Rinehart eyes another station
Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart is eyeing another Kimberley station as part of a spending spree set to make her the nation’s cattle queen. The West
Telstra ready to hand over copper network to NBN Co
The Abbott government is a step closer to effectively renationalising Telstra’s 100-year-old copper network after the telco giant agreed in principle to hand over the asset to the government monopoly
MinRes flags Cliffs interest
Mineral Resources could be tempted into spending some of its growing cash pile on Cliffs Natural Resources’ Koolyanobbing iron ore assets, with MinRes boss Chris Ellison yesterday talking up the benefits of putting together the pair’s Yilgarn operations. The West
Telstra hits 12-year high on buyback
Telstra has kept billions of dollars in the tank for acquisitions in growth areas like Asia despite raising its dividend and deciding to buy $1 billion of its shares. The Fin
Post pitch for $30b Medicare deal
Australia Post is the front runner to provide more than $30 billion in Medicare and pharmaceutical benefit payments, paving the way for the federal government to make wholesale cuts to the federal budget. The Fin
Billions left in ground as miners miss efficiency dividend
Australia’s mining industry could be losing billions in earnings because of the failure to increase productivity in open-cut mines, a new report warns. The Aus
Mincor marks U-turn with more dimes on nickel
Mincor Resources has bulked up its nickel exploration budget after posting a big turnaround in its annual financial results and returning to profitability last financial year. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Telstra has kept billions of dollars in the tank for acquisitions in growth areas like Asia despite raising its dividend and deciding to buy $1 billion of its shares.
Discounter Aldi could almost double sales in five years, challenging Coles’s and Woolworths’ stranglehold over Australia’s $85 billion grocery market.
Page 4: Frustrated Coalition MPs are urging Joe Hockey to adjust his public message, saying the Treasurer’s gaffes are alienating voters in key seats and making the budget harder to sell.
Page 7: Australia Post is the front runner to provide more than $30 billion in Medicare and pharmaceutical benefit payments, paving the way for the federal government to make wholesale cuts to the federal budget.
Page 13: Telstra shareholders and analysts are worried the company’s revenue and profit powerhouse – its mobile division – could be hit by a slowdown in subscriber numbers over the next few years.
Crown Resorts chief executive Rowen Craigie has given a bleak outlook for the company’s local casinos, saying weak consumer sentiment remains a problem and a turnaround in high roller activities may not be sustainable.
Page 15: Fairfax Media returned to the black with full-year net profits of $224 million and promised investors more cost cuts, as management turned its attention to the group’s struggling community newspapers and websites business.
Mineral Resources boss Chris Ellison says steel giant Baosteel will consider the Perth firm’s “capital-lite” option for its giant greenfields West Pilbara iron ore project.
Pay-television service Foxtel will halve the price of its video-on-demand product Presto to $9.99 a month, as the company prepares for the arrival of global powerhouse Netflix and other competitors.
Page 16: UK betting giant Bet365’s Australian arm is being sued by the competition watchdog for offering “freebets” to new customers when in fact customers were forced to risk their own money to qualify for them.
The decision to link increased traffic rights to Australia for Hong Kong airlines with regulatory approvals for Jetstar Hong Kong, demonstrates the budget arm of Qantas Airways does not comply with Hong Kong law, says Cathay Pacific chairman John Slosar.
Page 19: The degree of disruption on construction work at the three liquefied natural gas projects in Gladstone remained hotly disputed on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s crucial result on voting on a revised enterprise agreement from key engineering contractor Bechtel.
The Australian
Page 1: Australian politics is in a “scary’’ and unprecedented new paradigm that has seen it become an “embarrassment on the world stage’’ over the past six years, says the man considered to be one of the most successful Australian businessmen in the world.
Page 2: The Abbott government is a step closer to effectively renationalising Telstra’s 100-year-old copper network after the telco giant agreed in principle to hand over the asset to the government monopoly building the National Broadband Network.
Page 4: Mining industry employment is forecast to slump by 4.5 per cent over the five years to 2018, with more than 16,000 jobs to be lost across exploration, metal ore and coalmining.
The government’s plan to lift fuel tax would hit lower income Australians much harder than the rich and Joe Hockey has understated poorer households’ spending on fuel by between $4.50 and $11.30 a week, new modelling shows.
Page 5: Children should be allowed more than two legal parents, the Family Law Council has advised the federal government in the most sweeping reforms to parenting laws since shared custody.
Page 18: A former environmental adviser to US President Barack Obama has called on the Abbott government to end the political uncertainty over the Renewable Energy Target (RET), warning that international investors in renewable energy projects had a right to expect clearer policy on the issue.
Australia’s mining industry could be losing billions in earnings because of the failure to increase productivity in open-cut mines, a new report warns.
Gas distributor Envestra has finished off its 17 years as an independent company with a flourish, beating guidance by posting a $153 million full-year profit.
Page 19: A new project by Woolworths’ $8 billion-a-year liquor group to offer wines online that are unavailable in-store is generating controversy in the wine industry, only days after principles were agreed with Winemakers Federation of Australia.
Page 20: Optus chief Paul O’Sullivan refused to entertain any negative talk after reporting a drop in profit and revenues in the June quarter, and said the company viewed the results as positive as it hits an “inflection” point.
Page 25: Alliance Aviation Services’ annual net profit more than halved last financial year as the slow-down in the resources sector saw a slump in wet leases and ad hoc flying.
Page 27: Global accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers has recruited two former managing partners at King & Wood Mallesons to build a $100 million legal practice.
The West Australian
Page 5: Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart is eyeing another Kimberley station as part of a spending spree set to make her the nation’s cattle queen.
Page 6: Coalition MPs have berated Joe Hockey for his claim poor people do not own cars or drive long distances but the Treasurer has not done a U-turn over the furore.
Australia’s golden age of piracy looks set to end, with Telstra, the country’s biggest internet provider, declaring it will work with the Government to help stop entertainment “theft”.
Page 7: Colin Barnett has called on Labor MLA Margaret Quirk to resign as chairwoman of a parliamentary committee whose report into the Troy Buswell police investigation was attacked by Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan and the State Solicitor’s Office yesterday.
Page 13: Known as CardioCel, the tissue-engineered WA invention is being used to fix heart defects, particularly in babies and children with a hole in the heart.
Page 17: Retired judges appointed to head the Corruption and Crime Commission will be entitled to a package of up to nearly $700,000 a year, making it the best rewarded job in the WA public sector, under changes introduced in State Parliament yesterday.
Page 18: WA continues to have the worst pay gap in Australia, with men paid 25 per cent more than women.
Business: Mineral Resources could be tempted into spending some of its growing cash pile on Cliffs Natural Resources’ Koolyanobbing iron ore assets, with MinRes boss Chris Ellison yesterday talking up the benefits of putting together the pair’s Yilgarn operations.
Mincor Resources has bulked up its nickel exploration budget after posting a big turnaround in its annual financial results and returning to profitability last financial year.
TFS shares hit a record high after Nestle-owned Galderma was confirmed as the dermatology company behind a breakthrough supply agreement.