WorkCover has given Rockdale Beef, a meat processing company at Yanca, in the Riverina district of southern NSW, an ultimatum over $313,000 outstanding in legal costs, following two prosecutions arising from accidents in 2001 and 2003.

In key respects, the circumstances of the prosecutions are identical to those in the case of hobby farmer Graeme Kirk, who scored a landmark decision against WorkCover last month in an appeal to the High Court.

The court found WorkCover had failed to specify what Mr Kirk had done wrong in the lead-up to an accident that killed farm manager Graham Palmer in 2001.

While upholding the absolute duty of care and "reverse onus of proof" that applies under punitive NSW occupational health and safety laws, the court found prosecuting authorities must explain what an employer could have done to prevent an accident.

The Delhi High Court has struck down provisions which criminalised sexual conduct by persons of the same sex.

In its decision in Naz Foundation (India) Trust v. Government of NCT Delhi and Others, the Court struck down Section 377 of the Indian penal code which criminalised adult, private, sexual conduct by persons of the same sex.

The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) - an organisation established to promote an independent legal profession and the rule of law throughout the Commonwealth - has released a statement welcoming the decision.

Sydney has been successful in its bid to host the International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference in 2017.

The six-day meeting and exhibition is expected to attract about 4000 delegates from around the world, and bring $17.9 million into the local economy.

The IBA is the world's largest law association, bringing together about 30,000 individual lawyers and 195 bar associations and law societies. The aim of the annual conference is to bring the profession together to share knowledge, insights and expertise and to generate new business with leading law firms in big cities throughout the world.

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• Divorce and related property issues
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Kristy will provide you with expert assistance with a number of family related matters including: Defacto relationships, Children and parenting issues, Property and financial matters, Child support issues, Superannuation splitting, Dispute resolution, Domestic violence, Child abduction, Child abuse and child sexual abuse.<

The additional services include fourteen new Post Separation Cooperative Parenting centres and a Regional Dispute Resolution Service.

“Services such as these are enormously valuable in assisting parents to make critical decisions about parenting after separation, while maintaining a focus on the best interests of their children,” Mr McClelland said.

These new services will be located in regional centres to ensure that families can access the help they need to address parenting issues.

The Post Separation Cooperative Parenting centres will offer counselling, education and seminars to highlight to parents the impact that conflict can have on children, and in doing so teach parents about different ways to manage conflict and support their children.

The Regional Dispute Resolution Service, to be located in Broken Hill, will assist separating families to reach agreement to resolve disputes as an alternative to costly and protracted court proceedings.

“I congratulate the organisations that have been selected to provide these important new services,” Mr McClelland said.

Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, today announced a restructure of Federal Courts to more effectively deliver legal and justice services to the community.

“Ensuring the courts are structured and administered to deliver an efficient and cost-effective service to the Australian community is a key element in improving access to justice,” Mr McClelland said.

Currently, matters under Commonwealth law are heard by the Federal Magistrates Court, the Family Court or the Federal Court. Both the Family Court and Federal Magistrates Court can hear family law matters and the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court also share jurisdiction in some general federal law matters.

These arrangements have led to confusion amongst litigants, inefficiencies in funding and administration and impeded access to justice for the community.

The Rudd Government will restructure the Federal Courts system by:

• merging the Federal Magistrates Court into the Family Court and Federal Court;
• consolidating all family law matters under the Family Court; and
• consolidating all general federal law matters under the Federal Court.

Within each court, all matters will be dealt with at the most appropriate level, saving people time and money.

“The reforms will effectively create a one-stop-shop in family and other federal law matters, ensuring an integrated and accessible system that focuses on dispute resolution.”

The Law Council has welcomed the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s announcement that the federal court system will be restructured so that all family law matters will be consolidated and heard under the one family court.

Law Council President John Corcoran said, “We have consistently supported the integration of the Family Court and the Federal Magistrates Court into a single, coherent structure with a common pool of resources delivering family law services”.

“The current arrangements, with two separate Courts exercising largely identical jurisdiction but with separate administrations and being forced to compete for funds and resources, are unacceptable. Rationalisation and integration of the two courts exercising family law jurisdiction is long overdue,” Mr Corcoran said.

In its previous submissions to the Government, the Law Council has stressed that any change should focus on what is best for the community.

“Any new system must be based on providing the services which those using the family law courts really need, and delivering these services in the most effective way,” Mr Corcoran said.

Mr Hatzistergos said the amendment would be made to the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act and applies to drivers who have had their licences disqualified or suspended for crimes including street racing, excessive speeding and mid and high range drink driving. He said the amendment would mean drivers would no longer be given back their licence at the time they lodged an appeal.

New research suggests that clear up and charge rates for a number of serious offences improved after the enactment of laws permitting mandatory DNA testing of NSW prison inmates. No improvement was observed, however, in the conviction rate at court.

Mandatory DNA testing of NSW prison inmates began on January 1st, 2001.

In 2008, the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of New South Wales and the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research conducted a joint evaluation of the new laws.

The specific questions addressed in their study were as follows:

1. Has the introduction of DNA testing increased the crime clear up rate and, if so, which crime categories clear-up rates have increased?
2. Has the introduction of DNA testing increased the ratio of charges laid to crimes reported and, if so, for which categories of crime?
3. Has DNA testing increased the proportion of charges laid that result in convictions and, if so, for which categories of crime?

THE High Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the legality of the Federal Government's proposed $900 tax bonus to 8.7 million taxpayers.

The case has been brought by a law lecturer and former National Party office holder, Bryan Pape, a champion of states' rights.

