Morning Headlines

Iron ore past its 'golden age': Barnett

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett says the rapid growth in the iron ore industry that helped support the economy is ending and Australia's chief commodities forecaster says a big destination for the ore, China's steelmaking, will decline. The Fin

Labor wipeout

Recent internal Labor Party polling shows the Gillard government stands to lose all three of its WA seats as the Prime Minister's reignition of the gender wars further inflamed leadership talk. The West

Rinehart's Roy Hill poised to let contracts

The first contracts for Gina Rinehart's $9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia could be let by the end of June depending on the company's progress on crucial debt negotiations. The Fin

Verve plan raises concern

Verve Energy has lobbed a grenade into the industry debate over its re-merger with Synergy, backing the removal of its 3000 megawatt generating “cap” that was designed to contain the utility and foster private sector competition. The West

Boom town burns home owners

The fall in the iron ore price is about to hit property values in Western Australia's remote Port Hedland, real estate agents say. The Fin

 

Top Resources Headlines

Iron ore past its 'golden age': Barnett

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett says the rapid growth in the iron ore industry that helped support the economy is ending and Australia's chief commodities forecaster says a big destination for the ore, China's steelmaking, will decline. The Fin

Rinehart's Roy Hill poised to let contracts

The first contracts for Gina Rinehart's $9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia could be let by the end of June depending on the company's progress on crucial debt negotiations. The Fin

Woodside waiting on Israeli gas ruling

The Israeli government is tipped to kick off its debate on the export of gas this weekend, a move that has ramifications for Woodside Petroleum’s Leviathan joint venture project. The Aus

Rio, Glencore eye coal deal

Rio Tinto could merge some Australian operations with those of fellow mining giant Glencore-Xstrata in a cost-saving move that would have the potential to create a regionally dominant Hunter Valley coal giant. The Aus

Newcrest could face class action

Law firm Maurice Blackburn has begun sounding out investors about backing a class action against Newcrest Mining as it emerged one of the embattled gold miner's biggest shareholders shelled out about $50 million just days before the company warned of huge writedowns. The West

 

Top Politics Headlines

Labor wipeout

Recent internal Labor Party polling shows the Gillard government stands to lose all three of its WA seats as the Prime Minister's reignition of the gender wars further inflamed leadership talk. The West

BCA slams last gasp legislation

The Business Council of Australia is pleading with independents and the Senate to consider the national interest and reject the last minute frenzy of “anti-business” legislation being rushed through in the final days of parliament. The Fin

Coalition to repeal Gonski by new year

Western Australia's declaration that it is unlikely to sign up to the Gonski education reforms before the federal election has emboldened the Coalition to warn an Abbott government would take on a hostile Senate to repeal the laws before January next year. The Fin

Verve plan raises concern

Verve Energy has lobbed a grenade into the industry debate over its re-merger with Synergy, backing the removal of its 3000 megawatt generating “cap” that was designed to contain the utility and foster private sector competition. The West

 

Top Property Headlines

Boom town burns home owners

The fall in the iron ore price is about to hit property values in Western Australia's remote Port Hedland, real estate agents say. The Fin

 

The West Australian

Page 1: Recent internal Labor Party polling shows the Gillard government stands to lose all three of its WA seats as the Prime Minister's reignition of the gender wars further inflamed leadership talk.

Page 3: Supermarket giant Coles has been challenged to prove bread that is baked and frozen in Ireland before hitting the shelves in Australia is “freshly baked”.

Page 4: The Health Department has found just three of 45 senior department heads for Fiona Stanley Hospital though it told the Auditor-General the appointments would be made early in 2011.

Speculation is swirling that the Barnett government could announce a raft of pre-budget job cuts as soon as today after an extraordinary snap meeting of top bureaucrats.

Not-for-profit organisations are not confident about the future and are increasingly worried about their ability to meet demand, according to a report into the sector released today.

A leading Aboriginal businessman has warned that WA's native title system has been hijacked by environmental lawyers who are using negotiations to further the aims of the green lobby.

Page 6: A personal offer from Julia Gillard of an extra $600 million for WA schools has failed to convince Colin Barnett to support Labor's education funding reforms.

The cash-strapped WA Labor Party has been forced to cancel a planned $2200-a-head fundraiser starring Julia Gillard – but there are competing explanations as to why the event got the chop.

