National News
4:00 AM AEDT | The breakup of the debt-laden property empire of developer Gary Baker is now under way. And heavy losses appear likely for the ambitious developer best known for wearing trademark white zinc on his smiling lips. Receivers have listed two luxury units in the ocean front Pacific Terraces complex at Bondi Beach, right, for a March 31 McGrath auction, reports the Herald's property editor, Jonathan Chancellor.
4:00 AM AEDT | When the Barangaroo Delivery Authority called for a broad debate on its preferred development proposal, The Sydney Morning Herald approached the NSW branch of the Royal Institute of Architects for help. The institute's council agreed to circulate two questions. The Herald asked: do you believe construction of a pier into the harbour will set a precedent for other developments? More than 40 responded: two-thirds opposed the plan, while a third supported it, as these edited letters show.
4:00 AM AEDT | THE man charged with reviewing Australia's international education industry estimates one in five vocational colleges are ''permanent residency factories'' and has conceded some of them may be forced out of business as the $17 billion sector is cleaned up.
4:00 AM AEDT | THE bestowing of one of Australia's highest honours on the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was a ''pragmatic'' move, human rights groups said.
4:00 AM AEDT | THE health reform blueprint will not end blame-shifting between state and federal governments and may leave many hospitals in dire straits, two authorities on health warn.
4:00 AM AEDT | THE NSW Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, says he refused a request for a judge who criticised Labor's dealings with donor developers to be an acting judge in the Supreme Court because the government now prefers full-time appointments.
4:00 AM AEDT | BILLED as the most exclusive of support groups, the CEO Circle is a safe place for executives to talk about their ''issues and failures''. And, at more than $1600 a meeting, the boardroom-style workshops are designed for only the most senior executives.
4:00 AM AEDT | ''IF YOU ladies leave my island,'' screams Gunnery Sergeant Hartman to his fresh recruits in Full Metal Jacket, ''if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon … But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human … beings. You are nothing but unorganised grabastic pieces of amphibian shit.''
4:00 AM AEDT | Why was $10,000 spent for a "strategic planning conference" at Lake Crackenback Resort in early 2008? Also, who attended and what was discussed?
4:00 AM AEDT | SWEEPING local government mergers to create 10 super councils, and a trial of staggered starting times for schools as a means of easing peak-hour traffic congestion feature in a package of 10 big ideas to get NSW moving again. They will be launched by the NSW Business Chamber today.
4:00 AM AEDT | ABI WHITEHAIR is only nine days old but she's already saved taxpayers thousands of dollars.
4:00 AM AEDT | ARTISTS who create images of nude children would have to pay $500 an image to get Commonwealth classification to make absolutely sure they would not be prosecuted under new child pornography laws.
4:00 AM AEDT | IAN MACDONALD, the minister dubbed ''Sir Lunchalot'', is to take control of Events NSW from the Premier, Kristina Keneally, indicating the organisation's importance within the Government has been reduced.
4:00 AM AEDT | AT LEAST 1500 people have lost their jobs and are applying for government retraining programs because of the sudden suspension of the $2.45 billion insulation rebate.
4:00 AM AEDT | MATHS education is in crisis, with the number of students enrolled in a mathematics major at Australian universities declining by 15 per cent since 2001 and the number of students taking advanced maths at high school dropping 27 per cent between 1995 and 2007.
4:00 AM AEDT | LOST in a big city? It is a familiar experience. So imagine if you could use X-ray vision to see what was on the other side of the building in front of you.
4:00 AM AEDT | THE journey from London to Beijing by rail could take just two days under a Chinese plan to build an international network for trains that can travel almost as fast as aircraft.
4:00 AM AEDT | FOR those privileged to see it, Julie Bishop's overly long loathing look at an audience interruption on ABC TV's Q&A on Monday night was a woman-who-stares-at-goats moment illustrating the opposition's talent for diverting attention to itself for the wrong reasons.
4:00 AM AEDT | TONY ABBOTT'S parental leave policy is bad even when judged against the kind of bad policy we get in election years.
4:00 AM AEDT | THE Liberal Party has spent 66 years developing its brand as the party of enterprise and low taxes. It took Tony Abbott just 98 days to inflict serious damage to the brand.
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter