Online Press review May 29, 2015 The articles in purple are not available online. Please contact the Press and Information Department. FRONT PAGE Ben Bernanke: ‘Lack of stimulus to blame for rates’ (AUS) Creighton The most influential central banker in a generation, who guided the global economy through the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, has pinned the blame on governments for the ultra-low interest rates that are playing havoc with exchange rates, asset prices and incomes around the world. ISIS war at crisis point: Peter Jennings (AUS) Nicholson Australian soldiers and other coalition military advisers should accompany Iraqi troops into battle against Islamic State to encourage them to stand and fight, a top defence expert says. Joe De Bruyn tribute dumped over gay marriage stance (AUS) Kelly A tribute to long-serving union leader and retiring ACTU senior vice-president Joe de Bruyn was pulled on the final day of the labour movement’s triennial gathering because of outrage over his stance on gay marriage and his union’s approach to industrial agreements. Business refusal to invest weighs down economy (AFR) Greber, Evans, Pojak, Durkin Corporate Australia is defying the Reserve Bank of Australia's push to accept lower returns. Greens back tax increase - with public transport proviso (AFR) Coorey The Australian Greens are negotiating a deal with the federal government to increase the excise on petrol in return for a portion of the revenue being dedicated towards public transport. Capital investment: Economic outlook slips 'from bleak to recessionary' (SMH) Martin Two weeks after the budget, Australia's economic outlook is bleak. DOMESTIC AFFAIRS POLITICS Julie Bishop’s laboured responses beg further questions (AUS/Comment) van Onselen Julie Bishop took instant offence in parliament yesterday at questions being asked by Mark Dreyfus about Attorney-General George Brandis’s handling of correspondence from the Martin Place siege gunman just months before it took place. Bill Shorten’s same-sex initiative baffles like-minded Libs (AUS/Opinion) Crowe Given a choice between getting attention and getting an outcome, what would a politician choose? The Abbott government's terrorism Bingo! Playing chicken on national security (AFR/Opinion) Tingle The political success of the second Hockey budget, it was observed during budget week, could be measured by the fact that no one would still be talking about it in two weeks' time. The Australian government shouldn't be involved in the marriage industry anyway (AFR/Opinion) Young Tony Abbott is looking for a way to get off the hook on gay marriage. Marriage equality question gives craven Parliament a chance to get it right (SMH/Opinion) Kenny What do we pay our politicians for – cowardice, timidity, flip-flopping? It's a reasonable question as the list of topics the Parliament will not discuss grows. Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected] BUDGET Shock investment forecast threatens budget (AUS) Uren The prospect of the biggest fall in business investment since the 1990s recession over the year ahead casts a shadow over budget forecasts and confirms the Reserve Bank’s fears for the economy. Scott Morrison tries to woo crossbench over budget reforms (AUS) Crowe, Lewis The federal government has launched new talks with crossbench senators to pass some of its most difficult budget reforms, but has been given another blunt rejection from the Greens on changes to family benefits and tougher rules on unemployment. ECONOMY Inequality: a fair way to go (AUS/Opinion) Leigh If you returned from work one day and found your home flooded by a gushing faucet, the first thing you’d do is turn off the tap. But once you’d stopped the water rising, could you then go about your evening as though nothing else was amiss? Only if you were willing to overlook the rather pressing problem of everything you owned being underwater. GST Tasmanian budget: GST windfall to kick economy into gear (AUS) Denholm The state government will use a $580 million GST windfall to stimulate Tasmania’s economy through new infrastructure spending in the struggling north and northwest. West Australian Premier Colin Barnett joins Lib calls for GST to be applied to more products (AFR) Sprague, Coorey Joe Hockey's band of Liberal Party critics has grown with West Australian Premier Colin Barnett saying the GST should be applied to more products, not fewer. We should be paying GST on tampons: removing it is a tokenistic distraction (SMH/Opinion) Irvine Nice try, boys. SECURITY Man Haron Monis letter a red flag that was ignored: Mark Dreyfus (AUS) Crowe Labor has accused federal Attorney-General George Brandis of failing to alert security agencies to Sydney gunman Man Haron Monis two months before the Lindt Cafe siege last December, but has