Morning Headlines

Bid to revive Diploma Group

The family behind the failed Diploma Group and its provisional liquidators are seeking to have the company excluded from a potential wind-up order to attempt a rescue plan. The West

Mining brightens Budget outlook

Treasurer Ben Wyatt is set to reveal the best economic outlook for WA in four years in this week’s Budget with a turnaround in the mining sector expected to deliver a timely boost to the State’s bottom line. The West

I know my place: rookie Treasurer

New West Australian Treasurer Ben Wyatt says he no longer has ambitions to lead the state Labor Party or switch to federal politics, insisting that his skills are best suited to trying to rein in government spending and cutting the state’s spiralling debt levels. The Aus

BHP’s Olympic Dam set to cash in on copper revival

The boss of BHP’s Olympic Dam operations says a potential doubling of mine output using low-cost heap leaching technology, which has proved itself after four years of trials, will be sweetly timed to coincide with rising global copper demand in renewable energy, electric vehicles and the digital age. The Fin

Shorten caves, targets Joyce

Labor has stepped up its campaign to have Barnaby Joyce removed from the ministry after Bill Shorten erased any doubts about his own eligibility by releasing evidence showing he was not a dual British citizen. The Fin

Former RBA governor joins Ellerston Capital

Former Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens is joining Ellerston Capital’s new global macro fund to provide insights to portfolio managers on international market and policy matters. The Fin

Studio deals blamed for collapse of Ten

Ten Network failed because of onerous contracts with US studios CBS and Twentieth Century Fox, according to administrators KordaMentha. The Aus

NXT plan ‘may help’ media web titans

Coalition MPs have questioned Senate powerbroker Nick Xenophon’s controversial tax breaks for smaller media organisations, which he says would “rebalance the market” and guarantee his party’s support for the government’s media reform package. The Aus

Scaffidi allies rally to support banned mayor

City of Perth councillors considered to be allies of Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi have continued to support her, despite being instructed by council administration not to speak to the media. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: The boss of BHP’s Olympic Dam operations says a potential doubling of mine output using low-cost heap leaching technology, which has proved itself after four years of trials, will be sweetly timed to coincide with rising global copper demand in renewable energy, electric vehicles and the digital age.

Labor has stepped up its campaign to have Barnaby Joyce removed from the ministry after Bill Shorten erased any doubts about his own eligibility by releasing evidence showing he was not a dual British citizen.

P3: Australia Inc. employers have delivered workers the equal-best quarter of wages growing in 3 1/2 years, offering a glimmer of hope that a long slide in income growth is coming to an end.

P6: Australia needs a sustained lift in average annual productivity growth to about 2.5 per cent if we want to enjoy the same improvement in living standards seen over the the past three decades.

P7: Labor says it could never do another deal with the Greens on energy because any new policy must be durable enough to survive a change of government so it can guarantee investment certainty.

P8: Employers who fail to keep wage records will be forced to prove they have not underpaid their workers, according to Labor changes to the Turnbull government’s new vulnerable workers laws.

P11: Murdoch-controlled 21st Century Fox faces getting close to nothing in the payout of Network Ten creditors if it does not come to a new content supply agreement with the free-to-air broadcaster’s likely new owner, CBS.

Former Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens is joining Ellerston Capital’s new global macro fund to provide insights to portfolio managers on international market and policy matters.

P15: The shortcomings of indexes for assessing mortgage applications have been highlighted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as it pursues Westpac over alleged breaches of responsible lending laws.

The Australian

Page 1: Perth’s Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi, seemed exactly the right ambassador for a city on the ascent from dullsville to boom town a decade ago, but a long-running scandal over undeclared gifts has left her career in more strife than the parlous West Australian economy.

Australians are at risk from a dangerous shortfall in baseload power that could drive up household electricity bills, according to a new report to the Turnbull government that comes as more voters turn away from paying higher prices for renewable energy.

P2: Coalition MPs have questioned Senate powerbroker Nick Xenophon’s controversial tax breaks for smaller media organisations, which he says would “rebalance the market” and guarantee his party’s support for the government’s media reform package.

P4: National union leaders on the ACTU executive will be urged to condemn two industry superannuation funds over the outsourcing of jobs to India, escalating a dispute embroiling former ACTU chiefs Greg Combet and Dave Oliver.

P5: New West Australian Treasurer Ben Wyatt says he no longer has ambitions to lead the state Labor Party or switch to federal politics, insisting that his skills are best suited to trying to rein in government spending and cutting the state’s spiralling debt levels.

P17: The Austrac money-laundering crisis has triggered a shake-up of the Commonwealth Bank board, with new chair Catherine Livingstone recruiting former Westpac banker Rob Whitfield and making way for more changes by signalling the staggered retirement of three non-executive directors.

P19: Telstra has sweetened mobile plans by offering customers free access to content packs on streaming service Foxtel Now as convergence between telecoms and media gathers pace in the digital age.

Ten Network failed because of onerous contracts with US studios CBS and Twentieth Century Fox, according to administrators KordaMentha.

The West Australian

Page 3: A father who was left severely brain damaged after Royal Perth Hospital doctors failed to “act in a timely way” to diagnose and treat his bacterial meningitis has been awarded more than $7 million in damages.

P4: City of Perth councillors considered to be allies of Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi have continued to support her, despite being instructed by council administration not to speak to the media.

P5: The AFL may yet beat rugby league to the punch at the new Perth Stadium, with AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan last night confirming a bid to hold an AFL Women’s match on February 10.

P6: Former premier Colin Barnett says the decision of the State Liberal Party to vote for fiscal secession is proof that WA’s raw deal on the GST is fostering Tea Party-style politics in the West.

P9: WA’s gender pay gap has narrowed by 1.3 per cent but remains the biggest in the country.

P11: The future of a fledgling Perth amateur football club is in the balance after it was found guilty of offering money to a player.

P14: Researchers believe they are a step closer to a treatment for the common bone-thinning disease osteoporosis after finding key genes linked to the condition.

P16: Treasurer Ben Wyatt is set to reveal the best economic outlook for WA in four years in this week’s Budget with a turnaround in the mining sector expected to deliver a timely boost to the State’s bottom line.

P49: The family behind the failed Diploma Group and its provisional liquidators are seeking to have the company excluded from a potential wind-up order to attempt a rescue plan.

Gold exploration expenditure hit its highest levels in almost five years in the June quarter, as drilling for base metals posted a rebound among buoyant price rises throughout 2017 for lead, zinc and copper.

A Perth health company which diagnoses respiratory illnesses by making patients cough into a smartphone surged back into favour with investors yesterday when it emerged that a scathing US study was not reliable.

P50: A growing chorus of mining bosses is sounding an alarm about a potential skills shortage in the resources sector amid a departure of workers during the recent downturn and a dearth of new graduates.