Morning Headlines

Rinehart’s mine declares $475m dividend

Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill mine has paid down a $10 billion debt and has declared a maiden dividend of $475 million just five years after making its first iron ore shipment out of Port Hedland in Western Australia. The Fin

West Aussies on edge over border after 24 hours of mixed messages

A chaotic 24 hours of mixed messages from the very top of the McGowan Government has left West Australians confused and desperate for answers about its strict hard border policy. The West

Workers stuck in WA for six months

The managing director of construction giant Acciona Australia says interstate border closures have made it very difficult to manage the business and some of its east-coast staff have been stuck in Western Australia for six months. The Fin

Coal fears grow as China rivals keep shipping

North America’s biggest coal exporter says deliveries to China have not been disrupted, adding fuel to suspicions that Australian miners are being singled out for targeted discrimination by Chinese authorities. The Fin

RBA flags rate cut to help jobs

A faltering jobs recovery weighed down by restrictions in Victoria has triggered the Reserve Bank of Australia to signal further monetary easing next month and sparked fresh calls from business and the Morrison government for the Andrews government to ditch the lockdown by Sunday. The Fin

Unemployment hits 6.9pc as 30,000 jobs go

Unemployment is set to rise again next month as prolonged restrictions hamper the recovery and the tapering off of key fiscal supports such as JobKeeper start to show up in official figures. The Fin

Rio seeks cave specialist

Rio Tinto is looking to hire a senior engineer for “cave assessment” after the Juukan Gorge disaster, which claimed the scalps of three senior executives, including chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques. The West

Fagg to exit, Seven loses board seat as Boral caves in to critics

Boral has capitulated to shareholder pressure with chair Kathryn Fagg to quit in 2021 and the Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven Group withdrawing one of its board seat nominations, capping a turbulent period for the construction materials supplier following a string of profit downgrades and corporate governance concerns. The Aus

How the AFL denied footy fans by overlooking WA's bid for GF

The abandoned AFL women's decider would have kicked off a festival of football culminating in a Perth grand final next weekend - had the marquee fixture been awarded to Optus Stadium. The West

Workers now ripe for picking

Hundreds of workers from Vanuatu and Timor-Leste will be brought into WA to help bring in this year’s harvests, the State Government has revealed. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: A faltering jobs recovery weighed down by restrictions in Victoria has triggered the Reserve Bank of Australia to signal further monetary easing next month and sparked fresh calls from business and the Morrison government for the Andrews government to ditch the lockdown by Sunday.

Page 2: Defence has underspent almost $6.7 billion on new weapons, vehicles, equipment and bases for servicemen and women since 2016, despite the Coalition government’s boasts about growing the local industry and providing budget certainty for the military.

Page 4: Unemployment is set to rise again next month as prolonged restrictions hamper the recovery and the tapering off of key fiscal supports such as JobKeeper start to show up in official figures.

Page 5: In a sign of financial desperation, Australia’s universities have put a for-sale sign on a $2.2 billion sharemarket investment in the hope of replenishing their depleted income.

Page 8: A roster of high-profile businessmen and women have presided over a severe breakdown in corporate governance at Crown Resorts that has likely strengthened an existing class action against the casino operator and may leave directors open to further legal proceedings.

Page 12: The managing director of construction giant Acciona Australia says interstate border closures have made it very difficult to manage the business and some of its east-coast staff have been stuck in Western Australia for six months.

Page 13: The coronavirus pandemic will not lead to the death of the big city, despite the current ghost town-like appearance of some CBDs and more people leaving the rat race for a better lifestyle and ‘‘a big backyard’’, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says.

Page 18: North America’s biggest coal exporter says deliveries to China have not been disrupted, adding fuel to suspicions that Australian miners are being singled out for targeted discrimination by Chinese authorities.

Page 21: A successful result for blood products group CSL’s phase three trial for a new gene therapy treatment for haemophilia B would be a catalyst for investors to rerate the stock, Wilsons’ Shane Storey says.

Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill mine has paid down a $10 billion debt and has declared a maiden dividend of $475 million just five years after making its first iron ore shipment out of Port Hedland in Western Australia.

The Australian

Page 1: Tens of thousands of healthcare workers have been put at risk by the failure of the nation’s top infection control advisers to toughen recommendations on the use of protective equipment and acknowledge the airborne spread of coronavirus, a senior doctors’ representative says.

Page 2: French defence giant Naval will demonstrate its commitment to using Australian manufacturers to build its submarines with the announcement on Friday of a $900m package for local builders to kick-start construction of the 12 Attack-class submarines.

Page 3: Virgin Australia’s days as a full-service airline are set to end with the departure of chief executive Paul Scurrah, exposing Australians to a new style of carrier pioneered in the US.

Page 5: New Qantas charter flights to repatriate stranded Australians stuck in Britain and India are expected to start within a week, with the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs facility to be used for overseas hotel quarantine.

Page 13: Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has laid the foundation for Melbourne Cup day rate cuts and possibly the start of full-blown quantitative easing, declaring monetary policy still has a role to play in helping drive the nation’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession.

Boral has capitulated to shareholder pressure with chair Kathryn Fagg to quit in 2021 and the Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven Group withdrawing one of its board seat nominations, capping a turbulent period for the construction materials supplier following a string of profit downgrades and corporate governance concerns.

Page 15: Alcoa’s Australian operations have been hit with a claim for $128m in tax penalties, taking its total tax bill above $1bn, as its US boss revealed the owner of the Portland aluminium smelter was locked in talks with the Morrison government over a deal to “repower” the facility.

Page 18: Foreign investment experts have warned that delays in foreign investment approvals are holding up billions dollars-worth of potential deals in the agribusiness sector, with calls to speed up the process with a “gold pass” for proven foreign investors.

The West Australian

Page 1: The abandoned AFL women's decider would have kicked off a festival of football culminating in a Perth grand final next weekend - had the marquee fixture been awarded to Optus Stadium.

A chaotic 24 hours of mixed messages from the very top of the McGowan Government has left West Australians confused and desperate for answers about its strict hard border policy.

Page 4: Hundreds of workers from Vanuatu and Timor-Leste will be brought into WA to help bring in this year’s harvests, the State Government has revealed.

Page 7: Perth property is selling in less than a fortnight in popular pockets of Perth — and homes in some suburbs are selling five times faster than they were last year.

Page 21: Three inspections over the past year by the workplace safety watchdog failed to turn up any warning signs of the building collapse that killed a young tradie and left two others in hospital.

Business: The McGowan Government is facing questions over its $600 electricity bill bonus from private energy operators, who are concerned their customers may miss out on the scheme.

The Australian Government is seeking further clarification from China on why it banned barley imports from CBH.

The role of contractors is changing in the resources sector as companies increasingly rely on external workers to uphold compliance targets, according to Coates Hire chief executive Murray Vitlich.

Rio Tinto is looking to hire a senior engineer for “cave assessment” after the Juukan Gorge disaster, which claimed the scalps of three senior executives, including chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques.