News Ltd boss blasts media reforms

News Limited CEO Kim Williams criticises Senator Stephen Conroy's proposed media law reforms

THE Gillard government is looking to impose a political rather than public interest test in its bid to appoint a Soviet-style Tsar to oversee the media and damage free speech in Australia, News Limited chief executive Kim Williams said today.

"This is the first government outside of wartime that is contemplating government-sanctioned journalism,'' Mr Williams said in a speech to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce hosted in Melbourne.

Mr Williams slammed Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's plan to create a government-appointed bureaucrat, known as the Public Interest Media Advocate, to have oversight of professional media groups and their handling of complaints against the media and press standards.

Read News Ltd CEO Kim Williams's full speech here.

The advocate would also make "public interest'' decisions on media takeovers and investment.

News Limited CEO Kim Williams says Senator Conroy's one week deadline for media law reform is insulting

But Mr Williams said the proposed laws were a reaction from "a government hell-bent on imposing last-century regulation to control the media it doesn't like''.

"The appointment of a person to act as a so-called public interest media advocate to on the one hand oversee media company mergers to protect the diversity of voices, and on the other hand oversee the industry's standards represents direct government intervention in free speech.''

Mr Williams said the position was akin to a "public interest Tsar'' and was an "outrageous'' attack on a free press and democracy.

"The proposed advocate will have power to decide whether or not an industry-funded regulatory body - like The Australian Press Council which Registered Media Firms will be forced to join - is effectively upholding those standards.

News Ltd CEO Kim Williams during his speech to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis

"If this new Tsar decides it isn't, then the advocate has the power to revoke the publisher's exemption from privacy laws which are essential for journalists to do their job. Namely to report without fear or favour.

"Effectively the government-appointed advocate will have the power to close down our ability to report on that which is going on in our society.

"The government is saying that, if their appointed representative does not like what the media is doing, it will take away the basic, fundamental, rights of a free press.

Rights that are enshrined in every other modern democracy in the world.''

Mr Williams argued the digital age and consumer choice was now driving more media diversity than at any time in history and there was no reason for more regulation.

"Frankly the so-called public interest test is nothing more than a political interest test.

"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, The Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Foreign Investment Review Board all have extensive powers to enforce diversity and ensure competition, so why on earth do we need another layer unless it is to impose politically motivated oversight?''

The 2011-12 Convergence Review failed to define what constituted "public interest'' and the proposed new regulator would set its own definition, he said.

Mr Williams said Senator Conroy's "Soviet-style argument'' to pledge the bill would be passed by the end of next week, with the aid of the Greens and independent votes, and also robbed Parliament and industry of having adequate time to analyse and respond to the detail of the proposed legislation.

"The Parliament needs time to consider in detail changes that affect billions of dollars of investment, thousands of jobs and the future of entire business frameworks.''

Senator Conroy had effectively "put a gun to the head of the Parliament, our industry and the Australian public'' by demanding his reform package be adopted, Mr Williams said.

Senator Conroy denied the changes would impact on free speech and has argued the new Public Interest Media Advocate would not get involved in individual complaints against publishers and broadcasters but would seek to ensure the industry "meets the standards that it sets for itself''.

"This is about trying to find a way that we bring together the legitimate concerns of the public, the legitimate concerns of the sector, so individuals complaints are still dealt with in the same way.

"But if there is a breakdown in process, if it's not operating to the standards that it sets for itself, then the advocate is the judge of that,'' Senator Conroy said.

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Jill wanted kids, a home and Tom

Previously unseen footage shows tragic Jill Meagher's walk home and a hooded man, believed to be her accused killer Adrian Bayley running toward her on the night she died.

JILL Meagher had been planning to buy a house and start a family.

She'd also confided to colleagues she was going through a mid-life crisis, and was hoping to branch out into writing TV comedies.

But things at home, and with husband Tom, had never been better.

Tom would spend some weekends DJ-ing in the city, while bubbly Jill caught up with friends at local bars and clubs.

She'd talked for the first time of starting a family, brother Michael McKeon told police - something she'd previously opposed.

Jill Meagher and Tom on their wedding day.

This followed a brief separation last March.

Jill told her brother that after that brief split, she'd decided she wanted a family and had discussed it with Tom.

"After this incident Gillian had told me that this short separation was the best thing that happened and they were getting along better than ever," Mr McKeon said.

