The papers are all over the federal government’s decision to sell Telstra this morning. The Australian
reports that shares in the telco could be on offer from October next
year, but says the size of the $30 billion share offer could be altered
according to market conditions, with the shares possibly sold off in
stages. The leads in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
both say the full sale could be delayed by Telstra’s sagging share
price.
Meanwhile, the Herald Sun
splash simply reads “IT’S A DEAL” as Howard fulfils his decade-long
dream of fully privatising Telstra in what will be one of the world’s
biggest share sales.

In other news The Oz reports that teachers, building and mining workers and public servants have seen the biggest growth in wages due to labour shortages in the industries. An announcement that Britain would reconsider its ban on sex selection
has prompted Australian fertility specialists to call for a review of
laws that prevent couples choosing the sex of their children.


The SMH also reports that Sydney commuters,
fed up with late trains and bad service, have abandoned CityRail in
favour of driving to work, leading to six million fewer train trips in
the past year. And Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has defended locking up almost 100 people as illegal immigrants despite the fact they were all legally in Australia.

The Age
has a special investigation into Shell Australia which has been accused
of withholding data showing that high levels of potentially
cancer-causing benzene have been released from the oil giant’s Geelong
refinery – next door to Geelong Grammar and primary schools. The paper
also reports that Channel Nine claims the network is not interested in Joe Korp’s video or diary and was not negotiating a sale with Gust Korp for $100,000.

The Herald Sun
reveals that Joe Korp’s brother Gust could have saved his life if he’d
gone into the shed where Joe hung himself when he first arrived on the
scene. Meanwhile the Lombardy poplars which have lined roads at Melbourne’s Shrine
for 67 years will be cut down by the city council next week after the
trees were deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to public safety.

The Daily Telegraph
splashes with faces of three young Aussie women killed in the Bali
bombings, under the headline, “MERCY FOR MURDERS” following the
Indonesian Government’s Independence Day sentence reductions for 20 of
the 24 men involved in the bombing. And Cockatoo Island
– Sydney Harbour’s largest island – could be turned into a tourist,
maritime and artistic hub by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust.

The Courier-Mail
reports that Labor has been accused of resorting to dirty tricks in the
closing days of the campaign for the two state by-elections, as
conservative forces grow more confident of victory. The Advertiser
says the Zotob computer virus crippled a Holden production line
yesterday, stopping the production of $6 million worth of cars. The Mercuryreports
that the Lennon Government has been building up a “war chest” of nearly
$1 billion to spend over the next four years, as it heads towards the
2006 state election. The NT News
says the Senate has agreed to the supply non-sniffable petrol across
the central desert area of the NT, including Alice Springs. It’s a
matter of urgency, with Greens senator Bob Brown calling on Canberra to
spend a further $10 million to roll out the non-sniffable fuel across
the region.

Meanwhile in Scotland, an unusual vegetable-based corporate incentive scheme has caught the eye of The Guardian,
which reports that managers at two branches of the Bank of Scotland put
a cabbage or a cauliflower on their desks as a motivational tactic, but
the stunt proved to be highly unpalatable to the staff involved.