What Australian newspapers say on Wednesday, August 13, 2008

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2008
What Australian newspapers say on Wednesday, August 13, 2008

SYDNEY, Aug 13 AAP - Before the Rudd government countenances proposed new legal action
to punish invasions of privacy, it should remember the case of Robert "Dolly" Dunn, The
Australian says today in an editorial.

The role of journalists in helping to bring this notorious pedophile to book might
help to provide a more balanced perspective on privacy than this week's report on the
issue by the Australian Law Reform Commission.

The ALRC has shown itself to have little understanding of the vital role of the media
in a liberal democracy.

Its scheme seems designed the turn back the clock to the days when the media was little
more than a respectful conduit for those with their hands on the levers of power.

Thankfully, those days are gone. The role of the fourth estate in a healthy liberal
democracy is well established.

Privacy is important. But it would be a serious mistake the remake the rules governing
the operation of the media by enshrining privacy as an inalienable right which, at all
times and in all circumstances, trumps all other considerations.

The Dolly Dunn affair is a prime example. This man might not be in prison today had
the media not invaded his privacy.

The Australian Law Reform Commission is working against the public interest with plans
to tighten privacy laws, The Herald Sun says.

The commission is attempting to make it more difficult for the media to keep people
informed and would allow people with something to hide to prevent publication if proposals
to enshrine a right to sue for invasion of privacy were enshrined in common law.

The right to sue for an invasion of privacy is a position held by certain elements
within the judiciary.

There has been no public call for a restriction of people's right to know or of the
media's role in investigating breaches of the law.

Action can already be taken under criminal and defamation laws for anyone whose reputations
are affected by media reports, and changes to privacy laws would result in a minefield
of opinion and interpretation.

The Law Reform Commission would have better spent its time seeking ways to make society
more open, rather than lower a legal curtain over activities that may be against the public
good.

The Reserve Bank acted too quickly and forcefully by raising interest rates in the
face of world economic uncertainty, The Age says.

It questions whether the major banks are likely to follow any Reserve Bank move to
reduce official interest rates, with the banks claiming extra rate rises would insulate
them from the global credit crunch.

There is no guarantee they will reduce rates by the same proportion as the Reserve
Bank if it cuts the cash rate.

After 12 rate rises since 2002, business confidence was down sharply. If unemployment
begins to rise, as the Reserve Bank predicts, householders will find it increasingly harder
to service their mortgages and other debts.

The Reserve bank was spooked into acting too precipitately on tightening rates, it
said. No one should take comfort from that.

Econometric was briefly Kevin Rudd's favourite new word a few weeks ago, The Daily
Telegraph says.

The prime minister repeatedly referred to "econometric analysis" while describing the
federal government's upcoming FuelWatch scheme.

Nobody had much of an idea what he might have been talking about, but as a measure
of the Australian economy's fortunes, the paper submits the Australian Junior Sport Index.

According to the index, Australia's economy has been roaring along in recent years.

It saw an enormous uptake of junior athletes who were inspired by the Sydney Olympics
in 2000.

A similar burst of junior sports enthusiasm followed our Olympic successes in Athens
four years ago. But these are changed times.

Membership of junior sports clubs is in significant decline.

Economists generally categorise participation in sport as a luxury, which would mean
that families cutting back on sport are shedding extras during tough times in order to
safeguard necessities.

But this is Australia, where sport is probably closer to necessity than luxury on most
people's lists.

Econometrics might be one way of explaining various troubling financial signs. The
Australian Junior Sports Index tells the story more clearly.





Julia Gillard has brought plenty of critics out into the open with her advocacy of
high school report cards, The Sydney Morning Herald says.

The deputy prime minister and minister for education quite rightly wants greater transparency:
far more information about all schools - who attends them, who teaches at them, and with
what outcomes - should be made public.

The aim is not, she says, to compile league tables, but to find out about the distribution
of disadvantage so resources can be directed where they are needed most.

Critics point out that league tables will be the result, whatever Ms Gillard says.

That is true, no doubt - but so what? What is wrong with parents and pupils working out
how their school compares?

The community should be able to compare all schools in a district - public and private
- on a broad range of criteria, not just bare HSC results.





Australia is in the early stages of an infrastructure boom, The Australian Financial Review says.

ABN Amro estimates that between $380 billion and $455 billion of infrastructure needs
to be built over the next decade to bring crumbling ports, rail systems, roads, hospitals,
schools, energy and water systems up to scratch.

The problem is capacity and cost. Labour and raw materials are in short supply after
mining and construction booms, and the price of both is rising.

The cost of finance has also increased sharply thanks to the global credit crunch.

That makes it imperative that the states responsible for building most of the infrastructure
find the most efficient way possible to do it.

Most states have embraced public-private partnerships to drive taxpayers' dollars further
and make the most of superior private sector design and management skills.

This should be backed by all states, not just those doing the heavy lifting, because
better PPPs will help to build the infrastructure the nation needs without breaking the
state treasuries.

Queensland Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg yesterday took another step on the
long journey back to relevance for the state's political conservatives when he announced
his new shadow ministry, The Courier-Mail says.

He would like the new line-up to be viewed favourably as a mixture of energy and experience
but it will properly be judged on how its members perform in the lead-up to the next election.

Mr Springborg himself has so far set a good example, sticking to his guns on the need
for a merger between the National and Liberal parties in Queensland and demonstrating
since that he is best equipped to lead the new entity.

This is the first parliamentary front bench for the Liberal National Party and it is
clear Mr Springborg wants it to reflect his stated desire to provide fresh policy ideas
and move on from any ructions created by the difficult job of making two distinct political
parties into one.

Yet, missing from yesterday's line-up was former Liberals leader Bruce Flegg, who apparently
turned down the portfolio Mr Springborg offered him.

While Dr Flegg's leadership of the Liberals turned out to be a test for everyone, his
performance as opposition health spokesman before the last election helped expose the
Beattie government's failings. His absence from the front bench only suggests it is not
as strong as it could have been.



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KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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