A BOY has died after he was dragged unconscious from a backyard pool in the Illawarra yesterday.
Police said the boy, 12, was pulled out of the swimming pool in Cordeaux Heights, near Wollongong, about 1.15pm.
He was taken to Wollongong Hospital but was unable to be revived.
It is understood the boy, who was briefly left unsupervised, was found at the bottom of the swimming pool by his mother.
VICTORIA'S peak Muslim body has lashed out at "hysterical" objections whenever plans for mosques go before local councils.
Islamic Council of Victoria board member Nazeem Hussain said there was an underlying level of Islamophobia in society and Muslims had to do more to educate people about their religion and mosque proposals.
"People are clearly fearful of Muslims and Islam, and it's easy to create that fear and hysteria in some ways," Mr Hussain said.
Several applications are in the spotlight, including a bid by an Afghan community group to build a mosque and community centre in Doveton, on the city's south-east fringe.
The mosque, which would be built next to the future headquarters of evangelical church Catch the Fire Ministries, has been hotly debated by residents and City of Casey councillors.
In Clayton, a Uniting Church congregation has apologised to Islamic groups for suggesting to Monash Council a new mosque could become a training ground for fanatics.
Last year, Whittlesea councillors rejected plans for an Islamic school in Mernda despite council planning officers recommending it.
Mr Hussain said Islamic community applications often were met with hysteria not faced by proposals by other religious groups.
"It speaks to an underlying level of Islamophobia in society and a fear of Muslims moving into neighbourhoods and disrupting locals," he said.
Mr Hussain accused Catch the Fire Ministries pastor Danny Nalliah of creating community divisions by spreading false information about Muslims and the Koran in his opposition to the Doveton mosque.
But Mr Nalliah, who had a long-running legal battle with the Islamic Council over a racial vilification matter, said he had no issue with individual Muslims but objected to violent passages in the Koran.
"I am concerned ... because of what is going to be taught in the mosque based on what is in the Koran," he said.
State Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship Minister Nick Kotsiras said people had the right to object to building proposals on planning grounds.
"To base it on religious grounds is unfair," Mr Kotsiras said.
Last night, Monash Council was due to vote on a plan to build a Monash University-linked mosque in a Clayton residential area.
Tooth decay among young children linked to excessive soft drink consumption, has prompted labelling review. Source: Supplied
WARNINGS about the risk of tooth decay should be included on soft drink labels, a University of Adelaide dentistry expert says.
Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health senior research fellow Dr Jason Armfield is the lead author of a new study of more than 16,800 Australian children that shows 56 per cent of those aged between five and 16 consumed at least one sweet drink, such as soft drink or juice, each day.
The findings, published on the American Journal of Public Health website, show the number of decayed, missing or baby teeth with fillings was 46 per cent higher in children who had three or more sweet drinks a day than those who consumed none.
Dr Armfield said the results highlighted the role soft drinks played in tooth decay.
"There's a lot of problems that excess consumption may cause and these should be included as part of any potential warning package on sweet drinks," he said.
"But the potential tooth decay caused by the drink's high acidity and sugar content should be a focus."
He also said children needed greater access to fluoridated water.
Dr Armfield's call comes as 3000 South Australian children have their teeth examined in a national dental survey.
Riverlakes Golf Course, Loganholme - Operations Manager Daniel Paynter and Course Superintendent Jason Lavender at the 7th Fairway. Picture: Richard Walker Source: Quest Newspapers
Carbrook Golf Club general manager Scott Wagstaff, photographed in 2011, with one of the sharks that lived in the water hazard on the golf course after a previous flood event. Source: The Courier-Mail
DEADLY bull sharks appear to have invaded a Logan golf course, with sightings reported at Riverlakes Golf Club yesterday and on Tuesday when the Logan River was at its peak.
After water inundated 13 of Riverlakes' 18 holes, management began fielding calls about possible shark sightings, operations manager Daniel Paynter said.
On Tuesday night, staff at the Loganholme course - which is about 33km south of Brisbane's CBD - scrambled to move carts and other equipment to higher ground as California Creek and the Logan River, which run through the course, merged.
However the club's greens could not be saved and were expected to cost $30,000 each to repair.
"We stayed at the club to keep an eye on it until about midnight (Tuesday) and, while we were out exploring the course, we saw some serious movement in the water," Mr Paynter said.
