Rudd puts Labor on level pegging
The outcome of the federal election is too close to call with Labor storming back into contention under the leadership of Kevin Rudd to draw even with the Coalition. The Fin
Carbon tax melts, and with it $4 billion of spending
Compensation for industry will be pared back and programs funded by the carbon tax could be cut to help the government find the $4 billion it will cost to shift the fixed carbon price to a floating price a year earlier than scheduled. The Fin
Asia demands better deal on gas
GAS export contracts underpinning Australia's $US200 billion ($222bn) worth of new and under-construction LNG plants are coming under pressure as US-led competition leads Asian customers to demand cheaper LNG from two of the nation's big projects. The Aus
Barrick mines on the block
Speculation was mounting yesterday that Barrick Gold was edging closer to a sale of its key WA assets, with the Anton Billis-run Tribune Resources tipped as a suitor for the East Kundana gold mine. The West
Power supply shake-up
Hundreds of thousands of WA households could be hit with higher electricity prices under a proposed shake-up of bills aimed at recovering the massive cost to the system caused by the popularity of rooftop solar panels. The West
Rudd seeks PNG boats deal
Kevin Rudd will seek to persuade Papua New Guinea to take the so-called "economic migrants" Labor claims are now flooding Australia's shores in what could be a significant breakthrough in the asylum impasse. The Aus
Foreign criminals dodge deportation by citing rights
COURTS and tribunals are citing international human rights treaties to shield foreign criminals from deportation, allowing them to remain indefinitely in Australia even after serving lengthy jail terms. The Aus
Westpac takes stand against super levy
WESTPAC'S wealth arm BT Financial has gone against the grain and says it has no plans to impose a new levy to cover the implementation costs of Labor's superannuation reforms, which consumer groups have slammed as another "super-fee slug". The Aus
Cameco backs foreign ownership of Canadian uranium mines
Canadian-based uranium giant Cameco Corporation has broken ranks with its own government, arguing Australian companies should be able to wholly own uranium mines in the North American country. The Fin
Group of Eight debates university entry level lift
University places for school leavers would be restricted to those who get an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 60 or more under a proposal the Group of Eight has taken to the federal government. The Fin
The West Australian
Page 1: Hundreds of thousands of WA households could be hit with higher electricity prices under a proposed shake-up of bills aimed at recovering the massive cost to the system caused by the popularity of rooftop solar panels.
Page 4: Service stations have emerged as a hotbed of industrial breaches after an audit revealed four in 10 breached workplace laws, including underpaying workers.
WA designer Aurelio Costarella has lashed society’s obsession with cheap, disposable clothes, saying designers are “destroying themselves” trying to keep up with the industry’s furious pace.
Page 6: A falling Australian dollar and cuts to industry handouts are expected to fund Kevin Rudd’s plan to neutralise the carbon tax as an electoral headache.
Malcolm Turnbull has called on voters not happy with Tony Abbott to vote Liberal anyway.
Page 7: The Swan River is like a cemetery, according to world-renowned WA water expert Jorg Imberger.
Page 8: Border Protection Command has rejected criticism that it delayed its response in helping an asylum-seeker boat in distress.
Page 9: WA Police Union president George Tilbury says officers waste their time in an inefficient judicial system when they could be on the front line.
MSS Security had the right to stage its own industrial action by locking out 14 bag-check staff from the job at Perth Airport, according to the Fair Work Commission.
Page 13: The nation’s university students are entering a worsening jobs market while carrying debts of more than $36,000 on average.
Business: Speculation was mounting yesterday that Barrick Gold was edging closer to a sale of its key WA assets, with the Anton Billis-run Tribune Resources tipped as a suitor for the East Kundana gold mine.
One of the state’s leading mergers and acquisitions lawyers believes the success of the Takeovers Panel could warrant widening its scope to resolve other questions of corporate law, including continuous disclosure and directors’ duties.
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: The outcome of the federal election is too close to call with Labor storming back into contention under the leadership of Kevin Rudd to draw even with the Coalition.
