Nathan Tinkler faces fresh legal action

Liquidators have begun legal action against Nathan Tinkler and the directors of Mulsanne Resources. Source: AAP

LIQUIDATORS and a major creditor have begun legal action against Nathan Tinkler and the directors of Mulsanne Resources over allegations of insolvent trading and breaching their duties.

The action was launched over a share placement agreement that was approved by Mulsanne Resources' shareholders at a general meeting on July 12 last year.

In February, Mr Tinkler faced two days of questioning in a NSW Supreme Court examination of his personal finances by liquidators for Mulsanne Resources.

Mulsanne was wound up over a $28.4 million debt.

The chief creditor, Blackwood Corporation, and liquidators initiated legal action on Thursday, almost three months after the liquidator conducted public examinations of Mr Tinkler, fellow director Matthew Keen and the former company secretary Aimee Hyde.

"The liquidator has formed the view that there is a case to answer for insolvent trading and breach of directors' duties," Blackwood Corporation company secretary Patrick McCole said in a statement.

He said the liquidator could seek compensation against the directors and officers if the court found them liable for insolvent trading.

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NSW neighbours win holiday rental ban

GOSFORD Council has failed its constituents by not resolving the issue of an illegal holiday house rental in Terrigal, a judge has ruled.

At the Land and Environment Court on Thursday, Justice Rachael Ann Pepper ruled that Rhonda Bennic's short-term holiday letting of her 6-bedroom house was unlawful because the property is located in a 2A residential zone.

Her next-door neighbours John and Rosemary Dobrohotoff told the court that the house, which can sleep up to a dozen people, had regularly been used for parties and bucks' nights involving strippers and escorts, with noise and anti-social behaviour continuing until the early hours.

The house has been used for short-term holiday rentals since 2006, and Ms Bennic has owned it since 2011.

Justice Pepper said Gosford Council had failed to resolve the issue locally.

"In my opinion, it amounts to an effective abrogation of the council of its duties," she said.

"By leaving it to the court to determine this important issue, the council has failed to do one of its core functions and has failed its constituents."

She said letting the house to short-term guests was prohibited under the current zoning laws.

"This decision may cause a degree of inconvenience for property owners" in the area, she said.

Mrs Dobrohotoff told the court she grew increasingly anxious as weekends and holidays drew near, and often took her family away from their home at those times to avoid the disturbance.

In her ruling, Justice Pepper said the property did not qualify as a dwelling as it was not being occupied in the same way a family or another group would live in it.

But she found that the fault was not entirely Ms Bennic's, as she had never been told by Gosford Council that it was illegal to rent out her property.

She awarded the Dobrohotoffs an injunction preventing the house from being rented out for periods of less than three months, but delayed it until the end of June so as not to impose unnecessary financial hardship on Ms Bennic.

Mr Dobrohotoff told reporters outside the court he welcomed the finding.

"We are pleased to have this outcome, which will have positive effects on the health and welfare of our family, as well as the other families in our neighbourhood," he said.

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More infrastructure funds needed: report

THE federal government must establish a department dedicated to the infrastructure needs of Australian cities to address a $500 billion backlog in urban development, building groups say.

The suggestion is among a raft of ideas in a report - New Deal for Urban Australia - outlining the key infrastructure challenges as Australia deals with a growing population.

Compiled by the Urban Coalition, a collective of key industry figures, the report calls for greater"leadership and investment from the government.

It also recommends the establishment of an Urban Infrastructure Fund to meet the cost of development.

"We need to access both national and international savings and direct them to fund ... infrastructure - such as public interchanges, removing pinch points on local road and freight networks," Property Council Chief Executive Peter Verwer said.

Julie Katz, national president of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, said inadequate funding was causing congestion in cities.

"The longer distances between home and work, the greater the difficulties and congestion in our cities," she said.

Executive Officer of The National Growth Areas Alliance, Ruth Spielman, said more than 80 per cent of Australia's population lived in cities and people in fast-growing outer suburbs want to live closer to basic services.