"I was out looking around with our head professional with some torches and there was definitely some movement and I wouldn't be surprised if they were sharks."There are also fears bull sharks - which have been linked to numerous waterway attacks in Queensland and interstate - may have spread across the Carbrook Golf Club, about 4km away.
In October 2011, Carbrook made headlines from Pakistan to the US after footage of huge bull sharks which had become established in one of its water hazards from previous flood events went viral on the internet.
At the time, that golf club - which backs on to the Logan River - boasted about a dozen man-eaters up to 3m long.
This week's flood covered the entire course, raising concerns the sharks would now be able to colonise other water hazards at the club.
The wild weather also wreaked havoc at Logan City Golf Club at Meadowbrook, about 10.5km from the Riverlakes course.
Officials at the Meadowbrook course were left devastated after 24 of the club's 27 holes were inundated, just months after they had put the final touches on repairs caused during a previous flood.
"We did renovations in November and got the greens beautiful and it is just heartbreaking to have this happen," Logan City Golf Club PGA Professional Carl Evans said.
Mr Evans said it was the 40th time the club had flooded in the past four years, and the worst in its history, with the damage bill estimated to top $200,000.
Missing man Ben Roper. Picture: Twitter Source: The Daily Telegraph
MISSING Sydney flight attendant Ben Roper had been frightened and deeply upset by a series of threatening homophobic messages he received last month, his friends and family said yesterday.
A comment posted on a Facebook page set up to help find the popular man who disappeared on January 26, revealed Ben posted a message on December 10 "about someone sending him abusive homophobic voicemails from a blocked number".
Ben's mother Michelle Pippen said her son had been very concerned by the messages.
Ms Pippen, who arrived in Sydney yesterday after a frantic flight from her home in Malaysia, said it was completely out of character for her son to disappear.
"It's just not like him to take off and not let anyone know but the messages were frightening him," she said. "I feel maybe he's hiding somewhere to get away from things."
Ben, 32, was last seen at his Randwick home by his aunt Christine Pippen about 5pm last Saturday and later sent her a text message at 6.15pm indicating his back pain was "not good".Friends became concerned when he posted a message on Facebook that evening revealing the extent of his back pain, saying he was "sick of it".
When he failed to arrive to crew a Virgin flight to Bali the following morning, his co-workers raised the alarm.
Police confirm Ben's car and phone were found at his home and his bank accounts remain untouched. Police suspect Mr Roper may have come to harm.
"We know that his phone is still at home, we know that his car is still at home and he hasn't taken anything," Superintendent Gavin Dengate said yesterday. "That in itself is suspicious. You put that together, knowing that he was from very much a loving and caring environment - it causes us some concern."
Supt Dengate said detectives were following a number of leads and have spoken to Mr Roper's employers, who had been helpful.
He said there was little in Mr Roper's private life to suggest a reason for his disappearance.
"We're looking at a number of areas at the moment," Supt Dengate added.Ben is described as Caucasian, 180cm tall with a medium build and brown hair and has two distinctive tattoos including a flame design on his upper right arm and the numbers 2035 on his back - a tattoo associated with the Bra Boys.
THE federal government will consider subsidising controversial abortion drugs - allowing women to end pregnancies for as little as $12.
The drugs, known as Mifepristone Linepharma (RU486) and GyMiso were given approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to be imported into Australia last year.
Both drugs are needed to complete the abortion process.
Reproductive health group Marie Stopes International Australia has lodged an application with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Advisory Committee in the hope the drugs will become taxpayer funded.
Only 187 authorised medical clinics were approved to distribute the two drugs, and campaigners claim the current $300 cost has been prohibitive for many women on lower incomes seeking a non-surgical abortion.
Following its TGA registration, an online training course was set up for GPs wanting to prescribe the drug.
A Health and Ageing Department spokeswoman said the drugs without a PBS listing cost up to $300 to obtain.
If listed, the drugs could be priced as low as $5.90 each for patients eligible for a concession, although this did not take into account any doctor treatment costs and pharmacy mark-ups.
"If approved for listing on the PBS, the cost would be the concessional co-payment of $5.90 or general co-payment amount of $36.10," she said.
RU486, a synthetic steroid, is different from the morning-after pill, which inhibits or delays ovulation to stop a woman from falling pregnant.
