Ex-adidas workers march in first May Day

AMONG the workers readying to march for Indonesia's first Labour Day national holiday are women who used to earn less than $1 an hour making adidas shoes, until they were sacked.

In 2012, about 1300 workers from the Panarub Dwikarya factory spoke up about their working conditions.

Campaigners claimed they were working 65-hour weeks for as little as 5000 rupiah ($A0.46) an hour.

In response, the factory offered "voluntary resignation" with severance pay of 1.6 million rupiah.

But the workers' union says those who refused the offer still lost their jobs and received no severance pay.

The affected staff, all women, still protest weekly outside the factory at Tangerang, west of Jakarta, for their promised entitlements.

Union representative Kokom says Labour Day also takes on significance for the workers who remain at Panarub.

"In January, there were 79 workers here, but since February, it became 68 people with the same target, which is 180 shoes per hour," she told AAP.

"It is too much pressure."

Indonesia's cheap labour makes it an increasingly popular destination for manufacturing, and this has corresponded with an upsurge in union activism.

Last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decreed May 1 a holiday from 2014.

Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions chairman Said Iqbal expects 500,000 workers will march on Thursday.

In Jakarta, they will meet at the palace with 10 demands for the next president, to be elected in July.

At the top is a 30 per cent increase in the minimum wage, which in Jakarta is about 2.4 million rupiah.

"It's very meaningful to make it a national holiday because it's state acknowledgement of labour, even if it's only symbolic," he said.

"This is the moment for us to voice our struggle."

Panarub and adidas did not respond to requests for comment.

Adidas responded to the 2012 strike by urging the factory to pay workers their entitlements, and vowed to stop orders until the dispute was resolved.

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Abuse survivor wants attacker exhumed

A SURVIVOR of child sex abuse at a West Australian boarding school wants the remains of a former principal exhumed from the school and reburied with his "pedophile" mates, a royal commission has heard.

Gordon Grant, a former resident of St Joseph's Farm and Trade School, Bindoon, also wants the marble-top tombstone of Brother Paul Keaney - the superior of the school in 1947 - dumped in a piggery.

Mr Grant, now in his 80s, was sent to Bindoon from Wales when he was 14.

While at the school, he was physically beaten by Brother Keaney and repeatedly sexually abused by other brothers.

Mr Grant says he wants Keaney's remains exhumed from the grounds of Bindoon and reinterred at the 115-year-old Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth.

"We counted 14 Christian Brothers who are buried there, and they are all repeat offenders. They were notorious pedophiles at these four institutions," Mr Grant said on Wednesday.

"Keaney's bones will be with his mates at Karrakatta cemetery, and in regards to his marble top tombstone, that can go down to the piggery."

The Commission is hearing testimony from survivors of abuse at Bindoon, Castledare Junior Orphanage, St Vincent's Orphanage Clontarf and St Mary's Agricultural School, Tardun.

Another survivor and former resident of Bindoon, Edward Delaney, told how he was left without treatment for a broken arm and leg for two weeks before being sent to a hospital.

In another incident, the fingers on both his hands were broken when a senior brother beat him with a leather strap with a hacksaw blade sewn into it, Mr Delaney was left with a permanent disfigurement by the attack.

The retired investment broker said he was raped by a Brother Parker while at Bindoon, "about once a month for 18 months."

When he notified the resident priest, Brother Parker was shipped off to Tasmania and Mr Delaney - aged 13 - was told to say three Hail Marys and his sins would be forgiven.

The senior brother at Bindoon at the time, Bruno Doyle, told him not to tell anyone.

"The matter has been dealt with," Doyle told Mr Delaney, the commission heard.

"If I hear that you've told anybody, you'll be punished."

A child migrant from England sent to Australia without his mother's consent, Mr Delaney said in his years at Bindoon, from age nine to 16, he never once saw a welfare worker.

The Australian government neglected the boys in the school, he said.

"I believe that the Australian government neglected their responsibility to find out - they dragged us from a country, with the permission of the English government," he said.

"They dragged us here, they placed us there to make this a bigger country, and then they don't care about us.

"I want to know why."

On Wednesday, the commission also heard from Emma White, acting director general of WA's Department of Child Protection and Family support.

