Morning Headlines

Thursday, 18 October, 2018 - 07:00
Category: 

Partial Landgate sale falters

The wheels are falling off the State Government’s plans to cash in on the privatisation of interstate land title registries after a privatised Landgate subsidiary missed out on a key contract in NSW this week. The West

Singaporeans keen on $100m Buckeridge deal

The carve-up of late construction tycoon Len Buckeridge’s property empire is accelerating with Singapore’s Hiap Hoe positioning to buy his company’s Aloft Perth hotel, and an office complex, for more $100 million, as attention turns to his business holdings. The Aus

KCGM axes jobs at Super Pit

Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines will axe 45 jobs and reposition a further 140 roles at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit in a bid to reduce costs after a rockfall in May hit production. The West

Noongar people on brink of $1.3bn deal

A sweeping land and cash deal with the Noongar people of Western Australia, described by Warren Mundine in 2016 as a virtual treaty, has reached its final legal hurdle after two decades of negotiations and court battles. The Aus

As TPP clears the Senate, Morrison hails ‘export boon’

Australia has become the fourth nation to officially ratify its involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a move the government says will guarantee local exporters a head start on their rivals in exploiting lower tariffs. The Fin

Tabcorp hits out over 40pc ‘first strike’

Tabcorp chairman Paula Dwyer has taken aim at proxy advisers fuelling what she says is misinformation about director accountability, after the company was hit with a first strike against its remuneration report. The Aus

Optus refunds $31m to duped customers

Optus has been forced to refund customers $31 million and been slapped with a $10 million fine by the consumer watchdog for misleading its customers over third-party charges for games, apps and videos. The Fin

 

 

The Australian Financial Review

Page 2: Australia has become the fourth nation to officially ratify its involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a move the government says will guarantee local exporters a head start on their rivals in exploiting lower tariffs.

Page 3: Key conspirators charged in the Plutus tax fraud secretly controlled a separate network of labour hire firms and payroll companies that were wound up owing the Tax Office, former business associates have alleged.

Page 4: Mr Morrison hosed down fears that a planned free trade agreement with Indonesia would not go ahead despite the brewing backlash from Muslim nations, as the government’s policy review that could see Australia follow the US and relocate its embassy to Jerusalem won the Trump administration’s endorsement.

Page 5: The Nationals are beset by internal turmoil with several MPs and senators unhappy with the leadership of Michael McCormack and suggesting a return to Mr Joyce.

Page 12: A management shake-up at the Australian Taxation Office after the retirement of second commissioner Neil Olesen will leave the top three positions filled by tax practitioners hailing from private sector advisory firms for the first time in the agency’s history.

Page 14: Australian beef exporters have reached a Brexit crunch point, as they are forced to make commercial decisions on post-Brexit shipments without knowing how Britain and the European Union will carve up the tariff quotas they use to restrict imports.

Page 16: China’s local governments may have accumulated 40 trillion yuan ($US5.8 trillion) of off-balance sheet debt, or even more, suggesting further defaults are in store, according to S&P Global Ratings.

Page 19: Afterpay’s market value fell 18.9 per cent or $620 million in the space of a few hours on Tuesday after crossbench senators supported a Labor plan to hold an inquiry into parts of the financial services sector not examined by the royal commission, including payday lenders, debt negotiation firms and credit repair agencies.

BHP has cut its copper production target for fiscal 2018 about 3 per cent after mines in South Australia and Chile suffered unplanned outages.

Page 22: Optus has been forced to refund customers $31 million and been slapped with a $10 million fine by the consumer watchdog for misleading its customers over third-party charges for games, apps and videos.

 

 

The Australian                                                                                                                          

Page 1: John Howard will intervene in the Wentworth by-election campaign today in a last-ditch attempt to win over “grumpy Liberal voters”, warning that a significant protest vote could inflict “enormous damage” on the Morrison government.

Page 2: Australia’s unemployment rate may have to fall further than previously thought before wages start to grow, deputy Reserve Bank governor Guy Debelle has warned.

Page 5: About $80 million of the government’s $443.3m grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation could be lost in management costs, despite claims by Environment Minister Melissa Price that only 5 per cent of the grant would be spent on administration.

Page 8: A sweeping land and cash deal with the Noongar people of Western Australia, described by Warren Mundine in 2016 as a virtual treaty, has reached its final legal hurdle after two decades of negotiations and court battles.

Page 17: Tabcorp chairman Paula Dwyer has taken aim at proxy advisers fuelling what she says is misinformation about director accountability, after the company was hit with a first strike against its remuneration report.

Page 18: Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of the Canadian pension fund Omers, is expected to sell more than $1 billion worth of properties out of the Investa Office Fund portfolio once it secures control of one of Australia’s most prized landlords for $3.4 billion.

Page 23: Singapore’s GIC Real Estate, AMP Capital and West Australian group Primewest are negotiating a deal that would see the sovereign wealth fund take almost full control of Perth’s Exchange Tower in a play that values the asset at close to $330 million.

Page 25: The carve-up of late construction tycoon Len Buckeridge’s property empire is accelerating with Singapore’s Hiap Hoe positioning to buy his company’s Aloft Perth hotel, and an office complex, for more $100 million, as attention turns to his business holdings.

 

 

The West Australian

Page 6: WA Health Department chief David Russell-Weisz has told a parliamentary committee about the “soul-searching” he has done in the wake of a corruption scandal involving fellow executives, including one he knew well enough to lunch with four times at the height of the fraud.

Page 9: Grieving families of West Australians who died in industrial accidents have welcomed a Senate report that recommend introducing uniform industrial manslaughter laws across the country.

Page 11: The directors of a takeaway kebab shop are suing the owners of Westfield Carousel, claiming the centre’s apparent success was exaggerated during lease negotiations.

Business: The wheels are falling off the State Government’s plans to cash in on the privatisation of interstate land title registries after a privatised Landgate subsidiary missed out on a key contract in NSW this week.

The Sandalwood Growers Coop has called a new meeting of investors in the collapsed Quintis’ 2003 management investment scheme after the court invalidated a July 23 vote transferring management of the sandalwood project to the co-op.

Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines will axe 45 jobs and reposition a further 140 roles at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit in a bid to reduce costs after a rockfall in May hit production.

BHP says a shutdown at the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter caused by a fire will not lead to a fall in annual production for its Nickel West division.

Aggrieved minority shareholders of takeover target Nkwe Platinum will roll the dice in a bid to get a better price for their shares by launching a class action in a Bermudan court.