Mifepristone is given to women who are up to seven weeks pregnant to facilitate a termination.
Marie Stopes has been offering women the drug since its TGA registration and hopes a PBS listing will make the option for a non-surgical abortion more accessible to women across Australia, particularly those in rural and regional areas.
"Most of the listed medicines are dispensed by pharmacists and used by patients at home," a spokeswoman said.
"The cost to consumers will be dependent on the margins imposed by retail pharmacies and private clinics."
RU486 has had a rocky past in Australia, with the Howard government banning its use.
In France it is available over the chemist counter.
The federal government is expected to approve subsidising the drug if the PBSAC recommends it be listed.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said she welcomed the move by Marie Stopes to make it more widely available to Australian women, but that she would not interfere with the process.
"RU486 has met the safety, quality and efficacy standards required by the TGA for all medicines," Ms Plibersek said.
"I am pleased that Marie Stopes is working to make this medicine, which is on the World Health Organisation list of essential medicines, more widely available to Australian women."
Prior its TGA registration, RU486 had to be imported under provisions applying to experimental medicines.
It is estimated there are about 70,000 abortions in Australia annually.
Fewer than one in 20 of those abortions use RU486.
Bushfires threatened towns Glenmaggie, Licola and Seaton. Picture: Erin Marie Source: Herald Sun
POLICE have revealed they are guarding the home of a 75-year-old man accused of starting a massive killer bushfire.
Detectives said they had set up sophisticated surveillance around Grahame Code's property due to fear of revenge attacks.
The force also urged the public to "respect and have confidence in the judicial process" after Mr Code - accused of starting a 75,000-hectare blaze - was remanded in custody until Tuesday.
He appeared at Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court in Morwell yesterday after being charged by arson and explosives squad detectives.
The Aberfeldy man faced five offences, including recklessly causing bushfire and causing a fire to be lit without written authority in a fire-protected area.
His defence did not apply for bail and he was remanded to appear before the same court on Tuesday.
"Police wish to remind members of the public of the need to respect and have confidence in the judicial process and allow it to run its course," spokeswoman Natalie Webster said.
"Police have employed sophisticated surveillance to ensure the man's property is not the subject of any criminal offences."
Mr Code is a well-known wedding celebrant in the area, running his business, Wedding Excellence, from an office in Traralgon with his wife, Lynda.
The couple also run a music museum from their property, take groups on walking tours of the area and rent out five holiday cabins, and Mr Code is listed as the Secretary of the Cemetery Trusts in Aberfeldy.
"Graham has had a lifetime love affair with Aberfeldy and the eastern Highlands," a website promoting their businesses reads.
Detectives say the blaze started on a rural property in Aberfeldy on the morning of January 17.
The fire claimed the life of 84-year-old grandfather Stan Hayhurst, who was killed in his car as fire swept through Seaton the following day.
It also burnt more than 75,000 hectares of land across Aberfeldy, Heyfield and Seaton, destroying 22 homes and more than 200 livestock.
The Country Fire Authority says the fire is likely to continue to burn for months and could still threaten further property.
jon.kaila@news.com.au
Riverlakes Golf Course, Loganholme - Operations Manager Daniel Paynter and Course Superintendent Jason Lavender at the 7th Fairway. Picture: Richard Walker Source: Quest Newspapers
Carbrook Golf Club general manager Scott Wagstaff, photographed in 2011, with one of the sharks that lived in the water hazard on the golf course after a previous flood event. Source: The Courier-Mail
DEADLY bull sharks appear to have invaded a Logan golf course, with sightings reported at Riverlakes Golf Club yesterday and on Tuesday when the Logan River was at its peak.
After water inundated 13 of Riverlakes' 18 holes, management began fielding calls about possible shark sightings, operations manager Daniel Paynter said.
On Tuesday night, staff at the Loganholme course - which is about 33km south of Brisbane's CBD - scrambled to move carts and other equipment to higher ground as California Creek and the Logan River, which run through the course, merged.
However the club's greens could not be saved and were expected to cost $30,000 each to repair.
"We stayed at the club to keep an eye on it until about midnight (Tuesday) and, while we were out exploring the course, we saw some serious movement in the water," Mr Paynter said.
