The Fin Review leads
this morning’s paper with John Howard’s plan on how to spend the
multibillion-dollar Future Fund. Unlike Peter Costello, Howard
does not favour a statutory authority to operate the Fund and he also
rejected strict rules on the types of assets the fund could buy. The Fin
also reports on the practice of “going dark” – when companies choose
not to go public, or to structure their operations strategically to
avoid regulation – to avoid the new regulations and governance regimes
that have been developed to increase accountability in the wake of
recent corporate collapses. The side affect is that there is less, rather than more, protection for investors and consumers.

In The Australian, Robert Gottliebsen
says many community pharmacies may go out of business in the next five
years due to the federal government plans to cut drug prices and lower
the wholesale margin, leading to big bank-lending losses. And The Age ‘s Malcolm Maiden
says the TAC’s recent split from Richmond Football Club highlights that
individual sports team sponsorship, be it of the AFL, rugby league or
some other high-profile competition, involves special risks that do not
appear to be compensated for by greater rewards.

The SMH
reports that the biggest multinational advertising agencies are up in
arms over Tourism Australia’s selection process for its global ad
account. The selection is down to three, but the rejected
agencies are saying the pitch was weighted heavily in favour of one
agency – the prestigious M&C Saatchi.

Meanwhile, disgraced businessman Rodney Adler has handed back his Order
of Australia (AM) to the federal government. Adler received the
award in 1999 for his services to the insurance industry and
philanthropy. His sentence will be handed down in the NSW Supreme Court
on Thursday, reports the SMH .