FMG dispute goes to Canberra
The Turnbull Government has been called on to intervene in the development of Fortescue Metals Group’s $US1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) Eliwana mine in the Pilbara because of concerns about its impact on a 23,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site. The West
Shorten in scramble to fix tax grab
Bill Shorten is considering a supplement payment package for up to 250,000 pensioners to make up for annual cash refunds they stand to lose, as the Opposition Leader comes under mounting pressure over Labor’s plan to scrap $59 billion in refundable tax credits on share dividends. The Aus
Consumers are tentatively eyeing off property again
Confidence among households edged higher last month, with more saying now is a good time to ‘‘buy a dwelling’’, continuing an improvement in sentiment after a long downturn in 2017. The Fin
Pay super with wages, Cbus tells employers
The government is facing pressure to force employers to pay superannuation at the same time monthly wages are paid to prevent dodgy bosses from avoiding contributing to their workers’ nest eggs. The Aus
MCA cedes ground to BHP over climate
The Minerals Council of Australia has ceded ground to BHP and Rio Tinto by ramping up its rhetoric on climate change and revising its stance on energy policy. The Fin
Lose it or use it rules to crack down on gasfields
The next wave of LNG investment off WA will be subject to more government direction under a “use it or lose it” approach, starting with a report due soon on leases that could supply gas to the North West Shelf project. The West
Apprenticeships still on long-term decline
At the end of September there were 291,925 apprentices in training, 5.6 per cent fewer than a year earlier. The Fin
Heavyweight developers jockey for Chevron
Three heavyweight property groupings are making plays to house US energy giant Chevron, which is weighing up a shift to a new Perth headquarters in one of the resources-driven city’s biggest ever office deals. The Aus
Council laws bid
Local Government Minister David Templeman has hosed down concerns that new legislation giving him the power to remove individual mayors and councillors could be used for political purposes. The West
Mongolia anti-corruption squad seeks info from Rio unit
With international fraud squads and market regulators already investigating Rio Tinto’s activities in Guinea and Mozambique, the last thing the company needed was a fresh inquiry from an anti-corruption agency in the developing world. The Fin
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Labor leader Bill Shorten has moved to soften anger over his plans to scrap dividend cash refunds as the Greens harnessed unrest among older voters to try to win Saturday’s by-election in Batman.
Page 2: Confidence among households edged higher last month, with more saying now is a good time to ‘‘buy a dwelling’’, continuing an improvement in sentiment after a long downturn in 2017.
Tourism Australia is launching a $12 million fund to help states bid for lucrative business incentive trips, conferences and exhibitions where delegates spend twice as much as the average tourist.
Page 5: Superannuation funds such as union-aligned industry funds which pool investors’ money may deliver the best results under Labor’s plan to scrap cash refunds for franked dividends, according to analysis by accounting firm BDO Australia.
Page 8: The share of Australian firms planning to increase their presence significantly in south-east Asia has almost doubled in the past two years, but companies have been holding back from the region on concern about corruption, ownership restrictions and lack of access to skilled labour.
The sacking of Rex Tillerson will not impede the Turnbull government’s access to Donald Trump because the US President barely listened to his Secretary of State anyway, government sources say.
Page 10: At the end of September there were 291,925 apprentices in training, 5.6 per cent fewer than a year earlier.
The price of carbon jumped as much as 50 per cent in the maiden carbon trading season under the safeguard mechanism set in motion by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s Emissions Reduction Fund scheme.
Page 13: Some cricket Test matches, internationals and Big Bash League games could be destined for pay television in what looms as a $1 billion battle for broadcast rights, Cricket Australia’s official tender documents reveal.
Page 15: The Minerals Council of Australia has ceded ground to BHP and Rio Tinto by ramping up its rhetoric on climate change and revising its stance on energy policy.
With international fraud squads and market regulators already investigating Rio Tinto’s activities in Guinea and Mozambique, the last thing the company needed was a fresh inquiry from an anti-corruption agency in the developing world.
Page 16: The corporate regulator has raised the prospect of narrowing the deadline for superannuation funds to finalise member disputes internally, even though some funds are failing to meet the current 90-day time frame.
Page 18: Tawana Resources looks set to be Australia’s next lithium exporter, but the company’s managing director Mark Calderwood said he didn’t feel like he was racing other Australian lithium aspirants into the market.
The Australian
Page 1: Bill Shorten is considering a supplement payment package for up to 250,000 pensioners to make up for annual cash refunds they stand to lose, as the Opposition Leader comes under mounting pressure over Labor’s plan to scrap $59 billion in refundable tax credits on share dividends.
Page 2: Two of the nation’s largest listed aged-care providers have overall asset liabilities of more than a quarter of a billion dollars each because they include the value of government-owned bed licences that will one day be phased out, a new report says.
Page 4: An urgent injection of $390 million a year is needed “to get legal assistance back on its feet”, and lawyers should be located with doctors, nurses and social workers so disadvantaged people do not fall through the cracks of the justice system, the Law Council of Australia says.
Thousands of asylum-seekers awaiting processing in the Australian community will be moved off taxpayer-funded income support as the federal government acts to all but scrap a program that rose to prominence in the Rudd-Gillard era.
Page 17: Diminishing trust, cyber risks and intensifying competition are rated by the four major-bank chief executives as the industry’s biggest threats.
Page 20: The government is facing pressure to force employers to pay superannuation at the same time monthly wages are paid to prevent dodgy bosses from avoiding contributing to their workers’ nest eggs.
Page 23: Three heavyweight property groupings are making plays to house US energy giant Chevron, which is weighing up a shift to a new Perth headquarters in one of the resources-driven city’s biggest ever office deals.
The West Australian
Page 5: Free parking in Perth is getting harder to find as paid parking is rolled out across the metropolitan area.
Page 6: Almost 1400 NAB customers caught up in a bank program rorted by staff to line their own pockets have yet to be paid compensation, the royal commission into the financial services sector has been told.
Local Government Minister David Templeman has hosed down concerns that new legislation giving him the power to remove individual mayors and councillors could be used for political purposes.
Page 7: Tourism data released yesterday showed WA recorded Australia’s only decline in overseas tourist numbers over the past year.
Page 9: Liberal leader Mike Nahan joined a Labor MP in a scathing criticism of WA Police over its opposition to liquor licensing applications, an attack which drew a rebuke from former police commissioner Karl O’Callaghan.
Business: The Turnbull Government has been called on to intervene in the development of Fortescue Metals Group’s $US1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) Eliwana mine in the Pilbara because of concerns about its impact on a 23,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site.
The next wave of LNG investment off WA will be subject to more government direction under a “use it or lose it” approach, starting with a report due soon on leases that could supply gas to the North West Shelf project.
Spanish engineering company Duro Felguera has had a minor win over construction giant Samsung C&T in their highstakes battle over work on the Roy Hill iron ore project.