Packer and Turnbull - when friends fell out

The best of today's papers: the day Malcolm Turnbull says Kerry Packer threatened to kill him. And just when you thought it was all exaggerated nonsense, swine flu puts four Scots into intensive care.

THE PICK OF THE MORNING’S STORIES

Packer made kill threat: Turnbull – Melbourne Age

‘Brute’ Packer threatened to kill me: Turnbull – Sydney Morning Herald

090604eveningstandard Lightning coup to oust Gordon Brown – London Evening Standard

Air France had bomb threat before disaster – London Evening Standard

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

AUSTRALIA

Economic conditions

Nation bucks global trend – Sydney Morning Herald

No escape for NSW: state economy slips into recession – Sydney Morning Herald

Wayne’s world-beater economy – Melbourne Age

Australia misses technical recession – Adelaide Advertiser

Budget deficit looming for NSW – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Economy defying world downturn with 0.4% growth in March quarter – The Australian

Queensland and NSW in recession as investment hit – The Australian

Health

$343m injection for good health of state – South Australian budget preview in the Adelaide Advertiser

Industrial relations

Gillard booed at ACTU meeting – Adelaide Advertiser

Gillard refuses to bow to union anger – Sydney Morning Herald

Union fury as Gillard talks tough – Melbourne Age

Unions threaten Labor on IR laws – The Australian

Unions demand to know where MPs stand over Queensland assets sale – Brisbane Courier Mail

Political Life

Show-and-tell rules under review – Fractious behaviour by politicians and stoushes over the use of props during question time have prompted the Speaker to seek a review of the rules governing parliamentary debate – Sydney Morning Herald

A hint of strange things

Defence finding grants a gift to the Opposition – Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, has effectively been put on notice by Kevin Rudd after again having to admit that he forgot to disclose a gift on the register of interests – Sydney Morning Herald

More Labor branch stacking alleged – Melbourne Age

Stacked to the rafters – Paul Austin in the Melbourne Age writes that an insider’s explosive account has laid bare branch stacking in the ALP.

Claims that Labor meddled in Casey local government – Melbourne Age

Aboriginal matters

Victoria revamps native title – Sydney Morning Herald

Racial attacks

China speaks out on student attacks – The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the future of the $15.5 billion overseas student industry is under threat after the Chinese Government went public with concerns about violence against its students in Australia.

Opinion

Ruddy good news in Canberra – is the verdict on the GDP figures by Mark Kenny in the Adelaide Advertiser

Budget can lead way out of the gloom – National accounts figures released yesterday confirm the South Australian economy is in a good position to emerge cautiously but positively from the global economic crisis, says the Adelaide Advertiser in an editorial

No recession? Tell that to the burgeoning jobless – writes Ross Gittins in the Sydney Morning Herald

Rudd wins the race of his life but the steroids may yet cost him the medal – argues Petr Hartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald

Racism cry is the only weapon – Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald writes that if the Victorian police just did their job, the problem of Indian students being mugged would be solved, without resort to new legislation and bogus symbolism.

Weet-Bix kids plan cereal-led recovery – Annabel Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald thinks it’s always funny to watch pleased politicians trying not to look too pleased.

Overstimulated, but no tears before bedtime – Tony Wright in the Melbourne Age tells of a Kevin Rudd looking as contented as a fellow who had overstimulated himself. A slight sheen of perspiration on his brow, he seemed profoundly gratified at the splendour his fevered work had wrought. More accurately, his bearing suggested it would be proper for a grateful nation to marvel and very possibly lay lotus leaves at his feet, and forget all that silly business about debt and deficit.

Turnbull and the unions get booted around by Labor – is the verdict of Michell Grattan in the Melbourne Age

Ugly times, yes, but let’s not take the big stick to Victoria – Paul Austin of the Melbourne Age looks at Victoria’s racial record

Gillard cuts across sacred union line – Ben Schneiders in the Melbourne Age analyses the Julia Gillard approach to dealing with the unions.

History shows debt need not be a burden – writes Kenneth Davidson in the Melbourne Age

All things considered, we’re doing rather well – the editorial in the Melbourne Age argues that even modest growth is an achievement in a global context.

Recession junkies need not despair – writes George Megalogenis in The Australian

Recession by most measures – is Michael Stutchbury’s verdict in The Australian, suggesting he is one of the recession junkies

Party’s wings split into the future – Ewin Hannan in The Australian sees Julia Gillard’s calculated dismissal of the union movement’s demands cementing a fault line between Labor’s political and industrial wings.

Blind eye to racism – Greg Sheridan in The Australian says the recent spate of bashings of Indian students in Melbourne is an appalling episode in this nation’s history. It is a serious social, educational, diplomatic and probably economic crisis that no one is taking seriously enough. The performance of John Brumby’s Victorian Government has been pathetic. It has stumbled from bland denial to belated symbolism, never acknowledging the gravity of the problem or its own culpability and not taking any serious action to confront it.

Hard for Rudd and Swan to be humble over economy – Dennis Atkins in the Brisbane Courier Mail

ELSEWHERE

Economic matters

Bernanke calls for action on deficits – London Financial Times

European Parliament

European elections 2009: Poll indicates Labour could finish fourth – London Daily Telegraph

Terrorism

Air France had bomb threat before disaster – London Evening Standard

Air France crash: plane may have broken up in mid-air – London Daily Telegraph reports the vast area over which debris has been found suggested there was an explosion while the aircraft was in flight.

British hostage Edwin Dyer ‘killed by al-Qaida’ – The Guardian, London

Opinion

Who Is to Blame for EU Voter Apathy? Voter turnout for this week’s European parliamentary election is expected to be the lowest since direct elections began 30 years ago. Is this the fault of the parliament itself? Inadequate media coverage? Or are national governments failing in their responsibility to educate the electorate? – Der Spiegel

BUSINESS

Latvia auction flop sparks fears of struggle to find debt buyers – London Financial Times

In Overhaul, G.M. May Look to Its Far-Flung Arms – New York Times

Stocks in Emerging Markets Surge – New York Times

ENVIRONMENT

Steve Fielding wavers on climate change – The Australian

Clean Energy Funding Trumps Fossil Fuels – New York Times

MEDIA

Is Libertarian Ideology Killing Newspapers? The Plank at The New Republic

LIFE

Religion

Catholic confession is not therapy, Vatican warns – The Guardian London

First Orthodox Rabbis Ordained in Germany in 70 Years – Two Orthodox rabbis have been ordained in Munich in a ceremony that hasn’t taken place in Germany since World War II. The event marks a milestone for Jewish life in Germany. Der Spiegel

Swine flu

Melbourne flu isolation – Children returning from Melbourne have been advised to stay in home quarantine for seven days to help stop the spread of swine flu in South Australia. – Adelaide Advertiser

Victoria placed on swine flu blacklist by three states – The Australian

Four swine flu sufferers in Glasgow area treated in intensive care – London Times