Morning Headlines

Forrest bid to end diesel subsidy

Andrew Forrest, the chairman of one of the nation’s largest mining companies, has privately lobbied the federal government to phase out the multibillion-dollar diesel fuel subsidy and use the money to support development of a green energy industry. The Aus

Shell arm in carbon farm push

WA’s biggest landholder, Zenith Australia, has registered the country’s biggest carbon farming project — 1.2 million hectares across its Goldfields pastoral properties. The West

Crypto ‘no fad’, Hume tells RBA

Financial Services Minister Jane Hume has hit back at the Reserve Bank of Australia, saying cryptocurrencies are not a fad and Australia risks losing out on major economic opportunities if governments and regulators are too fearful of embracing new technology. The Fin

Finally, we open to world

Scott Morrison will allow more than 200,000 visa holders into the country, including students, economic migrants and refugees, as the federal government transitions to the final phase of the national reopening plan. The Aus

Parcel chaos as FedEx locks out drivers

FedEx has dramatically escalated a pay dispute with the transport union, responding to rolling four-hour stoppages by locking out striking delivery workers for up to two days just weeks away from the peak e-commerce Christmas period. The Fin

The ransomware threat no director will want to hear

Australian executives are increasingly concerned about cybercriminals threatening to release sensitive customers and employee data rather than simply locking up networks, according to new McGrathNicol research. The Fin

Frequent flyers burn 7b points in a month

Qantas Frequent Flyers have finally stopped stockpiling points and are now burning them in record numbers as travel ramp ups with state border rules ending and overseas flying resuming. The Fin

Coalition in $5bn tax pitch for firms

Josh Frydenberg will attempt to reignite an election battle with Labor over tax policy, with new Treasury analysis showing the Coalition’s tax plan will deliver $5bn in cuts to small business over the next two years. The Aus

Sharing vaccine rights a recipe for disaster: Pharma giants

Australia’s leading pharmaceutical lobby group has pushed back against plans to share recipes of Covid-19 vaccines, arguing that it would undermine the scaling-up of vaccines by creating a “greater demand for already scarce ingredients in the supply chain”. The Aus

McGowan holds the jab line

Just a day after more than 10,000 protesters vented their fury at the Premier and COVID vaccine mandates, Mr McGowan said it would make no difference to the Government’s policy. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Financial Services Minister Jane Hume has hit back at the Reserve Bank of Australia, saying cryptocurrencies are not a fad and Australia risks losing out on major economic opportunities if governments and regulators are too fearful of embracing new technology.

Virgin Australia chief corporate affairs officer Moksha Watts has quit amid an ‘‘ongoing internal review about her workplace behaviour’’ after The Australian Financial Review approached Virgin for comment over allegations of a hostile work environment that led to payouts for affected former staff.

Page 3: FedEx has dramatically escalated a pay dispute with the transport union, responding to rolling four-hour stoppages by locking out striking delivery workers for up to two days just weeks away from the peak e-commerce Christmas period.

Page 10: Australian executives are increasingly concerned about cybercriminals threatening to release sensitive customers and employee data rather than simply locking up networks, according to new McGrathNicol research.

Page 13: Chinese students have a largely positive attitude towards Australian education while demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of the state-federal divide and remain mostly impervious to political messaging and trade tensions between the two countries, a massive study of sentiments expressed on social media and other online forums has found.

Page 14: Prices for natural gas on the east coast have almost doubled over the past month, causing fresh worries for manufacturers all too aware of the crisis that surging prices has caused in Britain and Europe, where businesses have gone broke and plants closed down.

Page 17: Qantas Frequent Flyers have finally stopped stockpiling points and are now burning them in record numbers as travel ramp ups with state border rules ending and overseas flying resuming.

Page 19: A car-parts shortage and skyrocketing rise in home-building materials prices are helping to lift premium increases above 10 per cent for some insurance policies.

The Australian

Page 1: Scott Morrison will allow more than 200,000 visa holders into the country, including students, economic migrants and refugees, as the federal government transitions to the final phase of the national reopening plan.

Josh Frydenberg will attempt to reignite an election battle with Labor over tax policy, with new Treasury analysis showing the Coalition’s tax plan will deliver $5bn in cuts to small business over the next two years.

Page 2: Australia will sign a treaty with the US and Britain on Monday formalising access to the allies’ nuclear submarine secrets under the AUKUS strategic partnership.

Page 5: Australia’s leading pharmaceutical lobby group has pushed back against plans to share recipes of Covid-19 vaccines, arguing that it would undermine the scaling-up of vaccines by creating a “greater demand for already scarce ingredients in the supply chain”.

Page 7: Employers who use technology to monitor their staff as they work from home may not be breaching privacy laws, despite engaging webcams and keystroke counters inside the bedrooms and private residences of employees, a leading tech lawyer says.

Page 13: Andrew Forrest, the chairman of one of the nation’s largest mining companies, has privately lobbied the federal government to phase out the multibillion-dollar diesel fuel subsidy and use the money to support development of a green energy industry.

Page 15: Energy giant Shell and its consortium partner Infrastructure Capital Group have won the $1bn battle for Meridian Energy’s Australian business, with the deal set to further boost Shell’s growing clout in the local retail electricity market and challenge the big three power players.

Cryptocurrency as an investment has become too big to ignore, with it only a matter of time before the digital assets are held by the nation’s superannuation funds.

The West Australian

Page 4: Just a day after more than 10,000 protesters vented their fury at the Premier and COVID vaccine mandates, Mr McGowan said it would make no difference to the Government’s policy.

Page 7: More than 360 unvaccinated WA Police officers and staff will have their pay stopped and face losing their jobs if they refuse to get the COVID jab by the end of the month.

Page 17: They warn that around two-thirds of a teenager’s calorie intake now comes from “ultra-processed” junk foods, leading to concerns that youngsters could be increasingly suffering from chronic deficiencies in vital nutrients.

Business: WA’s biggest landholder, Zenith Australia, has registered the country’s biggest carbon farming project — 1.2 million hectares across its Goldfields pastoral properties.

Spurned creditors of failed civil and mining contractor Brierty are set for some late redress as liquidators work on settling upwards of $5 million in Federally-funded legal actions.

After penetrating WA’s hard border to set up an office in Perth’s CBD, Melbourne-headquartered tech consultancy Mantel Group is already eyeing a destination work hub for its staff in the South West.