The High Court will hear the case on March 30 and 31.

The Government plans to begin paying the bonus, part of its $42 billion economic stimulus package, in April.

The court has been advised by the Australian Taxation Office that, if it is to stop printing cheques, it needs to be told by the close of business on April 2.

Mr Pape, who worked as a barrister for 20 years before joining the University of New England in 2000, will argue the case himself.

He has a longstanding interest in constitutional issues, with a particular focus on financial relations between different levels of government.

In a 2005 paper he wrote: "By its use of the appropriation and grants powers the [Commonwealth] Parliament has expanded its authority in its quest to gain absolute power over the states."

Premier Nathan Rees today released the Government’s response to the recommendations made by Justice Wood in his report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW which he handed down on 24 November 2008.

The Premier promised at the time that legislation would come before the Parliament at the beginning of March.

“All of the 111 recommendations that Justice Wood tabled in his substantial report have been addressed in our response,” Mr Rees said.

Keep them safe sets out the Government’s Action Plan, over the next five years, to improve the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in NSW.

Its goal is that all children in NSW are healthy, happy and safe, and grow up belonging in families and communities where they have opportunities to reach their full potential.....

• Made it illegal to possess implements such as marker pens or etching instruments with the intention of using them to damage or deface premises or property. This previously applied only to spray paint cans.
• Given Fair Trading and Police officers the power to issue on-the-spot fines to retailers who fail to properly secure their spray paint can displays, or where spray paint cans are sold to under 18s.

The Law Society of NSW has today applauded moves by the State Government to help strengthen the public's understanding of the criminal justice system through a series of sentencing information sessions commencing in April of this year.

President of the Law Society of NSW, Joe Catanzariti today welcomed the Attorney General's announcement saying that the sessions will help the community understand that this State has one of the toughest court systems and sentencing in Australia.

"The Law Society of NSW has for some time been calling for an education campaign so that people are properly informed about the consequences of criminal behaviour and the effectiveness of our Court processes in this State," said Mr Catanzariti.

"Ultimately confidence in the system is determined by the community's knowledge of the system. Research by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) shows that a large proportion of the population has misconceptions about sentencing rates and makes assumptions about justice because they are not aware of the full details of a case.

"The Law Society of NSW is keen to participate in this initiative and offers its expertise and support to the State Government in any way it can."

In welcoming this initiative, Mr Catanzariti also stressed the need to make sure there is adequate resourcing for victims of crime and their families.

• An Insurance Hotline on 1300 663 464, and
• For legal advice, the LawAccess Hotline on 1300 888 529.

The Legal Aid Board has approved some cost savings measures for the Family Law Program. These savings initiatives involve some changes to the Commonwealth Family Law Policy and Guidelines and the Care and Protection Policy and Guidelines.

The Merit Test will now be applied to most adult applicants in care and protection matters. There is guidance in the Family Law Guidelines on how the test should be applied in these matters.

In the Commonwealth family law matters there are change to the following types of matters: Time spent with child/children; Divorce or nullity of marriage; Enforcement of orders; Contempt of court and breach of court orders; and Disputes about intractable but discrete issues.

For more information visit the website:

Cold case detectives have arrested a man in Perth in connection with the 1998 murder of Sydney sex worker Rachael Campbell.

Ms Campbell's body was found with multiple stab wounds in the grounds of St Josephs Church at Rosebury in Sydney's south, on November 7, 1998.

She had last been seen by her boyfriend about 9.30pm the previous day.

Ongoing investigations led to the arrest of a 31-year-old man in Perth on Wednesday, police said.

"He was subsequently interviewed and charged with an arrest warrant for the offence of murder," police said in a statement.

"The 31-year-old was refused bail, to appear at Perth Magistrates Court today, where NSW detectives will make an application for his extradition to Sydney."

Firefighters have discovered a body in long grass after a grass fire in Sydney's south-west last night.

Fire crews were called to the fire at a park in Reilly Street, Lurnea, about 10pm yesterday, a police spokeswoman said.

"Firefighters extinguished the blaze and located a body in grass more than two metres high," she said.

Police could not say what gender the body was, or its condition.

The fire occurred in long grass alongside Paciullo Park.

Police have cordoned off a large area and detectives will analyse the area this morning.

Police say they have thwarted a criminal network allegedly involved in armed hold-ups across western Sydney after a dramatic operation this morning.

After an extended investigation, including electronic surveillance, police this morning arrested a 21-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman at Kellyville Shopping Plaza, in the city's north-west.

In a dramatic arrest, police fired gas cylinders through the rear window of the alleged offenders' van, distracting them, before moving in.

Police allege the two offenders were the ringleaders of a criminal network involved in armed robberies in recent months.

Both were charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery and the man will be charged with armed robbery on a cash-in-transit van on June 3 at the Westfield shopping centre in Parramatta.

NSW Police have arrested a 38-year-old man in relation to a double shooting in the NSW Hunter Valley last night.

A 35-year-old man and 26-year-old woman were found inside a house on Cassia Way at Metford about 10.15pm with gunshot wounds.

Their alleged attacker, a 38-year-old man, was arrested today after turning up at Maitland Hospital with injuries of his own, police said this afternoon.

The couple who were shot are in a stable condition in the John Hunter Hospital with wounds to their backs, legs, and thighs, police said.

It was originally thought their attacker fled his Cassia Way home on foot and barricaded himself inside another house on Grevillea Drive, which backs on to the Cassia Way premises, police said.

Officers from Central Hunter local area command, the Tactical Operations Unit and State Protection Support Unit spent at least six hours trying to coax the alleged gunman out of the house he was believed to be in with a loudspeaker.

