What Australian newspapers say Wednesday, Aug 7, 2002

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What Australian newspapers say Wednesday, Aug 7, 2002

SYDNEY, Aug 7 AAP - The entry of two streakers displaying Vodaphone logos during theBledisloe Cup signified a new era of corporate irresponsibility, The Daily Telegraph saysin its editorial today.

"It was a display of arrogance that leads one to the conclusion that the company believes...anyethical questions are secondary to the company gaining a marketing advantage over itsrivals," it says.

"Well, it is wrong. Misguided half-wits prone to bouts of exhibitionism are one thing.

Encouragement - financial or otherwise - for them to mar an international sporting eventis another."

The Telegraph says "Vodaphone executives should hang their collective heads in shame"

following the admission by Vodaphone managing director Grahame Maher that he knew thetwo men would attempt a stunt during the game and offered in a phone conversation to paytheir fines.

The Sydney Morning Herald says advocates for schizophrenia sufferers have always pushedtheir barrow up a very steep hill, with the isolating and debilitating disease largelymisunderstood by the public.

Anti-psychotic drugs suppress the harsher symptoms of schizophrenia - hallucinations,paranoia, delusions, hearing voices - even if they do little to help the social isolationaccompanying the illness, the Herald says.

Australia spends six per cent of its health dollars on mental health, although a schizophrenicis 12 times more likely than anyone else to commit suicide, the paper says, while Canada,Britain and New Zealand each spends about double this amount.

The Australian Financial Review says the question of foreign ownership in Qantas isshaping as a litmus test of the Howard Government's micro-economic reform credentials.

"Qantas wants the 49 per cent limit lifted so it can raise capital more efficientlyto support a huge fleet and possible investment in Air New Zealand," the paper says.

"The Qantas Sale Act which limits foreign ownership to 49 per cent...is preventinga successful company fulfilling its potential.

"To best exploit (available) opportunities, Qantas must be able to raise capital ascheaply as possible...The flying kangaroo would fly better without so much lead in itspouch."

The Australian says while the "dinky-di heart" says keep Qantas Australian, the mindsays the airline needs more foreign money - at least $10 billion over four years - soit can grow.

"Size is particularly important in a post-September 11 aviation market, and Qantascan't get cheap enough funds to expand - and so compete more effectively - unless thecap on foreign ownership is eased," it says.

Pitted against this, The Australian says, is that one of the airline's biggest assetsis its national brand, as most travellers see Australia as a plus. It says one way roundthis bind could be for the federal government to allow greater foreign equity while limitingvoting rights on the Qantas board.

The Herald Sun says Australians will welcome the Prime Minister's assurance that therewill be a full parliamentary debate before Australia commits to joining the United Statesin a first-strike war on Saddam Hussein.

"European nations oppose war on Iraq. So do the Arabs on whose support the West dependsin the war on terrorism," it says.

"There is no doubt Saddam Hussein has earned the title Butcher of Baghdad," the papersays. The US insists his regime is developing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

"But before moving against Saddam, we must pause to ensure that all other options havebeen exhausted and that war would be in our interests."

The Age says the biggest event in soccer is worth hosting, but success comes only toteam players.

"On Sunday it seemed that Australia had scored. But within a day it was looking verymuch like an own goal," the paper says.

"If the aim of the weekend announcement about an Australian bid for the 2014 soccerWorld Cup was to garner publicity, it was an unqualified success. But the subsequent attentionhas only served to highlight the problems afflicting soccer in this country.

"A basic requirement for success in sport, on or off the competition arena, is foreverybody involved to be playing the same game. Yet it seems that key players in an Australianbid for the World Cup are heading in different directions."

The Brisbane Courier-Mail says the Queensland Liberal Party has discovered a new wayto attract the contempt of the state's electors if speculation that Liberal Senator JohnHerron is to take a coveted diplomatic post in Dublin proved correct.

The editorial says to make matters even worse, Senator Herron is likely to be replacedby former state minister and Liberal factional chief Santo Santoro, who lost the safeLiberal seat of Clayfield to Labor at last year's poll, which in most minds would makehim an electoral failure.

"However, if there is one thing certain about the Queensland Liberals, it is that theydo not operate as most people would assume responsible political parties do," The Courier-Mailsays.

The Adelaide Advertiser says suitable funding is vital if our universities are to providequality education.

"The user-pays principle in the sense that tertiary students cannot expect a free rideis undeniable," it says.

"But the problem which must be addressed ... is whether the present combination ofgovernment parsimony and student loans - the HECS system - is going to create an elitistgraduate class with disadvantaged students unable to gain access to the courses of theirchoice.

"The parallel concern is whether Australian universities are going to become more andmore degree factories rather than research centres.

AAP jmd

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS