BHP’s $20m gift
BHP Billiton has made the biggest pledge to Telethon in its history, announcing on the eve of the appeal’s weekend that it will put $4 million on the tally board to kick off proceedings. The West
Minister ‘unaware’ of railways profit deal
Transport Minister Dean Nalder claims his department and Cabinet colleagues did not tell him about a secret profit-sharing deal between the State Government and Brookfield Rail linked to the closure of 500km of freight lines in the Wheatbelt. The West
Atlas battles margins in race to cut costs
Depressed iron ore prices continue to squeeze Atlas Iron, with the Pilbara junior running at operating margins of about $2 in the September quarter, with its product fetching $70.83 against all-in costs of $68.90. The Fin
PM defends plans to slash 2020 target
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accepted job losses in the renewable energy sector will be inevitable as a result of government plans to slash the 2020 production target. The Fin
Council rejig leaves out 3000 people
The Barnett Government will have to submit yet another set of boundary amendments to the Local Government Advisory Board to prevent about 3000 residents of Mt Claremont and Crawley being left without a local council. The West
RBA action hinges on Fed
The Reserve Bank of Australia is unlikely to be in any position to start hiking official interest rates until the US Federal Reserve does the same, which won’t be until the middle of next year, according to a visiting US expert. The Fin
Medical red tape next on Abbott’s hit list
The federal government is targeting the last great bastion of health bureaucracy, launching a review of the “thicket” of red tape around the drugs and medical devices available to Australians. The Aus
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Investors will be able to identify bad apples in the financial planning industry through the creation of a public register which reveals penalties, bans and sanctions against rogue advisers.
Santos is shrugging off its battle with Australian National University to focus on eliminating obstacles to exploiting huge growth opportunities in Asia, including labour relations problems and access to gas in states such as NSW.
Page 4: Jeff Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric, one of the world’s largest investors in clean energy, has demanded the federal government provide certainty around its renewable energy target.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accepted job losses in the renewable energy sector will be inevitable as a result of government plans to slash the 2020 production target.
Page 5: NewsCorp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch has invoked his grandfather’s reporting of Gallipoli to lash the Abbott government’s new national security laws that could jail journalists for up to 10 years.
Page 6: The Reserve Bank of Australia is unlikely to be in any position to start hiking official interest rates until the US Federal Reserve does the same, which won’t be until the middle of next year, according to a visiting US expert.
Page 7: Electric car maker Tesla Motors is ready to roll in Australia with a direct to consumer sales and service model designed to bypass traditional dealerships, with a first Australian sighting on Friday.
Page 9: Senior officials at the Tax Office and Treasury have blasted a controversial report that claimed Australia’s largest companies are paying less than 10¢ in the dollar in corporate tax, saying it was misleading.
James Packer’s Crown Resorts has won the right to keep secret – for now – how it plans to combat organised crime and corruption at its planned Sydney casino.
Page 15: Telstra chief executive David Thodey has conceded profit margins will shrink as the company looks to expand into Asia and invest in areas outside of its core businesses.
Sam Walsh will continue as chief executive of Rio Tinto beyond the end of 2015 after the company extended his tenure on Thursday.
Page 19: Newcrest Mining told a proxy adviser it was engaged in a bidding war for Sandeep Biswas’ services prior to hiring the former Rio Tinto man as its managing director, according to a report by advisory firm Ownership Matters.
Asciano chief executive John Mullen said dilapidated country rail networks are not getting badly-needed investment because politicians are hostage to a short-term electoral cycle that favours road projects over rail.
Depressed iron ore prices continue to squeeze Atlas Iron, with the Pilbara junior running at operating margins of about $2 in the September quarter, with its product fetching $70.83 against all-in costs of $68.90.
Page 26: Leighton Holdings chief executive Marcelino Fernandez Verdes said the contracting giant’s $1.5 billion asset sale program is well progressed and its restructure on track for completion by year-end as Leighton’s underlying profit rose 21 per cent to $470 million for the nine months to September 30.
The Australian
Page 1: The ABC is spending tens of thousands of dollars to damage its commercial media rivals by buying Google rankings that lure internet users to stories on its own news website.
Page 2: Businessman Dick Warburton has urged the Coalition and Labor to reach a swift deal on the renewable energy target, warning that the longer the delay, the more investment will be “held off’’.
Page 5: The federal government is targeting the last great bastion of health bureaucracy, launching a review of the “thicket” of red tape around the drugs and medical devices available to Australians.
Page 6: The nation’s two main indigenous economic groups will be kept separate, after the Abbott government shelved plans to dramatically reform the system.
Westpac is set to pour $2 billion into privately run public housing, as state governments withdraw from building and owning housing for the poor and those on low to moderate incomes.
Page 21: BHP Billiton has dashed investor hopes for more certainty around the timing of increased shareholder returns — but it has offered some cheer on the economic front, tipping that growth in China would hold above 7 per cent.
Page 22: Talks between Telstra and NBN Co to renegotiate a crucial multi-billion-dollar deal are expected to conclude this year, a move that would drive more certainty about the shift to the Coalition’s model for the National Broadband Network.
Oil Search has locked in future dividends for shareholders from the wave of cash coming its way now the $US19 billion ($21.7bn) Papua New Guinea LNG plant is up and running, flagging that up to half its profits would be returned to shareholders.
Page 24: Northern Star managing director Bill Beament says the fast grown gold producer delivered on its “simple formula’’ in the September quarter of “throwing off bucket loads of free cash flow.’’
The West Australian
Page 1: BHP Billiton has made the biggest pledge to Telethon in its history, announcing on the eve of the appeal’s weekend that it will put $4 million on the tally board to kick off proceedings.
Page 3: Australia will send up to 16 health workers to West Africa as early as next week in response to pleas from the British and US governments for personnel to fight the Ebola outbreak.
He may not have been born here, but Kerry Stokes has proved to be a true-blue Western Australian with a big heart.
Page 11: Colin Barnett has personally vowed to help reduce the number of Aboriginal people in WA jails after angry protesters mobbed him on the steps of Parliament.
Page 20: The Barnett Government will have to submit yet another set of boundary amendments to the Local Government Advisory Board to prevent about 3000 residents of Mt Claremont and Crawley being left without a local council.
Page 26: The efficiency and effectiveness of WA’s prison system will be put under the microscope by the State’s economic watchdog in a bid to determine whether taxpayers’ money is spent properly.
Page 30: Billions of dollars in assets could be returned to Australia by people trying to avoid an Australian Tax Office blitz and harsh new penalties.
Business: Transport Minister Dean Nalder claims his department and Cabinet colleagues did not tell him about a secret profit-sharing deal between the State Government and Brookfield Rail linked to the closure of 500km of freight lines in the Wheatbelt.
Seven weeks after dramatically quitting State Parliament, former treasurer Troy Buswell has re-joined the private sector.
BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser has told shareholders to brace for a “gradual decline” in China’s economic growth, though he said he was upbeat about strong, long-term demand for the mining giant’s commodities.
More than a year out from mining first nickel at its $473 million Nova project, Sirius Resources has moved to get its corporate house in order.
MACA has embarked on its first overseas project at a Brazil gold mine in a deal worth an estimated $500 million to the contractor.