Asbestos an NBN issue: Libs
Embattled NBN Co faces potential legal liability for asbestos issues in the National Broadband Network rollout under federal workplace health and safety law, the Coalition warns as it launches a fresh assault on the ‘‘unstable’’ governance of the government company. The Aus
Rudd 'in front' but no putsch
Kevin Rudd’s supporters have declared that, for the first time since he was deposed as prime minister three years ago, he has the numbers in Labor caucus to topple Julia Gillard as leader, but they claim there will still be no leadership change until there is overwhelming support within the party for the former prime minister. The Aus
Labor pushes on with Fair Work changes
Offshore resources projects face higher costs and more red tape under new laws that includes foreign workers on oil and gas projects in Australia's migration zone and requires them to hold visas. The Fin
CSG veto power shared but Greens rebuffed
The commonwealth will gain the power to veto coal-seam gas developments because of potential damage to the water table, but has avoided an even bigger brawl with industry by rejecting the Greens’ demands for tighter environmental laws. The Aus
Second tower signals faith in WA economy
One of Australia's biggest developers, Brookfield Office Properties, has given a ringing endorsement of the WA economy, committing to build a 16-storey office block for 3,500 workers in the city. The West
Top Resources Headlines
Labor pushes on with Fair Work changes
Offshore resources projects face higher costs and more red tape under new laws that includes foreign workers on oil and gas projects in Australia's migration zone and requires them to hold visas. The Fin
CSG veto power shared but Greens rebuffed
The commonwealth will gain the power to veto coal-seam gas developments because of potential damage to the water table, but has avoided an even bigger brawl with industry by rejecting the Greens’ demands for tighter environmental laws. The Aus
Relief for Chevron as gas starts flowing in Angola
Chevron has received a much-needed confidence boost as it battles with the construction timetable of its $US52 billion Gorgon and $US29 billion Wheatstone LNG projects in WA's north after finally being able to celebrate first production of liquefied fuel at its Angola venture. The West
Geologists get creative as boom subsides
The next wave of resources projects in mineral-rich Western Australia is at risk as miners and explorers hold on to cash and cut exploration budgets. The Fin
Analyst got early Newcrest briefing
Goldminer Newcrest conducted a briefing with an analyst that led her to downgrade the company’s valuation weeks before other analysts were also briefed as the scandal engulfing the firm’s disclosure rules widens. The Aus
Top Politics Headlines
Rudd 'in front' but no putsch
Kevin Rudd’s supporters have declared that, for the first time since he was deposed as prime minister three years ago, he has the numbers in Labor caucus to topple Julia Gillard as leader, but they claim there will still be no leadership change until there is overwhelming support within the party for the former prime minister. The Aus
Asbestos an NBN issue: Libs
Embattled NBN Co faces potential legal liability for asbestos issues in the National Broadband Network rollout under federal workplace health and safety law, the Coalition warns as it launches a fresh assault on the ‘‘unstable’’ governance of the government company. The Aus
Labor used private eye to foil leaks
The state opposition was yesterday implicated in its own complaint about the government's use of a private detective after the investigator revealed he had previously examined cyber security at a Labor MP's office. The West
Top Property Headlines
Second tower signals faith in WA economy
One of Australia's biggest developers, Brookfield Office Properties, has given a ringing endorsement of the WA economy, committing to build a 16-storey office block for 3,500 workers in the city. The West
Grylls defends Chevron move
Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls has defended his decision to allow a remote tourist island near Onslow to be converted to fly-in, fly-out accommodation for Chevron's giant Wheatstone project on the basis that the upgraded facilities could eventually become the “Rotto” of the north. The West
Lend Lease sinks on downgrade
Lend Lease boss Steve McCann has moved to reassure the market that the group will still meet its overall profit target for the 2013 financial year after shares in the $6.5 billion company sank almost 8 per cent yesterday on news that the group’s construction earnings would be lower. The Aus
Audit of builders slammed as more 'red-tape burden'
Non-compliant builders face a six-month ban from tendering for commonwealth work, in what employers say is Labor’s attempt to win favour with militant construction unions before the September 14 poll. The Aus
The West Australian
Page 1: Police will test “back to basics” policing with teams of officers set aside from everyday duties to focus their patrols on problem areas.
Page 4: The state opposition was yesterday implicated in its own complaint about the government's use of a private detective after the investigator revealed he had previously examined cyber security at a Labor MP's office.
Page 5: One of Australia's biggest developers has given a ringing endorsement of the WA economy, committing to build a 16-storey office block for 3,500 workers in the city.
Page 6: The Liberal Party expects a strong field in the pre-selection fight to replace Barry Haase in the WA federal seat of Durack.
A row has erupted over the University of WA's decision to slug some of the state's oldest and most prestigious sporting clubs thousands of dollars in annual fees to use McGillivray Oval.
Page 10: Kevin Rudd has promised to do “everything” he can to stop Tony Abbott becoming Prime Minister but Labor MPs are stuck in a stalemate as to whether they will let him.
Page 14: International stage producer John Frost has bemoaned the lack of a lyric theatre in Perth, saying major musicals are not staged in the city because of this missing link in performing arts venues.
