Key MPs name price for power – The Aus; Crook not off the hook as Gillard woos vote – The West; Pressure to rework the resources tax – The Fin; Seven beats forecast numbers – The Fin; Court backs investors in Firepower bid – The Westminster
Key MPs name price for power
Tony Abbott has rejected transparency demands from three independent MPs who will anoint the next government by refusing to submit his election policies to the Treasury for independent costing. The Aus
Crook not off the hook as Gillard woos vote
Prime Minister Julia Gillard may not have given up on seeking the support of new WA Nationals MP Tony Crook in a minority government after all, despite their differences over the mineral resources rent tax. The West
Pressure to rework the resources tax
Two of the three independents and a Green MP who are crucial to forming government have indicated they support a resource tax - but not the same one struck in a deal between the Gillard government and the three big miners. The Fin
Seven beats forecast numbers
A brighter outlook for its media and industrial equipment businesses put Kerry Stokes' Seven Group Holdings in a confident mood and on the hunt for acquisitions. The Fin
Court backs investors in Firepower bid
A big group of investors in failed fuel technology company Firepower have won a Federal Court ruling that will allow them to continue attempts to recover up to $5 million from the bankrupt estate of former WA police minister Gordon Hill. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott promised not to rush an election before August 2013, rewrite a century of parliamentary tradition and clean up the murky world of political donations in a bid to win support from three key independent MPs.
Page 6: Prime Minister Julia Gillard may not have given up on seeking the support of new WA Nationals MP Tony Crook in a minority government after all, despite their differences over the mineral resources rent tax.
Page 7: The private construction sector has finally recovered from the global financial crisis, new figures show, but there are growing fears of economic disaster flowing from the US and Europe.
Page 10: Parents at the Kalgoorlie school where teenagers were asked to plan a terror attack for a class assignment said yesterday they were disappointed the assignment was handed out.
Page 11: Housing Minister Bill Marmion claimed yesterday that lots in a satellite city south of Rockingham plagued with environmental concerns would start selling in three years, despite having no idea whether issues delaying the project were being overcome.
Page 13: Traditional owners of James Price Point north of Broome say they could withdraw support for a $40 billion Kimberley gas hub after Colin Barnett broke off talks and said he would move to resume the land.
Page 14: A big group of investors in failed fuel technology company Firepower have won a Federal Court ruling that will allow them to continue attempts to recover up to $5 million from the bankrupt estate of former WA police minister Gordon Hill.
Page 15: Construction of the first stage of a $450 million residential and commercial development around the historic former ABC studios in East Perth is set to start early next year after approval from the City of Perth.
Business: BHP Billiton has added its weight to warnings the global economy faces more volatility as Europe's austerity measures take full effect and China reins in its economy.
Investors looking for good news in a moribund market flocked to Emeco Holdings yesterday after the heavy equipment group reinstated its dividend and flagged a share buyback amid improving business conditions.
Financier Angas Securities has weighed into the legal battles around Warren Anderson, with Angas-appointed receivers trying to stop liquidators getting into the besieged developer's flagship company.
Kerry Stokes' new look flagship, Seven Group Holdings, has taken comfort from a strong finish to the year after handing down its first results.
Toro Energy, which is hoping to become WA's first uranium miner, has flagged the development cost of its Wiluna project is likely to be 60 per cent higher than first thought because of a change of processing strategy.
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend but they have been getting more expensive over the past year, prompting the UK-listed owner of WA's Ellendale diamond mine to dust off expansion plans and restart mothballed operations.
Fox Resources' search for a partner to help develop its WA magnetite project has ended successfully, with the Terry Streeter-backed junior signing off on a $28 million deal with a private Queensland investor.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: The push for new civility in politics erupted into an old-fashioned row last night, when Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott split over giving independent MPs access to secret Treasury costings of both parties' election promises.
BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers is "cautious" about the short-term outlook for the global economy but is sufficiently confident about long-term commodity prices to earmark a record $US15 billion ($17 billion) for growth projects this year.
A plunge in existing home sales has stoked concerns the US may face a double-dip recession, raising pressure on Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to consider more unconventional policies to revive growth in the world's largest economy.
Page 3: The economy is weaning itself off fiscal stimulus as growth in public construction work eases and private building activity expands at the fastest pace since before the global financial crisis.
Page 6: Paul Hogan is reportedly "stunned and disappointed" that the government could treat him as a flight risk, as he fights tax fraud allegations in the Federal Court.
Page 7: Judges and the heads of major regulators were awarded a 4.1 per cent pay rise this week, as the Remuneration Tribunal recognised rising wages in the broader public service and improving economic conditions.
