A LITTLE MUSICAL NOSTALGIA FOR GOLDEN OLDIES
Victory for Whiter Shade organist – Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher has won his long battle to be recognised as co-writer of the band’s hit Whiter Shade of Pale. Law Lords have ruled that Mr Fisher, who claimed he wrote the song’s haunting organ melody, is entitled to a share of future royalties – BBC News
PAGE ONE OF THE PAPERS
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
Australia
Labor conference
Kevin Rudd demands focus on party discipline – The Australian
Group worship of Saint Kev on agenda for the faithful – Jennifer Hewett in The Australian says to think of it as the Cult of Kevin. It’s called the ALP national conference, but the real agenda is all about one man.
We’re here for the long haul, Rudd says – Sydney Morning Herald
Kevin Rudd spells out 10-year plan for office – Melbourne Herald Sun
Magical moment for PM’s apprentice – The 18-year-old Matthew “Matt the Chippie” Jenkins has become Australia’s answer to America’s Joe the Plumber after the PM set up the youngster from Sydney’s southwest as the poster boy for unemployed teens – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Passion bypass as men in suits rule – Annabel Crabb describes how the Ruddbot revolution is complete. Labor’s national conference has successfully eliminated the all-too-human mess and fuss which were its reliable attendants in the past. Instead, an eerie calm reigns; the triumph of android over hominid – Sydney Morning Herald
Economic matters
Employment Minister Mark Arbib puts PM Kevin Rudd’s 50,000 green jobs down to experience – The Australian
Trainees give thumbs up to green jobs plan – The Australian
PM Kevin Rudd flags $100m plan to create 50,000 green jobs – Melbourne Herald Sun
Rudd pledges 50,000 “green jobs” – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Terrorism
Uighur Rebiya Kadeer gets visa despite China protest – The Australian
US set to ask Australia for more help in Afghan war – Australia could be asked to increase its commitment in Afghanistan again – by providing more trainers for the police and the Afghan army – after a review of US strategy due in a fortnight – Sydney Morning Herald
Lobbying
Sacked lobbyist Ross Daley keeps $1m success fee – The Australian
Developer David Marriner tips bucket on Queensland – A veteran developer has detailed explosive claims of how his refusal to “play the game” of lobbyists and fundraising functions with Labor may have scuttled his billion-dollar project – Brisbane Courier Mail
Terry Mackenroth defends name, as Bligh seeks CMC probe – Former Queensland treasurer Terry Mackenroth has denied allegations of improper influence over a planning decision while hired as a consultant. Premier Anna Bligh referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission allegations that Mr Mackenroth, who has been out of politics for five years, improperly influenced a decision benefiting the Indigo Group, which had hired him as a consultant – Brisbane Courier Mail
Queensland corruption row grows – Sydney Morning Herald
Lobbyists have close ties to power – Sydney Morning Herald
Political donations
Turnbull call sparks Liberals’ fury – Malcolm Turnbull has triggered fresh angst in the Liberal Party over his call this week to ban companies and unions from making political donations – Sydney Morning Herald
Political life
Investment head quits as crisis intensifies for Bligh – Business leader Trevor Rowe last night dramatically revealed he would quit his $150,000- a-year post as head of the state-owned Queensland Investment Corporation, intensifying the Labor mates crisis confronting Premier Anna Bligh – The Australian
Rudd pushes on anti-corruption body – Kevin Rudd has ramped up pressure on the Rann government to take a stand on regulating political donations and the role of lobbyists, and to acknowledge the benefits of an independent anti-corruption body – The Australian
Infrastructure
Victoria’s $3.5bn desalination plant to defy slump – Victoria has pulled off what is said to be the biggest public-private partnership in the world since the global financial crisis began with the announcement of the successful tenderer for its $3.5billion desalination plant – The Australian
Brumby’s $3.5bn desal gamble – Victorian taxpayers could be asked to throw a financial lifeline to the state’s desalination plant, after the Government agreed to underwrite its new private partners in the multibillion-dollar project – Melbourne Age
Law and order
Police slammed on ‘going in hard’ – Victoria’s corruption watchdog has condemned the state’s police for failing to change their “go in hard” culture on the use of force, warning that urgent reform is required to ensure officers are better equipped to handle violent confrontations – The Australian
Scathing report on police tactics in confrontations – Sydney Morning Herald
Rumour mongers face tap on phones – Phone tapping of suspected rumour-mongers, more powers for the corporate regulator and tighter controls on directors’ trades are among wide-ranging reforms the Federal Government has been urged to consider because of global financial crisis – Sydney Morning Herald
Aboriginal affairs
Swim star torpedoes camp takeover plan – Olympic swimming legend Ian Thorpe has attacked the Commonwealth Government for “blackmailing” indigenous people to sign over town camps – Northern Territory News
Court stalls bid to control Alice camps – Melbourne Age
Copyright
Authors gain support – Authors and book publishers have secured significant backing from the ALP in their campaign against a Productivity Commission plan to reduce prices by removing restrictions on imports of books printed overseas – Melbourne Age
Education
Millions to bail out stranded students – Sydney Morning Herald
Excellence hubs: 50 schools recognised – 50 schools in NSW will be designated ‘‘centres of excellence” and link with universities to specialise in teacher training and development – Sydney Morning Herald
Opinions
Rudd’s cavalry rides over the hill after Arbib disaster – Dennis Shanahan on day one at the Labor Party conference – The Australian
PM picks place in pantheon of heroes – Dennis Shanahan writes in The Australian that the nation-builder casts himself as the heir of Andrew Fisher, John Curtin and Ben Chifley.