"They were even talking about buying a house and having kids."

Court releases a series of CCTV recordings that show Jill Meagher, and her accused killer Adrian Bayley, at various locations on the night she was killed.

Mr Meagher told police the couple had a "fantastic" relationship and things were "back to normal" following the brief separation.

"We did have our most serious issue in about March this year, where we separated for a while but we got back together. There was a good bit of change going on: we both changed jobs and I was in a bad place with my job; I didn't like it, and we started getting a bit cranky with each other," he said.

The break had been short-lived as it became obvious they missed each other.

"After a few weeks we started missing each other and started seeing each other casually. By June, I have moved back in.

Jill Meagher's husband, Tom (left) and brother, Michael McKeon. Picture: Jon Hargest

"It has been fantastic since then, back to normal."

The couple had recently attended a friend's wedding in Ireland where, 10 years earlier, they had met while young students at Dublin's University College.

He was 21; she was 19, and studying a degree in English and sociology.

They had both just come out of other relationships when they started seeing each other, and dated for several years before marrying in Ireland in July 2008.

They made the permanent move to Melbourne the following year, having previously visited together with mates on a working holiday.

Jill was already an Australian citizen, gaining citizenship four years after moving to Western Australia with her family in 1990.

The McKeons had moved here to allow dad George to take up work as an accountant, and they stayed for eight years until his work took him elsewhere.

In that time, Jill had moved back to Ireland with Tom, where she worked with the country's national radio and television broadcaster, RTE.

In time Jill and Tom, and the McKeons, would settle permanently in Australia, albeit on different sides of the country.

The week before she died, Jill had visited her dad in Perth after he had suffered a stroke.

He was expected to visit her in Melbourne as part of his recovery, but the Perth visit proved to be the last time the whole family would be together again.

shannon.deery@news.com.au

Jill Meagher's life in pictures

The search for Jill ends in tragedy

Bayley's first court appearance after arrest

An evil deed ends in a dark place

'Devastated' family can now grieve

Worldwide reaction to disappearance on social media

Leave your tribute to Jill Meagher  

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Aussie citizen tortured in Africa

Manyang Maker Tulba at his graduation from Perths Edith Cowan University in 2011, where he received a Bachelor of Criminology and Justice. Facebook picture Source: Supplied

AN Australian university graduate is being tortured with daily beatings and whippings and starved of food and water in a South Sudan prison, according to relatives who are pleading for his release and return to Australia.

Manyang Maker Tulba, 22, is one of about 100 young men being held in a military prison in Rumbek, in the country's north, as part of a state investigation into violent ethnic clashes last month.

Mr Tulba, an Australian citizen who was born in South Sudan but has lived in Perth since 2003 and was visiting his family at the time of his arrest.

A Sudanese news website reported he and his mum were arrested for having "witnessed" the clashes, which left six people dead and four wounded.

Cousin Adhel Maker said Mr Tulba's sister, who has been visiting him and his mother separately in jail, had told family members in Australia he was being tortured daily by prison guards.

"She said they sort of beat him up pretty much every day for the first two weeks of his arrest and they whipped him about 100 times a day," she said.

"You have to pay to give him food and you have to pay to buy water for him, he's not allowed to see his family, so she says she hopes the guards give him the food she brings.

"They're literally just torturing him."

Ms Maker said the family felt "hopeless". Her cousin graduated from Perth's Edith Cowan University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in criminology and justice and was enlisted in the Army Reserve.

She said Mr Tulba had plans to get married in Rumbek and return to Perth to start a family and undertake his masters degree when he was arrested.

"I'm really worried ... about his well being and because he hasn't been in that sort of condition before, it's very different to somebody that grew up in Sudan," she said.

"He was taken away when he was a kid and he grew up half his life in Australia so it's a bit hard for him, and we wonder how much he can take."

Mr Tulba's brother Makur Maker Tulba said he was terrified his younger sibling would receive the death penalty, and said the family had so far received little help from Australian authorities.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs and Trade Department yesterday said consular officials from the Australian Embassy in Nairobi were liaising with South Sudanese authorities in order to obtain consular access to Mr Tulba.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr said Mr Tulba had been detained as part of a mass arrest, but it was not clear why.

"We have been unsuccessful in obtaining information on the reasons for his detention, from either the South Sudanese Government and from Rumbek provincial officials," the spokeswoman said.

