What Australian newspapers say on Saturday, April 17, 2010

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2010
What Australian newspapers say on Saturday, April 17, 2010

SYDNEY, April 17 AAP - The current refugee intake of 13,750 people puts Australia among
the top for resettlements per capita, but the UN High Commissioner for Refugees system
is often inefficient in processing refugees within reasonable timeframes and is struggling
to meet demands placed upon it, The Australian says in its editorial today.

The Rudd government has good reason to invest more time and resources working for more
effective co-operation over the issue in international forums and with non-government
groups with expertise, the newspaper says.

"In deciding which applicants with a legitimate fear of being persecuted in their homelands
are most worthy of refugee status, Australia needs a more rigorous system of triaging
applicants.

"It might seem harsh to some, given the abundance of trauma and suffering experienced
by many seeking shelter on our shores. But in truth, the humane response is to do everything
possible to ensure that the most desperate of the desperate are given priority."

The Sydney Morning Herald says the chief justice of the NSW Supreme Court, James Spigelman,

referring to the legal and cultural treatment of violence against women, has raised an
important issue: to what extent should Australian respect the values and attitudes of
minority cultures influence sentencing for crimes that have been committed.

Australia's states and territories recognise to varying degrees the special situation
of indigenous Australians. Aspects of indigenous customary law can be taken into account
in sentencing indigenous offenders, but this isn't a precedent for those from other cultures.

Indigenous policy offers no useful model for the treatment of minority ethnic groups
who migrate to Australia, where a system of law and of cultural values underpinning the
law are firmly in place and based on British and other traditions of still longer standing,
the newspaper says.

"Unlike indigenous Australians, those groups have - or had - a choice whether to engage
with white Australian culture. Having made the choice, they must accept the consequences
when it comes to questions of law."

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph says the estimated extra amount households will have to
spend next year and in years to come to cover the steeply rising cost of living is $3000.

The latest bad news involves gas prices, which are set to jump by double the rate of
inflation. Add that to absurd and insulting rises in electricity and water charges and
we're all in for a financial belting, the newspaper says.

"For many ordinary families, a sudden increase of $3000 in living costs will mean the
difference between choosing schools for their children or upgrading to a newer, safer
car...

"Let's hear our politicians telling us what they plan to do about the crisis that they
haven't dodged.

Melbourne's Herald Sun says the biggest problem with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's $50
billion health and hospitals reform plan is Kevin Rudd.

If he were to take a step back and stop trying to bully the premiers and chief ministers,
his reforms might have a chance of being adopted, but not necessarily in the way he sees
them.

Mr Rudd has offered to put up 60 per cent of national hospitals funding against 40
per cent from the states, the reverse of what happens at present," it said.

"But for putting an extra 20 per cent into the health pot, Mr Rudd demands the states
and territories give up 30 per cent of their GST funding, and not everyone was going to
agree to that. Certainly not Victoria's John Brumby, who wants a 50-50 split, with the
states and territories drawing on this pool to run their hospitals.

"But whatever the argument over how much and from whom, it is an unnecessary rush to
judgment by a Prime Minister who has embraced a crash-through-or-crash approach on major
issues."

Melbourne's The Age says despite mounting concerns about the operation of the Rudd
government's school building scheme in Victoria, the state's taxpayers are yet to see
a report card as governments opt for a ''need to know'' approach at the expense of timely
transparency.

In short, state Education Minister Bronwyn Pike is resisting calls from principals
and parts of the construction industry to release financial and other information on the
scheme's progress, but says the federal government knows all the facts.

By contrast, NSW has had the benefit of enlightenment and the results have led to allegations
of massive overcharging by contractors - which may explain some of the reluctance here.

"Whether taxpayers are getting value for money through the scheme generally remains
an open question...

"But surely taxpayers have a right to know the nuts-and-bolts of such a large project.

The case for transparency, in this instance, outweighs the case for discretion."

Brisbane's The Courier-Mail says state premiers and territory chief ministers need
to approach Monday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) summit on health and hospital
reform with the national interest as their top priority.

The Rudd government's National Health and Hospitals Network might not be perfect but
it represents the most comprehensive reshaping in this generation of the approach to health
care.

The aim is to reform how health care is administered: primary, aged and mental health
care will be the sole responsibility of the federal government, with additional funding
pledged across these sectors providing public hospitals significant relief as more people
are treated in the community rather than in wards that should be treating the injured
and ill, the newspaper says.

"Mr Rudd should push on with his plan confident he has the overwhelming support of
the Australian people. If one or more premiers wants to stand in the way, the other leaders
should look for a way to get around them."

AAP gr/rs

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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