A man has been shot three times in the leg in the latest shooting in Sydney's southwest.

Leading Australian filmmaker Andrew Wight and American cinematographer Mike deGruy have died in a helicopter crash on the NSW south coast.

WITH the release of the review of school funding expected by the end of the month, the teacher's union has added public opinion to its calls for reform with a survey showing 70 per cent of Australians believe the federal government needs to invest more in public schools.

THE Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, has revealed the disproportionate benefits better-off people get out of the health insurance rebate in a fresh bid to swing support for a means test.

GENDER has been a sore point when it comes to starting salaries. Male graduates have tended to get more than their female counterparts, often for no apparent reason. But there are signs things may be changing, at least in some occupations.

WESTPAC home loan customers are still waiting - some up to four months - for the bank to pass on two pre-Christmas interest rate cuts. The bank says it is ''an opportunity for the customer to get ahead by paying more than they need to''.

THE federal government has started an investigation into 14 employment agencies suspected of rorting its multibillion-dollar job assistance scheme, as evidence mounts of the long-running program being routinely abused.

JULIA GILLARD has been handed a lifeline with the latest Herald/Nielsen poll showing support for the Prime Minister and her government increasing sharply.

THE bitter battle between Gina Rinehart and her three eldest children has escalated, with Australia's richest person threatening to withdraw the ''ransom insurance policy'' she holds for the family unless they agree to keep details of the legal action private.

The ACCC is promising secrecy for suppliers who blow the whistle on retailers abusing their market power to demand lower prices.

THE recovery in the US economy has reduced pressure on the Reserve Bank to cut its benchmark cash rate at tomorrow's meeting.

AUSTRALIAN Federal Police are investigating a violent attack on the Syrian embassy in Canberra.

A STUDY analysing the effect of a four-hour treatment target in emergency departments has found it cut deaths by 13 per cent.

FACED with a 25-hour day, would people spend extra time with family, sleep in more or exercise?

OXYGEN masks, walking frames and maids in starched uniforms are not normally associated with Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

SOUTH Australian opal-mining community Andamooka is the forgotten town.

TONY Abbott will renew his attack on Labor's carbon tax by using Treasury economic modelling to warn it will slash wages.

As floodwaters receded in several small towns in southern Queensland mud-caked and smelly homes were revealed.

THE border town of St George is on its own after floodwaters submerged the only road out of town, but not before a mass evacuation of its population.

DESPITE her leadership turmoil, Julia Gillard is in front of Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister for the first time in nine months, a new poll shows.

AN OUT-of-focus traffic camera at Kedron is frustrating motorists, who accuse the Government of trying to hide the chaos roadworks have caused.

PREMIER Anna Bligh has maintained she has faith in the flood inquiry and its commissioner despite the controversial sidelining of a deputy.

THE Gold Coast could soon be home to world-class artificial reefs and wave pools to combat the rising tide of surf rage.

A SURFER drowned, two boats struck trouble and 17 swimmers were rescued from churning seas in a wild Sunday on the Sunshine Coast.

TIRED and nervous residents fleeing rising floodwaters in St George have started arriving at an evacuation centre erected at the Dalby showgrounds.

THE Australian Education Union will increase pressure on the Federal Government for better resourcing of public students ahead of the imminent release of a major report on schools funding.

QANTAS chief Alan Joyce is again fronting a Senate inquiry to warn of the risk to Australian jobs if legislation is passed to pay foreign crews the same.

A man has been shot three times in the leg in the latest shooting in Sydney's southwest.

Leading Australian filmmaker Andrew Wight and American cinematographer Mike deGruy have died in a helicopter crash on the NSW south coast.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek makes a fresh bid to swing support for means testing of the health insurance rebate.

More warring parents in Family Court disputes are claiming former partners have poisoned their children against them, a new study shows.

New targets for patients to be discharged from emergency departments within four hours have saved lives in the hospitals to introduce them.

Family connections and friendships are at the core of the terrorist networks active in Australia over the past 12 years, a Monash University researcher has found.

The bitter battle between Gina Rinehart and her three eldest children escalates over ransom insurance.

The Age/Nielsen poll shows Julia Gillard has now regained a slight 50- 47 per cent lead as preferred Labor leader among ALP voters while Coalition voters overwhelmingly prefer Kevin Rudd.

The Melbourne filmmaker of the most successful Australian movie of 2011 has died in a helicopter crash in New South Wales.

THE political rollercoaster has taken another sharp turn with Tony Abbott's Coalition back in front of Labor, the latest Newspoll reveals.

FORMER judge Michael Kirby says he longs for the day when gay marriage is legal but he and his partner probably wouldn't wed.

AUSTRALIA has recorded its wettest March in history with an average rainfall of more than 133mm.

By Malcolm Farr GOVERNMENT forced to open another mainland detention centre for asylum seekers, far away in Tasmania.

QANTAS has been preparing for industrial action by secretly training its managers in the US in ground-handling operations.

A TAXI driver says he begged for his life as three thugs tried to cut his throat in a moving cab.

CALL it a woman's intuition but she had more than a nagging suspicion her sister's new boyfriend was hiding a secret.

TOWNS on notice as Maranoa River expected to join with swollen Balonne River, creating a devastating flood today.

MORE than 20 MPs failed to show at Julia Gillard's meeting as she tells Labor colleagues to pull their heads in.