The Sydney Morning Herald

covers much of the front page with NSW state opposition
John Brogden’s shame – “My foolish boozy night: Brogden
tells.” Meanwhile the high-powered Forbes Global CEO Conference, starting at the Sydney Opera House tomorrow, has been targeted by anti-corporate campaigners
with an alleged hoax website and a media release circulated last
Thursday announcing that former US president George Bush Snr would
attend the conference.

SMH also reports that Liberal backbencher Bronwyn Bishop has joined Liberal MHR Sophie Panopoulos’s call for Islamic head scarves
to be banned from state schools, while education minister, Brendan
Nelson, has said he supports the right of students to wear head scarves,
provided it complies with a school’s uniforms policy.

The Daily Telegraph
splashes with “BROGDEN: MY RACIST SEX SHAME.” The Tele also focuses on the potential for traffic chaos caused by the opening of the Cross City Tunnel last night and the closure of several main streets.

The Age
leads with Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten’s
call for the top income tax rate to be slashed to 30 cents in the
dollar as the push for widespread tax reform gains momentum. The AFL is
set for one of the tightest premiership races
in years when the 2005 finals series begins this Friday, after
Melbourne beat Essendon to secure the last spot in the final eight
yesterday. And Michelle Grattan
also notes that aspects of the “mate” controversy at Parliament House were lost in
translation when Swiss French newspaper, Le Matin, picked up
the story and made the PM sound like “a vulgar man” who thinks people
should be treated with “extraordinary familiarity.”

The Herald Sun splashes
with an exclusive, “MUM’S $5m HEIST” after a young mother
allegedly stole more than $5 million from her employer Bendigo Bank to
gamble at Crown Casino where she is believed to have turned over
more than $20 million in less than two years. Meanwhile Melbourne’s gangland war
– which has claimed 27 lives since January 1998 – is over according to
Herbert Wrout, who survived critical injuries after being gunned down
with close friend Lewis Moran as they drank at the Brunswick Club last
year.

The Australian
leads with concerns of Australian nuclear experts after unsecured cobalt
and other radioactive material – which could be used to make a “dirty
bomb” – was found in several Southeast Asian countries. This discovery was made as
intelligence reports from South Korea reveal that Australia has been
listed by the al-Qaeda terror network as a prime target for an attack
this year. Millionaire Liberal backbencher Malcolm Turnbull
believes serious tax reform needs to be done “in a big way,” emulating
the example of New Zealand’s Roger Douglas and Britain’s Margaret
Thatcher. And The Oz also reports the OECD has estimated that a typical set of home telephone services costs the equivalent of $975 a year in Australia – 50% more than is paid in Britain and 25% higher than the OECD average.

The Courier-Mail
reports that a secret six-month amnesty for amateur anglers caught
illegally fishing in the Great Barrier Reef was tolerated by the
authority charged with protecting the world heritage-listed icon.
The Advertiser
is in full footy fever with the headline “BRING IT ON” after both the
Crows and Port Adelaide secured spots in the AFL’s final eight.
The Mercury
reports that leading economist Saul Eslake has recommended potato
growers and other big-volume producers seize the opportunity to
overhaul their industries while the Tasmanian economy is strong. And
the NT News
says the Alice Springs community lined the streets yesterday to see a
convoy of more than 400 trucks roll through town as part of the
National Road Transport Hall of Fame’s 10th anniversary celebrations.