Media wrap - Look forward to a whole summer holiday of leadership speculation

THE FRONT PAGES

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Leadership

Battered Turnbull put on notice – Malcolm Turnbull is likely to face further destabilisation over summer after staring down his critics yesterday and narrowly defeating a move to put his leadership to a vote – Melbourne Age

Malcolm Turnbull sharpens the knife – Malcolm Turnbull has begun heaping pressure on senior Liberal senators to back Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme or face the sack after crushing an attempted leadership challenge yesterday – The Australian

12 Liberal senators ready to cross floor – At least 12 of the 32 Liberals sitting in the Senate appear to be preparing to cross the floor on the emissions trading bills when a Senate vote is finally held, either on Saturday or early next week – The Australian

It's time to move on, Malcolm Turnbull reiterates – A review of the Liberal Party’s day in CanberraThe Australian

Humbled Turnbull: I will change – Malcolm Turnbull’s critics have vowed to keep pursuing him and warned that unless the Coalition's standing in the polls improves early next year, he should expect another leadership challenge – Sydney Morning Herald

Wounded Malcolm Turnbull could do better – A bruised Malcolm Turnbull promised to improve his humility and "interpersonal skills" after a big scare from Liberal dissidents who yesterday wanted him toppled – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Fix-it man takes another dumper – Kevin Andrews, who acted as John Howard's go-to man for tricky tasks, took on another no-win challenge yesterday – Sydney Morning Herald

Turnbull on notice - Malcolm Turnbull has been put on notice to unify the Opposition with a more inclusive and humble style or face another challenge to his leadership after narrowly avoiding a coup yesterday – The West Australian

Economic matters

Election budget will be tough, says Tanner – The Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, has signalled an austerity election campaign, saying he will approve new spending in the budget only where it is offset by new savings – Sydney Morning Herald


Polls

Isobel's team flies as Michelle flees – Internal polling shows the Liberal Party is gaining ground, with senior Liberals saying the sex allegations against Premier Mike Rann could further boost the party's stock – Adelaide Advertiser

Political life

Judy Spence ignored senior bureaucrats' advice on grants – Former sport minister Judy Spence allegedly went against the advice of senior bureaucrats by approving money for sports facilities that failed to meet proper funding guidelines. A top public servant told the Crime and Misconduct Commission yesterday he was directed by Ms Spence and her chief-of-staff, Simon Tutt, to ensure certain organisations were given high priority for government cash – Brisbane Courier Mail

Lurks and perks

Taxpayers fund $8000 interest-free loan for top bureaucrat – The boss of the Royal Children's Hospital is under investigation after approving an $8000 interest-free loan of taxpayer funds to a senior bureaucrat for personal overseas travel. The Brisbane Courier-Mail can reveal RCH district manager Doug Brown approved the payment, despite staff loans being prohibited under Queensland Health financial management guidelines.

Welfare payments

Jenny Macklin spells out welfare changes – Families Minister Jenny Macklin will gain the discretion to declare any locality in the country an area of extreme disadvantage under new laws that will open up welfare recipients to compulsory income management – The Australian

Utegate revisited

Godwin Grech offered to stay in Treasury as a mole for opposition – Senate Privileges Committee finds that Godwin Grech, the public servant at the centre of the OzCar affair, offered to stay in Treasury because that was where he could be of most value to the Liberal Party and claimed to have been doing fundraising for Malcolm Turnbull – The Australian

Political manure

Nathan Rees in trouble over manure attack – Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner yesterday challenged Nathan Rees to a confrontation outside Parliament after the Premier attacked his 12-year-old daughter's manure business – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Opinions

Two Kevins come out the big winners – Dennis Shanahan in The Australian writes how two Kevins were big winners in the Liberal Party's leadership spill ballot yesterday - Kevin Rudd and Kevin Andrews. Which is a curious political outcome, because one wasn't in the ballot and the other one lost the vote.

Token ETS a sensible idea - The Rudd government shows all its fine words on climate change are not to be taken too seriously by refusing to export uranium to India, concludes a climate change agnostic Greg Sheridan in The Australian. No one in the world really takes this issue as seriously as they pretend to. Neither should we.

