Coalition support trails Labor: Newspoll

TONY Abbott's honeymoon is over as the coalition slumped to its lowest rating in three years.

Labor now leads on preferences for the first time since Julia Gillard was elected prime minister, according to a Newspoll survey taken last weekend.

After three months of an Abbott-led government, more voters are dissatisfied with the prime minister than satisfied, shows the Newspoll, which is published in The Australian on Tuesday.

Labor's two-party-preferred support has jumped five percentage points to put the ALP in front 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

The coalition's primary vote fell three percentage points to 40 per cent, while Labor's rose three points to 38 per cent.

The Australian says Labor's primary vote is back to the level it was in July, just after Kevin Rudd replaced Julia Gillard as prime minister.

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Aussie boat race pest pleads to stay in UK

BOAT race protester Trenton Oldfield has told an immigration tribunal hearing that if he is deported from the UK his British wife and five-month-old baby daughter won't move to Australia with him because it's a "racist country".

Mr Oldfield is fronting the tribunal in London after his request for a spousal visa was refused by the government on the grounds his presence in Britain is not "conducive to the public good".

The 37-year-old activist has lived in the UK for more than 10 years.

In April 2012 Mr Oldfield swam into the path of the Oxford and Cambridge rowing crews, as they raced down the Thames, in a protest against elitism and inequality. He was subsequently jailed for seven weeks.

"Australia is a particularly racist country," Mr Oldfield said on Monday when explaining that if deported he would be separated from his wife Deepa Naik, 36, and child.

Mr Oldfield said Ms Naik had never visited Australia and couldn't live there because some Indians in the community had suffered violent racist attacks.

There was also everyday "passive water-cooler racism", he said.

"Our home is here. Australia is on the other side of the world."

Mr Oldfield told immigration judge Kevin Moore that if he were allowed to stay in the UK - which he said he loved - "I give you my word we won't be here (in a tribunal) again".

The Australian said when he swam in the Thames in 2012 he'd recently returned to the UK after caring for Ms Naik's father as he was dying of cancer.

He said he was saddened to realise that wealthier people could afford better drugs and have a better quality of life when gravely ill.

"I think I was vulnerable in terms of realising how short life can be," Mr Oldfield told the hearing before breaking down in tears.

"I think I was very emotional. When you walk around London you see pockets of depravation that still exist. I think I was heartbroken."

His lawyer, Stephanie Harrison QC, said the boat protest wasn't of sufficient gravity or seriousness to justify his deportation.

"His presence is neither undesirable or contrary to the public good," she said, adding that separating him from his wife would be a "disproportionate" punishment.

Ms Harrison said the judge had "unfettered discretion" to overturn Home Secretary Theresa May's decision to kick him out of the country.

It's expected Judge Moore won't make a ruling for four to six weeks.

If the decision goes against Mr Oldfield he could still appeal to an upper tribunal or the Court of Appeal.

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First Arnhem Land girls to graduate

TWO indigenous students from an isolated area in the Northern Territory are about to become the first girls from their community to ever graduate high school.

Christella Namundja and Kirsty Garnarradj from Gunbalanya in Arnhem Land, 300 km east of Darwin, are part of 60 Aboriginal girls who completed year 12 this year with the Role Models and Leaders Australia (RMLA) Academy.

RMLA is a mentoring program aimed at increasing the school retention rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander female students.

RMLA founder and chief executive officer Ricky Grace said the program was intense and often involved leaders getting students out of bed in the morning.

"It's common for our leaders to go to the girls' homes and get them out of bed and wait for them to get ready so they can take them to school, or convince family members of the importance of an education," he said.

"That's how intense and focused this program is."

RMLA, which focuses on one-on-one mentoring, has 12 academies across NSW, Western Australia and the Northern territory.

Over the past three years the number of girls enrolled has increased from 34 year 12 students in 2010 to 60 in 2013.

More than 850 girls are enrolled in RMLA academies.

"This is such an incredible achievement as these girls have overcome challenges that you and I couldn't even imagine," Mr Grace, who competed in the Sydney 2000 Olympics for basketball, said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda and RMLA graduates will address the media on Tuesday in Sydney.

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BBC complaints about Mandela coverage

MORE than 1000 viewers have complained about the excessive coverage of Nelson Mandela's death on BBC services, including some who grumbled about Mrs Brown's Boys being interrupted.

The BBC has defended the extent to which it featured the death of the former South African president, a major news item which led bulletins around the world.

By Monday, the BBC had received 1350 complaints about too much coverage across its news services, with some saying the emphasis had reduced the coverage of severe weather across the UK that day.

Programme chiefs broke into a repeat of BBC1 sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys to break the news.

"Nelson Mandela was a hugely significant world leader with an enormous political and cultural influence across the world," a BBC spokeswoman said.

"His death is of considerable interest to our audiences at home and across the globe."

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Vic doctors receive 10 per cent pay rise

Asylum seeker 'assaulted girls'

AN ASYLUM seeker charged for allegedly sexually assaulting seven teenage girls at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

Sensai chokes his student unconscious

MARTIAL arts experts and medical professors have slammed the actions of a taekwondo instructor who was filmed "choking" one of his students to sleep.

