Morning Headlines

Lanco avoids $200m payment

Indian group Lanco Infratech has escaped a $200 million payment linked to its disastrous purchase of the Griffin coal mine as part of a confidential settlement of one of WA’s biggest commercial court cases. The West

Telstra boss says NBN prices ‘high enough’

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has warned that the higher wholesale broadband prices built into the NBN Co corporate plan could hurt Australia’s international competitiveness. The Fin

Iron ore futures rise as cyclone forces closure of Port Hedland

Iron ore futures were slightly higher in the Chinese city of Dalian on Thursday, after cyclone warnings prompted the closure of Australia’s top iron ore export hub. The Fin

WA Lib leader issues ‘political suicide’ GST warning to Turnbull

West Australian Liberal leader Mike Nahan fears Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be committing political suicide if he tries to introduce GST reform without bipartisan support. The Fin

Rio drops out of the race for SQM lithium

Rio Tinto Group has dropped out of the bidding for a stake in SQM, one of the world’s top lithium producers, as it pursues other ways to capitalise on the electric-car boom, people familiar with the matter said. The Fin

Probes as NDIS fraud cases grow

More than 300 cases of fraudulent or dodgy behaviour by providers and participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme were reported to specialist hotlines in the last financial year. The Aus

Dacian on fast track to first gold flow

Dacian Gold is setting a cracking pace with the development of its $200 million Mt Morgans gold project 25km south-west of Laverton. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Industrial users of energy are still being slugged with steep increases in electricity and gas prices, with some facing a potential tripling in their power bills later this year as contracts come up for renewal.

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has warned that the higher wholesale broadband prices built into the NBN Co corporate plan could hurt Australia’s international competitiveness.

Page 3: Asian investors are buying ‘‘nominated’’ off-the-plan apartment contracts, rather than purchasing in new developments, as they seek to avoid tens of thousands of dollars in new stamp duty fees.

Page 5: West Australian Liberal leader Mike Nahan fears Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be committing political suicide if he tries to introduce GST reform without bipartisan support.

Page 7: Multinational consumer goods company PZ Cussons did not engage in cartel behaviour despite replacing its standard concentrate laundry powder with ultra concentrate almost at the same time as Unilever and Colgate, a court has found.

Page 8: In the race to get its iPhone X out the door, there was one technology that Apple reportedly had to abandon because it couldn’t get it to work in time: an on-screen fingerprint sensor that would allow Apple to cover the entire front of its phone with screen and yet still have room for its much-loved Touch ID fingerprint scanner.

Page 18: Hong Kong-based Binance.com is adding ‘‘a couple of million’’ registered users every week, with 240,000 people signing up in just an hour on Wednesday, chief executive officer Zhao Changpeng said.

Page 19: Rio Tinto Group has dropped out of the bidding for a stake in SQM, one of the world’s top lithium producers, as it pursues other ways to capitalise on the electric-car boom, people familiar with the matter said.

Iron ore futures were slightly higher in the Chinese city of Dalian on Thursday, after cyclone warnings prompted the closure of Australia’s top iron ore export hub.

The Australian

Page 1: Julie Bishop has slapped down her International Development Minister, refusing to endorse Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’s criticisms of China amid concern within the government over the tensions they have created with Beijing.

Page 2: More than 300 cases of fraudulent or dodgy behaviour by providers and participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme were reported to specialist hotlines in the last financial year.

Page 13: More than eight insurers have received letters from royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne asking them to air a decade of dirty laundry to kick off the year-long inquiry into misconduct in the financial sector.

An aggressive defence against online behemoth Amazon appears to have paid off for JB Hi-Fi, with analysts at Morgan Stanley upgrading the consumer electronics retailer after it enjoyed a better-than-expected Christmas trading period.

Chinese authorities ordered the closing of operations that create a large share of the world’s supply of bitcoin, tightening a clampdown that has already shuttered exchanges for the trading of cryptocurrencies in China.

Page 15: The spending spree of British billionaire and “White Knight of Whyalla” Sanjeev Gupta has continued, with the industrialist making a $US500 million ($634m) offer for Rio Tinto’s Dunkerque aluminium smelter in France.

The West Australian

Page 1: A public backlash has forced the State Government to reverse its decision to close the Schools of the Air, with Premier Mark McGowan admitting Labor had “gone too far”.

Page 6: Yesterday’s reversal of education cuts was almost identical to June’s abandoned relocation of Perth Modern, positioning the Education Minister as the common denominator in the McGowan Government’s two biggest stuff-ups.

Page 9: Fewer university students are securing full-time work within four months of graduating than a decade ago, a national report will reveal today.

Page 14: A government probe into the cities of Perth and Joondalup has come at a curious time, Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi believes.

Business: Indian group Lanco Infratech has escaped a $200 million payment linked to its disastrous purchase of the Griffin coal mine as part of a confidential settlement of one of WA’s biggest commercial court cases.

Dacian Gold is setting a cracking pace with the development of its $200 million Mt Morgans gold project 25km south-west of Laverton.

Japanese fast fashion casual wear chain Uniqlo is to open its first WA outlet, Uniqlo Plaza Arcade, on the Murray Street mall by mid-year.     

Diatreme Resources shares rocketed after the Brisbane-based company announced it had locked in a big Chinese company to help bring its Cyclone zircon project in the Eucla Basin into production.