"I was out looking around with our head professional with some torches and there was definitely some movement and I wouldn't be surprised if they were sharks."There are also fears bull sharks - which have been linked to numerous waterway attacks in Queensland and interstate - may have spread across the Carbrook Golf Club, about 4km away.
In October 2011, Carbrook made headlines from Pakistan to the US after footage of huge bull sharks which had become established in one of its water hazards from previous flood events went viral on the internet.
At the time, that golf club - which backs on to the Logan River - boasted about a dozen man-eaters up to 3m long.
This week's flood covered the entire course, raising concerns the sharks would now be able to colonise other water hazards at the club.
The wild weather also wreaked havoc at Logan City Golf Club at Meadowbrook, about 10.5km from the Riverlakes course.
Officials at the Meadowbrook course were left devastated after 24 of the club's 27 holes were inundated, just months after they had put the final touches on repairs caused during a previous flood.
"We did renovations in November and got the greens beautiful and it is just heartbreaking to have this happen," Logan City Golf Club PGA Professional Carl Evans said.
Mr Evans said it was the 40th time the club had flooded in the past four years, and the worst in its history, with the damage bill estimated to top $200,000.
A distraught resident takes in the damage to his home in Bundaberg. Pic: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
BILLIONS of dollars worth of repairs completed on Queensland's damaged public infrastructure after the 2010-11 floods will have to be redone.
The massive scale of this week's flood crisis is only now beginning to emerge.
Not only have thousands of homes been inundated, almost 5000km of roads damaged, and entire farms literally washed away, but the death toll is now at six, with the discovery yesterday of the bodies of two men near Laidley.
And as the muddy waters began to recede across large parts of the state yesterday, the flood crisis was not over.
In Rockhampton, nervous residents are waiting on a flood now set to hit tomorrow afternoon. In Condamine, supplies were being stockpiled last night in anticipation of a flood likely to cut off the town for a week.
Other communities still face being cut off for weeks or even months, and will have to rely on helicopters for resupplies.
Premier Campbell Newman yesterday said that while the damage bill from the state's latest clash with Mother Nature was not yet known, he vowed that no time would be wasted in starting work to rebuild.
This house floated from North Bundaberg and ended up in Queen St. Pic Mark Calleja
"This is going to be a long, drawn-out process but the Government will deliver," Mr Newman said.
The Premier vowed to "do my darnedest" to ensure the construction of flood mitigation dams and levees to protect flood-prone towns and cities.
And he called on local governments to ensure that town-planning policies were more conscious of the flood risk.
Latest list of school closures
"We are going to go back and do it and maybe there will be ways to actually do it in a better way this time," Mr Newman said.
He also announced a flood appeal committee to oversee the distribution of disaster relief funds.
The sun rises over flooded streets in Bundaberg. Pic: Getty Images
Local Government Minister David Crisafulli said it was clear another monumental task now faced affected communities, their councils, and the State Government.
"It is going to take a mountain of effort," Mr Crisafulli said.
The army was yesterday trucking in food and water to the flooded communities of Oakwood, Gayndah and Mundubbera.
Some farmers expect to be without an income for at least six months, while consumers face shortages of basic foods such as tomatoes, potatoes and leaf crops as the hardest hit areas were the high-producing foodbowls of Boonah, Kalbar, the Lockyer Valley, Mundubbera, Gayndah and Bundaberg.
Already 25,000 insurance claims have been lodged, and the state faces its second multibillion-dollar repair bill in just two years.
Some of the infrastructure damaged has only just been repaired after the floods of 2010-11.
Thousands of people across Queensland are spending the night in evacuation centres because of flooding.
In the southeast, 40,000 homes and businesses were still without power last night and there was still a threat some Brisbane suburbs might run dry as the city's main water treatment plants at Mt Crosby continued to struggle to filter the muddy floodwaters.
In hardest-hit North Bundaberg, the record flood rapidly receded yesterday - exposing cars, boats and fridges lodged high up trees and roads washed away.
On one street, three buildings appear to have vanished. More than 200 soldiers arrived last night to begin the clean-up.
They will spend today making urgent repairs to roads and bridges, clearing stormwater drains and helping restart sewage treatment plants, and will stay as long as required.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will tour Bundaberg today.
About 1500 homes are believed to have been flooded in North Bundaberg.
It was a humid, hazy, morning on the Gold Coast with wild seas whipping up the foam and causing more erosion.
