Morning Headlines

Morrison fast-tracks breaks for small business

Scott Morrison will force the Labor Party to go to the next election promising to increase taxes for small and medium business by confirming today the government will bring forward the company tax cuts already legislated for these businesses. The Fin

Perth heads for $1b in 2018 office deals

Sales of Perth office towers are expected to top $1 billion this year in a sign of renewed optimism in the country’s weakest, but improving, capital city office leasing market. The Fin

ATO bid to return $1.7b in lost super

A single person in Rockingham has lost a superannuation account holding more than $1.5 million, figures show, as the tax office tries to reconnect West Australians with hundreds of thousands of forgotten nest eggs. The West

Big four to repay customers $2b in 2019

The big four banks will repay customers up to $2 billion in 2018-19, leading to a fall in earnings per share across the sector of 4 per cent, according to the latest estimates from analysts at Morgan Stanley. The Fin

Jail term for Perth man’s GST fraud

Gary Andrew Parsons, 53, was extradited to Perth from the US in January last year after an 11-year investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the ATO. The West

CBA coffers swelled by $300m Colonial payout

Long-suffering savers in Commonwealth Bank’s underperforming superannuation business Colonial First State have contributed a $300 million kickback to the nation’s largest bank for the second year in a row. The Aus

Pilbara beef transformation under way

A revolutionary Wagyu beef operation in the Pilbara is on track to create a $1.8 billion industry by 2031, Pardoo Beef Corporation chairman Bruce Cheung told agribusiness leaders in Perth yesterday. The West

Chinese in retreat as HNA offloads assets

The global retreat of Chinese real estate investors is becoming more marked as the year winds down, with Chinese conglomerate HNA seeking to sell at least $US11 billion ($15.5bn) worth of offshore assets, which could see it exit its remaining holdings in Australia. The Aus

The Australian Financial Review

Energy Summit Wrap Page 1: The nation’s energy companies and biggest electricity users have given up on politics and begun backroom talks about a self-regulated package of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, restore energy reliability and improve investor stability.

Page 1: Scott Morrison will force the Labor Party to go to the next election promising to increase taxes for small and medium business by confirming today the government will bring forward the company tax cuts already legislated for these businesses.

Page 3: Former Rio boss Sam Walsh now chairs the Australia Council for the Arts.

Page 5: Australia ranked 14th in a key list of popular destinations for Chinese tourists in the biggest travelling week of the year, slipping two spots on the same time a year ago but improving over the past six months.

Page 7: Consumer sentiment ticked slightly higher in October, even as the number of negative factors, including falling house prices and rising petrol prices, weighed on confidence.

Page 9: The International Monetary Fund has ramped up concerns on risks to Australia’s economy from bulging household debt and high house prices, as it warned global asset valuations could ‘‘adjust abruptly’’ due to further US interest rate rises.

Page 14: Jack Ma has reclaimed the title of China’s richest man following an explosion in the value of his digital payments empire.

Page 17: Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn and his Westpac counterpart Brian Hartzer will be asked why they should not be held personally responsible for systemic misconduct within their banks when they face a more aggressive line of questioning from an invigorated line-up of MPs at the Standing Committee on Economics on Thursday.

Page 20: The big four banks will repay customers up to $2 billion in 2018-19, leading to a fall in earnings per share across the sector of 4 per cent, according to the latest estimates from analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Page 22: Perth-based building materialsand construction company Buckeridge Group has confirmed it is in talks with potential buyers for all or parts of the business, but has declined to say whether one of the parties is Wesfarmers.

Page 40: Sales of Perth office towers are expected to top $1 billion this year in a sign of renewed optimism in the country’s weakest, but improving, capital city office leasing market.

Page 50: West Australian-based property syndicate Mair Property Funds has acquired a big-box liquor store in Perth for $7.65 million.

The Australian                                                                                                                          

Page 3: Telstra is facing its “Alan Bond moment” and could end up buying the $50 billion National Broadband Network from the government for a song once the project is rolled out, according to the head of a telco company specialising in wireless internet.

Page 4: Health funds will be given 12 months to introduce new insurance categories, while some treatments will be made available in cheaper policies, under late changes to the Coalition’s flagship reform program.

Page 17: Long-suffering savers in Commonwealth Bank’s underperforming superannuation business Colonial First State have contributed a $300 million kickback to the nation’s largest bank for the second year in a row.

The global retreat of Chinese real estate investors is becoming more marked as the year winds down, with Chinese conglomerate HNA seeking to sell at least $US11 billion ($15.5bn) worth of offshore assets, which could see it exit its remaining holdings in Australia.

Page 18: BGH Capital is understood to be among suitors circling the petcare business Greencross, as the Australian private equity firm headed by former TPG Capital executives was outed yesterday as a $1.9 billion bidder of education provider Navitas.

The West Australian

Page 1: A single person in Rockingham has lost a superannuation account holding more than $1.5 million, figures show, as the tax office tries to reconnect West Australians with hundreds of thousands of forgotten nest eggs.

Page 4: Organised crime costs the nation as much at $47.5 billion a year, according to a report released yesterday by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

Page 8: Gary Andrew Parsons, 53, was extradited to Perth from the US in January last year after an 11-year investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the ATO.

Business: New Venturex boss AJ Saverimutto says the explorer will consider all options for funding its Sulphur Springs copper-zinc project in the Pilbara after a definitive feasibility study put a $169 million price tag on the long-delayed development.

The Federal Government has announced 17.5 per cent fewer sheep will be allowed on voyages to the Middle East outside the northern hemisphere summer period, but that is unlikely to stop supply to Australia’s biggest customer from resuming next month.

A revolutionary Wagyu beef operation in the Pilbara is on track to create a $1.8 billion industry by 2031, Pardoo Beef Corporation chairman Bruce Cheung told agribusiness leaders in Perth yesterday.

The new Bannister Downs Creamery in Northcliffe has opened, with iron ore billionaire Gina Rinehart at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The operator of the Murrin Murrin nickel operation near Laverton has been fined $55,000 after an employee was engulfed in a cloud of anhydrous ammonia and had to be resuscitated after he stopped breathing.