Transurban buys Sydney tunnel for $475m

SYDNEY'S Cross City Tunnel has been bought by toll road owner Transurban for $475 million.

The 2.1 kilometre tunnel connects the west side of Sydney's CBD to Rushcutters Bay in the east, and cost $1 billion to build.

It was placed in receivership in September 2013 in the wake of a legal dispute with the NSW government over stamp duty.

Transurban bought all of the toll road's senior debt in November, and has now struck an agreement with the tunnel's receivers and managers to take control of the road.

The proceeds of the deal will be used to clear the tunnel's senior secured debt.

The Cross City Tunnel has had a troubled financial run since its opening in 2005.

It was placed into receivership in 2007, before being bought for about $700 million by Royal Bank of Scotland, EISER Infrastructure Partners and Leighton Contractors.

Transurban already owns or part-owns several major toll roads in Sydney - the M2, M5 and M7 motorways, the Lane Cove Tunnel and the Eastern Distributor, which links to the Cross City Tunnel.

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Investors set to flock to Medibank float

Investor interest in the float of Medibank Private is likely to be strong, analysts say. Source: AAP

THE Abbott government's sale of Medibank Private is likely to be a good opportunity for investors, but bad news for the health insurer's staff.

Analysts say there will be plenty of market interest in the company when it is publicly floated in the 2014/15 financial year.

The government is likely to offer a relatively cheap price to ensure the initial public offering (IPO) is well received, Invast chief market strategist Peter Esho said.

"The government is mindful of the fact it needs to set a good precedent so it can offload the other assets that are sitting there, like Australia Post," he said.

"I think it will be a successful IPO."

IG market strategist Evan Lucas said the healthcare sector was a strong performer in recent times, which would add to investor interest.

Medibank rival NIB has seen its share price rise by more than 30 per cent each year for the past three years.

"There is certainly an appetite for Medibank private," he said.

Another attraction for investors was the tendency for privatisation of government enterprises to produce greater efficiency, mainly through cost cutting.

"You tend to see staff costs coming off quite heavily and a lot of bureaucracy coming out of the businesses as well," he said.

"Inside 18 months a business that was maybe struggling under a government arm is all of a sudden very profitable because of those changes that private enterprise can enact," he said.

Within a few years of its float, Telstra announced plans to sack 16,000 staff, while rail operator Aurizon has axed at least 1,600 jobs since it was sold by the Queensland government in 2010.

Australian investors have traditionally done very well out of government sell-offs in the long-term.

Commonwealth Bank was floated at $5.40 per share in 1991, and is today trading at around $76 a share, having paid out a considerable amount in dividends along the way.

Vaccine maker CSL, which was floated at $2.30 per share in 1994, now trades above $70 per share.

An obvious exception is the second offering of shares in Telstra at $7.40 each, which then fell sharply.

Fifteen years on, the shares are still worth less than investors paid for them, though Mr Lucas said those who bought into the first and third Telstra offerings fared much better.

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Canning of safaris a croc: NT govt

THE federal government's decision not to allow crocodile hunting safaris in the Northern Territory has been derided as "a croc" by the NT government.

Two NT ministers have accused federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt of being shortsighted and ill-informed.

"Canberra needs to take its foot off the Territory's throat," Minister for Land Resource Management, Willem Westra van Holthe said in a statement on Thursday.

"Crocodile safari hunting has the potential to create real employment for indigenous people in remote parts of the Territory."

Mr Westra van Holthe said the NT government had extensively consulted with traditional owners and lodged an application for a one-year crocodile safari trial, under a scientifically researched plan that demonstrated the economic benefits to the Territory.

Under the existing crocodile management plan, the NT government is able to harvest up to 500 crocodiles from the wild each year, while the safari proposal sought to harvest 50 crocodiles from within the existing quota on a one-year trial basis.

It was suggested that crocodile safari packages could cost between $20,000 to $50,000, appealing to high-end hunters from around the world seeking to bag themselves a croc.

Mr Westra van Holthe said the proposal was humane, with animal welfare standards maintained by having a conservation officer and traditional owner attend every safari.

"We are severely disappointed with Greg Hunt's short sighted and ill-informed decision," he said.

It was taking away work opportunities for indigenous people who needed it the most, said Bess Price, Minister for Parks and Wildlife.

