Online Press review 11 May 2015

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FRONT PAGE

 Budget 2015: Reforms to shrink bureaucracy (AUS) Crowe Iconic assets will be sold and government departments will be slashed in a new effort to reduce the size of the public sector and raise more than $4 billion, in contentious reforms to be revealed in tomorrow’s federal budget.  Police pounced on teenager’s home after bomb tip (AUS) Stewart, Baxendale The decision to swoop on a teenage terror suspect in Melbourne’s north on Friday was made after police suspected he may have had bombs in his family home.  Bjorn Lomborg confident of getting host for Consensus Centre (AUS) Taylor Danish professor Bjorn Lomborg will establish an Australia Consensus Centre outside the University of Western Australia after “toxic politics, ad hominem attacks and premature judgment” led Perth’s oldest university to back out of hosting the commonwealth-backed policy research unit.  Terror attack thwarted by ASIO (AUS-WE) Stewart, Baxendale Several improvised explosive devices found during a high-level counterterrorism operation at a suburban house were to be detonated on Friday night after ASIO’s fears of an imminent attack in Melbourne sparked police raids that led to the detention of two terror suspects.  Rebuff for navy on super warships (AUS-WE) Stewart The navy has been stymied over an audacious bid to obtain the most potent warships in the - nation’s history, capable of launching almost 100 missiles, because they are too costly.  Federal budget 2015: Budget switch to spending (AFR) Coorey, Greber The federal government says it needs to spend savings made in Tuesday's budget rather than use them to reduce debt and deficit because job creation and economic growth are the key priorities.  Federal budget 2015: Almost 50 per cent of mums to lose government paid parental leave entitlements (CAN+SMH) Ireland, Wade Almost 80,000 new mothers will lose some or all of their government parental leave payments in a move slammed by a key consultant for the paid parental leave scheme as "the mother of all insults".  Renewable energy target: Labor and the government agree to a number but sticking points leave local projects on ice (CAN+SMH-WE) Cox, Riordan The government and Labor have agreed in principle to a large scale renewable energy target of 33,000 gigawatt hours, but a proposal to include the burning of native timber in the scheme could still scupper a deal.

Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected]

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS

POLITICS  Politics of distortion is a poor match for fair-minded debate (AUS-WE/Feature) Crowe The laziest way to malign something you hate is to twist it into something it is not. So when a federal Labor MP was asked on Tuesday about the ’s new plans for the pension, he needed to bend it into the shape he wanted before he could try to condemn it.  defuses criticism with policy smarts and political pragmatism (AFR- WE/Opinion) Coorey Without detracting from the recent efforts of Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, politics has now reached a level where we are celebrating competence.