stopped short of claiming a different response would have averted the bloodshed. Siege gunman Man Haron Monis boasted about his crime gang links (AUS) Box Sydney siege gunman Man Haron Monis boasted about giving religious instruction to the Brothers For Life crime gang, an inquest into last December’s Lindt cafe siege has heard. Australian Federal Police may have spied on you but can’t say (AUS) Martin Somewhere in Australia, an unknown number of innocent citizens remains blissfully unaware that the Australian Federal Police has spied on them unlawfully. Government's call to reject Australian IS defectors an opportunity lost (CAN+SMH/Opinion) Aly As things stand, you could murder the Queen, the Governor-General and the Prime Minister, and keep your citizenship. You'd be guilty of treason. You'd almost certainly go to prison for life. But you'd die as an incarcerated Australian, even if you had dual citizenship. Australia must choose between strategic, economic security: expert (SMH) Wroe Australia will have to choose between safeguarding itself against a strategic "storm brewing" and economic "dark clouds" gathering, the nation's leading independent defence economist says. IMMIGRATION Visa defaulters rival asylum-seeker numbers in detention (AUS) Lewis There are almost as many people who have breached their visas living in Australia’s detention centres as asylum-seekers. Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected] Abbott’s dual citizenship plan is bad policy even in fight against terror (AUS) Rubenstein Tony Abbott’s announcement signalling laws enabling Immigration and Border Control Minister Peter Dutton to strip dual citizens of their Australian citizenship is a step in the wrong direction for a multicultural and democratically vibrant Australia. EDUCATION State education ministers pursue Christopher Pyne for $30bn (AUS) Bita State education ministers will demand $30 billion more in commonwealth funding over the next decade when they meet federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne today. Universities should not donate to political parties: NSW auditor (AUS) Loussikan, Hare Political donations made by universities are an “inappropriate use of public moneys” and should be prohibited, the NSW Auditor-General has recommended in his annual report on the sector’s financial health. RESOURCES US pressed Canberra to play ball on nuclear waste (AUS) Cleary US government cables from 1978 reveal Washington had a long-term strategy to make Australia acknowledge its “responsibility” to accept nuclear waste. FOREIGN AFFAIRS Terrorism and China: finding our way in the new world order (SMH/Comment) Garnaut Amid global disorder and shifting power balances, Julie Bishop and Tony Abbott have just been given a road map to find their way through. South China Sea dispute: all eyes on Singapore forum for US, China talk (SMH) Lynch Hong Kong: China has been trading increasingly forceful barbs with countries including the United States on the South China Sea. Singapore, a neutral party on the contested waters, may provide the venue this weekend for talks about ways to defuse tensions. WORLD Asia migrant crisis: Conference on Rohingyas urges Aung San Suu Kyi to speak out (CAN+SMH) Murdoch Bangkok: Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has joined a growing number of international figures criticising Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to speak out against the persecution of Rohingyas. EDITORIALS The Australian Sydney siege: Inquest must hear why Man Haron Monis was on bail Given the prevailing threat of Islamist extremism and the extensive national security measures designed to protect the community from its terror, we need to know all we can about the incidents that have already occurred in this country. That is why the coronial inquest into the Martin Place siege should be useful — if it pursues the right questions. In particular we need to know why Man Haron Monis was not in custody or under surveillance given his disturbing history. US is right to challenge China China is being dangerously provocative by asserting sovereignty over the semi-submerged Spratly Islands in the South China Sea 1300km from the Chinese coastline. Claims there is nothing unusual about the land reclamation work transforming what were bare rock outcrops into an 800ha land mass with landing strips capable of handling the largest Chinese military aircraft, radar installations, a harbour and other major infrastructure are disingenuous. Ambassade de France en Australie – Service de Presse et Information Site : http://www.ambafrance-au.org/ Tél. : 61 (02) 6216 0150 Email : [email protected] 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 (Fairfax Media Ltd); Circulation WK: 68,425, Sat.: 69,012. 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