perth.

"Our industry will feel grief and sadness for the family.''

The last WA mines fatality occurred in August 2011, with 2012 recording its first fatality-free year in more than a century.

Fortescue Metals Group sent an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange this morning about the worker's death.

In the announcement, company secretary Mark Thomas said the relevant authorities and the man's family had been notified.

"Chaplaincy and counselling services are being made available to colleagues and to the family members who have been notified of the incident," Mr Thomas said.

Operations director David Woodall said the company was saddened by the incident.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the worker's loved ones at this time," he said.

"Mining and processing operations at the mine were suspended overnight.

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Abbott remains tight-lipped on costs

Tony Abbott has said that the Coalition's full policy costings won't be released until the last week of the election campaign. Courtesy: 7:30 Report

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told the 7.30 program's Leigh Sale he would not reveal the Coalition's full costings until the final week of the campaign. Source: Supplied

TONY Abbott has confirmed that the Coalition's full policy costings won't be released until the last week of the election campaign.

Mr Abbott said that he would still be releasing policies right up until the week of the September 7 poll and only after all the detail was out there would it be revealed how they would be paid for.

"Every policy that we put out will be costed and funded," Mr Abbott told the ABC's 7.30 program.

"We intend to keep putting out policies right up until last week of the campaign.

"When all our policies are out there we will be able to tell you exactly how much we will spend."

Mr Abbott has come under fire from the government, who say he is staring down the barrel of a $70 billion revenue shortfall.

But Mr Abbott says that figure is a lie.

The interview between Mr Abbott and 7.30 host Leigh Sales was relatively positive considering their previous encounters have not been so nice.

It was Mr Abbott's first interview on the program of the election campaign after Kevin Rudd fronted the program last Wednesday.

The last time Mr Abbott faced off with Sales was in April this year. He has had numerous contentious interviews with her including a notorious one in which he admitted he hadn't read a BHP statement on the stalling of its Olympic Dam project despite trying to talk with authority about the issue.

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Nigeria arrest for WA house scam

Ntuen Promise Ekenmini was arrested over an attempted fake home sale in WA. Picture: Supplied Source: PerthNow

A Nigerian man has been arrested over an attempted fake home sale in WA. Picture: Supplied Source: PerthNow

A MAN has been arrested in Nigeria over the attempted fraudulent sale of a house in Western Australia.

Ntuen Promise Ekenmini was arrested yesterday when he visited an international courier office and tried to collect settlement documents with a forged driver's licence in the name of the real South African home owner.

Ekenmini is expected to be charged with forgery and identity theft.

The arrest follows an eight-month investigation by WA Police, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and authorities in South Africa and Nigeria.

Police allege the attempted fraud began when Ekenmini contacted the property manager of a WA real estate agency in December 2012 claiming to own a home in Falcon, south of Perth, which was being managed by the agency.

He requested documents relating to the rented property and allegedly used a Yahoo email address in the name of one of the real owners, and requested future correspondence be forwarded to that email and phone calls to be made to a new mobile number.

In January, the agency received a request to sell the property and a sales agreement with false signatures was completed by the offenders and returned to the agent.

Copies of fake passports and a forged document purporting to be from the Australian High Commission in Pretoria confirming their identity were also sent.

However, suspicions were raised by staff at the agency, who worked with WA detectives to identify the offenders.

The AFP liaised with South African and Nigerian police, who monitored the controlled delivery of the fake settlement documents in Johannesburg and Nigeria.

Detective Senior Sergeant Dom Blackshaw said investigations were continuing into other possible offenders, and potential links between this case and two successful and five attempted frauds reported in WA in the past five years.

Six of the seven cases involved owners who lived in South Africa, had investment properties in Perth that were rented and had their identities stolen, he said.

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Rudd adds fuel to WA economy

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Perth in July. He is set to make an announcement regarding petroleum resources on Friday. Picture: Richard Polden Source: PerthNow

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd will be in Perth tomorrow to announce a "petroleum precinct" to co-ordinate the search for fuel resources in Western Australia.

Senior Government sources have confirmed to PerthNow that Mr Rudd will make the multi-million dollar announcement at the CSIRO's Australian Resources Research Centre in Kensington.

The petroleum precinct will bring together private resource companies as well as experts from the University of Western Australia, Curtin University and the CSIRO to seek new petroleum resources which are able to be exploited into the future.

"This will create a cluster effect of experts from the government bodies and the seed funding from resource companies which combined will make Perth a leader in petroleum exploration,'' , the source said.

 

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Road-train killer due for release

Douglas John Edwin Crabbe could be released within days. Picture: Archive News Ltd Source: PerthNow

ONE of Australia's most notorious mass murderers could be released into the WA community within days.

Douglas John Edwin Crabbe, 66, killed five people and injured 16 others when he ploughed his road-train into a crowded Ayres Rock pub after he was kicked out for anti-social behaviour on August 18, 1983.

He was originally sentenced to serve the rest of his life in an Alice Springs prison but had it changed after the Northern Territory changed its laws in 2004.

