Morning Headlines

PM’s leadership on knife edge

The leadership crisis engulfing Malcolm Turnbull has deepened, with cabinet ministers privately accusing the Prime Minister of cobbling together his plan to cap retail power prices in a last-minute bid to save his leadership. The Aus

Gas pipeline proposal buried

The “nation-building” dream of running a gas pipeline from the Pilbara to the East Coast is unviable, according to a feasibility study commissioned by Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, and has been quietly buried by the Federal Government. The West

Coalition voter support crumbles

The latest Fairfax Media/Ipsos poll shows the Coalition primary vote has nosedived 6 percentage points to 33 per cent in a month and now trails Labor by 55 per cent to 45 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis. The Fin

US-China trade talks to lift shares

Growing optimism about a potential resolution of trade tensions between the US and China should see a positive start to the week for shares, commodities and the Australian dollar as the corporate reporting season enters its busiest week, with 70 major companies due to report. The Aus

Builder reveals ease of rorting contracts in Health scandal

A key figure in the bribery and corruption scandal engulfing the Health Department has revealed the ease with which he and other building company bosses rorted the system for almost a decade with the help of crooked department executives. The West

Spirit of Heatleys eyes stealthy market move

Perth supplies and logistics firm Stealth Global will today put WA’s fledgling economic recovery to the test when it starts a $12.5 million raising ahead of a public listing. The West

ING bucks trend with $1bn Aussie-dollar bond issue

ING Australia has embarked on its first Australian-dollar covered bond transaction worth $1 billion, as it moves to gather more firepower to take on the country’s top lenders. The Aus

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: The latest Fairfax Media/Ipsos poll shows the Coalition primary vote has nosedived 6 percentage points to 33 per cent in a month and now trails Labor by 55 per cent to 45 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis.

Page 3: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is facing growing pressure to extend the banking royal commission, as Commissioner Kenneth Hayne is believed to be considering whether more time is needed.

Page 4: More voters still support the government’s proposed company tax cuts than oppose them but that is unlikely to save the remainder of the package which is set to be dumped following a vote in the Senate this week.

Page 7: Overseas-owned companies underpin the jobs of one in 10 workers who on average earn $20,000 a year more than those employed by local companies, according to a new study on the importance of foreign investment to the Australian economy.

Page 9: The enormous regulatory expense faced by e-commerce entrepreneurs in Australia has been exposed at a House of Representatives standing committee into trade and the digital economy, but the introduction of goods and services tax on low-value imported goods from July 1 appears to have had no effect on online sales.

Page 13: Investors are feeling confident that a better-than-expected earnings season will extend into its third and busiest week as anticipated weakness in companies exposed to soft consumer spending has so far failed to translate into poor profit results.

Page 15: Eight American corporate law firms are investigating the potential for class actions against packaging group Bemis Company over concerns that it may not have secured the best possible price for its shareholders by canvassing other potential buyers before a $9 billion buyout by ASX-listed Amcor.

Engineering group RCR Tomlinson took three months to notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner that employees’ personal data had been accessed in an internet scam despite new laws requiring companies to inform the regulator in ‘‘a timely manner’’.

Page 18: Mining bosses who built their companies from the ground up are enjoying a bumper dividend season, but Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest looks set to be one of the few to receive a lower payout than last year.

Page 31: The first legal blow has fallen in Australia’s cladding crisis, with a Victorian building regulator finding LU Simon director Jim Moschoyiannis broke the law by putting flammable cladding on Melbourne’s Lacrosse building.

The Australian                                                                                                                          

Page 1: The leadership crisis engulfing Malcolm Turnbull has deepened, with cabinet ministers privately accusing the Prime Minister of cobbling together his plan to cap retail power prices in a last-minute bid to save his leadership.

Page 5: Pauline Hanson has accused Clive Palmer of trying to “buy” candidates for his start-up party, intensifying the feud between the two political populists.                                               

Page 17: Top business leaders have urged the government to continue the push for a cut to the corporate tax rate “in the national interest”, despite growing expectations the reform push is set to stall.                                                                                                                                        

NAB’s wealth business MLC is charging superannuation savers in at least 10 funds as much as double the fees charged by the external managers of the products, The Australian can reveal.                                                                                                                                                     

Growing optimism about a potential resolution of trade tensions between the US and China should see a positive start to the week for shares, commodities and the Australian dollar as the corporate reporting season enters its busiest week, with 70 major companies due to report.                                                                                                                                                     

Page 18: ING Australia has embarked on its first Australian-dollar covered bond transaction worth $1 billion, as it moves to gather more firepower to take on the country’s top lenders.

Page 21: Goodman Group has ridden the growth of e-commerce around the globe to produce a sector leading profit rise, and flagged it has $12 billion of firepower to fund acquisitions.

The West Australian

Page 1: A key figure in the bribery and corruption scandal engulfing the Health Department has revealed the ease with which he and other building company bosses rorted the system for almost a decade with the help of crooked department executives.

Page 4: Eastern States communities reeling from Australia’s worst drought in more than 50 years will be given extra money to help deal with the dry conditions in their own way.

Page 5: Donations to the Art Gallery of WA have plummeted more than 70 per cent in the past financial year, amid a tumultuous period for the State’s top arts venue.

Page 7: Companies alleged to have bribed senior Health Department public servants could face fresh troubles, with the Australian Taxation Office likely to check their books.

Business: The “nation-building” dream of running a gas pipeline from the Pilbara to the East Coast is unviable, according to a feasibility study commissioned by Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, and has been quietly buried by the Federal Government.

The aged-care industry has pointed to new figures showing an increase in the number of older Australians waiting for aged-care packages as evidence the system is still underfunded.

Perth supplies and logistics firm Stealth Global will today put WA’s fledgling economic recovery to the test when it starts a $12.5 million raising ahead of its listing.