Consulate officials had been in touch with Mr Tulba's brother, she said.

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Jabs save lives so take them, says expert

Two major studies show the benefits of vaccination outweigh any risk.

• TELL US: Should important vaccines be compulsory?

SOUTH Australia's chief medical officer wants an end to the vaccination debate, urging everyone to "do the right thing" to protect themselves and save lives.

His call follows the release of two major studies - one from the University of Adelaide - which show the benefits of vaccination outweigh any risk.

SA Health chief medical officer Paddy Phillips urged parents to ensure their children were immunised against diseases and that all South Australians get a flu jab.

"I think absolutely the debate should be over, people should do the right thing and get their children, themselves and their families vaccinated," Prof Phillips said.

"Vaccinations are one of the greatest public health initiatives that has improved the health of humans over the last hundred years.

"They're probably the most important public health initiative since sewage and running water in terms of preventing death and illness.

"There is no doubt that vaccination, to protect ourselves and the community, is the right thing to do."

A University of Adelaide study - published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal yesterday - found the number of children hospitalised with chicken pox or shingles had dropped 68 per cent since the introduction of the vaccine in 2006.

A second study, which was published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, highlighted the benefits of a US vaccination program during the 2009 outbreak of H1N1, or swine flu.

Prof Phillips said vaccines became publicly available only once stringent quality and safety testing processes had been followed.

"That means that it not only has to be effective and be valuable but it has to show absolutely, without any question of a doubt, that it's cost-effective," he said.

He said smallpox - a highly contagious and deadly disease - had been eradicated around the world and now existed only in laboratories.

Other diseases such as polio, which caused disability and death, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, German measles and whooping cough have also been substantially reduced.

In SA, he said 90 per cent of all four-year-olds had received the recommended vaccinations, a figure he would like to see higher.

The lead author of the chicken pox study, University of Adelaide Associate Professor Helen Marshall, said the chicken pox vaccine had prevented thousands of children from hospitalisation and death.

"It's really important to look at diseases once a vaccine has been introduced to see what actually happens," Professor Marshall said.

The study used data from four major Australian children's hospitals, including the Women's and Children's Hospital in North Adelaide, over two three-year periods before and after the vaccine became widely available in 2006.

From 1999-2001, there were 710 children hospitalised at the four sites. The figure fell to 227 between 2007-10 once the vaccine was available.

Complications of chicken pox can include pneumonia, seizures and meningitis, and unborn babies of pregnant women who get chicken pox can suffer severe abnormalities including limb deformities.

The swine flu study found the H1N1 vaccination was associated with a small excess risk - about 1.6 extra cases per one million people vaccinated - of acquiring Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system that can result in paralysis and sometimes death.

The authors said the the vaccine had prevented an estimated 700,000-1.5 million influenza cases in the US.

"In view of the morbidity and mortality caused by 2009 H1N1 influenza and the effectiveness of the vaccine, clinicians, policy makers and those eligible for vaccination should be assured that the benefits of inactivated pandemic vaccines greatly outweigh the risks," the study says.

Prof Phillips said the Australian Vaccination Network Inc, a group that advocates debate about vaccination, was spreading misinformation and lies. "They don't put a balanced argument and I honestly don't understand why they do this."

Fair Trading NSW has ordered the AVN to change its name by March 21, on the grounds it does not convey the group's anti-vaccination stance and could mislead.

The network yesterday lodged a review against that decision.

The network's president, Greg Beattie, said the debate must remain open because questions about vaccine safety still existed.

"It's a legitimate debate that has to happen," he said.

"The AVN does not advocate in any form about whether people should vaccinate.

"The position that our organisation takes is it should remain open for debate."

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Jurrah witness account leads to brawl

A man stabbed in a Parafield Gardens home invasion, chilling new footage of Jill Meagher\x92s final moments and Shane Watson hits back on his return from India

POLICE set up a mobile command centre in the centre of Alice Springs yesterday after a fight outside the Supreme Court assault trial of former AFL star Liam Jurrah.

One man suffered a cut to the mouth after being punched during an adjournment in the trial, after a key witness claimed Jurrah had taken no part in the assault upon his cousin Basil Jurrah at Little Sisters town camp in March last year.

