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Top Stories



*Rudd warns Abbott of asylum policy backlash*

*Mandatory grog treatment passes into law*

*'It's war': Bikie bashed in Comanchero blitz*

*Voyager 1 finds new zone at doorstep to interstellar space*




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*Rudd warns Abbott of asylum policy backlash*


Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has sparked a row with the Coalition over asylum seekers by suggesting the Opposition's policy to turn back boats could risk "conflict with Indonesia".

Mr Rudd, who was grilled by journalists for the first time since he ousted Julia Gillard from the Labor leadership on Wednesday, touched on a wide range of major policy issues.

But when questioned about Labor's policy on asylum seekers, Mr Rudd quickly shifted the focus to the Coalition's plan to "stop the boats".

"If Mr Abbott were to become prime minister and continue that rhetoric and that posture and actually tries to translate that into reality, I really wonder whether he's trying to risk some sort of conflict with Indonesia," he said.

KEY POINTS>

"Let me tell you, that if you are a student of the Australia-Indonesia relationship, which I have been, since the days of the late forties until now, there have been some pretty rough times in the relationship.

"I never want to see that happen again."

Mr Rudd expects to speak to the Indonesian president this afternoon and is likely to visit the country next week.

But shortly after his remarks, Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop described Mr Rudd's comments as irresponsible and reckless.

"It is a massive overreach, it is a shocking diplomatic gaffe, and he should retract it," she told Sky News.

"It is not our policy to seek to trigger a conflict with Indonesia."

Earlier today, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott zeroed in on Labor's border protection policies, describing Mr Rudd as the people smugglers' "best friend".

Rudd promises to consult with Labor caucus

Mr Rudd also used his first full media conference to assure the Labor caucus and the public he is a changed prime minister.

He flagged his intention to make changes to key Labor policy areas, but says the decisions will be consultative.

"Those of you good ladies and gentlemen of the press who expect an avalanche of policy decisions between now and next Monday, just chill for a while," he said.

Julie Bishop video

Mr Rudd was previously criticised by a string of prominent frontbenchers for failing to consult on decisions, but he has stressed that his approach has changed.

"One of the things I have learnt is the absolute importance of proper orderly consultation with cabinet colleagues on any major decision of the Government," he said.

Mr Rudd, who is set to announce his new frontbench on Monday, says his inner circle will continue with key briefings this afternoon, including a rundown on national security.

School funding deadline extended

Mr Rudd has also extended the deadline for the states and territories to sign up for the school funding plan by two weeks.

Legislation underpinning the Gonski plan, which was a key pillar of the Gillard government's re-election platform, passed in federal Parliament just hours before Ms Gillard was ousted as prime minister.

Under the original deadline imposed by Ms Gillard, all jurisdictions had to sign up to the plan by this weekend.

So far only South Australia, the ACT and New South Wales have agreed to the plan.

Mr Rudd says he looks forward to beginning his own negotiations.

"I'm sure I'll get a warm reception because all we Queenslanders bond closely particularly after a State of Origin win," he joked.

Mr Rudd said he has spoken personally with the author of the national school funding proposal, David Gonski, about how the plan has been sold to voters.

He said the funding changes will no longer be known as the 'Gonski' plan.

"The bottom line is I don't think David wants his reforms referred to as the Gonski reform," Mr Rudd said.

"I think when I last spoke to him he finds that a bit too confusing."

The plan will inject $14.5 billion into primary and high school education over the next six years, with part of the funding to come from the $2.5 billion taken out of the university sector over the next four years.

Rudd wants conscience vote on gay marriage

Mr Abbott was challenged to commit to a conscience vote on gay marriage, or allow voters to decide.

When he was prime minister last time, Mr Rudd opposed gay marriage but earlier this year he revealed he had changed his mind. 

Labor MPs have been afforded a conscience vote if the legislation is put before the parliament, but the Coalition's agreed party position is to oppose it.

"Whoever wins the next election, please, let's just have the civility to open this to a conscience vote for all," Mr Rudd told reporters.

Mr Rudd says if Mr Abbott will not commit to a conscience vote, other options must be explored.

"I would like to see this done, and the reason I want to see it done is frankly it causes so many people such unnecessary angst out in Australia, in the gay and lesbian community. It just should not be the case," he said.

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*Mandatory grog treatment passes into law*


The Northern Territory Government has passed its contentious mandatory alcohol treatment legislation, which will see some alcoholics forced into three months of rehabilitation.

The laws mean anyone who is taken into protective custody for drunkenness three times in two months will be assessed and could spend three months in alcohol rehabilitation.

Patients could also face criminal charges if they repeatedly abscond from rehabilitation programs.

From the outset the draft legislation was heavily criticised by Indigenous groups, medical bodies and justice advocates who have argued it criminalises drunkenness.

key points

They also say it will do little to address alcohol problems in the Territory.

"It represents one of the greatest Australian policy failures since the introduction of cane toads..." Labor's Michael Gunner said.

"Condemned by experts, rejected by those who would be required to administer and police it, and yet the Minister continues to praise its virtues."

The scheme is due to start on Monday, with rehabilitation facilities in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs rushing to ensure they can cater for an increase in patients.