Page 8: The upheaval being created by the independents' emergence as powerbrokers has been highlighted by Julia Gillard for releasing secret costings information despite earlier refusals by the Treasury to do so.
Page 9: Tony Abbott has offered the key independents a "Westminster-style" independent speaker ... from the ALP.
Page 10: Two of the three independents and a Greens MP who are crucial to forming government have indicated they support a resource tax - but not the same one struck in a deal between the Gillard government and the three big miners.
Page 13: Pressure is mounting for another overhaul of managed investment schemes (MIS) after key crossbenchers criticised the tax breaks and a Senate committee slammed them as "Ponzi-like" schemes that damaged farming.
Page 17: A brighter outlook for its media and industrial equipment businesses put Kerry Stokes' Seven Group Holdings in a confident mood and on the hunt for acquisitions.
WesTrac managing director Jim Walker is confident that equipment shortages that prevented the company from meeting its sales target in China last financial year won't continue to be an issue.
Page 19: BHP Billiton warned that near-term demand for iron ore may be affected by excess steel supply, but longer-term fundamentals were strong for the steel-making material which accounted for about a third of full-year operating earnings.
Page 20: Engineering services group Worley Parsons expects an increasing focus on securing work in developing nations will help return it to profit growth this financial year.
A year after the near-collapse of Transpacific Industries Group, the waste management company said it has reduced its debt load and is poised to make acquisitions in fiscal 2011 as its cash flow and operating outlook improve.
Page 21: OZ Minerals remains on the hunt for acquisitions to boost longer-term production as the copper miner unveiled a strong first-half profit result that underscored the rebound from the debt woes that threatened the company at the height of the financial crisis.
Page 23: The Australian Infrastructure Fund, which owns stakes in Melbourne, Perth and Launceston airports, reported a near doubling in 2010 pre-tax profits to 198.5 million as it revalued its airport stakes upwards.
Page 24: Super Cheap Auto boss Peter Birtles expects to continue to grow sales and earnings in the lead-up to Christmas after posting a solid result in 2010.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Tony Abbott has rejected transparency demands from three independent MPs who will anoint the next government by refusing to submit his election policies to the Treasury for independent costing.
Page 3: The pay rises awarded to federal judges over the past two years outstrip those handed to the nation's lowest-paid workers.
Page 4: Colin Barnett's patience over Woodside's stalled Kimberley gas hub has run out, with the West Australian Premier set to use state powers to acquire land earmarked for the $30 billion LNG project north of Broome.
Page 5: Two High Court judges have questioned a legal loophole relied on by the Australian government to detain asylum-seekers in offshore facilities, including on Christmas Island, while their refugee status is being assessed.
Page 7: Labor MPs past and present yesterday dumped on the party's handling of the campaign, saying the surrender on value issues such as climate change and asylumseekers hurt the party in key seats.
Page 8: Independent Andrew Wilkie will take a shopping list of funding items for his Hobart seat into negotiations with Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, including demands to rebuild the city's hospital.
The Coalition is strengthening its grip on Hasluck, with a growing percentage of postal votes moving away from the Labor incumbent Sharryn Jackson.
Page 9: The head of the $68 billion Future Fund says any compromises made by Labor or the Coalition to convince the independents to join them in forming government could jeopardise their ability to return the budget to surplus and reduce debt.
My Super, the low-cost fund at the centre of the Cooper review's proposed reforms in superannuation, would most likely result in workers receiving lower superannuation payouts, not higher as planned.
Fears the global economic recovery is stalling have sent share prices tumbling while world longterm interest rates are falling towards record lows.
Business: BHP Billiton has mollified nervous shareholders with a bigger than expected dividend and promised to remain disciplined in pursuing its $US38.6 billion ($42.7bn) acquisition of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.
Seven Group Holdings chief executive Peter Gammell will continue to run his eye over acquisition opportunities even though he concedes the market is yet to embrace the conglomerate following the $3 billion merger of Seven Network and WesTrac in April.
Suncorp chief executive Patrick Snowball has declared Australia's major political parties lack a ''clear economic policy'', which leaves the nation's banks too heavily exposed to volatile, competitive and costly wholesale funding markets.
Worley Parsons chief John Grill is seeking acquisitions to expand his infrastructure business, which was the best performer in a disappointing full-year result from the engineering company.
Asciano may face continued pricing pressure in its container ports business as its dominance in the sector is tested by a tender in November with global shipping giant AP Moller Maersk
An obscure Canadian export cartel has emerged as a key negotiating issue for BHP Billiton and other potential buyers circling Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Julia Gillard has offered to name the date for the next federal election in three years' time but the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has risked angering the three men who will decide who governs the nation by refusing point blank to allow them access to Treasury costings of Coalition promises.
