One of Australia&apos;s most versatile political impersonators has likened Tony Abbott to a coiled eastern brown snake ready to spew venom.
Paul McCarthy&apos;s parody of the opposition leader has a certain following on the ABC&apos;s Wednesday Night Fever.
But the man behind "Downton Abbott" says his routine is not as well-received as his Malcolm Turnbull, complete with a rack of leather jackets, or his bubbling Kevin Rudd.
"I&apos;ve noticed the audience isn&apos;t that keen on my Tony Abbott compared to say, my Malcolm Turnbull, or my Kevin Rudd, who are much more kind of populist figures," he told AAP.
The 46-year-old comedian, who is a decade younger than the real Mr Abbott, says the Liberal leader&apos;s hesitant speaking style resembles an "eastern brown".
"There&apos;s seems to be some kind of weird, coiled snake within that, if given the wrong opportunity, would just basically spew venom out at people, so he&apos;s trying to keep all that inside," he said.
With the ABC often accused of having a left-wing bias, McCarthy is happy to admit he&apos;s not a Liberal Party supporter, but says he has no plans to gatecrash Mr Abbott&apos;s election campaign, at this stage.
"I could actually do that to try and sabotage his campaign, so maybe it could come in handy," he said.
For now, the funnyman, who previously starred on Comedy Inc and Totally Full Frontal, is considering the idea of making a TV appearance on election night, possibly alongside Kerry O&apos;Brien on the ABC.
Queensland&apos;s public health service doctors remain cautious of signing individual contracts, despite lobby groups reaching an in-principle agreement with the state government.
Hundreds of senior medical officers met at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday night and will vote on whether to accept the contracts in the coming weeks, lobby group Keep Our Doctors says.
Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation spokesman Dr Tony Sara says while doctors believe the contracts have improved, there are still concerns among the profession.
"There are still a number of outstanding issues, particularly in relation to the next generation of doctors and the future of the Queensland public health system, which are prompting concerns," Dr Sara said.
"Doctors made it very clear last night that they won&apos;t even indicate their support until they have a chance to look over the finer detail."
After eight months of negotiations, a group of union and lobby groups reached an in-principle agreement over senior medical contracts on Tuesday.
It comes after Health Minister Lawrence Springborg made a number of concessions, including over transfers and dispute resolutions.
Queenslanders fleeing their burning homes are more likely to take their wallets and leave their pets.
Wallets, purses and handbags topped the list of items householders would save first, beating pets, a driver&apos;s licence, cash, passport and even photographs.
Only one in 10 of the 1000 people surveyed would take their university degree or clothing, the poll by insurer RACQ found.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says the senior officers caught up in allegations of cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle can now hold their heads up high.
A four-volume Special Commission of Inquiry report, released on Friday, uncovered no evidence to show senior police officers tried to block the child abuse investigations.
The inquiry found Detective Inspector Peter Fox - who alleged there had been a cover up - was not a credible witness and also said it was appropriate for police to instruct him to stop his own investigations.
The inquiry looked at how the church handled complaints about former priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher, both now dead.
Mr Scipione on Monday acknowledged the efforts of Commissioner Margaret Cunneen and her team in conducting the inquiry.
"The commission found there was `no credible evidence&apos; of any wrongdoing by those officers undertaking their investigations or their commanders. The commission probed forensically into the role police played," he said in a statement.
"She also observed it was a complex investigation and there&apos;s no question it presented challenges for those who undertook that work.
"Those officers can hold their heads up high. We are proud of them. Their motivation was to seek justice for victims - they had no other motivation.
"They can now get back on with their lives and do what they do best - protecting the community," he said.
Abuse survivor&apos;s advocate Carol Clarke said their were flaws in the way Mr Fox&apos;s evidence was treated and the royal commission needed to examine that. Fellow advocate and rally participant Nicky Davis echoed the call for the royal commission to get to the bottom of what went on in the diocese.
"We believe Mr Fox&apos;s reputation will be restored when the full truth is known," she said at a rally on Saturday outside NSW Parliament House.
Technology to instantly send photos of speeding drivers to West Australian police could be available in the not too distant future, the state&apos;s acting deputy police commissioner has revealed.
Michelle Fyfe told Fairfax radio on Thursday that digital speed cameras used by police captured "crystal clear" images that could identify if a driver was using a mobile phone.
She said while the pictures were currently processed after each eight-hour shift, she hinted the evolving technology could help police fine offenders sooner.
But images captured by speed cameras took about a fortnight to process and that time could fluctuate.
"There&apos;s nothing to say that the technology won&apos;t be available to us in the not-too-distant future," Ms Fyfe said.
"It&apos;s normally a week to 10 days before you get your infringement. There are times we&apos;ve had an infringement out within 24 hours.
Ms Fyfe said police were already issuing infringements to drivers caught on camera using their mobile phone, which attracts a penalty of six demerit points.
That means a driver caught speeding and using a mobile on a double-demerit day could lose their licence in one go.
"When we&apos;re looking at those images with regards to the speeding, we&apos;re also able to ascertain if they&apos;ve got a phone in their hand or if they&apos;re using their phone," she said.
"It&apos;s very early on and we&apos;ve only issued a few (infringements) but I think the public needs to know we do have the technology and we are going to go down that path.
"We&apos;re only going to pursue those when (it&apos;s) only absolutely clear it&apos;s a mobile phone."
A prominent economist believes 2017 should be a year of prosperity for Australia as the country benefits from China "throwing the kitchen sink" to stimulate its economy.
That&apos;s the view of economist Chris Richardson of Deloitte Access Economics as the Reserve Bank left its official cash rate at a record low 1.5 per cent at Tuesday&apos;s monthly board meeting.
Mr Richardson said the good news facing Australia has already led to a surge in commodity prices, resulting in monthly trade surpluses in Australia.
"Trust me, that&apos;s going to last through 2017," Mr Richardson told the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences Outlook 2017 conference in Canberra.
"There is a chance we may get to a current account surplus for the first time since the early 1970s."
Central bank governor Philip Lowe issued a fairly balanced post-board meeting statement, saying the labour market remains mixed with the jobless rate having been steady around 5.75 per cent over the past year and inflation likely to stay low for some time because of subdued wages growth.
Dr Lowe said housing market conditions vary considerably across the country with prices rising briskly in some markets, but declining in others.
Growth in rents is the slowest for two years, borrowing by housing investors has picked up in recent months, and lending standards have strengthened.
"The board judged that holding the stance of policy unchanged at this meeting would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and achieving the inflation target over time," Dr Lowe said.
Mr Richardson expects the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates three or four times this year, with Australia eventually following suit.
"It may start in the US, but it will eventually spread around the world and perhaps to Australia come 2018 and 2019."
Last week&apos;s Australian national accounts showed the economy bounced back by 1.1 per cent in the December quarter after a rare contraction in the previous three months, avoiding a technical recession, but Australians appear unimpressed.
Consumer confidence tumbled 4.4 per cent in the past week, according to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan survey.
"The ongoing weakness in wage growth has likely weighed on consumers&apos; perception of their finances," ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said.