He was instead given a 30-year non-parole period for the crimes.

A year later, Crabbe was moved to WA after he applied for a transfer to be closer to his family.

He is due for his first statutory review this Sunday – exactly three decades after the horrific atrocity.

PerthNow understands the WA Prisoners Review Board has already carried out its review of Crabbe.

But because of the gravity of his crimes, a final decision over whether to release the 66-year-old rests with WA Attorney-General Michael Mischin.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General confirmed the board is due to submit a report with its recommendation either on or around Crabbe's statutory review date of August 18.

She said once the report had been submitted, the Attorney General would then "consider and make a decision".

One of Crabbe's victims Lydia Hannah, who now lives in Queensland, told PerthNow she did not believe Crabbe should be granted freedom.

Ms Hannah was knocked unconscious during the incident but then spent the next two years recovering from her injuries.

She also lost four friends that night. Helen Fuller, 22, David Seng, 24, Leslie McKay-Ramsey, 35, and 21-year-old Adrian Durin.

Another woman, Patricia Slinn, 45, was also killed.

Ms Hannah told PerthNow she had written to the Attorney-General appealing for him to also consider the survivors.

"This guy killed five people and injured 16 others," she said. "He was never to be released. How do you go from never being able to be released to serving just 30 years?

"I just think it's crazy if he gets out. He has robbed all these other families of their loved ones. Why should he be free?"

She added: "People who say he has done his time, what exactly do they base that on? Were they there? Did they get injured? Did they lose a loved one?

"People that say that are generally people that have never lost someone in those circumstances.

"If it was their own child or someone in their family they wouldn't be saying that."
 

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Abbott had beer goggles on: Latham

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has weighed into the Tony Abbott "sex appeal" controversy. Source: News Limited

COLOURFUL former Labor leader Mark Latham has leapt with both feet into the Tony Abbott "sex appeal" controversy, saying the Opposition Leader must have been drunk to think candidate Fiona Scott attractive.

"It showed very bad judgement and it shows he has low standards," Latham told Melbourne radio station 3AW of the comments.

Mr Abbott caused an uproar on Tuesday when he described politician Fiona Scott, his candidate for the seat of Lindsay, as having "a bit of sex appeal" when he was comparing her to former Liberal member Jackie Kelly.

The Oppostion Leader was accused earlier today of sexism by Kevin Rudd, but Mr Latham took his criticism further and in a suitably strange direction this afternoon.

"I had a good look at Fiona Scott on page eight ... and she doesn't have sex appeal at all.

"She's not that good of a sort."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott caused controversy when he described candidate Fiona Scott as haivng "sex appeal". Source: News Limited

Interviewer Tom Elliot interrupted the one-time wannabe PM to tell him his comments were worse than the ones that landed Tony Abbott in hot water on the campaign trail yesterday.

"That's worse than what Tony Abbott said," radio announcer Tom Elliott said.

"You just can't call a woman plain like that."

But Latham was not to be dissuaded, accusing Mr Abbott of trying to win over male voters with the "daggy dad" moment.

"She's a rather plain ordinary-looking woman and Abbott has exaggerated massively to try and win her vote among the blokes ... "

"Tony had the beer goggles on and in politics they say it's showbiz for ugly people and I don't think she'll (Fiona) be out of place."

"He's gilding the lily here, he must have had the beer goggles on".

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Premier walks out of parliament

Premier Colin Barnett walked out of parliament today after coming under fire during budget reply speeches. Source: The Australian

THE West Australian government has come under fire from within its own party during budget reply speeches in parliament, prompting Premier Colin Barnett to momentarily walk out.

Maverick Liberal backbencher Rob Johnson - who has dogged Mr Barnett since he was axed as police minister in a cabinet reshuffle in June 2012 - was today highly critical of the 2013/14 budget handed down last week.

Mr Johnson said the Liberals had made promises before the March poll that it either knew, or should have known it could not afford to keep.

In light of mounting debt, he suggested the government rethink its $2 billion airport rail link project, which he said it had dreamt up after the opposition started its election campaign strongly with the MetroNet rail plan.

Barnett 'flexible' on super councils

Mr Johnson suggested a public debate be held on what public transport infrastructure the state truly needed and could afford.

It's the second time in three days he has publicly lambasted his own party.

On Monday, he took to talkback radio to slam the state government's plan to halve the tariff rate for households that feed in surplus solar power to the grid. Moments later, the plan was reversed amid a strong public backlash, prompting an apology from Mr Barnett.

The premier walked out of the chamber when Mr Johnson began speaking today, but returned later, only to be heckled by Labor member for Collie-Preston Mick Murray.

Mr Murray said the budget was "the worst" and mocked the government for describing its election commitments earlier this year as fully funded and costed.

"I don't know how to take this government because (of) its deception and the lies that were told before the election," he said.

"It must have had some inkling of where the whole budgetary process was going, but I think they just went out there and pulled the blind down, and said 'let's go for it - we'll deal with it when we get there'."
 

