Bad Neighbours wins box office battle

SETH Rogen and Aussie Rose Byrne fight an over-the-fence war against Zac Efron in Bad Neighbours but they've won a different battle in taking first place at Australian box office.

The new gross-out comedy debuted in No.1 with $2.631 million over the weekend, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

Its appearance knocked Cameron Diaz comedy The Other Woman into second place and The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro into third, while Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel remained steady in fourth.

Animated flick The Lego Movie dropped two spots to fifth, but its $766,662 in earnings brought its local box office total to $28.443 million in five weeks.

YA adaptation Divergent gained one spot to climb to sixth, while Johnny Depp thriller Transcendence and latest Marvel movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier both fell two spots to seventh and eighth.

Star Wars fans headed to the cinema to celebrate May the 4th, a play on the phrase "May the Force be with you", with movie marathons of Episode IV, V and VI taking ninth place on the chart with $367,160 - far more than episodes I, II and III got with $122,961 in 13th place.

And last, but not least, was new entry Fading Gigolo to round out the top 10.

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Abuse not seen as a crime, inquiry told

Senior Christian Brothers will give evidence to the royal commission into child sex abuse this week. Source: AAP

THE Christian Brothers regarded the physical and sexual abuse of children as abhorrent and a moral failing but not a criminal offence, a royal commission has been told.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has also heard double jeopardy laws prevented other men from coming forward to tell of their abuse at the hands of a Brother Dick, who was sentenced to three and a half years after confessing to abusing five "unknown" children.

Allegations of child sex abuse were not passed on to police because the order did not see them as a criminal matter.

"All I can assume, understand, is that there was a mindset that didn't see this first and foremost as a crime; that it was something of a moral failing, contributing to the corruption of the child," Brother Anthony Shanahan, the order's former provincial leader for WA and SA, said on Monday.

"I think they saw it as something that was abhorrent, harmful, although I don't think they understood it as harmful in the way we would now, in terms of consequences for the victim."

The commission last week heard from 11 men physically and sexually abused at four WA Christian Brothers residences at Tardun, Bindoon, Clontarf and Castledare between 1947 and 1968.

Justice McClellan asked Br Shanahan if he thought it extraordinary that the order did not view sex abuse as a criminal offence.

"Yes," he replied.

"Can you explain how the order would have brought themselves intellectually to that position?" Justice McClellan asked.

"No, I can't explain it," Br Shanahan said.

Br Shanahan said there existed a pattern where an accused brother would be transferred.

Christian Brothers who were accused of sexual abuse were still allowed to work with children by being sent to day schools where there would be less opportunity to offend.

"There was a pattern, I think - not completely in 100 per cent of cases, but I think it's a pattern where there was a complaint the person would be transferred to a day school and not a residential school," he said.

When asked by Council assisting the commission Gail Furness if Br Shanahan's predecessors knew of the underlying conduct that led to the transfer, he replied: "Probably, yes."

The commission also heard a series of documented sex abuse allegations dating back to 1919, some against brothers who were shifted to other schools around the country.

Last week an abuse survivor, Edward Delaney, said after he told the superior at Bindoon, Brother Bruno Doyle, of his abuse at the hands of a Brother Parker, he was informed the man had been transferred to Tasmania and was told not to talk about it.

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Fiannaca told the commission the 1994 conviction of Br Dick prohibited others from coming forward in the courts.

The hearings continue.

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Indonesia in dark over Abbott no-show

Indonesia has received no explanation for PM Tony Abbott postponing a meeting with the president. Source: AAP

INDONESIA has received no explanation for Prime Minister Tony Abbott postponing a meeting with the president, nor any indication that asylum seekers are being sent back to its territory, a government spokesman says.

Mr Abbott was invited to attend a forum in Bali on Tuesday, which was also a chance to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The relationship has been on ice since last year's revelations that Australia had spied on Dr Yudhoyono and his wife, a bombshell that saw Indonesia halt co-operation pending a new code of conduct.

Talks on the code have crawled, but the Bali meeting could have provided a breakthrough.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa revealed the offer to Mr Abbott on April 7, when he told AAP the talks had taken a more positive turn.