Bruno Wilson, 23, told the court he had lied to police in a statement last year when he claimed Jurrah had hit his cousin three times with a nulla nulla during a brawl between feuding family factions.

Mr Wilson said he was with Jurrah and a number of other men and women who went to the camp to "finish what the problem was" between the groups, which stemmed from the death of a young man many months earlier.

A scuffle breaks out near the Alice Springs Supreme Court during day three of Liam Jurrah's assault trial. Vision: Channel Ten

He told the jury that Basil Jurrah was armed with a machete inside the town camp and that the two groups had sworn at and taunted each other before the confrontation.

Mr Wilson said a group of about nine men had chased Basil Jurrah to the backyard of a house, where he was punched and knocked out - before another man, Christopher Walker, used the blunt side of an axe to knock out the victim's front teeth.

Mr Wilson said that while Liam Jurrah was present, he was unarmed and did not assault Basil Jurrah.

Former AFL footballer Liam Jurrah arrives at the Alice Springs court house for his assault trial. Picture: Justin Brierty

Other witnesses, from the rival group, have previously told the court Liam Jurrah was armed with a weapon and had joined Mr Walker in the attack.

Mr Wilson told prosecutor Steven Robson he had lied to police in an interview in July last year, when he told a detective Liam Jurrah had hit Basil Jurrah three times with a nulla nulla.

"I said that, but it was not true ... I felt under pressure from the detective," Mr Wilson said.

He rejected a claim by prosecutor Steven Robson that he was lying to the jury to protect Liam Jurrah, who has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully causing serious harm to Basil Jurrah.

During the lunch adjournment, members of the feuding groups yelled at each other across the road, before a heavy police contingent intervened.

Another witness, Murray Woods, told the court that he was hit in the back of the head when the group invaded the camp, but that Liam Jurrah had helped him to another house and ensured he was all right.

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Triumph for Patel but ordeal continues

ACQUITTED: Jayant Patel leaves court with his legal team after being found not guilty of manslaughter. Picture: Liam Kidston Source: The Courier-Mail

JAYANT Patel will be back in court tomorrow despite a stunning acquittal of unlawfully killing a patient.

It has been a long road to vindication for the former director of surgery at Bundaberg Hospital, but a Supreme Court jury's decision to acquit him of manslaughter over the death of Mervyn John Morris, 75, is a major victory.

Yesterday's verdict is the culmination of more than five years' fighting for justice in Queensland's legal system. Patel (pictured with Ken Fleming QC) was charged with patient deaths in 2006; found guilty in a 14-week long Supreme Court trial in March 2010 and had the convictions sensationally quashed by the High Court in August 2012.

But Patel is back in the Supreme Court tomorrow on manslaughter charges related to patients Gerry Kemps, 77, and James Phillips, 46.

He is also charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Ian Rodney Vowles and Darcy Blight, as well as seven counts of fraud plus attempted fraud at Bundaberg between December 2002 and April 2005.

Patel's acquittal after the first re-trial is a major blow to Queensland's Director of Public Prosecutions Tony Moynihan.

Senior DPP insiders last night told The Courier-Mail Mr Moynihan was expected to proceed with all outstanding charges against Patel.

He remained tight-lipped about his position last night, releasing a two-line statement.

"There are matters still before the court," it said. "It is not appropriate for the Director to say anything before the matter is next mentioned in court."

Jayant Patel leaving court after being found not guilty of manslaughter. Picture: Liam Kidston

But, Mr Moynihan's staff believed it was a "fait accompli" that all charges would proceed to trial.

"There is no doubt he (the DPP) will proceed with the lot of them," one prosecutor said. "Of course he will."

But criminal law specialist Bill Potts said pursuing further charges was "a waste of tax-payer money".

"The prosecution would have spent millions of dollars on this," he said.

"With respect to the prosecution, they obviously had very senior lawyers such as Peter Davis SC and they've given it a red-hot go, but at some point the emotions of the victims and their families have got to meet common sense."

Prosecutor David Meredith yesterday told Justice George Fryberg a "decision had been made" regarding which outstanding charges would proceed.

"The decision has been made that some other matters will be proceeded with," he said. "It would have to be remitted to the Supreme Court so it could be mentioned before any action is taken."

Patel cut a lonely figure as he walked from the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday - aside from his legal counsel Arun Raniga, silk Ken Fleming QC and barrister Kylie Hillard - after wife Kishoree, a respected surgeon, returned to work in the US in late February.

