Morning Headlines

 Weak growth raises risk to jobs, budget

Australia faces another year of weak conditions that will squeeze company profits, push up unemployment and risk sending the budget into deficit, economists warned, after growth slumped to 1.5 per cent. The Fin

Super Tuesday blitz sets up historic Trump, Biden presidential rematch

Donald Trump has all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination, setting up a rematch against Joe Biden in November that will be fought on the cost of living and the immigration crisis. The Fin

ASEAN pulls punches on China, Russia and Taiwan

South-East Asian leaders watered down strident criticisms of China’s regional belligerence, omitted any reference to Taiwan, and stripped out a demand for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, all proposed by Australia, in their final statement. The Fin

Cettire struggles to convince investors

The management of Cettire is battling to convince a sceptical market that the luxury fashion retailer is paying appropriate customs duties, telling investors that it had a direct, previously undisclosed, arrangement with the government. The Fin

Meta facing $1.5bn in fines over media code

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, could potentially face fines of up to $1.5bn if it is found to have breached the news media bargaining code. The Aus

Climate blow for Narrabri

Energy giant Santos is facing a further blow to its $3.5bn Narrabri gas plan, with Federal Court judges ruling in favour of an appeal against the project lodged by a group of traditional owners that the National Native Title Tribunal failed to consider climate change when it approved leases in northwest NSW. The Aus

Perth enjoys 15 minutes of fame

West Aussies can now view some of the world’s most celebrated pop art in their own backyard after dozens of Andy Warhol pieces worth about $150 million landed in Wanneroo. The West

Brittany rushed to hospital after hearing

Brittany Higgins was treated in hospital in Perth on Tuesday following a breakdown in her mediation talks with former boss Linda Reynolds. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 2: Jim Chalmers’ statement on Australia’s anaemic growth figures didn’t even mention the contribution of the mining sector in at least keeping the economy in positive territory in the December quarter.

Page 3: Superannuation will be paid on the 20 weeks of government-funded parental leave from July next year, as Labor accepts the urging of industry super funds, gender advocacy groups and government reviews to help close a stubborn gender gap in Australians’ retirement savings.

Page 3: Iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart says a push to bring on more female truck drivers at her Pilbara mines to help them enter the industry has made Hancock Prospecting’s gender pay gap worse because they are some of the company’s lowest paid roles.

Page 5: The Thai government says Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has raised concerns about Australia’s proposed vehicle emissions scheme, which a visiting US expert has labelled ‘‘the most aggressive in the entire world’’.

Page 5: A Greens plan for a new publicly owned property developer represents a $27 billion lottery for homeownership, housing experts and industry figures say, warning it relies on uncertain assumptions about costs and cooperation from the states.

Page 7: Bankwest’s 129-year branch presence in Western Australia will come to an end by October as its owner, Commonwealth Bank, shuts 45 branches and converts a further 15 to CBA shopfronts.

Page 9: The London Metal Exchange has rejected a bid by the Australian government, with US support, to have the clearing house recognise ‘‘clean’’ nickel, in efforts to help ailing Australian miners smashed by a supply glut from Chinese companies in Indonesia.

Page 12: Competition watchdog chairman Gina Cass-Gottlieb says consumers think supermarket prices and profits are ‘‘unreasonable’’ and she has pledged to crack down on anticompetitive behaviour that raises the cost of living.

Page 13: Liquidators Hall Chadwick have alleged that millions of dollars worth of ‘‘unreasonable director-related transactions’’ were made by the failed former owner of the Ballarat gold mine, in a report that accused directors of breaches of the Corporations Act.

Page 16: Amazon’s Australian business raked in more than $6 billion in sales last year, with its fast-growing retail business and cloud computing division both growing more than 20 per cent year over year.

Page 22: Goldman Sachs has warned traders against misconstruing the rally in nickel and lithium as marking the end of the bear market in battery metals, saying that prices will resume their sell-off by as much as 25 per cent.