BUDGET 2015  $34m medical boost to counter terrorism threat (AUS) Parnell The National Medical Stockpile will be given $34 million in new medicines and equipment as the moves to ensure Australia is well prepared for any terrorist attack or pandemic.  Budget 2015: Treasury formula optimistic (AUS) Uren Treasury’s forecasts of the budget heading towards surplus by the end of the decade will be based on highly optimistic projections of economic growth accelerating rapidly for the five years beyond 2016-17 to the fastest sustained growth since the productivity boom of the mid-1990s.  Coalition to keep its powder dry on military spending (AUS) Nicholson Australians will have to wait for the release of the defence white paper in August for the full picture of the Abbott government’s spending in that area. Government sources told it was on course to keep its promise to increase spending on defence to 2 per cent of GDP within 10 years of its election.  We will stick to our guns on university reforms: (AUS) Lewis Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the government will “absolutely” stand by its higher- education reforms, confirming the policy will remain in Tuesday’s budget.  Fear poor kids will be penalised (AUS) Bita Daycare operators fear some children will miss out on pre-school education despite the $3.5 billion boost to childcare subsidies in tomorrow’s budget.  Scientists cheer vow to establish $20bn medical research fund (AUS) Lewis Scientists have applauded the Abbott government for sticking to a pledge to establish the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund.  Bureaucrat jobs to go in driveto save $450m (AUS) Crowe The public service will be forced to cut more jobs to save $450 million over the next five years as the government tries to eliminate waste in health and education, amid a review of duplicated effort across the federation.  Scott Morrison at the wheel, back seat for Joe Hockey (AUS/Opinion) Hudson Joe Hockey’s second budget will have Scott Morrison’s fingerprints all over it.  Pension reform exposes Labor as turns dial to fairness (AUS-WE/Feature) Hudson On the diabolical issue of pension reform the Abbott government in the form of Scott Morrison has learned from its near-death experience in 2014 by crafting an astute policy and political package that turns the heat back on the opposition parties and the Senate.  Danger of budget failure is manifest for Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott (AUS-WE/Feature) Shanahan Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott are on notice: if the budget they bring down next Tuesday, their second attempt, fails then the Treasurer and possibly the Prime Minister will have to go.  Budget 2015: Scott Morrison key to saving Tony Abbott's and Joe Hockey's jobs (AFR/Comment) Hewett It is not surprising so many of Scott Morrison's colleagues want him to replace Joe Hockey as Treasurer. What is unusual is that this Liberal preference for Morrison would still hold if were ever to replace Tony Abbott as Prime Minister.

Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected]

 Federal budget 2015: Childcare package backed by industry (AFR) Coorey Industry groups at both ends of the income spectrum have welcomed the government's revamped child care package, putting pressure on the Senate to pass cuts to welfare which would provide the extra $3.5 billion in funding required over the next four years.  Budget 2015: The 'de facto diverted-profits tax' (AFR) Mather The government will target tax avoidance by multinational companies by beefing up provisions in existing laws rather than introducing a diverted-profits tax, or so-called Google tax.  Budget 2015: Tax office formula a 'work in progress', say experts (AFR) Potter A complex Australian Tax Office formula for estimating multinational corporations' effective tax rates would be almost impossible to implement and isn't ready for budget prime time, tax experts said.  Recession? Australia is on the threshold of its greatest-ever era, says Joe Hockey (AFR) Greber Treasurer Joe Hockey has dismissed warnings that the economy faces a recession in 2016 and vowed that Tuesday's federal budget will help keep the jobless rate from climbing above 6.5 per cent.  Budget 2015: No top-up for emissions fund, says (AFR) Ludlow Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the $2.5 billion emissions reduction fund – the centrepiece of the Abbott government's climate change policy – would not be topped up over the next four years, despite fears it could run out of money before the next year's federal election.  Budget 2015: Confidence fairy unlikely to wave wand for Hockey (AFR/Opinion) Toohey It is little wonder the "confidence fairy" has turned into a shy creature, rarely sighted these days. People don't know what to believe any more from economic managers. Once, politicians could claim infallibility for their policies and then rely on the economists' convenient invention, the confidence fairy, to work her magic on a trusting population. At least, that was the expectation.  Government needs to lead, not offer 'dull' budgets (AFR/Opinion) Richardson Canberra will be doing its damnedest to be dull in Tuesday's budget.  Budget 2015: global economic context cannot be ignored (AFR-WE/Opinion) Walker In the run-up to the federal budget this coming Tuesday, the government might have anticipated – certainly hoped for – some clearer air both domestically and internationally, but that has not been the case: far from it.  Federal Budget 2015: A stepping stone towards preserving the AAA credit rating (AFR- WE/Feature) Tingle, Greber The now "normal" public rituals of the federal budget started in the days when governments really only had one outing a year on the economy, and government controlled a lot of things; when there were lots of market-sensitive decisions on things such as indirect taxes, and there were only newspapers and the radio to carry the message.  Federal budget 2015: How the Abbott government childcare changes affect you (CAN+SMH) Ireland The Abbott government has unveiled its long-promised childcare package pledging more money for many families from 2017 but stripping others of nearly all of the childcare assistance they currently receive.  Mixed reaction to government's landmark childcare package (CAN+SMH) Ireland Families earning between $65,000 and $170,000 are set to be about $30 a week better off under the federal government's long-awaited childcare package, in a move that has been hailed by childcare experts as a "historic reform".  Federal budget 2015: Paying for the childcare package will be difficult (CAN+SMH/Analysis) Martin How can you spend $3.5 billion on child care when you're already $45 billion in deficit? By waiting until you're in nothing like as much deficit, that's how.

Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected]

 Federal budget 2015: Crucial childcare package beyond Joe Hockey's control (CAN+SMH/Analysis) Kenny The absurdity of the Abbott government's command-control media strategy was exposed again on Sunday when it sent out Treasurer Joe Hockey to talk about his budget sans the authority to discuss the childcare package at its heart, even as it dominated the front pages of its preferred newspapers that day.  Budget 2015: What Joe Hockey should be announcing tomorrow night (CAN/Opinion) Vanstone One more sleep and we will all know the full shape of the budget. Understandably, some bits have already been announced. If changes in one area would dominate the coverage of the budget, it is sensible to pre-announce them and let the minister responsible deal with the media fanfare or flack. It gives other aspects of the budget a chance to get some limelight in the budget coverage. Indeed it helps ensure that the whole narrative is not drowned out on budget night and thereafter by one or two aspects alone.  Federal budget 2015: Budget will test whether Tony and Joe have nerve for 'radical fairness' (SMH/Opinion) Dempster Tony Abbott is a pugilist.  Federal budget 2015: Budget 2.0 will determine future of Joe Hockey-Tony Abbott partnership (CAN-WE/Opinion) Aston Coalition backbenchers see the budget as the opportunity for Abbott and Hockey to revive the government's fortunes.  Don't panic: Joe Hockey’s budget more than just a mixed message (CAN-WE/Opinion) Denniss Joe Hockey's pre-budget message is more than mixed, it's pureed. Having spent four years telling us that governments, like households, need to live within their means, on Tuesday he told mums and dads that households need to crack out the credit cards to keep the economy strong. According to the Treasurer "Now is the time (for households) to borrow and invest ... invest in the things that help to create jobs". No Joe, that's the government's job.

BJORN LOMBORG CONSENSUS CENTER  Left strives to keep students in the dark (AUS/Opinion) Ergas Aristotle opens the Metaphysics with one of his most striking phrases: “By their nature, all men desire to know.” Quite so. But not at the University of Western Australia.  Soft censorship wins out over public policy (AUS/Opinion) Wilson The University of Western Australia’s decision to reject Bjorn Lomborg’s Australian Consensus Centre is disturbing for its validation of a culture of soft censorship.  Bjorn Lomborg blames 'toxic politics' for university backdown on Australia Consensus Centre (AFR) Dodd Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg has blamed "toxic politics, ad hominem attacks, and premature judgment" for the University of Western Australia's decision to pull out of his planned Australia Consensus Centre, which would have advised on the best ways to tackle the world's development challenges.  Bjorn Lomborg's think tank killed by academic prejudice at the University of WA (AFR/Comment) Dodd What is it about Bjorn Lomborg that causes so many university people to lose perspective?

DEFENCE  574 vacant jobs in Defence Science and Technology Organisation but there's a catch (CAN) Thomson The Defence Science and Technology Organisation has 574 vacant jobs not expected to be filled prompting claims the organisation is being hollowed out by stealth amid criticism the agency cannot prove its value.

Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected]

SECURITY/TERRORISM  Arrested teenager may face adult court on terror-related charges (CAN) Hatch The 17-year-old arrested by counter-terrorism police on Friday in Greenvale could face an adult court after being charged with two terrorism-related offences.

