Morning Headlines

Tech giants used PwC to beat tax law

US tech giants Uber and Facebook set up new company structures to sidestep Australia’s multinational tax avoidance law using PwC advice, days before the legislation came into effect in January 2016. The Fin

Dutton backs small, modular nuclear reactors to complement renewables

Australia’s growing energy demands could be met cost-effectively by building small nuclear reactors on the site of ageing coal-fired power plants and using transmission systems already in place, Peter Dutton says. The Fin

ASX falls on fears Fed will raise rates

Investors have raised their bets that the US Federal Reserve will lift interest rates on July 26 after the central bank’s June meeting minutes signalled it was committed to more tightening. The Fin

Global equities help Aware to highest return

Industry superannuation giant Aware Super returned 10.7 cent in its default option last financial year, far outstripping the rest of the sector thanks to its relatively low office property exposure and higher global equities holdings. The Fin

Avoid inflation trap: OECD

The head of the OECD says Australia faces a “difficult path” ahead in trying to ensure inflation does not become embedded in the economy while the impact of mortgage stress from rising interest rates will need to be carefully monitored. The Aus

Rates slug pushes up distressed sales cases

Forced home sales have risen in Australia’s two largest property markets as homeowners continue to be squeezed by soaring rate rises and cost-of-living pressures. The Aus

Trade boom rolls on as commodity exports rise

An ongoing boom in commodity export earnings looks likely to “cushion” a slowing economy, as new figures revealed Australia’s trade surplus lifted by $1.3bn to $11.8bn in May. The Aus

Super problem as WA women almost $150,000 worse off in retirement

West Australian women are retiring with up to $143,000 less than men — the nation’s most egregious gap — sparking calls from the head of one of the country’s biggest super funds for further reforms to address gender pay discrepancies. The West

St Barbara shares tank

St Barbara’s shared plunged 48 per cent on Thursday following the completion of the sale of its Gwalia mine to Genesis Minerals. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 3: Marie Festa, who made a sexual harassment complaint at her former employer, will use her new role running Chief Executive Women to put pressure on companies to stamp out sexual harassment as a means of getting more women into leadership positions and improving productivity.

Page 4: Small players are the biggest losers from the federal government’s $2 billion hydrogen fund, based on new proposals showing it will focus on two or three flagship projects to expand the scale of electrolyser capacity to 1000 megawatts by 2030.

Page 4: Japan’s fears about Australia’s ‘‘quiet quitting’’ of the LNG export business hold true while domestic gas users will also suffer, say energy consultants and lawyers, citing the mounting obstacles the Albanese government has put in the way of new gas projects.

Page 6: Two years ago, just one of Australia’s traditional big six law firms was being led by a woman. Today, four of the big six have female chief executives.

Page 11: Cybercriminals are increasingly ‘‘weaponising’’ data to extort businesses, exploiting the threat of stiff government penalties and multimillion-dollar fines for information and privacy breaches to demand companies quietly pay up.

Page 11: West Australian Minister for Mines Bill Johnston says resources companies need to improve their response to sexual assault and harassment in the mining industry.

Page 14: With Twitter already on the ropes, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg delivered another blow to Elon Musk on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), ramping up the tech billionaires’ rivalry with the launch of Instagram’s much-anticipated companion service Threads, a challenger to Twitter.

Page 17: Robust travel demand in and out of mining towns is offsetting weaker domestic demand from business passengers in major cities on the east coast, where Virgin has overtaken Qantas.

Page 18: A director of Zeus Resources says he did not seek approval for a share trade during the company’s blackout period because of a language barrier with the West Australian mining group’s chairman.

Page 19: The cascading effect of COVID-19, turmoil in Europe and banking failures in the United States have supported the price of gold to $US2000 ($2992) an ounce, but it would take a hard landing to reset gold’s record high, the World Gold Council said.

Page 21: Exxon Mobil is hiring traders and support staff for its new global trading division, but doesn’t pay the large cash bonuses linked to trading profits that are common across the industry, according to current and former employees who asked not to be identified.

Page 26: Worries that China’s economy is slowing sent mining shares lower yesterday as investors looked through news that Australia posted an unexpectedly strong trade surplus of $11.8 billion in May.

Page 34: The number of suburbs where home values hit record highs nearly doubled in June compared to the previous month, albeit from a low base, after house prices rose strongly for the fourth consecutive month, data from CoreLogic shows.

The Australian

Page 15: The Albanese government wants to stop unprompted text messages with embedded hyperlinks, a key way scammers catch unsuspecting customers.

Page 16: Collapsed Queensland miner Aurora Metals is believed to owe about $170m, with small trade creditors now sitting at the back of the queue after its financiers appointed receivers over the top of administrators KordaMentha.

Page 18: Across the Indonesian archipelago, new industrial plants are going up to process chunks of nickel ore for use in electric-car batteries. Five years ago, there were none.

Page 17: Demand for Australian executives has slumped, sparking fears for the wider job market as the economy teeters on the edge of a recession.

The West Australian

Page 59: Ten Sixty Four’s directors sounded out the company’s eventual administrators within days of taking control of the troubled gold miner and its purported $100 million cash pile.

Page 59: A $1 million ring will star in a new collection of jewels crafted from rare pink diamonds from WA’s now shuttered Argyle mine.

Page 61: Core Lithium chief Gareth Manderson says accelerating approvals for new mines must be a priority for governments as the industry faces looming shortfalls in the supply of the battery metal.

Page 61: The University of Western Australia’s St George’s College has launched a Supreme Court action against top-shelf architects and engineers over cracking walls in its Newby wing.

Page 61: The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said in its submission to a Senate inquiry that environmental groups should be more tightly regulated than at present. It argued they made false statements about the role of gas companies in the nation’s energy transition.

Page 61: Firm Construction has been fined $600,000 after a February 2020 incident at the Hotel Rottnest Resort building site which injured two workers.