Days before the Open Government Partnership forum was due to start, Mr Abbott's attendance hadn't been confirmed and he didn't state a reason for postponing the trip late on Friday.

"The attempt to make a trip to Indonesia has been postponed, but we are hopeful of finding another date soon," a spokesman said.

It's understood the prime minister postponed the trip because Australian officials were in the process of turning an asylum-seeker boat back to Indonesia.

On Saturday, Dr Yudhoyono's spokesman told AAP he only knew of the decision through media reports.

Agus Barnas, spokesman for Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Politics, Law and Security, said he checked with the foreign ministry on Monday and it had no explanation for Mr Abbott's no-show.

"They said that they were not told either about the reason for him not coming," he told AAP.

Indonesia has also received no notice of a boat turnback.

Mr Barnas said he read Australian opposition and Greens criticism of Mr Abbott's change of heart and agreed it was a missed opportunity.

"If I was going to take a negative view it would be that Abbott's reason was just that he did not want to meet President SBY in person," he said.

"It's a pity ... this was actually a good opportunity for both leaders to meet in person, eye to eye."

A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she won't be representing the prime minister on this occasion.

Australia will be represented at official level, she said.

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NSW donation scandal crosses party lines

ICAC's Operation Spicer will call Darren Williams into the witness box after a spectacular week. Source: AAP

FORMER coal mogul Nathan Tinkler made tens of thousands of dollars in secret donations so NSW politicians would "bend to his will", the state's corruption watchdog has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has heard Mr Tinkler's development firm Buildev funnelled $66,000 in donations via his stud farm Patinack and then through EightByFive, a "sham" company set up by ex-Liberal minister Chris Hartcher's former staffer.

The unfolding cash-for-favours scandal has engulfed the NSW Liberal Party and there were claims on Monday that Buildev executive Darren Williams had arranged donations to the NSW Nationals before the 2011 election.

"As discussed we are delighted to accept support for our state election campaign as long as it is not from prohibited donors," then-Nationals NSW director Ben Franklin told Mr Williams in an email.

Mr Williams in turn wrote to Patinack director Troy Palmer: "Mate need $20(k) in here to help these guys, Nats will be running ports. Do you know any one that can help?????"

At the time, Buildev was lobbying for a $1 billion coal loader to be built on the Newcastle foreshore.

Under NSW electoral funding laws Mr Tinkler is barred from making political donations but counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson SC, said ICAC investigators had uncovered evidence that four of his employees had each made $5000 payments to the National Party.

Days after the coalition swept to power in NSW in 2011, Tinkler Group CFO Troy Palmer passed on a "positive" news article about the lucrative coal loader to his boss - but Mr Tinkler was unimpressed.

The embattled businessman fired off this reply: "this is just to pacify me because I donated to the nats and they are doing f*** all about it. willy (Mr Williams) and govt trying to tell me it is moving forward but i dont see it and the whole thing is being held up in bureaucracy ... we had a bunch of deadbeats before and now we have a bunch of p****s scared to make a decision".

Mr Watson said it showed Mr Tinkler believed he could buy political support.

"That's what was operating down at the old Tinkler Group," Mr Watson put to Mr Palmer.

"Payments made to political parties to get the decision-makers to bend to Nathan Tinkler's will, isn't that right?"

"No, no," Mr Palmer replied.

Although the NSW coalition has featured prominently in ICAC's Operation Spicer, which led to last week's sensational resignation of police minister Mike Gallacher, it is alleged Mr Tinkler was not averse to crossing the floor.

He has been accused of working with former NSW Labor minister Joe Tripodi to depose former Newcastle member Jodi McKay after she refused to accept a bribe.

Mr Watson has indicated that on Wednesday morning he will ask that the inquiry be adjourned to allow further investigations.

The witness list has been shuffled to include Liberal fundraiser Nick Di Girolamo.

He was at the centre of the ICAC's last inquiry, Operation Credo, and his gift of a $3000 bottle of wine led to former NSW premier Barry O'Farrell's demise.

