Business warns of bottlenecks; Wheatstone LNG plant to cost $21bn; Fresh suspicion over Storm; Head-to-head on rates; Rising costs as inflation dragon awakens
Business warns of bottlenecks
Business is demanding federal and state governments push ahead with a new round of transport, water, electricity and communications reforms, warning that bottlenecks that stifled exports during the last boom will reappear as the economy recovers. The Fin Review
Wheatstone LNG plant to cost $21bn
Chevron's planned Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia will cost more than $US20 billion ($21.5bn) to develop, according to figures put out by Apache, which ditched Woodside Petroleum last week in favour of a better deal with the US oil giant. The Australian
Fresh suspicion over Storm
The corporate watchdog is investigating whether failed financial planner Storm Financial was acting illegally from the moment it started raising its $4.5 billion in investments under management. The Age
Head-to-head on rates
ANZ chief Mike Smith has broken ranks with bosses at the three other major banks, saying his bank will keep rate increases on home loans tied to the Reserve Bank's official moves even though it might be at a cost to his company. Herald Sun
Rising costs as inflation dragon awakens
It's time to start preparing for the impact of higher inflation as the global economy rebounds, with the Reserve Bank warning in its latest board minutes, about the prospect of rising prices, and we should be heeding that advice. Daily Telegraph
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 3: A Senate inquiry will scrutinise a government decision to relax import restrictions on beef, with fears the move will threaten Australia's status as a mad cow disease-free country.
Page 4: About 10,000 school cleaners, gardeners and teaching assistants will start work bans today amid union claims the state government is deliberately trying to force negotiations into arbitration so workers cannot strike.
Page 5: The number of surplus public servants with no identifiable role has trebled since the Barnett government came to power and now costs taxpayers more than $6.3 million a year.
Page 6: An emerging bauxite miner with operations in Bindoon is under investigation by the Department of Environment for quietly turning a small quarry into a full-blown mining operation.
A half percentage point rise in mortgage interest rates could be locked in this week if key inflation figures show prices of day-to-day goods not falling as quickly as hoped by the Reserve Bank.
Page 7: WA's peak nightclub association has dismissed as "absolute nonsense" a state government plan to crack down on antisocial behaviour in Northbridge.
Page 9: WA is second in the nation in sports participation, according to new statistics showing sporty Australians spend more time with their families and friends and probably believe that the vast majority of people in the world can be trusted.
Page 12: Cuts to health staffing and resources could undermine state government efforts to reduce waiting times in hospital emergency departments, the Australian Medical Association said yesterday.
Business: The corporate watchdog is investigating whether failed financial planner Storm Financial was acting illegally from the moment it started raising its $4.5 billion in investments under management.
A dispute between Greenland Minerals & Energy and its joint venture partner has stepped up after the London-based Westrip accused the junior explorer of downplaying its exposure to a complex UK legal battle over the ownership of a rare earths project.
Port Hedland's Utah Point multi-user berth is set to be up and running by September 2010 after the initial timeline for the $225 million development slipped by about three months.
Shareholders in three if the big four banks should expect falls in earnings per share of between 9 ands 20 per cent when the latest annual results are released, starting this week.
The future of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA should be known within weeks, more than six months after some of Australia's biggest miners backed a plan to merge it, along with other industry bodies, under the umbrella of the Minerals Council.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Business is demanding federal and state governments push ahead with a new round of transport, water, electricity and communications reforms, warning that bottlenecks that stifled exports during the last boom will reappear as the economy recovers.
Rag trade beware. Jan Cameron, the woman behind the Kathmandu label who took polar fleeces to the masses and introduced the brand's famous annual 50 per cent off sale, wants to move back into clothing.
A growing global appetite for agricultural assets is revolutionising farming in Australia and spawning new investment models that depart from the traditional family-run farms.
The big four banks are keen to lend more aggressively to large businesses as the economy recovers and competition for assets intensifies, in a development that is likely to drive down corporate borrowing costs.
Page 3: Clean coal technology and industrial processes to reduce emissions would receive an additional leg-up under the opposition's proposed amendments to the government's legislation for a carbon trading scheme.
Page 4: The federal government's tax relief package aimed at supporting small businesses through the downturn has made it harder for small and medium enterprises to access credit as financial institutions are refusing loans to businesses that have a tax debt.
Page 5: Company directors could face a greater chance of being prosecuted under new draft occupational health and safety legislation, according to some legal experts, who say the new laws have been designed to spread the responsibility for the safety of workers among as many company officers as possible.
