Hockey slams welfare state
Average Australians are working over one month each year to support the nation’s welfare recipients, Treasurer Joe Hockey said as he launched a counter-attack to widespread criticisms the government’s budget is unfair. The FIn
MinRes play sidelines Aurizon
Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources appears to have killed off Aurizon’s hope of entering the Pilbara iron ore market with a stunning deal to become Aquila Resources’ third-biggest shareholder. The West
Barnett reveals Padbury meetings
Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s bureaucrats have held meetings with associates of controversial Sydney entrepreneur Roland Frank Bleyer as part of Padbury Mining’s bid to win backing for a botched $6.5 billion plan to revive the Oakajee port and rail project. The Aus
Brookfield hits back over explosive grain rail claim
WA’s grain freight rail network is a “ticking time bomb” which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to keep operational, CBH has warned a powerful parliamentary committee. The West
House prices second highest in the world
Australia may have the world’s second most expensive housing market behind Belgium, according to the International Monetary Fund. The Fin
PNG pressured over loan for Oil Search deal
Papua New Guinea’s government has come under renewed attack for its handling of a $1.24 billion loan from UBS used to finance its acquisition of a 10.1 per cent stake in Oil Search earlier this year. The Fin
Abbott’s first Budget too harsh for WA
WA voters have rejected the Abbott Government’s Budget as unfair and too harsh as more signs emerge it has hit shoppers and the retail sector. The West
China may increase Aquila bid
China may be forced to increase it $1.4 billion bid for Aquila Resources if it wants control of the iron ore and coal company after a new player emerged with a significant stake in the target at a 10 per cent premium to the offer price. The Aus
ACTU slams $5m salary
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has slammed the almost $5 million salary being paid to Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour as the government-owned company prepares to axe 900 staff. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Average Australians are working over one month each year to support the nation’s welfare recipients, Treasurer Joe Hockey said as he launched a counter-attack to widespread criticisms the government’s budget is unfair.
The head of Google Australia wants governments to clarify grey areas in the global tax system and end the shaming of individual companies for how they transfer profits around the world.
Page 2: Higher-end retailers of big-screen televisions say there has been a mini-spike in sales in the lead-up to the World Cup soccer which starts in Brazil on Friday, but the enthusiasm has been tempered slightly by the time zone differences.
Page 3: The Department of Communications has paved the way for a relaxation of media ownership rules with a report that calls for a rethink on how the industry is regulated.
Page 5: Australia may have the world’s second most expensive housing market behind Belgium, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Page 6: The Palmer United Party has signalled it may drop its demand that the carbon tax repeal be retrospective, boosting the chances the Abbott government’s repeal of Labor’s carbon price system will pass the new Senate next month.
Page 12: The departments that run the two biggest-spending areas of the budget were under pressure during Senate estimates hearings to explain how some of the tougher savings measures would play out in real life.
Page 13: Government departments under pressure to secure substantial savings are finding that looking for the latest developments in IT, whether new equipment from established suppliers or breakthrough items from new ones, can cut costs without having to resort to mass retrenchments.
Page 15: Supermarket group Coles has pulled together a senior team to develop its burgeoning financial services arm, with an eye to offering banking services to better bind customers to its stores.
Page 17: BHP Billiton is pulling back activity at its Goonyella coking coalmine in Queensland to avoid the operation slipping into the red, as the industry battles surging costs and depressed prices.
Page 19: Papua New Guinea’s government has come under renewed attack for its handling of a $1.24 billion loan from UBS used to finance its acquisition of a 10.1 per cent stake in Oil Search earlier this year.
Page 24: Shares fell on Wednesday as a survey indicating consumer confidence may be stabilising was not enough to offset renewed pessimism about the mining services sector and retailers.
The Australian
Page 1: Joe Hockey has launched a strident defence of the fairness of his budget, declaring government payments are too widely available and an average worker labours more than a month each year to pay the welfare of another Australian.
Julia Gillard was handed “a large amount of cash” to pay for renovations on her Melbourne home by her then boyfriend, union official Bruce Wilson, a builder who did the work told the royal commission yesterday.
Page 3: The ABC should concentrate on key services and tackling claims of bias instead of publicly whingeing, angry government members have told managing director Mark Scott.
Page 4: Global talks on climate change will go ahead in September without Tony Abbott as he deals with domestic pressures that prevent him attending the United Nations summit.
Clive Palmer has linked support for carbon tax repeal to a demand power companies be required by law to pass on savings to customers from the axing of the tax.
More than 300 childcare centres in regional and remote areas across Australia will be forced to comply with the standards set by the National Quality Framework in a bid to avoid a two-tiered system.
Page 19: China may be forced to increase it $1.4 billion bid for Aquila Resources if it wants control of the iron ore and coal company after a new player emerged with a significant stake in the target at a 10 per cent premium to the offer price.
Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s bureaucrats have held meetings with associates of controversial Sydney entrepreneur Roland Frank Bleyer as part of Padbury Mining’s bid to win backing for a botched $6.5 billion plan to revive the Oakajee port and rail project.
Page 20: The health of the improving vehicle leasing and salary packaging sector will get a check-up when Smartgroup puts its cap out to investors today in a bookbuild slated to be closely watched by major industry players including FleetPlus.
Page 29: Stockland is expected to look for more merger and acquisition opportunities if Singaporean-listed Frasers Centrepoint wins out in the $2.6 billion Australand Property Group takeover.
The West Australian
Page 1: The Catholic health provider contracted to run Midland Health Campus insists that a separate clinic being built to provide abortions, sterilisations and contraception cannot share any infrastructure with the public hospital.
Page 3: Perth could get more than 100 billion litres of its future drinking water — the equivalent of a third of current supplies — from recycled wastewater, the State’s water agency says.
Page 4: The United Nations is fiercely resisting Tony Abbott’s dismissal of climate change as a priority, saying the warming of the planet is the world’s “defining issue”.
Page 6: The Australian Council of Trade Unions has slammed the almost $5 million salary being paid to Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour as the government-owned company prepares to axe 900 staff.
Page 9: Some WA schools are adopting primary school textbooks based on the way maths is taught in Asian countries which top international tests.
Page 10: The ailing Ten network has pleaded with the Abbott Government to dump media ownership rules as the company takes the axe to its newsrooms around the country.
Page 14: WA voters have rejected the Abbott Government’s Budget as unfair and too harsh as more signs emerge it has hit shoppers and the retail sector.
Page 19: Queensland Federal MP and businessman Clive Palmer has confirmed he will help Prime Minister Tony Abbott scrap the carbon tax but only if power companies are required by law to pass savings on to households.
Page 20: Perth house prices dropped through the first three months of the year, dragged down by sagging interest in the city’s inner suburbs.
Business: Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources appears to have killed off Aurizon’s hope of entering the Pilbara iron ore market with a stunning deal to become Aquila Resources’ third-biggest shareholder.
BHP Billiton appears to have realised a loss of about $46 million from an ambitious Port Hedland accommodation project which suffered a financial collapse.
WA’s grain freight rail network is a “ticking time bomb” which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to keep operational, CBH has warned a powerful parliamentary committee.