THIS MORNING’S FRONT PAGES

090818combined2

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia

Chinese relations

Beijing bites back over Kadeer visa and iron ore price – Australia’s relationship with China has plunged to a decade low, with Beijing taking a series of tough measures, including cancelling high-level visits, to convey its displeasure with the Rudd government – The Australian

Economic matters

Kevin Rudd blows his own trumpet over global recession – After splashing around the cash Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is now blowing his own trumpet, claiming credit for preventing Australia joining the global slide into recession – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Ken Henry warns of second economic shockwave – The Australian

Treasury boss dampens ‘premature’ celebrations – Melbourne Age

Treasury Secretary Ken Henry warns of second global financial crisis – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Budget retreat for Defence – The guns have fallen silent in Canberra – thanks to the Government’s insistence that Defence find savings of $20 billion to pay for its new ships, submarines and jets – Melbourne Age

Bushfires

Command crisis as Black Saturday infernos raged – the state’s most senior emergency officials have been slammed for failing to protect Victorians on Black Saturday – Melbourne Herald Sun

Commission lays blame on CFA and Brumby – Melbourne Age

Premier John Brumby vows to change stay-or-go policies – Melbourne Herald Sun

Royal Commission backs new warnings on stay-or-go policy – Melbourne Herald Sun

Black Saturday report savages fire authorities – The Australian

CFS chief announced changes to bushfire warning system – Leave and leave early. That’s the best way to survive, the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission into the Black Saturday tragedy has found – Adelaide Advertiser

Home births

Home births to be outlawed by new maternity laws – Home births would be driven underground by new maternity laws, a Senate committee has admitted. The community affairs committee said that without special insurance, midwives would be unable to legally practice – Melbourne Herald Sun

Opinions

No one will take the blame – Gary Hughes on the bushfire commission report – The Australian

We need a bushfire dictator – Neil Mitchell, Melbourne Herald Sun

Down from the mount, and nudging Mr ‘Don’t Know’ – Annabel Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald writes how For once, however, question time was not used principally by the Government as target practice on Malcolm Turnbull. Instead, sharpshooter Lindsay Tanner drew a bead on the hulking outline of Joe Hockey, shadow treasurer.

Hindsight has not cleared the vision of an atrocity – Gerard Henderson in the Sydney Morning Herald writers how Balibo presents Gough Whitlam’s Labor government in the darkest possible light. The film’s message is that Whitlam was complicit in Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor and callously indifferent to the fate of the six deceased journalists.

Time to hit the brakes on ETS – Dennis Shanahan in The Australian argues now is the moment for Rudd to defer final consideration of the emissions trading scheme bill until February next year, beyond the UN’s December climate change conference in Copenhagen.

Elsewhere

Afghanistan

Afghans sold out by their ‘saviour’ – When he arrived on the world stage in his coat of many colours in 2001, Hamid Karzai was hailed as the saviour of his traumatised nation. But he is now betraying the ideals for which so much Western blood has been spilled in Afghanistan – Melbourne Age

BUSINESS

Stocks hit despite growth in Japan – Equities in Asia and Europe saw some of their biggest one-day falls since the turnround in the markets in March as investors were jolted by data from Japan. The US suffered its worst loss in seven weeks, with the S&P 500 closing down 2.4 per cent at 979.73 – Financial Times of London

ENVIRONMENT

Climate change set to ‘wipe out species’ – Runaway climate change will see thousands of animal and plant extinctions in Australia and massive changes to the eco-system, a Federal Government report warns – Brisbane Courier Mail

Bye-bye Apple Isle, hello national food bowl – Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett claims he can help deliver food security for the entire nation, with a $400 million plan to “transform” Tasmania into the country’s “food bowl” – The Australian

Labor concession over climate bill – The Government has given the Opposition one concession on the renewable energy target legislation, as both sides move towards a compromise to pass it quickly. But other Opposition demands are still in the balance – Melbourne Age

Flipper handler to expose Japan’s dolphin ‘genocide’ – Melbourne Age

Health warning for Olympic Dam mine expansion – Adelaide Advertiser

Garrett concedes: extinction inevitable – The Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, has warned that money to save endangered wildlife is limited and some species may have to be abandoned when funding decisions are made – Sydney Morning Herald

MEDIA

Kyle and Jackie O broke donation promise to disabled boy’s family – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Website preys on hooked punters – Problem gamblers who search the web for help from Gamblers Anonymous have instead been redirected to big betting agencies, exhorting them to ‘‘place a bet now” – Melbourne Age

Kyle and Jackie O back on air – “I think everyone on the show has learned form this mistake and we’re sincerely sorry and we’ve put everything in place now that we’re confident it won’t happen again” – Sydney Morning Herald

Reader’s Digest to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – The Australian

LIFE

Ghosts

Ghosts roaming haunted Parliament House – Sydney Daily Telegraph

The drink

Spies to swoop on children’s energy drinks – the state’s most influential parents’ lobby group wants a NSW-wide school ban on the controversial beverages – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Health

Private health numbers on rise – The Australian

Flight to private health insurers – People have flocked to private health insurance in an apparent rejection of the Rudd Government’s ability to fix the public health system and in a bid to escape a new levy – Brisbane Courier Mail