Terror dominates the news

TERRORISM IN AUSTRALIA

Suspects arrested in early hours – A massive counter-terrorism operation that began in the midst of Melbourne’s summer heatwave culminated in a series of raids that took place across Victoria in the cold hours before dawn yesterday – The Australian

Young man was prime target for militant recruiters – A dilapidated warehouse turned makeshift mosque in North Melbourne has emerged as a key hub in a sprawling militant Islamist network, whose home base in the Horn of Africa has become a major nucleus of the global terrorist movement – The Australian

Open gate to terrorists – A terrorist attack on Sydney’s Holsworthy Barracks was ‘‘likely imminent” before the alleged plot was crushed in a series of pre-dawn raids yesterday, but the main entrance to the army base remains guarded by unarmed private security men – Sydney Morning Herald

Security at base was adequate, says ADF – Sydney Morning Herald

Threat real but don’t panic, says PM – The Australian

Agencies’ careful planning pays off – The Australian

Somali extremists on a ‘fatwa order’ from God – The Australian

Out of Africa, into the dock – The Australian

400 officers swoop across city, state on alleged terrorists – Melbourne Herald Sun

Somali community leaders say they warned of terror cells – Melbourne Herald Sun

Victoria Barracks may have been alternative target for terrorists – who  planned to attack Holsworthy army base in Sydney. A train station, yet to be named, was also mentioned in text messages between members of the alleged cell, a court was told – Melbourne Herald Sun

Evil began in innocent Melbourne suburban streets – Melbourne Herald Sun

Al-Shabaab terrorist group one of most muderous militias – Melbourne Herald Sun

Al-Shabab among the most brutal of Somali militias – Sydney Morning Herald

Modern jihadis think globally, act locally: experts – Sydney Morning Herald

Recruiters using twisted tactics to rope in martyrs – The recruiters of usually naive and vulnerable young men to become martyrs twist Muslim religious literature to extol the virtues of dying in a terrorist attack – Melbourne Herald Sun

Somali jihadists linked to Al-Qa’ida recruited in Australia – Al-Qa’ida-linked Somali jihadists in the US have been recruiting in Australia, it emerged as police foiled a terror plot to carry out a suicide attack on a Sydney army base – Brisbane Courier Mail

Arrogance and utter contempt as alleged terrorists face court – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Melbourne academic calls for engagement with Somali immigrants – Prof Greg Barton, acting director of the Centre for Islam and the Modern World at Monash University, writes in the Melbourne Herald Sun that if terrorist recruiters have been having some success in our suburbs, it is a matter for genuine concern. How we react is very important, not least to ensure we diminish the threat rather than increase it.

Religion is an issue – Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun on how reluctant we are still to honestly debate Islam, terrorism . . . and immigration, suddenly the biggest elephant in a tension-filled room.

PAGE ONE OF THIS MORNING’S PAPERS

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Australia

Utegate

How Godwin Grech blew the whistle – and came to regret it – News Limited journalist Steve Lewis reveals the untold story behind Godwin Grech and the faked email threatening to destroy Malcolm Turnbull. Basically he tries to explain how he got conned. news.com.au online

Malcolm Turnbull a willing Utegate passenger – Malcolm Turnbull conspired with disgraced bureaucrat Godwin Grech in a doomed attempt to bring down the Government over the Utegate affair, a damaging new email reveals – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Turnbull hits out at Grech – Malcolm Turnbull has released a series of emails from Mr Grech suggesting the public servant was far from a passive victim in the affair and instead sought to direct the opposition’s attack against Mr Rudd over the fake email – The Australian

Auditor clears PM but slams Grech – The Australian

Carmakers left without any say – Buried in the OzCar audit report is a fascinating case study of how the Rudd government favours lobby groups perceived to be “onside” and freezes out those seen to be critical – The Australian

Lobbyists

Anna Bligh had 90 meals with business and lobbyists – Queensland Premier Anna Bligh dined with almost 90 business leaders and lobbyists at Labor pay-per-view functions over the past 12 months despite claiming never to have liked the practice – Brisbane Courier Mail

CMC urged to probe Mackenroth’s links – Former Deputy Premier Terry Mackenroth’s links to a controversial $500 million Gold Coast housing project should also be examined by the Crime and Misconduct Commission, residents and the Opposition say – Brisbane Courier Mail

Bolkus ‘in line for $400,000’ – Former Labor senator Nick Bolkus was in line to receive lobby fees of $400,000, plus GST, under an agreement with the South Australian Jockey Club, a parliamentary inquiry has been told – Adelaide Advertiser

Spin doctors to quell heritage backlash – Adelaide City Council has enlisted a team of professional spin doctors as it braces for a backlash over plans to heritage list hundreds of homes and businesses in the CBD. The Advertiser understands media firm Ball PR held a confidential briefing at Town Hall last night to coach councillors on strategies to sell the plan to the public – Adelaide Advertiser

Elections

I won’t be back, says Anderson – Indigenous Affairs Minister Alison Anderson yesterday blamed a scathing commentary piece on her in the Northern Territory News as a reason she quit the ALP. Ms Anderson yesterday walked out of a Cabinet meeting after 20 minutes and resigned – Northern Territory News

Scrymgour rejoins Labor – Marion Scrymgour has rejoined the Labor Party. Chief Minister Paul Henderson announced Ms Scrymgour had rejoined his team after the pair met for about three hours – Northern Territory News

NT rocked by ministerial musical chairs – The Australian reports on a Northern Territory Labor government in turmoil.

