Media wrap - Politicians return to breakfast television
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
Campaigning
Rudd's TV comeback aims to bring home the bacon - The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will revive his appearances on Channel Seven's Sunrise , the program many believe helped him win office, only this time without his former sparring partner, the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey – Sydney Morning Herald
Rudd to face TV questions – Voters will soon be given a chance to put Kevin Rudd on the spot on live television when he reprises his weekly gig on the Seven Network's Sunrise program. In an election-year gamble, the Prime Minister will face-off against the new Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott – Melbourne Age
PM keeps his cool as community lets rip – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faced fire over water resources, indigenous issues, climate change and immigration at a community cabinet meeting last night – Adelaide Advertiser
Gay trip to Japan under fire – Gunns Ltd chairman John Gay has joined Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn on a trip to Japan . Greens leader Nick McKim attacked the trip, saying it was yet another "line in the sand that's been moved". "Clearly, Mr Llewellyn is going over there to peddle misinformation that Tasmanian forests are harvested in a sustainable way," Mr McKim said – Hobart Mercury
Bigger Liberal nips at tax – Just over a month ago Hobart publican Gordon Latimer was happily toasting Premier David Bartlett's land tax reforms. The beer was flowing and there were smiles all round. But yesterday it was a very different story, with the licensee of the Shipwright's Arms swinging his allegiance to the Liberals and their proposal to abolish land tax within a decade – Hobart Mercury
Economic matters
Consumers in a mood to spend – Rapidly improving job prospects and recovering sharemarket wealth are propelling us to spend as we haven't in years despite three consecutive rate rises and the prospect of more on the way – Melbourne Age
Hockey puts industry protection cuts on agenda – Shadow reasurer Joe Hockey has exposed the Coalition to a scare campaign by proposing that cutbacks in subsidies for the car and textile, clothing and footwear industries be seriously considered – Melbourne Age
Libs may axe job subsidies for car and textile industry – The $765 million a year spent by Canberra to subsidise the car and textile industries - and thousands of Victorian jobs - could be axed or scaled back under a Liberal government – Melbourne Herald Sun
Superannuation savings suffered as crisis bit – Australians have deserted their superannuation funds in droves, choosing to invest their savings elsewhere, having their confidence shattered by the global financial crisis and amid the government's ongoing rule tinkering – The Australian
Productivity decline challenges Rudd – Australia ’s productivity is lower today than when the Rudd government came to office, with employment growing by more than output during the global economic downturn – The Australian
Health and hospitals
GP slams ambulance shortage – An angry Yarrawonga doctor has called for the State Government to urgently boost ambulance services in northern Victoria , saying a death was inevitable in the area unless chronic shortages were addressed – Melbourne Age
Medicos wage war on billions wasted on bureaucrat jobs – Australia ’s peak medical group will demand Queensland Health stop hiring bureaucrats as part of a new name and shame campaign targeting the hundreds of millions of dollars it claims are being wasted in hospitals – Brisbane Courier Mail
Immigration
Visas for Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum seekers hang on riot – The refugee claims of 11 asylum seekers are in the balance over their involvement in a riot at the Christmas Island Detention Centre – Melbourne Herald Sun
Transport
Rudd drives freight revamp – Massive new investment in road, rail and ports is needed to ensure Australia 's productivity and economic development, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in Adelaide yesterday – Adelaide Advertiser
Work on metros 'to start this year' - The Sydney central business district metro line will go ahead, but without a Rozelle station, and the Government will expedite the $8 billion West Metro, senior government sources say. Sources said yesterday that construction of the line through the CBD would start this year, concurrently with the West Metro – Sydney Morning Herald
The West Metro is Kristina Keneally's railway to re-election – The NSW Government is fast-tracking the $8 billion West Metro to be completed within six years in a bid to salvage credibility ahead of the election – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Toll of misery as tunnel goes under - The Lane Cove Tunnel has collapsed into receivership, becoming the third major infrastructure project in the city to fail in the past two decades due to wildly optimistic traffic forecasts – Sydney Morning Herald
Pakula: the heat is on – Victoria ’s new Public Transport Minister is facing immediate pressure to buy more new trams and spend up on the rail network to help the system cope with hotter temperatures – Melbourne Age
New State Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula takes taxpayer-funded car for final leg of journey home – Melbourne Herald Sun
A republic
Gillard talks down republic – Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has sought to hose down talk of a republican referendum if Labor wins a second term in office, as the Opposition accused the Government of having its priorities wrong – Melbourne Age
Kingslake holds its breath for Prince William visit – Black Saturday victims have a special message for Prince William ahead of his Victorian tour - come and lift our spirits. The prince will head straight to bushfire-ravaged Victoria on Thursday to see first-hand how the state is recovering from its darkest day – Melbourne Herald Sun
Foreign affairs
Aboriginal affairs
Pact gives go-ahead to bypass – The Tasmanian State Government and the Aboriginal community have reached a compromise over the Brighton bypass – Hobart Mercury
Racism
India hits back over student attacks – India ’s Foreign Minister has warned that his Government may advise its young people not to go to Australia for study if attacks on Indians continue – Melbourne Age
Simon Overland admits Indians are targeted in attacks – The admission by Victoria 's top cop that his officers have long known Indians are disproportionately targeted by criminals in Melbourne , has been heralded as a "breakthrough" by some in the Indian community – The Australian
AFL legend Justin Madden to tackle racism in Victoria - A former AFL footballer is the nation's first "respect" minister after being appointed by the Victorian government to tackle the growing racism and alcohol fuelled violence problems in the state. Premier John Brumby announced Justin Madden would be the minister for the "respect agenda" as part of his election year cabinet reshuffle following the shock resignation of embattled Transport Minister Lynne Kosky this week - – The Australian
Education
Poor report card on Government's year 12 promise – The State Government looks set to fail on its long-held promise to boost year 12 completion rates to 90 per cent this year, with a slide in the percentage of students who finished high school in 2009 – Melbourne Age
Development
Building approvals most difficult to attain in NSW - NSW is the worst-ranked state in Australia for handling development applications, yet it is building only half the number of homes needed to handle the expanding population – Sydney Morning Herald
Opinions
It's time we listened to the doctors – writes Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald. In an indication that the deteriorating state of our hospitals will be a major election issue, the Australian Medical Association this week called for wide-scale health reform in its submission to the 2010 budget. It's about time someone listened to the doctors.
