Bumpy roads and cold shoulders in Australian-Chinese relations

FRONT PAGES OF THIS MORNING’S PAPERS

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia – China relations

PM signals bumpy road ahead in ties with China – Melbourne Age

Beijing gives Ferguson cold shoulder on LNG trip – The Australian

Dalai Lama’s visit to pose another curly problem for Rudd – The Australian

Busy miner calm about its China ties – Iron ore giant Rio Tinto remains confident about its long-term relationship with major customer China as it operates at full capacity to meet increasing demand – The Australian

Rudd recalls China diplomat home for urgent talks – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has admitted relations with China have hit some “bumps” but denied the relationship was in danger – Adelaide Advertiser

Political fund raising

Joseph Gutnick scores meeting after donating to Labor – A multi-millionaire mining magnate had a proposal fast-tracked and scored a meeting with Anna Bligh after donating to the campaign of a local Labor MP – Brisbane Courier Mail

Political parties

New-look Nationals loosen ties with Libs – The Nationals will attempt to stamp themselves a new identity at this weekend’s federal council meeting with a revamped policy platform designed to distance them from the Liberals and a new slogan designed to shed their image as a farmers’ party only – Sydney Morning Herald

Defence

Kiwi call to arms: PMs join forces to revive Anzac spirit – Sydney Morning Herald

Public administration

Gillard to rescue of school building program – Education Minister Julia Gillard was forced to step in to save the $14.7 billion school building program from bureaucrats who threatened to derail the centrepiece of the federal government’s economic stimulus package by delaying payments to schools for projects already under way – The Australian

Political lurks and perks

MPs in new expenses rort – Federal politicians are funnelling millions of dollars to key party donors using their taxpayer-funded expenses. A year-long inquiry by the federal Auditor-General has revealed six printing firms secured lucrative election contracts after donating more than $300,000 to the Labor and Liberal parties – Adelaide Advertiser

Life’s little luxuries put on taxpayers’ bill – MPs have been sprung using their taxpayer-funded allowances to buy chocolates, batteries and novels – Melbourne Herald Sun

Law and order

Enough: Prominent Victorians hit out at Melbourne’s violence – A chorus of prominent Victorians demands MPs and police work together to save our city from thugs and hooligans. The plea for urgent action comes after city leaders were stung by a first-hand account of the mindless violence by Herald Sun senior journalist Mike Sheahan – Melbourne Herald Sun

Bashings, rapes increase in Melbourne’s outer suburbs – Melbourne Herald Sun

Laws powerless to prosecute spitting in the street – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Hello, hello: big brother cops an eyeful – Police would be given more access to the inner-city closed-circuit TV network for ”general intelligence gathering” and ”police operations”, under rules proposed by the City of Sydney – Sydney Morning Herald

Off-duty police to keep peace at junior sports games – Police and private security guards are patrolling sports events involving children as young as nine to combat escalating crowd violence and player abuse – Brisbane Courier Mail

Bushfires

Brumby to give owners right to clear bush property – Melbourne Herald Sun

Industrial relations

Union at war over penalties – Julia Gillard is confronting a growing backlash over the Rudd government’s award overhaul after a top union official last night warned of the political consequences of Labor caving in to demands for concessions from the nation’s major employers – The Australian

ACTU trumpets Cochlear victory – The Australian

Foreign students

Foreign students reported for absence, unsatisfactory results – Thousands of overseas students each year are reported to the Federal Government’s international student compliance watchdog for failing their courses or not turning up for lectures and tutorials – Brisbane Courier Mail

Foreign students face more stringent tests – Foreign students will face greater screening as the Government cracks down on visa fraud and scrutinises their ability to finance life in Australia – Melbourne Age

Opinions

Turnbull needs to learn from Whitlam – The Liberals are in danger of being split over an ETS the way Labor was split over communism, and unless someone modernises the party it faces long years in opposition, says Nick Dyrenfurth in The Australian

Not all cultures are good – Australia is multiracial but it should not be multicultural, contends Barry Cohen in The Australian

Old award system regains its grip – writes Michael Stutchbury in The Australian

Recovery now, but it may cost us heavily later – The stimulus spending has worked so far, but long-term debt may rebound on the government, writes Politcal editor Dennis Shanahan in The Australian

Battle for East Timor fought in Canberra’s corridors – The new film Balibo tells only part of the story of the Indonesian invasion, writes Paul Monk in The Australian

White fellas in the black – Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun writes of of a booming new class of victim you’d never have imagined we’d have to support with special prizes and jobs. They are “white Aborigines” – people who, out of their multi-stranded but largely European genealogy, decide to identify with the thinnest of all those strands, and the one that’s contributed least to their looks. Yes, the Aboriginal one now so fashionable among artists and academics

Night of rapprochement unearths strange bedfellows in rogues’ gallery – Annabel Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald

Elsewhere

Afghanistan

Taliban attacks voters as Afghanistan elects president – Brisbane Courier Mail

BUSINESS

Bid to build electric car at Elizabeth – Australia is making a pitch to U.S. car giant General Motors to produce the nation’s first commercially built electric car at Elizabeth – Adelaide Advertiser

Future Fund flogs Telstra – The Australian

Government Future Funds sells out of Telstra – With the Government’s own investment arm selling off such a large chunk of the company it is feared investor confidence in the stock will plunge – Adelaide Advertiser

Rio earnings dive 54pc, but miner upbeat – The Australian

Hardie bosses could escape fines – Disgraced former James Hardie directors and executives may escape personally paying any fines imposed yesterday for breaching their duties – The Australian

Banks deliver less than super retirement returns – High-profile uperannuation funds operated by some of the nation’s savviest bankers have delivered some of the worst returns on investment in recent years, according to the first comprehensive snapshot of Australia’s $1 trillion superannuation industry – Melbourne Age

ENVIRONMENT

MEDIA

Free paper to shut after ‘most difficult year’ for Rupert Murdoch – Evening free paper thelondonpaper is to be closed with the loss of 60 jobs, it was announced today – London Evening Standard

Goodbye Kyle. Goodbye Jackie. Hello Hi-5 – Shock jocks Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have had their national prime-time show replaced by a former Hi-5 member in the wake of a backlash from advertisers – Adelaide Advertiser

Smutty music videos ban for kids rejected by Senate committee – Melbourne Herald Sun

Inquiry asks for review of music video classifications – Sydney Daily Telegraph

LIFE

Swine flu

Infectious disease risk in swine flu jabs – Leading nfectious disease experts have called on the Federal Government to abandon its mass swine-flu vaccination plan because of fears the vaccine is a contamination risk that could spread blood-borne diseases – Melbourne Age

Swine flu vaccine program to go ahead – Sydney Morning Herald

Abortion

Ruling to shift abortions interstate – Queensland women facing the trauma of a medical abortion will have to cross the border for the procedure because the state’s biggest hospital has scrapped its service, forcing the state government to review its controversial laws on abortion – The Australian

Overseas abortion aid ban revoked – Australian overseas aid can now be used to fund abortions of foetuses of up to 20 weeks in countries where it is legal – Melbourne Age

Suicide

Revealed: Australia’s suicide epidemic – Sydney Morning Herald

The punt

Bets on for ‘our’ Rachael – The Miss Universe Australia finalist, who had a lucky escape from a 5m croc in the Territory, is an equal favourite with NT bookmakers to win the international competition – Northern Territory News

Teen gamers at risk of gambling addiction – Melbnourne Age