Mark Pownall

THE state government believes Fremantle’s peak container capacity will not be reached until at least the end of the decade, with traffic to grow as much as 140 per cent before new facilities have to be built in Cockburn Sound.

Should the military be used to stimulate development in the north-west?

Could the elevation of the word ‘bogan’ to the highest levels of Australia’s government be yet another sign of Western Australia’s growing influence in the nation?

MORE than a year after it was expected, the state government has unveiled its Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy, a $63 million plan to cautiously protect the region’s most important cultural and natural assets.

THE beleaguered northern pastoral sector could be one of the beneficiaries of the state government’s recently released Kimberley conservation strategy, which includes references to relaxing restrictions on the use of grazing leases.

The sell down of Fortescue Metals Group shares by US-based Leucadia National Corporation marks a realisation of one of the resources boom’s most profitable punts - but by no means heralds its exit as major investor in Andrew Forrest’s miner.

CONSTRUCTION giant BGC is in the early stages of developing an offshore cement production capacity as it looks to offset the risks of manufacturing in Australia amid rising costs, notably the potential for a carbon tax.

The northern cattle industry has been hit hard by the suspension of the cattle trade with Indonesia.

LOCAL industrial giant Wesfarmers’ move to commit $45 million to further develop its plans for a massive upgrade of its ammonium nitrate plant at Kwinana further muddies the waters surrounding the future of Western Australia’s fast-growing explosives mark