Australian Newspapers TODAY looks into major national news stories in the mainstream newspapers around the nation.
The Australian
A newly elected Labor government would face immediate pressure from unions to
support a crackdown on companies sending jobs offshore, prompting business
figures to warn of a retreat to protectionism under a Shorten prime
ministership.
The Department of Home Affairs handed an $82 million contract without a
competitive tender to a politically connected Papua New Guinean company to
provide catering and site-management services on Manus Island for just 282 days.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine has pledged to pressure
superannuation funds to pursue companies over workplace standards, attacking a
move by Josh Frydenberg to seek new regulatory powers to block union activism in
the nation's $2.7 trillion retirement savings system.
The Financial Review
Scott Morrison says the next election will be a contest "between enterprise and
envy", claiming the economic policy differences between the major parties are
the most pronounced in more than four decades.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia's top bankers and directors are being interviewed
by the corporate regulator, as it moves closer to launching a landmark case
against the bank and its board alleging breaches of directors' duties and
continuous disclosure.
Australia's economic growth will expand for another two years to reach its 30th
birthday because of low macro volatility and its ability to handle debt
properly, BIS Oxford Economics says.
The Daily Telegraph
Bureaucrats have outraged veterans by charging them thousands of dollars to
close roads and intersections for Anzac Day marches this year. RSL officials
have been told by local councils and Transport for NSW officials the money must
be paid for "traffic management plans" for dawn services -- with some costing up
to $5000.
The former lover of Married At First Sight contestant Sam Ball has had a charge
of unlawful entry dropped, after appearing in court accused of stalking,
intimidating and entering the 26-year-old tradesman's home illegally.
An ALP branch president has been charged with producing child pornography in the
Philippines and importing prohibited material into Australia. Peter Andrew
Hansen was, until recently, the Cabramatta ALP branch president and was once a
local Labor candidate.
The Age
More than 2000 firefighters are battling at least 19 blazes stretching from
Melbourne's southeastern fringe to Victoria's alpine region which have already
destroyed at least nine properties.
The Morrison government will commit $328 million to a fourth wave of programs to
curb violence against women after calls for more guaranteed funding and a
sharper focus on prevention.
The father of one of George Pell's victims, who says he blames the disgraced
cardinal for his son's descent into drugs, is considering suing Pell and the
Catholic Church.
The Advertiser
The Adelaide Lightning has officially been saved from the threat of extinction,
with the club's new owner to be unveiled today and coach Chris Lucas re-signing
for the next three years.
Terry Dycer had only just gone into remission for throat cancer when he veered
off an Adelaide Hills road on his motorbike and died. His death has left family
and friends mourning "an absolute legend" and SA Police officers begging
motorcyclists to ride safely as the state's road toll mounts.
More than one person a day has been charged with attempting to choke, strangle
or suffocate a partner or family member since new laws took effect just four
weeks ago. Women's safety workers have long warned that the potentially deadly
crime is rife but have described the number of charges as "startling".
The Canberra Times
The Australian National University considered dissolving the troubled School of
Music when its former head Peter Tregear left in 2015, tribunal documents
reveal.
Off-the-plan buyers have been stung with bills for hundreds of dollars due to
new laws that were supposed to improve housing affordability.
It's the service that has preserved the sanity of generations of Canberra
families. For 56 years the Canberra Mothercraft Society at the Queen Elizabeth
II Family Centre (aka the QEII) has helped new mums navigate their way through
myriad postnatal dramas, especially feeding and sleeping issues.