"Greg Hunt has made a decision which will do nothing to improve the lives of indigenous Territorians living in remote communities," she said.

The decision was at odds with the Commonwealth government's priorities of developing the north and ending welfare dependency, she said, as well as boosting tourism.

The NT government is now exploring alternative pathways to make crocodile safari hunting a reality.

It may be able to legislate to permit the safaris but could face an obstacle with foreign hunters being unable to take crocodile carcasses out of Australia without a federal permit.

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Art Gallery of NSW to give back sculpture

AUSTRALIA is returning a stolen statue worth more than $300,000 to India.

The 1000-year-old Ardhanariswara idol, depicting Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati, was on display at Sydney's Art Gallery of NSW after being purchased during the tenure of former director, Edmund Capon.

However, it later emerged that the valuable stone sculpture was stolen from a temple in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

It was sold, along with five other items to the Art Gallery of NSW by New York dealer Subhash Kapoor.

Kapoor is now facing trial in India for allegedly trafficking stolen antiquities from two Indian temples, with museums around the world also said to be examining items bought from him.

The Australian Attorney-General's department received a formal request from the Indian government to return the Ardhanariswara this month.

The statue depicts a hermaphrodite human form and is said to represent the 'synergy of man and woman'.

The Attorney-General's department said India's request to return the idol was being acted upon under Australia's international obligations.

Delhi's request stated that the statue was exported from India illegally.

The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra has already agreed to return a dancing Shiva statue, which it bought in 2007 for $5.6 million from Kapoor.

It is understood that Mr Capon's successor, Dr Michael Brand, is in favour of returning all six works that the Art Gallery of NSW bought from Kapoor.

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Abuse case challenge 'was not denial':Pell

Cardinal George Pell has given evidence at the royal commission into child sexual abuse in Sydney. Source: AAP

CARDINAL George Pell insists he acted truthfully when he instructed lawyers to vigorously dispute the claims of a sexually abused former altar boy in court, even though he knew the claims were true.

Dr Pell, appearing before the royal commission into child sexual abuse, admitted the Catholic church did not deal fairly with victim John Ellis "from a Christian point of view", but in a legal sense it did nothing improper.

He said he defended the Ellis case vigorously to discourage other complainants from going to court, revealing he was worried that payments for abuse cases in the US sent some churches bankrupt and he wanted to ensure similar situations could not occur in Australia.

At the end of his second day of evidence to the commission, Dr Pell's admissions were condemned by victims' families.

"We've seen a sociopathic lack of empathy this morning from this man," said Anthony Foster whose two daughters were raped by a priest in Melbourne.

"I really wonder if he has any idea whatsoever what these people go through."

Dr Pell expressed regret over the handling of Mr Ellis's case, starting from the diocese's refusal to settle the matter in 2004 before Mr Ellis started legal action.

"I understood insufficiently just how wounded he was," he told the commission.

The former archbishop of Sydney told the commission on Wednesday that disputing that Mr Ellis had been abused by pedophile priest Father Aidan Duggan in the 1970s did not mean he denied the abuse took place.

The church had already found that Mr Ellis had been abused by Fr Duggan but in 2006 Dr Pell instructed the church's lawyers to proceed with an appeal in which Mr Ellis was cross-examined at length about the veracity of his claims.

Senior counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, asked Dr Pell if his instruction to his lawyers, Corrs Chambers Wesgarth, was "to dispute Mr Ellis had been abused as he claimed?"

Dr Pell replied: "Yes. Not to deny it."

He said his lawyers had explained the tactic was "legally proper".

"In doing so I was not violating my obligation to truthfulness," Dr Pell said.

Dr Pell said his "error of judgement" was mitigated by a mistaken belief that Mr Ellis wanted millions in compensation, and by how busy he was at the time.

"I mean, it was at the centre of Mr Ellis's life - with a busy archdiocese, I wasn't focused sufficiently on it," he said.

Ellis lost the case and Pell said he was consoled by the court ruling that the church's trustees, which hold its property assets, could not be sued.

"One of the few consolations, if that's what I've got from this sorry mess, is that the court of appeal unanimously endorsed the view that the trustees were not responsible in this case," he said.

Ms Furness asked Dr Pell if he had defended the Ellis case to make plaintiffs "think twice" about suing the church.

Dr Pell said he wanted them to "think clearly".

