Staff Reporters

THIS MONTH has seen extreme weather conditions hit Western Australia, causing devastation the like of which I hope I never witness again.

THE law of supply and demand with regard to quality office space has allowed rental levels within the West Perth office precinct to steadily increase.

The City of Perth's warm, fuzzy encouragement to ratepayers to attend more meetings has yet to filter down to their new car park. Grumbling sounds arose from the bowels of the refurb'd City HQ's parking bunker after the most recent meeting.

Australian International Carbon Limited (AIC) has completed the relocation and upgrade of its activated carbon processing plant and moved to full production.

EXPANDING, relocating or new call centres will create 9,000 jobs across Australia in the next two years.

WA IS gaining national and overseas recognition as a leader in welding by using robotic technology to complete multi-million dollar contracts.

THE familiar Brownes Dairy in Charles Street, North Perth, has been demolished to make way for a $34 million village-style concept for this conveniently located inner city area.

IT'S out – the important decision that's been stewing in the Federal Court and now has the retail world clucking with concern.

Perth-based Aurora Gold Limited's Mt Muro gold and silver mine in Indonesia overcame another year of climatic extremes to post a lower $14.5 million operating profit.

IN a first for WA, the Health Department is planning to launch a telephone triage service in mid May as part of a joint State and Federal Government initiative.

PERTH-based Donovan Payne Architects has been awarded an $18 million contract to design the Sydney 2000 Olympics water polo pool complex — the only WA architect to be involved in the project.

Aristos is difficult to pigeonhole. One could hardly call it an intimate dining experience. It is brilliantly lit and boisterous. One won't find haute cuisine here. This is, after all, a fish'n'chips shop, albeit with a superb standard of seafood cooking.

STOCKBROKER State One Equities analyst Alan Hill believes the evidence to date suggests the Chirano project offers real “company making” potential.

While only around 100 of the 3,000 call centres in Australia are in this state, an increasing number of companies are choosing to locate teleservices in WA, according to AlintaGas customer services co-ordinator John D'Arcy.

THE opening of the first stage of its $190 million expansion of the Carousel shopping centre in Cannington marks a further step in the growth plans of retail giant Westfield into Perth's commercial and retail market.

THE WA Government is looking for telecommunications providers to upgrade rural communications in return for gaining government business.

TWO English ladies are currently undertaking a charity cycle ride around Australia to raise funds for the Children's Cancer Institute Australia.

CONTRACTS for three further Homeswest New Living projects have recently been signed by Housing Minister Kim Hames.

The Northern Australia Gas Venture (NAGV) has confirmed that development of Timor Sea gas is technically feasible, but ultimate success depends upon capture of markets and project economics.

CALL centres have gained prominence within the last eight years with developments in technology such as PABX, IVR (interactive voice response) and CTI (computer telephony integration).

WA'S income from gold exports worth an estimated annual $3.98 billion will be affected by a goods and services tax, warn KPMG advisors.

In recent years there has been a trend in major Australian cities to revitalise inner city and adjacent suburbs by encouraging people to live in the city.

The threat of new technology to the book world – the first books are on the Internet – has been counteracted by Dymocks.

THE value of diamond production in WA has increased substantially, mainly due to the devaluation of the Australian dollar, but partly due to the Asian economic crisis.

OUTSOURCING call centre business functions to a third party organisation is not a common practice in the Asia Pacific region, the recently released 1999 Call Centre Research (a division of ACA Research) Asia Pacific Call Centre Study revealed.

test