Morning Headlines

Caution on Qantas guarantee

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged Qantas to spell out exactly what form of assistance it wants as he joined Treasurer Joe Hockey in expressing a reluctance to provide the airline with a government guarantee. The Fin

Reith slams Abbott over GrainCorp

One of the most senior figures of the Howard government and a leading figure of the Liberal Party’s conservative wing, Peter Reith, has accused Prime Minister Tony Abbott of orchestrating the veto of a $3.4 billion US bid for GrainCorp, which he described as the latest of several botched decisions. The Fin

Pipeline partner focus for FMG to slash costs

Fortescue Metals Group hopes to have a gas pipeline to its Solomon hub built within a year, in a move that could save the iron ore producer tens of millions of dollars on power bills at the 60 million-tonne-a-year operation. The West

Hockey, Greens in talks on debt limit

The Coalition was in preliminary talks with the Greens last night to remove any limit on commonwealth debt in a bid to head off a crisis if parliament does not amend the existing debt limit within a fortnight. The Aus

ABC wrong on phone tap report, Turnbull tells Scott

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told ABC managing director Mark Scott it was an error of judgment for the national broadcaster to join The Guardian to publish claims Australia tapped the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and senior officials. The Aus

Government defends education U-turn

The broader education sector is bracing for budget cuts to fund a $1.2 billion backflip by the Abbott government in response to severe criticism over its broken promise on school funding. The Fin

Activist farmer calls for corporatisation of CBH

A Western Australian farmer who led a failed push to corporatise the nation’s second-biggest wheat exporter, CBH Group, three years ago, says he believes most of his fellow growers are ‘‘agrarian socialists’’ who have been ‘‘brainwashed’’ by the co-operative’s board. The Aus

More spy secrets to come: minister

Defence Minister David Johnston appears to have confirmed wide-scale spying activities by Australia and has warned that the most embarrassing intelligence leaks could be to come. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: One of the most senior figures of the Howard government and a leading figure of the Liberal Party’s conservative wing, Peter Reith, has accused Prime Minister Tony Abbott of orchestrating the veto of a $3.4 billion US bid for GrainCorp, which he described as the latest of several botched decisions.

Page 3: The latest housing and business data suggests the Australian economy might be beginning to re-align itself away from the faltering mining investment boom.

Page 5: The broader education sector is bracing for budget cuts to fund a $1.2 billion backflip by the Abbott government in response to severe criticism over its broken promise on school funding.

Page 6: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged Qantas to spell out exactly what form of assistance it wants as he joined Treasurer Joe Hockey in expressing a reluctance to provide the airline with a government guarantee.

Page 7: One of Australia’s biggest business groups has challenged the Abbott government to break a “stifling political complacency” over the federal budget or condemn the country to the same long-term economic “calamity” gripping Europe.

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird has urged the federal Parliament to settle the debt ceiling row, warning the instability threatens to affect the states.

Page 9: Stamp duty should be abolished or significantly reduced in order to increase the mobility of the workforce, says the Productivity Commission.

Page 11: Archer Daniels Midland will consider acquiring some GrainCorp assets, establishing a marketing alliance, or look at returning with another takeover bid next year when the political environment settles down as it weighs up alternatives following the shock rejection of its $3.4billion takeover bid.

Page 13: Metcash chief executive Ian Morrice has outlined a five-year turnaround plan aimed at restoring sales and profit growth by emulating the major grocery chains rather than relying on cost-cutting and margin expansion.

Page 14: Qantas Airways has signed up China Southern as its latest code-share partner in Asia as it looks to bolster its ailing international business without adding new destinations using its own aircraft.

Page 16: A group of 69 councils, church groups and charities that stand to receive $85 million from the liquidators of Lehman Brothers Australia for losses from complex financial products are also targeting global ratings agency Standard & Poor’s for the same amount.

Page 19: Former NBN Co executives urged the incoming Coalition government to rent, rather than buy, Telstra’s copper network as part of a plan to change the national broadband network rollout.

