THIS MORNING’S FRONT PAGES
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
Political language
Lib MP sorry for dropping f-bomb – A Victorian Liberal MP has apologised after allegedly calling a Labor opponent a ‘‘f—ing bitch” during a late-night parliamentary debate – Melbourne Age
David Cameron shocks radio listeners with Twitter ‘twat’ joke – London Evening Standard. For a full report on the Conservative Leader’s use of language see our separate Crikey story Something to Twitter About
Australia
Housing
Rent is not always the cheaper option – Adelaide Advertiser
Aboriginal affairs
Alice town camps dispute resolved – A bitter dispute between the Federal Government and the indigenous Tangentyere Council over management of the squalid Alice Springs town camps has finally been settled. The council has agreed to a $100 million houses-for-leases deal – Melbourne Age
Aborigines win 13-year title fight – Aborigines have won a 13-year battle in the Federal Court for native title rights over a massive swathe of Cape York Peninsula that includes Rio Tinto’s giant bauxite mine in Weipa – The Australian
Education – foreign students
Minister to step up pressure – Indian Foreign Minister V. S. Krishna will use a visit to Australia next month to pressure the Rudd Government and the states over violent attacks on foreign students and problems in the college sector – Melbourne Age
Indian student market collapsing – The Australian
Elections
Brumby promises fair election fight – John Brumby has promised a ‘‘fair fight” at next year’s election, after Victoria’s electoral umpire condemned Labor’s conduct in last year’s Kororoit by-election – Melbourne Age
Anna Bligh wants ban on donations – The Australian reports Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has called for a national ban on political donations as she tries to regain control of the debate over integrity in government, following a damning critique of the state’s 11-year Labor administration by former corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald.
Political corruption
Corruption a ‘constant threat’ in Queensland – Queensland Chief Justice Paul de Jersey yesterday warned that the state government was exposed to corruption in its dealings with business – The Australian
The road to despair – Tony Koch gives a detailed account in The Australian of Queensland’s years of political corruption
Lobbying
Keith De Lacy ‘aware’ of Trinity payment – The Trinity executive who approved a secret $1million success fee for Labor staffer turned lobbyist Ross Daley claims former Queensland treasurer Keith De Lacy was aware of the company’s arrangement with Mr Daley – The Australian
Enhance and Trinity secret commission fallout – Lobbying firm Enhance Group has sacked one of its executives and Trinity Group appointed independent investigators as the fallout from a $1 million secret commission deepened yesterday. The commission was paid to Enhance group manager Ross Daley, a former Labor staffer, for convincing giant Queensland superannuation group SunSuper to invest $100 million in Trinity’s property fund – Brisbane Courier Mail
Business leaders pay $7500 to meet Labor ministers – Brisbane Courier Mail
Terry Mackenroth advised company set for urban sprawl windfall – Former minister Terry Mackenroth, who drew up the plan to limit urban sprawl in southeast Queensland, advised a company that was one of the biggest winners from the region’s redrafted development laws – Brisbane Courier Mail
Discrimination
Australia to sign UN disability protocol – has cleared the way for people to take complaints about disability discrimination policies to the United Nations – including prospective migrants with disabled children. The Rudd Government will announce today that a year after signing the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, it intends to agree to the optional protocol that establishes a complaints mechanism for breaches of the treaty – Melbourne Age
Industrial relations
Workers move in to fill Leopold potholes – The Geelong Advertiser on a remarkable story of two sacked council workers and their free steak sandwiches
Health workers walk out in protest – More than than 300 workers from the Sydney West Area Health Service have walked off the job to protest against the potential outsourcing of jobs, and understaffing which is set to worsen with impending redundancies – Sydney Morning Herald
Security
ASIO boss warns of cyber threat – Melbourne Age
Justice
DPP refuses to provide lawyers – A judge yesterday accused the Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, QC, of ‘‘being close to perverting the course of justice” as a public spat over funding deteriorated – Sydney Morning Herald
High Court judge criticises courts ‘nightmare’ – Justice is beyond the reach of ordinary Australians because they cannot afford the “nightmare” of going to court, a former High Court judge says – Adelaide Advertiser
Australia and Uighurs
Uighur ‘terrorist’ Rebiya Kadeer wants Rudd backing – The Australian
Opinions
We can’t bridge reality gap – Peter Hartcher writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that when Barack Obama visits Indonesia he will come to Australia not as a bridge but as a detour.
