WA lines up first assets for sale as debt piles up
Western Australian premier Colin Barnett said the state was set to generate about $6 billion from a wave of assets sales as he attempted to contain bulging debt. The Fin
Atlas, MinRes join Utah chase
The main users of the Utah Point iron ore export berth at Port Hedland, Atlas Iron and Mineral Resources, say they expect to join the bidding war sparked by the State Government’s decision yesterday to sell the key Pilbara infrastructure asset. The West
Qantas $3b loss start of comeback
Qantas Airways chief executive Alan Joyce declared the worst is over for the airline after it reported a record loss of $2.84 billion six months after the Abbott government rejected a plea for financial assistance. The Fin
Pay cut for foreign workers
Employers will be able to hire foreign workers on salaries up to 10 per cent below standard rates for skilled migrants under a new federal government plan to ease dangerous labour shortages. The Aus
Labor bounces back in WA
Secret ALP polling has found the Abbott Government has gone into free fall in WA since the May Budget, with Labor beginning to seriously entertain an unlikely return to government within two years. The West
Abbott enters port code row
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been dragged into the latest round in the fight to deregulate the grains industry after bureaucrats in Canberra baulked at plans to exempt CBH from a mandatory port access code. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Qantas Airways chief executive Alan Joyce declared the worst is over for the airline after it reported a record loss of $2.84 billion six months after the Abbott government rejected a plea for financial assistance.
Page 3: Union leader Kathy Jackson clashed with a lawyer who had minutes earlier been revealed as her ex-lover in her third appearance in the witness box at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.
Page 5: Former competition regulator Allan Fels has called for the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to be reconstituted as an independent and transparent agency modelled on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to give foreign investors more confidence.
Page 6: The renewable energy industry is in turmoil after a review found keeping the renewable energy target would cost fossil fuel generators $22 billion in cross-subsidies, and proposed closing the scheme to new entrants or scaling it right back.
Page 7: Western Australian premier Colin Barnett said the state was set to generate about $6 billion from a wave of assets sales as he attempted to contain bulging debt.
Page 9: NBN Co has predicted it will connect a million homes and businesses to the national broadband network by June 30 next year and reach annual revenues of $150 million.
Page 13: Ramsay Health Care chief executive Chris Rex says he has no plans to slow the company’s disciplined pursuit of acquisitions, which have lead it to becoming the fifth-largest private hospital operator in the world by revenue.
Page 16: Atlas Iron is sprinting to cut costs, with a 35 per cent decline in the iron ore price this year pushing the Pilbara junior uncomfortably close to its break-even cost level of “mid to low $US80” a tonne.
Page 20: Whitehaven Coal boss Paul Flynn says the coal industry should fight harder against the global campaign urging investors to dump investments in fossil fuels, which he labels “green imperialism at its worst”.
The $15.6 billion Westfield Corporation, the international part of the Westfield restructure, has had a good rise since commencing trading in late June.
The Australian
Page 1: Employers will be able to hire foreign workers on salaries up to 10 per cent below standard rates for skilled migrants under a new federal government plan to ease dangerous labour shortages.
Page 2: Energy users say the government’s response to the Warburton review of the Renewable Energy Target must focus on price relief, as renewable energy investors warned of job losses and an investment drought.
A handful of former senior executives at the government owned company building the National Broadband Network have received almost $5.5 million in “termination benefits”.
Page 6: The Barnett government is hoping to reap as much as $6 billion from asset sales before the 2017 Western Australian election as it seeks to slash its ballooning debt levels and regain the state’s AAA credit rating.
Page 17: The price of iron ore, the nation’s biggest export, slumped close to a five-year low last night as Chinese steel mills hold back from buying and fresh Australian and Brazilian production floods the market.
Page 18: Intrepid’s compensation settlement for the loss of its Tujuh Bukit copper-gold project in Indonesia is to underpin a $110 million share buyback, as well as being recycled in to the Kitumba copper project in Zambia through an agreed merger with Kitumba’s owner, Blackthorn.
Page 19: The sharemarket’s impatience with any stock that does not over deliver was illustrated yesterday by Perpetual’s share price falling $1.95, or almost 4.5 per cent, despite a hefty 37 per cent rise in underlying net profit for the year — and a dividend payout ratio of more than 99 per cent.
Page 25: Qantas pilots have criticised the airline for making them wait at least another year for Boeing 787 Dreamliners after the carrier pushed back its options and purchase rights for 50 of the fuel efficient planes from 2016 to 2017.
The West Australian
Page 1: Patronage on Perth’s public transport network fell by more than two million in 2013-14 — the first annual decline in more than a decade.
WA’s fruit and vegetable wholesaling industry has emerged as a possible buyer of the Canning Vale Markets site — one of three State-owned assets the Barnett Government has put up for sale to try to contain ballooning debt.
Page 10: The Barnett Government is set to record a bigger-than-expected operating surplus for the 2013-14 financial year.
Page 11: Secret ALP polling has found the Abbott Government has gone into free fall in WA since the May Budget, with Labor beginning to seriously entertain an unlikely return to government within two years.
Page 22: The WA Equal Opportunity Commission will release guidelines today for dealing with bullying and harassment of students related to their sexuality.
Page 30: A sweeping overhaul of the higher education sector faces an uphill battle to get through the Senate, despite university chiefs offering qualified support for the changes.
Business: The main users of the Utah Point iron ore export berth at Port Hedland, Atlas Iron and Mineral Resources, say they expect to join the bidding war sparked by the State Government’s decision yesterday to sell the key Pilbara infrastructure asset.
Sandfire Resources’ hunt for the next DeGrussa is becoming increasingly exotic. The company yesterday struck a deal to acquire a 36 per cent stake in Toronto-listed Tintina Resources, which wants to develop the Black Butte copper project in Montana, US, into an underground mine producing 30,000 tonnes of metal a year.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been dragged into the latest round in the fight to deregulate the grains industry after bureaucrats in Canberra baulked at plans to exempt CBH from a mandatory port access code.
Clough has delivered a strong result in its first year as a South African-owned unit but now faces an uncertain transition in the oil and gas industry.