Morning Headlines

China is key risk to global growth: IMF

China’s stuttering post-pandemic economy poses one of the main risks to global growth, the International Monetary Fund has warned, a day after China’s leaders vowed to boost the country’s ‘‘tortuous’’ recovery. The Fin

Year’s top equity fund revealed

Timely bets on AGL Energy, Whitehaven and Qantas rocketed Sydney-based money manager Merlon to the top of the list of Australian equity managers for 2023, outperforming the sharemarket by 11.7 percentage points. The Fin

Aged care body leans to user pays

A high-level taskforce charged with finding a long-term solution to aged care funding is leaning towards greater means testing and increased reliance on user pays, rather than the introduction of a tax or levy. The Fin

Redcape investors frozen as rates hit

MA Financial has frozen redemptions in its $1.5 billion Redcape Hotels, a bitter pill for investors who backed taking the pubs group private two years ago and are now locked into an unlisted vehicle. The Fin

Bombshell letter blows open Rinehart trial

A letter penned by Lang Hancock to his daughter Gina Rinhehart 37 years ago could prove she has known for decades that a now rival family has a claim to a share of lucrative mining tenements developed by her company in Western Australia’s Pilbara. The Fin

PM urged not to visit China till sanctions go

The Business Council of Australia’s top China expert says Anthony Albanese should not visit Beijing until the coercive trade sanctions against Australian exports are removed. The Aus

Working from home stressful, painful for older staff

Working from home was associated with increased stress levels among older workers when they were forced to be away from the office for more days than they wanted, new research has found. The Aus

Fed threat to heritage adds chaos

The Albanese Government has not ruled out introducing Federal laws to protect significant Aboriginal sites which will override WA's contentious Indigenous cultural heritage regime. The West

Brother of corrupt big wig hands over $450k

The brother of corrupt highranking former public servant Paul Whyte has surrendered $450,000 after failing to adequately explain the source of the money to the Corruption and Crime Commission. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 3: Former productivity commission chairman Peter Harris has dismissed suggestions that Australia can only sustain two airlines as the ‘‘height of absurdity’’, declaring that resetting slots at Sydney Airport will boost competition and consumer outcomes.

Page 4: The International Monetary Fund is urging federal and state governments not to extend multi-billion dollar household energy subsidies and called on the Reserve Bank to maintain high interest rates as long as necessary.

Page 7: Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is considering exemptions for small business from the Albanese government’s next wave of industrial relations reforms that include stronger rights for casual workers who want to convert to permanent employment.

Page 10: The reaction of investors in lithium companies is often disproportionate to the small pieces of information being released to the market, according to Pilbara Minerals boss Dale Henderson.

Page 11: Online marketplace Freelancer has broken even for the June half, with founder and chief executive Matt Barrie telling investors artificial intelligence is poised to transform the way its millions of unskilled workers operate.

Page 11: The corporate watchdog has accused fund management giant Vanguard of misleading investors in its $1 billion-plus ethical bond product about the sustainability of its assets.

Page 14: The managing director of Australia’s third largest beer group, Coopers Brewery, says his company is having its shelf and floor space for packaged beer increasingly cut back by liquor retailing giants Endeavour Group and Coles.

Page 14: Gas producer Strike Energy has officially walked away from an offer to buy out rival gas minnow Talon Energy and its stake in a Mongolian gas venture.

Page 15: Westpac and Commonwealth Bank have used a digital version of the Australian dollar backed by the Reserve Bank to trade and pay for real certificates of deposit, which are debt instruments issued by each bank.

Page 15: Woolworths chief commercial officer Paul Harker has warned a parliamentary committee on the economy it will be some time before food systems return to an ‘‘even keel’’, but fresh fruit and vegetable prices are down about 6 per cent from their peak in September and red meat prices are stabilising.

Page 22: News that Beijing plans to stimulate China’s property and construction sectors helped the sharemarket’s blue-chip iron ore miners soar yesterday, as investors bet on growing demand for the steel-making ingredient.

Page 27: Super-prime retail rents across Australia’s CBDs, except for Melbourne, have held steady or grown, in a sign people are slowly returning to cities for retail therapy, according to a CBRE analysis.

Page 31: PwC has complied with an order to provide additional training to more than 1300 mostly tax-related partners and staff on their professional behaviour, including the need to act with honesty, integrity and to keep client information confidential.

Page 32: Renewable energy Quinbrook, a new co-owner in Sun Cable, is making an unusual bet in Britain, writes Hans van Leeuwen in Faversham.

The Australian

Page 6: CFMEU boss Zach Smith says Labor’s social licence to continue with the country’s immigration program “will collapse fast” if it doesn’t adopt an ambitious agenda to fix the housing crisis.

Page 9: A vast area at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean earmarked for controversial deep sea mineral mining is home to thousands of species unknown to science and more complex than previously understood, according to several new studies.

Page 13: PwC told partner Richard Gregg the decision to remove him from the firm was not linked to findings that he “misused the government’s confidential information” as part of a flurry of legal letters between the two sides, court documents show.

Page 13: Origin Energy plans to build a large-scale battery in every state across the National Electricity Market – which excludes Western Australia and the Northern Territory – as it seeks to capitalise on wholesale market volatility, chief executive Frank Calabria says.

Page 15: CSIRO-linked technology venture capital firm Main Sequence has bagged $450m for its third fund, passing $1bn in funds under management as it tackles challenges spanning climate change, cyber security, food scarcity, artificial intelligence and outer space.

Page 15: Australian cryptocurrency exchanges have called for national regulations to be fast-tracked, as parliament considers a private senator’s bill that would impose minimum standards for capital, cyber security and disclosure

Page 15: Virgin Australia workers have issued a list of demands as a fresh round of pay talks begins, including a $1000 share parcel for every employee when the company relists on the ASX.

Page 19: The federal government has been urged to legislate to give workers the right to “disconnect” from work and ignore calls and emails from their bosses once they clock off.

The West Australian

Page 20: Strike Energy is suggesting its interest in Perth Basin partner Talon Energy has cooled after a cold reception from the target’s board.

Page 20: Economists at two of Australia’s big four banks say the country’s run of bleak consumer confidence measures is comparable to lows only seen during the global financial crisis and recession of the early 1990s.

Page 22: Mader Group has catapulted into the billion-dollar league, with growth from “everywhere” driving the mining vehicle maintenance business to its third upgrade inside a year.

Page 22: Monadelphous shares lifted after the engineering contractor said it had won a $200 million contract to assist US chemicals giant Albemarle expand the Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant in WA.

Page 23: Chevron is waiving the mandatory retirement age for chief executive Mike Wirth, giving the company more time to find a successor as it notches record production from the world’s most prolific shale basin.

Page 24: WA’s oldest LNG export operation could soon be rocked by a strike, after unions applied for offshore workers to vote on industrial action amid an ongoing dispute with Woodside.

Page 24: A liquidator will seek a Federal arrest warrant for former Perth company promoter Nathan Featherby after he did not turn up for a public probing.

Page 24: The managing director of Deloitte’s latest acquisition in WA says the deal is almost a homecoming, having started at the Big Four audit and consulting firm 30 years ago.

Page 39: The return of WA manufacturing is one of the key reasons for an extraordinary period in the history of Perth’s industrial sector.

Page 40: Two big hotels on the corner of Barrack and Wellington streets will soon be on the market after Joe Scaffidi sent his key business interest into the hands of administrators.

Page 41: Brabham is proving a hit with investors as the new north link road network and the upcoming train station bolster the fast-growing corridor.