Dinner with Kevin Rudd pays for election campaign – Kevin Rudd effectively wiped the $90,000 campaign debt of failed Labor candidate Peter Tinley within three hours in April when he dined with oil and gas executives and business leaders. Mr Rudd raised almost $100,000 for state Labor’s coffers when the branch charged 20 guests $5500 each for a seat alongside him at celebrated North Perth restaurant Maurizio – The Australian

Economic matters

RBA won’t lift rates soon – David Uren writing in The Australian believes the next move for interest rates is likely to be an increase, with the Reserve Bank increasingly confident that the threat of recession has passed. However, the bank is not yet convinced that growth is sustainable other than with the help of government stimulus spending and its abnormally low official cash rate, and is unlikely to lift rates over coming months.

No more interest rate cuts as Reserve changes its tune – Scott Murdoch writes in The Australian that the Reserve Bank has indicated that the interest rate cutting cycle is over as financial markets prepare for a stream of rate rises to control the Australian economy’s recovery.

Rates held, sales near record – The Reserve Bank has effectively ruled out more cuts to interest rates as house prices and retail sales soar towards record levels – Melbourne Age

Opinions

Cash splash feeds seeds of revival – Tim Colebatch in the Melbourne Age says it’s not just in Australia, it’s happening all over. New data is reporting new confidence, new spending, rising asset values. Things are not turning out as bad as we thought.

Turnbull blows his chance to give voters the answer they deserve – Peter Hartcher says Australia needs to know what Malcolm Turnbull has has learnt from utegate that will lead him to make fewer errors, not more excuses.

Smell of taint can damage more than Bligh – Craig Johnstone argues in the Brisbane Courier Mail that the return of corruption’s taint to public life in Queensland risks doing some fundamental harm to the state’s long-term future.

An explosive exit, now give voters their say – Natasha Robinson writes in The Australian that now the true workings of the NT Labor machine have been so publicly exposed, voters should be given a fresh chance, the chance to cast a vote with their eyes wide open.

Malcolm’s finger pointing isn’t fooling anyone – Dennis Shanahan in The Australian says Turnbull’s problem is that he is responsible politically for the debacle, no matter how unfair that is or how much he blames Grech, he’s still responsible and has to act like he’s responsible. Turnbull should have apologised and moved on. He’s now ensured he will be pursued over his links with a liar and fraud and continue to be distracted.

The wheels fell off, but Turnbull’s still gunning the ute – writes Annabel Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald

Elsewhere

Middle East

Hezbollah stockpiles 40,000 rockets near Israel border – Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, there are growing fears that hostilities could erupt again this time with the militant group better armed than ever – London Times

Korea

Bill Clinton meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Il for talks – Bill Clinton, who flew into North Korea today on a surprise mission to secure the release of two American journalists, was taken from the airport into a rare face-to-face meeting with the regime’s “Dear Leader”, Kim Jong Il – London Times

Kim pardons reporters after Clinton ‘apology’ – Sydney Morning Herald website.

Somalia

Americans worry about Somali men lured home to fight – Sydney Morning Herald

Afghanistan

Rocket attacks on Afghan capital, a red alert for NATO – After years of living in peace, the residents of Afghan capital Kabul were shocked in bed as seven rockets fired by militants hit residential areas early Tuesday morning – Xinhua China newsagency

Opinions

Somalia to Sydney, jihad does not rest – Sydney Morning Herald editorial

BUSINESS

Nasser picked as next BHP chairman – Mr Nasser was chosen from a shortlist of candidates, selected over a period of 18 months with the help of Heidrick & Struggles, the recruitment firm. He was elected by the unusual method of a secret ballot amongst the 15 board members to prevent lobbying by candidates. The ballot was managed by KPMG, BHP’s auditor – Financial Times of London

Xstrata appeals to Anglo as profits plunge – Mick Davis, chief executive of Xstrata, called again on rival miner Anglo American to engage in merger talks for the sake of both companies’ shareholders, as the Swiss-based mining company’s profits fell 68 per cent but still beat expectations – Financial Times of London

Queensland high on KPMG fraud barometer – Half of all Australia’s investment scams originate in Queensland, a new study has found – Brisbane Courier Mail

Kevin Seymour fury as he scraps Trinity – Multi-millionaire property developer and investor Kevin Seymour has dumped nearly $5 million worth of shares in struggling Brisbane-based property funds manager Trinity Group and launched a scathing attack on its board and former management – Brisbane Courier Mail

ENVIRONMENT

Carbon captures UK imagination – Paul Kelly writes in The Australian of the UK way of handling climate change.

MEDIA

Media may be restrained from reporting on operation details – The Sydney Morning Herald understands law-enforcement agencies are demanding the Rudd Government act to give them the capacity to censor the media in the future following the reporting of terrorism raids across Melbourne yesterday.
Police agencies criticised The Australian for publishing details of the planned raids on terrorist suspects on the same morning as they were carried out.

Editor-in-chief denies police put at risk – The Australian‘s editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, has rejected accusations by Victoria Police that this newspaper’s coverage of yesterday morning’s terror raids had compromised the operation and endangered police officers.

Millions lost as advertisers cut ties to Austereo over Kyle Sandilands – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Media unfair on Hanson, Hollingworth, says Howard – Pauline Hanson and former governor-general Peter Hollingworth were treated harshly and unfairly by the Australian media, former prime minister John Howard says. Lecturing on the role of the media in Australian politics at the University of Melbourne tonight, Mr Howard said the media’s pursuit of Dr Hollingworth was a “character assassination”. – Melbourne Age

LIFE

Cancer

Cervical cancer vaccine for younger women approved – for sale for women in their 40s – Sydney Daily Telegraph