Compensation for industry will be pared back and programs funded by the carbon tax could be cut to help the government find the $4 billion it will cost to shift the fixed carbon price to a floating price a year earlier than scheduled.
Canadian-based uranium giant Cameco Corporation has broken ranks with its own government, arguing Australian companies should be able to wholly own uranium mines in the North American country.
University places for school leavers would be restricted to those who get an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 60 or more under a proposal the Group of Eight has taken to the federal government.
Page 3: A new national licence regime for real estate agents will lower educational standards and dump professional development, the Real Estate Institute of Australia said.
Page 4: Kevin Rudd is outstripping Tony Abbott in almost every key attribute of leadership, including command of economic policy and trust, the latest Australian Financial Review/Nielsen poll finds.
Page 6: Australian companies are lagging behind their overseas competitors in implementing energy saving measures, potentially costing the economy billions of dollars in lost productivity.
Page 7: Opposition workplace spokesman Eric Abetz has taken very different positions on the suitability of a key government workplace relations appointment.
Page 8: Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has called for global change to tax rules, saying companies such as Google should be paying half a billion in tax annually.
NBN Co chairman Siobhan McKenna has been meeting with senior bureaucrats outside the Department of Broadband in an effort to save board members’ jobs if there is a change in government.
Page 9: The resurrection of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister has done little to convince voters the government has a solution to the influx of asylum-seeker boats.
Page 10: The federal government’s plan to strip debt deductions related to foreign earnings will leave companies with significant levels of non-deductible interest and unable to restructure loans to recover the costs, big businesses said.
Page 13: The board of one of Australia’s most venerable firms – Australian Foundation Investment Company – is considering renewal, a move that could lead to the retirement of chairman Bruce Teele after almost half a century.
Page 14: Job cuts, huge write-downs and asset sales are overhanging the local coal industry and the pain is being shared by the gold sector, with big global players including Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining considering their local futures.
Nine Entertainment Co is expected to complete the acquisition of WIN Corp’s Perth operations by the end of October after the media regulator agreed it would not see Nine breach the 75 per cent audience reach rule.
Page 15: Commodity trading and mining giant Glencore Xstrata has pulled out of Senator Bill Heffernan’s inquiry into Australian grain handlers, leaving GrainCorp boss Alison Watkins, wheat farmer Ron Greentree and the competition regulator to face examination on Tuesday.
United States home improvement giant Lowe’s has signalled its commitment to its $2 billion Masters joint venture with Woolworths by electing to extend an option to sell out of the partnership.
Page 17: More than half of the mining companies in the ASX 300 Resources Index may be forced to announce asset impairments, as lower commodity prices and cooling demand from China act as a millstone around company share prices.
Page 18: A senior Westpac executive has called for the powerful G20 forum to more closely co-ordinate an overhaul of the global financial system to minimise unintended consequences.
Listed wealth management giant AMP is scouting for a business processing technology provider in India as it nears the end of its existing contract with AXA Business Services.
Page 19: Australia’s banks have the highest exposure to residential mortgages of any financial institutions in the world, leaving them vulnerable to a “looming” house price correction, a leading credit market economist has warned.
The big banks and smaller home loan lenders are at loggerheads over who has the lowest mortgage rates amid calls for a government inquiry into competition in the financial sector.
Page 29: The price of iron ore rose to the highest level since mid-May as the steel-making ingredient staged a modest recovery and bucked a trend of overall weakness for metals.
Insurance broker Steadfast is gearing up for one of the biggest initial public offerings of the year, but there are concerns about the pricing of the shares and the company’s ability to integrate stakes in more than 60 broking firms into one organisation.
Page 41: The chief executive of Australia’s largest agricultural landholder, S Kidman & Co, has warned new investors to proceed with a “higher level of scrutiny” when entering Australia’s rural sector.
The Australian
Page 1: KEVIN Rudd will seek to persuade Papua New Guinea to take the so-called "economic migrants" Labor claims are now flooding Australia's shores in what could be a significant breakthrough in the asylum impasse.
