Morning Headlines

Australia becomes an LNG force

Australia has snatched the title of the world’s biggest LNG exporter from rival Qatar and is now the largest global shipper for gas, coal and iron ore, raking in $165 billion in annual revenue. The Aus

WA plea to protect housing

WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt has taken the unprecedented step of complaining directly to the nation's banking regulator that its "one-size-fits-all" approach is cruelling the Perth property market and the wider economy. The West

Energy divestment laws all but dead

Legislation enabling the forced divestment of energy assets is all but dead after the minority government spent the final day of Parliament pulling out all stops to avoid a historic defeat in the House of Representatives. The Fin

Youngest workers to keep copping $6bn super gouge

Australia’s youngest superannuation members and those with the most meagre savings can expect to be gouged in the order of $6 billion in unnecessary fees over the next two years after the government failed to pass key federal budget legislation following an intense lobbying campaign. The Aus

Perth Radiological sale diagnosis not so rosy

The level of buyer interest in the Perth Radiological Clinic may now not be quite as high as some first anticipated, with suggestions that only 40 per cent of the business will be on offer. The Aus

Banks could face billions in fines

Banks and other big companies would face unprecedented fines of billions of dollars rather than a capped $210 million for civil offences, under changes that Labor wants to make to a federal bill. The Fin

Savvy Perth drivers save $520 on petrol

Perth motorists are $520 a year better off on average if they fill up their cars on Mondays rather than Tuesdays. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Legislation enabling the forced divestment of energy assets is all but dead after the minority government spent the final day of Parliament pulling out all stops to avoid a historic defeat in the House of Representatives.

Page 2: British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta says the Gupta family intend to maintain a majority stake in their American and Australian steel businesses, which are closely examining partial stockmarket listings in both countries.

Page 3: Banks and other big companies would face unprecedented fines of billions of dollars rather than a capped $210 million for civil offences, under changes that Labor wants to make to a federal bill.

Page 8: A government-proposed fund for banks to inject equity into growing small businesses has received a boost, with the prudential regulator signalling it is willing to consider regulatory concessions to make the vehicle commercially viable.

Page 16: Australia has declared war on nontariff trade barriers and will apply diplomatic pressure on countries, including some covered by free-trade agreements, using them to shut out a range of agricultural and other products.

Page 21: A new tax to be levied on all shipped imports and exports has been labelled as ‘‘dumb’’ and ‘‘a cash-grab tariff on trade’’ by the chief executive of Shipping Australia, while the minerals sector and other trade-dependent industries are warning the tax will merely drive up costs for little or no environmental gain.

Rare earths producer Lynas could face a bill of $60 million to transport 400,000 tonnes of radioactive waste out of Malaysia, as well as a complicated legal and regulatory landscape.

Page 22: The sale of Asaleo’s Australian tissue business to Solaris Paper for $180 million sent the group’s shares soaring, with the stock closing up 45.6 per cent at 91¢.

The Federal Court has slapped former Murray Goulburn Co-operative boss Gary Helou with a $200,000 fine for being knowingly involved in the company’s misleading claims about the farmgate milk price it expected to pay dairy farmers during the 2015-16 milk season.

The Australian                                                                                                                          

Page 1: Bill Shorten has softened Labor’s border-protection policy ahead of the party’s national conference, after a failed attempt last night to hold national security laws as a ransom in exchange for watereddown immigration rules that would hand doctors the power to relocate refugees to Australia.

The Reserve Bank has paved the way for further cuts to the official interest rate and could even resort to quantitative easing — “printing money” to buy government bonds — to ward off a potential downturn.

Page 8: Australia’s youngest superannuation members and those with the most meagre savings can expect to be gouged in the order of $6 billion in unnecessary fees over the next two years after the government failed to pass key federal budget legislation following an intense lobbying campaign.

Page 21: Australia has snatched the title of the world’s biggest LNG exporter from rival Qatar and is now the largest global shipper for gas, coal and iron ore, raking in $165 billion in annual revenue.

Clive Palmer’s once-embattled private company Mineralogy is now collecting more than $1 million a day in profits, with the former federal MP promising to use his growing cash stockpile to bankroll another aggressive tilt at federal parliament.

On the same night US President Donald Trump was dining with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping earlier this week, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei finance chief and heir apparent Sabrina Meng over alleged breaches of sanctions against Iran.

Page 22: The level of buyer interest in the Perth Radiological Clinic may now not be quite as high as some first anticipated, with suggestions that only 40 per cent of the business will be on offer.

Page 29: Business confidence among the nation’s law firms is booming after a bumper year in which profits grew by an average of 8.2 per cent and the best performers increased their bottom line by 15 per cent.

The West Australian

Page 1: WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt has taken the unprecedented step of complaining directly to the nation's banking regulator that its "one-size-fits-all" approach is cruelling the Perth property market and the wider economy.

Page 3: Perth motorists are $520 a year better off on average if they fill up their cars on Mondays rather than Tuesdays.

Page 6: An owner of a Subiaco nightspot set on fire by arsonists twice in a week says he has no idea what has prompted the attacks.

Page 7: The most senior woman at the Fremantle Dockers — who handled the fallout from the sexual harassment claim levelled at coach Ross Lyon this year — has left the club suddenly and silently.

Business: Australia could face a full-blown credit crunch if the banking royal commission calls for sweeping improvements to banks’ lending standards, industry experts say.

The founder of a Perth technology company says the Federal Government’s anti-encryption legislation risks turning Australia into a technological “backwater”.

Freedom Insurance Group says it may face a liquidity shortfall in 2019 with $4 million in customer remediations and no new business commissions sending its stock to a fresh low.