Five dead in plane crash near Brisbane

FIVE people are dead after a light plane carrying a group of skydivers crashed and burst into flame at an airfield north of Brisbane as family members of those aboard watched in horror.

Witnesses said the Cessna 206 disintegrated in a fireball after coming down shortly after taking off from the Caboolture Airfield about 11.30am (AEST) on Saturday.

Police said there were five people on board and there were no survivors.

The names of the deceased have not yet been released, nor has that of the skydiving company involved.

A police spokeswoman said it was believed some of the families of those killed were at the airfield to watch the skydive.

It's understood two skydiving companies operate from Caboolture Airfield, which has been shut down by police.

Two investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) were travelling to Caboolture from Brisbane, and three more were due to arrive from Canberra later on Saturday.

An ATSB spokesman said they would examine the wreckage, interview witnesses and study the weather to find out what went wrong.

Airport safety officer Bryan Carpenter said he saw the crash, adding that the plane which was loaded with high-octane fuel, was destroyed by flames within a minute of impact.

He said the plane veered to the left after take-off, before plunging to the ground and bursting into flames.

It took firefighters 10 minutes to douse the inferno, with another witness saying the fire was out of control when he arrived on the scene.

"It was hard getting close. You can't put that type of fire out with hand-held extinguishers," Mark Thompson from the Caboolture Warplane Museum told AAP.

Both Mr Carpenter and Mr Thompson said it was the worst crash they'd seen at the airport.

"They've had a couple of incidents here but nothing like this," according to Mr Thompson, who ran about 200 metres to the scene after hearing a loud thud and seeing a plume of smoke.

Mr Carpenter, who has worked at Caboolture for 14 years, said the crash could have been caused by any number of things.

"One of the things one would expect would be an engine failure but the engine was delivering power on touch down," he told Fairfax Radio Network.

"So it's something mechanical I would say ... or the pilot could have blacked out - any number of scenarios; it's a bit like MH370 at the moment, we just don't know."

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More truancy officers on the beat

AN additional 270 truancy officers will be organising uniforms and packing lunch boxes in indigenous communities in a bid to get Aboriginal children back into schools following a boost in federal funding.

Forty remote communities already benefit from 400 truancy officers, at a cost of $28 million, who encourage school attendance by walking or driving children to school, helping with lunch preparation and organising uniforms.

The government on Saturday announced a boost in funding of $18 million to help a further 30 communities.

Since the remote school attendance strategy was announced at the end of last year, attendance rates are up 14 per cent in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia - equating to more than 600 additional students in school each day.

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No sweet tooth for Australian cake champ

FOR an award-winning cake decorator who spends Monday to Friday surrounded by the temptations of her sugary creations, Jacquie Goldstaiz's palate is a blessing in disguise.

"I never bake for me. I just really love fresh fruit and vegetables," she said.

"The only time I really taste cake is to make sure it's the right flavour or it's not too dry."

Ms Goldstaiz's artistic flair earned her the championship title and a $2000 prize at the Australian Cake Decorating Championships in Sydney on Friday.

The Gold Coast woman's marzipan fruit creation took two months to make.

While the competition version was not edible, Ms Goldstaiz estimates a real cake would take two weeks to create and would weigh about 10 kilograms.

Throughout her five-year career, Ms Goldstaiz has created cakes in the shape of a Louis Vuitton bag, a Native American head and a diving helmet.

But somehow the former florist manages not to overindulge.

"To me, it's an art," she said.

"I never look at it as a cake and never look at it as something to eat."

Her winning confection will return to Queensland to take prime position in her cake-decorating shop.

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Trio charged after Vic bikie gang raids

Police are conducting raids on properties linked to the Comancheros outlaw bikie gang in Victoria. Source: AAP

THREE men have been charged and guns and drugs seized after raids on the Comanchero bikie gang across Melbourne.

Police searched a series of homes and businesses across the city on Friday morning, finding firearms at a property in Dewhurst.

Ammunition and drugs, believed to be steroids, were found in Lynbrook.

Three men were arrested and all charged with perverting the course of justice.

Robert Morando, 41, of Narre Warren South, Michael Murray, 36, of Lysterfield South and Almir Dzafic, 33, of Hampton Park, were remanded in custody to face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

Murray is also facing charges of possessing firearms, steroids and ammunition.

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Asylum seekers unaware of rights: inquiry

ASYLUM seekers have told a Papua New Guinea court they were not made aware of their right to free legal representation, as the judge refused to allow an Australian lawyer to represent 75 detainees at the inquiry.

However, Justice David Cannings granted Amnesty International leave to join the case as an interested party, and ruled that media be given access to the centre on Friday.

During the fourth day of hearings into human rights obligations at Australia's detention centre on Manus Island, the court has heard transferees were not told of their right to free representation under PNG law.

A 26-year-old Burmese asylum seeker told the court he had not spoken to a lawyer in six months.

"I was not told I could have a lawyer," he said on Thursday.

Under PNG law, anyone who is locked up has the right to free legal advice.

He said he had one interview with an Australian lawyer and two with immigration officials shortly after arriving on Manus Island in August or September.

But he said he had heard nothing since.

At the time, an Australian lawyer at the centre took his statement.

"She said she would do the processing (of his asylum claim)," he said.

Justice Cannings on Thursday refused Sydney lawyer Jay Williams' request to represent 75 asylum seekers detained at the Manus facility.

Mr Williams argued that under PNG's constitution and the Lawyers Act of 1986, judges had the power to admit anyone they wished under exceptional circumstances.

"We have made many requests to the migration officer to visit my clients but those requests have been delayed, frustrated or refused," Mr Williams said.

While Justice Cannings agreed PNG's constitution granted the right of representation, he would not grant Mr Williams' request because the circumstances were not exceptional.

But he did grant Mr Williams' request to visit his clients on Friday.

Justice Cannings also accepted an application by Amnesty International to join the case as an interested party.

Amnesty is expected to tender its recent, highly critical report of the centre as evidence.

So far, 11 asylum seekers have appeared at the inquiry in Lorengau, the Manus capital.

In each of the men's affidavits, the court struck out mention of the February 17 riot that claimed the life of 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati.

Many of the transferees who have appeared in the past two days have indicated the riots made them feel less safe.

A 22-year-old Iranian man told the court he felt as if he was in a prison, and had almost forgotten his name after months of being referred to by his identification number.

He said he felt terrorised by some staff at the centre.

"The expats always tell us the people here are poor and cannibals," he said.

"That's how they terrorise us."

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Cuts pinching Treasury, says Parkinson

PUBLIC service cuts are pinching the federal Treasury, stymieing creative thinking and attempts to promote more women to senior positions, Secretary Martin Parkinson says.

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PetroChina annual profit rises 12.4%

PETROCHINA Ltd, China's biggest oil producer, says its profit rose 12.4 per cent last year after higher retail petrol prices helped to narrow heavy losses for its refining unit.

PetroChina said on Thursday that earnings rose to 129.6 billion yuan ($A23.95 billion). Total revenue rose 2.9 per cent to 2.2 trillion yuan.

A change in state-set retail petrol prices in 2013 helped to narrow state-owned PetroChina's loss on refining operations by nearly 45 per cent to 24.4 billion yuan.

China's government squeezes refining margins at its major oil companies and sometimes forces them into a loss by holding down prices at the pump when global crude costs spike up.

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