But when police stormed the house this morning there was no sign of the 38-year-old and a wider search was launched

A Supreme Court jury has found Melbourne man Abdul Nacer Benbrika guilty of intentionally being the leader and being a member of a terrorist organisation in Australia's biggest terrorism trial.

Benbrika, 48, of Dallas, north Melbourne, has been found guilty of intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organisation, knowing that it was a terrorist organisation.

Five of Benbrika's followers have been found guilty of intentionally being members of a terrorist group. Aimen Joud, Fadl Sayadi, Ezzit Raad, Ahmed Raad, Abdullah Merhi were all convicted. Justice Bernard Bongiorno is expected to hear plea hearings this afternoon.

Four men were acquitted - Hany Taha, Majed Raad, Shoue Hammoud and Bassam Raad. They left court after hugging their co-accused.

The jury is yet to decide on the fate of Shane Kent and Amer Haddara.

Police are investigating how a 16-year-old girl - too young to hold a driving licence - obtained a sports car that hit a pole, killing a teenage passenger and injuring another.

The legal age to obtain a driver's licence or provisional P1 licence in NSW is 17.

Police say the girl was driving the Subaru Impreza when it smashed into a power pole near the intersection of Sunnyvale and Coppabella roads at semi-rural Middle Dural, north-west of Sydney, just before 11pm yesterday.

A 16-year-old girl from the neighbouring suburb of Cherrybrook was in the back seat and was killed.

The driver and another passenger, a 14-year-old girl, both from Annangrove, were taken to Westmead Hospital with minor injuries.

Police said the cause of the accident was not known and it was unclear to where the three teenagers were driving.

A Sydney police officer appeared in court today charged with having sex with an underage child and possession of child pornography.

David Peter Stewart, 43, of Penshurst, was arrested by federal police on August 19 and suspended from duty.

Stewart was on secondment to a joint state and federal police uniformed security detachment at Sydney Airport.

He was arrested after officers raided his southern Sydney home on August 19 and allegedly found computer equipment, video and images of child exploitation.

Stewart was also charged with having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old child between March 12-13 this year.

What sparked the raid was not revealed in court today.

Magistrate Robyn Denes agreed to an application from Stewart's lawyer Eric Oates that he be allowed to continue his bail.

A FORMER RailCorp employee who was able to go overseas on numerous scuba-diving holidays thanks to his underhand takings is expected to face criminal charges after an extensive investigation by the corruption watchdog.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider charges against a wider circle of former RailCorp employees and contractors after hearings earlier this year into corruption and fraud at the organisation.

The nine-week hearings into RailCorp found as much as $19 million in "work improperly allocated to contractors" had been identified, and a further $3 million in kickbacks paid to staff.

Yesterday, the commission released a further two reports into corruption and fraud at RailCorp, bringing to four the number of reports released, and said it was seeking advice from the DPP as to whether a further 10 people - former RailCorp staff and contractors - can be prosecuted.

The boy was found dead in a Hume Crescent home at Werrington about 7.45am.

A NSW Ambulance Service spokesman said crews responded to an emergency call that a child was not breathing about 7.36am.

"Unfortunately the child was unable to be resuscitated," the spokesman said.

"We don't know as to how or why he died."

Police have confirmed the boy's death did not appear to be suspicious.

A police spokesman said officers from St Marys local area command were still conducting enquiries

A female police officer has been released from hospital after being kicked in the head during a brawl at a rugby league grand final on the NSW North Coast.

Police say the officer tried to break up a fight between about 10 spectators at the game between the Woolgoolga Seahorses and Orara Valley Axemen at Woolgoolga oval yesterday afternoon.

She dropped her portable radio and was picking it up when she was attacked.

She collapsed and lost consciousness, and was taken to Coffs Harbour Hospital for observation before being released.

A 21-year-old Coffs Harbour man was charged with assault and was granted bail. He will appear at Coffs Harbour Local Court on September 29.

Two men have been arrested at gunpoint and charged over a string of armed bank robberies in Sydney, police say.

Officers surrounded the alleged offenders after a stolen car was spotted at Bondi Junction yesterday afternoon

Ignition locks for repeat drink drivers

PEOPLE'S willingness to talk loudly on mobile phones and reveal personal information about themselves online indicates that the privacy laws may require a rethink, says the country's top judge, Murray Gleeson.

In his final public address as Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice Gleeson said yesterday that he had begun to change his view that "certain things … were self-evidently private".

"The ground seems to me to be shifting," he said.

"I used to think that having a telephone conversation was normally private. But you can't walk down the street without hearing a number of telephone conversations, some of them with people speaking loudly because of the noise of the surrounding traffic …

"When you look at the kind of information that people publish about themselves, it makes you wonder." Justice Gleeson said.

THE single phone call - whether hoax or genuine - that derailed the Gordon Wood murder trial has opened a Pandora's box for the jury system.

The mistrial, described yesterday as "an incredible waste of public resources" by the Law Society, an "extraordinary" incident by a legal academic and a "timely reminder of the responsibilities of jurors" by the Premier, Morris Iemma, has also resulted in an investigation by the NSW Sheriff's Office, although no charges are expected to be laid.

The trial was aborted when Justice Graham Barr of the Supreme Court discharged the jury following claims that a female juror had phoned a journalist.

For the past three days the judge has been trying to establish whether a hoax caller had phoned radio station 2GB claiming to be a juror on the case and alleging another female juror was a bully who had already decided Wood was guilty.