The legislation passed into law at 2.30am after 43 amendments and eight hours of parliamentary debate.

Meanwhile, proposed restrictions in the South Australian outback town of Coober Pedy would ban people from some communities in the state and the Northern Territory from buying takeaway alcohol.

After visiting the town at the council's request, South Australia's Liquor and Gambling Commissioner has proposed a number of changes.

These include people from areas such as the APY Lands and Northern Territory dry communities being banned from buying alcohol, shorter opening hours, and a ban on cask wine.

Mayor Steve Baines says Coober Pedy is the remaining town in the area without any alcohol restrictions, giving it a reputation as "a party town".

"So basically, we need to change that perception, and we need to dry up the supply of takeaway alcohol, particularly to transient people."

He says the community called for changes after alcohol-fuelled problems caused by visitors to the town last summer.


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*'It's war': Bikie bashed in Comanchero blitz*


A bloody internal feud engulfing one of Australia's biggest bikie gangs has been reignited, with a clubhouse allegedly stormed by gun-wielding bikies and a man severely bashed.

A source linked to the Comanchero gang says rival bosses are preparing for battle after the ambush on the club's newest chapter on Wednesday night.

The ABC has been told about 80 Comanchero dressed in black stormed into the gang's South clubhouse in the southern Sydney suburb of Turrella with guns and torches.

About 20 members who had gathered for a meeting were allegedly told their chapter was being shut down.

They were ordered to defect or else hand over their Comanchero patches.

The source says a number of men were bashed, including a veteran Comanchero and another man called Ali El Ali, who showed up to Bankstown Hospital with a broken jaw, nose and ribs.

Police from the anti-bikie Strike Force Raptor are investigating the assault of Mr El Ali but say they have received no information about any violence at the Turrella clubhouse.

The ambush followed two months of disquiet within the gang, sparked by the surprise establishment of the South chapter in April.

The chapter was set up by Mohammad "Mick" Hijazi but he soon flew to Lebanon when publicity about the expansion ratcheted up tensions within the gang.

The source says Mr Hijazi is now planning to return to Sydney to defend his territory.

"It's gonna be a war," he said.

Police believe the gang has been torn by a power struggle, with Comanchero leader Mark Buddle trying to stamp his authority on the club as national president.

Last November Mr Buddle's cousin, John Devine, survived an attempt on his life in the Sydney suburb of Rhodes which left him with critical gunshot wounds to the stomach.

Two days earlier junior gang member Faalau Pisu was shot dead and two others were injured in an indiscriminate gun attack on a Comanchero wedding in Canley Vale.

Police believe both attacks were part of the leadership feud.

New South Wales Police claimed victory against the Comanchero last month when they dismantled the gang's Milperra clubhouse and arrested four members, including senior bikie Giacomo "Jack" Dipizio.


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*Voyager 1 finds new zone at doorstep to interstellar space*


Scientists say reports last summer that NASA's long-lived Voyager 1 space probe had finally left the solar system have turned out to be a bit premature.

Rather, the spacecraft, which was launched in 1977 for a five-year mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, has found itself in a previously unknown region between the outermost part of the solar system and interstellar space.

It is an unusual and unexpected thoroughfare, a place where charged particles from the sun have virtually disappeared and those coming from galactic cosmic rays beyond the solar system are plentiful.

By that measure alone, scientists initially thought Voyager 1 did indeed finally reach interstellar space on August 25 last year, becoming the first man-made object to leave the solar system.

But one key measurement killed that theory.

The magnetic field in which Voyager 1 travelled was still aligned like the Sun's.

factbox

If the probe was truly in interstellar space, scientists expect the direction of the magnetic field would be different.

Voyager scientist Leonard Burlaga, from NASA's Goddard Space Fight Centre, says it is strong evidence Voyager is still in the "heliosheath" â€" the bubble of plasma from the sun that surrounds the solar system.

"You can never exclude a really peculiar coincidence, but this was very strong evidence that we're still in the heliosheath," Mr Burlaga said.

Additional measurements later turned up a second odd reading.

The cosmic ray particles were not uniformly distributed around Voyager 1 like scientists expected them to be in interstellar space. Instead, the charged particles, which stem from distant supernova explosions, were oriented in particular directions.

That led scientists to conclude that Voyager 1 was in some sort of magnetic boundary zone, where particles from inside and outside the solar system could easily swap places, but where the sun's influence still reigns supreme.

"We have no explanation for why we even found this new region," Mr Burlaga said.

So far, Voyager's sister probe, Voyager 2, which is exiting the solar system in a different direction, has not encountered the same phenomena - nor may it ever.

"Voyager 2 has seen exactly what the models predicted we would see, unlike Voyager 1, which didn't," lead scientist Ed Stone said.

Voyager 1 may be in an unusual place where the heliosheath and interstellar space connect, he added.

Voyager 1 is now about 18 billion kilometres from Earth. At that distance, it takes radio signals, which move at the speed of light, 17 hours to make a one-way trip to Earth.

Scientists do not know how much further Voyager has to travel to reach interstellar space.

The spacecraft, which is powered by the slow decay of radioactive plutonium, will begin running out of energy for its science instruments in 2020.

By 2025, it will be completely out of power.

The research appears in the journal Science this week.

Reuters


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