The Australian

leads with Kim Beazley’s historic decision to back the right of
university students to choose whether to join a student union under a
policy shift designed to outmanoeuvre warring Coalition MPs, and
protect sporting clubs and services on campus. Meanwhile the tax cuts
delivered by the Government this year will not yield lasting economic
benefits because, says economic think tank, the Centre for
Independent Studies, the top marginal rate has been left too
high. And Matt Price
reports on the press conference which followed the PM’s Muslim leaders’
summit, where three generations of moderate Muslims, all tiptoed on
eggshells when the “big O” Osama bin Laden was raised.

The Sydney Morning Herald
leads with Qantas’s decision to split the national airline in two in an
attempt to slash costs, with Jetstar set to fly to Asia, and possibly
Europe and North America by next year. But much of the front page
is devoted to a photo of the Shores family after a father of two was
killed when the roof of the Cross City Tunnel
collapsed on him, six days after one of the project’s safety managers
wrote an email warning about “defined safety concerns.” And Kings Cross strip club spruikers
could be banned by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, in an attempt to
keep them out of the faces of passers-by on Darlinghurst Road.

The Age
leads with Cabinet unrest over the leaked police files, with Steve
Bracks facing internal dissent over his handling of the affair. And
Catholic Archbishop George Pell’s plans to ask Mel Gibson to organise a street parade version of his movie The Passion of the Christ in Sydney for World Youth Day 2008, are facing a backlash in Australia’s religious community.

The Herald Sun splashes with the new “plain-speaking” report cards set to be introduced into Victorian state schools from next year. The Hun also reports that two of the paper’s senior journalists, Michael Harvey and Gerard McManus,
could be jailed for refusing to reveal the name of a source who blew
the whistle on a controversial federal government policy, revealing a
$500 million rebuff to war veterans.

The Daily Telegraph‘s
headline reads “SCHOOLS JOIN TERROR FIGHT” following an agreement at
the Islamic leaders’ summit that Islamic schools will teach Australian
values. The Tele also runs a rather unflattering photo of Mark Latham to illustrate a story on the new words in the Collins Australian Dictionary, including the derogatory jibe “man boobs”.

The Advertiser
splashes with the “GRIM FATE” of local teacher Graham Payne, 20, who
faces death by firing squad if Indonesian police prove he has been
involved in the manufacture and sale of amphetamines. The Courier-Mail
reports that a new category of “generalist” doctors experienced in a
range of medical procedures could be adopted to solve Queensland’s
shortage of specialists in regional areas. The Mercury
reveals that following their troubles with McDonald’s, Tasmanian potato
growers are now facing the prospect of oven fries giant McCain
cutting $1.3 million on this year’s price for processing
potatoes. The West Australian
says that Glebe Asset Management, a leading Australian ethical
investment fund, has dropped its ban on investing in uranium miners
following a review of its charter after BHP Billiton took over uranium
producer WMC Resources. And the NT News
reports that a woman who pointed a rifle at her husband after he
refused to leave a pub in Mataranka, has been given a 12-month
suspended prison sentence