What the Papers Say, Wednesday,,April 21, 2004

AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2004
What the Papers Say, Wednesday,,April 21, 2004

SYDNEY, April 21 AAP - Under the headline "Ringing the Republic Bell", an editorial
in today's Sydney Morning Herald asserts that the more things change, the more they stay
the same.

The paper says republican sentiment has been present in Australian political life since
before Federation, indeed as far back as colonisation itself.

Paul Keating, it recalls, made republicanism one of the chisels that fashioned his prime
ministership.

At Sydney's Wentworth Hotel in 1993, Mr Keating declared the time had come to start
the process of creating an Australian republic.

Now, eleven years later, the same hotel has been the venue for Mark Latham, the third
Labor leader since Mr Keating to expand on plans to expedite an Australian republic.

The Herald says Mr Latham's enthusiasm is warranted because a republic would serve
Australian interests.

But the paper cautions that in the process he ignores contemporary political lessons
at his peril.

The Herald says that no matter how pertinent the Latham observations may be on republicanism,
multiculturalism, reconciliation, creativity or equality, they are not the stuff that
will determine the next election.

The paper insists that Mr Latham was not wrong in trying to stamp himself the republic
candidate. He will, however, err if he overemphasises this issue and others of its ilk,
to challenge Prime Minister John Howard.

The Australian newspaper's main editorial recalls that April 2003 was a great month
for those who believed the people of Iraq should be freed from the grip of tyranny.

The prevailing sentiment then was that if they were, it would make the world a safer place.

But April 2004, says the Australian, has so far been a great month for those who believed
that the Iraqis should not be freed.

In the former camp, says the paper, are the governments of the United States, Britain,
Australia, Poland and the other nations who form the coalition of the willing - plus most
Iraqis, who still tell pollsters that their lives are better now than under Saddam Hussein.

The opposing group, the paper observes, is made up of radical Shi'its and Sunni factions,
Baathist holdouts and al-Qa'ida blow-ins seeking with violence to undermine the transition
to democracy - along with all the commentators and intellectuals in the West who opposed
the original invasion on the curious principle that anything the US does must be wrong.

The editorial states that the undercurrent of whining heard from the Left in April last
year as Sadam's statue fell and Iraqis cheered, has this month begun to sound like a victory
anthem, as Fallujah burned and Najaf simmered.

Meanwhile, the Australian Financial Review's main editorial cautions its readers not
to be taken in by Labor leader Mark Latham's crocodile tears for casual workers.

The real aim of Labor's plan to limit casual jobs is not to improve the rights of casuals
by making them permanent, says the editorial.

It is to conscript them into paying union fees to bolster the flagging finances of
Labor's union paymasters.

The Review says if Labor really wanted to help unhappy casual full-time workers, it
would support individual contracts.

In Melbourne, the Herald Sun's main editorial says the state government's economic
statement contains all the major initiatives to make Victoria more competitive in the
quest for investment.

Major cuts to land tax and WorkCover premiums and a new $370 million convention centre
would give "a significant fillip to existing businesses - and jobs", the editorial says.

Tough new emergency powers to curb union threats recognised that industrial trouble
was a major disincentive to investors.

"Only time will tell whether the Bracks government, with its close ties to the union
movement, can make this work," the editorial says.

The Age newspaper's main editorial says that any lingering suspicions in business circles
that the state government was anti-business will have been allayed by the government's
economic statement.

Substantial reductions in land tax and WorkCover premiums would take effect quickly,
but major infrastructure projects such as deepening the Port Phillip Bay channel showed
the government was also focused on the longer term.

The newspaper warns, however, that the channel deepening should be approached carefully.

In Brisbane, the Courier-Mail says Premier Peter Beattie is not answering the question
on whether he has misled Queenslanders over the number of accidents involving ministers'
taxpayer-funded cars.

The premier is dancing and weaving under the Opposition's questions over the misuse
of vehicles which have already claimed former tourism minister Merri Rose and embarrassed
others.

The paper says worse still Mr Beattie is attempting to maintain the spin that he released
the details because he is strongly committed to accountability and openness.

To claim a vestige of accountability he must undertake to answer the Opposition's question,
the paper concludes.

In Adelaide, the Advertiser's lead editorial says South Australia's director of public
prosecutions Paul Rofe, QC, may have to step aside to restore the public's faith in the
state's judicial system.

The paper says Mr Rofe has "conceded considerable ground, admitting his mistakes in
the handling of the Paul Nemer case and ... placing concerns for his staff and their morale
above any damage done to his name".

The editorial says this falls far short of restoring public confidence after a scathing
report was released by the government on Monday labelling Mr Rofe's handling of the Nemer
prosecution as "inept" and the reticence of Premier Mike Rann and attorney-general Michael
Atkinson to express confidence in Mr Rofe.

"It follows that much greater sacrifices may be required from Mr Rofe this week if
he is to repair the damage done. This will be his true test," the paper states.

AAP it/

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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