What Australian newspapers say on Thursday, April 2, 2009

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2009
What Australian newspapers say on Thursday, April 2, 2009

SYDNEY, April 2 AAP - The Australian says today invoking John Wesley's axiom "the world
is my Parish", Kevin Rudd preached a morality tale at London's St Paul's Cathedral on
Tuesday against the "false god" of "unfettered free markets".

Apportioning blame for the crisis, Mr Rudd would do well to look beyond short-termism
and the greed of latter-day Gordon Gekkos to the culpability of some of his Group of 20
allies, including China and Britain.

In the lead-up to the financial meltdown, markets were destabilised by greedy practices
such as short-selling and by a plethora of financial products created in the derivatives
market. Some of the packaged products were based on nothing more than debt.

In castigating free markets, Mr Rudd overlooks the fact they are in the process of
self-correcting. He is correct, however, to envisage that the crisis will force regulatory
change for the better.

The challenge is to devise rules for a sector that increasingly knows no international
borders, without stifling enterprise.

In its second editorial The Australian says that French president Nicholas Sarkosky's
opposition to spending to free up markets is understandable, as is the Germans.

The core task for the G20 summit is to thaw credit markets by providing banks the capital
and confidence they need to start lending. Without investment, the bad economic news will
get worse everywhere

The Oz's third editorial says the arts industry is chorusing its delight at the appointment
of two of its own to the ABC board, well-regarded arts administrator Michael Lynch and
former ABC executive and intellectual entrepreneur Julianne Schultz.

The Howard government changed the board, but nothing altered among the staff who determine
program type and tone. And with these two appointments, it seems everything will stay
the same.

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph says that News Ltd joined other major news organisations
two years ago in calling for free speech and government transparency.

Citing a request for information about the RTA's handling of road conditions, the Tele
says it appears that tax payers' money may have been used to provide a legal smokescreen.

It is for precisely such cases that the Right To Know was established and why the Tele
will continue its campaign.

The Tele's second editorial says some 26,000 gold passes have been handed out in NSW,
while fares for less privileged increase.

In its third editorial The Tele tales a swipe at Madonna jumping the adoption queue
while ordinary Australians wait.

The Sydney Morning Herald says today the leaders of the Group of 20 nations will declare
themselves united, absolutely, in tackling the Global Economic Crisis.

The question is: can they agree on any measures to pull us all out of the mess, or
at least stop it getting worse?

Yet the G20 is already falling down on one of its pledges in Washington: to refrain
from raising new trade barriers and get basic agreement on the long-stalled Doha round
of free trade negotiations by the end of 2008. The World Bank points out that since then,
17 of the group's 20 members have instituted new protective measures, including Australia.

Meanwhile, global trade is falling at a rate not seen since World War II, by a likely
9 per cent this year.

The trade collapse is bringing Asia's trading nations off the sidelines where they'd
been sitting in November, believing the crisis was mostly self-inflicted damage happening
in New York and London.

The SMH's second editorial says wretched resignation hangs over the tired and dispirited
NSW Government. Monday's power stoppage is just one example.

Cancelled projects, budget blowouts, interminable and unresolved battles for supremacy
between government agencies, failure of private contractors to meet technology benchmarks
- the lists go on and on: hospitals that don't work, fire stations built the wrong way
round, road projects that run well over schedule, manipulation of public roads to funnel
hapless motorists on to tollways they want to avoid, stop-start land releases out of sync
with demand. This is all run of the mill for long-suffering NSW taxpayers.

"Faulty brakes need urgent attention," says the SMH.

In Melbourne The Age today says those who like to believe that the nation state is a
dying institution in a globalised world need look no further than the G20 meeting in London
today.

The G20 summit has one day in which to try to resolve the questions that it deferred
dealing with at its previous meeting, in Washington last November.

There is agreement that the "shadow" banking system, of hedge funds and private-equity
vehicles, needs to be properly regulated, but just who should be the regulator is disputed.



The sharpest disagreement will be over the need for fiscal stimulus to revive deflating economies.

Which is where Mr Rudd's projected Asia summit comes in, because he believes it will
be needed to "actually look at what metrics, what numbers will be needed" to stimulate
economic activity.

A more radical proposal, prepared for the UN by Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz,
calls for a global economic council and a new global reserve system to replace the US
dollar.

In its second piece The Age says the election of new ABC board members Michael Lynch
and Julianne Schultz took a five month vetting that considered 350 applications then a
panel review.

Although conspiracy theorists will no doubt try to find political undercurrents, there
can be no doubt that the collective experience and expertise of Mr Lynch and Dr Schultz
outweighs any ideologies either person might or might not necessarily possess.

Now the Government needs to fulfil its promise to restore the staff-elected position
on the ABC board.

Melbourne's The Herald Sun says the coward who bashed a 91-year-old woman in her home
should have been convicted of her murder.

Not only the law but the police let her down.

The Herald Sun's second piece says that Mr Rudd's new relationship with President Obama
has already been a great contribution to the debate on the global financial crisis.

What happens in London, says the Herald Sun, will affect every man, woman and child
on the planet.



Brisbane's The Courier Mail says that it is impossible to underestimate the importance
of the G20 summit being held in London. Not since 1933 has such a coordinated effort been
attempted.

Right now the portents for the G20 summit are mixed, not helped by French President
Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to walk out if a communique with which France totally agrees
cannot be thrashed out.

Firstly, leaders must agree to immediately pump more money into the International Monetary
Fund, because its resources are already looking severely stretched.

Secondly, a broad accord on international financial regulation as being pushed by France
and other European Union nations needs to be reached.

One of the thorniest areas will be reaching consensus on the need for coordinated fiscal
stimulus among G20 nations.

That said, we wish Mr Rudd and his fellow world leaders the best of luck and goodwill.

We simply cannot afford a repeat of 1933.

AAP jfm

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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