Page 2: The economy has dodged a bullet. Private sector construction has risen faster than government-funded construction for the first time since the economic stimulus measures were put in place to fight the financial crisis.
Page 3: Sydney Water cannot say say how much water flows through its biggest underground pipes, but Paddington residents know there is enough to fill a 73-space underground car park in less than an hour.
World: Charities linked with militant groups continue to raise large amounts of money to help Pakistan flood victims, even though authorities have shut down some relief camps run by banned organisations.
Business: BHP Billiton has posted its second highest-ever annual profit of $US12.46 billion ($14 billion) and confirmed a near-negligible debt position, giving it immense financial firepower to pursue its $US40 billion bid for Canada's Potash Corp.
Sport: He was given credit for the scintillating form that had Sydney Roosters pinned as premiership contenders a month ago, so it stands to reason that five-eighth Todd Carney would take the blame for their equally dramatic fall.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: Aussie entertainment icon Paul Hogan is a prisoner in his own country after the taxman banned him from leaving.
Page 3: Even from 12,000km away Paris Hilton can send Australia's fashion world into a spin.
World: After the sheer, blessed relief of discovering that their menfolk are alive, the people of the Chilean copper town of Copiapo are now coming to terms with almost unimagineable frustration - as engineers begin the painfully slow dig through a kilometre of solid rock to get them out.
Business: BHP Billiton yesterday reported solid full-year results thanks to the commodities boom and tried again to convince investors of the merits of its $US40 billion ($45.4 billion) bid for a Canadian fertiliser company.
Sport: Big Frank Pritchard yesterday signed a rich three-year deal with the Bulldogs - but now stands accused of putting the skids under the Panthers' finals campaign.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan has been stopped from leaving Australia until he pays a multi-million dollar tax bill.
Page 2: A young dad whose wife is due to give birth will never see his unborn son after becoming the latest Digger killed in Afghanistan.
Page 3: Australia's involvement in the Afghanistan war has become a Vietnam-like quagmire, former prime minister Malcolm Fraser said yesterday.
World: A British spy has been found murdered in his bath in a flat just a few hundred metres from the headquarters of MI6.
Business: BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers posted a $US12.7 billion profit yesterday and stressed that his $US43 billion hostile play for Canadian fertiliser giant PotashCorp will benefit the big miners shareholders.
Sport: Collingwood ruckman Josh Fraser, who has been stranded on 199 games since Round 12, is a near-certainty to play his 200th against Hawthorn on Saturday.
THE AGE:
Page 1: The Victorian government has been rocked by the bitter resignation of a Labor MP who has launched an extraordinary attack on Premier John Brumby just three months before the Victorian election.
Tony Abbott has baulked at one of the key demands of the regional independent MPs who are expected to select the next prime minister, refusing to submit opposition election policies for costing by Treasury and the Department of Finance.
Page 2: Resigning state MP Craig Langdon has challenged voters to make the possible by-election to replace him a referendum on the Brumby government's transport policies.
Page 3: There is a building boom in Melbourne's apartment market and it is being driven by changing lifestyles, housing shortages and overseas investors, experts say.
World: For the first time since the September 11, 2001, attacks, CIA analysts see one of al-Qaeda's offshoots - rather than the core group, now based in Pakistan - as the most urgent threat to US security.
Business: BHP Billiton has posted a full-year profit of $US12.46 billion ($A14.08 billion), its second highest, and confirmed a near-negligible debt position, giving it immense financial firepower to pursue its hostile $US40 billion bid for Canada's Potash Corp.
Sport: Clubs say the AFL's proposals to cap or restrict interchange will influence recruiting decisions and the type of athletes drafted, and they want to know the rules as soon as possible to allow them to prepare for the post-season.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is reluctant to have his election policies costed by Treasury.
The ACT government is expected to outline the nation's most ambitious greenhouse reduction targets on Thursday.
Both major parties have given the green light to a parliamentary debate on Australia's involvement in Afghanistan.
Police have seized more than $40,000 worth of illegal drugs in the Snowy Mountains.
Page 2: Private investment is returning to the construction sector.
Page 3: People working with vulnerable children or adults will have to undergo strict new security checks under new ACT laws.
World: At least 42 people were killed when a Chinese airliner smashed in two while attempting to land near Yichun.
Business: Australian shares have fallen to their lowest levels in more than a month.
Sport: Raiders halfback Marc Herbert will leave Canberra at the end of the season.