Morning Headlines

Sub 161 set to broaden its horizons with $50m float

Virtual pipeline company Sub 161 is understood to be heading toward a public listing in the first part of 2015 as it looks to expand beyond its foundation project involving gas supply to Fortescue Metals’s Solomon Hub iron ore operation in Western Australia. The Fin

Rejigged Pluton optimistic on raising

Troubled iron ore producer Pluton Resources is still teetering on the edge, despite again restructuring arrangements with its major creditors and declaring late yesterday it has met the $47.5 million minimum subscription threshold on its 1¢-a-share capital raising. The West

Mermaid wharfies to walk

The wharfies’ union says only legal intervention or an employer climb-down would prevent the third strike it has threatened at a key oil and gas supply base in the Pilbara going ahead tomorrow. The West

Canberra’s raw deal for WA spans decades

Treasurer Mike Nahan has declared that WA’s historic debt to the other States for fiscal equalisation has been more than paid back with interest. The West

MUA organises Dampier strike

Members of the militant Maritime Union of Australia plan to strike at Dampier in northern Western Australia in a protracted dispute with Mermaid Marine that could hit Chevron’s $US54 billion Gorgon project. The Fin

Norton hedges

Norton Gold Fields has continued its program of hedging, forward selling a further 75,000 ounces of gold from its Paddington operation near Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The West

BHP sounds alarm over China’s tariffs

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, has labelled China’s move to impose a tariff on coal imports as “worrying” and called for a constructive resolution of free-trade talks to ensure Australia’s global competitiveness is not further hit. The Aus

Qantas foreign ownership nears limit

Qantas Airways is close to breaching its 49 per cent foreign ownership cap for the first time since a failed $11.1 billion private equity takeover bid in 2007, in a situation that has placed pressure on its share price. The Fin

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has promised his full backing for Australia’s coal industry, delivering a blow to the anti-fossil fuel movement and putting pressure on the Labor opposition to choose between the environment or jobs.

A secret £4 million ($7 million) payment to Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung by UGL was agreed on the same day a rival bidder trumped UGL’s offer for his property firm by around £100 million.

Page 5: Liberal country MPs want pressure groups held legally responsible for falsely accusing businesses of poor environmental or unethical practices, a change that could cause big headaches for prominent environmental groups.

Page 7: Members of the militant Maritime Union of Australia plan to strike at Dampier in northern Western Australia in a protracted dispute with Mermaid Marine that could hit Chevron’s $US54 billion Gorgon project.

Page 11: Quality assurance and compliance company SAI Global will accelerate a cost-cutting and restructuring push including the creation of a single sales force across its main divisions, after scrapping the final stage of a sale process.

Page 13: Qantas Airways is close to breaching its 49 per cent foreign ownership cap for the first time since a failed $11.1 billion private equity takeover bid in 2007, in a situation that has placed pressure on its share price.

Telstra must not be overcompensated for falling consumer demand on its copper network, according to regulatory experts and senior industry figures.

Page 15: Beijing’s move to close coal-fired power plants with high levels of pollution and to restrict coal use has led to an increased Chinese appetite for Australian gas assets, according to Helman Sitohang, head of the investment bank for Credit Suisse Asia Pacific.

Page 17: Virtual pipeline company Sub 161 is understood to be heading toward a public listing in the first part of 2015 as it looks to expand beyond its foundation project involving gas supply to Fortescue Metals’s Solomon Hub iron ore operation in Western Australia.

The Australian

Page 3: Australians are less prone to die from cancer, are richer, better educated and even taller than they have ever been, according to a new report into Australian living standards that argues that further gains are under threat from excessive government regulation and taxes.

Giant combine harvesters have started cutting their way through the endless wheat and canola fields of Esperance and northern South Australia as the national grain harvest cranks into gear.

Page 4: Tony Abbott will use the presence of Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Brisbane to “shirtfront’’ the Russian President to demand he co-operate with the criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

China is imposing a 6 per cent tariff on imported coal from tomorrow chiefly to seek advantage from the Abbott government’s rush to conclude a free-trade agreement, opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said yesterday.

Page 6: University research funding and grants will be weighted towards commercial outcomes rather than the number of research papers academics publish, under the government’s competitiveness blueprint to be released today.

Page 7: The Northern Territory’s push to change land rights law to unblock development risks opening a debate that could destroy consensus on the referendum for constitutional recognition, elder statesmen have warned.

Page 19: Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore has urged the Murray inquiry and regulators to closely consider the cost of new regulation and warned that the trade-off could lead to lost opportunities for the nation and poorer services to customers.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, has labelled China’s move to impose a tariff on coal imports as “worrying” and called for a constructive resolution of free-trade talks to ensure Australia’s global competitiveness is not further hit.

Page 20: Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp has revealed it is on the hunt to join and finance infrastructure projects in Australia as it seeks to boost non-resource sector profits and diversify its investment portfolio.

Page 21: The retail component of Arrium’s capital raising has resulted with the company netting just $6 million — almost $284m less than it hoped to secure — in what has proved to be a public relations disaster for its underwriter UBS and a bleak chapter for the company.

ASX-listed West African gold specialist companies are increasingly coming under the takeover spotlight from their Canadian counterparts.

Page 23: BT Financial Group might have come late to the scramble of wealth groups demanding higher standards of education from its advisers but it is something of a pathfinder in yesterday announcing the equivalent of TripAdvisor for financial advice clients.

Page 28: The heads of departments and agencies will have unprecedented power to determine whether personal information can be hosted offshore while public entities such as NBN Co and the Reserve Bank will be exempted from Canberra’s “cloud-first” policy.

Page 30: As the dust settles on UniSuper’s public stoush with Westfield and the Lowy family over the company’s restructure, the $41 billion super fund reveals it now views its near $1 billion investment in Scentre as “high risk” due to the shopping centre owner’s high gearing.

The West Australian

Page 1: Treasurer Mike Nahan has declared that WA’s historic debt to the other States for fiscal equalisation has been more than paid back with interest.

Page 4: An overhaul of the national curriculum which recommends reducing overcrowding to focus more on literacy and numeracy in early primary school has been mostly welcomed in WA.

WA universities face a double blow next year because of a big drop in school leavers and falling demand from mature-age students.

Page 10: Perth motorists are being short-changed as petrol prices fall in every other major capital city in the nation.

Business: There is mounting chatter in commodities circles that the oil price is falling just as fast as iron ore because major producers are ramping up output to put pressure on new market entrants.

Troubled iron ore producer Pluton Resources is still teetering on the edge, despite again restructuring arrangements with its major creditors and declaring late yesterday it has met the $47.5 million minimum subscription threshold on its 1¢-a-share capital raising.

Scores of pastoralists have failed to reduce stock numbers and comply with other land management orders in the countdown to leases covering 87 million hectares of WA expiring.

Norton Gold Fields has continued its program of hedging, forward selling a further 75,000 ounces of gold from its Paddington operation near Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

The wharfies’ union says only legal intervention or an employer climb-down would prevent the third strike it has threatened at a key oil and gas supply base in the Pilbara going ahead tomorrow.