Morning Headlines

“I’ve been repeatedly targeted”: Di Bain

Di Bain has challenged her opponents to disclose their conflicts after it was revealed her lord mayoral campaign had received more than $100,000 in contributions. Read the story here.

Cleanaway boss says he had to be tough to fix business

Cleanaway Waste Management’s Vik Bansal says there was ‘‘absolutely a need for speed’’ in trying to fix the troubled company when he took over in 2015, as he admitted to conduct unbecoming a chief executive. The Fin

Open up, say health experts

Health experts have backed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s claim there is no legitimate health reason for Australia’s state borders to remain closed, as pressure mounts on Queensland and Western Australia to reopen. The Fin

Qatar’s pricing tactics squeeze Aussie LNG

Woodside Petroleum and Santos face potential further delays of several years to $50 billion of LNG investments as a result of Qatar’s aggressive turn of tack in LNG pricing to accompany a mega-expansion of ultra-cheap capacity that is seen undercutting projects around the world. The Fin

Union sues BHP over ‘ageist, racist’ policy

BHP has been accused of racism and ageism for preventing Indigenous and older employees from working at its mines due to concerns over COVID-19, resulting in months of lost pay. The Fin

Exporters sweat on China wine deadline

China has given Australia’s top wine exporters until Friday to answer preliminary questions related to its anti-dumping investigation in a move some investors fear will enable Beijing to slap tariffs on $1.2 billion of exports within months. The Fin

Drilling down on float plan

DDH1 senior management and former rivals are among those poised to cash in on new float plans said to value the drilling firm at more than $400 million. The West

Recession be gone: RBA to talk up outlook

Reserve Bank deputy governor Guy Debelle is expected to give an upbeat assessment of the economic recovery today after the fourth major bank forecast an end to the COVID-19 recession and Prime Minister Scott Morrison said hundreds of thousands of new jobs would be created before Christmas. The Fin

Priority for hydrogen, CCS and batteries

Hydrogen, batteries, green steel, carbon capture and storage, and soil carbon have been identified by the federal government as the five top-priority, low-emission technologies it will aim to develop over the next decade. The Fin

Safety in eggs as we go into our shells

The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted Australians’ appreciation of food security and safety, with trust in the $1.8 billion egg sector significantly up compared to this time last year. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Cleanaway Waste Management’s Vik Bansal says there was ‘‘absolutely a need for speed’’ in trying to fix the troubled company when he took over in 2015, as he admitted to conduct unbecoming a chief executive.

Health experts have backed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s claim there is no legitimate health reason for Australia’s state borders to remain closed, as pressure mounts on Queensland and Western Australia to reopen.

Page 2: Small to medium businesses could pay staff with simple all-in rates and engage part-timers more flexibly as part of a proposal that is being pushed in industrial relations reform groups and has attracted significant interest from the Morrison government.

Page 3: China has given Australia’s top wine exporters until Friday to answer preliminary questions related to its anti-dumping investigation in a move some investors fear will enable Beijing to slap tariffs on $1.2 billion of exports within months.

Page 5: Reserve Bank deputy governor Guy Debelle is expected to give an upbeat assessment of the economic recovery today after the fourth major bank forecast an end to the COVID-19 recession and Prime Minister Scott Morrison said hundreds of thousands of new jobs would be created before Christmas.

Page 6: Hydrogen, batteries, green steel, carbon capture and storage, and soil carbon have been identified by the federal government as the five top-priority, low-emission technologies it will aim to develop over the next decade.

Page 9: BHP has been accused of racism and ageism for preventing Indigenous and older employees from working at its mines due to concerns over COVID-19, resulting in months of lost pay.

Page 10: An Australian lawyer living in Britain says he has been swamped with requests for support from Australians stranded overseas.

Page 12: Royal Dutch Shell is looking to slash up to 40 per cent off the cost of producing oil and gas, in a major drive to save cash so it can overhaul its business and focus more on renewable energy and power markets, sources told Reuters.