Police in Victoria will have to re-examine every crime solved using DNA after admitting that evidence used to lay a murder charge was contaminated.

Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland said today 7000 cases were being reviewed.

Murder charges were today withdrawn against Russell John Gesah who was last month charged with the 1984 murders of Margaret and Seana Tapp.

The charges were withdrawn after it was discovered DNA evidence implicating Gesah was contaminated in a Victoria Police laboratory in 1999.

"This was a result of human error and that's why we have systems in place," Mr Overland said.

"The DNA process itself is not in question."

Police have apologised to Gesah and to the Tapp family.

A 23-year-old Minchinbury man went to police on Saturday after seeing CCTV footage of himself on the television news.

He was subsequently charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault, three counts of aggravated robbery, indecent assault and stalking and intimidation linked to the assault of five women in Sydney's north-west between April and June. He faced Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday and was refused bail.

One of the victim's told police she spotted her attacker at Blacktown railway station last week and police then circulated CCTV footage of the man captured at the railway station.

However, new information prompted police to apply to the Supreme Court late last night for the man's release.

"The application was made after police received the results of ongoing forensic inquiries shortly before 6pm," police said in a statement. "Another application will be made to the court over the next few days for the withdrawal of all charges."

A police spokeswoman was unable to confirm if the man's arrest and charging had stemmed from the victim mistaking his identity

TWO taxi drivers may be executed after they were convicted of raping, robbing and murdering an Australian tourist within hours of her arrival in India four years ago.

Dawn Griggs, a 59-year-old writer and educator from Byron Bay, landed at Delhi airport in March 2004 to join a meditation course. She arranged for a prepaid taxi to drive her from the airport to a suburban ashram.

Instead, she was taken to a deserted field near the airport and murdered by the drivers, Jyotish Prasad and Ashish Kumar. It is common for taxi drivers in India to have an associate in the front seat with them while they are working. An autopsy found Ms Griggs had been gagged, strangled and stabbed.

Prasad, 28, was arrested soon after the body was found and Kumar, 31, was detained four days later. Both have been in jail since. They were initially charged with murder and robbery. The charge of rape was added after further medical evidence was received

About 4.30pm (AEST) yesterday police received complaints from motorists about a man "who appeared to be drunk" riding his horse along Lake Road at Glendale.

"Police have been told the man, who was allegedly drinking and yelling as he was riding, had failed to give way to a bus on a roundabout and rode without holding the reins," police said in a statement.

"Police located the man near Wallsend after he had nearly fallen from the saddle.

"When spoken to by officers, the man who allegedly had a half empty bottle of bourbon, appeared to be under the influence of alcohol."

The horse was collected by the man's partner and the 27-year-old was issued with a court attendance notice for riding under the influence and is due to face court on August 19

In a surprise choice, West Australian Robert French will be the new chief justice of the High Court of Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced.

It had been widely expected that NSW Chief Justice Jim Spigelman would get the job to replace Chief Justice Murray Gleeson, who is retiring on August 29.

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said Mr Justice French was "a black letter lawyer", who sticks by the letter of the law, and "a fair minded jurist" who had achieved a distinguished career over 22 years on the Federal Court bench.

Mr Rudd said Justice French would be the first Chief Justice in the court's 107-year history to come from Western Australia.

A 51-year-old Tumbi Umbi man remains in custody after appearing in Wyong court, charged with murder.

Terrance Borg wasn’t required to enter a plea and the matter was adjourned until the 8th October.

The charges relate to the death of 49-year-old Susan Wirth, whose body was found dumped in a car at Brooklyn just over two weeks ago.

She was Mr Borg’s long-time partner and the couple also ran a business together at Tuggerah

When Nicole Kidman gave birth to a baby girl in Nashville earlier this month, she may have been relieved to be several thousand kilometres away from the long lens of Sydney paparazzo Jamie Fawcett.

As the self-styled 'Prince of Paparazzi', Jamie Fawcett has established a prominent profile in a tough and often controversial business.

Over the last three years he’s been embroiled in legal battles resulting from his pursuit of Ms Kidman.

Last night on Australian Story, Jamie Fawcett faced his critics, and spoke openly for the first time since his latest courtroom drama

Prosecutors are moving to block a bid by convicted drugs lord Tony Mokbel to have fresh charges against him stayed.

Mokbel, who is facing murder charges, appeared in a Melbourne court via videolink to answer an application by the commonwealth to speed up his court proceedings.

Mokbel faces 20 criminal charges including two counts of murder.

Commonwealth prosecutor Mark Dean SC told the Victorian Practice Court an application by the Crown to strike out Mokbel's request to halt his criminal proceedings, until his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is finalised, should be heard quickly.

Mokbel's lawyer Mirko Bagaric slammed Tuesday's hearing, saying it was a waste of time and his client was too poor to be frequently attending court.

A hearing for the strike-out application was already scheduled for August 25

Poorly maintained fences and lack of adult supervision mean as many children are drowning in backyard swimming pools in NSW as a decade a go, a report has found.

The NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People Gillian Calvert has conducted the first study into child deaths in NSW, finding an almost 38 per cent reduction in child deaths between 1996 and 2005.

Ms Calvert said the drop was significant, but at the same time the number of children drowning in swimming pools remained steady.

"We didn't see a change in the deaths over the 10-year period, yet these are very preventable deaths," she told reporters.

"When we looked at why, what we found was it was a combination of poor parental supervision plus poorly maintained gates and fences so that children could access the pool without the parent knowing."

A Victorian prospector who went missing last week in the West Australian Goldfields region has been found alive, police say.

