THE PICK OF THE MORNING’S STORIES
Revealed: student death toll set to rise – Sydney Morning Herald
Grants double-up fuels regional home boom – The Australian
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
Australia
Foreign students
Revealed: student death toll set to rise – Details of the deaths of more than 50 overseas students have been suppressed by Australian coroners amid claims that the details are being kept quiet as part of an attempt to protect the lucrative $15.5 billion overseas student market – Sydney Morning Herald
India delegation to rescue lucrative student industry – Sydney Morning Herald
‘He was the only hope for this family’ – before the Indian student died in Australia – Sydney Morning Herald
Foreign student death details suppressed – Melbourne Age
Ute gate
Joe Hockey creates more turmoil for Malcolm Turnbull – Police appear to have cleared Malcolm Turnbull over the OzCar scandal but the opposition faces a new political headache, with Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey yesterday questioning the Howard government’s cherished economic legacy – The Australian
Kevin Rudd puts brake on ute brawl – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has side-stepped questions about whether he is sorry he borrowed the rusty ute at the centre of the Utegate scandal and instead attacked The Courier-Mail – Brisbane Courier Mail
Utegate cops clear Turnbull – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Turnbull’s Ozcar statement satisfies police – Sydney Morning Herald
Health
Rudd leaves door ajar on federal hospitals grab – Sydney Morning Herald
Brumby vows to fight Rudd over hospitals – Melbourne Age
Boat people
Softer border controls blamed for suspected flood of refugees – Sydney Morning Herald
Industrial relations
Hotel staff aim to be first in line for new fair work laws – Sydney Morning Herald
Union push for 6pc wage rises – The Australian
Union blamed as staff avoid retailers’ pay deal – The Australian
Union back in strife on sackings – The troubled Health Services Union has hit acrimony again, with police called yesterday amid claims the president of an influential branch of the union, Pauline Fegan, bullied and tried to evict a senior manager – Melbourne Age
Polls, elections and pre-selections
Confidence in future bounces back – Dennis Shanahan in The Australian looks at a Newspoll finding that shows public confidence is beginning to return.
Economic matters
Government borrowing soars, as consumers tighten pursestrings – The Australian
Taxes cut, benefits boosted from today – Melbourne Herald Sun
200,000 laggards missed $900 bonus – Sydney Morning Herald
Grants double-up fuels regional home boom – The epicentre of the boom is regional Victoria, where the combination of federal and state government grants means first-time buyers outside Melbourne can pocket up to $36,500 to ease the path into home ownership. And it is happening amid a curiously buoyant national residential market, with new figures yesterday showing house prices increasing in the first five months of the year in all state capitals except Perth – The Australian
Melbourne in housing recovery – Melbourne Age
Brisbane house prices on the rise, median at $432,000 – Brisbane Courier Mail
Sydney house prices defy downturn – Sydney Morning Herald
Death penalty
Law to ensure death penalty stays dead – Federal Government has written to the states telling them of its plans to introduce laws banning them from ever reintroducing the death penalty, whether they like it or not. Although all states have abolished the death penalty, under existing laws there is nothing preventing a future government from bringing it back – Sydney Morning Herald
Leadership
Martin Hamilton-Smith refuses to quit SA Liberal leadership – Adelaide Advertiser
Aboriginal affairs
Silent shame of Cherbourg school where pupils can’t hear teacher – Brisbane Courier Mail
Wasteful government
Building cost projections ‘flawed’, says Queensland auditor-general – Brisbane Courier Mail
Council of Australian government
Reformed COAG a one-stop co-op – writes Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in The Australian
Job for a boy
Bomber Kim Beazley hits job bullseye – Appointed to bioard of the Australian War Memorial – The Australian
Corruption
Premier cuts old colleague loose – Andrew Fraser in The Australian writes of a sitting premier appearing in a criminal trial where her former cabinet colleague had been charged with corruption
Political life
Labor’s underbelly – Rick Wallace writes in The Australian that ALP warlord George Seitz’s proposed memoir is sure to be an embarrassing book for the party’s Victorian branch.
