PAGE ONE OF THIS MORNING’S PAPERS

090824combinedPOLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia

The coalition

We’ve got to hit the Liberals: Barnaby Joyce – The Australian reports 0n the National Party’s national conference.

Coalition divided on nuclear power – Serious splits have emerged within the Coalition on nuclear power, with outspoken Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce yesterday calling for a referendum on the issue, while Liberal senate leader Nick Minchin declared any discussion “utterly futile” – The Australian

Leadership

Malcolm Turnbull rejects ALP ‘smear’ – Malcolm Turnbull accused Labor of resorting to “gossip and smear” after fresh reports that he sought a political career with the ALP before running for parliament as a Liberal –  The Australian

Pesky Nats trouble Liberal leader – Michelle Grattan writes in the Melbourne Age that the exhumed story about Malcolm Turnbull once wanting to join the ALP will be soon reburied. The latest grief caused by Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals will last longer.

Secret polling bad news for ALP’s high five – Sydney Morning Herald reports on mystery research in the strangest political story of the year.

NSW Premier accused of ICAC breach – Sydney Morning Herald

Industrial relations

Employers fear pattern bargaining – More than half the nation’s employers believe pattern bargaining is likely under Labor’s workplace laws, and almost a third fear they will be held to ransom by unions as a result of new bargaining rules – The Australian

Labour reforms win praise from US – An adviser to Barack Obama has praised Australian industry for cutting work hours rather than laying off staff, saying it showed a financial crisis could help overcome industrial relations tensions – Sydney Morning Herald

Factions

Young Lib sings after factional punch-up in karaoke bar – It began as a gala evening cruise on Sydney Harbour, peppered with Liberal Party luminaries and designed to settle tensions that had erupted inside the party’s Right faction in NSW. It ended with an alleged punch-up in a karaoke bar in the CBD, which is now the subject of separate inquiries by party officials and NSW police – The Australian

Australia and China

Bad blood with China to hurt tourism – Australia’s strained diplomatic relationship with China could further threaten already declining tourist numbers from a $2.2 billion market, with visitor numbers down as much as 80 per cent over the past three months after concerns over swine flu and the global recession – The Australian

Elections

Green barrister vies for Pike’s seat – The Greens have chosen a former Liberty Victoria president to wrest the seat of Melbourne from Education Minister Bronwyn Pike at next year’s state election – Melbourne Age

Education

Rudd’s $26b funding gift to private schools – Sydney Morning Herald

Transport campaign

Access for all to public transport – As part of its independent inquiry in to Sydney’s transport, the Sydney Morning Herald publishes a plan that would make public transport available to almost every resident and worker at a cost of $40 billion over 30 years.

Opinions

Conquistador burns his boats, and Coalition bridges – Glenn Milne looks at the National Party and its decision to more assertively advocate the interests of regional Australia – The Australian

Nationals free to run their own race – The Australian in an editorial argues that under party leader Warren Truss the Nationals have sensibly rejected the idea of amalgamating with the Liberals. Both partners need look no further than the problems of the LNP in Queensland to recognise the folly of such a move.

Putting fox in charge of the chicken coop – Kenneth Wiltshire says in The Australian that appointing an unelected commonwealth public servant to head a federal tax review is not a good idea. This is especially so when he reveals his views on federal-state relations.

Let him who is without flaws … – David Burchell writes that it’s in accusing others that we, unwittingly, reveal the most about ourselves. Over the weekend it was revealed that Malcolm Turnbull is not merely a clumsy political tactician and a painfully imperfect concealer of frustrations, but — that darkest of all moral crimes, alas! — a confirmed political hypocrite – The Australian

Rudd’s task is Turnbull’s millstone – Phillip Coorey in the Sydney Morning Herald points out that the only people who understand the emissions trading scheme are those who have a vested interest in its design and implementation: industry, agriculture, green groups, politicians, the renewable energy sector and so forth. To the vast majority it remains an impenetrable concept.

Elsewhere

Afghanistan

Both sides allege fraud in Afghan election – Sydney Morning Herald

Economic matters

Recovery on the way, Says Fed’s Bernanke – The Australian

BUSINESS

BrisCon attacks, but unit holders fight back – The troubled toll road operator is aggressively chasing shareholders through the courts – Sydney Morning Herald

ENVIRONMENT

Nationals call to Malcolm Turnbull ETS rebels – The Nationals have directly challenged Malcolm Turnbull’s authority on climate change, boasting that Liberal MPs are beginning to back their blanket rejection of a carbon emissions trading system – The Australian

Turnbull and Nationals go to war over ETS – Sydney Morning Herald

Oil spill worsens as explosion risk delays clean-up – A dangerous oil spill off the far north coast of Western Australian will take at least seven weeks to clean up and cost the company that owns the drilling rig tens of millions of dollars – Sydney Morning Herald

Joyce goes nuclear on ETS and Turnbull – The Nationals’ high profile Senate leader Barnaby Joyce has declared the party will seek to dismantle any emissions trading scheme that a Coalition government inherited – Melbourne Age

MEDIA

ACP out of MPA over new tender – Australia’s biggest magazine publisher ACP Magazines has split from the rest of the print media industry and left the Magazine Publishers of Australia over its opposition to a proposed new readership survey – The Australian

Media Watch got it wrong, says journo – The Australian

LIFE

The drink

Freeze applied to late-night bars – No new late-night bars or pubs will be allowed to open in inner Melbourne until at least 2012, as the State Government attempts to curb drunken violence on city streets – Melbourne Age

Expert slams teen drink ads – A leading health expert has attacked an alcohol industry-funded campaign warning against under-age drinking as an attempt by the industry to distract from more effective solutions so it can continue to profit from teenage drinkers – Melbourne Age

Liquor industry blamed for ugliness of Surfers Paradise – Brisbane Courier Mail

Dozens of drunk, speeding drivers caught during weekend blitz – almost one per cent of Victorian motorists were caught driving drunk during a massive police blitz – Melbourne Herald Sun

Police fury at party bus thugs – The party bus industry is under fire after Melbourne’s latest round of weekend thuggery left a police officer in hospital with a broken jaw. The State Government last night said it would clamp down on party buses after a man on a boozy night out allegedly bashed the officer- Melbourne Herald Sun

Police nab 111 SA drink drivers – Adelaide Advertiser

Law and order

Brawl mars Brisbane North Girls Rugby League Gala Day – Brisbane Courier Mail

A whodunnit for the rich and famous – Assault and firebombing charges have been dropped, but that only heightens a mystery on Sydney’s most exclusive street, write Kate McClymont and Vanda Carson in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Violence censored by police to make us feel safer – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Internet scammers

Net scammers step up attacks on taxpayers – Internet scammers have stepped up their attacks on the personal details of Australian taxpayers, with the tax office reporting a 31 per cent increase in cyber security incidents – The Australian

Farmers and Miners

Two worlds collide out on Lightning Ridge – The Australian reports on tensions between opal miners and farmers over moves to expand areas where mining i9s permitted.

Property prices

Auction clearance rates show the property boom is back – Sydney Daily Telegraph