SYDNEY: In another major gaffe for Sydney Olympics organisers, the centrepiece of next month's opening ceremony has been leaked to the world media.
Smuggled amateur video footage of a supposedly secure rehearsal shows thousands of Aboriginal performers running onto the main track at the end of a two-hour extravaganza depicting Antipodean culture and sporting success. They ring the arena, before sitting cross legged to use gigantic didgeridoos to inflate a 25 metre high Major General Peter Gosgrove, that then floats towards a grateful East Timor for several minutes before saluting and exploding into a $20m state-of-the-art fireworks display.

BRISBANE: State Treasurer David Hamill said here last night that a further $250 million would be allocated to fund the professional counselling programs set up throughout the Sunshine State to help Queenslanders cope with the loss of the Olympic torch run.

MELBOURNE: The Civil Aviation Authority has announced here that Qantas flights will now be allowed to take off and land in any direction and on any runway they like regardless of wind and air traffic conditions, so as not to affect property values under traditional flight paths.

CANBERRA: Shaking with rage after Opposition taunts that a rise in the 10 percent Goods and Services Tax was inevitable, a defiant Prime Minister John Howard said that any government led by him would never, ever, raise the level of the GST under almost any circumstances.