Page 9: WA's Department of Agriculture is at loggerheads with its federal counterpart over a proposal to allow imports of grapes from California, setting the stage for a fierce battle with Canberra to preserve the state's pest-free reputation.

Page 10: One of Australia's biggest studies of fly-in, fly-out has uncovered stress, divorce, psychological disorders, a reliance on drugs and alcohol to cope and a stigma attached to seeking help as being prevalent among WA workers.

Page 14: The state government has been accused of playing politics with its move to hold intellectually handicapped crime suspects in the neighbouring suburbs of Lockridge and Kiara.

Page 17: Treasurer Troy Buswell has rushed in legislation under which 65 per cent of the Insurance Commission of WA's profits would be paid directly to the state government in a move the Opposition said was a cash grab that would push the cost of compulsory third-party motor insurance higher.

Business: Verve Energy has lobbed a grenade into the industry debate over its re-merger with Synergy, backing the removal of its 3000 megawatt generating “cap” that was designed to contain the utility and foster private sector competition.

Law firm Maurice Blackburn has begun sounding out investors about backing a class action against Newcrest Mining as it emerged one of the embattled gold miner's biggest shareholders shelled out about $50 million just days before the company warned of huge writedowns.

Construction of Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill iron ore mine could begin within four months, in a sign the mining magnate is increasingly confident of securing about $7 billion in necessary debt funding for the Pilbara project.

Embattled lithium producer Galaxy Resources has delayed its heavily reduced rights issue the day it was due to open, citing the emergence of a potential funding alternative from a major shareholder.

Stuart Machin has made its first big move at the helm of Target by wielding a scythe though head office at the struggling department store chain.

WA farmers are set to reap the benefits of a huge jump in grain production after a flying start to the season.

Lynas is worried that it is giving away its rare earths products and has decided to call a halt to price discounting.

 

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: The Business Council of Australia is pleading with independents and the Senate to consider the national interest and reject the last minute frenzy of “anti-business” legislation being rushed through in the final days of parliament.

The fall in the iron ore price is about to hit property values in Western Australia's remote Port Hedland, real estate agents say.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard tested support for a challenge to Kevin Rudd and cited internal polling to Labor powerbroker Kim Carr in the days before her June 2010 challenge, a new book says.

Major retailers which use freshly baked bread to entice shoppers into stores may have to change the way they make or market bread after a crackdown by the competition regulator.

Page 4: Julia Gillard has publicly upbraided two colleagues after her controversial speech reigniting debate about abortion and gender intensified internal Labor divisions and talk of a leadership change.

Page 8: Western Australia's declaration that it is unlikely to sign up to the Gonski education reforms before the federal election has emboldened the Coalition to warn an Abbott government would take on a hostile Senate to repeal the laws before January next year.

The Nationals are counting on star power to secure the party's first Senate seat in Western Australia since the 1970s, naming retired Australian Football League star David Wirrpanda as preferred candidate ahead of the September election.

Page 9: The head of a top employer group says business frustration has reached “boiling point” over last week's move by the Labor government to force through expanded right-of-entry provisions and enshrine penalty rates in industrial relations law.

Page 10: Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett says the rapid growth in the iron ore industry that helped support the economy is ending and Australia's chief commodities forecaster says a big destination for the ore, China's steelmaking, will decline.

Australians are becoming more open to risk again, with a prominent consumer confidence survey showing the attractiveness of paying down debt with spare cash has hit the lowest level in more than five years.

Page 12: Unions are pressing the Victorian government to rule out a regional migration agreement for Geelong after the loss of another 260 jobs in the city.

Page 21: Newcrest Mining is facing the prospect of multiple shareholder class actions and rising investor anger despite claiming to the Australian Securities Exchange that its actions before unveiling massive write-downs and budget cuts last week were in accordance with listing rules.

Page 24: The first contracts for Gina Rinehart's $9.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia could be let by the end of June depending on the company's progress on crucial debt negotiations.

 

 

The Australian

Page 1: A radical new health star-rating system will be printed on the front of all food packages as part of a planned federal government campaign to cut obesity.

The academic who helped draft and develop the Fair Work Act has warned that the nation’s workplace tribunal risks being swamped by the Gillard government’s new bullying regime and Labor should have backed elements of the Coalition’s proposed changes.

A menu that demeaned Julia Gillard — and was used yesterday to attack Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey — was reportedly mocked up for the amusement of the venue’s owner and never hit the tables of a Liberal National Party fundraiser.

