Fruit picker 'vowed to torch' backpackers hostel

A fruit picker accused of starting a hostel fire in Australia that killed 15 backpackers - including an Irish girl - discussed burning down the building in the weeks before the blaze, a court has been told.

New Zealander Aaron Ellmers testified at Brisbane Magistrates Court that he heard Robert Paul Long say in a profanity-laced tirade that he should torch the Palace Backpackers' Hostel with all its lodgers inside.