PRESS DIGEST-Australian General News - Aug 25

Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)

The independent members of parliament who hold the balance of power after Saturday's federal election say that deliberations to decide a new government could take until the end of next week. The three independents - Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor - yesterday said they would not rush their negotiations. "It's a critical process and it's something that doesn't need to be rushed," Mr Windsor said. Page 1.

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Profit results from the real estate investment trusts (REITs) sector show that the commercial and office property markets are slowly recovering. GPT Group (GPT.AX), which barely survived the financial crisis, yesterday reported improved income, forecasting a full-year payout of A15.9 cents a security. Overall the industry is moving to lower, more sustainable payout ratios, analysts say. Page 1.

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Australia's liquidators, administrators and receivers have been criticised for failing to protect creditors and shareholders. Jeffrey Knapp from the Australian School of Business, said that the industry was failing to disclose basic information to the public, and that the lack of independent review was a gateway to corporate fraud. A senate inquiry into the profession will report its findings by September 14. Page 1.

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is set to introduce changes to consumer laws that will require businesses to report unsafe products within two days or face increased penalties. From January next year, companies that do not notify the ACCC within two days once they become aware a product has, or may have, caused serious injury, illness or death, will face fines of up to A$16,500. Until now companies reported product defects voluntarily. Page 3.

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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)

The Australian Labor Party's (ALP) claim to be able to provide a stable minority government was yesterday hit when former ALP president Warren Mundine criticised the party as divided, saying "there is no doubt that there is poison in the Labor Party at the moment, I'm not going to back away from that." Queensland Premier Anna Bligh on Monday attacked those who had pushed for the overthrow of former prime minister Kevin Rudd, saying that the Gillard experiment had "failed miserably." Page 1.

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A group of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers have gone to the High Court of Australia to challenge the constitutional basis for processing asylum claims outside Australia's legal system. If successful, the decision would give claimants the same right to have a decision examined as all other Australians. Lawyers for the asylum-seekers yesterday told the court that the Federal Government's power to detain people was evidence that the process was "contained within the (migration) act and not sitting outside it." Page 2.

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Friends of Hazel Hawke, who was married to former prime minister Bob Hawke, have moved to protect her legacy after Bob's current wife Blanche d'Alpuget published a biography on Hawke. Hazel's friends say it is "disrespectful" and "despicable" of d'Alpuget to pass judgement on Hawke's first marriage in her biography, while Hazel cannot defend herself because she is suffering Alzheimer's disease. Page 3.

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Australian actor Paul Hogan applied on Monday to have a court case brought by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) immediately ruled in his favour, arguing the ACC's case has no reasonable prospect of succeeding. Hogan, his artistic collaborator John Cornell and their financial adviser Tony Stewart, are targets of a A$300 million investigation into offshore tax havens. The trio have denied any wrongdoing, and have not been charged with tax-related offences. Page 3.

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)

The New South Wales government yesterday released an abridged version of the contract it signed with developers for the A$6 billion Barangaroo project. The contract - between developer Lend Lease (LLC.AX) and the Barangaroo Delivery Authority - was yesterday uploaded to the authority's website, with almost all financial information removed. Details of seven annual payments due to be made until 2018 have been removed from the public version of the contract. Page 1.

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The brother of the former boyfriend of a woman accused of murdering her newborn baby in 1996 says he did not make an "arrangement" with her about the child. Simon Gillies - whose brother, Duncan Gillies, dated the accused woman Keli Lane, from1994 to 1998 - yesterday told the New South Wales Supreme Court that he was not aware of Ms Lane's pregnancies. Although he and his wife had difficulties conceiving, Mr Gillies said there was "absolutely no arrangement" between them and Ms Lane to take the child. Page 3.

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A lawyer who launched a class action against the City of Sydney's Bourke Street cycleway on behalf of 102 companies has admitted he only had permission to act for one. John Mahoney of Mahoney Dominic Lawyers sent a letter of demand to the council on July 30, claiming to act for 102 businesses adversely affected by the cycleway. However, in a letter to the council on August 19, Mr Mahoney conceded he was acting on behalf of only one business. Page 3.

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Concerns of a possible conflict of interest regarding Governor-General Quentin Bryce is an ethical rather than a legal issue, experts say. University of Sydney constitutional expert Anne Twomey yesterday said Ms Bryce - whose daughter is married to Labor parliamentarian Bill Shorten - would have to "make a judgment call" as to whether to step aside to protect the integrity of her office. Page 7.

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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au) In a bid to woo the three independent parliamentarians who hold the balance of power, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott yesterday promised a "kinder, gentler polity." Mr Abbott said he understood the desire of the independent MPs "for a new style of politics." Mr Abbott is due to meet with the three independents today, to negotiate who forms the next federal government after Saturday's federal election delivered a hung parliament. Page 1.

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A major investigation into pornographic and racist emails circulated through the Victoria Police computer has implicated up to thirty officers. More than 20 police have been charged with disciplinary offences that could result in dismissal. The Ethical Standards Department investigation, code-named Barrot, has tracked hundreds of emails that have been circulated through the police network for more than 12 months. Page 1.

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Employer attitudes towards mature aged workers are evolving, with many saying they would in fact prefer someone over 55 to a younger worker from overseas, new research shows. A government-funded study of 600 large organisations by Monash University researchers found that 50 percent of public sector employers and 40 percent of private sector employers would hire mature aged workers when faced with a labour shortage. Page 3.

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A Victorian man charged with assault is on the run after escaping whilst being extradited from Queensland yesterday. Police are searching swampland near Brisbane's domestic airport, where Kayd Thorp, 24, was last seen. A Queensland Police spokesperson said Thorp had been in the custody of two Victorian officers when he absconded at 3 pm. Page 3. --