"They should consider the advantages in not going to litigation," he said.

He denied, however, that he wanted sexual abuse victims to go through the Catholic church's internal system, Towards Healing, rather than the courts, so that the church could control the size of payouts.

Dr Pell appears before the commission again on Thursday before leaving Australia to start a new job as manager of the Vatican's finances in Rome on Monday.

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Questions over deadly NZ plane crash probe

QUESTIONS are being raised about the conclusions reached by an official investigation into a deadly 2010 skydiving plane crash at New Zealand's Fox Glacier.

Nine people, including two Australians, were killed when the Fletcher FU24-954 plane crashed shortly after take-off at the end of the runway at Fox Glacier airport on September 4, 2010.

There were no survivors.

A 2012 Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report found the plane was unbalanced, with too much weight towards the rear, causing it to crash.

However, just days after the crash, large parts of the plane's wreckage were buried - on the instruction of the TAIC - meaning they weren't examined by investigators, a local current affairs TV program reports.

Among the parts buried was the plane's control stick and cables.

Investigator Andrew McGregor, who's conducted TAIC investigations in the past, says the TAIC's investigation in this case was flawed.

"I would think on the evidence we have available, that a control system failure of some sort is likely," he told TV3.

"In my view we do have sufficient information to warrant the investigation being reopened."

The crash killed four tourists - Glenn Bourke, 18, of Australia, Patrick Byrne, 26, of Ireland, Annita Kirsten, 23, of Germany, and Brad Coker, 24, of England.

The crew were Skydive New Zealand director Rod Miller, 55, pilot Chaminda Senadhira, 33, Adam Bennett, 47, an Australian living in Motueka, Michael Suter, 32, and Christopher McDonald, 62.

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Installing batts 'not that hard': Garrett

ALTHOUGH four people subsequently died working under the scheme, the minister in charge Peter Garrett reportedly believed it was easy to install pink batts.

According to an email from a cabinet staffer, former environment minister Mr Garrett and a federal environment department secretary thought the task was "not that hard", an inquiry has heard.

They shared the view at a meeting on April 3, 2009, two months after the scheme's announcement.

"The secretary and the minister compared notes on their personal experience in installing batts! 'not that hard'," the email from cabinet and prime minister's department staffer Martin Hoffman read.

The royal commission into the former Labor government's scheme was told that insulation companies were given only hours warning - via text message - about the termination of the scheme.

They were informed on February 19, 2010 that the program would end at 5pm that day, after a 2.30pm public announcement to that effect.

The former Rudd government pulled the pin on the stimulus measure after workers Matthew Fuller, Rueben Barnes, Mitchell Sweeney and Marcus Wilson died while installing insulation.

But insulation companies had no idea the program was going to be dumped as they'd been told to beef up employment, the supply of manufacturing materials and capital investment.

Michael Windsor QC, who is representing insulation companies at the inquiry, said the program's end left the industry in tatters.

Mr Windsor, who is also fighting for compensation for businesses adversely affected by the scheme's termination, said insulation companies were given little chance of off-loading stock and meeting obligations with suppliers.

The abrupt end of the stimulus program, he said, also negatively affected the economy with jobs lost and companies unable to meet obligations with financial institutions.

Under cross-examination by Mr Windsor, Mr Hoffman agreed that insulation companies were somewhat negatively affected by the announcement.

When asked when he became aware about the government's decision to end the program, Mr Hoffman said: "It would have been a few days before ... it would have been right at that period."

Mr Hoffman also said that no industry body, to his knowledge, had been informed of the government's decision at that time.

The inquiry into the troubled scheme also heard on Wednesday of how the government took a "light touch" approach to installer registration standards.

Mr Hoffman said it was important to note the tight exit approach, which included a one-strike policy for those who breached safety guidelines.

But Richard Perry QC, who is representing the Fuller and Barnes families, said the "light touch" approach did nothing to stop installers dying while using metal staples to secure foil insulation, like Mr Fuller.

Former co-ordinator-general Mike Mrdak is expected to give evidence at the royal commission when it resumes on Thursday.

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Scalping not a big problem, senators say

CONCERT-GOERS and sports fans can breathe easy: ticket scalping isn't a big deal in Australia, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

Because of this, the committee looking into the matter doesn't see the need for any further regulation.

But it does say the state and federal governments could work together to have greater co-ordination in how to deal with the scalping that does occur.