Ms White said records show government inspections of the centre were ad hoc in nature and at the direction of the relevant minister, the then minister for immigration and lands.

A 1947 letter from the department secretary to the Catholic archbishop noted that the educational facilities at Bindoon were negligible.

Concerns were also raised about the cleanliness and physical environment in which the children were being kept.

"I have no doubt when I next visit in three or four weeks time, there will be a decided improvement along the lines I wish, and more particularly in the educational facilities," the letter read.

The hearings continue.

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Vic rail chaos may continue for third day

Major delays and train cancellations on four Melbourne rail lines could drag into the afternoon. Source: AAP

THE disruption to Melbourne train services could continue for a third day as rail operator Metro works to install new cabling.

A blaze near Richmond Station on Tuesday evening threw services into chaos for commuters, leaving thousands stranded in the CBD.

Four lines were still experiencing major delays during Wednesday evening's peak hour with city loop passengers on the Frankston, Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sandringham lines being asked to travel to Flinders Street station by foot or tram.

The fire damaged telecommunications equipment which controls signalling.

Metro said it was working to ensure trains would be running normally by Thursday morning's first service, but it wouldn't know if there would be disruptions until it conducted testing.

"We've been installing new cabling throughout the day and into the evening, and once this is completed we need to carry out extensive testing," Metro spokeswoman Leah Waymark said.

Metro said passengers should check the website or twitter for the most up to date information.

The train operator could not confirm reports rats had chewed through cabling, saying the cause of the blaze was still under investigation.

Passengers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations using the hashtag Trainageddon.

Commuter Meg Rayner tweeted about 4.30pm (AEDT) on Wednesday that there were already large crowds swarming into Flinders Street.

"Looks like I wasn't the only one to leave early to escape #Trainageddon," she wrote.

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Regal touch boosts Blue Mountains tourism

The royal visit to the Blue Mountains has boosted the fire-ravaged region's visitor numbers. Source: AAP

PRINCE William and his wife Catherine's trip to the Blue Mountains has not only lifted spirits in the fire-ravaged region but boosted its bottom line.

Some 2500 people crammed into Echo Point when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the tourist site earlier this month.

And now, just under a fortnight later, the operators are thanking them.

Tourist site Scenic World recorded a 20 per cent increase on the same time last year, with more than 20,000 visitors through the gates throughout Easter and Anzac Day period.

Coupled with the holidays and an exhibition launch, the royals have helped revive the attraction's numbers, head of marketing Amanda Bryne said.

Meanwhile, Wotif.com experienced a 14 per cent surge in accommodation bookings for the period after the royal visit leading up to Anzac Day.

With majestic shots of the Three Sisters beamed across the world, Blue Mountains Tourism CEO Randall Walker said the media coverage of the high-profile guests was "absolutely priceless".

He said visitors to the area typically averaged 11,000 tourists a day - a figure that "evaporated" after the October bushfires.

While numbers have been steadily climbing back to their peak, the arrival of the regal couple helped deliver record rates over the long weekends.

As well as injecting some much needed revenue into the community's businesses, Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill said the visit had lifted morale.

He said the young couple's visit was the perfect antidote for the region, which had lost 500 jobs as a direct consequence of the fires.

"It says the world hasn't forgotten," he said.

"That people have gone through hell and are recovering from that."

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Two MPs allege Palmer approach

A Queensland MP has told police an envoy for Clive Palmer offered him an inducement to jump ship. Source: AAP

TWO Queensland government MPs have accused Clive Palmer's team of trying to lure them away from the Liberal National Party.

Mr Palmer says the claims made by MPs Michael Hart and Jason Costigan were made up by premier Campbell Newman, while police have looked at one of the accusations and will take no action.

Mr Newman, however, has stepped up his war with the mining magnate turned federal MP, arguing he needs to reveal the full truth.

Mr Hart on Tuesday alleged a Palmer United Party envoy tried to entice the Burleigh MP with financial sweeteners - an assertion refuted by the party's state leader Alex Douglas.

Also on Tuesday, Whitsunday MP Mr Costigan said a PUP member approached him a week later on April 16, but without a financial incentive.

"They said they could ... help me with my campaign if I was their candidate and rambled on how they needed one more MP to form the official opposition," he told AAP.