"People need jobs and services closer to home and improved transport options," she said.

She said the proposed changes would financially realistic for the government to put into action.

"There's no doubt that the money is there, and we need collaboration among the spheres of government," she said.

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Man gored to death in Japan bull ring

A BULL has gored to death a 40-year-old man in southern Japan just a month after attacking his father and breaking the older man's ribs.

Owner Rikiya Tomi was set upon as he tried to show the huge animal to friends on the southern islet of Tokunoshima, broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday.

The 1100kg beast speared him in the chest as he tried to entice it from the ring. He was confirmed dead at a hospital two hours later, police said.

The bull attacked Tomi's father early last month, breaking a number of ribs, Kyodo News reported, citing an association overseeing the island's bullfighting industry.

Tokunoshima, a small sub-tropical island off the southern Kyushu coast, is famed in Japan for its bull-on-bull fights, which have a tradition stretching back several hundred years.

The incident came ahead of the opening of the island's bull-fighting competition during the Golden Week holidays, which start at the end of this week and are expected to draw thousands of visitors.

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Sony executives give up bonuses

DOZENS of Sony executives including the firm's chief are foregoing bonuses this year in an "unprecedented" step to atone for a slump in its embattled electronics unit.

Chief executive Kazuo Hirai is among 40 top managers who will not get a bonus estimated at several hundred million yen (several million dollars) "due to severe business circumstances, including stagnant performance in the electronics sector", a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The leading Nikkei business daily said the payout could have totalled one billion yen ($10 million).

Last year, seven top Sony executives gave up their bonuses "but the number this time is unprecedented," she added.

The decision comes as the maker of PlayStation consoles eyes a profit after four years in the red. But its troubled electronics unit may remain mired in losses despite Hirai's bid to drag it back to profitability.

Sony has launched a massive corporate overhaul that includes thousands of job cuts as it unloads a string of assets, including buildings in Manhattan and Tokyo.

Last week, Sony doubled its annual net profit forecast for the last fiscal year to March, saying it expected to earn 40 billion yen as a weaker yen and the asset sales helped boost its bottom line.

Sony lost 456.66 billion yen in the fiscal year to March 2012, its fourth year in the red.

A tumble in the value of the yen in recent months - losing about a fifth against the dollar since November - has helped exporters make their products more competitive.

Sony reports its full-year results on May 9.

The firm's Tokyo-listed shares, which last year fell below 1000 yen for the first time since the era of the Walkman, closed down 1.85 per cent to 1,583 yen on Wednesday.

Japan's electronics sector, including Sony rivals Panasonic and Sharp, has suffered myriad problems recently including slowing demand in key export markets, fierce competition - especially in the struggling TV division - and strategic mistakes.

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May Day rallies kick off with angry scenes

BANGLADESHI protesters enraged by a deadly factory collapse led rallies across Asia against low wages and poor working conditions on May Day, as more demonstrations were rolled out across austerity-hit Europe.

With calls to end punishing belt-tightening measures in the eurozone mounting, Greece's two main unions called a general strike that caused disruption to transport services including ferries to the islands.

Rallies were called in more than 80 cities in Spain, where unemployment last week surged past 27 per cent, to urge a radical change in EU economic policy, while unions in Italy were putting on a concert in the centre of Rome.

In Turkey, anti-riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing crowds angry at a ban on demonstrations in Taksim square, a traditional rallying point in Istanbul.

"Death to fascism. Long live May 1," protesters shouted.

Fury in Bangladesh focused on the country's worst ever industrial disaster, the collapse of a garment factory last week that killed more than 400 workers, with furious protesters demanding the execution of the factory bosses.

Despite calls by the prime minister for "cool heads", tensions over the disaster showed little sign of abating and there were fears of more violence and vandalism at textile mills.