Plotting a course to get the nation moving – Adele Ferguson of The Australian writes that the state and federal governments’ ambitious plans to spend $200 billion on infrastructure projects over the next few years has been given a new funding blueprint by the Victorian government’s $3.5bn desalination plant.
Old IR tribunals don’t work – Michael Stutchbury in The Australian says the NSW Industrial Relations Commission has got one thing right. It’s inconceivable that old-style industrial relations tribunals would not hit small business employment, even during the worst global financial crisis since the 1930s.
Rudd’s planet-saving plan will cost enough jobs to make you green – says Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Locked-up and angry: the lot of a foreign student – Richard Ackland in the Sydney Morning Herald says Megumi Ogawa’s case is a blot on higher-degree supervision, the justice ‘‘system” and that collection of bureaucratic drones, the Department of Immigration.
Big show of little consequence for Rudd’s political future – Michelle Grattan in the Melbourne Age writes that after the first of three days, it seems a fair bet that this conference is destined to be remembered for almost nothing.
Elsewhere
Economic matters
Recession over? No, says Obama – Sydney Morning Herald
Iran
Police use batons and tear gas at Neda Soltan ceremony – London Times
Opinions
Headline-chasing is harming Tory credibility – Anatole Kaletsky in the London Times writes that David Cameron’s party has many good ideas, but they are being drowned out by exaggerated attacks on the Government
BUSINESS
Iron spot price up as Asia returns – Iron ore spot prices have returned to $US100 a tonne amid growing confidence about sustained demand, and as Brazilian giant Vale signals further variations to the benchmark pricing system – The Australian
iPhone bucks handset sales falls – The popularity of Apple’s iPhone is continuing to buck the fall in global mobile phone sales, a study has found – BBC News
Treasuries Rise as Higher Yields Bolster Note Auction Demand – Treasuries gained, erasing earlier losses, after the highest yields in more than a month bolstered demand at the government’s auction of a record $28 billion of seven-year notes. . The sale follows record auctions of two- and five-year notes the past two days that attracted lower-than-forecast interest from investors – Bloomberg
ENVIRONMENT
Whales
Whale wonder at Winkipop – It was his moment of glory. Anglesea surfer Kaine Hazle triumphantly threw his hands in the air as the fins of a southern right whale surfaced within arm’s reach at Winkipop yesterday morning – Geelong Advertiser
Whale saves drowning diver – W-HAIL the rescuer. A beluga whale saved a drowning diver by hoisting her to the surface, carrying her leg in its mouth – London Sun
Single-desk carbon trade could earn billions: Flannery – The former Australian of the year Tim Flannery has proposed a single Australian Government trading desk – similar to the former wheat desk – to sell carbon credits to the United States – Sydney Morning Herald
MEDIA
Radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O to escape censure – The Australian
Sandilands’s job not under threat, says 2Day – Sydney Morning Herald
Rudd slams Kyle and Jackie O over radio rape stunt – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Kyle Sandilands a hawking, spitting primitive – writes Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Radio shock waves focus attention on privacy – Sydney Morning Herald
Call to axe radio show over stunt – Melbourne Age
TV switch starting to pay off – More people switching to pay television in the downturn is starting to pay dividends for the operators – Melbourne Herald Sun
LIFE
And death
MS woman wins right-to-die fight – A woman with multiple sclerosis has made legal history by winning her battle to have the law on assisted suicide clarified. Five Law Lords ruled the Director of Public Prosecutions must specify when a person might face prosecution. The Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said he would publish an interim policy on when prosecutions could occur by September before putting the issue out to public consultation. Permanent policy will be published next spring. BBC News
Health service
Health care firm scraps bulk billing – Australia’s largest medical centre operator has scrapped bulk-billing for most of its South Australian patients – charging $30 an appointment for the same service it provided freelast week – Adelaide Advertiser
Food
Organic food – fad or phenomenon? – Adelaide Advertiser
Drink
From strength to struth as Foster’s cuts booze in VB – Sydney Morning Herald
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