PM shores up Trump on trade
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has launched a vigorous front-foot defence of US President Donald Trump and the trade war with China, after a G7 summit that underscored his unusual ability among America’s allies to stay on the right side of the unpredictable leader. The Fin
Radical plan to bring residents and a university into city centre
Perth’s biggest retailers and property owners are calling on the City of Perth to help bring in more residential apartments and a big university into the CBD to help revitalise the city. The West
RBA maps path to zero cash rate
The RBA has considered dropping interest rates close to zero and would not hesitate to launch unconventional monetary policy if ultra-low rates failed to ignite economic growth, deputy governor Guy Debelle has revealed. The Aus
$20bn flop: schools fail to lift kids
Critical literacy and numeracy skills of Australian students are languishing, despite government funding for schools soaring by more than $20 billion over a decade. The Aus
David Jones food coming to a servo near you
Oil and gas giant BP has announced a partnership with David Jones that will see sushi and rotisserie chooks available in selected petrol stations. The Fin
Rolls-Royce option for nuclear power
British engineering group Rolls-Royce says it expects to be able to build a compact nuclear power plant in Australia that would underpin the electricity grid’s shift to wind and solar power and cost only £1.5 billion ($2.7 billion). The Fin
Legal Stoush
The explosive brawl between WA’s top public servant Darren Foster and a State Parliament committee has escalated to the Supreme Court, with the bureaucrats taking historic legal action to support his moves in handing over thousands of MPs’ emails to a corruption investigation. The West
CSL, UBS back Frydenberg on investment
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has ramped up a push for states to help boost productivity in areas such as health and education by inviting the bosses of the Productivity Commission and federal Treasury to present at their Council on Federal Financial Relations meeting. The Fin
Allianz to refund junk cover fees
General insurance company Allianz will refund more than $8 million in fees and interest to 15,000 customers who were sold junk insurance policies they were never able to claim. The Fin
Unis in a bind as ‘hate speech’ lines blur
Former High Court chief justice Robert French has raised concern that “hate speech” and “bullying” have lost their meaning, reiterating a call for controversial speakers and protesters to be afforded freedom of speech at Australian universities. The Aus
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has launched a vigorous front-foot defence of US President Donald Trump and the trade war with China, after a G7 summit that underscored his unusual ability among America’s allies to stay on the right side of the unpredictable leader.
British engineering group Rolls-Royce says it expects to be able to build a compact nuclear power plant in Australia that would underpin the electricity grid’s shift to wind and solar power and cost only £1.5 billion ($2.7 billion).
Page 3: Some two-thirds of women working in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers say their views or voices are devalued because of their gender, while 40 per cent have borne the brunt of sexist jokes or offensive comments, a survey has found.
Page 4: Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says Labor lost the last election because it embraced socialist economics, including a false assertion that Australia had a major and growing inequality problem.
Security experts say the Morrison government should upgrade its travel advice for China to warn Australians they run the risk of arbitrary detention after writer Yang Hengjun was formally arrested over espionage charges, which carry the death penalty.
Page 6: Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Guy Debelle says it’s possible interest rates could fall to almost zero and the bank may resort to unconventional stimulus measures in order to ‘‘achieve our objectives’’.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has ramped up a push for states to help boost productivity in areas such as health and education by inviting the bosses of the Productivity Commission and federal Treasury to present at their Council on Federal Financial Relations meeting.
Page 8: Tension between the United States and China could be the dominant theme affecting sentiment in financial markets for the next decade and the world could be witnessing the start of an economic cold war, warns UniSuper’s chief investment officer John Pearce.
Page 11: The author of the government’s report into academic freedom has warned university leaders they will have to ‘‘cull’’ existing codes of conduct that have a ‘‘potentially chilling’’ effect on campus speech.
Page 16: A surging tax advisory business has helped boost revenue at big four consulting firm EY by almost 6 per cent to a record $1.89 billion in the year to June.
Page 17: Fuels supplier Caltex Australia will sell 50 service station sites in Sydney and Melbourne and has walked away from its guidance of an uplift of as much as $150 million in retailing earnings by 2024 after a slump in first-half profits amid a tough climate in both retailing and refining.
Page 19: General insurance company Allianz will refund more than $8 million in fees and interest to 15,000 customers who were sold junk insurance policies they were never able to claim.
Page 20: Oil and gas giant BP has announced a partnership with David Jones that will see sushi and rotisserie chooks available in selected petrol stations.
Page 22: Australian lithium export plans have been slashed again, with one of the nation’s bigger producers set to temporarily idle its mine, defer sales and delay expansion plans.
The Australian
Page 1: Critical literacy and numeracy skills of Australian students are languishing, despite government funding for schools soaring by more than $20 billion over a decade.
Page 2: Mark Butler has declared the transition to electric cars “unstoppable” and a “revolution”, as the Labor energy spokesman defended his controversial pre-election pledge to impose a 50 per cent target for the vehicles.
Page 5: The RBA has considered dropping interest rates close to zero and would not hesitate to launch unconventional monetary policy if ultra-low rates failed to ignite economic growth, deputy governor Guy Debelle has revealed.
Page 6: Former High Court chief justice Robert French has raised concern that “hate speech” and “bullying” have lost their meaning, reiterating a call for controversial speakers and protesters to be afforded freedom of speech at Australian universities.
Page 19: Poultry producer Inghams is racing to keep up with unexpected growth in demand for chicken, with associated spending set to “significantly” hit earnings this financial year.
Page 22: An Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $US572 million ($845m) for contributing to the state’s opioid-addiction crisis, a verdict that could signal further findings of liability for drug companies as similar cases wind through US courts.
After promising to offer tools to let users limit “cookies”, tiny files that help internet and advertising companies track users, Alphabet’s Google has suggested it won’t go any further, saying in a blog post that blocking cookies entirely could be counter-productive for user privacy.
Page 26: A gap in federal export law means there is no legal restriction on the transfer of sensitive information to Chinese PhDs and researchers who are working in Australian universities.
Page 27: A $7.7 million federal government investment in mining research centres at the universities of Sydney and Adelaide will help boost quality assurance, maximise resource recovery and use the data science skills needed to decide how to best use Australia’s natural resources.
The West Australian
Page 3: Students’ writing skills are improving after a concerted effort by schools to turn around several years of declining results, the latest national report card reveals.
Page 4: Perth’s biggest retailers and property owners are calling on the City of Perth to help bring in more residential apartments and a big university into the CBD to help revitalise the city.
Page 5: Perth has leapfrogged Sydney to become the most expensive city for public transport in Australia for the first time.
Page 9: There may still be three days of winter left but spring has sprung early with today’s forecast to be the hottest winter day on record — a scorching 28C.
Page 18: The explosive brawl between WA’s top public servant Darren Foster and a State Parliament committee has escalated to the Supreme Court, with the bureaucrats taking historic legal action to support his moves in handing over thousands of MPs’ emails to a corruption investigation.
Business: Wesfarmers is keeping faith with the Australian economy even though a record annual profit included weakening sales growth at its mainstay Bunnings hardware business.
German business confidence has extended its decline, falling to the weakest level in almost seven years, as a deepening manufacturing slump puts Europe’s biggest economy on the brink of recession.
CBH Group has stumped up an interest-free $US30 million ($42.9 million) loan to Interflour to help the embattled flour milling and malting company’s turnaround.
Treasurer Ben Wyatt has ruled out changes to the foreign buyers surcharge, despite a concerted effort by industry to kill off the “7 per cent crazy tax”.
Tencent Music Entertainment is under investigation by China’s antitrust authority in a review that could end exclusive licensing deals it forged with the world’s biggest record labels.