Hundreds are expected to remain uninhabitable.
There are still estimated to be 7500 displaced Bundaberg residents.
Lyn Baker was among the first North Bundaberg residents who were able to return to their homes yesterday.
Water was dripping out of the wedding photos as she looked up with tired eyes and shrugged: "We just didn't think it would get us here."
Her lowset home in North Bundaberg was at least 1km from the Burnett River, and had been high and dry in the flood that caused chaos in the sugar city only two years ago.
But when the 64-year-old and her husband of six years, Phil, 60, returned yesterday it was evidence the unprecedented 9.5m flood had definitely got them.
The town of Bundaberg hit by floods. Pic Mark Calleja
Every time Lyn picked up something from a cupboard, it dripped with water and mud.
The photos were the most precious, left behind as they fled their home as evacuation orders were issued.
The couple had already pulled up all the carpet and friends were helping sweep out the "dirty, disgusting mud" from the home.
One of the friends, Bruce Potter, had helped all day on Sunday night ferrying people who were stranded in their homes in North Bundaberg.
His dinghy has a 75 horsepower engine but at times it couldn't compete against the flood.
"There was that much water running across the roads it was like rapids," he said.
Watch the Brisbane River rise due to the ongoing flooding problems around the state.
"I couldn't get the boat up, because you're going up the rapids and the boat's sucked down. "No wonder there's a house sitting in the middle of Queen Street."
Sure enough, in the middle of one of the main roads leading to the Burnett Bridge and to the main part of town is a house that has been swept off its stumps.
The old weatherboard house is crumpled, but largely intact and has come to rest up against street lights. It is understood to be one of three buildings missing from Hinkler Ave, about 200m away.
The Courier-Mail was flown into North Bundaberg on an army Black Hawk, making it the first media team on the ground in North Bundaberg, which is still cut off from the main part of town.
A large washout on the north side of the other bridge into town, the Don Tallon Bridge, is expected to keep it closed for at least a few days. At the airport before going up in the air to survey his city, Mayor Mal Forman, said there were about 1500 houses on the northside that were flood affected.
"I'm very proud of our people," he said. "They are showing so much fortitude, so much community spirit, I know for a fact that out of adversity will come strength."
Leisa Scott, Kelmeny Fraser, and Kathleen Donaghey
A BOY has died after he was dragged unconscious from a backyard pool in the Illawarra yesterday.
Police said the boy, 12, was pulled out of the swimming pool in Cordeaux Heights, near Wollongong, about 1.15pm.
He was taken to Wollongong Hospital but was unable to be revived.
It is understood the boy, who was briefly left unsupervised, was found at the bottom of the swimming pool by his mother.
VICTORIA'S peak Muslim body has lashed out at "hysterical" objections whenever plans for mosques go before local councils.
Islamic Council of Victoria board member Nazeem Hussain said there was an underlying level of Islamophobia in society and Muslims had to do more to educate people about their religion and mosque proposals.
"People are clearly fearful of Muslims and Islam, and it's easy to create that fear and hysteria in some ways," Mr Hussain said.
Several applications are in the spotlight, including a bid by an Afghan community group to build a mosque and community centre in Doveton, on the city's south-east fringe.
The mosque, which would be built next to the future headquarters of evangelical church Catch the Fire Ministries, has been hotly debated by residents and City of Casey councillors.
In Clayton, a Uniting Church congregation has apologised to Islamic groups for suggesting to Monash Council a new mosque could become a training ground for fanatics.
Last year, Whittlesea councillors rejected plans for an Islamic school in Mernda despite council planning officers recommending it.
Mr Hussain said Islamic community applications often were met with hysteria not faced by proposals by other religious groups.
"It speaks to an underlying level of Islamophobia in society and a fear of Muslims moving into neighbourhoods and disrupting locals," he said.
Mr Hussain accused Catch the Fire Ministries pastor Danny Nalliah of creating community divisions by spreading false information about Muslims and the Koran in his opposition to the Doveton mosque.
But Mr Nalliah, who had a long-running legal battle with the Islamic Council over a racial vilification matter, said he had no issue with individual Muslims but objected to violent passages in the Koran.
"I am concerned ... because of what is going to be taught in the mosque based on what is in the Koran," he said.
State Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship Minister Nick Kotsiras said people had the right to object to building proposals on planning grounds.