Turnbull has two choices and both lead to oblivion – Peter van Onselen writes in The Australian that while the problems this week were exacerbated by Turnbull's approach when confronting dissenters on Tuesday, the divisions inside the parliamentary team go deeper than their leader. Conservatives and moderates are in a battle to the death over what the modern Liberal Party should represent – The Australian

Political challenges typically followed by a second, which succeeds – Mike Steketee in The Australian studies the form of previous leadership races.

Lib's leader is past his use-by date – argues Neil Mitchell in the Melbourne Herald Sun

Opposition leader only safe until the coalition grows up – Peter Hartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald writes that, in short, the Coalition is split, the Liberals are divided, the leader's support is hollow, the party faces electoral oblivion. There are no grown-ups.

Heavy burden of leadership – Shaun Carney writes in the Melbourne Age how Tony Abbott's dilemma on climate change in the past few months has reflected the wider divide within his party: his head has told him to go with the CPRS, to get it out of the way; and his heart has told him to stay conservative and not to let Kevin Rudd get what he wants.

Petty officers, major battle and general confusion - Never, in the field of Liberal warfare, was so much energy expended to achieve so little concludes Annabel Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald

Calling John: party divided – Katharine Murphy in the Melbourne Age writes how Howard has left Canberra but, being John Howard, he has not quit the political action - even as the riven and restive colleagues he left behind cannot seem to come to terms with his legacy, or decide who and what to be in his absence.

The bottom line will be no different – George Megalogenis on the arithmetic behind the Labor-Liberal deal which will see no household worse off because the smaller handouts to households would be offset against a lower carbon price which, in turn, would lead to lower price rises for electricity and gas than originally thought.

Tough love works best – Extending income management beyond Northern Territory indigenous communities to the rest of Australia should get bipartisan support. Why? Because it works and is supported by many of the biggest victims of welfare dysfunction: women and children writes David Moore in The Australian

Invitation to rent-seekers – What a mess, writes Alan Wood in The Australian. In the space of four months Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull will have burdened the nation with an ill-advised renewable energy target and a flawed and questionable emissions trading scheme, both in the name of saving us from an allegedly imminent global warming disaster, which they won't. As a result we have seen the return of economic rent-seeking - the lobbying of government for taxpayer support - on a scale not matched since Australia's tariff wall was dismantled in the latter decades of the 20th century, and the economic and social costs will not be negligible.

Baillieu has a year and a day to convince voters he's the man – Paul Austin in the Melbourne Age writes how, nearly four years into his stint in this brutal job, it is clear Ted Baillieu is failing to either achieve the cut-through or command the respect that an alternative premier would want at this stage in the political cycle. Like struggling leaders through history, he also seems to cop more than his fair share of bad luck.

Sex tale mum the big loser – Jill Singer in the Melbourne Herald Sun writes some common sense about Mike Rann and Michelle Chantelois. Chantelois is behaving abominably.

BUSINESS

China bubble puts our recovery in doubtChina’s economy is facing a breakdown, one of the Asian giant's most influential economists warned last night. This would derail Australia's dependence on China's rapid growth to drive it clear of the global downturn – The Australian

Profits squeezed at d'Arenberg - McLaren Vale wine group d'Arenberg has had its revenue and profits pruned by consumers switching to cheaper wines after the global economic slowdown – Sydney Morning Herald

ENVIRONMENT

Dirty business: polluters set to reap rewards – There will be plenty of money for polluting industries in the new emissions trading scheme, plenty of money for households, but not everyone will be a winner – Sydney Morning Herald

ETS helps, hinders households - Almost seven million households will get some sort of handout from the Federal Government to offset the cost of its emissions trading scheme - but millions of others will miss out – The West Australian

MEDIA

Fetch locks in ISP partners for new pay-TV  - Internet service providers iiNet and Internode have confirmed they are working with internet TV provider Fetch TV to deliver a low-cost pay-TV service over broadband to their customers' TV sets – The Australian

A Current Affair gets the chop – Channel Nine has announced it will axe the South Australian edition of A Current Affair hosted by Kate Collins. The national edition, hosted by Tracy Grimshaw, will instead be broadcast in South Australia and Western Australia where a local version has also been taken off air – Adelaide Advertiser

Speaker defends himself against Tweeter criticism – Speaker Harry Jenkins has defended the way he runs Question Time after an MP criticised him on social networking site Twitter. On Monday, Queensland Liberal frontbencher Peter Dutton used Twitter to complain the Speaker was too lenient on the Government – Brisbane Courier Mail