The remaking of the Mad Monk – Miranda Devine writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that to the gathered political junkies on Tuesday the book launch was seen as Tony Abbott’s first crack at remaking himself as a real contender for the Liberal leadership.
Manifesto of a ‘usable’ leader – Greg Sheridan clearly likes what he read in Tony Abbott’s book with his comment in The Australian that after Turnbull, and after the next election, Abbott remains the Liberals’ only realistic alternative.
Case closed, debate open – Paul Austin the Melbourne Age writes that the first thing to say about the Theo Theophanous case is that it has been horrendously unfair to Theophanous. The charge against him has been comprehensively thrown out by the courts at the first opportunity, and yet his career has been irreparably damaged.
Reality bites when theory rules the roost – John Legge in the Melbourne Age challenges the free trade orthodoxy
PM, the mining boom is not a passing phase – Alan Wood in The Australian says if Kevin Kevin Rudd heeded Ken Henry and Glenn Stevens, he’d know resources will long be king.
Elsewhere
Terrorism
US warns of more attacks in Indonesia – Peter Hartcher Sydney Morning Herald International Editor writes from Washington that terrorists will continue to prey on Western interests in Indonesia, a senior US official has warned.
I bombed Jakarta hotels: Noordin Mohammed Top – The Australian
China and Rio Tinto
Stern Hu named over role in Tiananmen Square protest – The Australian reports on an aspect of Stern Hu’s life before becoming an Australian citizen
BUSINESS
BHP dumps traditional iron ore annual benchmark – The Australian
Digging dirt with a sledgehammer – The Sydney Morning Herald profiles the owner of Australia’s next uranium mine.
Arms maker behind uranium mine settled fraudulent pricing case – Sydney Morning Herald
ENVIRONMENT
Libs to reject ETS – for now – Melbourne Age
Costello backs Tuckey on ETS debate – The Australian
MEDIA
Watchdog waits after girl reveals rape on air – Sydney Morning Herald reports that a top rating radio station has defended a stunt in which a 14-year-old girl was strapped to a lie detector before revealing she had been raped, but the broadcasting watchdog is not investigating the incident because a formal complaint is needed to instigate action.
Call to sack radio hosts after girl, 14, reveals rape on air – Melbourne Age
Broadband network no ‘revolution: News boss – proposed national broadband network (NBN) would not trigger a media revolution only reinforce a continuation of media consumption changes already under way according to News Ltd’s digital boss, Richard Freudenstein – Melbourne Age
LIFE
Marriage
Rudd presses Labor not to bless gay marriages – Sydney Morning Herald
Gambling
Racing heavyweights ready for prize fight – A Federal Ministry of Racing may be the eventual outcome of tomorrow’s crisis meeting in Randwick where powerful racing interests are expected to clash over how to alleviate deteriorating returns to trainers, owners and breeders – Sydney Morning Herald
Poaching
War erupts as Karmichael defects – Karmichael Hunt was yesterday forced to defend himself against claims of disloyalty and greed from as revered a figure as Queensland rugby league great Wally Lewis, after signing with the new Gold Coast AFL franchise. The Brisbane fullback said the challenge of being a ‘‘pioneer”, in becoming the first NRL player to switch to AFL, was far greater than any financial incentive – Sydney Morning Herald
Bank charges
Banks may follow NAB on fee reduction – Melbourne Age
Law and order
Surgery frauds alleged – Up to 27 surgeons may have been involved in defrauding the Victorian Government’s accident insurers of millions of dollars, an investigation by state Ombudsman George Brouwer has found – Melbourne Age
Two speed cameras net $7 million a year for NSW Government – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Crime body tainted by rogue cop – The security of some of Australia’s most sensitive criminal investigations is in doubt following revelations that a Queensland detective implicated in a damning report into police corruption has been employed by one of the country’s top crime-fighting bodies – The Australian
The weather
Melbourne the nations driest capital – Melbourne Age previews the bushfire season to come
July Adelaide’s wettest month in four years – with more than 100mm of rain recorded by yesterday – Adelaide Advertiser
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