"To base it on religious grounds is unfair," Mr Kotsiras said.
Last night, Monash Council was due to vote on a plan to build a Monash University-linked mosque in a Clayton residential area.
Tooth decay among young children linked to excessive soft drink consumption, has prompted labelling review. Source: Supplied
WARNINGS about the risk of tooth decay should be included on soft drink labels, a University of Adelaide dentistry expert says.
Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health senior research fellow Dr Jason Armfield is the lead author of a new study of more than 16,800 Australian children that shows 56 per cent of those aged between five and 16 consumed at least one sweet drink, such as soft drink or juice, each day.
The findings, published on the American Journal of Public Health website, show the number of decayed, missing or baby teeth with fillings was 46 per cent higher in children who had three or more sweet drinks a day than those who consumed none.
Dr Armfield said the results highlighted the role soft drinks played in tooth decay.
"There's a lot of problems that excess consumption may cause and these should be included as part of any potential warning package on sweet drinks," he said.
"But the potential tooth decay caused by the drink's high acidity and sugar content should be a focus."
He also said children needed greater access to fluoridated water.
Dr Armfield's call comes as 3000 South Australian children have their teeth examined in a national dental survey.
Missing man Ben Roper. Picture: Twitter Source: The Daily Telegraph
MISSING Sydney flight attendant Ben Roper had been frightened and deeply upset by a series of threatening homophobic messages he received last month, his friends and family said yesterday.
A comment posted on a Facebook page set up to help find the popular man who disappeared on January 26, revealed Ben posted a message on December 10 "about someone sending him abusive homophobic voicemails from a blocked number".
Ben's mother Michelle Pippen said her son had been very concerned by the messages.
Ms Pippen, who arrived in Sydney yesterday after a frantic flight from her home in Malaysia, said it was completely out of character for her son to disappear.
"It's just not like him to take off and not let anyone know but the messages were frightening him," she said. "I feel maybe he's hiding somewhere to get away from things."
Ben, 32, was last seen at his Randwick home by his aunt Christine Pippen about 5pm last Saturday and later sent her a text message at 6.15pm indicating his back pain was "not good".Friends became concerned when he posted a message on Facebook that evening revealing the extent of his back pain, saying he was "sick of it".
When he failed to arrive to crew a Virgin flight to Bali the following morning, his co-workers raised the alarm.
Police confirm Ben's car and phone were found at his home and his bank accounts remain untouched. Police suspect Mr Roper may have come to harm.
"We know that his phone is still at home, we know that his car is still at home and he hasn't taken anything," Superintendent Gavin Dengate said yesterday. "That in itself is suspicious. You put that together, knowing that he was from very much a loving and caring environment - it causes us some concern."
Supt Dengate said detectives were following a number of leads and have spoken to Mr Roper's employers, who had been helpful.
He said there was little in Mr Roper's private life to suggest a reason for his disappearance.
"We're looking at a number of areas at the moment," Supt Dengate added.Ben is described as Caucasian, 180cm tall with a medium build and brown hair and has two distinctive tattoos including a flame design on his upper right arm and the numbers 2035 on his back - a tattoo associated with the Bra Boys.
THE federal government will consider subsidising controversial abortion drugs - allowing women to end pregnancies for as little as $12.
The drugs, known as Mifepristone Linepharma (RU486) and GyMiso were given approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to be imported into Australia last year.
Both drugs are needed to complete the abortion process.
Reproductive health group Marie Stopes International Australia has lodged an application with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Advisory Committee in the hope the drugs will become taxpayer funded.
Only 187 authorised medical clinics were approved to distribute the two drugs, and campaigners claim the current $300 cost has been prohibitive for many women on lower incomes seeking a non-surgical abortion.
Following its TGA registration, an online training course was set up for GPs wanting to prescribe the drug.
A Health and Ageing Department spokeswoman said the drugs without a PBS listing cost up to $300 to obtain.
If listed, the drugs could be priced as low as $5.90 each for patients eligible for a concession, although this did not take into account any doctor treatment costs and pharmacy mark-ups.
"If approved for listing on the PBS, the cost would be the concessional co-payment of $5.90 or general co-payment amount of $36.10," she said.
RU486, a synthetic steroid, is different from the morning-after pill, which inhibits or delays ovulation to stop a woman from falling pregnant.
