Labor price shift eases carbon pain – The Aus; Swan concedes iron ore slump to hit budget – The Fin; Seven coy on Consmedia bid – The Aus; D+G Hoists rescuer bails out – The West; Horizon has no interest in FMG plant – The West
Labor price shift eases carbon pain
Labor has moved to assuage business fears about the impact of the carbon tax by dumping the scheme’s controversial floor price, a change that could slash hundreds of millions of dollars from annual company costs. The Aus
Swan concedes iron ore slump to hit budget
Treasurer Wayne Swan has for the first time conceded commodity prices are tumbling faster than Treasury expects, threatening the Gillard government's budget surplus and slashing mining tax revenue. The Fin
Seven coy on Consmedia bid
Kerry Stokes will keep the media industry guessing on his intentions, with Seven Group Holdings saying it has not yet decided if it will sell its 25 per cent stake in Consolidated Media Holdings to News Limited. The Aus
D&G Hoists rescuer bails out
Hire company D&G Hoists and Cranes has been shut down and about 150 workers sacked after its Singaporean major shareholder abandoned a potential rescue attempt. The West
Horizon has no interst in FMG plant
Horizon Power has ruled out buying Fortescue Metals Group's 120 megawatt power station at its Solomon mine development, dealing a blow to the big miner's cost cutting efforts. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 9: WA's top country football league is investigating a complaint of links between one of its clubs and the Coffin Cheaters after a patched bikie handed out cash prizes to its players on Saturday night, prompting a state MP to walk out.
Page 13: The federal government faces a multi-billion-dollar hole in the budget after announcing it would link Australia's carbon price to the European Union's emissions trading scheme from July 2015.
Kevin Rudd says Tony Abbott, the favourite to win next year's federal election, is “entirely beatable”, because he is “the most extreme right wing leader in his party's history”.
Page 16: The first wave of thousands of US workers is taking up jobs in WA's mining and resources sector after a formidable marketing campaign by a local maintenance contractor in the past few months.
Page 18: The Barnett government has backed down on its much-touted plan to merge state-owned electricity generator Verve with retailer Synergy, saying the proposal is “certainly not a priority”.
Business liftout:
Page 1: Hire company D&G Hoists & Cranes has been shut down and about 150 workers sacked after its Singaporean major shareholder abandoned a potential rescue attempt.
Horizon Power has ruled out buying Fortescue Metals Group's 120 megawatt power station at its Solomon mine development, dealing a blow to the big miner's cost cutting efforts.
Page 2: As wild building union protests shut Melbourne's business district yesterday, former WA treasurer Christian Porter used a public forum in Perth to call for curbs on union power on the state's giant resources projects.
Page 3: Kerry Stokes' Seven Group Holdings says it is in no hurry to pursue a multi-billion-dollar float of Coates Hire Group while equity markets remain in the doldrums.
Exco Resources is promising aspiring predator Washington Soul Pattinson a tough takeover fight, ramping up the rhetoric in rejecting the investment house's $70 million bid yesterday.
Resolute Mining is the latest gold miner to bow to shareholder pressure for increase returns, yesterday announcing a 5c per share dividend on top of an ongoing share buyback.
A push by traditional landowners for more money has halted Newcrest's gold mining at Lihir in Papua New Guinea.
Page 9: Pressure could intensify on iron ore producers this quarter, with prices to fall as low as $US83.50 per tonne, 16 per cent below current levels, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.
Page 20: Concerns by bulky goods retailers that they will lose their foothold in Osborne Park where they have established the biggest bulky goods precinct in Australia have been rejected by the City of Stirling which says plans for more office and commercial space will not erode the showroom presence.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: The carbon price could plunge to about $12 a tonne when the tax expires in 2015 because of the Gillard government's decision to abandon a floor price for carbon permits.
A locked-down Grocon building site in central Melbourne was under union surveillance last night following a violent clash between construction workers and police who tried to escort managers and other employees safely to work.
Kerry Stokes's mining services and media conglomerate, Seven Group Holdings, is poised to delay the proposed float of $3 billion equipment hire company Coates amid waning investor appetite for new listings in a weak equities market.
Page 2: Telstra has detailed plans to extend its ultra-fast 4G mobile coverage just weeks before a new version of Apple's iPhone is expected to hit the shelves.
