PRESS DIGEST-Australian General News - Feb 8

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 Federal Opposition yesterday abandoned a pledge to deliver a surplus in its first term of office as the economy became the central focus of debate in the Parliament's first session of the year. Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said the Coalition would attempt to record a surplus of 1 percent of gross domestic product annually, although senior Coalition members claimed they could not guarantee the size of the surplus because the Government's budget figures were wrong. Page 1.

--Nick Greiner, former premier and chairman of Infrastructure New South Wales, yesterday called for a revamp of public private partnerships, adding that government greed was a factor in the failure of ventures like Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel. "This was the golden goose where you got hundreds of millions of dollars [in exchange for allowing a private company to charge road users]," Mr Greiner said. Page 3.

--A company in the United States has won a A$620 million contract to provide high-speed internet to 200,000 premises in remote Australia. Loral Space and Communications will deploy two satellites by 2015 to service 3 percent of Australians slated to miss out on fibre to the home or fixed wireless services under the Federal Government's A$35.9 billion national broadband network. The deal will be announced today by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. Page 3.

--The Coalition today will attempt to force a vote in the upper house on whether the former head of the corruption inquiry into Craig Thomson, Tim Lee, should be brought before a Government committee. The Labor MP has been under investigation for the last few years by the Fair Work Australia workplace arbiter over allegations of misusing funds and misconduct while working for the Health Services Union. Page 4.

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

--The Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday opted to leave interest rates at 4.25 percentage points, a decision that led investors to drive the Australian dollar beyond a six-month high of US$1.08 cents. Paul Howes, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, said the central bank's decision would result in manufacturers who had been expecting a rate cut cutting jobs. Page 1.

--Kieran Davies, chief economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, yesterday said local interest rates could remain unchanged for the remainder of the year if Europe could avert a financial crisis. His comments came as the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates on hold at 4.25 percent, a move that Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said "struck a balance between global uncertainty  and Australia's strong economic fundamentals". Page 1.

--Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been lobbied by the administrators of sporting codes to update copyright laws after a court ruled that Optus could transmit sporting events in near-live conditions over its mobile phone network. Sport Minister Mark Arbib, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and the Prime Minister met with the heads of various sporting bodies yesterday. Page 1.

--Federal Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten yesterday was criticised by business over his claim that banks were making short-term decisions by relocating jobs overseas. Greg Ward from Macquarie Group remarked that it was cheaper to hire workers in New York or London than Sydney for some professional roles. The comments from the investment group's deputy chief executive were supported by the Business Council of Australia, with the lobby group saying businesses needed the flexibility to respond to a changing market environment. Pg 1.

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

-- An analysis by two academics at Australian National University has discovered that 88 percent of appeals against rulings in criminal cases made by magistrate Pat O'Shane have been upheld in the Supreme Court. The review also discovered that Supreme Court judges criticised Ms O'Shane for dismissing charges without proper regard for the law, failing to give the prosecution procedural fairness and not allowing prosecutors to call witnesses. Page 1.

--The Federal Government has been advised that three Australians convicted of terrorism-related charges in Lebanon will have their appeals heard by a military court later this year. Omar El Hadba, Ibrahim Sabouh and Hussein El Omar have been released on bail pending the hearing. Mr El Omar, a businessman from Sydney, is related to Mohamed Ali Elomar, who was jailed for 21 years for collecting ammunition and constructing an explosive in preparation for a terrorist act. Page 2.

--Sid Vaikunta, the former managing director of The Star casino in New South Wales, is likely to be deported within the next few weeks after he was fired for "his behaviour in a social work setting", which is believed to be referring to allegations of sexual harassment. Mr Vaikunta was employed on a temporary business visa. A spokeswoman for Echo Entertainment Group, owners of The Star, said Mr Vaikunta was no longer sponsored for a 457 class visa. Page 3.

--One of Qantas Airways' Airbus A380 aircraft has been taken out of service after engineers found 36 hairline cracks in the wings. The cracks were discovered in detailed inspections, although Qantas insisted that the cracks were not as serious as ones uncovered by Airbus last month that resulted in European regulators ordering snap checks on nearly a third of the worldwide fleet. Page 3.

THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)

-- Federal police yesterday warned that child pornography was reaching epidemic levels in Australia, with paedophiles recording themselves assaulting children before sharing images with other molesters. Assistant Commissioner Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian Federal Police's serious organised crime division, said authorities were now discovering hundreds of thousands, in some cases even millions, of images on a suspect's computer. "We're seeing an increase in the number of violent images that clearly have not been commercially made," he said. Page 1.

--Mentally ill patients and pregnant women are attending medical appointments in portable buildings in Victoria's Kyneton because the local hospital is failing to meet an increased demand for services. Jennifer Gale, chief executive of Kyneton District Health Service, yesterday said the service had not received any funding from the Federal Government, despite winning a grant for A$6.8 million last year. "We really just want to get started," she said. Page 1.

--Channel Nine has moved its Excess Baggage weight-loss reality show to its GO! digital channel, even though the official ratings period for television has not begun. Excess Baggage lost out in ratings to The Biggest Loser, ABC News and Home and Away on Monday night. Nine said in a statement that the program had "performed below expectations", with re-runs of The Big Bang Theory sitcom to be screened in Excess Baggage's place. Page 3.

--Two inspectors for the Australian Building and Construction Commission changed their evidence in regards to an incident on a building site in Victoria, after signing statements claiming that a "militant" union official had headbutted one of them. Shaun Hardwick and Mathew Keene signed "de-briefing" documents saying that the assistant state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, John Setka, had assaulted them, but a signed statement to police from the inspectors claimed the union's Matt Hudson was responsible. Page 3.