Confidence returns but Grannie Herald stays gloomy

At the Sydney Morning Herald they are certainly not looking on the bright side of life. For Grannie this morning the buoyant housing finance figures run the risk of overinflating the lower end of the housing market with gloomy experts warning of the potential danger of a housing bubble as young couples take on loans they will struggle to maintain. Meanwhile, as the same paper reports, along with most others, a nation of optimists shrugs off the bad news. “If you look at all the coverage in the papers and other media there is a sense of doom and gloom out there and in actual fact we do see people seeing quite a lot of optimism in terms of how they are reacting,” is how international consumer research group TNC’s consumer director, Chris Kirby puts it.

THE BEST OF THE MORNING’S STORIES

Housing fears as loans hit new high – Sydney Morning Herald

Nation of optimists shrugs off bad news – Sydney Morning Herald

Taxpayers cheated as chemists pocket profits – Sydney Daily Telegraph

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

AUSTRALIA

Politicial life

Heat on to fix branch stacking – Melbourne Age

Economic matters

Housing fears as loans hit new high – Sydney Morning Herald

Nation of optimists shrugs off bad news – Sydney Morning Herald

Consumer confidence bounces back – Adelaide Advertiser

Adviser slams $14.7bn school cash as a ‘missed opportunity’ – The Australian

Confidence soars after sidestepping recession – The Australian

ATO gives small business a 12-month break on debt – The Australian

Rees restructure to help pay for 13 new fat cats – a Sydney Daily Telegraph NSW budget preview

Rees’s public service overhaul – with no job losses – Sydney Morning Herald

What the HECS? Athletes face another hurdle – sports stars for the tens of thousands of dollars taxpayers spend on their training is being considered by the Federal Government reports the Sydney Morning Herald

Racial relations

Indians just innocent victims of crime, police say – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Call for inquiry into student issues – Melbourne Age

Defence

Defence ‘top heavy’ with officers – Adelaide Advertiser

Health

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Bitter pill for consumers : Drug system failure increases costs – Adelaide Advertiser

Taxpayers cheated as chemists pocket profits – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Maria’s ordeal emphasises hospital crisis – Melbourne Herald Sun

Education

School double standards as walkathon banned – According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, education chiefs were accused of double standards yesterday after banning a student walkathon in school time while allowing activists to address classes on unionism.

Child welfare

Tale of broken, battered kids shows system on brink – The Australian

Housing

Bigwigs pocket pay rises while the poor are being evicted for not being able to afford rent increases on public housing – Melbourne Herald Sun

Industrial relations

State to play safe on IR changes – The Rees Government is resisting ceding industrial relations powers to the Federal Government. It is seeking assurances of a role for NSW Industrial Relations Commission members and support for small business in a national regulatory system – Sydney Morning Herald

Opinion

Yes, the violence is racist – Tracey Spicer in the Sydney Daily Telegraph sees, fresh from the Monty Python school of policing, the NSW constabulary telling Harris Park residents to “move along, nothing to see here, move along”. While Victorian police are blaming the victims, accusing Indian students of being “at the wrong place at the wrong time”, our Prime Minister, meanwhile, is harking back to the days of the British Raj.

No, we are not racists – Neil Mitchell in the Melbourne Herald Sun offers a different opinion

When police look the other way – Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald says it is a rich irony that the Prime Minister and police commanders in Sydney and Melbourne are now admonishing Indian students who have decided to take responsibility for their own security instead of continuing to be passive victims of violent crime.

An industry policy is vital for growth – Kenneth Davidson in the Melbourne Age argues that strong trade unions are not an impediment to a flourishing economy.

Labor must give members a voice – writes Paul Strangio in the Melbourne Age

Union clash a distraction – Alan Wood in The Australian

ELSEWHERE

Economic matters

Russia, Brazil Plan to Buy $20 Billion IMF Bonds – Bloomberg

Fed Unveils $1 trillion Lending Details After Lawmaker Pressure – Bloomberg

A Pacific solution

Unwanted detainees palmed off on Palau – The Rudd Government has been spared having to reject a request from the Obama Administration to resettle a group of Uygur prisoners from Guantanamo Bay after the tiny island nation of Palau agreed to take them – Sydney Morning Herald

Housing

Median home prices drop below 1989 levels in some parts of Southland – Los Angeles Times

BUSINESS

US Stocks Slide; Rates Up After 10-Year Treasury Action – Wall Street Journal

US long-term interest rates hit high – Financial Times of London

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Storm cosy with CBA – a cosy relationship between Storm Financial and the Commonwealth Bank led to relaxed prudential standards and `creative’ handling of clients’ asset valuations and loan applications, a former business development manager to the failed wealth adviser has claimed – Townsville Bulletin

NT uranium ‘in abundance’ – Northern Territory News

VB risks pole position to gold interloper – Sydney Morning Herald

ENVIRONMENT

Japan unveils long-awaited climate target – Financial Times of London

Linked bills to put Libs on the spot – industry will miss out on a package of assistance under the Government’s renewable energy target unless the emissions trading scheme is passed by the Senate – Melbourne Age

Clean, green and … mean : Kevin Rudd has stood up to a growing public backlash over the Federal Government’s snap decision to remove its generous solar panel rebate scheme, supporting the money-saving move – Adelaide Advertiser

Senator blows hot and cold on science – The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Family First senator Steve Fielding has challenged the work of thousands of the world’s top scientists, saying he is not convinced by the work done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

MEDIA

ABC’s head of comedy rolls over sick childen sketch – Sydney Daily Telegraph

Atomic answers for the newspaper of the future – Marissa Mayer, the workaholic vice-president of search product and user experience at Google, explains how the internet has atomised that bundle of news, information and crosswords known as a newspaper into its constituent parts

I’m not ‘inspired’ by magazine’s invasion of Therese Rein’s privacy – writes Emma Young in the Sydney Morning Herald

LIFE

Language

PM Rudd offends the blind … by saying ‘Blind Freddy’ – Sydney Daily Telegraph

‘Octomom’ joins the English language — but who owns it? – The Global Language Monitor announced that “Octomom” has been added to its list of English words and phrases. Octomom – The media phenomenon relating to the travails of the mother of the octuplets. Back in April, Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to eight children, attempted to claim trademark rights to the “Octomom” name. – Los Angeles Times

Footballers

Bruno Cullen under fire for treating all footballers as sex-crazed – Brisbane’s Courier Mail says the Broncos boss Bruno Cullen has been accused of treating all footballers as “sex-crazed”, unable to control themselves in the presence of a woman.

Festivals

Edinburgh festival: Fringe bounces back with bike rides, Bukowski and an online-only show – The inaugural Made in Scotland season of works, sponsored with £1m from the Scottish government’s Expo fund, will feature Charles Bukowski’s alter ego Henry Chinaski, who will explore “the profound liberation” of alcohol in a production entitled Barflies by site-specific specialists Grid Iron – The Guardian, UK

Swine flu

Swine flu puts Brisbane Bronco’s NRL game in limbo – Brisbane Courier Mail