Perfect 'crisatunity' for proper change – Simon Sheikh in the Sydney Morning Herald tries to keep the campaign to end fixed four year parliamentary terms going.
Ad cheques lack balance – Victorian Labor's blown a billion in a decade telling us largely what we already know writes John Watson in the Melbourne Age
The right to know where your charity dollar goes – Gary Johns in The Australian argues charities should be free to shout from the rooftops, but if that's all they do, then they should get the chop as far as tax deductions go
Obama’s Senate loss should sound alarm for PM – says Piers Akerman in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Among the important lessons for the Rudd administration to be drawn from this result is that the cult of personality that sweeps some into office can just as speedily evaporate. Another is the danger of a government claiming that any single piece of legislation is crucial to its administration – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Do we need the royals?- Melbourne Herald Sun writers John Hamilton and Alan Howe were both born in England, but they very have different views on the monarchy.
BUSINESS
Macbank still mugging MIG - The pending vote to split Macquarie Infrastructure Group reveals the bad, the ugly and amusing way Macquarie Group handles its funds – Melbourne Age
ENVIRONMENT
Lachlan River flows but restrictions hold - The Lachlan River is finally flowing again, to the relief of thousands of western NSW residents facing a summer with rationed water being trucked to their properties – Sydney Morning Herald
Long wait for lakes water – Water for the Lower Lakes will not be released in a rush and Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald has warned it will be delivered over a six-month period – Adelaide Advertiser
Wong unfazed by challenge to IPCC – Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has leapt to the defence of the United Nations' benchmark document on climate change as it faces a fresh challenge to its reputation as the world's most credible study on the impacts of global warming – Melbourne Age
Greens to end ETS impasse – The Greens are set to offer a shock peace offering to the Federal Government in a bid to help end the deadlock over a national emissions trading scheme. Leader Bob Brown will be in Canberra this week will announce a new, softer environmental policy – just 13 days before the Government's twice-defeated Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is reintroduced into Parliament – Brisbane Courier Mail
MEDIA
Films take box office to new dimension – The Australian cinema box office grew by 15 per cent last year, according to official results released by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia – The Australian
LIFE
Child abuse
More than 34,000 children taken out of abusive homes - The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found more than 34,000 children were taken from their parents and placed in out-of-home care in 2008-09, an increase of 9 per cent on the year before – Sydney Morning Herald
Government calling for more foster carers – A dramatic rise in children needing protection has forced the State Government to make an urgent appeal for foster carers – Sydney Daily Telegraph
Rising number of kids in care – South Australia remains on par with a national increase in the number of children placed in out-of-home care. A report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has shown a marked jump in children removed from families nation-wide in the past 12 months – Adelaide Advertiser
Obesity
Airlines' answer to obesity - pay for an additional seat - Airlines are waging a war on flab. Two international airlines are proposing to force overweight passengers to buy a second seat if they are unable to squeeze into a single one – Sydney Morning Herald
Airlines reject fat levy – Australia ’s main domestic airlines will not force obese people to pay for two seats despite the adoption of such a policy by international airline Air France-KLM – Melbourne Age
Lawyers
Ombudsman to go ahead despite law societies' protest - Only lawyers have the expertise to investigate other lawyers for alleged misconduct, their professional associations say, and they have asked the Federal Government to reconsider its plan for a national ombudsman to regulate the profession – Sydney Morning Herald
Real estate
Our Aussie dream crisis – The rising median house price has outstripped wage increases in the past decade, prompting calls for an urgent reform of the state's housing policies and taxes. The Housing Industry Association SA yesterday released its election wish list exclusively to The Adelaide Advertiser , warning the state's housing affordability had reached "crisis levels".
Music
Fresh blow to music scene – The State Government has been forced to re-examine its liquor licensing rules as another live music venue said yesterday it would close under the tough new regime – Melbourne Age
Consumer affairs
Electricity bills could soar more than four-fold in four years as SP AusNet seeks increased charges – Melbourne Herald Sun
Law and order
Bouncers seek batons as Asian night turns ugly – An ugly brawl at an Asian theme night has prompted calls for bouncers to be armed with batons. Police are investigating the vicious fight, which involved up to 30 people, at Seven nightclub in South Melbourne on Saturday morning – Melbourne Herald Sun
The drink
All licensed venues to eventually ban glass, says Minister - A glass ban will eventually apply to all Queensland pubs and clubs, state Liquor Licensing Minister Peter Lawlor has predicted. Up to 75 high-risk venues will be forced to introduce shatter-proof glass next month as part of a crackdown on glassings, but Mr Lawlor expects the safety initiative to be embraced across the board – Brisbane Courier Mail
Stressed Diggers turning to alcohol on return from front line – The Australian
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