Several thousand workers holding red banners and flags chanted "Hang the killers, Hang the Factory Owners!" as they took to the streets of Dhaka at the start of a series of nationwide demonstrations.

Kamrul Anam, one of the leaders of the Bangladesh Textile and Garments Workers League, said the workers were angry at the "murder" of their colleagues in the April 24 disaster on the outskirts of Dhaka.

"We want the severest punishment possible for those responsible for this tragedy," he told AFP.

Police put the number of demonstrators in Dhaka at around 10,000, although that figure was expected to swell significantly later in the day.

Angry workers in Cambodia marched to parliament to deliver a petition demanding an increase in the minimum wage to $150 a month in garment factories, which are a major source of goods for Western clothing firms.

Around 55,000 workers gathered in Jakarta, police said, making it the biggest May Day rally in the Indonesian capital in recent years.

Protests over working conditions have been on the rise in Southeast Asia's biggest economy as the cost of living increases and workers demand a greater share of the nation's economic success.

Labour activists said the number of protesters reflected anger at poor salaries, lack of benefits and businesses denying some workers basic rights.

The protesters marched to the presidential palace and parliament, and tried to reach the main international airport but were blocked by police in riot gear.

In the Philippines, thousands of labourers staged mostly peaceful rallies across the capital Manila to demand higher wages and better working conditions.

Carrying colourful banners and shouting anti-government slogans under the scorching sun, the workers said that despite strong economic growth many people remained mired in poverty.

"Junk privatisation and contractualisation," protesters cried, as they called for a $3 increase in the daily minimum wage of about $11.

In Hong Kong, one of Asia's beacons of capitalism, trade unions said they were expecting 5000 people to march to the headquarters of Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, in support of striking dock workers.

Protesters took to the streets behind a giant meat grinder with a mannequin wearing a yellow construction helmet and worker's clothes covered in fake blood.

However, many in the Chinese territory seized the opportunity to take off on holiday, as did millions more in mainland China, where Labour Day is marked with a three-day break, and in Japan, where it forms part of the Golden Week period.

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Coles and ISPT in property venture

PROPERTY fund manager ISPT will acquire a 75 per cent interest in an initial portfolio of 19 Coles-owned shopping centres under a joint venture deal with the Wesfarmers-owned supermarket group.

The initial portfolio is valued at $532 million and the transaction will deliver proceeds to Wesfarmers of about $400 million.

ISPT is one of Australia's largest unlisted property management funds and has more than $8 billion of funds under management.

Under the arrangement, Coles will retain a 25 per cent interest in the centres and will continue to manage them.

ISPT and Coles will look at placing further properties into the joint venture as opportunities arise and that Coles will maintain development control over those properties.

Coles finance director Rob Scott said the joint venture would deliver strong benefits to both parties.

"This joint venture with ISPT means Coles has secured a long-term property partner with closely aligned commercial interests," Mr Scott said in a statement on Wednesday.

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Gillard flags tax rises in federal budget

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is preparing the political ground for higher taxes and charges, saying the government has "urgent and grave decisions" to make in the upcoming federal budget to plug revenue holes.

Her warning on Monday triggered opposition anger and prompted calls from the public sector union and federally funded sectors such as universities to leave them out of the mix.

But the prime minister warned "everyone" would be asked to contribute to the budget task as Labor searches for money to fund its multi-billion schools funding and disability care programs.

The key challenge is a huge forecast drop in revenue growth over the next four years, with the amount of tax collected for 2012/13 now expected to decline by $12 billion.

"I have expressly determined we need to have every reasonable option on the table to meet the needs of the times, even options previously taken off the table," Ms Gillard told the Per Capita Forum in Canberra.

Confronted by falling tax revenue, the government was looking at spending "less in some areas than we had hoped, to raise more in revenue in some areas than we had planned".

Ms Gillard did not discuss specific measures, but ruled out changes to the GST.

"I find these decisions both urgent and grave," she said.

With the election due in September, Ms Gillard stressed the budget would not present as a "political pamphlet" but as a plan to make the "necessary investments in the nation's future".

