Keep a killer in jail and detainees on a boat

THE FRONT PAGES

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia

Immigration

Indonesians furious over Rudd’s asylum-seeker plan – Kevin Rudd averted a diplomatic nightmare after Indonesians publicly accused Australia of treating them as a “dumping ground” for asylum seekers. Riau Islands Governor Ismeth Abdullah originally said he would not allow the detainees to land but later said: “If it’s an order from Jakarta, we have to accept it. There’s nothing we can do.” – Brisbane Courier Mail

Indonesia governor rebels on refugees – An Indonesian governor has lambasted Kevin Rudd’s policy of warehousing asylum seekers in his province, declining to allow the Australian Customs vessel Oceanic Viking to berth and railing against the notion Riau Islands should become a ”dumping ground” for irregular immigrants – Sydney Morning Herald

Police head to Asia to fight smugglers – Australia is preparing to dispatch police across Asia to fight people smugglers and expand intelligence and security ties with Indonesia under a landmark deal that could be unveiled within weeks – Sydney Morning Herald

Refugee agency ‘conflicted’, says judge – The judge who decided the Tampa case, Tony North, has criticised the United Nations’ processing of refugees and called for an international tribunal to ensure asylum seekers are not subject to a ”lottery” in which their status depends on wherever they happen to arrive – Sydney Morning Herald

PM Kevin Rudd’s Indonesia plan all at sea as boatpeople threaten suicide – The Australian

‘We’d rather die than go ashore here’: Sri Lankan asylum-seekers – The 78 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking have threatened to kill themselves rather than walk off the ship and be interned in Indonesia – The Australian

Tamil Tigers in detention, says terrorism expert – A leading terrorism expert says a “small number” of Tamil Tigers are in immigration detention in Indonesia having been intercepted on their way to Australia – The Australian

There are Tigers among boatpeople – The debate in Australia over the influx of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka should take into consideration the nature of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan conflict that ended on May 19 – The Australian

Economic matters

Australians must save, or pay higher interest rates – The age of cheap loans ended with the global financial crisis, Westpac managing director Gail Kelly said. “It’s one of the things that keeps me awake at night,” she said – Adelaide Advertiser

Rates rise threatens job prospects – Almost a third of WA businesses plan to put on staff in the lead-up to Christmas but their efforts could be tempered if inflation figures out today force the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates quickly, a survey has found – The West Australian

Vice regal notes

The real cost of Rudd’s UN desire – Taxpayers paid a massive $700,000 for Governor-General Quentin Bryce’s trek to Africa to help win Australia a seat on the UN Security Council – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Law and order

Dr Victor Chang’s killer must be kept in jail – The family of murdered heart surgeon Dr Victor Chang will unite with the State Government to demand his killer be kept behind bars – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Move to overturn Chang killer’s release – The NSW Government will seek to overturn a decision to release one of the killers of the pioneering heart surgeon Victor Chang, despite failing to make a submission about his fate at a public hearing four weeks ago – Sydney Morning Herald

WA assaults getting worse – Assaults in WA are getting more ferocious and bloodier, according to latest police figures. Although the number of reported assaults last financial year was steady at about 23,000, aggravated assaults – those causing bodily harm – surged by more than 9 per cent to 7237 – The West Australian

Surge in threats to minorities – There has been a sharp jump in threats against WA’s ethnic communities and religious groups in the past year, figures show – The West Australian

Development

Federal moves to guide growth of big cities – Future federal funding for capital works will be contingent on the states agreeing to a set of conditions that will enable major cities to cope with Australia’s forecast population explosion and make them better places to live – Sydney Morning Herald

Rudd touts plan for better cities – Australian cities need to be better planned and the Federal Government is willing to use its power over the purse to ensure they are, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said last night – Melbourne Age

‘Super town’ will threaten Barossa – Plans for an 18,000-home “super town” north of Adelaide threaten the heritage and character of the world-famous Barossa region, the local council claims – Adelaide Advertiser

Keneally ‘wrong’ about housing under flight path – The Minister for Planning, Kristina Keneally, has been accused of making the wrong call on a development near Canberra Airport after she made a site visit during a mid-afternoon lull in air traffic when planes were flying in from another direction – Sydney Morning Herald

Industrial relations

Catholic school teachers strike over pay – Catholic schools will close across Queensland today as teachers take to the streets over a pay dispute – Brisbane Courier Mail

Secrecy

Anna Bligh attacked over government-owned corporations – The Bligh Government has been accused of peddling commercial-in-confidence as an excuse to hide the real performance of its corporations – Brisbane Courier Mail

Sport

John Coates’ warning: We could be Olympic also-rans – Australia is in danger of becoming an Olympic Games also-ran, with AOC boss John Coates to today issue a blunt warning about just how far we could fall as a sporting nation. The AOC medal table is likely to reignite debate over an Olympic Games funding review commissioned by the Federal Government, and conducted by corporate heavyweight David Crawford – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Security

Spying has never been so easy – Australia’s domestic spy agency has warned that foreign intelligence agencies have expanded their cyber-espionage and are developing new equipment to infiltrate Australian governments and businesses – Sydney Morning Herald

Opinions

Rudd’s policy belies the brutal honesty of Christmas Island’s names – David Marr writers in the Sydney Morning Herald of a visit to the detention centre called the Construction Camp on Christmas Island.

