What Australian newspapers say on Friday, February 15, 2008

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2008
What Australian newspapers say on Friday, February 15, 2008

SYDNEY, Feb 15 AAP -

Today's The Australian says it is time for Mr Swan to get the economy into top gear.

As Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment figures fell to a record low of 4.1 per
cent in January from 4.3 per cent in December, people should be dancing in the streets
instead of listening to Mr Swan's grim predictions.

The call from many quarters has been for the government to abandon the promised tax
cuts, but the Oz says this would be a disaster.Instead, what the government should do
is to reduce government spending by $31 billion over the same period.

The government must also take an axe to welfare, and all recipients should be subject
to work tests and payments made equal to stop churning between benefits.

The Australian stands by its record of saying that the problem is not when the boom
ends, but in its management over the next couple of decades.

Another problem identified by The Australian is the shortage of skilled labour, which
can be rectified by issuing more 457 visa to skilled migrants.

The Oz also notes that unions oppose this strategy, as they have done over the past
100 years. While immigration is at a record high of 170,000 a year, The Oz says that many
in business think that ti should be double this.



The Sydney Morning Herald looks at two sides of a new war going on over the Channel
Nine series Underbelly. Firstly it takes a swipe at Channel Nine for thinking it could
undermine the legal system during an ongoing trial in Melbourne connected to events portrayed
in the series.

However, the SMH says that in the digital age Justice Betty King's suppression of the
program being screened in Victoria is useless, as the program is easily downloadable from
the internet.

While upholding Justice King's right to interpret the law, the SMH says that her remarks
made in her commentary are indefensible as they reinforce the impression that judges believe
that the public are simpletons.

As the NSW Law Reform Commission is looking at giving NSW juries greater instruction,
Justice King's attitude seems to risk undermining the very jury system she seeks to defend.

Besides, melbourne has been living with these events for the past 20 years.



The Financial Review says that while the banks are big and ugly enough to look after
themselves, the view that they are behaving like bandits is wrong. The editorial supports
this view by saying that the present credit crunch has caused the Commonwealth Bank's
current stagnant interim profit

It says that the big lenders not only take the risks but also take up the slack of
poorly funded mortgage lenders. In the end this results in higher funding costs and more
bad debt.

The Fin also asks if the chief executive officers of the major banks find it difficult
to read "choppy credit markets", then it must be also difficult for the treasurer who
must take his outlook from data supplied by regulators.

The Fin says that the main issue is whether the financial system can continue to function
during a credit crisis so that households and business can borrow and economic activity
can continue. The Reserve Banks said this week that the major banks had just filled the
gap left by the collapse of securitised lending.

While the US is in real trouble, we may be able to weather the storm as we did during
the Asian financial crisis.



The Daily Telegraph main editorial looks at a case where a person in the Juvenile Justice
system Saw II as entertainment for young inmates at the Cobham Juvenile Detention Centre,
causing an inquiry.

The Telegraph points out how inappropriate the choice of video was, and the inquiry
is. Condemning the use of taxpayers' money to teach young offenders even more crime tricks,
the Tele says the incident had the hallmarks of a Monty Python sketch.



The Herald Sun says the choice of former Victorian premier Steve Bracks to head
a federal inquiry into Australia's car industry raises serious questions about what politicians
do at the end of their terms.

The federal opposition has labelled Mr Bracks' selection by the Rudd government as
a case of jobs for the boys, the editorial said.

Mr Bracks had good contacts in Victoria's car industry but the editorial said it was
fair to ask if Mr Bracks was best qualified for the position.

The editorial said a suspicion lingered that Mr Bracks would be used to rubber stamp
the Rudd government's predetermined outcomes, with Shadow Treasurer Malcolm Turnbull suggesting
the Productivity Commission should have investigated the industry's viability.

"The Herald Sun has reported that Alexander Downer, Peter McGauran and Peter Costello
are set to quit Parliament following the defeat of the coalition last November. Life on
the back benches obviously has little appeal, the editorial said.

"All are talented former senior ministers, with marketable recent experience.

"Yet the propriety of using knowledge and contacts gained on the inside of public service
for the later profit in private employment remains vexed."

"The Rudd Government has banned former ministers for 18 months from working as lobbyists
in areas in which they had responsibility.

"This code of conduct provision does not cover ex-premiers and now Mr Bracks is the
beneficiary of that.

"It is to be hoped Mr Bracks's contribution will be a valuable one and that his findings
will be judged on their merit, rather than politics."



The main editorial in The Age said the shootings of East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta
and the attack on President Xanana Gusmao could strengthen the nation's democracy and
focus it on the future.

The killing of "increasingly erratic" rebel leader Alfredo Reinado in the attack on
Mr Ramos-Horta "provides the Timorese government with an opportunity for progressive change"

that could "lay the groundwork for a more stable future", the editorial said.

The attacks could focus the government's attention on national security and spark reform
of the nation;s security sector - the basis of its national security policy.

"The reform of the security sector should go a long way in addressing the prevailing
sense that civic law has little meaning," it said.

"The roles of the police, who suffer from low status, and that of the army, which has
yet to settle into a new post-resistance role, need to be clarified.

"Political control and parliamentary and judicial oversight of both forces needs to
be more transparent.

"The disarming of Reinado's forces, former police and civilians would be a good first
step on the road to building a more accountable and safer society."

Achieving full democracy requires stability, which is predicated on replacing an existing
culture where violence is used to express opposition or dissent, the editorial said.

"East Timor's Prime Minister, Mr Gusmao, described the attack on himself and Mr Ramos
Horta as a strike against the democratic character of the country," it said.

"It must be hoped that this fledgling democracy will emerge the stronger for it."



Brisbane's Courier Mail says the population explosion in southeast Queensland has caused
the state government to look to the private sector to build new schools. The plan is to
access the finance through the Queensland Treasury Corporation, causing the risk to the
developer to all but disappear.

The Courier Mail says this plan is being opposed by the unions on the grounds that
new schools' maintenance contracts will not be subject to union conditions.The teachers'
union is also seeking assurances that the planned seven new schools are not already on
the government's capital works program.

The main concern that the Mail has is that the schools should be build on time, saying
demand must be met.



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KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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