Mifepristone is given to women who are up to seven weeks pregnant to facilitate a termination.
Marie Stopes has been offering women the drug since its TGA registration and hopes a PBS listing will make the option for a non-surgical abortion more accessible to women across Australia, particularly those in rural and regional areas.
"Most of the listed medicines are dispensed by pharmacists and used by patients at home," a spokeswoman said.
"The cost to consumers will be dependent on the margins imposed by retail pharmacies and private clinics."
RU486 has had a rocky past in Australia, with the Howard government banning its use.
In France it is available over the chemist counter.
The federal government is expected to approve subsidising the drug if the PBSAC recommends it be listed.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said she welcomed the move by Marie Stopes to make it more widely available to Australian women, but that she would not interfere with the process.
"RU486 has met the safety, quality and efficacy standards required by the TGA for all medicines," Ms Plibersek said.
"I am pleased that Marie Stopes is working to make this medicine, which is on the World Health Organisation list of essential medicines, more widely available to Australian women."
Prior its TGA registration, RU486 had to be imported under provisions applying to experimental medicines.
It is estimated there are about 70,000 abortions in Australia annually.
Fewer than one in 20 of those abortions use RU486.
Bushfires threatened towns Glenmaggie, Licola and Seaton. Picture: Erin Marie Source: Herald Sun
POLICE have revealed they are guarding the home of a 75-year-old man accused of starting a massive killer bushfire.
Detectives said they had set up sophisticated surveillance around Grahame Code's property due to fear of revenge attacks.
The force also urged the public to "respect and have confidence in the judicial process" after Mr Code - accused of starting a 75,000-hectare blaze - was remanded in custody until Tuesday.
He appeared at Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court in Morwell yesterday after being charged by arson and explosives squad detectives.
The Aberfeldy man faced five offences, including recklessly causing bushfire and causing a fire to be lit without written authority in a fire-protected area.
His defence did not apply for bail and he was remanded to appear before the same court on Tuesday.
"Police wish to remind members of the public of the need to respect and have confidence in the judicial process and allow it to run its course," spokeswoman Natalie Webster said.
"Police have employed sophisticated surveillance to ensure the man's property is not the subject of any criminal offences."
Mr Code is a well-known wedding celebrant in the area, running his business, Wedding Excellence, from an office in Traralgon with his wife, Lynda.
The couple also run a music museum from their property, take groups on walking tours of the area and rent out five holiday cabins, and Mr Code is listed as the Secretary of the Cemetery Trusts in Aberfeldy.
"Graham has had a lifetime love affair with Aberfeldy and the eastern Highlands," a website promoting their businesses reads.
Detectives say the blaze started on a rural property in Aberfeldy on the morning of January 17.
The fire claimed the life of 84-year-old grandfather Stan Hayhurst, who was killed in his car as fire swept through Seaton the following day.
It also burnt more than 75,000 hectares of land across Aberfeldy, Heyfield and Seaton, destroying 22 homes and more than 200 livestock.
The Country Fire Authority says the fire is likely to continue to burn for months and could still threaten further property.
jon.kaila@news.com.au
A distraught resident takes in the damage to his home in Bundaberg. Pic: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
BILLIONS of dollars worth of repairs completed on Queensland's damaged public infrastructure after the 2010-11 floods will have to be redone.
The massive scale of this week's flood crisis is only now beginning to emerge.
Not only have thousands of homes been inundated, almost 5000km of roads damaged, and entire farms literally washed away, but the death toll is now at six, with the discovery yesterday of the bodies of two men near Laidley.
And as the muddy waters began to recede across large parts of the state yesterday, the flood crisis was not over.
In Rockhampton, nervous residents are waiting on a flood now set to hit tomorrow afternoon. In Condamine, supplies were being stockpiled last night in anticipation of a flood likely to cut off the town for a week.
Other communities still face being cut off for weeks or even months, and will have to rely on helicopters for resupplies.
Premier Campbell Newman yesterday said that while the damage bill from the state's latest clash with Mother Nature was not yet known, he vowed that no time would be wasted in starting work to rebuild.
This house floated from North Bundaberg and ended up in Queen St. Pic Mark Calleja
"This is going to be a long, drawn-out process but the Government will deliver," Mr Newman said.
