Media wrap - A funny little poll


POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Polls

Coalition draws level with Labor as Abbott bites – The Rudd Government's bungled home insulation program is costing it crucial support among NSW voters, who are turning to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. An exclusive Sun-Herald/Taverner poll shows Labor is now level-pegging with the Coalition – Sydney Sun Herald

Rudd not insulated from a series of unfortunate events – The sheen is coming off Kevin Rudd. After an appalling few weeks due to the bungled home insulation program, voters are rethinking their opinion of a leader who has had nothing but sky-high popularity for much of his three years as Labor leader – Sydney Sun Herald

Women like Gillard for PM: poll – More than one in three voters believe Julia Gillard would make a better prime minister than Kevin Rudd. A Taverner poll taken late last week also reveals slipping support for Labor overall, with both sides now running neck and neck on a two-party-preferred basis – Melbourne Sunday Age

Elections

Labor's sweet face kicks off campaign - NSW Premier Kristina Keneally will begin the fight of her political life with a personal plea to voters to give her a chance in an unprecedentedly early election campaign – Sydney Sunday Telegraph

Morialta marginal seat a problem for Rann and Labor – Labor is in deep trouble in the marginal suburban Hills seat of Morialta, according to a Sunday Mail poll showing a dramatic 10 per cent swing to the Liberal Party on a two-party preferred basis – Adelaide Sunday Mail

$8m pledge to fix bullying – The State Government has pledged $8 million to tackle bullying in Tasmanian schools. Premier David Bartlett said $4 million over four years would go directly to schools so they could combat face-to-face, cyber and mobile-phone bullying. Another $4 million would boost the number of school psychologists by 20 per cent, from 60 to 72, in the wake of staff losses – Hobart Mercury

Insulation

Combet will use union smarts to smooth over batts blunders – The new Minister for Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, will use his experience fighting for asbestos victims to ease community concerns about the federal government's rooftop insulation scheme – Sydney Sun Herald

Peter Garrett barefoot and dejected – A barefoot and dejected Peter Garrett yesterday insisted he would stay on in politics, despite being demoted for his role in the $2.5 billion home insulation fiasco – Sydney Sunday Telegraph

Political life

Anna Bligh handballs May Day fury to Paul Lucas – Premier Anna Bligh will conveniently be out of the country when angry unions march on Labour Day in May. She will lead a state trade mission to Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Canada and the US from April 22 to May 7, breaking the tradition of the ALP leader heading Brisbane's Labour Day march – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Labor MP Rita Saffioti wants her baby in Parliament – A Labor politician has been told her seven-week-old baby would be deemed a stranger and possibly removed from parliament if she attempts to nurse the baby in the Legislative Assembly - as she would like to do – Perth Sunday Times

Political lurks and perks

Economy class Nattrass hits out at first-class Lisa Scaffidi – Jet-setting Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi clashed with her predecessor Peter Nattrass as it was revealed she spent nearly $30,000 more than him on international travel in almost half the time – Perth Sunday Times

Economic matters

Billions squandered: Abbott – Cost blow-outs and safety risks have raised the alarm for parents and principals as cracks appear in the Rudd Government's multibillion-dollar schools stimulus program – Sydney Sun Herald

Development

MPs fought Windsor plan – A group of Brumby government MPs wrote a passionate joint submission against the $260 million Hotel Windsor redevelopment and raised concerns with embattled Planning Minister Justin Madden, deepening political controversy over the project – Melbourne Sunday Age

SA's most controversial building – Plans for a building likely to be South Australia's most controversial and an $18 million overpass for McLaren Vale were unveiled today as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joined Premier Mike Rann on the election trail – Adelaide Sunday Mail

Security

Terrorists could 'steal' Aussie planes – Aircraft and iconic public places are wide open to terror attacks, security experts and former airline staff claim – Sydney Sunday Telegraph

Defence

Defence's new choppers are duds: report – An internal German army report has revealed serious deficiencies in the European-designed helicopter that will replace Australia's military helicopter fleet in a $4.2 billion deal – Melbourne Sunday Age

Law and order

Key promises from 1999 anti-knife plan unfulfilled – The sincerity of John Brumby's latest war on knife crime has been called into question after a Sunday Herald Sun investigation found the Premier had failed to deliver on promises he made more than 10 years ago to tackle the problem – Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun

Opinions

It was only so long that PM could stand by his man – The notion of "ministerial responsibility" has got a big workout in talk about the insulation disaster. The reality is that for all the highfalutin theory, what happens to a minister who stuffs up is all about the politics – Sydney Sun Herald

Rudd buries nuclear waste at bottom of bin – Stephanie Peatling in the Sydney Sun Herald gives a West Wing interpretation to government attempts at spin doctoring away the bad news this week

Prime piece to complete the giant Sydney jigsaw – Former prime minister Paul Keating in the Sydney Sun Herald shares his preferred vision for what has become Sydney Harbour's most contentious site

Rudd hasn't mastered Beattie's art – Paul Daley in the Sydney Sun Herald writes that for former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie the political mea culpa became an exquisite art form. It is an art form that Kevin Rudd has flirted with occasionally and tried to emulate as Labor leader. But last week he almost channelled Beattie in a way that might have made the former Queensland premier proud ... if only Rudd had got the timing right.

Congestion the ultimate cost of people ingestion – Josh Gordon in the Melbourne Sunday Age writes how despite changing rhetoric, the reality is our leaders remain hopelessly addicted to population growth. It is a drug they are unlikely to kick any time soon. Size, for some misguided reason, has long been equated with importance. But there is another, more intrinsic reason for the addiction. Population growth is one of the simplest ways for a government to boost economic growth, which is in turn regarded as a key measure of political success.

Hitting the wrong target - Sarah Honig, a columnist and senior editorial writer for The Jerusalem Post, writes in the Melbourne Sunday Age that the false-passport row denies Israel's right to act against those trying to destroy it. Accustomed and resigned as Israelis are to the world's double standards, they nevertheless watch with renewed amazement as Mabhouh's suspected killers are placed on Interpol's wanted list, where Mabhouh himself never appeared - soaked with blood as his hands were.

BUSINESS

Mighty Panthers declawed – Panthers, Australia's largest licensed club empire, is in financial meltdown and is expected to report an $11 million loss to members – Sydney Sun Herald

ENVIRONMENT

State warned to get off the grass – The Victorian government has been accused of economic lunacy and ecological madness for promoting a grass its own experts warn is capable of invading millions of hectares – Melbourne Sunday Age

LIFE

Education

Grammar rules in the new curriculum's principles of learning – Grammar will be front and centre of the federal government's new national English curriculum. The standards for English, history, maths and science will also be guided by three overarching principles: indigenous history and culture, sustainability and Australia's engagement with AsiaSydney Sun Herald

Obesity


The drugs

Wake-up call for teen pot smokers – Young adults who used marijuana as teens were more likely than those who didn't to develop schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms, a seven-year Australian study found – Sydney Sun Herald

Drug tests on Queensland Police Service members at low rate – Despite rising concerns about skyrocketing drug use in the Queensland's Police Service, only one in 250 officers are screened for substance abuse each year – Brisbane Sunday Mail

Real estate

Broady speaking, buyers are flocking to the north and west - They have never been flash or fashionable places to live, but with Melbourne's median house price now well over half a million dollars, buyers are flocking to the city's cheaper northern and western suburbs – Melbourne Sunday Age

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is Scott Morrison getting ahead of Malcolm Turnbull in the GST debate?

Prime Minister Scott Morrison under pressure as the question about knowledge of a rape gets embarrassing

Remembering that Labor only lost last time because of Bill Shorten