CLIMATE CHANGE  UN climate chief Christiana Figueres praises ACT efforts (CAN-WE) McIlroy The ACT government's efforts to combat the impact of climate change were endorsed by lead United Nations negotiator Christiana Figueres on Friday, as she moved to dismiss criticism from a senior adviser to Prime Minister Tony Abbott.  Climate change a UN-led ruse, says Tony Abbott's business adviser Maurice Newman (CAN+SMH-WE) Cox Climate change is a hoax led by the United Nations so that it can end democracy and impose authoritarian rule, according to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's chief business adviser.  Most Australians view climate change as already causing weather extremes: Ipsos (SMH- WE) Hannam A clear majority of Australians view global warming as already causing extreme weather events such as storms, droughts and floods and just 3 per cent say "there is no such thing as climate change", according to the findings in an Ipsos survey.

INFRASTRUCTURE  Power-companies sale to be limited to Australia-based buyers (AUS) Coultan NSW will impose more regulation on the sale of its electricity businesses, requiring whoever buys them to hold a licence that can be revoked.

EDUCATION/SCIENCE  Education exports stretch their lead over tourism (AFR) Dodd Driven by the weaker Australian dollar, Australia's largest service export, education, is continuing to boom increasing its lead over tourism, the second largest service export.  Universities reluctant to compromise competitiveness by cracking down on academic fraud (CAN-WE/Opinion) Grainger Worth around $17 billion annually, international education is Australia's most valuable services export industry. Australian universities currently rely on the income from international students for their financial viability and their capacity to fund research.

INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS  A legal change of no worth (AUS/Opinion) Leyonhjelm Seven years ago, the Rudd government apologised to the Stolen Generations. As the recently released Closing the Gap report indicates, this achieved nothing for Aboriginal living standards.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

ISLAMIC STATE  One missing piece in the Neil Prakash Islamic State puzzle (AUS-WE/Feature) Maley, Le Grand In Melbourne’s winter months, the wind blows cold through the suburban auto shop where Neil Prakash got his first taste of working life as an apprentice mechanic. Freezing hands and a burning hot engine manifold are a cruel combination and Prakash didn’t stick at it for long. No one who works there remembers anything about the quiet, skinny teenager who is now one of Australia’s most notorious jihadists.  $700 million a year for Tony Abbott's war against Islamic State (AFR-WE) Kerin Australia's role in the war against Islamic State, which appears to have been one of the movers behind Prime Minister Tony Abbott's post- poll recovery, is expected to cost up to $700 million this year.

Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected]

ECONOMY  India under Narendra Modi could be Australia’s next China (AUS- WE/Feature) Sheridan It is often said that the three things which strike a new visitor to China are the scale, the cultural continuity and the distinctiveness of the way things are done.

FRANCE

 Indebted French nuclear company Areva sacks workers, negotiates with Paris (AFR) Stothard French nuclear group Areva is to cut 6,000 jobs over three years - 14 per cent of its global workforce - as options for a government-backed rescue package begin to narrow.

WORLD

 Iran and the West should consider ending their estrangement (AUS-WE/Feature) Shanahan In one Middle Eastern country, the practice of any religion other than Islam is banned, women are not allowed to drive, the screening of films is forbidden, there are no elections and last year 87 people were publicly beheaded.  China's most wanted fugitives in Australia (SMH-WE/Feature) Wen, Foster The sprawling display-style homes of Atwell, a melting pot of fly-in, fly-out mine workers, young families and a growing Asian community on the southern fringes of Perth, is the epitome of blissfully bland suburbia.

