Prime Minister John Howard has established a point of difference with
the US. In New York for the UN World Summit, he downplayed the
superpower’s concerns over China’s economic march
into Western economies, arguing instead that it’s “good for the world,” reports The Oz. Meanwhile, detention is to be “made more appetising,”
says the paper, with the government offering illegal immigrants taste
testing of prospective menus and weekly barbecues. It’s a
further attempt by Howard Government to soften its hardline image
on asylum-seekers.

The SMH runs with the news that Zdravko Micevic has apologised to the Hookes family after he was found “not guilty” of the manslaughter of cricket star David Hookes, and an expert says that al-Qaeda’s threat to Melbourne was “vague.” Meanwhile, in order to make cities more liveable, a federal government report advocates scrapping tax breaks for company cars, increasing the cost of
four-wheel-drives, boosting bicycle use and topping up the first home
buyers’ grant for people who buy greener homes.

The Daily Tele also leads with “BOUNCER NOT GUILTY:
jury accepts
star was killed in self-defence,” reporting that Mr Micevic feels “like
a million bucks,” after the verdict. Meanwhile, Hookes’s widow, Robyn
will now seek “solace in civil action,” says the paper, suing Mr
Micevic and the hotel owners who
employed him in a civil case before the Victorian Supreme Court.

The Hookes case was “something that began in heat, anger, abuse and violence,” says Gary Tippet in The Age.
“It ended with restraint, words of condolence and dignity. And
shared regret.” The paper compares and contrasts, noting that
while Mr Micevic is relieved at the outcome, the cricketer’s relatives
have expressed bitter disappointment at the case, saying there were no
winners. Also on the cover, Patrick Donovan and Garry Barker note how
illegal downloads and copying, aided and abetted by improved broadband
connections, are “savaging sales in the music industry.”

Continuing the ubiquitous Micevic-Hookes coverage is The Hun, which devotes the front page
to “The Hookes Verdict: Bouncer Goes Free.” Micevic, who “claimed
from day one he acted in self-defence,” has been vindicated. The bouncer has revealed the
nightmare of death threats and racial taunts that formed a sinister
backdrop to his Supreme Court trial, says the paper.

“Brisbane – dead boring or just plain dead?” asks the Courier-Mail after the city appeared in the travel book, 101 Places Not to
Visit.
But the paper is seeing the glass as half full, noting the city “finds
itself in some illustrious company in joining the likes of New York,
London, Barcelona and Paris, which all cop a bagging.” South Australian
businesses are bracing for a flood of employers chucking sickies in order to watch the Adelaide Crows in their AFL quest, says The Adelaide Advertiser.

The Canberra Times reports that the Pope has accepted the resignation
of the Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Francis Carroll. And in
Tasmania, The Mercury splashes with “Cruel fallout of callous killing,”
noting how a father keeps the message sent to him by his 19-year-old son just minutes before he was callously run down and
murdered in Launceston in February. Meanwhile, The West Australian reports how taxpayers,
not construction giant Multiplex, will now wear the financial risk of a
new indoor stadium. The Gallop Government has committed $160 million to
the project – more than three times the amount which was originally
touted.