WA debt rating cut on high ore forecasts
Moody’s Investors Service has stripped Western Australia of its prized AAA credit rating for the first time since 1996 and warned budget deficits are likely to blow out beyond current forecasts unless the government strengthens its “fiscal resolve” in the face of lower iron ore prices. The Fin
Western Areas tender key to BHP sell-off
Nickel miner Western Areas has told bidders for its product it would prefer a customer who can help it develop new mines, as the race for a looming supply contract heats up. The Fin
WA farmers milk brand power
WA’s peak farm lobby group will launch its own milk brand in a history-making deal with supermarket giant Coles and multinational dairy processor Parmalat. The West
Ports chief finds berth as governor
Western Australia’s first female governor learned some of her formidable strategic skills during 17 years of dealings with the militant Maritime Union of Australia. The Aus
ACCC ‘must put Woolies on short leash’
The backlash against the market power of the big supermarket chains has spread to their liquor operations, with an emerging online wine retailer calling on the competition regulator to investigate allegedly anti-competitive behaviour by Woolworths’ Dan Murphy’s unit. The Aus
WACA pays $3.6m to end project debacle
The WA Cricket Association has paid $3.6 million to Ascot Capital to settle its failed ground redevelopment and end the biggest financial debacle in its 129-year history. The West
Angry Chinese call on Palmer to go
The Chinese-born WA senator for Clive Palmer’s political party says he would have been happy to apologise personally to protesters who gathered outside his electorate office yesterday calling for his leader’s resignation. The West
Outer suburbs join $1m club
A record number of Perth homeowners are sitting on at least $1 million. From the city’s golden triangle to the growing urban fringe, close to 50 suburbs now have a seven-figure median price tag. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Only a fraction of Australia’s half-a-million self-managed superannuation funds pay any income tax, experts say, because of generous super concessions and franking credits that are undermining the federal budget.
Caltex Australia and Blue Scope Steel on Monday showed two contrasting turnaround stories for resources stocks, highlighting the mixed performance of this year’s final earning season.
Page 5: Moody’s Investors Service has stripped Western Australia of its prized AAA credit rating for the first time since 1996 and warned budget deficits are likely to blow out beyond current forecasts unless the government strengthens its “fiscal resolve” in the face of lower iron ore prices.
Page 7: Labor and the Greens could vote in favour of an amended version of the Direct Action policy, which is likely to increase pressure on the government to accept changes put forward by independent senator Nick Xenophon.
Page 9: KPMG’s national chairman, Peter Nash, has warned there is only a short time to resolve the federal budget impasse before business confidence stalls.
Page 15: Almost $3 billion in shares could hit the market over the next week as the first selling window opens up for the class of 2013-14 initial public offerings, including $1.1 billion in equity from credit score company Veda Group alone.
UGL’s outgoing chief executive, Richard Leupen, has forecast “significant” consolidation in the engineering sector as the contractor nears completion of the $1.2 billion sale of its DTZ property arm.
Page 18: Nickel miner Western Areas has told bidders for its product it would prefer a customer who can help it develop new mines, as the race for a looming supply contract heats up.
Page 19: Banks will ramp up their resistance to tougher rules designed to make them more resilient to shocks, as the financial system inquiry enters its final stages.
Page 21: Nine months after its $2 billion demerger from Amcor, packaging manufacturer Orora is eyeing bolt-on acquisitions to augment growth from “self-help” measures such as cost savings, after reporting a better than expected increase in full-year earnings.
Page 23: Construction work on the national broadband network has ground to a halt in several states and territories around Australia amid disputes with key contractors.
The Australian
Page 1: The Attorney-General’s Department has drawn up a confidential wish list of the metadata it wants to capture — including financial records, home and internet-protocol addresses and download volumes — as part of the government’s plan to impose a data-retention scheme on large telecommunications companies.
Page 3: Indigenous school attendance improved when there was a threat welfare payments would be cut if children didn’t go, but went backwards when the federal government failed to follow through.
Page 4: Western Australia’s first female governor learned some of her formidable strategic skills during 17 years of dealings with the militant Maritime Union of Australia.
Page 5: Local councils should co-locate childcare centres with schools, sports clubs and other community buildings or with workplaces, without requiring zoning changes, new national guidelines suggest.
Page 6: As it approaches the first anniversary of its election win, the Abbott government has achieved its best two-party-preferred poll result since before its troubled budget, but it still trails Labor as parliament resumes today after the winter break.
Page 8: The Barnett government’s management of Western Australia’s finances has again come under heavy fire after ratings agency Moody’s cited a “weak policy response” and lack of “fiscal resolve” for its decision to downgrade the state’s credit rating.
Page 19: Fairfax Media considered a billion-dollar merger with free-to-air network Nine ahead of splitting the merged company into two new entities — “Mature Co” and “Growth Co” — as chairman Roger Corbett raises pressure on the government to reform media laws.
The backlash against the market power of the big supermarket chains has spread to their liquor operations, with an emerging online wine retailer calling on the competition regulator to investigate allegedly anti-competitive behaviour by Woolworths’ Dan Murphy’s unit.
Page 21: Facility services group Spotless has beaten prospectus forecasts in its maiden annual result as a relisted company, with chief executive Bruce Dixon saying the group was well-positioned to deliver broader longer-term growth, meet its 2015 targets and start paying dividends.
The West Australian
Page 4: The Federal Government’s rebooted Budget sales pitch appears destined to run into immediate headwinds, with Palmer United Party and Labor hardening their opposition.
The Chinese-born WA senator for Clive Palmer’s political party says he would have been happy to apologise personally to protesters who gathered outside his electorate office yesterday calling for his leader’s resignation.
Page 5: WA’s next governor, Kerry Sanderson, yesterday adopted a low-key approach to becoming the first woman to hold the position, declaring she did not distinguish between men and women fulfilling roles.
Page 7: While the Eastern States have turned increasingly to user-pays infrastructure, WA has resisted toll roads — until now.
Page 9: A record number of Perth homeowners are sitting on at least $1 million. From the city’s golden triangle to the growing urban fringe, close to 50 suburbs now have a seven-figure median price tag.
Subiaco’s bid to revive its retail and hospitality precinct is under attack, with critics warning a proposed new liquor licensing policy could force anyone trying to open a bar to spend tens of thousands of dollars with no guarantee of council support.
Page 11: The WA Cricket Association has paid $3.6 million to Ascot Capital to settle its failed ground redevelopment and end the biggest financial debacle in its 129-year history.
Page 15: A campaign is under way to urge patients to use after-hours GPs rather than emergency health services after it was revealed ambulances were called to almost 5000 less-urgent cases in one Perth region alone last year.
Page 17: Joe Bullock will today declare his intention to be “senator for shop assistants” in a maiden parliamentary speech that will spell out his socially conservative, union-first outlook on politics.
Business: WA’s peak farm lobby group will launch its own milk brand in a history-making deal with supermarket giant Coles and multinational dairy processor Parmalat.
Mining contractor MACA has put the dramatic flooding of a Goldfields project earlier this year behind it to post a $55 million profit.
Skilled migration to WA has dropped more than 40 per cent as skill shortages dwindle but unions still argue there is an overrepresentation of migrant professionals and tradies.