EDITORIALS

The Australian  Children, care and entitlement The modern challenge of balancing work and family life was once described by as the “barbecue stopper” of politics. Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison have captured the nation’s attention with their proposed childcare reforms. By spending the weeks leading up to the budget discussing retirement incomes and childcare the government has engaged the public in the themes of its economic plan, something that was noticeably missing last year. But if the economic risk of Joe Hockey’s second budget is that it lacks fiscal ambition, the childcare package does nothing to help. Far from ending of entitlement — as Mr Hockey once pledged — the Coalition has been spooked into a new kinder, gentler approach more likely to entrench entitlement.  Labour’s lessons for Antipodes Britain’s Labour Party has hard lessons to learn for the drubbing it suffered in the general election. Not for 30 years has it done worse. As former Labour prime minister Tony Blair has pointed out, unless it is willing to return to the middle ground of politics it faces a protracted period in the wilderness.  Lomborg’s centre disrupts a cosy campus consensus The University of Western Australia advertised in our pages at the weekend imploring prospective students to pursue the impossible. “Whatever your impossible might be,” went the spiel, “we invite you to pursue it.” Clearly this attitude has some unfortunate limits, as Danish academic (and sometimes contributor to The Australian) Bjorn Lomborg has discovered. What was an agreed and entirely plausible deal to establish an Australian Consensus Centre at UWA, complete with federal government funding of $4 million, has now been rejected. UWA has conspired to deliver the inverse of its promotional claim — turning the unsurprisingly possible into the regrettably impossible.

Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected]

 Britain rewards good policy (WE) For five years, British Prime Minister David Cameron has governed from the sensible centre and has had the courage to persevere with unpopular but essential austerity measures. On Thursday he was rewarded with an impressive showing in the general election which, contrary to almost all opinion polls, is set to give the Conservatives a narrow majority in their own right in the 650-seat House of Commons. The result will provide greater stability than previously anticipated in Britain, Europe’s strongest performing economy. It sent sterling soaring to a six-year high.  Political class is unable to tackle basic challenges (WE) Permanent spending to be paid for by a temporary boom in revenue — that’s how finance expert Chris Richardson recently summed up Australia’s fiscal dilemma. It’s the inescapable backdrop for the Abbott government’s second budget on Tuesday. The early signs are not promising, suggesting the messaging and rationale may be as erratic as they were in last year’s fiscal blueprint. That debacle set back the cause of economic reform, budget repair and national confidence in the political class.

The Australian Financial Review  Reclaiming the trust of the people When Joe Hockey stands up in the House of Representatives tomorrow night, he needs to start reclaiming the trust of the Australian people by being upfront about the alarming deterioration in the federal government's fiscal position since his first budget a year ago. As long as this deterioration is not reversed, Australia's extraordinary modern prosperity will be more vulnerable to any turn in our fortune.  Budget 2015: Joe Hockey needs to find budget purpose (WE) Even more than in his first budget, Treasurer Joe Hockey needs to rein in community expectations of what government can afford to spend. The price of Australia's main export has fallen savagely in the past 12 months, which will further widen the excess of spending and revenue to perhaps $150 billion over the budget's four-year projection. Instead of redoubling efforts to clean up Australia's fiscal mess, Mr Hockey's priority on Tuesday night is likely to be less about fixing the long-term problem and more about shoring up Tony Abbott's short-term leadership. The tensions are palpable in the photo ops this week, of Mr Abbott appearing to console his Treasurer about the purpose of his budget.

The Sydney Morning Herald  Lower family payments a fair price for better childcare The expression "as far as it goes" sums up the Abbott government approach so far to its second budget, policy fairness and reduction in middle and upper-class welfare.

CAPTIONS & CIRCULATION

AUS = The Australian (News Limited); Circulation WK: 126,901, Sat.: 277,386; Digital WK: 31,240, Digital SAT: 31,381. AFR = The Australian Financial Review ( Ltd); Circulation WK: 68,425, Sat.: 69,012. SMH = The Sydney morning Herald (Fairfax Media Ltd); Circulation WK: 161,169, Sat.: 265,457; Digital WK: 56,559, Digital SAT: 56,113. CAN = The Canberra Times (Fairfax Media Ltd); Circulation WK: 30,420, Sat.: 49,965, Sun.: 31,308.

Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected]