The Australian

leads with women on the front line with the Australian Defence Force
set to lift restrictions on women serving in the army’s four frontline
war units, making them eligible for active service in Afghanistan and
Iraq. The Oz also reveals that Telstra boss Sol Trujillo
says Australia’s communications platform is lagging well behind those
of other developed countries and will present John Howard with a
$5 billion-plus plan to “hot-wire” more than 95% of the population with
cutting-edge communications, including fibre cable, wireless and
satellite services. And Coroner Greg Cavanagh became visibly upset and
walked away from the on-site coronial inquest into the death of three Aboriginal petrol sniffers
in the small indigenous community of Mutitjulu in Central Australia
yesterday. The problem of petrol sniffing hit home for the coroner when
the son of the community elder giving evidence sat down to listen and
began to quietly sniff petrol from a can under his shirt.

The Sydney Morning Herald
leads with “bill blocking” Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce who fuelled
his row within the Coalition by leaving open a threat to block other
Government bills unless the Prime Minister meets his conditions for the
sale of Telstra. Meanwhile the minister for science, Brendan Nelson,
says Australia will have to start using nuclear power
within the next 50 years to help reduce the growth in greenhouse gas
emissions. And the rise of celebrity culture is diverting people away
from history and historic attractions,
according to the National Trust – they’ve asked the Government for help
to save historic properties. And a correction in today’s paper says:

A photograph by Yosuke Yamahata accompanying the article
“Countdown to a cataclysm” in last weekend’s issue was taken in
Nagasaki, not Hiroshima, the day after it was bombed in August 1945.

The Age
leads with the videotape of a jihadist, who speech experts say was
either born in or spent his formative years in Australia and may be a
second-generation Australian from a non-English-speaking background.
However, much of the front page is dominated by a photo of snowy Victoria
as the most widespread snowfalls in 20 years blanketed parts of
Victoria, and caused the closure of two schools – in Gippsland and the
Otways. And architecture magazine Wallpaper has been given a rare tour through Rupert Murdoch’s Mayfair penthouse, where Murdoch and his new family plan to spend about 10 weeks a year.

The Herald Sun
splashes with the “DRUG CASH TRAP” in which crime gangs are said to be
using Crown Casino to recruit unlucky gamblers as heroin smugglers
according to a top-level police intelligence report. And residents in
Melbourne’s tallest building, the Eureka tower,
have been told they must keep balcony doors and windows shut in high
wind for safety reasons, an addition to hundreds of other “Big
Brother-style” rules set out in the tower’s 52-page residents’ rule
book.

The Daily Telegraph
says it’s a “FREE FOR ALL” on Sydney’s roads following reports that
motorists are never fined on the M2 or the Harbour Tunnel. Meanwhile, a
young man impersonated Gai Waterhouse’s son Tom to attend the
funeral of trainer Tony Hewitt at Armidale on Monday, claiming he was
attending the funeral to represent the family. The Courier-Mail
says Peter Costello has warned Queensland Nationals that renegade
senator Barnaby Joyce could “cannibalise” the nation with his hardline
stance on Telstra and student unions. The Advertiser
reports that disgraced Liberal backbencher Mark Brindal believes the
gay liaison he had with a 24-year-old man in his electorate office “may
have been a set-up.” The Mercury
also reports on the cold snap that has hit the southern state hard,
with snow expected to have settled as low as sea level in some
areas. The West Australian
reveals that a failed yacht racing syndicate Elle Racing – linked to
supermodel Elle Macpherson – is taking Tourism WA to court to recoup up
to a million dollars after the planned promotions of WA as a tourism
destination went sour. And the NT News
says Uluru is struggling to cope with its 400,000 annual visitors, according
to Central Australia’s Tourism Industry Association who say the Federal
Government is putting tourists’ lives at risk by failing to upgrade
infrastructure around the rock.