Page 3: Ryan Stokes has been appointed Seven Group Holdings' new chief operating officer, putting him in a potential position to succeed his father Kerry in running the family's media and mining services empire.
Page 4: Treasurer Wayne Swan has for the first time conceded commodity prices are tumbling faster than Treasury expects, threatening the Gillard government's budget surplus and slashing mining tax revenue.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has used cuts by conservative states to warn federal public servants that thousands of them would lose their jobs if the Coalition wins the next election.
Page 5: The ban on Chinese company Huawei being involved in the national broadband network would be reviewed under a Coalition government, opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said.
Page 6: The co-architect of Work Choices has joined Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in telling former prime minister John Howard to butt out of the industrial relations argument, amid fears of a new backlash against the policy that helped end their 11-year rule in 2007.
Page 7: The head of the disbanded Australian Building and Construction Commission and his replacement at the new Fair Work Building Commission were at loggerheads yesterday over what role the building inspectorate should play in the Grocon dispute.
Page 9: Australians are taking a third more sick leave than employees in the United Kingdom and workplaces with high union membership are worse-hit than those with lower union density, a new national survey has revealed.
Page 13: Companies with carbon liabilities under the federal government's scheme are expected to start buying up cheap European emissions permits after Tuesday's changes to the regime.
Page 20: Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti says the airline will prioritise productivity gains and capitalise on its international alliances to boost revenue amid fierce competition in the domestic market.
Kerry Stokes's Seven Group Holdings is waiting for the competition regulator to give it clearance to potentially bid for the 75 per cent of Consolidated Media Holdings it does not own before it makes a decision on News Corp's $2 billion takeover proposal for the pay TV investment company.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Labor has moved to assuage business fears about the impact of the carbon tax by dumping the scheme’s controversial floor price, a change that could slash hundreds of millions of dollars from annual company costs.
Page 2: The Greens are facing an internal push to embrace greater transparency with a move to open their November national conference in Sydney to the media.
Page 3: The suite of recommendations arising from the Gonski review of school funding will fail to lift standards unless they are complemented by a transformation in teacher training, the head of one of the nation’s leading education institutions has warned.
Page 4: A whopping 14.5 million Australians will be able to use super-fast 4G mobile broadband services within a year.
Page 5: Defence Minister Stephen Smith will consider the possible expansion of his powerful role as the gatekeeper for exports that could potentially be used in a nuclear weapons program.
Page 6: Business fears it will be penalised in future budgets, including possible cuts to the multi-billion-dollar industry compensation scheme, to offset any hit to revenue from the move to abandon the carbon floor price.
Tony Abbott has rejected claims Labor’s move to link its carbon package with the European emissions trading scheme will make it harder for a future Liberal government to repeal the carbon tax.
Page 8: The federal building watchdog has flagged potential legal action to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars from the nation’s biggest construction union as a result of a damaging dispute that escalated into violence between police and workers in the Melbourne central business district yesterday.
A virtual-reality system that allows engineers ‘‘to sit in a car that doesn’t exist’’ is part of a wholesale refit of Ford Australia’s design studios to cement its role as regional leader for the brand’s vehicle development.
Business: Kerry Stokes will keep the media industry guessing on his intentions, with Seven Group Holdings saying it has not yet decided if it will sell its 25 per cent stake in Consolidated Media Holdings to News Limited.
Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti says the airline has reached a strategic tipping point with 20-plus per cent of annual revenues now coming from government or corporate markets, reducing the airline’s exposure to the fickle leisure sector.
Grains marketing and processing company GrainCorp will spend $472 million to acquire privately owned oilseed crusher Gardner Smith and Goodman Fielder’s Integro oil operations to create one of the biggest edible oil businesses in the country.
Newcrest's goldmine on Lihir island in Papua New Guinea — one of the biggest in the world and the subject of a $US1.3 billion expansion — has been shut down by protesting landowners using a traditional method to signal a property dispute.
Mining executives say the coming leadership change in China has stalled decisions at both macro-economic and company levels, resulting in less activity.
