What Australian newspapers say Saturday, February 14, 2004

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2004
What Australian newspapers say Saturday, February 14, 2004

SYDNEY, Feb 14 AAP - John Howard's decision to bend over backwards to try to steal
Mark Latham's policy proposal on reducing superannuation for new politicians and judges
is an extraordinary exercise in opportunism, The Weekend Australian says in its editorial
today.

Unusually, the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader agree on broad reforms that everyone
but their followers wholeheartedly supports. The next election will be a contortionists
contest if this week's events are any indication.

For all the government's attempts to discredit Mr Latham as a policy flirt, at the
end of the first week of the parliamentary year, it is Mr Howard who looks willing to
embrace any idea that will help his election chances, as he did in the lead-up to the

2001 election.

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph says Mr Howard's decision to fall in with Mr Latham's
superannuation curbs represents good politics.

However, if we want politics to attract the highest talents, the salaries on offer
must be attractive. The salary structure for MPs is in need of overhaul, and designing
a new pay system may not be easy.

In other enterprises, performance is the key determinant of pay rates. It would be
interesting to see that model applied to politicians.

Melbourne's Herald Sun says Mr Howard did himself absolutely no favours yesterday by
crying poor. Most voters would happily switch addresses and pay packets with him.

Clearly, in taking the razor to MPs' super, Mr Howard has finally made the right call.

Equally as clear, however, is the fact that the poorest thing about Mr Howard yesterday
was his handling of the issue.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the government is considering a proposal to provide
mothers with children under five a tax-free annual salary of $10,700 to replace existing
benefits plus a $3000 subsidy for each child.

But depending on the amount of subsidy paid, the proposal would need $1.6 billion to
$5.5 billion a year more than the $18 billion a year paid in existing benefits.

There will inevitably be concerns that the salary will not only help mothers achieve
a better balance between work and family, but may also encourage some women -- especially
the young and financially insecure -- to venture into single motherhood and long-term
welfare dependency.

The Weekend Australian Financial Review says critics of the free trade agreement with
the US don't see the bottom line.

In the absence of multilateral trade liberalisation, we are stuck with bilateral deals
such as the US free trade agreement, which is far from ideal but offers benefits no government
could spurn.

But much greater benefits would be available if only our governments could be cured
of their obsession with ``market access'' and find the courage to eliminate our own costly
barriers to trade and investment for all-comers.

Melbourne's The Age says with friends like General Pervez Musharraf, they may well
be wondering in the corridors of the US State Department, who needs enemies?

The revelation by Pakistan's president that he suspected three years ago the country's
top nuclear scientist was sharing around nuclear technology ought to unsettle President
George Bush's policymakers.

Dr Kahn, a national hero in Pakistan for his role as the father of its nuclear weapons
program, has apologised on national television for "endangering national security" by
leaking nuclear secrets.

Dr Khan is accused of pivotal involvement in a network that for two-and-a-half years
sold nuclear technology to countries including North Korea, Libya and Iran.

Adelaide's The Advertiser says politicians and the broader community cannot afford
to ignore the views of SA Police Commissioner Mal Hyde about the lenient court sentences
handed down to some drug pushers.

Mr Hyde is not a headline-seeker. When he does speak, he chooses his subjects and his
words carefully.

Mr Hyde wants penalties applied uniformly by the courts to act as a deterrent to stop
people from supplying drugs.

If he criticises the judiciary, he is clearly expressing the serious concerns of the
majority of the police force.

AAP rs

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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