A search that began on Saturday covered up to 200 square kilometres of desert before 52-year-old Theo Rosmolder was found shortly before 11am Tuesday (WST) north of Laverton.

Mr Rosmolder and five others, including his wife, were looking for gold 130km north of Laverton on Friday near the Sweet Nell mine.

The area is thick with mine shafts and open pits and surrounded by light to heavy scrub, police say.

Mr Rosmolder was believed to have been without food or water

POLICE investigating the collision on Sydney Harbour that killed six young people in May have asked for charges to be considered against a bartender, Percy Small, in a brief of evidence handed to the Director of Public Prosecutions on Friday.

After an investigation of 2½ months, police yesterday told the Herald that Mr Small was allegedly driving the runabout when it collided with a fishing trawler.

Mr Small, 24, had worked at the Commercial Hotel, Balmain, with other crash survivors.

It is understood a charge of dangerous driving occasioning death is possible.

Mr Small has refused to do a formal interview with police over the crash, which occurred early on May 1.

Contacted through his family yesterday, he refused to comment on the investigation or who was driving the boat when the crash occurred.

It is understood he has told police he was not driving the boat.

Patel, 58, spent the night in custody after arriving in Brisbane from Los Angeles on Monday morning accompanied by two Queensland police officers, following his voluntary extradition from the US.

He was granted bail by a magistrate late Monday on condition he posts a $20,000 cash surety, lives at a place approved by the prosecutor, reports to police three days a week, surrenders his passport and does not leave Queensland or approach an international point of departure.

Patel faces 14 charges including manslaughter, grievous bodily harm and fraud, relating to his time at Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005.

Since March, he has been held in custody in Portland, Oregon, where he lives.

More than a dozen journalists, photographers and cameramen are stationed outside the watchhouse, awaiting his release.

Meanwhile, Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine said taxpayers would foot the bill for Patel's rent and living expenses while he awaits trial, which a magistrate on Monday said could be 12 months away

Beaconsfield mine widow Jacquie Knight hopes an inquest will answer crucial questions about the rockfall which claimed her husband's life two years ago.

Larry Knight was the only person to die in the rockfall in the northern Tasmanian mine in April 2006.

His colleagues Todd Russell and Brant Webb spent 14 days trapped underground by the same rockfall before being rescued in a dramatic operation that captured the world's attention.

Ms Knight said she hoped the inquest beginning on Tuesday in Launceston would reveal why her husband died and whether his death could have been prevented.

"I know that his inquest will not bring Larry back," Ms Knight said in a statement issued by her lawyers.

"But for me it is important because it will help answer the important questions: why did Larry die, could his death have been prevented, and what can be done to prevent other mining deaths happening in the future?"

Ms Knight said it had been a terribly difficult time for her and the rest of Mr Knight's family

A SYDNEY woman accused of the stabbing murder of her husband was prone to "aggressive outbursts" in which she damaged their home and physically assaulted him, a court has been told.

Danielle Stewart, 32, is on trial for the murder of her husband, Chaim Kimel, 55, who was stabbed twice in the torso with a knife during an argument in the couple's Rose Bay apartment in August 2006. Stewart alleges she was acting in self-defence and that her husband of almost two years had been physically violent towards her.

However, Mr Kimel's daughter, Amber Rubenstein, told a Supreme Court jury her father was a "gentle giant" who had been abused by Stewart.

Mr Kimel had told his daughter that Stewart had bitten him on the thumb and arm and several times had smashed his glasses, the court heard.

"It became a running joke in the family that he had to get his glasses replaced regularly," Mrs Rubenstein said. "When she became aggressive she would grab them and step on them, mangle them, I don't know."

Mr Kimel, an entrepreneur, met Stewart at a nightclub in 2000 and he quickly fell in love with her, Mrs Rubenstein told the court: "I saw her in happy moods. She was lovely, actually. I really liked her until I had seen for myself … her aggressive outbursts."

A SOLICITOR and civil liberties campaigner was arrested, handcuffed and allegedly had his rib broken by police after offering legal assistance to a man being searched in public.

Kristian Bolwell said police manhandled him and broke his rib last week after he displayed his solicitor's identification card to a man being searched in a pub and said, "Hi, I am a solicitor, would you like any help?"

Bolwell is a member of a group campaigning against NSW Government regulations that give police power to stop people from causing annoyance or inconvenience to World Youth Day participants or face $5500 fines. He said his experience was proof that police powers needed to be curtailed, not extended.

The 36-year-old lawyer was eating dinner at the Cooper's Arms Hotel in King Street, Newtown at about 9.30pm on Thursday when eight to 10 police entered the pub with a sniffer dog and began searching patrons, he said.

After Bolwell offered assistance to one of them, he said he had a "short conversation" with police, who then pushed him and pinned him face-down on the floor.

He was later charged with hindering police, resisting police in execution of their duty and failure to obey a police direction.

GARY POXON killed his three children because he was convinced he could not live without them and they could not live without him, his devastated wife has said, speaking publicly for the first time about the tragedy.

Karen Bell, who described her emotions as "very angry, very hurt, just disgusted", said the murder of her children by her violent husband was his revenge, to make her feel guilty for leaving him - "he was trying to make me feel guilty for the rest of my life, and I do".

The murder-suicide was triggered, she said, because Mr Poxon, 44, feared she would take the children away from him. She had taken out an apprehended violence order, the third one, just days before.

In his suicide note he wrote he couldn't "live without the kids and the kids can't live without me and it's the end", she told 60 Minutes in an interview aired last night. "He thought he was going to lose his kids."

