Fortescue resumes Pilbara rail battle
The bitter war for rail access between Fortescue Metals Group and Brockman Mining is set to return to court after a Fortescue subsidiary filed appeal notices in the Western Australian Supreme Court on Friday. The Fin
Secret deal hands PTA slice of grain rail profit
The State Government is under pressure to come clean about a secret profit-sharing deal it struck with the private company holding an exclusive lease over WA’s entire rail freight network. The West
Canadian tax cut may hit Browse prospects
Woodside Petroleum’s nascent ambitions to develop a $C15 billion ($15.2 billion) liquefied natural gas venture in western Canada have received a boost after British Columbia halved a proposed tax on gas export projects. The Fin
Council capers
The State Government has indefinitely postponed plans to create a western suburbs super council, avoiding a clash with mayors in favour of redrawing the boundaries of the City of Perth. The West
Burswood mayors’ sticking point
The mayors of South Perth and Victoria Park have come out swinging at the suggestion Burswood peninsula could still be taken off them after yesterday scoring a win over the City of Perth. The West
Karara Mining disagrees on WA nature reserve
Chinese-backed Karara Mining (KML) is under pressure to relinquish a mining tenement in Western Australia, which the state’s environmental watchdog says is stalling long-held plans for a nature reserve in the mid-west. The Fin
Standoff threat to renewables
Labor has rejected an opening offer by the government to slash the renewable energy target, ensuring no quick end to the uncertainty plaguing the wind and solar industry which has put on hold billions of dollars in investment. The Fin
Jobless gap costing $2bn a year
At least $2 billion a year would be saved on public housing and prisons if indigenous employment reached the level of the nonindigenous population, economic modelling commissioned by the Abbott government shows. The Aus
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Labor has rejected an opening offer by the government to slash the renewable energy target, ensuring no quick end to the uncertainty plaguing the wind and solar industry which has put on hold billions of dollars in investment.
Page 3: Australian National University vice chancellor Ian Young said the world would depend on fossil fuels for “decades to come” as he defended the university’s decision to cull seven resource stocks from its investment fund.
Page 8: Economists have rejected the need for lower official interest rates after the removal of the carbon tax pushed down domestically generated inflation to one of the weakest levels on record.
Page 9: The Australian Bureau of Statistics “dismissed fairly quickly” a plan to run a parallel survey to the now-unreliable labour force figures because it would have cost more than $13 million a year and placed a significant burden on households completing the survey.
Page 10: Australian money managers could get squeezed out of the $4 billion-plus float of Medibank Private in favour of foreign investors, local fund managers have warned.
Page 12: Australian coal producers exporting to China will need to wait at least a year to be price competitive again with their Indonesian rivals, even though a deal has been struck to abolish the recently introduced tariff as part of any free trade agreement with Beijing.
Page 13: Chinese-backed Karara Mining (KML) is under pressure to relinquish a mining tenement in Western Australia, which the state’s environmental watchdog says is stalling long-held plans for a nature reserve in the mid-west.
Page 19: Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief executive Ian Narev has issued an ultimatum to G20 leaders ahead of their summit in Brisbane next month, pleading for the completion of the global post-GFC banking regulation known as Basel III and for a review to determine its impact on banks and economies.
Page 21: Origin Energy is taking advantage of rock-bottom spot gas prices in Queensland to defer its own production and instead use cheap gas from the market to supply its contracts.
Page 22: The chances of a corporate partnership between the newly enlarged BC Iron and Baosteel have improved after the Chinese steel giant poached Kerry Stokes’ top iron ore man this week.
Page 23: Veda Group executives met the federal privacy commissioner on Wednesday after numerous consumer groups complained to the commissioner that the credit bureau is pushing people to buy credit reports when they can get their credit file for free.
Page 24: The bitter war for rail access between Fortescue Metals Group and Brockman Mining is set to return to court after a Fortescue subsidiary filed appeal notices in the Western Australian Supreme Court on Friday.
Page 25: Woodside Petroleum’s nascent ambitions to develop a $C15 billion ($15.2 billion) liquefied natural gas venture in western Canada have received a boost after British Columbia halved a proposed tax on gas export projects.
The Australian
Page 1: The controversial renewable energy target faces cuts to save jobs in energy-intensive industries, under a Coalition plan to break the political impasse over the scheme, but wind, solar and other alternative energy companies warn it will put at risk investments worth $10 billion.
Page 2: At least $2 billion a year would be saved on public housing and prisons if indigenous employment reached the level of the nonindigenous population, economic modelling commissioned by the Abbott government shows.
Page 4: Households have enjoyed the biggest fall in the price of electricity for more than 30 years following abolition of Labor’s controversial carbon tax, helping clear the way for the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates at record lows.
Page 19: The federal government has signalled a major overhaul to the significant investor visa program as it looks to divert the billions of dollars raised from the scheme away from low-risk investments such as government bonds into areas such as venture capital and small-cap companies.
Telstra has unveiled plans to turn its fledgling health business into a billion-dollar-a-year standalone unit as the telco giant looks to tap in to the growing need for healthcare services and relieve some of the pressure on the nation’s overburdened healthcare system.
The Senate Economics Committee has asked the corporate watchdog to investigate financing of loans to investors in the failed Great Southern forestry managed scheme.
The use of regulatory levers by the Reserve Bank would help ease overheated parts of the housing market, but limiting negative gearing tax breaks for investors would pose serious risks to the stock of rental properties available, according to Mirvac Group chief executive Susan LloydHurwitz.
Page 20: Tony Sage’s Cape Lambert Resources confirmed it would contribute $US20 million ($22.8m) into a proposal to resurrect the Marampa iron ore mine in Ebola-affected Sierra Leone.
Woolworths has swiftly denied that it plans to sell Big W, following speculation in the market the supermarket giant could be weighing options for the $2 billion-plus business.
The West Australian
Page 1: The State Government has indefinitely postponed plans to create a western suburbs super council, avoiding a clash with mayors in favour of redrawing the boundaries of the City of Perth.
Page 4: Former State minister Rob Johnson is suspected by senior Liberals of orchestrating a bid to install a preferred successor in his blue-ribbon northern Perth seat.
Page 6: The mayors of South Perth and Victoria Park have come out swinging at the suggestion Burswood peninsula could still be taken off them after yesterday scoring a win over the City of Perth.
Page 10: Animal welfare campaigners have revealed shocking cruelty involving cattle and sheep from WA after a co-ordinated investigation into the live export industry.
A State Government review of tobacco laws raised concerns about the make-up of Healthway’s board more than two years ago but has never been acted on.
Business: The State Government is under pressure to come clean about a secret profit-sharing deal it struck with the private company holding an exclusive lease over WA’s entire rail freight network.
AusGroup boss Stuart Kenny has voiced his disappointment after Singapore shareholders booted one of the resources contractor’s Australian directors off the board.
Australia’s biggest ports operator, DP World, is promising to “absolutely throw everything” at retaining its foothold in Fremantle’s container trade.
Canning Basin oil and gas hopeful Buru Energy has raised just $3 million from a share purchase plan it had hoped could contribute up to $12 million from its investor base.
Process safety management and corporate governance was not up to standard when radioactive and acidic slurry spilled last year at the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park, a report has found.