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BBC Monitoring Quotes From Australian Press 23 Sep 05

Posted on: Thursday, 22 September 2005, 15:00 CDT

The following is a selection of quotes from editorials and commentaries published in 23 September editions of Australian newspapers available to BBC Monitoring:

Airport security

Sydney's The Sydney Morning Herald: www.smh.com.au "...Terrorism in the air is nothing new. That is why Sir John Wheeler's report on security shortcomings at Australian airports is so shocking. Not that the Prime Minister, John Howard, sees it that way. Mr Howard would have it that the Wheeler report is "a positive assessment", though it does "identify some areas where airport security could be improved". What understatement. The areas to be improved are central, and their past neglect shameful. It is hard to understand why things are so lax when reviews of Australian airports, like hijackings, are nothing new... The Australian government should not have needed an expert from England to direct its attention to the obvious. The Wheeler report exposes airport security as little better than a sham..." (Editorial) (23)

Lessons from Japan, German elections

Sydney's The Australian: www.theaustralian.news.com.au "The election results in Japan and Germany may finally put to rest the Australian political myth that an opposition should put out fully costed, detailed policies on all contentious matters years in advance, then argue them through to the next election. This myth has persisted in Australia despite all of the evidence to the contrary... Germany's unlosable election looks as though it has effectively been lost by [Angela] Merkel. Even if she becomes chancellor, she will be hamstrung in implementing her policy agenda. And Merkel had a radical agenda for change... She was to be the Margaret Thatcher of Germany, a sweeping reformer. Yet her 16 per cent lead over [Gerhard] Schroeder evaporated in the past four months... [In Japan] The truth is, however, that post office privatization was pretty much [Prime Minister] Koizumi's whole reform platform. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which had been making steady progress in previous elections, had in contrast put forward a much more radical, broad-ranging, detailed program of economic, social and foreign policy reform. It lost one-third of its 175 seats and its leader. So much for a comprehensive reform program..." (Comment by Michael Costello) (23)

Sources: As listed

Source: BBC Monitoring Newsfile

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