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the obvious areas to be hit were superannuation, capital gains tax on the family home, death duties and measures outlined in the Henry tax review still to be acted upon.

"Julia Gillard believes that nothing should prevent her from spending more money and if she has to hit people with higher taxes or other challenges to their everyday living so be it," he told reporters in Sydney.

Mr Hockey said this would damage the business investment environment and consumer confidence.

The budget will be handed down on May 14 by Treasurer Wayne Swan, who told reporters, "We'll do what's right for the country".

Asked at the forum if the budget changes would affect the poor, Ms Gillard said the government would take a "Labor approach" to burden-sharing.

Economists are predicting a budget deficit of between $10 billion and $25 billion for 2012/13, which could mean further deficits in following years.

But Ms Gillard said Labor was committed to its medium term goal of delivering budget surpluses on average over the economic cycle.

Public sector union boss Nadine Flood said any further across-the-board cuts, so-called departmental efficiency dividends, would affect frontline services.

"Cutting their budgets might help balance the government's books, but in the end the losers will be the public who rely on these services every day," she said.

Universities Australia chief Belinda Robinson said the sector had already faced a $3.8 billion hit this year and should be quarantined from any further cuts.

Meanwhile, Mr Hockey declined to rule out tax rises if the coalition won government.

"We are not in the business of ruling things in or out because we don't know what we are going to inherit," he said.

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Hong Kong shares end up 0.15%

HONG Kong shares have risen 0.15 per cent as below-forecast US growth data raised hopes the Federal Reserve will hold off bringing an end to its huge easing policy any time soon.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index on Monday added 33.06 points to end at 22,580.77 on turnover of $HK42.86 billion ($A5.40 billion). The index rallied 2.4 per cent last week.

Trade was quiet, with Shanghai closed for a public holiday and Hong Kong set for a May Day break on Wednesday.

On Friday, Washington released data showing the world's biggest economy expanded 2.5 per cent in the January-March quarter.

While the figures from the Commerce Department marked a solid rebound from 0.4 per cent growth in the previous three months, they were lower than the 2.8 per cent economists had predicted.

The US economy has been hit by the "sequester" spending cuts worth tens of billions of dollars that kicked in at the start of March and which lawmakers are no closer to resolving owing to political gridlock.

However, the results reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve would not tighten monetary policy in the near future. Eyes are now on the Fed's two-day policy board meeting beginning on Tuesday.

China Construction Bank rose 1.1 per cent to $HK6.45 after its first-quarter net profit increased 16 per cent, the best among the big four state-owned lenders.

ICBC bank closed up 0.2 per cent at $HK5.42 after posting a 12 per cent rise in net profit for the same period.

However, China Coal Energy sank 6.2 per cent to $HK5.91 as January-March net profit slumped 38 per cent.

China Eastern Airlines fell 4.3 per cent to $HK3.10, while clothing retailer Esprit jumped 4.8 per cent to $HK10.52.

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Catholic orders deny protecting pedophiles

TWO Catholic orders have denied colluding to protect pedophile members of the clergy, but say they accept some responsibility for the crimes committed.

One in four St John of God brothers and 14 priests of the Salesian order have been the subject of child abuse complaints in Victoria, a state parliamentary inquiry heard on Monday.

More than 100 abuse cases have been upheld in the Catholic Church's Ballarat diocese alone since 1975. More than 60 per cent of them involved one offender, the defrocked priest Gerald Ridsdale - who has been convicted.

The bishop now in charge of Ballarat has admitted a predecessor made a "terrible mistake" in letting Ridsdale - one of Australia's worst pedophiles - remain in the ministry after being alerted to a complaint as long ago as 1975.

"From my reading of the accounts it wasn't wilful blindness. It was a tragic mistake on his part," Bishop Paul Bird said.

St John of God and the Salesians both say they are yet to conduct overall investigations into sexual abuse in their orders, but they deny any cover-up.

