There are tabloid beat ups of political stories and then there is The Australian desperately wanting to be different in a way that shows it doesn’t get sucked in by this Labor Government nonsense. So have a chat on a slow news day with that motor mouth of the Liberal Party, shadow Education Minister Christopher Pyne, and hey presto we can turn a vague comment by one South Australian primary school teacher into a multi-million dollar debacle.
The story is a nonsense of the first order.
THE PICK OF THE MORNING’S STORIES
World Bank sees even worse slump – BBC News
Beijing backlash against Rio deal – Sydney Morning Herald
Rudd’s men seize control of preselections – Sydney Morning Herald
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
AUSTRALIA
Economic matters
Millions handed to axed schools in stimulus debacle – The Australian
Public service Superannuation in Budget sights as Queensland Treasurer eyes cuts worth $500m – Brisbane Courier Mail
Tasmanian Budget flags redundancies – Hobart Mercury
Jobs rate holds up as employers cut hours – Sydney Morning Herald
Victoria, the place to be working less – the Melbourne Age reports Victorians are losing work faster than Australians in any other state, according to new figures that count both unemployment and so-called “underemployment”.
Racial relations
Indian student bashed in Rundle Mall – Adelaide Advertiser
Safe Streets will continue despite race violence, police vow – Melbourne Herald Sun
Elections
Rudd’s men seize control of preselections – the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Kevin Rudd and his most trusted lieutenants will oversee the preselection of Labor candidates in key seats after being granted special powers by the party’s national executive.
SA State politicians build war chests – Adelaide Advertiser
It’s ‘all go’ for a new RAH – The SA Government yesterday called for expressions of interest from the private sector to help build the $1.7 billion hospital, but earmarked April next year as the closing date for proposals – after the March election – Adelaide Advertiser
Leadership
NSW Premier Nathan Rees to move over Frank Sartor – Rees is believed to be privately planning to bring on a pre-emptive leadership spill following next week’s state Budget to bring an end to speculation he is about to be rolled – Sydney Daily Telegraph
A hint of strange things
Brumby’s reform faces fight at state conference – Brumby is facing a backlash from within his own party over his bid to implement the Ombudsman’s findings in the wake of the Brimbank Council scandal – Melbourne Age
Parliamentary practice
Queensland MPs to get babysitters in parliament? – the Speaker suggests allowing public service advisers to sit alongside ministers in the actual chamber to provide information when complex legislation is being debated – Brisbane Courier Mail
Industrial relations
Industrial relations face tug of war over workers’ rights – Brisbane Courier Mail on how Queensland unions are warning that a quarter of the state’s workers could be forced to endure inferior workplace laws if the Government hands over its industrial powers to Canberra.
Construction regulator to stay as states back PM – Sydney Morning Herald
Political life
Latham attacks troops – Townsville Bulletin
Public service
Millions for jobless mandarins – The cost to taxpayers of public servants without jobs and on the unattached list is about $46 million a year and not going down – Sydney Morning Herald
Opinion
A diabolical dictatorship without efficient trains – Simon Benson in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on the NSW leadership challenge to come
Rise and fall of political powerhouse – Michael Costa in The Australian on NSW Labor’s right wing
Pragmatists the voters’ choice – Arthur Sinodinos in The Australian looks at the European Parliamentary election result and sees the trouncing of the Centre Left over the weekend suggesting that the final victory of social democracy has been postponed yet again.
Easy on the sauce, Kev – Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun on the PM’s language
Buck stops with you, ALP leaders: start the clean-up – Melbourne Age editorial
Beating different drums – Michelle Grattan in the Melbourne Age arguers unions should cut their losses and accept that coercive powers over building workers are going to remain
ELSEWHERE
Economic matters
World Bank sees even worse slump – The world economy will contract by 3% this year, far more than the 1.75% drop the Bank predicted earlier this year – BBC News
Elections
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces defeat if election not rigged, say Iranian experts – The Guardian, UK
Foreign policy
Barack Obama’s man Kurt Campbell junks Kevin Rudd’s Asia-Pacific plan – The Australian
BUSINESS
Oil surges on raised demand forecast – Financial Times of London
Beijing backlash against Rio deal – the Chinese Government will slap trade sanctions on BHP-Billiton and Rio Tinto if they join their iron ore businesses without first gaining permission from Chinese competition authorities the Sydney Morning Herald reports a Chinese official as saying.
Chinese figures dampen forecasts – the slump in world trade continued into last month, with China yesterday reporting a record 26.4per cent fall in its exports, pushing back forecasts for a return of world growth – The Australian
Positive signs in China despite trade fall – Financial Times of London
Chinalco sweet as rescue goes sour – Chinalco has heaped praise on the Australian government’s attitude to foreign investment, but its chairman Xiong Weiping has described the collapse of its $US19.5 billion ($24bn) deal with Rio Tinto as a setback that will likely see the company scale back its acquisition ambitions – The Australian
Minmetals acquisition deal wins OZ shareholders approval – China Daily
ENVIRONMENT
Nats slam Rudd for wasteful water buybacks – The Australian
Climate laws add to police workload – Melbourne Herald Sun
Greens oppose recreational hunting in national parks – Sydney Morning Herald
MEDIA
Kevin Rudd takes another swupe at ABC’s The Chaser team – Sydney Daily Telegraph
LIFE
Swine flu
World Health Organisation declares swine flu pandemic – The Australian
‘Several million’ Britons to fall ill with swine flu – London Times
Dwindling supplies means Tamiflu only for emergencies – Nicola Roxon – Melbourne Herald Sun
Players overrule forfeit decision Red faces as boycott is boycotted by Broncos rugby league players- Sydney Daily Telegraph
Swine flu threat to AFL matches – The Australian
SA’s first swine flu hospital case – Adelaide Advertiser
First NSW students sent home due to swine flu – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Families
Dokic sent to jail for a year – Adelaide Adveriser
Abortion
Anna Bligh flouts state ALP policy to pursue abortion-drug charge – The Australian
Criminal law
Child-sex trials put courts in chaos – Adelaide Advertiser
Drugs
New killer cocaine on the streets of Sydney – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Cocaine use on the rise in Australia – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Queensland tops drug crime as addiction grows – Brisbane Courier Mail
Australia’s truly closed shop of chemists – the suburban chemist has been turned into a multi-million dollar business able to charge high prices thanks to government rules that give pharmacists a monopoly on prescription medicine sale – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Sydney leads cocaine binge – Sydney Morning Herald
Restaurants
Filthy restaurants to be named, shamed – Adelaide Advertiser
Hair
Going grey? Blame the sun – Adelaide Advertiser
Should we be surprised of the beat up in today’s front page ‘story’ of The Australian? It was co written by one Pia Akerman, daughter of Piers Akerman… Ah…so that’s a ‘no’ then.
Mark Latham’s liver problems are now more than evident. He’s Labor’s version of Peter Costello – one tosses sparks and the other throws his gall stones.