She said: "I feel guilty that I wasn't there to protect my children. Anybody who has a child would know that. You know, that is all you live for … You do everything for them you can. You try to make the best life you can, and they've just been taken away."

The children - Jack, 9, Maddie, 7, and Bon, 18 months - died of carbon monoxide poisoning after their father sealed them in a four-wheel-drive with two hoses running into it. They were found last Friday week, but it is unclear when they died

Police have arrested the alleged shooter of a Manly man at the weekend during a lunctime operation in the middle of Sydney's CBD.

Undercover detectives arrested the 27-year-old in Martin Place in the CBD shortly after midday. No weapons were found on him and he has been taken to City Central police station.

The arrest comes only hours after Royal North Shore Hospital, where the shot man was recuperating, was forced into lockdown when the victim told hospital staff he had received a threat about 4.30am.

The hospital was quickly closed to visitors and police took the 27-year-old victim, who had been shot in the right shoulder at his Manly apartment early on Saturday, to an unknown secure place.

Hospital staff immediately initiated a lockdown of the premises, checking IDs on all entrances and exits while police investigated the matter

PAUL IMBREE'S case is enough to strike fear into the hearts of any parent. On a clear afternoon in April 2002, heading along the dusty Larapinta Drive in the Northern Territory, the Sydney solicitor handed the wheel to his son's 16-year-old friend, who flipped the Toyota LandCruiser at high speed.

Mr Imbree's spine was fractured in the crash, leaving him a tetraplegic, able to move only from the neck up. Now, his six-year court battle for compensation has exposed a brutal reality - he was not covered by his insurance.

"It took me by surprise," Mr Imbree said. "Of all the things I had to hurdle, that was not one that I thought about."

The battle he has fought through the courts with his green-slip insurer, Allianz, has revealed a hard truth few parents appreciate.

Allianz successfully argued that he was not fully covered by his compulsory third-party insurance because, as the instructor, he knew learner drivers had limitations that licensed drivers did not

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says he asked Schapelle Corby's lawyer whether one of her relatives was involved in her drug smuggling attempt.

But Mr Downer said there was nothing more to it.

In a documentary screened on Sunday, Corby's former lawyer Robin Tampoe says Mr Downer told him he suspected Corby's brothers were behind the crime.

"'Speak to the brother, speak to the older brother', that's what Downer said to me," he said.

But Mr Downer said he had no special knowledge of the case.

"I did ask them about the brother and whether there was any family involvement, but I only asked them," he told ABC Radio.

"I mean, I just simply didn't know, and to this very day Schapelle Corby's been convicted by the court - I didn't know anything more than the evidence that's been presented to the court."

Besieged Labor backbencher Belinda Neal could face criminal charges over her run-in with restaurant staff three weeks ago.

One of Ms Neal's former staff has told police that Ms Neal told her dining companions what they should and should not put in their statutory declarations about the argument at Iguanas Waterfront, a Gosford restaurant and nightclub, News Ltd reported on Sunday.

Police say that if the claims are found to be true, they will consider charging the MP with conspiring to pervert the course of justice - an offence which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years' jail, Fairfax newspapers reported on Monday.

"(Investigators) would have to be thinking along those lines," a police source told Fairfax.

She could instead be charged with being an accessory to the creation of a false statutory declaration, Fairfax said.

Swearing a false statement is an offence under the Crimes Act and can lead to a five-year jail term

Convicted white collar criminal Nick Petroulias became assistant tax commissioner to "advance his own business interests", a Sydney judge said.

The 40-year-old was on Friday jailed for at least two years for corrupt conduct and unauthorised publication of commonwealth documents.

In December, a NSW Supreme Court jury found Petroulias guilty of two offences - agreeing to receive money on an understanding that his role at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) would be affected, and publishing documents without authorisation.

In passing sentence on Friday, Justice Peter Johnson said Petroulias acted with "impropriety and deceit" while working in a position of trust.

"I'm satisfied that these are very close to the worst cases of crime of this type," Justice Johnson said.

Between 1997 and 1999, the latter part of which Petroulias was assistant tax commissioner, he accepted $41,000 in return for providing confidential ATO information.

Justice Johnson said Petroulias and his private business partners used the information to benefit their own enterprise

The Federal Opposition will refer a matter involving the Labor backbencher Belinda Neal to Parliament's Privileges Committee.

Ms Neal, the Member for the New South Wales central coast seat of Robertson, has been under pressure over an incident at a Gosford nightclub earlier this month.

The Coalition will refer a separate matter to the Privileges Committee because it says Ms Neal misled Parliament over a clash with Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella.

Ms Neal initially denied telling the backbencher that evil thoughts would turn her unborn child into a demon, but later apologised. Her comments were caught on the parliamentary broadcast service.

Yesterday the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan left the chamber before members voted on a parliamentary motion to protect Ms Neal from having to account for her behaviour at Iguanas club

Seventeen of the state's worst criminals will be given one more chance to challenge their life sentences, under new laws to go before the NSW parliament.

State Attorney-General John Hatzistergos says the change, which affects people jailed for life before truth in sentencing legislation in 1989, will save their victims' families the anguish of dealing with repeated court processes.

"These important new laws will protect victims and their families from being re-traumatised as they are repeatedly dragged through the courts," Mr Hatzistergos told reporters.

"Offenders will now be allowed just one re-determination application. If they are unsuccessful, they'll stay in prison and will not able to re-apply."

A bushwalker has discovered a body, believed to be female, in bushland on the NSW mid-north coast.

