Media wrap - Cigarettes: First the packaging then the taxing
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
The fags
Cigarettes to come in plain pack - Cigarette packs will be stripped of company logos, colours and brand imagery from January 2012 in a bid to slash the nation's smoking rate to 10 per cent - Sydney Daily Telegraph
Plainly, cigarette packets get the stub - Cigarettes will be sold in plain packages from January 2012 as Kevin Rudd introduces the world's most draconian anti-smoking laws, in a move likely to spark a legal challenge from multinational tobacco companies - The Australian
Health and hospitals
Former ally David Penington savages Kevin Rudd's 'status quo' health reforms - David Penington, a senior fellow at Melbourne's Grattan Institute who initially backed the deal Kevin Rudd struck with the states, said yesterday he was "appalled at the lack of any agreement on governance that differs from the status quo", and had little faith any real change would be forthcoming from the reforms - The Australian
Economic matters
Your bills soar as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd fails to keep costs down - The soaring cost of petrol, child care, housing, electricity and health is proof Kevin Rudd is failing to deliver on his election pledge to tackle the cost of living for working families - Melbourne Herald Sun
Rising inflation keeps heat on interest rates despite European unrest - Economists said a stronger-than-expected March quarter inflation report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics made a third successive rate hike for the year increasingly likely - Melbourne Herald Sun
Treasurer spins on to jobs focus - Wayne Swan has appealed to voters to look beyond Labor's broken promises and policy backflips and deliver it a second term in office on the basis of its protection of jobs during the global recession - The Australian
Elections
The Greens won't beat us on ETS, Labor insists - Labor Party figures do not believe Kevin Rudd's shelving of the emissions trading scheme will drive Labor voters to the Greens and cost the government seats. In fact, Labor strategists are preparing to target the Greens for failing to help Labor get its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme through the Senate - The Australian
League star to tackle Libs - The rugby league star David Boyle will today be made Labor's candidate for the southern NSW federal electorate of Gilmore - Sydney Morning Herald
Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union pulls Labor bankroll - Federal Labor could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in union donations, with construction unionists threatening not to financially support the ALP at this year's election in protest at Kevin Rudd's retention of the coercive powers of the building industry watchdog - The Australian
Emissions trading
Power station plans put on hold by ETS freeze - Up to $2 billion of investment in new power stations will be put on hold as a result of Kevin Rudd's decision to delay his emissions trading scheme, as major power generators are unable to close financing of projects because of uncertainty about climate policies - The Australian
Rudd's ETS flip-flop sparks climate chaos - The Rudd government has conceded its emissions trading scheme could be delayed beyond the 2013 election, and that the politically inspired decision to leave the country in policy limbo for at least three years will make it much more expensive for Australia to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets - Sydney Morning Herald
Censorship
Rudd retreats on web filter legislation - Kevin Rudd has put another election promise on the backburner with his controversial internet filtering legislation set to be shelved until after the next election - The Australian
Public service
Office of Hot Air costs you $90m - Taxpayers will fork out $90 million a year to keep more than 400 public servants employed within the federal Climate Change Department - despite most now having nothing to do until 2013 - Melbourne Herald Sun
Political life
Anna Bligh goes first-class in trip to North America - Queensland may have lost its treasured credit rating and is selling off prized assets but it's first-class luxury for Premier Anna Bligh - Brisbane Courier Mail
Population
Aspiring Australian political party wants two child per family limit - Australian governments should encourage a two-child limit for families and slash immigration to halt population growth, a new aspiring political party says. The Stop Population Growth Now party formed this week to put pressure on state and federal governments to slow population growth to zero in a bid to protect the environment - Adelaide Advertiser
Opinions
The incredible shrinking man - The electorate may well be grateful common sense has prevailed but, in abandoning his policies, Mr Rudd has reduced his political stature - Editorial in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Brumby must end violence - There's an obvious question to ask the Premier as he spins, sells and smiles, but it's one he dodges. It is simply this: what took you so long? For years there have been tearful public demands that law and order be taken more seriously and clear warnings that people did not feel safe. So, Premier, why didn't you act? - Neil Mitchell in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Prices not right, Mr Rudd - Rudd isn't there when bad news is announced. But you know something? He popped up at a Sydney hospital yesterday to announce 18 new beds - the first of 1300 promised to the states. Does that mean Labor wants an election on health - the top concern for working families? You betcha - Phillip Hudson in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Rudd promised the world but has delivered nothing - writes Piers Akerman in the Sydney Daily Telegraph
Government without a cause, attacking its friends - Gary Johns, writing in The Australian, sees a government without purpose roams the stage with nothing to show and looks to pick a fight or blame others, in this case state governments for allegedly choking the hospitals.
