Coal plant ‘could limp into 2030s’
The struggling renewables rollout has forced NSW to extend the life of the country’s biggest coal-fired power station and raised questions about whether it will be needed to keep the lights on into the 2030s. The Fin
BHP sticks to its guns as Anglo shifts on deal
BHP says it has ‘‘made progress’’ on assuaging Anglo American directors’ concerns about the substance of its $75 billion takeover bid and is adamant there will be no further change to the value nor the structure of the final offer it lobbed this week. The Fin
Why Ozempic chief likens drug to Viagra
In his first wide-ranging interview, Novo Nordisk Oceania managing director Cem Ozenc mourns the fact that Australia’s obesity challenge is lost amid the celebrity hype surrounding the medication. The Fin
Embattled Nine boss’s $1m golden handshake
Nine news boss Darren Wick left the media company in March with a near million-dollar golden handshake, despite senior management and the board being aware of allegations the veteran newsman had behaved inappropriately towards female staff. The Aus
ASIC probes caravan park ‘liquidation’
The corporate regulator has launched an investigation into a scheme in which a mystery caravan park resident with no assets became owner of more than 20 companies that went on to be liquidated owing creditors money. The Aus
Stalker faces no-go zones for life
A legal clerk who stalked two lawyers over eight years has been given a rare lifetime ban from the areas across Perth where her male victims live, work and buy coffee. The Aus
OpenAI, News in deal on content
NewsCorp has struck a major content-licensing pact with generative artificial-intelligence company OpenAI, aiming to cash in on a technology that promises to have a profound impact on the news-publishing industry. The Aus
Bird flu case has SW farm in lockdown
Officers at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development sent officers for damage control at a poultry farm in WA’s South West after fears a highly infectious strain of bird flu had been detected in the region. The West
Big Australian in $4.5b cash splash on Nickel West
A day after Roger Cook and Madeleine King chastised BHP for neglecting Nickel West, it can be revealed the miner has invested $4.5 billion in its WA nickel arm in recent years. The West
Slamming door shut on trading hour laws
The State Government is digging in its heels on Perth’s restrictive trading hours, backing in controversial comments from one of its agencies that relaxing them would only benefit big supermarkets and department stores. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 4: Farmers have warned the Coalition and Labor against cutting immigration to secure ‘‘politically convenient’’ arrival numbers, saying key parts of the economy needed action to close acute skills shortages.
Page 5: Treasury has cut $11 billion from the four-year estimate of revenue from superannuation taxes made five months ago, as Labor falls behind on its pledge to make the retirement income system fairer.
Page 7: Peter Dutton has countered claims his plans for nuclear energy were a front to keep coal in the system for longer, saying gas would provide the back-up baseload power in the interim.
Page 8: Junior miners are going into ‘‘survival mode’’, leaving little appetite for mergers or acquisitions as they focus on cutting costs while new projects stall.
Page 8: Australia’s leading lithium miners want to establish a ‘‘coalition of the willing’’ to set up a trading exchange in a bid to stop price volatility and make the commodity more attractive to commercial bank financing.
Page 13: Australia’s No. 2 wine group Accolade Wines is bitterly disappointed at a crushing rejection by 511 growers of an overhaul of its largest grape supply contract which it says keeps handicapping the company.
Page 15: Optus has been hit with a lawsuit in the Federal Court from the communications regulator alleging it did not protect customers’ confidential information before being struck by a cyberattack in 2022.
Page 15: A court should reverse findings that ANZ breached continuous disclosure laws over a chaotic $2.5 billion capital raising in 2015 because an undisclosed shortfall would not harm the overall value of the bank, nor did it risk a ‘‘disorderly’’ market that would hurt the share price, ANZ has argued.
Page 15: Nufarm boss Greg Hunt says other major grain-growing nations are doing much more than Australia to ensure they have the onshore manufacturing capability to produce food and animal fodder crops.
Page 16: Australia’s five biggest banks would slug customers an extra $370 million in fees and interest rate increases if the government were to enforce a higher levy on them to keep rural banks funded and open, new estimates show.
Page 22: Australian shares fell yesterday after the latest US Federal Reserve meeting minutes raised concerns about the pace of disinflation, triggering a wave of profit taking in commodities.
Page 24: MinterEllison is set to hire seven consulting partners from PwC in the largest single raid on the big four consulting firm since the tax leaks scandal.
Page 25: A blowout in construction costs amid a population boom is thwarting Coles’ ambitions to build new supermarkets, and could ultimately drive up the price of groceries, the group’s head of property has warned.
The Australian
Page 6: West Australian Premier Roger Cook says he is not afraid to see the state’s emissions rise as it chases opportunities in gas, critical minerals and green steel, amid signs across the country that weaning off coal could prove more costly and more difficult than hoped.
Page 7: Peter Dutton says the more than $1bn Labor is vowing to spend on solar panel and battery manufacturing should be redirected to cost-of-living relief for households, despite economists warning governments against pumping more money into the economy while inflation is high.
Page 7: The Australian Council of Trade Unions is pushing to significantly increase the number of union delegates who can access employer-funded paid training leave, criticising a Fair Work Commission proposal that it warned would unfairly expose delegates to civil penalties.
Page 13: Paul Scurrah has announced his resignation as Pacific National chief executive, but has ruled out a return to Virgin Australia as the airline seeks to replace Jayne Hrdlicka.
Page 13: Karoon Energy has suffered a first stake at its annual meeting, with more than 26 per cent of shareholders voting against its remuneration report, amid growing anger it has put growth through acquisitions ahead of returning capital to shareholders.
Page 14: US-based Platinum Equity is understood to be carrying out a substantial amount of work on a buyout of all or parts of Fletcher Building as the Australian and New Zealand-listed stock remains under pressure.
Page 15: Optus interim chief executive Michael Venter has conceded the operator has a long way to go in rebuilding trust with consumers after the national outage in November, as it considers further cost-cutting at a tough time for the telco sector.
Page 17: Australia’s biggest plastics maker is set for closure by the end of the year, after Qenos’s creditors waved through its sale to property developer Logos on Thursday.
The West Australian
Page 6: Some of WA’s most influential business leaders met Jim Chalmers on Thursday for a “frank” discussion about the Australian and State economies, on the Treasurer’s first trip to Perth since he handed down the Federal Budget.
Page 48: Origin Energy will delay the closure of the nation’s largest coal-fired power station amid concerns renewable energy isn’t being added fast enough to keep pace with fossil fuels scale-down plans.
Page 49: Discount retailer The Reject Shop is battling higher costs of doing business just as sales increase while consumers fight cost-of-living pressures and a squeeze on their hip pockets.
Page 50: Premier Roger Cook appears to have cooled on the prospect of allowing the export of onshore gas, saying he “leans less towards the idea” after speaking to major domestic users willing to pay a “premium” for the energy source.
