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Mob doesn't speak for us, say indigenous leaders
MAINSTREAM indigenous leaders have condemned activists from Canberra's Aboriginal tent embassy who led an angry mob to besiege Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott in a nearby restaurant yesterday.
The activists responsible for the melee had targeted the Opposition Leader, accusing him of inciting racial tensions by saying that it was time to ``move on'' from the embassy, established 40 years ago yesterday as a symbol of the struggle for Aboriginal rights.
Police and the Prime Minister's security detail were forced to escort the two leaders through the crush of 200 protesters outside the Australia Day function at the Lobby restaurant, with Ms Gillard stumbling as she was dragged, ashen-faced, through the angry throng.
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A sunburnt, wet and windswept country
WE were soaked in northern NSW, baked in Perth and blown across Darwin. On a summer's day of extremes, the best weather was to be had in Melbourne, turning on their head all those jokes that have been told since Federation.
For a nation that is determined to celebrate Australia Day outdoors, it was a reminder of how fickle our surrounds can be.In ceremonies around the country, 13,700 people from 143 countries became citizens with solemn pledges and soft lamingtons. The largest intake was at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, where about 1700 newly minted Australians were encouraged by electoral commission officers to enrol to vote ahead of the Queensland state election.
Where the Prime Minister chose for her formal duties an elegant, wide-brimmed hat, Tony Abbott cut a familiar figure in swimming cap and togs, as he plunged into Sydney Harbour next to the Opera House with other entrants for a 2.2km race.
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Labor team to be put in place today
ANNA Bligh's election team will be finalised at an ALP meeting today as both parties gear up for the Queensland campaign.
Candidates will be selected for more than 10 electorates held by the Liberal National Party and independents, with nominations called for the Labor-held outer Brisbane seat of Mt Ommaney after incumbent Julie Attwood announced her retirement from politics
An extraordinary meeting of the party's administrative committee will endorse the remaining candidates for the non-Labor seats.
Electorates to be officially filled today include the western Queensland seats of Callide and Warrego, and the Gold Coast electorates of Currumbin and Surfers Paradise.
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Would-be premier will feel blowtorch
THERE was a point in Campbell Newman's military career when he applied for leave and wrote the reason as ``executive burnout -- well it's smouldering!''
The son of Liberal politicians would later leave the army to work in the private sector before becoming the popular lord mayor of Brisbane.
In his seven years at City Hall, Newman battled an initially Labor-dominated council, took on major infrastructure projects and, finally, in a crazy-brave moment, resigned last year to become the Liberal National Party leader-designate.
But nothing Newman has experienced will compare to the next two months, when his leadership will be put under the blowtorch, the heat on the LNP forging what is likely to be the next government.
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Nadal back from injury to ruin Federer's plans
LESS than two weeks ago, Rafael Nadal wasn't even sure whether he'd be able to contest the Australian Open.
Now the world No.2 is just one win away from claiming the championship after relying on sheer aggression to blast past great rival Roger Federer in four enthralling sets last night.
Rushed to hospital for scans after aggravating his knee injury when getting up from a hotel chair on tournament eve, Nadal was left standing tallest after overpowering the Swiss maestro 6-7 (5) 6-2 7-6 (5) 6-4.
Nadal couldn't extend his right leg 24 hours before his first round encounter, but a combination of guts and round-the-clock physio have lifted him to the brink of an 11th career grand slam title.
``If you told me (I'd be in the final) two Sundays ago, I couldn't imagine that,'' Nadal said last night. ``It's a dream to be back in the final.''
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A Tomic spit over harassment claim
TEEN tennis ace Bernard Tomic allegedly accused police of harassing him yesterday because ``you think I'm not Australian''.
The 19-year-old was pulled over three times while driving his $150,000 orange BMW on the Gold Coast before an extraordinary stand-off with officers at his home.
Tomic was twice fined $300 but refused to stop a third time and was followed to his luxury Southport home by a patrol car with its siren blaring and lights flashing.But when police tried to stop him a third time, he drove home and locked himself inside, calling former Gold Coast mayor Lex Bell for assistance. Within minutes television and radio stations were broadcasting live from his home as a face-off with police began.
P-platers are not allowed to drive high-powered cars and Tomic has previously been pulled over for allegedly breaching special conditions allowing him to drive his V8 only to and from training.
He is still to be interviewed about hooning complaints made late last year.
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Jessica turns her horizon to voting
Round-the-world sailor Jessica Watson, 18, who is today awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia, says lowering the voting age to 16 would give youth a voice. The former Young Australian of the Year -- honoured for her services to youth and sailing -- was in Canberra yesterday, almost two years after returning from her nine-month circumnavigation of the globe as a 16-year-old.
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We danced in the rain
THE weather was decidedly un-Australian but nothing could rain on the parade.The teens, twentysomethings and young at heart headed to the Sydney Showgrounds for the 20th Big Day Out.
More than 47,000 music fans streamed through the gates from 11am for the all-day festival which featured dozens of rock, pop, dance and hip hop acts including Kanye West, Noel Gallagher, The Living End and Hilltop Hoods.
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Clarke's men to show no mercy
THE hands of the 100-year-old clock at the Adelaide Oval read 3.58 when Michael Clarke finally called a halt to the Australian innings yesterday, but for the bone-weary Indian fieldsmen it felt more like two minutes to midnight.
As the afternoon had worn on and their brains slowly fried in the blazing South Australian sun, it almost seemed to the delirious Indians that Kenneth Milne, designer of the historic scoreboard, had peered a century into the future and foreseen their predicament when he made allowances for a fourth box to record the total.
In 70 Adelaide Tests, never more than three-figure boxes had been required -- 674 being the highest score recorded at the ground, by Don Bradman's side against India in 1948. But if the ruthless mood Clarke displayed while batting carried over to his captaincy, there was every chance he wouldn't declare until Australia had reached 1000.
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Aussies, let us rejoice
HER RM Williams boots were made for talking and on Australia Day, Kate Ritchie thinks we all need ``a good kick up the backside to remember how great we've got it''.
Such fighting words aren't what you'd expect from one of TV's nicest leading ladies, but the former Home & Away star is taking her latest cheerleading role -- as an Australia Day spokeswoman -- seriously.
As someone who grew up on the small screen juggling school and the hurdles of teen fame, Ritchie says she is grateful for the opportunities this nation has given her.
Born in Goulburn and raised in Campbelltown, she befriended the boarders at her agricultural high school and was given a window into the rural Aussie lifestyle.
``I would go to stay on their farms in Taralga and Condobolin, then go to work and be up at Palm Beach at 5am watching the sunrise,'' Ritchie said.
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Flood challenge still remains
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