Police said the body was found in the Maria River State Forest about 10 kilometres south of Kempsey over the weekend.

A crime scene has been established and forensic investigators are examining the scene.

Police say they are treating the death as suspicious.

Two 18-month-old toddlers had been dead at least a week when their bodies were found in their Sunnybank Hills home last night.

The twins' bodies weighed 3.6kg and 4kg.

The parents of the boy and girl faced Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.

The court heard the twins' mother, 30, had told police she was aware the babies were dead from about June 8 or 9.

They were found by an 11-year-old sibling yesterday after other children noticed an odour coming from a front bedroom.

After making the gruesome discovery, the court heard the 11-year-old child told the mother, "I know why you've been crying now."

The children later told police they had rarely seen the twins since they were born

Potential allegations of indecency, pornography and blasphemy are not the only issues that concern artists – it appears that a new tort of invasion of privacy may also be an issue for artists especially in their capacity as photographers.

The Henson debate comes at a time when the Australian government is considering a report prepared by the Law Reform Commission for a new statutory tort of invasion of privacy. It follows a recent trend of cases in the UK – initiated by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas – for a new tort of invasion of privacy as a result of being photographed by the paparazzi without their consent.

Former Victorian Supreme Court Judge Professor George Hampel QC told the Melbourne Age that the nude 13-year-old girl in Henson's photograph might be able to sue Henson for damages when she turned 18. The precise cause of action on which the girl might bring proceedings for damages was not made clear.

A committal hearing into an alleged kidnapping of a Gold Coast man whose ears were severed has begun with a fiery outburst from the police officer in charge of the case.

David Holmes, 38, had his ears cut off in November last year, after he was allegedly abducted from his Currumbin home by a group of bikies over a reported $40,000 drug deal gone bad.

He was later found by picknickers at Springbrook National Park.

Four men charged over the alleged attack today appeared before Southport Magistrates Court, where they face various charges including kidnapping, torture and committing acts with intention to maim

Many Australian motorists think hybrid cars are too expensive, don't suit their needs and wouldn't even consider buying one, a survey reveals.

Conducted by motoring website carsguide.com.au, the internet survey was completed by 1,075 people, 98 per cent of whom don't own a hybrid, despite versions of the petrol-electric cars being on the market for more than 10 years.

It found that, despite soaring petrol prices, 44 per cent still wouldn't even consider buying one.

The top two reasons cited for not considering the greener option were the cost (41 per cent) and that hybrids did not offer what they were looking for (28 per cent).

The results are a potential blow for Australian car companies like Toyota, Lexus and Honda that already have hybrids in their range, but also for local producer Holden, which has pledged to have a hybrid model of the Commodore on sale in about two years.

NSW Police Minister David Campbell says state police working with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to uncover a child pornography ring expect to make more arrests.

Seventy people - including a policeman, teachers and a sports administrator - have been arrested across Australia as a result of the six-month-long Operation Centurion.

Twenty-three of the arrests were in NSW, the AFP said on Thursday.

The operation was triggered when a hacker posted child porn images on a European website, which attracted 12 million hits in just 76 hours.

More than 2,800 of the computer IP addresses were traced back to Australia.

A bouncer photographed kicking a reveller outside a Melbourne strip club has been sacked, the venue's owner says.

The bouncer was captured in mid-kick as the man cowered on the ground near Bar 20 in King Street.

The bar's owner John Trimble said two bouncers had been sacked by the contracted security firm after the photograph emerged on the front page of Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper today.

"Their security company we deal with has said that they have terminated the persons that were involved in that fracas," Mr Trimble told ABC Radio.

He said the incident occurred after three drunken men were refused entry to Bar 20.

"They wandered off down the street and picked on some innocent bystander and started assaulting him.

The bodies of the 38-year-old Jyoti Mehta and a nine-year-old girl were found in Blue Mountains bush yesterday after being reported missing by the woman's husband on May 5.

Police say two bushwalkers saw the woman's body at the bottom of Echo Point lookout in the Blue Mountains, about 50 kilometres west of Sydney, and called police at about 2pm.

The girl's body was found nearby at about 6pm.

Detectives from Blacktown local area command went to the husband's home in Dunn Way, Blacktown at about 10.15pm last night and arrested him.

A carload of young men have fired on a Subaru after throwing a can of soft drink at it and chasing it through western Sydney, police say.

Both cars had stopped on Mamre Road, at the corner of the Great Western Highway, about 4.40pm when police say someone inside the Commodore threw a soft drink can at the Subaru WRX.

The Subaru tried to flee the other car, but the Commodore, carrying four men, chased it for several minutes, before cutting it off and forcing it to stop on the Great Western Highway.

Two of the men inside the Commodore got out and approached the Subaru. One of them then fired a shot at the car which hit a door and lodged there.

THE man accused of attempting to kill Lauren Huxley has faced a gruelling series of accusations about his alleged involvement in the attack.

Cross-examined in the Supreme Court yesterday, Robert Black Farmer, 39, denied entering the Huxley home through a back door that had been left open.

"The dogs barked and Lauren Huxley saw you," the prosecutor, Christopher Maxwell, QC, said. "She got frightened and left that room.

"She went into the main bedroom and tried to use the telephone and you followed her and pulled it out of the socket."

Farmer is accused of bashing Ms Huxley, then 18, in her Northmead home, dousing her with petrol and setting the house alight. He has pleaded not guilty to four charges in relation to the attack on November 9, 2005, which left Ms Huxley in intensive care for 23 days.

THE euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke was "hell-bent on doing his best" to support the application for assisted suicide of a man who could not remember his birthday or how many children he had, a court was told.