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$15m boost to Vic mental health

Victoria will allocate an extra $15 million to mental health resources to reduce pressure on police. Source: AAP

MENTAL health services will get a $15 million boost in the Victorian budget to help change the way specialist, police and ambulance services respond to people with mental illness.

The investment, over four years, will create a new locally based, co-ordinated mental health crisis response.

Mental health workers will work with police and ambulance workers to tailor responses to someone needing urgent support.

The budget allocation also aims to reduce pressure on police, ambulance and emergency department resources.

Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge says the initiative draws on previous trials, which brought together mental health workers and police to respond to a crisis to avoid it escalating and involving an emergency department.

The trials found people suffering a mental illness episode were less likely to end up in the local emergency department and police units could be released to other duties more quickly, she said.

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Firefighter bravery recognised

FIREFIGHTERS who attended a fuel spill with the potential to ignite and threaten a Sydney peninsula faced a choice.

Leave the two million litre tank to leak, evacuate the peninsula around Banksmeadow on Botany Bay and wait for a catastrophic explosion.

Or volunteer to wade through the fuel pool and repair the leaking valve.

NSW Fire and Rescue (NSWFR) station officer Ron Morasso looked at his colleagues and made his choice.

"I said to him, 'what was going through your mind'?" NSWFR commissioner Greg Mullins told AAP after presenting Mr Morasso with the fire service's highest bravery award.

"[Mr Morasso] said to me, 'I looked at my crew and thought - he has two young kids, his wife is pregnant, he is only young...it's got to be me'."

Mr Mullins said even a spark from a car passing the Caltex fuel terminal would have risked an explosion with enough ferocity to close Sydney airport and any subsequent fire might have taken days to extinguish.

Mr Morasso, who has since retired, was presented with the NSWFR medal for conspicuous bravery on Saturday.

Other crew members who responded to the spill in July 2013 also received commendations.

Meanwhile, two firefighters who rushed to the aid of a man on fire after a petrol tanker crash on Sydney's northern beaches were also recognised.

Mosman crew members Lloyd Mulder and George Cheeke stayed with the man, who crawled from his car after it burst into flames, until he died at the roadside last October.

Witnesses Andrew Cochran and Maria Tosone also received commendations for trying to pull the man and another person from the car on Mona Vale Road.

And 12 firefighters who responded to a fire at a unit complex in Bankstown in the city's west, where two women attempted to escape by jumping from a fifth floor window, were also among commendation recipients.

Mr Mullins said the blaze was so intense that firefighters' uniforms caught fire and helmets melted.

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Vic govt to unveil infrastructure spend

Tuesday's Victorian state budget is expected to contain a number of major infrastructure projects. Source: AAP

MELBOURNE'S East West Link tunnel will get more funding and light will be shed on plans for a Melbourne airport rail link in Tuesday's state budget.

Victoria is expected to remain in the black with the state on track to reach its net surplus target in a budget that will focus on major infrastructure projects six months out from an election.

State funds will flow for the second stage of the $18 billion East West Link road project, including $1.5 billion from the Commonwealth, while details of a plan to link Melbourne's CBD by rail to the Tullamarine airport will be unveiled for the first time.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien says that in contrast to the federal budget, which is expected to include significant spending cuts and possible tax increases to cut the deficit, Victorians can expect strong surpluses over the next few years.

Net debt will also fall over the forward estimates and there will be a focus on major infrastructure projects which create jobs, he says.

"The Victorian budget is in a very different position to the federal budget," Mr O'Brien told reporters on Friday.

"We're in surplus here in Victoria and we're going to have strong surpluses across the forward estimates."

Mr O'Brien says the government will be delivering the major infrastructure projects Victorians want to see to improve their quality of life, thanks to good economic management.

"We're funding major job creating infrastructure through strong surpluses, through good economic management and through asset recycling," he said.

The budget is expected to contain more money to progress the Melbourne Metro Rail project, a $10 billion underground cross-city tunnel designed take on thousands of extra passengers and connect the Dandenong and Sunshine rail corridors.

