Media wrap - Is consensual sex by an adult with a 13 year old rape?

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Health and hospitals

Rudd back-up plan will punish States - WA and Victoria's resistance to Kevin Rudd's hospital reforms could see those States punished financially as part of back-up plan by the Federal Government to avoid a divisive referendum on health care - The West Australian

The price we'll pay if health plan fails - Taxpayers face a bill of at least $32 million to hold a referendum on health reform if premiers fail to sign-up to Kevin Rudd's new health system on Monday - Adelaide Advertiser

Rudd takes aim at Brumby - Kevin Rudd has ruled out extending the deadline for reaching agreement on his health and hospitals reform plan, saying the people have had ''a gutful'' of squabbling - Sydney Morning Herald

Brumby, Rann in talks on compromise health deal - Premier John Brumby and his South Australian counterpart Mike Rann held talks in Melbourne yesterday as Victoria pushed for a compromise deal at Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's health summit on Monday - Melbourne Age

Kevin Rudd rejects health compromise - Kevin Rudd rejected a key compromise from the states and demanded a decision at Monday's health summit with premiers as he hit Sydney's airwaves before today's crucial NSW cabinet decision on his plan - The Australian

Immigration

Boat crisis forces visa-raid halt - Immigration Department officials have been ordered to back off all non-essential visa checking, such as raids on brothels and illegal fruit pickers, as mainland detention centres are at risk of overflowing because of the constant transfer of asylum-seekers from Christmas Island. The Australian has learnt that Immigration Department compliance officers were told late last week to detain people only where necessary, because of the space pressure inside detention centres - The Australian

Elections

Libs try out Farr-Jones for seat of Wentworth - The Liberal Party is polling public attitudes towards Nick Farr-Jones with the aim of asking the former Wallabies captain to contest preselection for Malcolm Turnbull's seat of Wentworth. That is, if Mr Turnbull actually retires - Sydney Morning Herald 

14 Labor MPs live up to 40kms from their electorates - Fourteen Labor MPs live up to 40km from their electorates and offices in a trend that will anger voters in the run-up to the election - Melbourne Herald Sun


Fund raising

For sale: access to senior Liberals - Victorian businesses will hand over tens of thousands of dollars to the Liberal Party today in exchange for exclusive access to its most senior federal and state politicians, including leaders Tony Abbott and Ted Baillieu - Melbourne Age



Leadership

President Barack Obama says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is 'smart, humble' - Barack Obama says Kevin Rudd is "smart but humble" and the political leader he is closest to on the world stage - Melbourne Herald Sun

Obama says PM smart, humble - Barack Obama has described Kevin Rudd as ''smart but humble'', declaring that the Prime Minister ''works wonderfully well in multilateral settings'' - Melbourne Age

PM staff in the doghouse - They say politics is show business for ugly people but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday put a new twist on working in Canberra - it's a dog's life. Defending a massive loss of ministerial staff across his Government, Mr Rudd suggested working for him was equal to a "dog's year" of seven years. "So folks, stay with me for three or four years, that's probably 28 or 30 years more in actual time," the PM said - Adelaide Advertiser

Security

Police did not act on terrorist sermon - The NSW counter-terrorism squad knew about an al-Qaeda-linked sermon delivered at a Sydney mosque but did nothing because it did not believe that the radical imam who gave it was a threat - Sydney Morning Herald

Tasmania

Labor, Greens deal closer - It is understood that Premier David Bartlett hopes to finalise negotiations with the Greens before next Monday's crucial Council of Australian Governments meeting on Commonwealth health reforms - Hobart Mercury

Education

No school to lose funds: Gillard - Public and private school funding will be based on the number of disadvantaged students they educate, their location and the fees they charge parents under a looming shake-up of Federal education spending - The West Australian

Schools will keep funding under review, Gillard says - No school will receive less money under funding arrangements to be announced next year, the Education Minister, Julia Gillard, has said - Sydney Morning Herald

Julia Gillard planning overhaul of schools funding - Julia Gillard has signalled a massive education overhaul that will review the funding for every public and private school in the country. - The Australian

State ministers back Gillard on strikebreakers for tests - The Australian

Savings

Kevin Rudd offers tax breaks on savings - Mum and dad investors will receive generous concessions to park their savings with banks and building societies as part of sweeping tax reforms - Sydney Daily Telegraph

Defence

We've got your back in Afghan province - The US is planning to send extra forces to provide security for Australian troops in Afghanistan after the Rudd government declined to send any more - Sydney Morning Herald



Racism

Young Liberal Nick Sowden in Barack Obama race row after offensive comments posted on Twitter - A racism scandal has hit the Queensland Young Liberals after a member allegedly called Barack Obama a monkey on Twitter during the US President's interview on the 7.30 Report last night - Brisbane Courier Mail

 Opinions

Tough stance on boatpeople all talk - Just seven days ago three Rudd government ministers held a dramatic news conference to announce a policy volte face on illegal boat arrivals and applications for asylum. In the week since the announcement the policy and justifications have been shredded and exposed as a cynical and deceitful political exercise - Dennis Shanahan in The Australian

Political strife? Trot out the worthy wife - A canny and social media-savvy wife has become the latest must-have political accessory for aspiring leaders. While Therese Rein is keeping up with the times, Tony Abbott’s wife Margie is not interested in a career as a political sidekick - Sue Dunlevy in the Sydney Daily Telegraph

Facts went up in flames - Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun writes that the question now is not whether Christine Nixon deserted her post as head of the emergency response on Black Saturday. It's whether the now-retired police chief is a perjurer as well.


LIFE

Sex offences

Flaw seen in sex offender laws - Paedophiles and rapists accused of breaching the conditions of their supervised release under dangerous sex offender laws are likely to stay in the community while waiting for a court hearing because of a loophole in the legislation - The West Australian

Labor, Opposition buy into child sex consent debate - Minister Paul Henderson said yesterday he did not believe a 13-year-old girl could consent to having sex with her teacher. He made the comments after a Supreme Court judge said a teacher was not a rapist "as that word is ordinarily understood" because there was no evidence the sex he had with his student was not consensual - Northern Territory News
Daylight saving

Daylight saving split-zone proposal divides Queensland - Queensland is a state divided over where to draw the line, with fierce bickering erupting over the area daylight saving should cover in the southeast. - Brisbane Courier Mail

Universities

University access loophole bypasses year 12 - High school students are exploiting a loophole to gain access to university regardless of their exam results, raising concerns about the integrity of the Year 12 program. Changes to age restrictions for the Special Tertiary Admissions Test mean young people can bypass Year 12 exams and sit the mature-age test as an alternative way to enter universities - Adelaide Advertiser

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