Iron ore exports at risk amid Port Hedland strike threat
Forty-five tugboat workers could leave more than $100 million of iron ore exports stranded after threatening strike action within the next 30 days. The Fin
Baby boomer bonus
Employers will be given $10,000 bonuses if they hire — and keep — mature-age workers under a Budget initiative aimed at increasing workforce participation for over-50s. The West
PM defends tax take as petrol hike locked in
Families will be hit with a $2.4 billion rise in petrol excise in the first of Tony Abbott’s budget measures to gain the numbers to pass the Senate as the Prime Minister launches a new defence against claims he misled voters on tax. The Aus
Hockey: we will tax less
Tuesday’s federal budget will claim that the overall tax burden under the Coalition will be lower as the Abbott government braces for a backlash from voters and its own MPs over tax increases. The Fin
Telco races ahead with NW hook-up
Telecommunications provider Nextgen has gained an edge in the race to lay a subsea fibre-optic cable from Singapore to Perth through a $100 million plus deal to hook up two North West LNG projects. The West
Coal miner lightens load for export plan
The Indian owner of the lossmaking Griffin Coal operation wants to begin dredging Bunbury’s port next year as part of revised efforts to return to profit by exporting coal from Collie. The West
CCA moves to halt earnings drop
Coca-Cola Amatil’s new group managing director, Alison Watkins, is strengthening ties with major shareholder and franchisor The Coca-Cola Co as part of a strategy to reverse a two year slide in earnings. The Fin
Rinehart child given warning
The daughter of Gina Rinehart, Hope Welker, was warned by her lawyer that her mother and younger sister would be “most annoyed” if she bowed out of a bitter court battle engulfing the family rather than supporting their choice of replacement trustee to head up a $5 billion family trust which Mrs Rinehart’s four children are equally entitled to. The Fin
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Tuesday’s federal budget will claim that the overall tax burden under the Coalition will be lower as the Abbott government braces for a backlash from voters and its own MPs over tax increases.
Page 4: The head of the stockbroking firm founded by the late Rene Rivkin, Australia’s most notorious insider trader, says the current $7 million trading scandal is the tip of the iceberg.
Page 5: Former Rudd government minister Mark Arbib has laid the blame for the botchedimplementationofthe$2.8billion home insulation scheme at the feet of his Labor colleague, former environment minister Peter Garrett.
Page 8: Tuesday’s budget will include the abolition or merger of 50 public service agencies, the loss of 1500 jobs beyond the 14,500 already sheeted home to Labor and scoping studies for several privatisations.
Page 9: Forty-five tugboat workers could leave more than $100 million of iron ore exports stranded after threatening strike action within the next 30 days.
Page 10: A Cbus spokesman said Mr Gaske’s alleged breach had led to “strengthening controls over the use of information ... counselling and training of all member and employer-facing staff”.
Page 13: China’s largest private conglomerate, Fosun Group, could use a $4 billion purchase of Healthscope as a platform to extend the private hospital operator’s model to the rapidly growing Chinese market.
Page 15: Coca-Cola Amatil’s new group managing director, Alison Watkins, is strengthening ties with major shareholder and franchisor The Coca-Cola Co as part of a strategy to reverse a two year slide in earnings.
Page 16: The daughter of Gina Rinehart, Hope Welker, was warned by her lawyer that her mother and younger sister would be “most annoyed” if she bowed out of a bitter court battle engulfing the family rather than supporting their choice of replacement trustee to head up a $5 billion family trust which Mrs Rinehart’s four children are equally entitled to.
Page 18: Aurizon announced on Monday morning it had asked the Fair Work Commission to terminate 14 enterprise agreements covering its Queensland workforce.
Page 19: Lawyers for Japanese brewer Asahi and private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners will meet in Melbourne on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to settle one of Australia’s biggest commercial compensation cases.
The Australian
Page 1: Julia Gillard was home when a union official corruptly paid $7000 for renovations on her property, according to explosive allegations to a royal commission that put the former Labor prime minister at the centre of a secret union slush funds scandal.
Families will be hit with a $2.4 billion rise in petrol excise in the first of Tony Abbott’s budget measures to gain the numbers to pass the Senate as the Prime Minister launches a new defence against claims he misled voters on tax.
Page 3: The Racial Discrimination Act is “dangerous” and must be changed, Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson will say tonight.
Qantas-Emirates travellers leaving the country on many popular weekend departures will pay a $25 international surcharge for the privilege from the end of this week.
Page 4: More than $250 million has been stripped from tax returns of health fund members who kept using the insurance rebate to reduce their premiums despite the former Labor government imposing a means test.
Page 5: Holden’s decision to quit manufacturing sent the company spiralling into the red last year, with a $554 million loss its worst on record.
Family Tax Benefit B is set to stay but will be further means tested to a new threshold of $100,000 a year, down from the current $150,000 set by Labor.
Page 19: BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group are facing the alarming prospect of a week-long strike by Pilbara tugboat workers that would shut down Port Hedland and halt iron ore exports worth more than $100 million a day.
Page 20: Kimberley Diamonds’ shares almost halved yesterday when it revealed it had failed to negotiate a price increase with Tiffany & Co, forcing it to lower its guidance and review new mine plans.
Shares in takeover target Aquila Resources continue to hover comfortably above China’s bid price as the market continues to bet on a sweetened offer.
Page 21: Well-publicised cost-cutting campaigns by the world’s big miners are set to continue to weigh on suppliers, with explosives and fertiliser maker Incitec Pivot declaring its east coast and west coast mining markets are facing challenges.
Page 31: NBN Co has begun attacking the small to medium business market for bandwidth-sapping applications such as multiple-line, high-resolution video conferencing.
The West Australian
Page 1: Employers will be given $10,000 bonuses if they hire — and keep — mature-age workers under a Budget initiative aimed at increasing workforce participation for over-50s.
Page 4: Six-thousand Perth residents a week will be slapped with a $7.50 co-payment for using public hospital emergency departments as part of the Abbott Government’s push to lift outof-pocket costs for patients.
The collapse of the traditional letter could cost Australia Post $1 billion a year and drag down the Federal Budget.
Page 5: A $15 million, 37-bed paediatric ward will be built at Joondalup Health Campus to take pressure off the yet-to-be-completed Perth Children’s Hospital.
Page 14: WA doctors say they are still dealing with the fallout from a controversial ABC program on anti-cholesterol drugs that was yesterday removed from the national broadcaster’s website for breaching impartiality.
Business: The Indian owner of the lossmaking Griffin Coal operation wants to begin dredging Bunbury’s port next year as part of revised efforts to return to profit by exporting coal from Collie.
Heavyweight industry rivals have backed CBH plans to change the face of bulk grain shipments from WA.
Hochtief’s Spanish bosses are set to impose sweeping reforms at Leighton Holdings after taking its stake in the contracting giant to almost 70 per cent.
Telecommunications provider Nextgen has gained an edge in the race to lay a subsea fibre-optic cable from Singapore to Perth through a $100 million plus deal to hook up two North West LNG projects.