Mr Hart took his claims to police who said they had "concluded that, based on current available information, no further action will be taken".

Mr Hart said he cut short a conversation with a PUP official after being made an offer to become one of the party's leading candidates at next year's Queensland election.

"The words that were used I took as a form of inducement or that there was about to be an inducement. I didn't want that to happen," he told AAP.

Mr Hart's allegation has escalated the bitter feud between Mr Palmer and the LNP, with the mining magnate accusing Mr Newman of inventing the story.

"This is just concocted by the premier because he's going to be sued by me," Mr Palmer told AAP.

"He's just trying to mislead the press."

But a spokesman for Mr Newman says Mr Palmer is the one who needs to come clean after Dr Douglas confirmed the party approached Mr Hart.

"Mr Palmer denies inducements were offered to Mr Hart, but Alex Douglas has confirmed that Mr Hart was told that 'we would look after him if he joined us'," the spokesman said.

Dr Douglas says while contact was made, claims about any inducement are entirely false.

"It was basically to say: 'Michael we know you're not going to be preselected or endorsed by the party and if you want to have a career you are welcome to come and discuss that with us'," he said.

The latest claims follow Sunday's allegations by Mr Newman that Mr Palmer had tried to "buy" his government, and had offered inducements to successfully entice three renegade Northern Territory MPs to join his party.

Comment has been sought from Dr Douglas about Mr Costigan's claim.

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Coles sales figures fail to impress

Shares in Wesfarmers have fallen following the release of March quarter sales figures. Source: AAP

SHARES in retail group Wesfarmers dropped more than two per cent after the Coles supermarket owner's latest sales fell short of investor expectations.

Sales from Coles supermarkets and liquor stores rose 3.9 per cent during the March quarter to $6.7 billion.

And it was a mixed quarter for Wesfarmer's other retail businesses, with strong results from Bunnings and Officeworks offsetting weakness at Target and Kmart.

IG market strategist Evan Lucas said the sales figures were not enough to meet market expectations after several years of strong growth.

"It was a very stock-standard Wesfarmers result," he said.

"The result was still good, but it wasn't enough to drive it (Wesfarmers) to that all-time record high."

Wesfarmers shares fell 88 cents, or 2.01 per cent, to close at $43.01 after the company's latest quarterly figures were released on Tuesday.

The stock has recently been trading around the record high of $44.60 it reached in November 2013.

CMC chief market analyst Ric Spooner said the slide in the share price came after several weeks of gains and probably reflected unrealistic expectations from investors.

"I'd characterise it more in terms of the market having set a really high bar," he said.

"So it might reflect a marginal disappointment but I don't think there are really any serious concerns," he said.

Bunnings lifted sales more than 12 per cent to just over $2 billion during the quarter, while Officeworks recorded a near seven per cent rise in its sales.

But Kmart managed only a 0.4 per cent rise in sales and Target continued to struggle, with sales down 3.6 per cent.

Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder said the weak performance from Target was partly the result of price reductions linked to efforts to turn around its performance.

Mr Goyder also said he was not worried about a possible slide in consumer spending following the federal budget in May.

Economists fear the Abbott government's first budget, which is expected to include spending cuts and higher taxes, will lead consumers to tighten their purse strings.

"One of the things that attracted us to Coles was the fact that through different phases of an economic cycle the food business is pretty resilient," Mr Goyder told reporters.

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Plane catches fire at Perth Airport

A plane has made an emergency landing in Perth after flames were spotted coming from its engine. Source: AAP

A PLANE has made an emergency landing at Perth Airport after a suspected engine fire erupted shortly after take-off.

The Cobham Aviation flight landed safely after the mid-air incident on Tuesday, a Perth Airport spokeswoman confirmed.

Witnesses have reported seeing the flames coming from the right engine.

The Perth Airport website shows that a Cobham Aviation flight was scheduled to depart at 10.45am for Barrow Island.

Pictures have emerged on social media of a plane with an engine appearing to be on fire, but it has not been confirmed as the plane involved in the emergency.

The aircraft is currently being assessed at the airport.

Cobham operates aircraft on behalf of Qantas regional subsidiary QantasLink.

A spokesman for the regional carrier said a statement would be issued later on Tuesday.

