Just when you thought NSW had seen it all – a political link to murder?

VIDEO OF THE MORNING

THIS MORNING’S FRONT PAGES

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia

Law and order

Did Michael McGurk know too much? – The Sydney millionaire executed in front of his 10-year-old son held a tape implicating senior NSW politicians in corruption, a business associate claimed last night – Sydney Daily Telegraph

‘It could bring down the Government’ – THE Neutral Bay property developer and loan shark Michael McGurk may have been killed because he was in possession of a tape that had potential to bring down the NSW Government – Sydney Morning Herald

My lunch with a ‘dead man’ – A week before he was gunned down, Michael McGurk told the Sydney Morning Herald’s Kate McClymont that he feared for his life and she gives details of their chat over lunch.

McGurk’s home had strings attached – Two of the court cases Michael McGurk was involved in before his death involved loans against the multimillion-dollar family home in Cremorne outside which he lay dead on Thursday night – Sydney Morning Herald

Convicted child rapist Stephen Kennedy’s plea for castration – Child protection group Braveheart, medical experts and the Queensland Opposition yesterday warned against allowing the “sham” of voluntary chemical castration to thwart the justice system – Brisbane Courier Mail

Port Augusta elder warns of explosion of gang violence – Adelaide Advertiser

High-tech blitz on road toll – New technology targeting dangerous drivers and unregistered cars has raised hopes of cutting Victoria’s road toll to well below 300 for the first time in the state’s history – Melbourne Age

Security

ASIO has ear on Chinese whispers – ASIO is investigating claims that Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is employing technicians in Australia with direct links to the People’s Liberation Army – The Australian

Political life

Belinda Neal’s road to redemption – There are still plenty of voters in the marginal electorate of Robertson keen to knock her – but it doesn’t take long to find people willing to jump to her defence: those who believe she’s the unsung champion of their causes and their community – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Why Della is a top bloke: Neal breaks her silence – A dignified Belinda Neal has refused to dump on her wayward husband, John Della Bosca, describing him as a hard-working and dedicated politician – Sydney Morning Herald

Spiked! The essay that never went to print – The Age has obtained an essay penned by the Prime Minister earlier this year and posted for consideration to the prestigious American journal Foreign Affairs, only to have it rejected – Melbourne Age

What a fine state they’re in – The Melbourne Age takes an amused southern look at the political comedy being played out in Sydney

Labor stops MPs jumping ship – Labor has shot down the rumoured hopes of at least four state MPs who were contemplating a switch to federal politics – Sydney Morning Herald

An unhealthy interest in politicians’ sex lives is becoming de rigueur, too – Adele Horin in the Sydney Morning Herald

Boat people

Secret footage of rescue struggle – Afghan refugees struggling in the ocean in the aftermath of an explosion aboard their vessel off Ashmore reef in April this year were allegedly kicked and fended off by Australian Defence Force members as they tried to climb aboard inflatable rescue boats – The Australian

Economic matters

Over half of companies pay minimal amount to Treasury – Melbourne Herald Sun

Wayne Swan urges Asia to free up capital – Wayne Swan has made a controversial call for the key emerging economies, including China and India, to liberalise their capital controls to secure a global economic recovery – The Australian

Bonus good for Australia, even better for NZ – Austrlia’s stimulus package has been like no other … for tourism operators in Fiji, New Zealand, Britain, the US and Canada. All received record inflows of Australian tourists in July as an extraordinary 560,400 of us fled Australian shores, 17 per cent more than a year earlier, and almost 10 per cent more than the previous record set in June – Sydney Morning Herald

Industrial relations

Gillard back to confront irate unions – Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard flew back into Australia overnight and into a brewing storm over the workplace award modernisation process – Adelaide Advertiser

Bosses hit dismissal laws use as costly – The Australian

History

John Howard’s covert East Timor independence plan – The Australian

Howard and East Timor – An extract from Paul Kelly’s new book “The March of Patriots” – The Australian

Polls

Across the genders, voters see Super Kevin Rudd – Young women and middle-aged men are turning Australian politics on its head by giving Kevin Rudd a super-majority that no previous Labor prime minister has enjoyed – The Australian

Like mother, unlike daughter – A look at two generations of voters – The Australian

Foreign affairs

Movement on Rudd’s Asia plan – A plan to inject fresh momentum into Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s idea for an Asia Pacific Community is under way – Melbourne Age

Hawke worry on China – under the Rudd Government, the issue had ”gone from generally having probably as good a relationship as possible to where it’s a bit rocky at the moment. I hope and believe that will improve.” – Melbourne Age

Opinions

Slick Greens playing with truth – Laurie Oakes in the Sydney Daily Telegraph ponders whether the Greens are serious or a group of populist opportunists?