A damaging and inglorious end - Kevin Rudd's colleagues are holding him, not Tony Abbott, responsible for the government's failure on climate change and the damaging depiction of him as a gutless and cowardly leader devoid of conviction - Dennis Shanahan in The Australian
Big house hosts killer game of pass the buck - Samantha Maiden suggests in The Australian that perhaps the ETS is emerging as Australia's political serial killer: first Brendan Nelson, then Malcolm Turnbull, and now Kevin Rudd's credibility
Greatest moral challenge turns out to be Rudd's dearest folly - says Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald
LIFE
Immunisation
South Australian officials 'hiding' flu vaccination statistics - Authorities refuse to reveal how many South Australian children have had adverse reactions to the seasonal flu vaccination, which is suspected to have caused high fevers and convulsions in up to 300 children nationally - Adelaide Advertiser
The fags
Cigarettes to come in plain pack - Cigarette packs will be stripped of company logos, colours and brand imagery from January 2012 in a bid to slash the nation's smoking rate to 10 per cent - Sydney Daily Telegraph
Plainly, cigarette packets get the stub - Cigarettes will be sold in plain packages from January 2012 as Kevin Rudd introduces the world's most draconian anti-smoking laws, in a move likely to spark a legal challenge from multinational tobacco companies - The Australian
Health and hospitals
Former ally David Penington savages Kevin Rudd's 'status quo' health reforms - David Penington, a senior fellow at Melbourne's Grattan Institute who initially backed the deal Kevin Rudd struck with the states, said yesterday he was "appalled at the lack of any agreement on governance that differs from the status quo", and had little faith any real change would be forthcoming from the reforms - The Australian
Economic matters
Your bills soar as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd fails to keep costs down - The soaring cost of petrol, child care, housing, electricity and health is proof Kevin Rudd is failing to deliver on his election pledge to tackle the cost of living for working families - Melbourne Herald Sun
Rising inflation keeps heat on interest rates despite European unrest - Economists said a stronger-than-expected March quarter inflation report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics made a third successive rate hike for the year increasingly likely - Melbourne Herald Sun
Treasurer spins on to jobs focus - Wayne Swan has appealed to voters to look beyond Labor's broken promises and policy backflips and deliver it a second term in office on the basis of its protection of jobs during the global recession - The Australian
Elections
The Greens won't beat us on ETS, Labor insists - Labor Party figures do not believe Kevin Rudd's shelving of the emissions trading scheme will drive Labor voters to the Greens and cost the government seats. In fact, Labor strategists are preparing to target the Greens for failing to help Labor get its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme through the Senate - The Australian
League star to tackle Libs - The rugby league star David Boyle will today be made Labor's candidate for the southern NSW federal electorate of Gilmore - Sydney Morning Herald
Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union pulls Labor bankroll - Federal Labor could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in union donations, with construction unionists threatening not to financially support the ALP at this year's election in protest at Kevin Rudd's retention of the coercive powers of the building industry watchdog - The Australian
Emissions trading
Power station plans put on hold by ETS freeze - Up to $2 billion of investment in new power stations will be put on hold as a result of Kevin Rudd's decision to delay his emissions trading scheme, as major power generators are unable to close financing of projects because of uncertainty about climate policies - The Australian
Rudd's ETS flip-flop sparks climate chaos - The Rudd government has conceded its emissions trading scheme could be delayed beyond the 2013 election, and that the politically inspired decision to leave the country in policy limbo for at least three years will make it much more expensive for Australia to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets - Sydney Morning Herald
Censorship
Rudd retreats on web filter legislation - Kevin Rudd has put another election promise on the backburner with his controversial internet filtering legislation set to be shelved until after the next election - The Australian
Public service
Office of Hot Air costs you $90m - Taxpayers will fork out $90 million a year to keep more than 400 public servants employed within the federal Climate Change Department - despite most now having nothing to do until 2013 - Melbourne Herald Sun
Political life
Anna Bligh goes first-class in trip to North America - Queensland may have lost its treasured credit rating and is selling off prized assets but it's first-class luxury for Premier Anna Bligh - Brisbane Courier Mail
Population
Aspiring Australian political party wants two child per family limit - Australian governments should encourage a two-child limit for families and slash immigration to halt population growth, a new aspiring political party says. The Stop Population Growth Now party formed this week to put pressure on state and federal governments to slow population growth to zero in a bid to protect the environment - Adelaide Advertiser
Opinions
The incredible shrinking man - The electorate may well be grateful common sense has prevailed but, in abandoning his policies, Mr Rudd has reduced his political stature - Editorial in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Brumby must end violence - There's an obvious question to ask the Premier as he spins, sells and smiles, but it's one he dodges. It is simply this: what took you so long? For years there have been tearful public demands that law and order be taken more seriously and clear warnings that people did not feel safe. So, Premier, why didn't you act? - Neil Mitchell in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Prices not right, Mr Rudd - Rudd isn't there when bad news is announced. But you know something? He popped up at a Sydney hospital yesterday to announce 18 new beds - the first of 1300 promised to the states. Does that mean Labor wants an election on health - the top concern for working families? You betcha - Phillip Hudson in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Rudd promised the world but has delivered nothing - writes Piers Akerman in the Sydney Daily Telegraph
Government without a cause, attacking its friends - Gary Johns, writing in The Australian, sees a government without purpose roams the stage with nothing to show and looks to pick a fight or blame others, in this case state governments for allegedly choking the hospitals.
A damaging and inglorious end - Kevin Rudd's colleagues are holding him, not Tony Abbott, responsible for the government's failure on climate change and the damaging depiction of him as a gutless and cowardly leader devoid of conviction - Dennis Shanahan in The Australian
Big house hosts killer game of pass the buck - Samantha Maiden suggests in The Australian that perhaps the ETS is emerging as Australia's political serial killer: first Brendan Nelson, then Malcolm Turnbull, and now Kevin Rudd's credibility
Greatest moral challenge turns out to be Rudd's dearest folly - says Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald
LIFE
Immunisation
South Australian officials 'hiding' flu vaccination statistics - Authorities refuse to reveal how many South Australian children have had adverse reactions to the seasonal flu vaccination, which is suspected to have caused high fevers and convulsions in up to 300 children nationally - Adelaide Advertiser
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