Page 13: Woodside Petroleum and Santos face potential further delays of several years to $50 billion of LNG investments as a result of Qatar’s aggressive turn of tack in LNG pricing to accompany a mega-expansion of ultra-cheap capacity that is seen undercutting projects around the world.

Rio Tinto is bowing to pressure from traditional owners and offering to rewrite powerful mining agreements that underpin its core iron ore operations in Western Australia.

Page 16: AGL Energy chief executive Brett Redman shouldn’t be paid high bonuses for reducing emissions at the country’s biggest carbon emitter because that is just part of his ‘‘day job’’, a key proxy adviser told fund managers.

Page 18: Australians spent about $63 billion a year on international travel and domestic travel before the COVID-19 pandemic and stockbroking house UBS says a large chunk of that is now being diverted elsewhere, which should help underpin a solid 2021 for most retailers.

The Australian

Page 2: Clive Palmer may be able to spend an extra $1m at the Queensland election to promote his political party and attack Labor, using his flagship private company to sidestep the state’s tough new expenditure caps.

Plans are being prepared for Scott Morrison to become the first leader in the world to meet Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s new Prime Minister.

Page 4: Australians are shopping their way out of the sharpest economic downturn since the 1930s.

Page 5: Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca — which is manufacturing Oxford University’s Covishield candidate — has revealed it is aiming to produce a vaccine with 50 per cent effectiveness.

Page 6: The commonwealth will push for new emergency powers legislation, a single national agency to oversee recovery following natural disasters and better data sharing in the event of an emergency, in response to the disastrous Black Summer bushfires.

Page 13: Australia’s biggest aluminium smelter has reopened negotiations with AGL Energy to strike a cheaper electricity contract amid concern an existing deal set to run until 2028 and a tough market backdrop for the metal may cripple the future of the giant manufacturing site.

Foreign investors are set to swoop as listed real estate trusts put billions of dollars worth of office towers on the block in a bid to cut debt.

Page 14: The sales process for the Optus telecommunication towers has been delayed as COVID-19 makes getting deals down within a speedy time frame challenging.

Page 16: More than 700,000 businesses will be eligible for free upgrades to the government’s high-speed fibre broadband to be rolled out in 240 designated zones across Australia, including 85 regional areas.

The buy now, pay later sector’s disruption of credit cards is only just getting started, says Zip Co chief Larry Diamond, who has Australia’s 16 million credit card account holders firmly in his sights.

The West Australian

Page 1: A leading expert in geriatric medicine has resigned as an adviser to the WA Health Department, saying the group he chairs has been “largely ignored and sidelined” in the middle of a pandemic that has killed 633 aged-care residents across Australia.

Page 6: A two-time Afghanistan veteran stuck in Abu Dhabi with his family has penned an open letter to Australia hitting out at politicians for abandoning the spirit of mateship and forcing their stranded countrymen and women into a “financial Hunger Games” in order to try to get home.

Page 7: Boomerang kids are bouncing back to live with their baby boomer parents as COVID job losses bite.

Page 14: The Federal Government is promising to support 130,000 new jobs in the next 10 years under its new climate change policy, with Energy Minister Angus Taylor declaring “Australia can’t and shouldn’t damage its economy to reduce emissions”.

Business: Rio Tinto will review all its agreements with traditional owners in the Pilbara after an Indigenous group expressed fears that more than 100 heritage sites on its land could be destroyed by the mining giant.

St John of God Health Care has filed plans for a potential $200 million redevelopment of its flagship Subiaco hospital, putting the ambitious project back on track after delays triggered by COVID-19.

The CBD residential property market is tipped to reap the earliest benefits from a $695 million deal that will bring a university campus to the city, while commercial property benefits will be a slower burn.

A new barcode technology is being trialled in WA to authenticate Indigenous merchandise.

The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted Australians’ appreciation of food security and safety, with trust in the $1.8 billion egg sector significantly up compared to this time last year.

Rick Hart is set to cut the ribbon on an up-market new operation in the Osborne Park unit that was home to his eponymous discount warehouse chain.

DDH1 senior management and former rivals are among those poised to cash in on new float plans said to value the drilling firm at more than $400 million.