Committee chair Senator Mark Bishop was surprised to find only minimal evidence of ticket scalping across the country.

"I had expected the opposite," he said on releasing the inquiry report on Wednesday.

Several disgruntled Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and AFL fans had told the committee of their difficulties in getting tickets over the past year.

But ticketing companies and entertainment and sporting groups told the committee large-scale, concerted ticket scalping efforts were rare in Australia.

They said it was important to distinguish between genuine re-selling of tickets - for instance if someone bought tickets to a concert and then couldn't go - and scalping purely for profit.

Many said anti-scalping laws in place in some states and elsewhere in the world were not effective and were difficult to enforce.

The committee recommends an industry-wide standard of conduct be established to give more transparency over how tickets can be issued and distributed.

It also suggests the consumer watchdog look at increasing education around the sale and re-sale of tickets and what rights buyers have.

But independent senator Nick Xenophon, who initiated the inquiry, says there should be national anti-scalping laws.

He wants a cap on re-sales above the original purchase price, powers to block sites selling scalped tickets and sites like eBay to have to tell authorities the identities of scalpers.

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ICAC hears of Terrigals' 'move' on Iemma

THE pay-off for unseating NSW premier Morris Iemma was a new contract for a company with alleged links to the Obeids, a corruption probe has heard.

Retired engineer Peter Phillips has told the NSW corruption watchdog he was tasked with certifying costs run up by infrastructure company Australian Water Holdings (AWH), in which corrupt ex-MP Eddie Obeid's family allegedly had a secret 30 per cent stake.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has been told of an agreement whereby AWH would build sewerage and water infrastructure in Sydney's northwest, and Sydney Water would pay the company's administrative costs.

But the state-owned utility ended up paying for lavish salaries, limousine rides and legal fees, the inquiry has heard.

Giving evidence to the commission, Mr Phillips said he became "uncomfortable" with ballooning AWH management costs and wondered if the involvement of Liberal party fundraiser Nick Di Girolamo and Eddie Obeid Junior in AWH could explain the cost hikes.

"I was told fairly firmly that political pressure was going to be applied very heavily to Sydney Water and they were going to be forced to come into line, and the implication being, I better not get in the middle of that," Mr Phillips said.

He said the "clincher" came in July 2008, when AWH finance manager Vass Kuznetsov told him "the Terrigals were going to move on Morris Iemma and have him removed as premier, and that part of the payment for their support of this was going to be a water licence for Australian Water Holdings".

Mr Iemma stepped down in September that year.

"I realised there were very powerful influences being wielded around the place," Mr Phillips said.

He said he understood the "Terrigals" to be a group including Mr Obeid and fellow former Labor MP Joe Tripodi.

But Mr Obeid's lawyer Stuart Littlemore QC urged Mr Phillips to admit he "overegged" his evidence about the 2008 meeting.

"Sensational stuff, wasn't it? The way you tell it here," Mr Littlemore said.

"That's how it happened," the witness responded.

Earlier on Tuesday, former Sydney Water chair Tom Parry told the inquiry he warned former NSW premier Kristina Keneally's office that he would consider referring to ICAC an allegedly doctored cabinet minute, which recommended a public-private partnership with AWH, if it was adopted by the NSW government.

The minute was a "complete distortion" of the Department of Premier and Cabinet's original recommendation not to go ahead with the partnership, Dr Parry said.

"I thought this had been killed off," he remembers telling an advisor to Ms Keneally about the minute.

"Obviously we needed to put a stake through the heart."

The inquiry continues.

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30 people killed in bus crash in Thailand

At least 30 workers have been killed when a bus plunged off a steep road into a ravine in Thailand. Source: AAP

OFFICIALS say a double-decker bus carrying municipal workers on a field trip plunged off a steep road into a ravine in western Thailand, killing at least 30 people.

Tak provincial governor Suriya Prasatbunditya says another 22 people were injured in the crash that occurred when the driver tried to pass other cars on a steep, winding mountain road.

The bus slid off the mountain road and then flipped several times before crashing into a tree. The driver told authorities the brakes failed.

The bus was one of four carrying local workers and villagers Monday night from Tak to northeastern Thailand.

The governor said more than 300 accidents took place last year on the winding, hilly road frequented by buses and trucks travelling across the border to Myanmar.

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