Cobham Aviation Services said the engine fire occurred soon after take-off and that the four-engine BAE 146 jet was bound for Barrow Island.

A spokesman said the pilot and crew safely returned the jet to Perth Airport at 10.53am (WST).

"The aircraft was climbing after take-off when the fire occurred in engine No.2, which is on the inner port side of the aircraft," he said.

"When the fire was detected, the engine was shut down and the fire extinguished.

"There were no injuries among the 92 passengers or two pilots and three cabin crew."

The incident is being investigated and regulatory authorities have been informed, the spokesman says.

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Whitehaven pushes ahead with new mine

WHITEHAVEN Coal sold less coal in the March quarter while battling low prices, but its flagship Maules Creek project is more than one-third complete.

The controversial NSW mine is the target of a long running campaign that has included legal action and human barricades to delay construction, in protest against the alleged destruction of the Leard State Forest.

More than 90 protesters faced court in Narrabri on Tuesday and a mother and son were arrested on Monday after chaining themselves to a gate at a Whitehaven site.

Whitehaven said construction progress at Maules Creek was 36 per cent complete and on schedule and budget.

First coal should be railed in March 2015 and the company was confident it would get Commonwealth approval for its biodiversity offsets package, which involves a package to balance the effects on flora and fauna.

The highly regarded $767 million project would more than double Whitehaven's production to 25 million tonnes a year.

Whitehaven produced 1.81 million tonnes in the three months to the end of March, down 29 per cent on a year ago.

It recently flagged a cut in full year production by up to eight per cent, to between 9.8 million and 10 million tonnes of saleable coal, due to operational problems.

Whitehaven sold 2.29 million tonnes for the March quarter, down five per cent.

It achieved a weaker average price for export thermal coal sales of $US75.19 a tonne, compared to the benchmark Newcastle index, which was down seven per cent to $US78.05 for the quarter.

The reasons included a well-supplied market with little disruption from weather related events, a lack of buying by China based coal customers from the seaborne market, and the end of the high demand northern hemisphere winter.

However, thermal coal demand was growing in South Korea, which is increasing coal in its energy mix, and analysts including Bell Potter have a positive long term view on the company, and coal generally.

Whitehaven shares had dropped 2.5 cents to $1.48.

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Money-washing claims engulf NSW Libs

A fresh corruption inquiry will expose how NSW Liberal figures flouted electoral funding rules. Source: AAP

ALLEGATIONS of systematic political donation rorting have engulfed the NSW Liberals and sent yet another party MP to the crossbench.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Monday aired claims Liberal figures had used a sham company to secretly funnel more than $400,000 in political donations in exchange for favours from sidelined cabinet minister Chris Hartcher.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Geoffrey Watson, said the watchdog's investigators had uncovered evidence of "sophisticated, well-organised and systematic subversion of the electoral funding laws" of NSW.

New Premier Mike Baird - who took the job two weeks ago, when Barry O'Farrell was forced to resign over a related ICAC probe - said he was appalled by allegations raised so far.

"If any wrongdoing is found, the book should, and will, be thrown at the perpetrators," he said.

Central to ICAC's Operation Spicer is alleged slush fund EightByFive, which was set up by Mr Hartcher's former staffer Tim Koelma.

The company purported to offer marketing and strategic advice, Mr Watson said.

But its true role was to conceal political donations from property developers. These have been banned in NSW since 2009.

The inquiry has heard EightByFive received $66,000 from coal entrepreneur Nathan Tinkler's Buildev, $137,000 from the Gazal family's Gazcorp and $183,000 from the notorious Obeid-linked Australian Water Holdings (AWH).

One MP, upper house MP Marie Ficarra, who is said to have known about EightByFive, stepped down from the parliamentary Liberal Party on Monday at the premier's request.

She follows MPs Darren Webber, Chris Spence and Mr Hartcher.

Mr Spence and Mr Webber ran as Liberal candidates on the central coast in 2011 and are said to have pocketed $105,000 and $50,000 apiece from EightByFive.

Another Liberal-linked outfit, the Free Enterprise Foundation, was allegedly used by some members of the Liberal Party to "wash" money from prohibited donors.

