Builder freezes new home sales
One of Perth's biggest home builders has shut the door on new sales amid scores of complaints from existing customers about agonisingly slow progress on their houses. The West
Trade surplus hits $41b with students back
An influx of international students and booming resource sales pushed Australia’s trade surplus to near-record highs at the end of last year, with net exports poised to add 1.1 percentage points to the December-quarter economic growth figure. The Fin
Super tax brawl looms for poll
Tax concessions promise to be a flashpoint at the next federal election after Labor announced a 30 per cent tax rate on superannuation earnings for balances above $3 million, but not until 2025, after voters have gone to the polls. The Fin
ASIC members ‘too hard to sack’
Former Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman James Shipton says ASIC commissioners are immune from the rules of ordinary employment and should be subject to greater oversight and more easily dismissed. The Fin
Murdoch: Fox ‘endorsed’ Trump lies
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the conservative Fox Corp media empire that owns Fox News, has acknowledged that several hosts for his networks promoted the false narrative that the 2020 US election was stolen from former president Donald Trump, court documents released on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) showed. The Fin
United bid to rid schools of chatbot cheats
National rules for schools to crack down on cheating through the use of artificial intelligence have been ordered by the nation’s education ministers, who have endorsed the ethical use of hi-tech teaching. The Aus
‘No recession’ but slower sales: Harvey
Shares in appliance, whitegoods and furniture retailer Harvey Norman dived 7.5 per cent yesterday after January sales slid by double digits and first-half profits missed forecasts. The Fin
Tech titans can censor debate over voice
Tech giants such as Google and Facebook will decide what content will appear on their platforms or be censored in the leadup to the voice referendum, with a lack of government oversight sparking concerns there won’t be a “free and fair debate”. The Aus
Inpex eyes big credits spend for emissions
Oil and gas giant Inpex could be spending almost $200 million a year buying carbon credits under the Albanese Government’s overhauled safeguards mechanism, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Tax concessions promise to be a flashpoint at the next federal election after Labor announced a 30 per cent tax rate on superannuation earnings for balances above $3 million, but not until 2025, after voters have gone to the polls.
Page 3: An influx of international students and booming resource sales pushed Australia’s trade surplus to near-record highs at the end of last year, with net exports poised to add 1.1 percentage points to the December-quarter economic growth figure.
Former Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman James Shipton says ASIC commissioners are immune from the rules of ordinary employment and should be subject to greater oversight and more easily dismissed.
Page 5: Landlord tax breaks will be the fastest-growing source of lost revenue over the next four years, as rising interest rates push more real estate speculators to make use of negative gearing.
Page 6: AGL Energy chairwoman Patricia McKenzie says the energy company’s path to net zero must be ‘‘realistic’’, warning the faster closure of coal plants is not compatible with keeping the lights on.
Page 9: Former Human Services secretary Renee Leon lost her job when she was forced to wind up the robo-debt scheme after then-government services minister Stuart Robert resisted the solicitor-general’s advice that the scheme was unlawful.
Page 10: Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the conservative Fox Corp media empire that owns Fox News, has acknowledged that several hosts for his networks promoted the false narrative that the 2020 US election was stolen from former president Donald Trump, court documents released on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) showed.
China’s lithium industry is reeling as its top production hub – responsible for about a 10th of the world’s supply – faces sweeping closures amid a government probe of environmental infringements.
Page 12: Shares in appliance, whitegoods and furniture retailer Harvey Norman dived 7.5 per cent yesterday after January sales slid by double digits and first-half profits missed forecasts.
Page 16: Global media giant Warner Bros Discovery has given the strongest indication yet that it will launch its own streaming service in Australia, signing a ‘‘multi-year, multi-faceted’’ deal with Foxtel that will keep content like Succession and The Last of Us on Binge.
Page 17: Australia’s love affair with rooftop solar has unseated all other forms of generation, paving the way for solar to become the nation’s largest power source when Liddell goes offline next month.
The Australian
Page 1: Anthony Albanese has set up a class war fight with Peter Dutton over superannuation after breaking an election promise and doubling tax rates for 80,000 Australians with nest eggs above $3m.
Tech giants such as Google and Facebook will decide what content will appear on their platforms or be censored in the leadup to the voice referendum, with a lack of government oversight sparking concerns there won’t be a “free and fair debate”.
Page 2: Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has issued a warning to Snowy 2.0 management to fix “completely unacceptable” food standards on work sites, after unions sounded the alarm over maggot-infested food.
Universities are being advised how to avoid getting roped into multi-employer agreements under a leaked “strategy road map” that unions claim is “incontrovertible proof” the universities want to try to push through substandard pay deals.
Page 4: Nine months of falling house prices have stalled in 2023, possibly spelling the end of the market downturn.
Tax breaks on the sale of the family home, superannuation, and for property investors are among the 10 largest tax concessions which cost the budget about $150bn in forgone revenue, according to Treasury analysis.
Financial advisers have warned on the impact of Labor’s plans to cut superannuation tax breaks for wealthy Australians, saying the move diminishes the appeal of super as a savings vehicle and, in some cases at least, could end up being retrospective.
Page 7: National rules for schools to crack down on cheating through the use of artificial intelligence have been ordered by the nation’s education ministers, who have endorsed the ethical use of hi-tech teaching.
Businesses that have had data stolen by cyber criminals are taking more than two weeks on average to detect the hack, and sometimes up to two months, CyberCX figures reveal.
Page 13: One of Australia’s biggest cement and concrete producers, Adbri, is calling for an EU-style carbon tariff on dirty imports, warning the federal government’s current plan to tighten domestic pollution targets could threaten the competitiveness of local manufacturers.
Page 16: Energy giant Shell has attacked the Albanese government’s planned changes to the LNG export trigger, saying a raft of policy clampdowns may make supply shortages worse for the eastern seaboard.
Page 21: Returning international students sparked a rebound in education exports in 2022, ending the sharp decline caused by the pandemic.
The West Australian
Page 9: One of Perth's biggest home builders has shut the door on new sales amid scores of complaints from existing customers about agonisingly slow progress on their houses.
Page 7: Confidential documents containing the personal information of customers from one of Australia’s biggest banks were found dumped in a skip bin in Perth’s east.
Page 8: A youth custodial officer has been left with a suspected fractured skull in the latest disturbance at WA’s trouble-plagued juvenile detention centre, prompting the Premier to consider moving detainees into adult prisons the moment they turn 18.
Page 18: Failing to consider mergers could leave WA universities out in the cold as bigger institutions climb higher on academic world rankings, experts have warned.
Page 20: One of WA’s top hospitals has pleaded with its staff to help fill “deficits” on “every shift” in a string of SOS text messages.
Business: Retail magnate Gerry Harvey says Australians should be upbeat about the economy, claiming “pretty bloody good” sales at Harvey Norman proves demand remains high among “richer” consumers despite a profit and sales slump sending his company’s shares lower.
A meeting of Commonwealth, States and Territories workplace health and safety ministers on Tuesday agreed to task Safe Work Australia with scoping out options for banning engineered stone.
Maintenance firm Duratec is on track to hit its full-year financial targets after lifting interim profit tenfold to $7.8m.
Oil and gas giant Inpex could be spending almost $200 million a year buying carbon credits under the Albanese Government’s overhauled safeguards mechanism, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
DDH1, Australia’s biggest minerals drilling company, has blamed delayed regulatory approvals for slower demand from its clients for the year so far after a bumper first half.