Rosanna Harris, chair of provinces professional standards committee at St John of God, denied the organisation had been targeted by pedophiles.

"There is no suggestion there were rings of pedophiles or there was collusion between brothers," she told the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Salesians provincial Father Greg Chambers said he had been made aware of possible communication between as many as three offenders, but didn't believe there had been any collusion.

"There may have been some communication between those individuals," he said.

He denied any conspiracy.

"I wouldn't call it that," he said.

St John of God provincial Brother Tim Graham said he didn't think it was possible there had been a cover-up.

He said the organisation had been stripped to the bone by media investigations and had also provided every bit of information it had to the inquiry.

Asked if the order had created, harboured or colluded with pedophiles, Brother Graham said, "I don't accept that."

Complaints were made against 15 of a total of about 60 Victorian St John of God brothers, a figure Ms Harris and Brother Graham conceded was extraordinarily high.

"Very vulnerable children in our care were damaged and for that we have apologised and we continue to do so," Mr Harris said.

"We are horrified."

Ms Harris said the brothers who offended had operated independently.

"So far we have found that there have been various offenders working independently over a number of years," Ms Harris said.

"As to the reasons why, we haven't explored that yet."

The inquiry was told that 49 complaints had been made against 14 priests of the Salesian order.

The order had paid out more than $2.06 million in compensation over 37 of those complaints.

Fr Chambers said the order had to accept that it had failed to properly vet, train and supervise its members.

"Our religious society must have some responsibility for the failures," he said.

Would-be priests were now made aware of their responsibilities and were psychologically tested, Fr Chambers said.

Five Salesian priests have been convicted of criminal offences, but no St John of God brothers have been charged, despite police investigations.

Other Catholic organisations will give evidence to the inquiry this week.

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Church told of abuse by Vic priest

THE former bishop of Ballarat made a "tragic mistake" by not removing one of Australia's worst pedophiles when he first became aware of sexual abuse allegations against the priest, the current bishop of the diocese admits.

Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew about child abuse complaints against Father Gerald Ridsdale as early as 1975 but let him remain as a priest and moved him to other parishes, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Church records reveal 67 abuse complaints have been made against Risdale, who is currently in jail for sex offences.

The church admitted on Monday that it effectively facilitated abuse by allowing a known abuser to continue to have access to children.

In 1975 police told Bishop Mulkearns of complaints against Ridsdale, but he was moved to other parishes, the inquiry heard.

Ridsdale should have been removed when a child abuse complaint was first made, current Ballarat bishop Paul Bird said.

"From my reading of the accounts it wasn't wilful blindness. It was a tragic mistake on his part," Bishop Bird told the child abuse inquiry on Monday.

"He explained it to me ... It was, he believed, the accepted opinion at the time that dismissal was not the first option, but that a person might be referred for treatment in the hope that they can correct their behaviour.

"Tragic consequences. A terrible mistake on behalf of Bishop Mulkearns.

"Gerald Risdale should have been taken out of the ministry when there was a first report of offences."

Bishop Bird said Bishop Mulkearns decided against appearing before the parliamentary committee because he had recently suffered a stroke and had a poor long-term memory.

Another former Ballarat bishop, Peter Connors, agreed the church had effectively facilitated sexual offences against children by putting a known offending priest in positions that enabled him to continue his abuse.

The inquiry heard 109 abuse complaints have been upheld in the Ballarat diocese since 1975, most against Ridsdale.

Bishop Connors said he had been told by a victim about a ring of pedophiles in Ballarat East, but as far as he knew Risdale acted alone.

"I have no knowledge of a priest being involved in a nest of pedophiles in Ballarat East. If the Christian Brothers were, I can't answer for them," Bishop Connors said.

Bishop Connors also told the inquiry Bishop Mulkearns destroyed two documents, both relating to psychological reports for a priest, Father Paul David Ryan.

He destroyed one on his on volition and one on legal advice.

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