What the papers say, Dec 1, 1999

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-1999
What the papers say, Dec 1, 1999

SYDNEY, Dec 1 AAP - Malaysians have reason to be concerned that Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad has just won a new five-year term of office, The Sydney Morning Herald says today.

The SMH says that after Mahathir's 18-year rule, Malaysia, like the region, is moving on.

"To the extent that the result of Monday's election shows, nothing much has changed
in Malaysian politics, Malaysians should be concerned," it says.

"Their continued stability and economic well-being cannot be built on the policies of the past."

The Australian Financial Review editorial, while paying attention to the Malaysian
election result, focuses on Asia's economic recovery.

"The return of Malaysia's government at Monday's election will provide a good benchmark
for judging how much complacency is creeping into regional governments as the fear of
recession is removed," AFR says.

"Malaysia has already been sheltering behind its capital controls rather than using
the useful respite they provide to consolidate its financial sector like some other countries.

"Asian countries have generally moved to create more transparent and competent financial
intermediaries, but this needs to be accompanied by changes to the international financial
architecture to deal with the capital volatility which also contributed to the crisis."

The Australian newspaper says the Democrats have found it too hard to work with the
government to improve its latest round of industrial reforms, and rejected the legislation.

"Next year threatens to bring an upsurge in industrial disputation, mainly as a result
of increasingly savvy leadership in the key construction and metalworkers unions," The
Australian says.

"It would be a disgrace if sensible industrial relations reform was taken off the political
agenda just because some find the road too difficult."

The Age says the federal government needs to mount a much stronger case for its second
wave of industrial relations reforms.

The intent of the reforms is to do away with the right to strike and to place obstacles
in the path of unions as they go about their business.

The reforms also water down safety net provisions and further denude award components, it says.

The editorial says the second wave of reforms favours employers, will engender fear
in workplaces and at a time of relatively strong economic performance is not as compelling
as the government's first wave of industrial reforms.

The Daily Telegraph editorial deals with plans by the Kerry Packer-owned Publishing
and Broadcasting Ltd to join forces with an American information company to create a data
storage centre that will include details on almost every Australian.

"It clearly constitutes an invasion of privacy, but with no laws to govern this usage,
it cannot be policed," the Telegraph says.

The paper calls on the federal government to establish some guidelines.

"This needs to be backed up by appropriate legislation. In the meantime, the government
and all Australians should be concerned that the right to privacy is not being violated,"

The Telegraph says

The Brisbane Courier-Mail editorial says while the prospect of cheaper airfares from
Virgin Airlines is understandable, people in regional areas of the state will be concerned
that the services they receive are not diminished as Ansett and Qantas meet the challenger.

The editorial says that to the extent that there is some cross-subsidisation of country
routes from profits on the trunk routes, these fears have some basis.

"If Premier Peter Beattie succeeds in persuading Mr Branson to base Virgin in Brisbane,
his next task will be to see that regional areas also benefit from the airline battle,"

The Courier-Mail says.

The Herald Sun in Melbourne says the Victorian government will find little support
for the view that it should get into the business of distributing heroin to addicts.

To have a government officially sanctioning the peddling of this potentially lethal
drug would be an affront to common sense.

Most Victorians choose not to use heroin and nothing should be done to suggest that
society condones its use, the paper says.

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KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

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