A swag of pre-budget announcements have been made, so far including: more than $1 billion to remove eight level crossings across Melbourne; $190 million to cut elective surgery waiting lists; a $220 million project to upgrade country rail and build a standardised rail link between Mildura and Geelong.

Mr O'Brien says the public service is safe from further cuts this budget, but it is yet to be seen what further pain may be in store for Victorians.

The government has already blamed a cut in the state's GST revenue from 90 cents in the dollar to 88 cents in 2014-15 for a $32 hike in car registrations and an increase in vehicle stamp duty.

The government says the extra charges would fund major transport infrastructure in the budget.

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Greens say they're the party to fix NSW

The Greens have announced their upper house line-up for the upcoming March 2015 NSW state election. Source: AAP

THERE'S a smell wafting from the Labor and Liberal party rooms in NSW parliament, the Greens say.

Just days after police minister Mike Gallacher stepped aside following claims in front of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) over illegal donations to the Liberal Party, Greens NSW MP John Kaye announced on Sunday his new upper house team for the March 2015 election.

Joining him on the ticket will be existing MP Mehreen Faruqi, as well as coal seam gas campaigner and political advisor Justin Field.

Mr Kaye said the team would be highlighting their credentials as an alternative to the major parties.

"NSW politics has been plunged into crisis, not just by the Labor party but also by the Liberal party's endemic addiction to collecting funds from tainted sources," he told AAP.

"This is the time for reform. This is the election campaign where politics needs to change."

Mr Field, who is third on the ticket, said he will be taking out the message of clean water, energy and politics out into the community.

"A stench of corruption now hangs over NSW parliament, but only the Greens are able to say they can clean up politics."

The announcement comes after the Labor party revealed on Sunday that a "record number" of their party's supporters had voted for former MP Verity Firth to be the next state candidate in the Sydney seat of Balmain.

She narrowly lost the marginal inner-city seat to Greens candidate Jamie Parker at the 2011 election.

Mr Parker said the Greens were confident that there needs to be change.

"It doesn't matter who the candidate is, we have seen before that he structure of Labor means they are silenced ... I stand for a different approach to politics," he told AAP.

He said one of the bills the Greens would be be introducing to parliament in the following months is a push to implement 2010 ICAC recommendations on lobbying in NSW.

This included a recommendation to set up an independent body to oversee the role of lobbyists.

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Man abducts, attacks Qld woman in her car

A MAN has attacked a woman after jumping in her car at a north Queensland car wash and telling her to drive to an industrial area.

Police say the woman was cleaning her car in the early hours of Saturday morning when a man jumped in and told her to drive to a nearby industrial area.

When they stopped he snatched the keys from the ignition and the pair began to struggle.

But the sight of a patrolling police car caused the man to run away.

The woman was taken to hospital with cuts and abrasions to her face, back, legs and an injury to her arm.

Police are searching for the man.

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Call for release of Liberal donation audit

AN audit of Liberal Party donations in the wake of damaging slush fund allegations needs to be released publicly, the NSW opposition says.

The call comes after another political head rolled this week as the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) probed party donations.

Police Minister Mike Gallacher resigned from his plum role on Friday after he was implicated in a Liberal Party slush fund scheme.

It was two weeks after Barry O'Farrell resigned from the state's top job over an undeclared, gifted bottle of wine.

NSW Liberal party director Tony Nutt is leading an audit into the party's political donations.

But Opposition Leader John Robertson says the results need not be only for Liberal eyes.

"Tony Nutt is a political operative from way back," he told reporters on Saturday.

"Tony Nutt is someone who has been involved in the activities of the Liberal Party for years and years and years.

"The only way someone can have confidence in that audit is if it is publicly released so everyone can see the process that was put in place to look at these donations."

Mr Robertson, whose own party was dragged through the mud after adverse ICAC findings over coal mine approvals, said he understood why people would question the motives of every politician in NSW.

He said he wanted to work with Mr Baird to put an end to what was playing out at the ICAC.

"I want to see Mike Baird not simply talk tough but the steps to end the scandal and put in place measures that are going to give the public confidence," he said.

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