Page 2: The nation’s peak business body has called for an increase in the Newstart Allowance, arguing the payment’s current rate ‘‘falls below societal norms of adequacy’’ but says the government should look instead at a crackdown on the disability support pension to create more incentives for those on welfare to work.

Business leader Peter Anderson has called for the abolition of payroll tax and for government administration of superannuation and parental leave payments in a bid to rebuild small business confidence.

Page 3: Union leaders are demanding investigations into the presence of asbestos in Telstra’s exchange buildings where some National Broadband Network interconnection points will be located, not just the communications pits that have been the focus of recent scares.

Page 4: The childcare workers union has been warned by the Employment Department not to tell workers they need to be members to be eligible for Labor’s $300 million boost to wages in the sector.

Page 5: The states’ revolt over asylum-seeker costs has spread, now covering every mainland state and centring on accusations of cost-shifting in housing and education, as well as health.

Page 6: Julia Gillard has stepped up her gender war against Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party as her bid to make abortion an election issue opened splits among Labor MPs and sparked fresh doubts from internal critics about her political judgement.

Playing the misogyny card failed to deliver for Julia Gillard last year and risks further undermining her shaky support now, pollsters have warned.

Page 7: The O’Farrell government will examine the tripling in federal funding for West Australian schools under the Gonski reforms, to ensure the offer does not disadvantage NSW, which was first to sign up to Julia Gillard’s school funding plan.

The federal Coalition will look closely at almost 1000 administrative bodies and governance relationships in a search for efficiencies as it accuses Labor of ignoring official advice three years ago to bring the administrative burden under control.

Coles has warned it will fight claims from the consumer watchdog that it misled customers by labelling Irish-made bread as ‘‘freshly baked in-store’’.

Business: Rio Tinto could merge some Australian operations with those of fellow mining giant Glencore-Xstrata in a cost-saving move that would have the potential to create a regionally dominant Hunter Valley coal giant.

Colin Barnett has declared the golden days of the iron ore boom in Western Australia have ended, but he is holding out hope that the troubled $6 billion Oakajee project in the state’s midwest can be revived with backing from China and Japan.

A decade of boom times has created a generation of mineworkers and managers who will struggle to adapt to life in a lower commodity price environment.

The Israeli government is tipped to kick off its debate on the export of gas this weekend, a move that has ramifications for Woodside Petroleum’s Leviathan joint venture project.

Tarnished goldminer Newcrest is being circled by class-action specialists investigating whether there is merit in pursuing the group for losses incurred by investors because of alleged continuous disclosure shortcomings.

Vodafone has flicked on the switch to its 4G mobile network days after securing its Australian future with a $US3.5 billion ($3.67bn) loan through a wide range of lenders.

The Daily Telegraph

 

Page 1: The SCG will host the opening series of next year's US baseball season, after the state government spent a reported $1 million to lure the LA Dodgers down under.

Page 2: The man embattled minister Greg Pearce appointed as the chief Sydney Water bureaucrat, Kevin Young, has racked up two dinners totalling more than $2600 on his work credit card.

Page 3: Every school in Australia will be forced to adopt a comprehensive strategy to stamp out bullying from as early as next year under a national policy to keep classrooms and playgrounds safe.

World: Turkish police fired tear gas at a group of about 10,000 anti-government protesters who had rallied again overnight in Taksim Square.

Business: Geelong's community leaders will hold an emergency meeting today as the Victorian city deals with the loss of another 200 jobs.

Sport: Dave Smith personally demanded that Cowboys prop James Tamou be fined $20,000 for serious driving offences, in addition to his Origin II ban.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Page 1: Police may have made a breakthrough in one of the nation's biggest murder mysteries, digging up a property in Hay as they search for the body of anti-drugs campaigner, Donald Mackay.

Page 2: A review has found more than $10 billion is being poured into mental health treatments annually despite an "information vacuum" about whether the treatments represent value for money.

Page 4: The budget for new hospital buildings will increase by 10 per cent this year to $1.2 billion, but no promises have been made on recurrent funding for hospital staff.

World: It's been revealed Google led a charge by internet and social media firms demanding that the Obama administration allow them to reveal details of their cooperation with government surveillance schemes.

Business: Besieged gold producer Newcrest Mining could face multiple legal claims within the next month as former contractors push for millions of dollars worth of compensation and shareholders mull a possible class action.

Sport: The Major League Baseball season will begin in Sydney next March, with the LA Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks set to play two games at the SCG.