Jayant Patel leaving court after being found not guilty of manslaughter. Picture: Liam Kidston

Outside court, Mr Fleming said "justice had been done" both for his client and "the people of Bundaberg".

"It has been long and hard but the evidence was there and the jury acted responsibly and well. They worked very hard," he said.

"Jayant Patel is very happy with the result ... but we can say this, Dr Patel is his own best advocate."

Mr Morris' wife May Morris and daughter Colleen Milne had been seated in the back row of the public gallery for four weeks before they decided to return to their home in NSW on Saturday.

Neither woman was in court when the jury returned its verdict.

Patient advocate Beryl Crosby said she felt for Mr Morris's family.

"My heart goes out to the family of Mervyn Morris and to what they must be feeling right now," she said.

"Obviously this is a devastating blow for everybody. I don't blame the jury, they reached a verdict on the evidence. Everybody is just in shock."

Kishoree Patel, at home in Portland, said she was aware of the verdict but declined to share her reaction.

"No, I'm right now busy, I'm sorry about that," she said.

A former patient of Patel, Linda Parsons said the verdict left her feeling that a seven-year pursuit of justice, all-consuming for patients and their families, was in vain.

"It feels like everything everybody's gone through, losing their loved ones ... (and) there's no one to blame," she said. "I think that's what hurts more than anything."

Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie declined to comment about the decision, except to say it was now up to Mr Moynihan to determine the "next course of action in relation to outstanding charges".

Patel will still be the subject of strict bail conditions - including that he continue to reside in Brisbane, report to police and provide a surety.

Barrister Ken Fleming requested Patel's bail be varied, a move not opposed by the Crown. Mr Fleming asked that Patel only be required to report to police once a week, rather than three, and that he provide a lesser surety.

Justice Fryberg asked the details of the agreed variations be provided to him for his approval.

The final cost of Patel's trial to the Queensland taxpayer has yet to be established, but is likely to be in the millions.

The costs include the five weeks use of a Supreme Court, a senior judge, the cost of the DPP briefing out its case to be led by leading silk Peter Davis, allocation of one of the DPP's own in-house counsels in David Meredith and the numerous pre-trial hearings.

Patel's successful defence, on the other hand, was conducted on a shoestring budget - with barristers Ken Fleming, QC, and Paul Smith (now a District Court judge) and solicitor Arun Raninga offering their expertise for almost no cost.

It is understood the defence team provided their services pro-bono but may seek to be compensated via the Appeal Costs Fund.

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Office affair drove wedge in business

An artist's sketch of Gerard Baden-Clay during day one of the committal hearing in Brisbane. Source: The Courier-Mail

GERARD Baden-Clay's disgruntled business partners told him to choose between his wife and his mistress after the affair began to affect their real estate agency, a court was told.

In a third day of evidence in a committal hearing at the Brisbane Magistrates Court, former partners of the real estate agent told of his "on again, off again" affair with colleague Toni McHugh.

The court also heard from a forensic expert who said Baden-Clay's wife Allison, 43, could not have died from an overdose of anti-depressant medication because there was only a "therapeutic dose" in her system when she died.

Baden-Clay, 42, is charged with murdering the mother of his three children and interfering with her corpse on April 20 last year.

The court was told Baden-Clay had many conversations with his former business partner from Century 21 Westside, Phillip Broom, about the affair with Ms McHugh.

Mr Broom said Baden-Clay spoke of needing a bigger car to ferry around both his own children and Ms McHugh's.

"At some points Gerard was leaving his wife to be with Toni, at other points he was leaving Toni to remain with his wife," Mr Broom told the court.

"As complex as it was in nature, it was confusing to me as to whether or not they were in the throes of an affair, had cooled off in their affair (or) had rekindled their affair."

But defence barrister Peter Davis said Mr Broom's business relationship with Baden-Clay "didn't end well"

.

"You obviously don't like him ... do you?" Mr Davis asked Mr Broom.

"You want to say that you're just giving honest evidence here - but you're here to sink the boot in, aren't you?"

Mr Broom disagreed, saying he and Baden-Clay had a "healthy respect" for each other's business skills.

Baden-Clay's other business partner, real estate agent Jocelyn Frost, told the court she was also aware of the affair.