Business: Rod Baxter has quit as boss of Calibre Group in the aftermath of a hefty profit downgrade which saw its share price collapse.
A one-time fisherman from Esperance will make more than $75 million from the sale of a marine services company he started with a single chartered boat nine years ago.
Chevron has received a much-needed confidence boost as it battles with the construction timetable of its $US52 billion Gorgon and $US29 billion Wheatstone LNG projects in WA's north after finally being able to celebrate first production of liquefied fuel at its Angola venture.
A rising trend of shareholder activism is increasingly putting junior companies on notice, with Perth-based gold hopeful Bulletin Resources the latest to be caught in the middle of a corporate storm.
Companies linked to China's biggest agricultural conglomerate are being flooded with offers to buy or lease “hundreds of thousands” of hectares of land in the Wheatbelt in the early stages of their bid to create an independent grain supply chain from the Port of Albany.
Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls has defended his decision to allow a remote tourist island near Onslow to be converted to fly-in, fly-out accommodation for Chevron's giant Wheatstone project on the basis that the upgraded facilities could eventually become the “Rotto” of the north.
Toro Energy says production at its Wiluna uranium mine is another step closer, after a four week appeal period on its federal environmental approval passed with no objections.
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: The NSW Coalition government plans to take on almost all the financial risk of one of Australia's biggest infrastructure projects, the $10 billion WestConnex toll road in Sydney, in a new approach likely to be adopted nationwide.
Labor MPs pushing for a leadership spill before Parliament rises for the election are insisting former leader Kevin Rudd break his pledge to not challenge Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The Australian Securities Exchange considered Newcrest Mining's continuous disclosure practices around its production reports last year.
Page 3: The recent rout in global equity markets has wiped more than 3.5 percentage points off 2013 annual superannuation fund returns.
Page 5: Offshore resources projects face higher costs and more red tape under new laws that includes foreign workers on oil and gas projects in Australia's migration zone and requires them to hold visas.
The Gillard government has conceded that new environmental regulations to require federal approval of coal seam gas and coal projects will essentially duplicate state assessments.
Page 11: Small businesses exposed to Western Australia's cooling resources sector are reporting sharp falls in revenue and a pervading sense of pessimism as the boom heads into reverse.
The next wave of resources projects in mineral-rich Western Australia is at risk as miners and explorers hold on to cash and cut exploration budgets.
Major West Australian gas buyers have rejected a push to free producers from being obliged to reserve part of their gas reserves strictly for domestic consumption.
Page 13: Australian companies are missing the boat on forging stronger ties with their Asian counterparts even as competition grows for business deals in the region, Insurance Australia Group chief executive Mike Wilkins says.
Page 15: Ruralco Holdings is preparing an equity capital raising to help finance the possible acquisition of Elders' rural services assets.
Global energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has dominated the latest $180 million government auction of exploration permits, picking up three new licences, while Chinese major CNOOC and France's Total also won areas.
Page 19: The world's largest iron ore miner, Vale, is seeking to use the depreciating Brazilian currency to boost its competitiveness against BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto amid speculation of further Australian job cuts and fears of an oversupply of the steel making commodity.
The Australian
Page 1: Embattled NBN Co faces potential legal liability for asbestos issues in the National Broadband Network rollout under federal workplace health and safety law, the Coalition warns as it launches a fresh assault on the ‘‘unstable’’ governance of the government company.
Kevin Rudd’s supporters have declared that, for the first time since he was deposed as prime minister three years ago, he has the numbers in Labor caucus to topple Julia Gillard as leader, but they claim there will still be no leadership change until there is overwhelming support within the party for the former prime minister.
A major Chinese resources company with close ties to Beijing’s political leadership has emphatically rejected a claim by Clive Palmer that he is being paid $500 million a year in iron ore royalties.
The commonwealth will gain the power to veto coal-seam gas developments because of potential damage to the water table, but has avoided an even bigger brawl with industry by rejecting the Greens’ demands for tighter environmental laws.
Page 4: Non-compliant builders face a six-month ban from tendering for commonwealth work, in what employers say is Labor’s attempt to win favour with militant construction unions before the September 14 poll.
The Coalition will seek to refer Labor’s controversial 457 legislation to a parliamentary inquiry while the Migration Council Australia and two of the nation’s peak employer groups have urged all parliamentarians to reject the package.
Tony Abbott has accused the government of ‘‘trying to buy the result it wants’’ in the local government referendum.
Page 6: The Coalition and Labor must commit to radical policies including a ‘‘single’’ social security payment and pre-school for disadvantaged and vulnerable kids, according to one of the nation’s largest welfare organisations.
Pressure is building on all political parties to rescue Australia’s agricultural sector from the high levels of debt sending hundreds of farmers broke.
Business: Lend Lease boss Steve McCann has moved to reassure the market that the group will still meet its overall profit target for the 2013 financial year after shares in the $6.5 billion company sank almost 8 per cent yesterday on news that the group’s construction earnings would be lower.
