BHP, Rio opt for first mine tax hit

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will be the only resource companies making payments of the new mining tax when the first instalment falls due on Monday, and they will be doing so out of a sense of obligation because of their role in designing the tax. The Aus

Saraceni launches $200m action

Embattled property developer Luke Saraceni has launched his long-awaited $200 million-plus damages claim against Bankwest over the collapse last year of his property empire. The West

Sell $220bn in lazy assets

More than $200 billion of "lazy" assets owned by the federal and state governments should be sold to plug the nation's infrastructure gap, reduce debt and lift productivity, according to the Gillard government's top infrastructure advisor. The Fin

Sales soar 900pc as China makes grab for Aussie gold

Gold has soared past coal as Australia's second most valuable physical export to China, with sales up a whopping 900 per cent for the first eight months of the year, bringing in $4.1 billion. The Aus

Offer to fly home to vote

WA wheat growers are offering to cover the cost of flying Liberal MP Barry Haase home from New York so he can vote in support of the federal government's wheat deregulation legislation. The West

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Household power bills would be cut by up to $250 a year and billions of dollars saved under a string of proposals from the Productivity Commission to overhaul the nation's electricity network.

Japanese-owned beer giant Lion will end 155 years of WA brewing history when it shuts the under-used Swan Brewery in six months with the loss of 80 jobs.

Page 4: US President Barack Obama has leapt back into the presidential campaign, aggressively challenging rival Mitt Romney in a tense second debate likely to reset the election contest.

Page 5: The state opposition has accused the private operator of the Peel Health Campus of corruption.

Page 7: WA wheat growers are offering to cover the cost of flying Liberal MP Barry Haase home from New York so he can vote in support of the federal government's wheat deregulation legislation.

Page 11: An audit of major government building projects has exposed more than $3 billion worth of cost blowouts and problems with accountability in planning and construction.

Page 15: Taxpayers have spent almost $2 million for outside experts to assist Fair Work Australia's long-running probe into suspended Labor MP Craig Thomson, a Senate committee has been told.

Business: Embattled property developer Luke Saraceni has launched his long-awaited $200 million-plus damages claim against Bankwest over the collapse last year of his property empire.

BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers has joined the chorus calling time on the China-based resources cycle, saying the days of record commodity prices are at an end.

Fortescue Metals Group has given the first insight into the scale of its proposed Iron Bridge magnetite project in the Pilbara through the release of environmental approval documents yesterday.

CVC Capital Partners has relinquished Nine Entertainment to creditors in the biggest failure of a leveraged buyout in Australia in at least 12 years.

Ten Network is in danger of having to conduct its second capital raising in under six months, after the $145 million sale of its outdoor advertising business hit a hurdle.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: More than $200 billion of "lazy" assets owned by the federal and state governments should be sold to plug the nation's infrastructure gap, reduce debt and lift productivity, according to the Gillard government's top infrastructure advisor.

Listed companies will have more time to announce market-sensitive information to investors under a radical reinterpretation of corporate disclosure rules following the landmark High Court decision on Fortescue Metals Group.

Australia risks missing the next generation of resource investment unless it can rapidly sweep away the constraining detritus left by the tidal retreat of the resources boom, BHP Billton's Marius Kloppers warns.

Page 3: There are signs an international agreement to liberalise services markets is within reach - a deal which would give a major boost to one of the key aims of the Gillard government's Asian century white paper.

Coles is abandoning its my5 grocery discounts in favour of more targeted offers as the battle for customer loyalty with its main supermarket rival Woolworths gathers pace.

Page 4: Allans Billy Hyde stores will close with the loss of more than 500 jobs after receivers failed to sell the music business.

Page 7: Close to $1 billion in grants across the innovation, research and higher education portfolios are on hold ahead of Treasury's Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook due soon.

The Department of Industry has spent $156,348.36 in just 25 days preventing The Australian Financial Review publishing details of government subsidies to the auto industry.

Page 10: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has hailed India's shift from agriculture directly to a more services based economy as an under-appreciated opportunity for Australian companies.

Page 13: Wasteful spending on electricity networks is costing households more than the carbon tax, according to a draft report by the Productivity Commission, which recommends privatising state-owned power grids and tighter rules on "gold-plating".

Page 16: BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers is opposed to policy intervention aimed at lowering the natural gas price for local manufacturing, arguing it is better overall for Australia to pay up to the export price.

Page 17: An index of leading domestic economic indicators rose for a sixth straight month in August, helped by gains in productivity and an improvement in manufacturing materials prices, but economists are cautious about its significance for growth.

Emu Bitter and Swan Draught, the beers Alan Bond made famous, will be commercially brewed outside Western Australia for the first time in more than three decades after Australia's biggest brewer decided to shut Perth's Swan Brewery.

Page 27: Ten Network shareholders are bracing for another capital raising after the struggling TV broadcaster's $145 million sale of its outdoor advertising business, Eye Corp, fell over.

Mining services providers are poised to make more cuts, as the slowdown in the resources sector puts pressure on contractors' earnings.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will be the only resource companies making payments of the new mining tax when the first instalment falls due on Monday, and they will be doing so out of a sense of obligation because of their role in designing the tax.

NSW, Queensland and Tasmania should privatise their energy networks because state ownership has saddled them with higher wage rates, greater employee benefits and job security out of kilter with private utilities.