The Australian

Page 1: Tony Abbott will pour another $1 billion into schools over the next four years to quell a political storm over a breach of promise on education while offering a new pledge that no school will be worse off as a result of his actions.

Rio Tinto has warned the pressures that led it to close the Gove alumina refinery in the Northern Territory are bearing down on its two refineries at Gladstone.

Page 2: Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told ABC managing director Mark Scott it was an error of judgment for the national broadcaster to join The Guardian to publish claims Australia tapped the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and senior officials.

Page 3: Gina Rinehart offered daughter Hope Welker a $25 million loan deal to pull out of the family trust battle, demanding she relinquish shares in Hancock Prospecting and surrender legal claims over the immensely profitable Hope Downs mining project in return.

Page 4: A Freeze on companies joining the Comcare workers compensation scheme will be lifted, opening the way for private employers to leave state-based schemes but sparking union anger over the Abbott government decision.

Page 5: The Coalition was in preliminary talks with the Greens last night to remove any limit on commonwealth debt in a bid to head off a crisis if parliament does not amend the existing debt limit within a fortnight.

Tasmania’s plan to finish the National Broadband Network rollout using cables strung from power poles has been boosted by praise and an offer of more detailed consideration from the NBN Co.

Page 19: Graincorp chairman Don Taylor has lashed out at what he says were factual errors in the reasoning used by Joe Hockey to reject a takeover bid by Archer Daniels Midland and warned that the company would now need to rationalise its grain-handling network.

Four years behind schedule and more than $US6 billion ($6.6bn) over budget, the first Chinese-built mining project in Australia has finally started loading a ship for export — but the historic event in the Pilbara yesterday was witnessed by just a handful of dignitaries and Chinese journalists.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has admitted it is struggling to get Queensland gas sellers to the bargaining table in further evidence of a looming east coast gas shortage as $70 billion of LNG plants crank up at Gladstone from next year.

Page 20: A Western Australian farmer who led a failed push to corporatise the nation’s second-biggest wheat exporter, CBH Group, three years ago, says he believes most of his fellow growers are ‘‘agrarian socialists’’ who have been ‘‘brainwashed’’ by the co-operative’s board.

The West Australian

Page 6: WA schools will receive an extra $120 million in Federal funding after Tony Abbott caved in to pressure from east coast premiers.

Former prime minister Bob Hawke has accused Tony Abbott of changing the education system to favour the rich.

Page 7: The State Government still does not have a handle on how many children of families on 457 temporary visas are being educated in the public school system.

Page 10: New MP and businessman Clive Palmer says polling shows his party will win two seats should a new Senate election be held in WA.

Neither Wayne Swan nor Chris Bowen was asked to inject almost $9 billion of borrowed money into the Reserve Bank, previously confidential documents reveal.

Defence Minister David Johnston appears to have confirmed wide-scale spying activities by Australia and has warned that the most embarrassing intelligence leaks could be to come.

Page 13: WA’s new prisons boss, former SAS Regiment commander James McMahon, concedes the culture of his department must change if its mantra of creating community safety is to succeed.

Page 18: Victims of morning sickness drug thalidomide have won an $89 million settlement from their drug’s distributor but their lawyers say the drug’s manufacturer behaved appallingly in not paying compensation.

Page 20: The State Government has bowed to pressure from farmers to relax controversial laws on land clearing that have led to a series of bitter court battles.

Business: Fortescue Metals Group hopes to have a gas pipeline to its Solomon hub built within a year, in a move that could save the iron ore producer tens of millions of dollars on power bills at the 60 million-tonne-a-year operation.

The $C10.5 billion ($10.8 billion) owner of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine has thrown its weight behind the Perth tiddler hoping to strike it rich in the little-known copper fields near Wongan Hill.

Ausenco has become the latest mining services company to suffer a backlash from investors after running into financial trouble.

Major irrigated agriculture projects based around cattle, biofuel production and the mining industry are set to spring up throughout WA’s north under ambitious plans backed by the State Government.