Page 23: A wild rally across the cryptocurrency sector is being powered by soaring equity markets, social media, marketing expenditure and a brewing consensus that blockchain technologies will revolutionise finance, according to local stakeholders.

Page 26: Perth, Sydney and Adelaide are the most likely markets to outperform in the next 12 months with two out of five property valuers predicting house prices in those cities to increase by up to 10 per cent, a new poll shows.

The Australian

Page 2: Eight Australian companies have signalled their willingness to commit more than $5.2bn of investment into Malaysia on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia summit, with Anthony Albanese saying he now expected greater regional engagement from banks, financial institutions, as well as energy and resource companies.

Page 3: Matildas captain Sam Kerr will seek to have charges of aggravated racial harassment of a police officer dropped when her case returns to a London court in April.

Page 4: Australia’s first large-scale nuclear power plant could be up and running by the 2030s in the event the Coalition wins the next election, Peter Dutton says.

Page 5: The woman behind last year’s successful but ultimately short- lived Federal Court victory over Woodside Energyhas used her submission to a federal review to accuse the energy giant of “buying off” Indigenous people.

Page 5: A West Australian man captured on a Facebook livestream as Aboriginal children sat cable-tied in his driveway has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, with police refusing to say whether the incident was racially motivated.

Page 6: The head of the competition regulator has criticised Meta over its handling of scams, saying the company is the worst tech giant to deal with when trying to stamp out financial crime.

Page 8: China and Russia hope to install a nuclear power unit on the surface of the moon by the middle of the next decade, the Roscosmos space agency has said.

Page 13: Criticisms of high-profile women, such as Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka or former Optus boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, were discouraging other women from aiming to become chief executives, warns Christine Holgate, the former head of Australia Post.

Page 18: Tesla has halted production at its plant in Grunheide outside Berlin after what police said was a suspected arson attack on the power grid by opponents of the factory’s planned expansion.

Page 18: China plans to boost its military spending by 7.2 per cent this year, matching the pace of last year’s expansion as Chinese leader Xi Jinping stays the course on his ex- pensive campaign to modernise the armed forces.

The West Australian

Page 5: Office workers who reach a recommended step count could counteract the dire health effects of an otherwise sedentary day behind a desk.

Page 6: In a major crackdown on the sly-grog trade, Kimberley police have seized thousands of dollars’ worth of black market alcohol set to be consumed in dry communities.

Page 9: Animal rights activist Tash Peterson will fight three court battles this year after she chose to challenge the latest claims against her.

Page 11: O’Connor MP Rick Wilson says it is “premature” to speculate about possible locations for nuclear reactors — but believes Collie in his electorate is a potential candidate.

Page 11: A senior US official is hesitant about Australia’s preparedness for AUKUS amid a stalemate over the infrastructure needed to get the WA bases and community ready for nuclear-powered submarines.

Page 18: Former Supreme Court justice John Chaney will oversee breakthrough talks between warring companies in a bid to find an industry-led solution to the bursting pipes crisis affecting thousands of Perth homes.

Page 18: At 2m tall and shaped like a Christmas tree, the first antenna deployed in WA today as part of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope in Murchison might not look like much, but the amount of data it will collect about the universe will exceed Earth’s internet usage.

Page 40: Australia and Canada will band together in a push for transparency across global critical minerals supply chains under a new handshake agreement struck between the allied resources powerhouses.

Page 41: Woodside Energy has launched another round of job cuts in Perth after lifting group workforce numbers last year.

Page 42: A former Qantas health and safety representative says he has finally been vindicated after the airline was hit with a $250,000 fine for standing him down for raising COVID-19 concerns.

Page 42: Argonaut believes all WA’s ASX-listed gold miners will reap the rewards of a new price peak for the precious metal, but the stockbroker has singled out Westgold Resources as the biggest winner of the surge.