The dollar’s coming of age as a global reserve currency has resulted in a $200 billion buying spree by central banks and sovereign wealth funds since the global financial crisis, adding an estimated US6c-US8c to the dollar’s value, according to new analysis.
Goldminer Newcrest conducted a briefing with an analyst that led her to downgrade the company’s valuation weeks before other analysts were also briefed as the scandal engulfing the firm’s disclosure rules widens.
Woolworths has refused to back a political campaign to impose GST on online shopping led by the industry peak body to which it belongs.
Northern Star Resources chief Bill Beament says there has been a structural change across the mining industry that is starting to rein in costs but that much more is needed before global investors will start to return.
The nation’s persistently low unemployment rate means it will avoid recession despite a pervasive mood of economic ‘‘gloom’’, National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne says.
The head of the nation’s biggest mortgage broker has lashed out at the state of competition in banking and other industries, saying large companies are using ‘‘compound leverage to destroy other businesses’’.
The banks’ year-long decline in wholesale funding costs has come to an abrupt end amid signals the US Federal Reserve may begin tapering its massive stimulus program, putting in doubt more generous cuts to mortgage rates than Reserve Bank official rate movements.
Skilled Group is lifting its exposure to the oil and gas sectors after agreeing to acquire a Northern Territory-based marine contractor for $75.5 million, as the labour-hire company looks to invest higher up the value chain.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Page 1: The Tax Office has declared war on the top end of town accountants and lawyers who have helped Australians avoid tax by setting up secretive offshore companies and trusts.
Page 2: NSW Treasurer Mike Baird says he has "tamed the beast" of spiralling expenses in the state by cutting thousands of jobs and capping wage rises for public servants during the first two years of the O'Farrell government.
Page 3: The United Nations refugee agency has expressed alarm at a "sharp deterioration" in the quality of protection for asylum seekers coming by boat and a "worrying erosion" of public support for asylum in Australia.
World: Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor turned whistleblower, has obtained a wider range of materials about US government surveillance than had been known, including one document detailing how American and British intelligence eavesdropped on world leaders at a conference in London in 2009.
Business: Mining magnate Clive Palmer's Mineralogy budgeted to burn through more than $40 million in cash in the first half of last year, financial accounts show, and spent more on aviation expenses than on drilling, exploration and mining.
Sport: Blake Ferguson's playing future is in doubt after he was accused of indecent assault during a drinking session with former Canberra Raiders teammate Josh Dugan before they joined the NSW Origin camp.
The Daily Telegraph
Page 1: With Julia Gillard's leadership on the brink, her supporters will on Tuesday push to defer a key vote in the Labor caucus to strip the prime minister of powers to appoint the ministry, for fear it could be seen as a proxy vote of no-confidence.
Page 2: Every business in NSW will save an average of more than $3000 a year per employee with the state government to raise the threshold for payroll tax in a bid to create thousands of jobs.
Page 3: NSW State of Origin star Blake Ferguson has been arrested and charged with indecently assaulting a woman at a Sydney nightclub.
World: British spies intercepted the calls and monitored the computers of foreign politicians and officials during two G20 summit meetings in 2009, with some delegates being tricked into using bugged internet cafes, The Guardian reports.
Sport: The Socceroos are on the verge of qualifying for Brazil 2014, but skipper Lucas Neill insists no one is dancing the samba just yet.
The Age
Page 1: The Socceroos aren't doing the Samba just yet as they prepare to play Iraq in the final World Cup qualifier. A report has found that a Victoria Police investigation into the violent death of a patient at a state-run psychiatric hospital was inadequate.
Page 2: Victoria Police want Slater & Gordon documents to frame charges over the AWU slush fund scandal. An oak tree in the backyard of an historic shop in the CBD has been granted heritage protection.
Page 3: The coalition says it will send back refugees who break the law. There's social media outrage over a radio commentator Dee Dee Dunleavy implying women should boycott UK celebrity Nigella Lawson's books until she makes a stand on domestic violence.
World: Documents from US whistleblower Edward Snowden show American and British intelligence eavesdropped on world leaders at a 2009 London conference.
Finance: Shares in diversified property group Lend Lease have plummeted after a warning the global construction sector deteriorated in the past six months.
Sport: Mark Williams and Rodney Eade are in the mix to take over as coach at embattled AFL club Melbourne after Mark Neeld was shown the door.
The Herald Sun
Page 1: Police are determined to hunt down a hoon biker who hit 273km/h on the Hume Highway. Paul Roos says he'd take the call from Melbourne if they approached him to be coach.
Page 2: There's a push to force the states to raise the drinking age to 21, and for it to be linked to federal government roads funding. City council has moved to start charging for the Docklands free tourist bus, but there's fears it will hurt business.
Page 3: A new-look Circus Oz act comes with breathtaking acrobatics and plenty of tomfoolery. Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy has slammed local government national referendum funding as a $10 million waste.
World: 51 people have died in a string of bombings and shootings across Iraq.
Finance: A gloomy outlook from Lend Lease has spooked investors who sent the shares tumbling.
Sport: Melbourne is ready to make Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos an offer he can't refuse after the Demons sacked Mark Neeld.