The Premier vowed to "do my darnedest" to ensure the construction of flood mitigation dams and levees to protect flood-prone towns and cities.
And he called on local governments to ensure that town-planning policies were more conscious of the flood risk.
Latest list of school closures
"We are going to go back and do it and maybe there will be ways to actually do it in a better way this time," Mr Newman said.
He also announced a flood appeal committee to oversee the distribution of disaster relief funds.
The sun rises over flooded streets in Bundaberg. Pic: Getty Images
Local Government Minister David Crisafulli said it was clear another monumental task now faced affected communities, their councils, and the State Government.
"It is going to take a mountain of effort," Mr Crisafulli said.
The army was yesterday trucking in food and water to the flooded communities of Oakwood, Gayndah and Mundubbera.
Some farmers expect to be without an income for at least six months, while consumers face shortages of basic foods such as tomatoes, potatoes and leaf crops as the hardest hit areas were the high-producing foodbowls of Boonah, Kalbar, the Lockyer Valley, Mundubbera, Gayndah and Bundaberg.
Already 25,000 insurance claims have been lodged, and the state faces its second multibillion-dollar repair bill in just two years.
Some of the infrastructure damaged has only just been repaired after the floods of 2010-11.
Thousands of people across Queensland are spending the night in evacuation centres because of flooding.
In the southeast, 40,000 homes and businesses were still without power last night and there was still a threat some Brisbane suburbs might run dry as the city's main water treatment plants at Mt Crosby continued to struggle to filter the muddy floodwaters.
In hardest-hit North Bundaberg, the record flood rapidly receded yesterday - exposing cars, boats and fridges lodged high up trees and roads washed away.
On one street, three buildings appear to have vanished. More than 200 soldiers arrived last night to begin the clean-up.
They will spend today making urgent repairs to roads and bridges, clearing stormwater drains and helping restart sewage treatment plants, and will stay as long as required.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will tour Bundaberg today.
About 1500 homes are believed to have been flooded in North Bundaberg.
It was a humid, hazy, morning on the Gold Coast with wild seas whipping up the foam and causing more erosion.
Hundreds are expected to remain uninhabitable.
There are still estimated to be 7500 displaced Bundaberg residents.
Lyn Baker was among the first North Bundaberg residents who were able to return to their homes yesterday.
Water was dripping out of the wedding photos as she looked up with tired eyes and shrugged: "We just didn't think it would get us here."
Her lowset home in North Bundaberg was at least 1km from the Burnett River, and had been high and dry in the flood that caused chaos in the sugar city only two years ago.
But when the 64-year-old and her husband of six years, Phil, 60, returned yesterday it was evidence the unprecedented 9.5m flood had definitely got them.
The town of Bundaberg hit by floods. Pic Mark Calleja
Every time Lyn picked up something from a cupboard, it dripped with water and mud.
The photos were the most precious, left behind as they fled their home as evacuation orders were issued.
The couple had already pulled up all the carpet and friends were helping sweep out the "dirty, disgusting mud" from the home.
One of the friends, Bruce Potter, had helped all day on Sunday night ferrying people who were stranded in their homes in North Bundaberg.
His dinghy has a 75 horsepower engine but at times it couldn't compete against the flood.
"There was that much water running across the roads it was like rapids," he said.
Watch the Brisbane River rise due to the ongoing flooding problems around the state.
"I couldn't get the boat up, because you're going up the rapids and the boat's sucked down. "No wonder there's a house sitting in the middle of Queen Street."
Sure enough, in the middle of one of the main roads leading to the Burnett Bridge and to the main part of town is a house that has been swept off its stumps.
The old weatherboard house is crumpled, but largely intact and has come to rest up against street lights. It is understood to be one of three buildings missing from Hinkler Ave, about 200m away.
The Courier-Mail was flown into North Bundaberg on an army Black Hawk, making it the first media team on the ground in North Bundaberg, which is still cut off from the main part of town.
A large washout on the north side of the other bridge into town, the Don Tallon Bridge, is expected to keep it closed for at least a few days. At the airport before going up in the air to survey his city, Mayor Mal Forman, said there were about 1500 houses on the northside that were flood affected.
"I'm very proud of our people," he said. "They are showing so much fortitude, so much community spirit, I know for a fact that out of adversity will come strength."
Leisa Scott, Kelmeny Fraser, and Kathleen Donaghey
