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I WAS disappointed to read that the focus of Joe Poprzeczny’s article titled “Selective probe queried” (December 7-13) seemed to be based on a misunderstanding, rather than issues of substance regarding an inquiry into entitlement matters concerning Mr Ki

IMPROVING commodity prices gave WA resource industries a more rewarding 12 months in 2000, and there is the prospect that the recovery in its fortunes will continue in the first year of the new century.

SMALL businesses in some WA rural areas face a bleak Christmas following the third poor harvest in three years.

BUSINESSES can beat crime by forming business watch programs with their neighbours and taking crime prevention courses.

THE hunt is on for the South West’s leading businesses with small business owners invited to nominate for the 2001 South West Small Business Awards.

NEARLY 200 WA small businesses have applied for program funding through the Small Business Smart Business program.

QUITE understandably State Scene wanted to be Santa Claus this week; to bring good news and good tidings.But alas things didn’t quite work out that way.

SIXTYONE trophies were presented to winning teams and individuals at the StateWest Corporate Challenge prize presentation hosted by the Lord Mayor at Council House last week.

Whether you believed it was the new Millennium or not, the beginning of 2000 certainly heralded the arrival of a new technological age.

THE festive period is often the season of visitors, a time, which prompts the questions, “what do we do with them and where can we go?”

IT’S pleasing to see a winemaker take sauvignon blanc seriously. Voyager Estate of Margaret River has done just that with a recently released 1996 sauvignon blanc-semillon.

CYCLONE Sam was a breeze for Woodside directors compared with the battening down of the hatches they have to do to see off Royal Dutch/Shell.

“In the business world everybody is paid in two coins; cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”– Harold Geneen

THOUSANDS of Perth CBD Internet customers lost world access when a 100 meg Amcom data optic fibre cable failed in the City on Friday.

INSUURANCE giant AXA has signed an agreement with Perth-based on-line financial services company Sanford Ltd.

WITH a further sell-off of Tesltra blocked in the Senate, industry punters believe the Government will sell off the Telstra wholly-owned subsidiary Pacific Access.

THERE is a story doing the rounds of Perth offices, suburbs and especially in the pubs, that a 90# scam is being run enabling a third party to bill their mobile calls accounts to a victim’s account.

MORE than 67 per cent of companies that lose data through a major disaster such as flood, fire, burglary or sabotage are out of business within two years, which poses the question: is your data worth $1 a day?

Employers wishing to be generous to staff and clients at Christmas may find themselves subject to Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) as a result of their generosity, warns CPA Australia.

THE Australian Taxation Office has shown a flexible and businesslike approach in allowing GST input tax credits on car running costs.

CPA Australia says it does not support making wholesale changes to the Business Activity Statement (BAS).

THE lion’s share of the $23.5 billion the Federal Government is spending on defence over the next 10 years will miss WA completely because the State does not have industries to capitalise on it.

LAST week’s Defence White Paper promises to spend almost $150 billion in today’s dollars on defence over the next 10 years.

A MULTI-purpose defence force, capable of sustaining combat operations in two separate locations, while protecting Australia’s approaches is the goal the Federal Government is aiming for with its White Paper.

Increased firepower and mobility for Australia’s soldiers.Two extra battalions.

WA’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 6.1 to 6.5 per cent between October and November, while the national rate increased from 6.3 to 6.6 per cent.

In WA, seasonally adjusted employment increased by just 0.3 per cent through the year to November, the lowest annual growth since 1996. Employment fell by 0.2 per cent between October and November.

There is no sign of any relief in the declining housing market.

WHILE the WA Government’s $2 billion plan to upgrade electricity supply in WA meets some pressing needs, it does not go far enough to bring true competition and the price cuts that go with that.

THE chairman of the Subiaco Redevelopment Authority, Ron Doubikin has been appointed chairman of the Coral Coast Marina Development Pty Ltd (CCMD) Board.

FORMER Minter Ellison partners Sean Mullins and Matthew Handcock have formed a boutique insurance firm Mullins Handcock and been joined by nine other former Minter Ellison staff.

John Treloar has been appointed as country manager - Australia/New Zealand by Allaire Corporation.