Morning Headlines

Australia’s biggest lithium mine generates bumper takings for IGO

Soaring lithium prices are generating windfall profits for IGO and the owners of Australia’s richest producer of the battery mineral at the Greenbushes mine in WA’s South West. The West

Distressed taxpayers owe $45b to ATO

Uncollected, undisputed tax debt rose from $26.5 billion in mid-2019 to $44.8 billion on June 30 this year, after widespread economic disruption from the pandemic and leniency for struggling taxpayers from the ATO. The Fin

Sales lift puts RBA in a bind

Stronger than expected retail spending figures are likely to give the Reserve Bank of Australia board additional reason to consider a double-sized interest rate hike when it meets on Tuesday. The West

Do not pay the ransom, AFP warns Medibank

The Australian Federal Police has warned Medibank and Australian citizens against paying ransoms to cyber criminals, after it emerged that the private health insurer had taken legal advice on whether to buy off the thieves threatening to leak the medical details of millions of Australians. The Fin

Small firms ‘at risk’ in union bill

The prospect of industry-wide strikes and small businesses being dragged into multi-employer bargaining against their will are chief among the concerns of the independents who are demanding the government delay the passage of its industrial relations legislation and subject it to greater scrutiny. The Fin

Betr asks rivals to soften 100-1 hit

News Corp-backed bookmaker Betr has been forced to lay bets with rival Tabcorp on the Melbourne Cup favourite to hedge against massive potential losses that might arise from the startup’s aggressive promotion offering 100-to-1 odds on all runners. The Fin

Iron ore miners hit by bad China news

Australian iron ore miners face the prospect of further falls in the price of the steelmaking commodity after grim manufacturing figures in China added to concerns about the country’s struggling property market and Covid-19 containment policies. The Aus

NBN Co boss tops list of 24 taking more than $1m from public purse

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue took home more than $2.93 million in pay last financial year, as the government-owned corporation restructured executive salaries following bruising criticism from federal parliament. The Fin

Woolies SA regrets its $2.1b DJs purchase

David Jones’ South African owners have all but given up on their costly foray into Australia’s retail sector, with its chief executive admitting the 2014 purchase did not make sense. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: The prospect of industry-wide strikes and small businesses being dragged into multi-employer bargaining against their will are chief among the concerns of the independents who are demanding the government delay the passage of its industrial relations legislation and subject it to greater scrutiny.

News Corp-backed bookmaker Betr has been forced to lay bets with rival Tabcorp on the Melbourne Cup favourite to hedge against massive potential losses that might arise from the startup’s aggressive promotion offering 100-to-1 odds on all runners.

Page 3: Uncollected, undisputed tax debt rose from $26.5 billion in mid-2019 to $44.8 billion on June 30 this year, after widespread economic disruption from the pandemic and leniency for struggling taxpayers from the ATO.

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue took home more than $2.93 million in pay last financial year, as the government-owned corporation restructured executive salaries following bruising criticism from federal parliament.

Page 6: State governments will deliver more than $1.4 billion in electricity rebates to households this financial year to try to take the sting out of soaring power bills.

Page 7: Thousands of retail workers at Apple have rejected the tech giant’s preferred pay and conditions, and the unions say the victory means they have the ‘‘whip hand’’ in their fight for weekends off and higher pay rises.

Page 8: The Australian Federal Police has warned Medibank and Australian citizens against paying ransoms to cyber criminals, after it emerged that the private health insurer had taken legal advice on whether to buy off the thieves threatening to leak the medical details of millions of Australians.

Page 10: Workers have been staging a mass exodus from Apple’s biggest iPhone factory in China, seeking to escape hastily enacted COVID-19 measures that left many of the thousands of staff grappling with inadequate living conditions.

Page 12: Proxy adviser CGI Glass Lewis has put its weight behind three of the four directors proposed by Mike Cannon-Brookes for AGL Energy, in what could be a deciding factor in whether the activist shareholder succeeds in overhauling the board of the electricity supplier.

Coronado Global Resources chief executive Gerry Spindler has abandoned his strategy of focusing solely on coking coal for steel making, saying thermal coal might be more valuable for an extended period and investors have not rewarded his company for avoiding the most controversial fossil fuel.

Page 13: Traditional owners have demanded a bigger and more meaningful role in mining as Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group races to get its multibillion-dollar Iron Bridge magnetite project up and running.

Page 14: Brickworks’ appetite for robotic bricklayer FBR Ltd shows no sign of slowing, with the group understood to be behind another large parcel of shares last night.

Page 16: An aspiring Australian rare earths miner will sell the majority of its product to China under an early-stage agreement struck barely seven months after it joined other critical minerals producers on a trade mission to Washington DC.

Page 19: Optus may yet ride out the storm caused by its huge data breach, without a huge hit to its market share, with new data showing customer interest in the company’s mobile and broadband plans has so far survived the scandal.

Meta has removed pages with links to Tabcorp-backed online bookmaker Dabble that were found to be using Facebook’s AI chatbots to bombard users with private messages luring them to sign up to gambling apps.

The Australian

Page 1: Employers are threatening to run a multimillion-dollar campaign against Labor’s industrial relations changes unless the Albanese government backs down on its plans to expand multi-employer bargaining and give greater powers to the Fair Work Commission.

Page 2: Australia’s defence industry has condemned the nation’s military acquisition and sustainment system as unfit to respond to growing strategic threats, warning it is geared for peacetime, plagued by delays and overseen by unaccountable bureaucrats.

Page 5: A $30,000 pay rise for “expert teachers’’ will lift their wages to $147,000 next year, under NSW government plans to plug the school workforce shortage.

A cheating calculator that allows the user to surreptitiously bring notes into exams, send and receive messages and search the internet is being peddled to Australian students, with experts fearing it may have fallen through the legal cracks.

Page 13: Origin Energy boosted gas revenues to $2.77bn in the September quarter as prices doubled on the east coast, the latest pressure point for Anthony Albanese as Labor weighs setting caps on the domestic market to ease high costs.

Australian iron ore miners face the prospect of further falls in the price of the steelmaking commodity after grim manufacturing figures in China added to concerns about the country’s struggling property market and Covid-19 containment policies.

Page 16: High airfares and the low dollar are not dampening demand for leisure travel, prompting Flight Centre to reopen 35 of its national retail stores, including three in Brisbane, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced their closure more than two years ago.

The West Australian

Page 4: The Federal Government’s industrial relations changes face a rocky path through the Parliament as a key crossbench senator warns they could be mired in Senate debate if there isn’t time to properly scrutinise the mammoth piece of legislation.

Page 7: The Victorian Government’s sponsorship lifeline to Netball Australia has dealt a blow to West Coast Fever’s premiership defence after it was announced the national league grand final was part of the $15m deal.

Business: Stronger than expected retail spending figures are likely to give the Reserve Bank of Australia board additional reason to consider a double-sized interest rate hike when it meets on Tuesday.

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest was given a surprise reprimand during an event at his newest mine, with calls for his company to better engage with traditional owners.

David Jones’ South African owners have all but given up on their costly foray into Australia’s retail sector, with its chief executive admitting the 2014 purchase did not make sense.

Qantas has defended a potential $4 million payday for chief executive Alan Joyce, pictured, in the face of criticism from a proxy adviser urging shareholders to vote against the plan at Friday’s annual meeting.

Hardware powerhouse Bunnings believes attracting young people into trades should be given as much priority as increasing the uptake of STEM subjects.

Soaring lithium prices are generating windfall profits for IGO and the owners of Australia’s richest producer of the battery mineral at the Greenbushes mine in WA’s South West.