"The actions of these persons were a serious breach of the law and a serious breach of trust with the voters of NSW," Mr Watson said.

In the lead-up to the 2011 election the Foundation donated $700,000 to the Liberal Party, he said.

Fundraiser Paul Nicolaou admitted in a private ICAC interrogation that he was aware of multiple examples of prohibited donors giving money to the Liberal Party via the Foundation.

On Monday Mr Nicolaou resigned as chair of a key fundraising entity, the Millennium Foundation, and the premier has signalled some donations may now be repaid.

"I have told the party's new state director, as a matter of urgency, to investigate the allegations made at ICAC and respond to them promptly," Mr Baird said.

Meanwhile, two sitting ministers are now under scrutiny.

Energy Minister Anthony Roberts was forced to issue a statement on Monday afternoon after it emerged he had accompanied Mr Hartcher on a 2007 trip to Queensland's Whitsundays aboard Nabil Gazal's luxury yacht, Octavia.

"I paid my own airfares and costs associated with my attendance," Mr Roberts said.

"For these reasons, I understood at the time that I did not need to make a disclosure on my pecuniary interests register ... I held no shadow portfolio responsibilities at the time."

The inquiry continues on Tuesday.

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WA Brothers could abuse with impunity

The royal commission will continue in Perth, and will focus on Christian Brothers-run residences. Source: AAP

CHILD abusers at Christian Brothers schools in Western Australia knew they could sexually torture children with impunity, safe in the knowledge the state would do nothing, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard boys were routinely tortured, raped and beaten by Christian Brothers in four childcare institutions since the 1950s.

The two-week Perth inquiry is investigating the responses of the Christian Brothers and state authorities to the abuse allegations at the Bindoon, Castledare, Clontarf and Tardun residences for boys who were orphaned or forcibly removed from their parents from the UK, Malta and Australia.

In emotional testimony on Monday, John Hennessey told the commission the men who abused him during his time at St Joseph's Farm and Trade School, Bindoon, felt safe in doing so.

"I was exploited and abused by criminals (who were) safe in the knowledge that the state government and church were my legal guardians, and would never bother to meet their responsibilities," he said.

Mr Hennessey was forcibly separated from his mother in Bristol, England, and sent to WA. He did not see her for another 57 years.

While at Bindoon Mr Hennessey was targeted by Brother Paul Keaney, other Christian Brothers and older children at the school.

On one occasion, Brother Keaney publicly stripped and savagely beat him.

"No one came to my aid," said a visibly upset Mr Hennessey, the first witness at the 11th case study examined by the commission. "I am now left with a stutter."

Boys who reported sexual and physical abuse were often abused by the brother to whom they complained, the royal commission was told.

"For some boys, the knowledge of the abuse was well enough understood between the boys, if not necessarily openly discussed," counsel assisting the royal Commission Gail Furness said in her opening statement.

"Other boys never shared their experiences with anyone else.

"However, common to all of those men who will give evidence is the shame, guilt and fear that they experienced as a result of the abuse."

At St Vincent's Orphanage in Clontarf, boys would be selected almost nightly by brothers for abuse, said survivor John Wells.

A brother would tickle the foot of a sleeping boy as a signal to go to his room.

"The boy would often be crying because he knew what was coming and he knew he was going to be in pain," Mr Wells said.

He and his twin brother Arthur were so traumatised they did not physically touch for 70 years - until Mr Wells held Arthur's hand when he was on his deathbed.

Another survivor of Bindoon, Edward Delaney, had the fingers of both hands broken and was left with a permanent disfigurement when a brother - named as Brother Doyle in the commission - hit him repeatedly with a leather strap with a hacksaw blade stitched into it.

Over the next two weeks the commission will hear evidence on how the Christian Brothers responded to allegations of abuse.

It will also hear evidence from representatives of the WA government and the acting director of public prosecutions about the department's response to complaints.

So far, four WA Christian Brothers have been charged with sexual abuse at one or more of the institutions.

One, named at the commission as Brother Dick, was convicted in 1994 on 10 counts of unlawfully and indecently dealing with five boys under 14. He received three-and-a-half years jail.

Another - Brother William Marchant - was charged in 2000 with sexual abuse offences while at Tardun. He was convicted and received a non-custodial sentence.

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