Election speculation: The Oz keeps repeating a tax story lie

There’s one very obvious difference between news in a newspaper and news on a website. In the morning newspaper things are static for 24 hours. Corrections or explanations to a story have to wait until the next day. On the website news is an immediate thing – updates and/or corrections can happen immediately they are learned of. Unless, of course, the website is run on newspaper hours with no one in the office on a Saturday when there is no upcoming Sunday edition.
The website of the national daily The Australian is clearly in the part time category. Yesterday morning the printed paper ran with this extraordinary beat-up as its page one lead:

Saturday morning was still young when Treasurer Wayne Swan’s office released a statement denying the Government was considering the tax. “There has been no request from the Government to the Australia’s Future Tax System review to model such proposals,” the statement said. “We are advised that no such modelling is being carried out by the review, and therefore no recommendation of this sort will be made to us by the panel.” The Government is not considering and “will not” consider the policy outlined in the report. “There will be thousands of stories between now and when the final report is released and unfortunately, like this one today, many of them will be incorrect.”
That was just about as complete as a denial could be and it was featured appropriately at the top of the news,com.au website:

Nothing changed, however, on The Australian’s website:

THIS MORNING’S FRONT PAGES

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia

Leadership

ALP set for early, post-Turnbull poll – THE Labor Government is preparing to fight an election against Tony Abbott or Joe Hockey and has bluntly warned senior political advisers to get ready or go home – Melbourne Sunday Age

Barnaby’s choice – perform like the king of the hill – Michelle Grattan writes in the Sydney Sun Herald that many people could be forgiven for thinking the vocal Queensland senator is the Nationals’ de facto leade

Nathan Rees: It’s not me, it’s you – Premier Nathan Rees says Sydney’s biggest problem is not his government, it’s people constantly talking the city down – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Election threat to Turnbull – Former high-profile AMA president Kerryn Phelps has emerged as Labor’s favoured star candidate to defeat Malcolm Turnbull in his now marginal seat of Wentworth at the next election – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Political life

Call for inquiry into board jobs for ALP money men – The State Opposition yesterday called for an inquiry into the private business arm of the Queensland Labor Party, claiming a possible conflict of interest by directors who also serve on government boards and corporations. Labor Holdings Pty Ltd generates millions of dollars from share and property investments for party campaign war chests, with more than $4 million of donations in the past three months alone – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Local government

Council jobs are under threat – Moves by one of Queensland’s biggest councils to break a three-year jobs moratorium could unleash a statewide purge as newly amalgamated councils slash thousands of staff to balance their budgets – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Terrorism

Muslim youth ‘under pressure’ from hardline mosques – A Muslim leader says home-grown terror cells will persist while a hardline version of Islam continues to be preached in the nation’s mosques – Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

Education

Threat to lift class sizes – SA State school class sizes are being primed for a potential increase next year, in some cases by as many as 11 extra students – Adelaide Sunday Mail

Opinions

Labor stooges blow hot air on emissions – Piers Akerman in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph writes how courtesy of the ABC television program Q And A, I have been given a precious insight into the heart of the global warming scam and here’s how it works: lies and obfuscation and total confusion.

No-bull warrior – the case for Malcolm Turnbull – Charles Waterstreet in the Sydney Sun Herald concludes Yes, we are a lucky country to have a quality Opposition Leader and not just another mediocre opportunist. With Turnbull on board, Rudd will need to keep both hands on the rudder.

Why Gillard will follow the leader – The PM and his deputy have an understanding on the leadership, writes Paul Daley in the Sydney Sun Herald

High time we started looking to a new age – Lisa Carty writes in the Sydney Sun Herald that some members of the Opposition are apparently advocating the shove for deputy Liberal leader and health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner, 65, on the basis of her age alone. There would be only one legitimate reason to relegate Skinner to the back bench and that would be because she was not doing her job. But she is doing her job and making a pretty good fist of it

Elsewhere

Afghanistan

‘Barbaric laws’ reverse Afghan women’s rights – Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shiite men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands’ sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation that President Hamid Karzai had promised to review – Melbourne Sunday Age

Economic matters

Retailers See Back-to-School Sales Slowing – New York Times

BUSINESS

Our richest survive $5.5b loss – Brisbane Sunday Mail finds it has been a whirlwind year for Queensland’s wealthiest with more than $5.5 billion cut from the combined worth of the state’s 100 richest individuals and families

Extended shopping hours bill set for defeat – Premier Colin Barnett’s shopping hours bill looks likely to be defeated, with Opposition Leader Eric Ripper and other Labor members hinting they will oppose it – Perth Sunday Times

ENVIRONMENT

Rudd splits bill to wedge Libs – Glenn Milne writes in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph that Kevin Rudd is calling Malcolm Turnbull’s bluff on climate change, with a surprise agreement to some Opposition demands on the Emissions Trading Scheme

Study links drought with rising emissions – A three-year collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO has confirmed that the drought is not just a natural dry stretch but a shift related to climate change reports the Sydney Sun Herald

LIFE

Marriage

Money woes mean half of marriages fail – Sydney Sunday Telegraph

Gay Marriage Fight,’ Kiss-Ins’ Smack Mormon Image – New York Times

Making babies

Radical fertility bid – A 47-year-old Melbourne woman has had radical surgery that may make her a first-time mother – and part of medical history. Eight years after having “slices” of her ovaries removed, frozen and stored, Lisa had them reimplanted last month in the hope of becoming pregnant – Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

The family

The Family cult’s secrets exposed – Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun goes back to interview the leader of Australia’s most notorious cult, The Family, who remains unrepentant two decades after the raid that shocked the nation.

Suicide

Kennett: why I acted over suicide story – Jeff Kennett began his crusade against the publication of stories about suicide long before he took 60 Minutes to the Supreme Court last week to prevent it from airing a report on a cluster of teen deaths at a Geelong high school reports the Melbourne Sunday Age

Motoring

Shock tactics for teen drivers – Horrific pictures of severely injured car crash survivors will be used to shock school students under a national-first anti-hoon driving campaign – Adelaide Sunday Mail

Faster fines with new red light cameras – New red light cameras will be installed across Sydney in a NSW-wide roll-out of digital camera technology – to collect fines faster –  Sydney Sunday Telegraph

Taxis

Victoria’s taxi shame – The shameful state of Victoria’s taxi industry has been exposed in official documents detailing widespread rip-offs, attacks on passengers and even drug use and drinking among drivers – Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

Education

Lives wrecked by teachers – A growing number of teachers are failing their students, ethically and emotionally, by engaging in inappropriate conduct and relationships, the Brisbane Sunday Mail has found.

Hendra virus

Fears of Hendra virus mutation – Queensland Government scientists have discovered that the deadly Hendra virus is different from region to region in Queensland, with fears that it could mutate into an even more dangerous form – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Drugs

Most Aussies drink four coffees a day – Australians are more addicted to caffeine than to any other substance, with research showing many people enjoy the equivalent of four cups of coffee a day – Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

The arts

2009 Ruby Award Finalists – From international festivals to short films, dance to sculptures, this year’s award finalists represent the excellence, imagination and creativity of arts in SA – Adelaide Sunday Mail

Teeth cleaning

The dark side of teeth whitening – A boom in teeth whitening has prompted calls for the unregulated industry to be closed amid fears staff in shopping malls, beauty parlours and tanning salons are carrying out the potentially dangerous treatment without proper training – Sydney Sun Herald

Law and order

Cases piling up for Asian Crime Squad – The discovery of the body of a Chinese man on the state’s South Coast is the latest in a series of disappearances and murders involving Asian victims in NSW – Sydney Sun Herald