The Sydney Morning Herald looks at others who, like Kyle Sandilands, have beaten the totalitarian drum in their comments with Crikey’s Guy Rundle among them.
“In July, writing in the Crikey newsletter, Guy Rundle attempted”, says the Henderson column Nazi remarks go way over the top, “to equate News Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch with Stalin. Rundle assigned News personnel in Australia to the leading Bolsheviks of their day. John Hartigan was Lenin, Chris Mitchell was Bukharin and so on. Sure, Rundle is a part-time comedian. But there was a serious message to his historical vaudeville.”
He concludes his piece with this message: “Let’s welcome the fact that Sandilands’s comments on concentration camps have been bagged. But let’s hope that such condemnation is extended beyond the shock jock brigade.”
PAGE ONE OF THE MORNING’S PAPERS
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
Australia
Leadership
Leader’s low profile is a Nationals disgrace – An astonishing 95 per cent cannot correctly name the leader of the Nationals. For almost all voters, Warren Truss is the man who isn’t there. An Age/Nielsen poll has found that only 5 per cent of voters can correctly name the Nationals leader – a far cry from the high profile of, say, Tim Fischer, even in opposition – Melbourne Age
Female politicians have the PM’s office in their sights – From Deputy PM Julia Gillard to Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, and from Health Minister Nicola Roxon to Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek to Sports Minister Kate Ellis, female ministers have never made such a substantial mark – Brisbane Courier Mail
Third new Cabinet in one year as Rees reshuffles again – The revolving door of the NSW ministry keeps on spinning, with the swearing in yesterday of yet another Rees Cabinet – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Elections
Sexism claims in race for Costello’s seat – The Liberal preselection battle for Peter Costello’s blue-ribbon seat of Higgins has turned nasty, with claims that a sexist campaign has been waged against the woman expected to succeed the former treasurer – Melbourne Age
Embarrassment
Heads roll at RBA company – A scandal involving the Reserve Bank of Australia and its global banknote printing activities has claimed its first casualties, with the departures of two key executives. Peter Chapman, Africa manager at the RBA’s polymer bank-note firm Securency, has resigned, while the firm’s South African middleman – white-collar criminal Donald McArthur – has been sacked. Their departures come amid a continuing Australian Federal Police probe into the company – The Melbourne Age
Foreign affairs
Kevin Rudd clears air with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in move to head off rupture on Balibo charges – The Australian
Industrial relations
Lockouts a test for Labor’s IR laws – Industrial disputes at two major companies leading to the lockout of 250 employees shape as a test of Labor’s new workplace laws – The Australian
Turnbull keeps powder dry – Malcolm Turnbull is not ruling anything out, reserving the right to keep his industrial relations policy powder dry until the election campaign. But he is not suggesting a return to the radical policy prescription embraced by Howard when the former prime minister unexpectedly won control of the Senate after the 2004 election – The Australian
SMS campaign keeps strike threat alive – A strike at Caulfield’s dual Group 1 meeting on Saturday has been canvassed by Victorian jockeys – Melbourne Herald Sun
Transport
Speeding bikers beat the cameras – A national police commissioners’ plan to force motorcyclists to wear front number plates has been dumped after 10 years’ study, at a direct cost of almost $500,000 and millions more lost in government revenues – The Australian
Military to lose airspace in $300m savings push – The Australian
Property development
Redevelopment under microscope – A controversial parcel of land in Sydney’s outer west owned by an associate of slain businessman Michael McGurk is likely to be “substantially redeveloped” in the near future, according to NSW government documents – The Australian
Economic matters
Hot dollar cools interest rate expectations – The prospect of a short-term interest rate rise is beginning to weaken as the financial markets now expect the Reserve Bank to hold fire while the Australian dollar remains at one-year highs and hampers the economic recovery – The Australian
Recovery will be modest, Swan warns – Sydney Morning Herald
Blame states if schools complain, MPs told – The Federal Government has advised MPs to blame the states and local grant authorities when fielding complaints from schools within their electorates about projects funded by the $16 billion stimulus spending on primary school buildings – Sydney Morning Herald
Health policies
NSW Health still keeping suppliers waiting for payment – The NSW Health Department owes more than $69 million to medical suppliers of hospitals, with almost every area health service failing to pay huge bills for months – Sydney Morning Herald
Obstetricians say Roxon’s fee figures are not accurate – Obstetricians predict that expectant mothers will have to pay about $850 more to have a baby as it emerged that the Federal Government’s bid to slash ”exorbitant” medical fees faces further delay in the Senate today – Sydney Morning Herald
Security
Parliamentary inquiry to probe port security lapses – Sydney Morning Herald
Political lives
John Della Bosca and Belinda Neal – on the road to peace? – Disgraced NSW MP John Della Bosca and wife Belinda Neal look to have turned a corner and begun brokering peace two weeks after his affair with a young woman was exposed – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Jobs for the boys
Kerry Shine appoints friend as magistrate – Former Attorney-general Kerry Shine appointed one of his closest friends and campaign workers to a lucrative job-for-life as a magistrate – Brisbane Courier Mail
Opinions
Liberal stocks on hold – Malcolm Colless in The Australian says the Liberal Party will try to capitalise on the serious fault lines that are emerging across the Rudd government’s policy landscape in a bid to win back business confidence in the Coalition – The Australian
Hewson manifesto was ahead of its time – Stephen Kirchner in The Australian looks back nostalgically to John Hewson’s plans for an inflation range for the Reserve Bank of 0 to 2 percent
More waste in train – Michael Stutchbury in The Australian says the third stage of the Rudd government’s fiscal stimulus risks wasting billions more dollars on unnecessary infrastructure.
Attractive French model bears close watching – Peter Hartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald suggests we take a look again at the French economic model.
Mr 70 per cent has voters in the palm of his hand – Annabel Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald reckons something funny happens to Kevin Rudd when a fresh opinion poll comes in, confirming that he’s just north of chocolate eclairs in the popularity stakes. He becomes more animated.
Turnbull’s love is never in short supply – The Goanna writing in the Melbourne Age listens to Malcolm Turnbull turn to the scriptures.
Elsewhere
Economic matters
France to count happiness in GDP – Happiness, long holidays and a sense of well-being may not be everyone’s yardstick for economic performance, but Nicolas Sarkozy believes they should be embraced by the world in a national accounting overhaul – Financial Times of London
Trade
China turns to WTO in trade dispute – Barack Obama’s decision last week to impose emergency tariffs on Chinese tyres has fuelled an increasingly familiar Sino-US war of words over trade – Financial Times of London
Canada
Four elections. Six years. Is Canada broken? – As the Canadian political establishment prepares for yet another vote, with no real issue at stake, our country’s major concerns are left to languish – Toronto Globe & Mail
BUSINESS
Chevron ‘very bullish’ on Gorgon expansion – US oil group approve $37bn spending programme – Financial Times of London
ENVIRONMENT
Business raises carbon claim – Big business is demanding extra compensation under the Rudd government’s carbon pollution reduction scheme, but has rejected Malcolm Turnbull’s “hybrid” alternative, in a final effort to bridge the gap between the parties and get an amended scheme through parliament this year – The Australian
Anna Bligh lobbying PM over dam – The Queensland government has been lobbying Kevin Rudd to support a new dam that its own planners deem to be unnecessary for another 20 years – The Australian
MEDIA
Even footballers speak well these days, says Geoffrey Blainey – The nation’s leading historian says TV isn’t that bad for kids – Melbourne Herald Sun
LIFE
Consumer affairs
The great bill rip-off: Telstra to impose fee for paying bill by cash – Brisbane C0urier Mail
Fat people
Half of all fat people think they are healthy – Sydney Morning Herald
Student behaviour
Sharp rise in student suspension – Primary school students appear to be becoming increasingly violent and unruly, with the number of suspensions doubling over the past eight years in Victorian government schools – Melbourne Age
Sport
Argentina Pumas to make Super impact in expanded Four Nations in 2012 – The Australian
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