The man, Graeme Wylie, died months later at his Cammeray home, from an overdose of Nembutal - a drug recommended by Dr Nitzschke's organisation, Exit International - which was allegedly imported illegally from Mexico by Mr Wylie's "oldest and closest friend", Caren Jenning.

Jenning and Mr Wylie's de facto wife, Shirley Justins, are alleged to have plotted his murder - or assisted his suicide. A Supreme Court jury must decide which, depending on its assessment of Mr Wylie's "mental capacity to exercise independent judgment to decide whether or not to commit suicide".

A woman riding pillion on a friend's motorcycle was killed when the bike ran off the road and into a group of trees in an accident on Sydney's north shore.

The 28-year-old male rider and his 19-year-old passenger were riding along Wakehurst Parkway at Oxford Falls when they ran off the road at a bend near the intersection with Oxford Falls Road, at about 9.45pm (AEST) last night.

The bike struck a number of trees on an embankment, instantly killing the female passenger from Asquith in northern Sydney.

The male rider from Pitt Town in northwest Sydney suffered a fractured right leg, hip and head injuries

Police assisting in evicting someone from a western Sydney house have stumbled across a secret drug lab at the back of the property.

Officers from Cabramatta police were asked to assist sheriffs planning to evict a 36-year-old man from his house on Boyd Street yesterday morning.

During the process of the eviction the officers made the startling discovery of a clandestine drug lab at the rear of the house

THE homicide squad stamped its authority on the investigation into the harbour tragedy yesterday, with an inspection of the boats that smashed into each other in the cold and dark on Thursday morning.

Flanked by two of his detectives, the homicide squad commander, Superintendent Geoff Beresford, arrived at water police headquarters yesterday afternoon. He spent about an hour examining the boats, moored at the headquarters pier since the accident, and then talked to investigating officers

THE man accused of the violent attack on teenager Lauren Huxley has denied he planned to flee the country in the days after the assault.

The NSW Supreme Court has heard that Robert Black Farmer left his mother's Northmead home the day after Ms Huxley was brutally assaulted without his mobile phone, a change of clothes, or any personal items.

However, he did have his passport with him, a jury involved in Farmer's trial has been told.

Farmer is under cross examination from Crown Prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC, after beginning his evidence on Friday last week.

Farmer denied he was "running away," claiming instead: "I was getting away for a while."

Public information campaigns will try to counter the high rate of cannabis use among the young, writes Natasha Wallace.

Cannabis use and addiction have become such a problem, particularly among the young, that the Federal Government is funding a $12 million research centre at the University of NSW to try to turn the trend around.

The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre will focus on public information campaigns similar to those tackling tobacco addiction to try to cut the increasingly high rates of cannabis use among the young.

THE flautist Jane Rutter has come out worse for wear in a bitter legal wrangle over her late father's multimillion-dollar estate, and faces a hefty legal bill that she will probably be forced to pay by performing for the lawyers who represented her.

In rejecting her claim for a bigger slice of the fortune of her father, Barry Rutter, the Supreme Court Associate Justice, John McLaughlin, upbraided the musician for misleading the court about her assets.

He was not impressed by her failure to declare a car Mazda had given her as part of an endorsement deal. "Whilst she was literally accurate in her statement that she did not own a motor car, the effect of that statement was to mislead the court," Justice McLaughlin said.

Rutter, 49, challenged her father's will after her stepsister, who is now 21, made a claim for a greater share of his estate, the court heard.

IN THE face of reports that his office has been unable to account for its efficiency, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, has accused the NSW Government of underfunding “an essential part of the core business of government”.

According to a report released recently by the Audit Office of NSW, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has not been adequately transparent in its reporting on efficiency, and it has not been able to provide sufficient information about the costs of its services or on how staff use their time.

While acknowledging that the ODPP can improve on the way it records and reports on its efficiency, and agreeing with many of the report’s recommendations in this area, Cowdery has defended the office’s efficiency.

The father of a driver who ploughed into a group of teenagers, killing six, hopes his son will be released within weeks.

Thomas Towle, 36, was on Sunday found guilty of six counts of dangerous driving causing death after he veered into the teenagers at Cardross, near Mildura, two years ago.

While the victims' families are outraged Towle was found not guilty of the more serious charge of culpable driving, his father Graham Towle said on Monday he hoped the concession would see his son set free.

"I personally hope the judge sentences him to time already served," Mr Towle told AAP.

THE good folk at The Sydney Morning Herald must have been a little confused this week.

Their reporter Elisabeth Sexton was found not guilty of criminal contempt of court over a report that led to a trial being aborted. Normally, that would be cause for celebration. But when NSW Supreme Court judge Roderick Howie handed down his reasons, the elation would have been exceedingly brief.

Howie delivered a blistering attack on Sexton, accusing her of being either incompetent or arrogant.

It's a great pity that the Herald chose not to report this criticism of its reporter. Howie's attack was the natural consequence of an inconsistency in the law. Exposing this sort of thing is the best way of drawing attention to a problem that needs to be fixed.

Sexton's case shows that in the eyes of the law it is perfectly legitimate for one judge to abort a criminal trial over a media report that he considers to be a threat to a fair trial - even if another judge decides that the same report is not a threat to the administration of justice.

Survey participants were asked to compare a number of categories.

"Of the young people surveyed so far those who emphasised 'safety' as an Australian characteristic and those who perceived their own benefits to be in line with other Australians' beliefs, had higher worth and pride in being Australian," the university's Centre of Educational Research Dr Genevieve Nelson said.