James Murdoch and News Corp could face corporate legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic that involve criminal charges, fines and forfeiture of assets as the escalating phone-hacking scandal risks damaging his chances of taking control of Rupert Murdoch's US-based media empire.

The Tory commentariat has been frothing all week at the thought of the Greens controlling the balance of power in the Senate. The voters have made a frightful mistake in allowing this state of affairs, apparently.

There's particular angst over the new NSW Greens senator, Lee Rhiannon, whose parents, Bill and Freda Brown, were card-carrying members of the Communist Party of Australia yonks ago. She, therefore, must also be a Red.

In a reversal of Don Chipp's famous pledge that the Australian Democrats would "keep the bastards honest", Bob Brown and the Greens have decided to "keep the bastards dishonest", complicit as they are in the Prime Minister's clear breach of a commitment to the Australian people to not introduce a carbon tax.

In fact Julia Gillard has sought to lay the blame for her brazen broken election promise squarely at the feet of the Greens.

Like the Democrats, the Greens now hold the balance of power in the Senate.

Unlike the Democrats, the Greens have no respect for an electoral mandate.

Near Ningaloo Reef (picture by Gus)

The value of world heritage-listing status is being questioned after Shell was given the green light to explore for gas near Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef.

The Federal Government says the giant petrochemical company will be allowed to drill for gas 50 kilometres from the Ningaloo Marine Park boundary.

Shell says its operation will be focused on gas, not oil, and will be located away from the reef itself.

More than 6,000 square kilometres of coastal Ningaloo were listed by the United Nations late last month, and environmentalists claim the drilling plans could threaten the protected area.

Risk-taking and line-skirting have always been just one more cost of doing business for Rupert Murdoch.

from Crikey .....

Put it down to another case of the Perpetual Present to which some members of the Press Gallery are so prone: otherwise intelligent Gallery journalists running the Opposition's talking point that the Government is avoiding parliamentary scrutiny by releasing its carbon pricing package on Sunday.

...

The big change in the statement is inclusion of the phrase: “…cautious behaviour by households and the high level of the exchange rate are having a noticeable dampening effect.”

Europe’s well-publicised fears have played a role in that, but so have Tony Abbott and Glenn Stevens himself.

Abbott’s fear campaign over the carbon tax – consistently telling workers they will lose their jobs and the Australian economy will be severely damaged – has worked, as all opinion polls show.

The global economy is in the midst of its second growth scare in less than two years. Get used to it. In a post-crisis world, these are the footprints of a failed recovery.

The reason is simple. The typical business cycle has a natural cushioning mechanism that wards off unexpected blows. The deeper the downturn, the more powerful the snapback, and the greater the cumulative forces of self-sustaining revival. Vigorous V-shaped rebounds have a built-in resilience that allows them to shrug off shocks relatively easily.

from Crikey .....

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Fields near Tamora, NSW. (Picture by Gus)

Kumi Naidoo

From my first introduction to Australia via a picture book as a child, I was captivated by Australia's vast and pristine landscapes. To my mind yours is the country of health, nature and purity.

Yet on my first voyage to Australia as the executive director of Greenpeace International, I am devastated to find myself in a country set to become the first in the world to produce genetically modified (GM) wheat.

from Crikey .....

Michael Wolff, June 20, AdWeek:

"...this really appears to be an unstoppable thing.

Grain loading in WA (picture by Gus).

Australia recorded a trade surplus of $2.33 billion in May, easily exceeding analyst forecasts of a sub-$2 billion number.

It is the fifth biggest trade surplus since the ABS figures began in 1971.

The Bureau of Statistics figures show exports increased 3 per cent to $26.26 billion, seasonally adjusted, while imports remained roughly the same at $23.93 billion.

The biggest rise in exports came from non-monetary gold, which jumped 49 per cent (but is highly volatile), while rural goods were up 6 per cent.