Perth commentator Tim Treadgold is one of the state's highest-profile business journalists. He brings decades of experience to Business News, offering readers sharp and insightful analysis of current events and breaking news.
FEATURE: Les Davis and Bill Beament are two of the Western Australian gold industry’s most influential people, but the person who has infinitely more power over gold in WA than the chief executives of Silver Lake and Northern Star doesn’t live here.
FEATURE: If the adage ‘three strikes and you’re out’ applied to the gold mining industry, the curtains would already have been drawn; but some determined locals are fighting on.
If Scotland votes for independence exactly two weeks from today, expect a revival in another part of the world that has had the occasional secession debate – Western Australia.
Once the clear leader of Australia’s aviation industry, Qantas has provided a dramatic demonstration of what happens when management ignores the views of its customers.
FEATURE: Having gained notoriety in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, the phrase ‘show me the money’ will be heard often, and loudly, in business in Western Australia in coming years as capital inflows become capital outflows and funds become harder-than-ever to raise.
FEATURE: A stubbornly high dollar, falling prices and high operating costs are combining to exert real pressure on smaller players in the iron ore sector.
Retail investors in Western Australia love their Wesfarmers and Woodside shares. Professional investors are not so sure, and neither is the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens.
If a fortune valued at $20 billion is not enough for Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, then perhaps she will be happy with $37 billion that is likely to be her net worth at this time next yea
Kalgoorlie’s Diggers & Dealers forum may not be for sale, officially, but the recent purchase of Cape Town’s Mining Indaba conference for $84 million puts a value of at least $24 million on Diggers, and that would be hard price for the owner, Kate Stokes, to reject.
The iron ore and gold mining industries have served Western Australia well during the past decade, but that does not mean they will do the same job over the next decade, especially if the switch to other minerals evident on world markets gathers pace.