The company responsible for Australia's worst oil spill in two decades was unable to attempt plugging the disastrous leak on the weekend due to "equipment failure".
Page 7: People filing tax returns will have greater protection under new rules designed to improve the professional conduct of tax agents and bookkeepers, after the federal government announced further details of the impending tax agent services regime.
Page 9: Rival unions the Australian Workers Union and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union are calling for a joint position with employers to push for greater assistance from the federal government for the beleaguered manufacturing sector.
Page 14: Target boss Launa Inman has promised to be more aggressive in the battle for the middle Australian customer to combat the growing threat from department store Myer's move downmarket.
Six months ago Rio Tinto investors met new chairman Jan du Plessis to talk him out of a proposed $US19.5 billion ($21.15 billion) alliance with China's Chinalco. In the coming week they'll be asking Rio if part of the Plan B that was hastily devised in Chinalco's wake - a Pilbara iron ore joint venture with rival miner BHP Billiton - is still good value for shareholders.
Page 16: Woodside Petroleum chief executive Don Voelte believes the federal government is on the cusp of decisive action in toughening the interpretation of its contentious "use it or lose it" policy.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Business is demanding federal and state governments plan and invest in a new wave of infrastructure reform to avoid port bottlenecks, city congestion, urban water shortages and bad freight systems choking off Australia's next era of economic prosperity.
Canberra would take payroll tax back from the states and increase the total revenue collected over time in exchange for the removal of inefficient state taxes on business, under radical plans being finalised by the Henry tax review.
Page 2: Kevin Rudd's concept of an Asia-Pacific community by 2020 has been canvassed at the weekend's East Asia summit in Thailand together with a rival vision from new Japanese leader Yukio Hatoyama.
South-east Asian leaders have demanded the developed world take the lead in fighting climate change with "deeper and early" cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, while ensuring these policies do not adversely affect developing nations.
Page 4: Kevin Rudd is creating a $50 billion political slush fund under an emissions trading scheme and must explain how the revenue will be used, the coalition has warned.
Northern Territory leaders deny the vast but thinly populated jurisdiction is a failed state and say ceding more control to Canberra would be a backwards step.
Page 5: A long-time Liberal Party official has been expelled from Queensland's Liberal National Party after lambasting it as the "National Party in drag".
Page 6: Another strong weekend for property auctions has intensified pressure on the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates.
Business: Chinese companies are being warned not to take the conditional approval of Yanzhou Coal's $3.5 billion takeover of Felix Resources as a framework for other investments in Australia's resources sector.
Chevron's planned Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia will cost more than $US20 billion ($21.5bn) to develop, according to figures put out by Apache, which ditched Woodside Petroleum last week in favour of a better deal with the US oil giant.
China slapped a 36 per cent tariff on nylon imports last week as part of its continued retaliation against the Obama administration's 25 to 35 per cent duties imposed on its tyre imports from China.
The Opes Prime stockbroking saga has edged a step closer to conclusion, after the receiver, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, resigned its mandate and disclosed it had earned $5.6 million in fees.
National Australia Bank kicks off the big bank annual profit reporting season on Wednesday, as margin expansion and an improving bad-debt outlook lift the gloom that has hovered over the sector since late 2007.
Inflation is expected to have eased slightly in the September quarter but will still leave scope for the central bank to raise interest rates by as much as half a percentage point, economists say.
Chinese bureaucrats and bankers have warned the economy is overheating and reform is urgently needed after figures showed the country's economy galloping towards 8 per cent GDP growth this year.
Lloyds will announce within days a controversial £23 billion ($41bn) fundraising that will bolster its balance sheet and finally repair the damage caused by its disastrous takeover of rival HBOS.
The average company sold by private equity interests last year increased its profits three times more than the equivalent public company, but those returns are under threat with the sector facing a backlog of unsold assets because of the slump in the global economy.
BP'S new chairman is preparing a boardroom shake-up as part of far-reaching changes at the oil giant.
Gold prices fell for a second day in New York on Friday as a rebound in the US dollar curbed demand from investors who buy the precious metal as a hedge against inflation.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has weighed into a debate about what officials should do about banks that are so big it is dangerous to let them collapse.
Federal investigators in the Galleon Group case have requested trading records from a hedge fund manager who once worked for Steven Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors and who employed a co-operating witness in the insider trading case announced recently.