Julia Gillard has flagged closer defence ties with India, including full naval exercises, as part of deeper strategic engagement with the world's biggest democracy.

Page 2: Julia Gillard has accused Tony Abbott of ''spinning like a top'' on asylum-seeker policy, declaring the Opposition Leader had twice failed to publicly specify he had raised towing back the boats with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Business has reacted angrily to the South Australian government's proposed national workplace safety laws, which are expected to pass parliament after the demands of key independents were met.

Page 4: Gold has soared past coal as Australia's second most valuable physical export to China, with sales up a whopping 900 per cent for the first eight months of the year, bringing in $4.1 billion.

Australia's high minimum wages are pushing up unemployment and the Gillard government's quest for a budget surplus risks stunting economic growth.

Page 5: Labor has conceded that income inequality has risen under its watch, but has blamed the income growth in the 99th percentile -- the wealthiest 1 per cent of the population.

Old-school West Australian drinkers are mourning the closure of the iconic Swan Brewery, which has been producing local beers since 1857.

Musical instrument retailer Allans Billy Hyde is set to close at a cost of more than 500 jobs after administrators were unable to find a buyer for the collapsed business.

Business: Nine Entertainment Co will emerge debt-free with a licence to expand and pursue digital opportunities after its warring lenders yesterday agreed to a recapitalisation deal that will underpin its future.

Companies will be encouraged to make more ''timely and meaningful'' disclosure to the sharemarket under the first overhaul of the rules since the global financial crisis.

Despite a strong quarterly performance from his Queensland coking coal division, BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers says it is hard to see future investment approvals being made there as high costs, including from new taxes and royalties, and low productivity squeeze returns amid falling prices.

News Corporation chief executive and chairman Rupert Murdoch said yesterday the company would announce the management team and board for its upcoming split ''by the end of the calendar year''.

A former British Gas executive met members of a team working on coal-seam gas exploration in Australia just days before deciding to buy shares in the proposed takeover targets on two separate occasions.

South Australian brewery Coopers has posted a 17 per cent gain in annual profit, vastly outpacing beer giants Foster's and Lion as drinkers increasingly opt for premium booze.

Village Roadshow is looking at building more theme parks in China after agreeing to build and operate its first park on an island known as the ''Hawaii of China'' in the South China Sea, off the coast of Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: National Institute of Dramatic Art board member Chris Puplick has questioned if the acting school is still producing well-trained actors under its new head. Electricity reforms could see household power bills fall by up to $250 a year. A deadly superbug has arrived in Australia.

Page 2: Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says David Hicks should be grateful he is no longer in Guantanamo Bay, after a US court ruled invalid the charge under which he was convicted.

Page 3: Tasers alone did not kill a Brazilian student who had a run-in with police.

World: Obama draws level after the second presidential debate.

Business: The Nine Network Co is to live on, debt free.

Sport: Matt White's career as a cycling coach appears to be over.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: Public schools could be sold to property developers under new plans being considered. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has a fall during her tour of India.

Page 2: Education minister Adrian Piccoli will not shut down a Proud Schools trial which aims to stop homophobic bullying.

Page 3: Pop sensation Psy dances with Hugh Jackman in Sydney. Sydney City Council has paid $21,500 for stainless steel bike pumps.

World: A hacking group has named the online bully it claims harassed a teenage girl who later killed herself.

Business: Record commodity prices are a thing of the past, the BHP Billiton chief has warned.

Sport: Champion jockey Damien Oliver wins the Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield.

THE AGE:

Page 1: Carbon tax is driving down emissions of power generation as coal-fired stations are closed, mothballed or sell less electricity. The Catholic Church has stood down a priest while it investigates child sexual abuse claims. Damien Oliver answers his critics with a win in the Thousand Guineas.

Page 2: Former health minister Michael Wooldridge defends his role in the corporate collapse of the company that ran retirement village empire Prime Trust. Household power bills could fall by up to $250 a year if less is spent on infrastructure and consumers are given the option of risking power brown-outs for a few hours a year.

Page 3: Debt-ridden Acacia College to shut its doors at the end of the year. Balwyn High deputy principal Michael Kelly resigns after falsely claiming on his CV that he had a masters degree and PhD. A rental company alleged to have targeted indigenous communities with predatory loans.

World: President Barack Obama lands a few blows in the second debate with Mitt Romney revitalising his campaign.

Business: Nine emerges from hedge fund talks rejuvenated and debt-free.

Sport: Dumped jockey Damien Oliver is demanding a percentage of any prizemoney if My Quest For Peace wins in the Caulfield and Melbourne cups.

THE HERALD SUN:

Page 1: After winning the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield embattled jockey Damien Oliver says that in tough times you find out who your friends are. Julia Gillard falls flat in India as the heel of her shoe sinks in the grass.

Page 2: A man who showered his new partner with gifts but wouldn't pay the mortgage for his ex-wife, saying he had no money, gets jail time.

Page 3: Ballarat father is angry disabled daughter tied down while travelling on the school bus.

World: Face transplant surgery returns normalcy to a young man's life.

Business: US hedge funds take control of Nine Entertainment after swapping a $3.3 billion debt for equity in the media group.

Sport: New Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon will dig into his own pocket to help the club.