The Sydney Morning Herald
‘s
lead says two military intelligence officers have been disciplined for
giving false evidence that the shutdown of an intelligence link to
Australian troops in East Timor in late 1999 was not deliberate. The SMH also reports that premier Morris Iemma was planning to switch to Federal Parliament two years ago, but changed
his mind after being given the health portfolio by his predecessor, Bob
Carr. And the Aboriginal movement,
so active during the reconciliation decade of the 1990s, has
disappeared, says historian Henry Reynolds, the nation’s chief recorder
of black-white relations, but issues of race resulting from
colonisation are bound to bounce back.

The Age
leads with the union movement’s decision to build a $20 million war
chest, levying workers to fight the Federal Government’s proposed
workplace reforms. Meanwhile, federal Special Minister of State Eric Abetz is in trouble with gay activists
for agreeing to speak at a dinner in Melbourne for Christian group
the Salt Shakers, which activists claim is a homosexual hate
group. And affordable home ownership
is slipping out of reach, according to a US report revealing Australian
real estate is the most expensive in the world when adjusted to median
household incomes, with four Australian cities featured in the world’s
10 most expensive.

The Australian
leads with the major disruption faced by Australia’s ports as a tough
new screening regime is implemented over the next 18 months under an
anti-terrorism security crackdown. And Matt Price jokes about how confusing it must be for those who’ve recently settled here to work out just what our “Good Aussie Values” are.


The Herald Sun
splashes with the outrage over the death of a young father or three,
“KILLED FOR A BIKE” in front of his horrified girlfriend. The Hun also reports that the number of Aborigines diagnosed with AIDS
has more than doubled in four years, prompting calls for an urgent
education campaign to avert an emerging crisis in Aboriginal health.

The Daily Telegraph
goes big with local eduction under the headline, “YOUR SCHOOL UP FOR
SALE” after a Sydney public school sold advertising space outside the
school. And questions have been raised about the new Cross City Tunnel’s ventilation system, just two days before the underground tollway is due to open.

The Courier-Mail
reports that Lawrence Springborg threatened to break off state
coalition talks last night after accusing the Liberals’ Queensland
president and newly-elected MP Michael Caltabiano of a breach of
faith. The Advertiser
says 1,400 jobs will be lost at GM Holden’s Elizabeth plant after a
decision to cut production was made by the company’s board. The Mercury
reports that Tasmanians were treated to a rare and spectacular display
from the Aurora Australis with a heavenly light show on Wednesday
night. The West Australian
goes big with the resignation of the Acting Commissioner of WA’s peak
crime fighting organisation, the Corruption and Crime Commission, after
she warning the former clerk of the WA Parliament, Laurie Marquet, not
to talk on the phone because he was probably being bugged by the CCC.

And the NT News
wins front cover of the week with its stunning splash, “I’M AZARIA,”
prompted by 25-year-old woman who walked into an Alice Springs newspaper office
claiming to be Lindy Chamberlain’s long lost daughter.