Media wrap - Will the PM go travelling?
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
Leadership
Liberals facing more leadership woes -Sources told The Advertiser that Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond was still upset over last Tuesday's party-room vote in which her preferred deputy, Iain Evans, was defeated by former leader Martin Hamilton-Smith. It is possible that the meeting to vote for a new deputy could be held on Tuesday - Adelaide Advertiser
Immigration
Out of danger, into detention - Staring in wide-eyed wonder at their new temporary home the girls - dressed in fresh pink outfits provided by Customs - clung tightly to their dad's hand as they were taken to the island's detention centre, now over its 2040 capacity - Sydney Daily Telegraph
Christmas Island goes over the limit for detainees - The Australian
Foreign affairs
But are they good for us? - For the first time, Victoria's Greens may have a chance of snaffling a few seats in the lower house. Can they do it? Farrah Tomazin reports in the Melbourne Age.
Law and order
Push for PM to attend nuclear security summit - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is being urged to join a growing global push to safeguard the world's nuclear supplies and stop nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists - Melbourne Age
Rann a contender to be ambassador to Italy - Speculation is swirling about the South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, becoming Australia's next ambassador to Italy - Sydney Morning Herald
ElectionsLabor warms to US-style primary - Labor's flirtation with US-style primaries in the outer-east state seat of Kilsyth has attracted more interest then expected, with 260 ALP supporters registering to take part. The numbers have surprised party insiders who describe the outer east as ''politically apathetic'' - Melbourne Age
But are they good for us? - For the first time, Victoria's Greens may have a chance of snaffling a few seats in the lower house. Can they do it? Farrah Tomazin reports in the Melbourne Age.
Law and orderJudges push to fix choked legal system - The state's leading judges and lawyers want the State Government to make clearing its choked justice system a priority. In a report to the Attorney-General, the 13 Supreme Court judges warn the time to finalise criminal cases will continue to blow out unless the Government creates more courtrooms and upgrades existing cramped and unsatisfactory court buildings - Adelaide Advertiser
Carers
Disability activists set for election-year fight - The anger of carers and their charges is past the tipping point. They have declared themselves ''mad as hell'' and are gearing up for an election-year fight.They are asking people to pledge, via a new website, to vote in state and federal elections only for parties that promise to introduce a national disability insurance scheme - Melbourne Age
Economic mattersCapital gains tax hole to slow deficit rebound - A serious revenue hole in capital gains tax is undermining the Rudd government's push for an early return to budget surplus - The Australian
Rudd may run with tax as Abbott cycles - Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan are considering releasing the Henry tax review while Tony Abbott is doing his charity Pollie Pedal, a senior Labor source has revealed - The Australian
Health and hospitalsKevin Rudd keen to court Will Hodgman - Incoming Liberal premier Will Hodgman is firming as an unlikely ally for Kevin Rudd on health reform, as Canberra woos his support even before he is sworn into office in Tasmania - The Australian
Conscripted to the country - Kevin Rudd may have eased concerns over the effect of his reform plans on regional hospitals by offering them block funding, but he faces calls to overhaul the system of distributing doctors to rural and remote areas - The Australian
Industrial relationsIR's teen losers take their jobs plea to the PM - Two youths who lost their after-school jobs at a Victorian hardware store have appealed to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard for their jobs back, after their employer was required to pay $3000 in back pay - The Australian
Threat to fine building workers - Building workers face potential fines of $13,200 each unless they agree by Tuesday to give evidence about alleged unlawful industrial action by employees at the Royal Children's Hospital site in Melbourne last year - The Australian
Stimulus projectsJulia Gillard threatens police action over BER rip-offs - Julia Gillard has vowed to investigate fully any examples of inflated costs or corruption in her Building the Education Revolution program, and says she will call in the police if there is evidence of criminal behaviour - The Australian
Clarity call on insulation - Insulation manufacturers have demanded an immediate answer from the government on whether it will launch a new insulation rebate scheme, saying uncertainty about the plan has "frozen" their business - The Australian
Child careLibs eye nanny subsidies - Nannies are not just for the rich, says Tony Abbott's Coalition, which is considering giving parents subsidies to employ carers to look after their children at home - The Australian
OpinionsCoalition weak on economics - Tony Abbott reckons he doesn't need an acting coach to help soften an aggressive public image. He's certainly right in one sense. Maybe an economics coach would be no bad thing, though. This is an area where Abbott and the Coalition are obviously battling and in need of help - Laurie Oakes in the Melbourne Herald Sun
Abbott's bill would reverse the injustice of Wild Rivers laws - Noel Pearson writes in The Australian that the Senate's legal and constitutional affairs committee this week started its inquiry into Tony Abbott's private member's bill, which seeks to override the Queensland government's Wild Rivers Act 2005.
Back to a battle of the boats - The lines are drawn for a bitter election year confrontation over boatpeople as the Rudd government fails to stem the boats and the Abbott-led Coalition adopts a "no tolerance" deterrence writes Paul Kelly in The Australian
Who's afraid of 4500 boat people?asks Peter van Onselen in The Australian. Both of the main political parties are keen to display their toughness on border protection, so much so that they seem to have lost sight of the plight of the people who are trying to make their way here in rickety boats.
Rudd ambiguous on bill of rights - James Allen writes in The Australian that the Rudd government can't go quiet about the one-sided, pro-bill of rights report it commissioned and received, then pretend it has no position on bills of rights going into the election. Either it explicitly disavows any intention to enact one or Labor has to be taken as being in favour of bringing one in after that election. One or the other. Not both.
'Yellow peril' racism rears its ugly head - Marilyn Lake writes in the Melbourne Age that Chinese were once vilified in Australia, a travesty we'd do well not to repeat.
Green power surge - Expected next year to hold the sole balance of power federally, the Greens must look to leadership in the long term - writes Michelle Grattan in the Melbourne Age
Abbott by Machiavelli's measure - Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald considers the applicability of the great man's words to Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott.
Abbott's fitness regime an exercise in keeping it real - Peter Hartcher explains in the Sydney Morning Herald how Kevin Rudd has kept his exercise regimen a private affair, chiefly to differentiate himself from Howard.
Mouth that launched 1000 slips - Lenore Taylor takes a look in the Sydney Morning Herald at Barnaby Joyce as a shadow ministerial player.
BUSINESS
Finds fuel deep-sea oil rush - Three significant new oil and gas regions have been identified off Australia's coast, raising the potential for a wave of offshore exploration that could create booming new resources hubs around the nation - The Australian
China widens Stern Hu bribery net - China has promised to go after every steel industry executive named as paying a bribe or handing over trade secrets to Stern Hu and his jailed Rio Tinto colleagues - including two previously unnamed executives from the mining giant - The Australian
ENVIRONMENTWhaling compromise would break election promise - The government has legal advice that a possible international compromise deal allowing limited commercial whaling would undermine its promised legal challenge against Japanese whaling in the International Court of Justice - Sydney Morning Herald
LIFEThe punt
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