Ruddboat had all hands on deck to bale out flood of immigration queries – Annabel Crabb pn the question time battle between the climate and the boats – Sydney Morning Herald

It pays to put happiness on a pedestal – Ross Gittins in the Sydney Morning Herald argues that we should be paying a lot more attention to the social opportunity cost of economic growth – starting by putting some sensible controls on gambling.

Gambling on a killer’s parole – The Sydney Daily Telegraph editorial says that allowing Phillip Loon Lee Lim to rejoin society after not having served his full sentence for murdering Dr Victor Chang delivers the wrong message not just to Lim but to the broader community.

Kevin Rudd’s just conning us – Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun says Kevin Rudd is either a fool or a fraud when he claims he’s “disgusted” by Opposition warnings that a few boat people may be terrorists.

Morality and politics don’t mix – writes Shaun Carney in the Melbourne Age. Voters who expect those mired in the pit of politics to reflect their own morals should get used to disappointment.

Building from the base – Paul Kelly in The Australian sees the myths that sanctify the infrastructure debate in Australia about to be slaughtered, as the Rudd government confronts reality: the coming shortage of funds, the problem of infrastructure governance and the need for higher prices in the cause of efficiency.

Beware the UN’s Copenhagen plot – warns Janet Albrechtsen in The Australian

Elsewhere

US health insurance

Senate to add ‘public option’ to healthcare bill – Senate Democrats, bolstered by polls and party support, shape a provision that would let states opt out. Republicans criticize the idea. – Chicago Tribune

Economic matters

US consumers have the blues as confidence falls again – Even though economists think the US recession ended in June, no one seems to have told consumers the good news – The Australian

BUSINESS

Charities contest with financier Michael Milken for ABC Learning group – The Australian

Another day, another pay revolt – Shareholders have launched a stinging protest vote against excessive pay packages just weeks into this year’s annual general meeting season, angered by easy bonuses and weak incentive programs – Sydney Morning Herald

The big whack: Currency collapse drives McDonald’s out of Iceland – Toronto Globe and Mail

ENVIRONMENT

Copenhagen role puts more pressure on PM – The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has increased his stake in the outcome of the Copenhagen climate change conference by agreeing to become one of the three lead negotiators who will pressure other world leaders to commit to action – Sydney Morning Herald

Labor’s ETS farm deal may corner Nationals – The Rudd government appears prepared to accept a Coalition demand to exclude agriculture from its emissions trading scheme but impose regulations to ensure the farm sector reduces greenhouse gases produced from livestock and crops – The Australian

MEDIA

Sun-Times sale to Tyree group complete – The sale of the parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times was completed Monday, as a local group of investors led by investment banker James Tyree became the newspaper’s new owners. It marks the fourth time the Sun-Times has been sold in its 61-year history, which started with its founding by Marshall Field III. The sale, valued at $26.5 million, includes the company’s seven other suburban daily and 51 weekly newspapers – Chicago Sun Times

DMGT’s London Lite faces closure – London Lite, the evening freesheet and competitor to the Evening Standard, is facing closure after its owner Daily Mail & General Trust announced it was in consultation with staff over the paper’s future. The move comes a fortnight after Alexander Lebedev, the Russian owner of the Evening Standard, switched the paper to a freesheet, relying entirely on advertising and boosting circulation from 250,000 to 600,000 – Financial Times of London

LIFE

The drink

Date-rape drink spiking ‘an urban legend’ – Widespread spiking of drinks with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB is an “urban legend” fuelled by young women unwilling to accept they have simply consumed too much alcohol, academics believe – London Daily Telegraph

Docklands booze barn gets the nod – A proposed bar and nightclub in Docklands capable of holding 750 people has won state planning approval – despite a recent admission by a Brumby Government minister that big venues posed risks of drunken violence – Melbourne Age

Uproar over approval for new super-sized bar – As our city reels from alcohol-fuelled violence, the State Government has happily dished out a planning permit for another beer barn – Melbourne Herald Sun

The Punt

Senator Steve Fielding drafts laws before federal parliament to limit bets on poker machines to $1 – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Gaming report urges change – Problem gamblers should be allowed to keep their winnings even if they have been banned from betting in pubs and clubs, the Independent Gambling Authority has recommended – Adelaide Advertiser

Taxis

Cab reform comes at cost – Ther price of new taxi licences being released as part of a reform package will be set high enough to protect existing players in the multibillion-dollar industry, according to a memo circulated to Labor MPs yesterday – Sydney Morning Herald

Child protection

Baby bashed to death – NT Child Protection Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has stood by her department, despite rising numbers of suspected child abuse cases surfacing in the media – Northern Territory News