AFG rattles the tin for $140m
WA-founded mortgage brokers Australian Finance Group is set to detail plans to raise up to $140 million in the State’s biggest non-resources float since Navitas more than 10 years ago. The West
ATO unravels tech giants’ real tax rates
Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has proposed a radical new formula to force corporations to disclose how much tax they actually pay on their Australian earnings, in a move that could challenge the reported positions of some of our biggest companies including Macquarie, ANZ, AMP, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. The Fin
South32 index cash set for shift south
Australian index funds will pile into a forced buy-in of hundreds of millions dollars-worth of shares in South32 this month ahead of its local listing in June to satisfy their index-linked mandates, which will help counter a wave of forced selling in London. The Fin
Palmer company ‘ignoring law ruling’
Chinese corporate giant Citic has again accused Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy of hindering its $10 billion Sino Iron mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara by ignoring a court order to hand over key environmental licences for the project. The Aus
Mayweather keeps title – and two hundred million
After the final bell had rung, world welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather jumped on the ropes and barked defiantly to the crowd. He knew he had won the bout, but everyone else needed the judges’ confirmation. The Fin
Budget tax trap laid for Labor
Cabinet ministers have killed off a new option to increase revenue in order to cut the deficit as Tony Abbott marshals a new attack on Labor for proposing higher taxes rather than tougher spending cuts, preparing the ground for a fundamental political fight over budget repair. The Aus
NRW calls umpire in Samsung dispute
A drawn-out payment row over one of the Roy Hill iron ore project’s biggest contracts is set to go before an international umpire. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Revenue losses caused by flat wages growth is set to rival the tens of billions of dollars being written off as a result of the plunging iron ore price, next week’s federal budget will reveal.
Paul Keating, the architect of Australia’s dividend imputation tax regime, says the 28-year-old system has delivered a financial bounty to the nation as well as to yield-hungry investors and that Treasury are ‘‘nincompoops’’ for even considering abolishing it.
After the final bell had rung, world welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather jumped on the ropes and barked defiantly to the crowd. He knew he had won the bout, but everyone else needed the judges’ confirmation.
Page 4: Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has proposed a radical new formula to force corporations to disclose how much tax they actually pay on their Australian earnings, in a move that could challenge the reported positions of some of our biggest companies including Macquarie, ANZ, AMP, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
Page 5: Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane are under growing pressure to lift their ‘‘final offer’’ over the renewable energy target and do a deal with Labor for the sake of jobs, energy prices and industry certainty.
Page 7: The Australian Securities and Investment Commission is readying a major crackdown on property spruiking to self-managed super funds following a recent precedent-setting court ruling.
Page 9: States need to shoulder a greater share of the financial burden for re-building after natural disasters because the current system, where the Commonwealth pays the bulk of the damage bill, is unfair and unsustainable, the Productivity Commission says.
Page 15: Australia’s major banks are set to notch up more than $15 billion in first-half profits this week, but analysts and investors will be waiting to see whether intense competition and falling margins could weigh on the lofty valuations of the Big Four.
Shareholder activism is set to become a bigger factor in deal making and advisory work outside of the US in coming years, largely because activists have proven successful in their pursuits, according to Greenhill & Co chief executive Scott Bok.
Page 17: Australian index funds will pile into a forced buy-in of hundreds of millions dollars-worth of shares in South32 this month ahead of its local listing in June to satisfy their index-linked mandates, which will help counter a wave of forced selling in London.
The Australian
Page 1: Cabinet ministers have killed off a new option to increase revenue in order to cut the deficit as Tony Abbott marshals a new attack on Labor for proposing higher taxes rather than tougher spending cuts, preparing the ground for a fundamental political fight over budget repair.
Commonwealth deficits will total $150 billion over the next four years — almost $50bn worse than official forecasts — with next week’s budget to reveal further massive shortfalls in tax revenues as spending blows out to its highest level in 30 years.
Page 5: Unsafe building materials made cheaply overseas and shipped for use in Australia — despite their failing to comply with standards — are being cited in legal advice as a major risk for builders and homeowners.
Page 8: Warring parents are waiting months for counselling at federally funded mediation centres, prompting a university to set up a rival service for broken families.
Chinese corporate giant Citic has again accused Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy of hindering its $10 billion Sino Iron mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara by ignoring a court order to hand over key environmental licences for the project.
Page 23: The local arm of global oil giant BP plans to spend more than $450 million over the next three years to open up to 60 new service stations across the country as it diverts funds that were previously spent on its ailing Bulwer refinery into its increasingly profitable retail network.
Telstra’s stand-alone health unit is on a mission to revolutionise the nation’s strained healthcare system with plans to slash hospital waiting times, improve patient-to-doctor relations and usher in a new era of telehealth services that will elevate the telco as the nation’s premier e-health service providers by 2020.
Arrow Energy, the Queensland joint venture between oil giants Shell and PetroChina, has taken a $700 million write-down on its coal-seam gas project and revealed it shed nearly 500 jobs, or 40 per cent of its workforce, in the past year.
The West Australian
Page 5: Public housing tenants owed the State Government more than $31 million for damage to taxpayer-owned homes and unpaid rent and water bills last year — up from $28 million the year before.
Page 8: The number of taxi drivers charged with criminal offences almost halved last year, but nearly 50 per cent of those facing allegations and convictions were allowed to keep driving a cab.
Page 13: Treasurer Joe Hockey is facing a near $50 billion Budget blowout that will leave Federal finances deeply in the red well into the next decade, a report to be released today warns.
Business: WA-founded mortgage brokers Australian Finance Group is set to detail plans to raise up to $140 million in the State’s biggest non-resources float since Navitas more than 10 years ago.
WA will use Hong Kong as an entree to a main course in mainland China as part of its plans to double the value of the State’s farm and food exports to about $12 billion a year over the next decade.
A drawn-out payment row over one of the Roy Hill iron ore project’s biggest contracts is set to go before an international umpire.