"Certainly that was one of the main reasons the partnership failed at the end," she said.

"We asked him to either leave his wife or leave Toni or we wouldn't continue on."

Dr Robert Hoskins, a senior forensic medical officer with Queensland Health, said he did not believe Allison had enough of the anti-anxiety medication sertraline in her system to have killed her.

"Given the level in the blood, it would be exceptional (if she'd died from it)," he said.

"It's never happened before at that level."

Dr Hoskins also gave evidence about scratches on Baden-Clay's face, neck, shoulder, chest and hand - photographed by police on April 20 after he reported his wife missing.

The court heard Dr Hoskins examined photos of Baden-Clay's injuries to give his opinion on whether they were caused by shaving or someone's fingernails.

"You concluded that they had all the hallmarks of being caused by fingernails," Crown prosecutor Danny Boyle said to Dr Hoskins.

Dr Hoskins agreed, saying the deeper gouges on Baden-Clay's face looked as though they were at least six hours old when they were photographed on the morning Allison was reported missing.

But some smaller scratch marks in the same area looked fresher and could have been made by a razor blade, he said.

Asked by Baden-Clay's defence barrister whether he could rule out the larger marks being caused by shaving, Dr Hoskins said: "I think it's extremely, highly implausible, but I wouldn't rule it out absolutely."

Associate Professor David Wells, head of forensic medicine at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, also said the large scratch marks on Baden-Clay's face were most likely made by fingernails.

"The injuries that I'm seeing in this image, a number of broadly parallel abrasions ... do not represent incised wounds ... (that) one would, associate with a sharp object," he said.

Prof Wells said he also looked at photographs of Allison's fingernails and was of the opinion they were long enough to cause injuries of a "gouging nature".

The court also heard from Sue Heath - a friend of politician Dr Bruce Flegg.

Dr Flegg gave evidence on Tuesday about hearing screams on the night of April 19 while he was talking on the phone to Ms Heath. He also told the court of having to refuse Baden-Clay's request for a substantial loan.

Yesterday, Ms Heath told the court she had loaned Baden-Clay a mobile phone.

She had initially told police in a statement that she had done so without the knowledge of Dr Flegg.

"That's not quite right," Ms Heath said of the statement.

"We did discuss it.

"We agreed that I'd lend him the phone."

She said she had taken the phone to Baden-Clay's parents' home and left it there for him.

She also told the court that before Allison's death she had been asked by Dr Flegg to call Baden-Clay and break the news that they could not help with his request for money.

"He was quite distressed," she said.

"He obviously had problems.

"I actually felt Bruce was not in a position to have that kind of money."

The hearing continues on Monday.

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Cyclone Tim to form off Cairns today

QUEENSLAND'S third cyclone of the season is tipped to form late this morning 450km northeast of Cairns and become a Category 1 or 2.

Meanwhile, its predecessor Cyclone Sandra has turned spiteful, increasing in power and bearing down on Lord Howe Island, 600km off the coast of central NSW.

Lord Howe is in for a battering, with wind gusts up to 150km/h as Sandra winds up briefly to Category 2 as it meets another weather system near the island tomorrow.

Sandra is expected to pass slightly east or even hit Lord Howe and beef up for less than 12 hours before gradually weakening into a low.

The north Queensland storm to be called Tim was travelling at 22km/h yesterday and is forecast to continue moving east-southeast at least into the weekend.

Initially following roughly the same track as Sandra, it will likely mean yet another mauling for southeast Queensland beaches, which have been smashed by a succession of big seas since January.

Weather Bureau severe weather forecaster Tony Auden said the storm was being driven away from the coast by a strong monsoon flow.

"It'll head that way for a few days but there is some potential for intensification. After that, it's too far off to call," he said.

"The good thing is that the environment doesn't appear too favourable for it to become a really intense system."

The storm's formation is expected to be hit by unfavourable winds and dry air being pushed north by the influence of Cyclone Sandra, which was travelling at 15km/h.

Mr Auden said it was not unusual for cyclones to ease or re-gather strength as with Sandra, nor travel so far south. At least every other year cyclones travelled as far south as NSW, though they usually moved east or south of Fiji.

"People have to remember that southeast Queensland has had a quiet run in terms of cyclones but they have come this far plenty of times before," he said.

"This one could go very close to Lord Howe and we've put a warning out for them."

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