How we beat the recession – Michel Stutchbury in The Australian

Swan, Tanner set rules for next poll – Paul Kelly looks forward to the next election in The Australian

Building jobs and votes – Jennifer Hewett in The Australian writs of the Julia Gillard plan

Shock tactics – The Rudd Government’s continuation of the stimulus program is essential as it seeks to restructure the economy writes Shaun Carney in the Melbourne Age

This week’s biggest political loser is …- Katharine Murphy reviews the week’s political events for the Melbourne Age

Adultery: a good career move in NSW – Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald notes that even bookies haven’t written John Della Bosca off, with speculation he can sit on the backbench until after the election and emerge from the wreckage as Labor’s saviour. Only in NSW politics could adultery be a good career move.

Hold the meat axe, let’s just tinker – Annabell Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald senses a lack of political courage in Kevin Rudd’s approach

PM’s next challenge: holding the reins of a soaring economy – writes Peter Hartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald

Elsewhere

Economic matters

Stimulus Credited for Lifting Economy, But Worries About Unemployment Persist – Washington Post

Unemployment Rises to 9.7 Percent; 216,000 Jobs Lost in August – The tally now stands at 6.9 million jobs lost since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. A broader measure of joblessness rose even more sharply than the headline unemployment rate. An expanded unemployment rate that includes people who have given up looking for a job out of frustration and who are working part time but want a full-time job rose to 16.8 percent, from 16.3 percent – Washington Post

Elections

Campaign machines ready as Tories seek to spin public opinion – Federal parties are warming up the engines on campaign machines even as Canada’s political class scrambles to prove it’s done all it can to prevent an election that nobody wants – Toronto Globe & Mail

Israel

US fury as Israel defies settlement freeze call – Ignoring pleas from the Obama administration that Israel should suspend all building work at Jewish settlements, officials unveiled a plan today authorising the construction of hundreds more houses on Palestinian soil – London Times

Opinions

Obama, the Mortal – Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post asks: What happened to President Obama? His wax wings having melted, he is the man who fell to earth. What happened to bring his popularity down further than that of any new president in polling history save Gerald Ford (post-Nixon pardon)?

BUSINESS

Talk of China’s green revolution belies its voracious energy grab – Officials may be making all the environmentally-correct noises ahead of the G20 summit later this month, but out of an estimated $46.5bn (£28bn) spent on international oil and gas acquisitions in the first four months of this year, China accounted for $45bn – London Daily Telegraph

Rio Tinto suspends China talks over Stern Hu – Rio Tinto has suspended iron ore price talks with China because of the continued detention of company executive Stern Hu – Brisbane Courier Mail

Millions set to disconnect their fixed-line phones – Melbourne Age

ENVIRONMENT

MEDIA

First salvo launched in fight for Packer TV – Analysts tip an imminent takeover of Consolidated Media Holdings, run by James Packer following his father’s death, after the company informed the share market yesterday that a subsidiary of Stokes’ Seven Network had requested copies of its share register – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Consmedia – James Packer has raised $400 million to help defend his interest in Consolidated Media Holdings against Kerry Stokes’s unwelcome advances. Mr Packer has dumped his entire 21.4 per cent stake in the Challenger Financial Services Group – Adelaide Advertiser

LIFE

Snakes

Ssslippery surprise in the S-bend – Northern Territory News

Dogs

Blackmarket Sydney – dealing in deadly dogs – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Real estate

Queensland real estate agents report a surge in sales – Brisbane Courier Mail

Hardline lenders rush to evict mortgage defaulters – Melbourne Herald Sun

Addictions

Clinic for internet addicts opens in US – reSTART offers counseling and psychotherapy – and up to 45 days ‘cold turkey’ away from the web – The Guardian, UK

The drink

Push for controls on cask wine sales – The sale of cheap cask wine is likely to be made illegal under new changes proposed by the Licensing Commission – Northern Territory News

The punt

TAB cries foul over pub kiosk – Computer experts are examining a computer kiosk seized by gaming officials from a South Melbourne pub, in a test case that has raised doubts about the State Government’s sale of a new betting and wagering licence – Melbourne Age