Priest ran 'cult' to abuse girls

A CATHOLIC priest ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls giving them all the surname Brown, as in Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic strip, the royal commission has been told.

Church pays $43m to victims

THE Catholic Church has paid out $43 million through its Towards Healing process to victims who were sexually abused as children, it has been revealed.

Train passenger complaints rise 7%

Dirty carriages and lack of aircon in hot weather the cause of most reported frustrations as Attorney -General calls for customer satisfaction targets.

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Aussie boat race pest can stay in UK

AUSTRALIAN boat race protester Trenton Oldfield will be allowed to stay in the United Kingdom after an immigration tribunal judge said the activist had made a positive contribution to British society.

Mr Oldfield has successfully appealed a decision of Home Secretary Theresa May to deport him on the basis his presence in Britain was "not conducive to the public good".

Immigration tribunal Judge Kevin Moore will make his official determination within 10 days but told Monday's tribunal hearing that he would be finding in favour of the 37-year-old.

"It would be my intention to allow your appeal," the judge told Mr Oldfield in London.

"There is no doubt in my view to your character and the value you are to UK society generally."

Earlier the tribunal heard that if Mr Oldfield had been deported his British wife, Deepa Naik, and their five-month-old baby daughter wouldn't have moved to Australia with him because it was a "racist country".

The UK government earlier this year rejected Mr Oldfield's request for a spousal visa. The activist, originally from Sydney, has lived in the UK for more than 10 years.

In April 2012 he swam into the path of the Cambridge and Oxford rowing crews as they raced down the Thames in a protest against elitism and inequality. He was subsequently jailed for seven weeks.

Immediately after the hearing Mr Oldfield said he was very relieved by Monday's decision.

But asked if it was good to hear the judge say he'd made a positive contribution in Britain, the Australian replied: "I don't know."

"It's such a strange thing," he told reporters.

"Who knows what's good and what's bad. We have a public profile so people know about us.

"(However) there are a lot of people that make a contribution to the public good that don't have the level of public profile we have."

Mr Oldfield said deportation was "an old idea from another time - 1000 years ago".

"We need to rethink that," he said.

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Awards celebrate human rights advocates

A NUN providing hope for domestic violence victims, an African civil war survivor-turned UN ambassador and an advocate for Aboriginal childrens' education are among the Australians in the running for national human rights awards.

A record number of nominations have been received for the 2013 Human Rights Awards, to be held in Sydney on Tuesday night.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has selected 40 finalists for 10 awards, including the human rights medal, media awards and the young human rights medal.

Among the finalists for the major gong is Pastor Graham Long from The Wayside Chapel.

The programs Mr Long has implemented through the Sydney-based chapel help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, at risk youth and Australians dealing with mental illness.

Gurruwun (Yalmay) Yunupingu is nominated for her fight to see Yolgnu children have a bilingual education.

Musician and director Richard Frankland is also a finalist for his work with the Aboriginal community and Sister Clare Condon has also been nominated for her role with the Sisters of the Good Samaritan.

Australian Human Rights Commissioner Professor Gillian Triggs said the awards celebrated individuals and groups that advanced human rights.

"These finalists have dedicated their lives to advancing and protecting human rights of children and young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and individuals who experience mental illness, homelessness or domestic violence," she said in a statement.

The finalists for the Young People's Human Rights Medal include Yarrie Bangura, who fled Sierra Leone's civil war and became an ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and David Sherwood, founder of not-for-profit group Teach Grow Learn Inc.

There are also awards in the media, community, business and law categories.

Champion swimmer and last year's human rights medal recipient Ian Thorpe will present the 2013 medal at a ceremony at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday night.

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McDonald's key sales metric rises

MCDONALD'S says a key sales figure rose 0.5 per cent in November, even as the world's biggest hamburger chain faces tough competition and basically flat traffic in the US.

Its global sales performance was the same as in October. The stock slipped in pre-market trading.

Sales at stores open at least a year is a key gauge because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

The company says the metric fell 0.8 per cent in the US. While breakfast items, chicken options and its new expanded value menu did well, that was pressured by intense competition and flat traffic.

In Europe, it increased 1.9 per cent on strong performances in the UK, France and Russia. This was offset by weakness in Germany.

It declined 2.3 per cent in the region including Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, mostly because of softness in Japan.

The lacklustre results come as people are increasingly choosing foods they feel are fresh, healthy or higher quality, with chains such as Chipotle enjoying relatively stronger growth.

To keep pace, McDonald's has introduced options such as chicken wraps and breakfast sandwiches with egg whites. But the company remains a target for health critics, and changing public perceptions about its food won't be easy.

McDonald's is also trying to win over diners with cheaper fare.

But its focus on its Dollar Menu has been a sore point with franchisees, who are seeing their profit margins hurt as costs for ingredients climb.

As such, McDonald's recently revamped the menu as the "Dollar Menu & More" with a range of items costing up to $5.

McDonald's has more than 34,000 locations worldwide.

Shares of the Illinois company fell 30 cents to $96.50 before the market open.

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