Transport
You pay $30 million to go nowhere – NSW Government is ploughing on with another billion-dollar rail project it can’t afford. Yesterday it outlined an imaginary route for an $8 billion link to Sydney’s west – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Opinion
Boneheads are back on the streets – Michael Stutchbury asks in The Australian if there could be be anything more bone-headed than the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union vowing to set the pace for a national wage round of more than 4 per cent just as business is trying to avoid a wave of job layoffs that would push the unemployment rate above 8 per cent?
Tax cuts we can well do without – Ross Gittins in the Sydney Morning Herald on the cuts applying from today
NSW Liberals bottom of the class – Janet Albrechtsen writes in The Australian that last week, under leader Barry O’Farrell, the NSW parlizamentary party showed it has no commitment to core Liberal Party values.
Pollies pig out as families suffer – David Penberthy in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on a new meal allowance perk for NSW MPs
NSW Labor stretches feasibility – says editorial in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Given the Government’s new approach, we can expect a whole raft of thrilling new unaffordable dream projects to be announced in coming weeks.
Rudd puts a bomb under diplomacy – Daniel Flitton in the Melbourne Age argues we need to regularly articulate our approach to foreign affairs.
Pricing policy needs teeth if it’s to really benefit consumers – Nicole Rich and Sean Carroll in the Melbourne Age say supermarkets must not be allowed to hijack the unit pricing scheme.
Elsewhere
Economic matters
UK economy shrinking at fastest rate in more than 50 years – The Guardian, UK
Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warns of revenge on pro-democracy states – Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned the regime would seek revenge against states it has accused of fanning pro-democracy demonstrations in the wake of its disputed election – London Daily Telegraph
Malaysia
For all Malaysians: new PM abandons ethnic capitalism – Sydney Morning Herald
Malaysia in major liberalisation drive – Financial Times of London
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson’s funeral to be held at Neverland Ranch – London Daily Telegraph
BUSINESS
PNG bank’s Pacific buying spree in bid to rival majors – The Australian
Year of financial hell ends with optimism – Brisbane Courier Mail
Lippy and gloss revitalise David Jones – Sydney Morning Herald
Retail rides a wave of confidence – Melbourne Age
ENVIRONMENT
Car makers urge caution on emission limits – Sydney Morning Herald
MEDIA
Readers pay a price for authors’ greed – Tim Wilson in The Australian writes that the campaign by wealthy Australian authors such as Tim Winton and Bryce Courtenay against reforms that would enable Australians to buy cheaper books is all about feathering their nests and has nothing to do with protecting Australian culture.
China thinks twice – and its 300m internet users scent a rare victory – The Guardian, UK
LIFE
Consumer affairs
Smart meters to lift power costs – Householders could be forced to fork out hundreds of dollars for electricity “smart meters” so the Government can charge them more for power at peak times – Brisbane Courier Mail
Safety recalls take food off shelves – Sydney Morning Herald
Fraudsters target electricity and gas contracts – The Australian
The drink
Victoria Bitter to be sold with less alcohol – Melbourne Herald Sun
Laneway bar reaches a dead end – Sydney’s attempt at creating a laneway bar culture has been stalled, after one of the first new bars closed after two weeks and can reopen only if it uses main-road access – Sydney Morning Herald
The drugs
Territory hospitals slap a ban on gaspers – Northern Territory News
Swine flu
Doctors brace as flus run rampant – Adelaide Advertiser
Sporting life
Carlton Blues boot John Elliott over footy rape scandal – Carlton banished former president John Elliott over his explosive “hush money” rape allegations – Melbourne Herald Sun
Final humiliation for Elliott as Blues dump him – Melbourne Age
Home bodies
Gen why bother moving out – The “boomerang generation” is thriving and the reason home is so attractive is not just financial but the domestic services – Sydney Morning Herald
Gambling
Two people win Oz Lotto $106 million jackpot – Brisbane Courier Mail
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