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Digger-attack soldier shot dead

Three Australians were seriously wounded in the attack by Mohammad Rozi. Source: News Limited

A WANTED Afghan soldier who wounded three Diggers in a 2011 unprovoked shooting has been tracked down and killed.

The Afghan Ministry of Defence said Mohammad Rozi was killed by Afghan commandoes on Wednesday morning in the north-eastern province of Takhar, about 400km from where he was last seen.

A provincial official said Rozi had travelled to Takhar at the request of his dying father who had asked to see his son for the last time.

Locals in the area reported a wild shoot-out early on Wednesday morning in which they said was the operation to detain Rozi.

It is the first time Afghan troops have successfully pursued an Afghan soldier responsible for attacks on Australian troops.

The hunt for Rozi came after he fired upon Australian and Afghan troops at a small patrol base about 30km from Australia's main base in the Uruzgan provincial capital of Tarin Kowt.

Three Australians were seriously wounded while two Afghan soldiers sustained minor injuries.

A well-prepared Rozi had packed a vehicle with weapons and supplies before fleeing after the sneak attack on the night of November 9, 2011. Until yesterday he had not been heard of since.

A member of Takhar's provincial council, Mujebur Rahman, said the operation on Wednesday morning was less than a kilometre from his house.

"We couldn't sleep because there were so many helicopters in the sky," he said.

"Then there was shooting and many grenades exploded."

Mr Rahman said neighbours of Rozi's father said the wanted soldier had returned recently to see his father because he was dying.

"His father was calling him and saying 'come and see me, I am very sick'," Mr Rahman said.

"From what I have been told he was with the Taliban in (neighbouring) Kunduz province and he came with a weapon and wouldn't surrender. He fought with the Afghan special forces and wounded three of them but then they used grenades and killed him. His face is completely destroyed and his father is in a coma."

In February last year, the Taliban posted a boastful 47-minute interview with Rozi in which he proudly spoke about shooting the Australians, falsely claiming he had killed 12 of them.

In the video, Rozi says; ''I had one mission on my mind - to kill foreigners and teach them a lesson. We are Muslims. We cannot accept foreigners.

"I prepared the grenade launcher and my gun with 200 bullets. Foreigners were sitting in a room. They were fire worshippers around a big fire. There were 12 of them. A soldier ran to me and asked me what I was doing. He suspected my motives. I told him that it was none of his business … I opened fire. When the bullets ran out it was time to use the rocket launcher.''

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Life's biggest regret speech becomes global hit

Writer George Saunders regrets not showing more kindness. Picture: AP Source: AP

SCHOOL might not be the best years of your life, but the experience can define your values.

It's been 42 years since the best-selling New York Times short story author, George Saunders was at school, but he still gets a pang of regret when he thinks about 'Ellen'. That's a made-up name for a real girl from Saunders' seventh grade class. She wore blue glasses, had an unfortunate habit of sucking her hair when she was nervous, and was the butt of most kid's jokes.

"Relative to most of the other kids, I was actually pretty nice to her. I never said an unkind word to her. In fact, I sometimes even (mildly) defended her. But still. It bothers me," he said.

That story formed the basis of a speech Saunders recently gave for the graduating class of Syracuse University 2013. Failures of kindness, he said was the biggest regret of his life.

"What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded … sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

"Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth? Those who were kindest to you, I bet.

"It's a little facile, maybe, and certainly hard to implement, but I'd say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder."

Saunders's simple words hit struck a powerful nerve. Within hours of the graduating ceremony it went viral on the internet and then Random House has struck him a book deal.

David Ulin, a book reviewer for the LA Times wrote a piece last week suggesting Saunders's witty and wise style of address, similar to David Foster Wallace's, This Is Water speech.

It's probably also because this notion of kindness is exactly as Saunders's suggests - a little lost on modern society.

But decide for yourself, read the full speech and tell us what you think in the comments below.

Keep the conversation going on Twitter @lucyjk |@newscomauhq

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Chicken Treat poison case falls flat

SICK: 11 people consumed caustic soda at a Bunbury Chicken Treat story. Picture: Twitter, Peter Kapsanis, Channel 9 Source: PerthNow

NO police charges will be laid over the poisoning of 11 people at a Bunbury fast food store in May.

Police spokesman Gerry Cassidy said today that the investigation into caustic soda on chips at the Bunbury Chicken Treat on May 22 had been closed.

He said there was no evidence of criminality for charges to be laid. But the City of Bunbury's health department may still pursue charges under the Food Act.

Five children aged under 10 were among the 11 people who needed hospital treatment after eating the Chicken Treat chips laced in the cleaning chemical.

Caustic soda, or sodium hydroxide, is commonly used as a detergent or drain cleaner and causes chemical burns in contact with the skin, and can induce permanent blindness if it contacts eyes.

Staff were interviewed, as forensic tests were carried out at the Blair Street outlet, which was closed for several days.

In a statement at the time, Chicken Treat said it "deeply regrets'' the incident.

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