KEVIN Rudd will this week unveil budget savings worth "several billions" of dollars to fund an earlier shift to an emissions trading scheme as part of his effort to neutralise Tony Abbott's attack on the carbon tax.
THE Greens have made a move to win the Labor Left vote and keep class warfare talk alive with a $43 billion bid to soak higher income earners and business to pay for increased spending on welfare, education and the environment.
Page 2: COURTS and tribunals are citing international human rights treaties to shield foreign criminals from deportation, allowing them to remain indefinitely in Australia even after serving lengthy jail terms.
BORDER Protection Command has strongly rejected claims there was a delay in its response to a boat that sank north of Christmas Island.
Page 3: WESTPAC'S wealth arm BT Financial has gone against the grain and says it has no plans to impose a new levy to cover the implementation costs of Labor's superannuation reforms, which consumer groups have slammed as another "super-fee slug".
PUBLIC schools in states that refuse to adopt the federal government's new funding model will lose about $187 million in the next year. In contrast, non-government schools in the same states will receive an extra $73m under the new arrangements already in place for all private schools.
Page 4: LABOR is heading to defeat in its last mainland state, with the party in South Australia continuing its fall in the polls just eight months before the state election.
BILLIONAIRE miner and political aspirant Clive Palmer has strongly denied he offered political rival Bob Katter $20 million for the two parties to merge and run as a united entity in the coming federal election.
ABORIGINAL elder Dennis Foley has blasted the federal government’s Indigenous Economic Development Strategy, claiming that employing indigenous people in the public sector is not indigenous economic development.
Page 5: TWO-THIRDS of all university students live on less than $20,000 a year, with one in five surviving on less than $10,000, placing them below the poverty line and facing rising levels of debt.
Page 6: KEVIN Rudd, on his return from Papua New Guinea, will sweep t through central and north Queensland late tonight, as the party gears up to try to reclaim seats it won when he was Labor leader in 2007 but lost when Julia Gillard replaced him in 2010.
TONY Abbott has rejected Labor jibes the opposition’s new television campaign offers nothing but more negativity.
Page 17: GAS export contracts underpinning Australia's $US200 billion ($222bn) worth of new and under-construction LNG plants are coming under pressure as US-led competition leads Asian customers to demand cheaper LNG from two of the nation's big projects.
THE head of agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland has defended its bid to take over GrainCorp in the face of an intensified lobbying campaign by the opposition and rural groups, claiming the $3 billion deal would consolidate Australia's role in a global food boom.
NINE Entertainment Co's debt -- already predicted to top $1 billion -- is set to blow out further, with claims its purchase of stations in Perth and Adelaide will require new investment of tens of millions of dollars.
SHARES in ResMed have fallen sharply from recent highs amid renewed fears over the latest healthcare changes in the US.
Page 18: AS cutbacks across the mining sector intensify, companies with operations from Brazil to Australia are taking aim at the compensation of their top brass.
A GERMAN company and a state- run French utility have agreed to take over two money-losing aluminium facilities in France from mining giant Rio Tinto.
Page 19: NUFARM chairman Donald McGauchie says the agricultural chemicals supplier has reached a turning point in its troubled history after being hit by the loss of key distribution agreements, a worldwide collapse in the prices of glyphosate, a herbicide, and poor weather since he took over the chairmanship three years ago.
AUSTRALIA'S $95 billion tourism industry believes it can keep the nation's economy firing as manufacturing and mining decline, and is lobbying more than 300 members of parliament and candidates to win their support ahead of the federal election.
THE Australian dollar, teetering around three- year lows, may come under further pressure this week as the market digests the pace of China’s cooling economy and signs of when the US Federal Reserve will wind back its massive stimulus program.
THE nation’s biggest resource companies release quarterly reports this week in the first chance for investors to gauge progress in the big miners’ self-proclaimed new era of spending restraint and productivity.