LIFE

Divorce

Family Court appeal on violence – Couples are making allegations of violence when they file for divorce but are not following through when the case goes to trial, according to Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant – The Australian

Domestic violence

PM hails attitude shift on violence – Almost all Australians now acknowledge that domestic violence is a crime, but a quarter of the nation believe women make false claims about being raped, and one in five think violence is OK if the perpetrator later regrets their actions – Melbourne Age

Burgers

They burgered it up: monster meal loses two cheese slices and 6.7g fat – The mega burger attacked yesterday for being overloaded with fat and salt quietly slimmed down overnight - losing almost five grams of saturated fat and one gram of salt from the nutrition values listed on the Hungry Jack's website – Sydney Morning Herald

Gay rights

Not a bride in sight as couple tie the knot – Chris Rumble sighed loudly as Warren McGaw slipped a heavily jewelled ring onto his wedding finger yesterday. ''Blingy, like our personalities,'' Mr Rumble said. The men married in Australia's first legally recognised civil ceremony in Canberra, paving the way for others to have their partnerships validated – Sydney Morning Herald

Real estate

House prices to rise further but they're worth it, says RBA - In a speech that amounted to a defence of Australia's historically high house prices the Reserve Bank deputy governor, Ric Battellino, told a housing conference yesterday to expect worse and to recognise home buyers were getting value for money – Sydney Morning Herald

Expat high-flyers coming home to roost? – Just who is buying the great houses of Melbourne? It's a question puzzling much of Melbourne at the moment, after the Orrong Road home of former Pacific Dunlop chief executive Phillip Brass fetched more than $20 million last week – Melbourne Age

Sport

Questions arise about sport panel bypassing Olympics – The federal Sports Minister, Kate Ellis, has come under sustained pressure from the Australian Olympic Committee to prove the independence of her ''independent sport panel'', which had strong links with the AFL and which controversially recommended funds be diverted from Olympic sports to professional sports such as Australian football – Sydney Morning Herald

Law and order

Super police will fight Australian mafia – Organised crime will be tackled by a new Federal Government body which Attorney-General Robert McClelland said will be the "optimal response" to drug syndicates and money-launderers. The Australian Federal Police, ASIO, Australian Tax Office and other powerful agencies will all be involved in what is to be known as the Commonwealth Organised Crime Strategic Framework – Sydney Daily Telegraph

DNA doubts force review of casesVictoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions has been forced to re-examine all cases from the past five years to find if any have been undermined by analysis of DNA profiles now deemed unreliable by police scientists – Melbourne Age

Bikies threaten to sue pubs over gang colour 'discrimination' – They call themselves outlaws but there's a point at which even the bikies draw a line - and this is it. Don't outlaw them from the pub. Members of at least 21 of the state's bikie gangs are preparing to sue the 53 pubs, clubs, hotels and cocktail bars from Wollongong to The Entrance where they are banned if they turn up for a drink wearing club colours or their trademark bikie jewellery – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Arrival of two notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs sparks fears of bikie war in Victoria – Two notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs have arrived in Victoria, sparking fears of a bikie war. A confidential police alert issued this week confirms that the gangs are setting up new bases in Melbourne – Melbourne Herald Sun

Parliament told CMC head 'refused to act' on police complaint – A magistrate’s wife has detailed explosive claims about how the head of Queensland's corruption watchdog refused to investigate her allegations about cabals of police families committing serious crimes – Brisbane Courier Mail

Aboriginal affairs

Land rights win in Kakadu long time coming – One of the longest-running native title claims in Australian history has been settled by a township being handed to traditional owners. Jabiru, 220kms east of Darwin, will now be leased back to the Federal Government rent free for 99 years – Northern Territory News

The drink

Drink-drivers to have their vehicles confiscated – Drunk- drivers are set to have their cars confiscated after the CLP gained enough support to pass legislation for the first time in eight years – Northern Territory News


Alcohol ban is 'a threat to footy' – A crackdown on alcohol at football matches has reduced violence but may threaten the sustainability of the game in Central Australia, researchers have found. The Australian Football League has introduced a zero-tolerance policy which has led to a decline in sponsorship and canteen revenue – Adelaide Advertiser






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