Discount travel retailer Flight Centre expects most of its future growth to occur offshore and says its hybrid model of both e-commerce and physical stores has a long-term future.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Federal environment minister Tony Burke is seeking advice as to whether he can prohibit a 142 metre long Dutch-owned super trawler that can process more than 250 tonne of fish per day from operating off the Australian coast. The planned $15 per tonne floor price for carbon has been scrapped as the government announces the domestic price for carbon will be set by the European market from 2015. 80,000 NSW public sector workers are set to lose salary benefits after the O'Farrell government applied to the NSW industrial Commission to alter 98 awards.
Page 2: Grocon chief Daniel Grollo says a union picket line outside a $250 million shopping centre development in Melbourne's CBD is costing him hundreds of thousands of dollars each day.
Page 3: Although workstation ergonomics have greatly improved over the years, the rate of workers stuck at desks all day complaining of shoulder and back pain has remained steady.
World: Republican Party strategists are trying to balance perceived weaknesses in Mitt Romney by shining the spotlight on two of the party's best performers, Mr Romney's wife Ann and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Business: Virgin Australia says the discounting of airfares is the most aggressive it has been since before the collapse of Ansett and will hit airline earnings in the first half of the new financial year.
Sport: NRL club Cronulla Sharks' chair Damian Irvine says the approval for a $330 million redevelopment of land near its stadium should end speculation about the club's future
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: NSW police minister Mike Gallacher will look at a plan proposed by business in Kings Cross to privately fund additional police patrols in the troubled nightspot.
Page 2: Women could soon rule the workplace as 70 per cent of university graduates will be female within the next three years, possibly ending the traditional male dominance of management positions.
Page 3: Approval has been granted for the Cronulla Sharks NRL team to proceed with a $330 million redevelopment of Toyota Stadium which will include a shopping centre, restaurants and a unit block and will employ up to 600 workers recently sacked from the nearby Caltex oil refinery.
World: UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called for an inquiry into the massacre of hundreds of people at Daraya in Syria by pro-government forces.
Business: New home sales figures have slumped to the second lowest level in 11 years, down 12 per cent on the same time last year, increasing the chances of interest rate cuts.
Sport: The NRL is amassing $100 million to combat the AFL in a bid to position itself as Australia's number one sport after securing $1 billion for the sale of broadcast rights.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Construction boss Daniel Grollo and unionist John Setka have been smashing heads for about a decade, in a battle both political and personal.
The Gillard government will scrap its $15 per tonne minimum floor price on carbon emissions and will instead directly link its scheme to Europe's.
Page 2: Ford has said local manufacturing is no longer critical to the local operation's survival, giving its strongest hint yet that its days of Australian manufacturing may be numbered.
Page 3: Proposed federal laws that would allow the web and telecommunications data of all Australians to be stored for two years have been dubbed characteristic of a police state by Victoria's Privacy Commissioner.
World: Western states are working with Turkey to establish buffer zones within Syria, amid Syrian government aerial and artillery assaults on the eastern outskirts of Damascus.
Business: The listed property trust sector was a surprise standout performer during the 2011-12 financial year, producing an average return of 11 per cent, while the overall sharemarket lost ground.
Sport: Collingwood and Richmond have asked the AFL to schedule them to play each other twice again next year, hoping that a rising Richmond will re-ignite what was once one of football's fiercest rivalries and regularly bring 80,000 plus to the MCG.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: Victoria is the nation's capital of construction industry organised crime, the building watchdog alleged as police yesterday clashed with union protesters in Melbourne. But the CFMEU denies crime is rife, saying it's "all lies".
Page 3: Police are likely to have to reveal why each of their mobile speed camera sites were chosen, with speed camera watchdog Gordon Lewis recommending the move because of public concern some cameras are sited for revenue raising, not life saving.
Page 5: Victoria's new construction cop Nigel Hadgkiss alleges bikies, thugs and organised crime syndicates have hijacked some of the state's most important building projects.
World: New Orleans was waiting for tropical storm Isaac last night almost seven years to the day after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Isaac is expected to be a Category 1 storm, but far less powerful than Katrina.
Business: Virgin Australia has revealed a record 20 per cent of its revenue is from business flyers and it is increasing seat numbers for all travellers by almost 10 per cent in the coming months.
Sport: AFL Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has accused Carlton of enjoying special salary-cap treatment, with Mick Malthouse expected to replace Brett Ratten as Carlton coach, boosting the chances of Travis Cloke defecting from the Pies to the Blues.