Morning Headlines

Push for more festive shopping

WA’s peak business body has called for a radical change to trading hours over Christmas, with shops to open from 6am Monday to Saturday and for 12 hours on public holidays. The West

Fortescue boss won’t roll over

Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power says BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will be “sadly disappointed” if their aggressive expansion plans are aimed at knocking out the nation’s third-biggest iron ore producer. The Fin

IMO fights back on cost rises

The independent body that runs the wholesale electricity market has accused State-owned energy provider Synergy of entering into poorly designed contracts that leave consumers to pick up the bill. The West

Bumpy ride for WA’s economy

WA’s economy is in for a bumpy ride over the next two years as it transitions from the construction phase to the export phase amid unpredictable commodity prices, an economic forecaster has warned. The West

Abbott puts GST hike on the table

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has opened the door to a radical tax mix shift which would increase the clout of the states at the cost of Canberra, saying the federal government is open to reforms that “improve” the states’ indirect tax base with “compensating reductions in income tax”. The Fin

AFL to make its mark on rights

The AFL is set to negotiate the richest sports deal in Australian television history, with an opening bid of $1.5 billion-$1.6bn. The Aus

Seven faces key test in Nexus bid

Seven Group Holdings’ bid to take over Nexus Energy without paying anything for the shares in the debt-laden explorer faces a critical test this week as the corporate regulator decides whether the controversial $180-million deal can proceed. The Fin

Retail giants take the fight to regulators

Australia’s biggest and most powerful retailers will hold a series of closed-door meetings with senior politicians and regulators in Canberra today. The Aus

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has opened the door to a radical tax mix shift which would increase the clout of the states at the cost of Canberra, saying the federal government is open to reforms that “improve” the states’ indirect tax base with “compensating reductions in income tax”.

Page 5: Billionaire politician Clive Palmer will pay his refinery workers an 11 per cent superannuation contribution, despite his deal with the Abbott government to freeze mandatory super for the rest of the work force at 9.5 per cent.

An apparent softening of opposition to the government’s Direct Action plan by Clive Palmer has boosted Coalition confidence that, in combination with concessions to Nick Xenophon, it will be able to legislate a climate change policy as early as this week.

Page 8: Europe’s top energy official has launched a push to use Australian liquefied natural gas to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian energy supplies, potentially opening a massive new market for one of Australia’s most valuable exports.

Page 12: Murdoch University vice-chancellor Richard Higgott has resigned, weeks after the Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission announced a probe into his conduct.

Page 13: BlueScope Steel chief executive Paul O’Malley says the days of high growth in Chinese steel demand are over and customers of the steel giant are moving from China back to the United States where energy costs are lower.

Quadrant Private Equity is accelerating plans for a float of its $1 billion-plus aged care operator Estia Health, to tap strong investor interest in the industry.

Page 15: Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power says BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will be “sadly disappointed” if their aggressive expansion plans are aimed at knocking out the nation’s third-biggest iron ore producer.

Coca-Cola Amatil and its US partner, The Coca-Cola Co, will this week launch their first new cola product for seven years, Coke Life, as CCA chief executive Alison Watkins releases the outcome of a strategic review that will dramatically rebase earnings.

Seven Group Holdings’ bid to take over Nexus Energy without paying anything for the shares in the debt-laden explorer faces a critical test this week as the corporate regulator decides whether the controversial $180-million deal can proceed.

Page 18: BHP Billiton marketing boss Mike Henry knows better than most that it is impossible to perfect the elusive art of economic modelling, saying: “We are going to be wrong; the question is by how much.”

Page 32: China’s ravenous demand for Australian beef could soon lead to some major cattle station purchases, with one of several Chinese importers, Snow Dragon Group, looking to buy land.

The Australian

Page 1: Tax reform will be essential if Australia wants to improve health and education and halt dangerous erosion in state services, according to a bipartisan reform plan that throws powerful support behind Tony Abbott’s call to fix the federation.

Labor will pump $1.3 billion into education and skills as its Victorian leader Daniel Andrews promised yesterday to revive the technical school system and spend heavily on rebuilding and upgrading campuses, despite the billions splurged on infrastructure after the global financial crisis.

Page 2: China is at risk of a financial collapse that would turn Australia’s budget deficits into a “fiscal fiasco”.

Trade Minister Andrew Robb has slapped down critics who claim a proposed trade deal for Pacific nations including the US and Japan will lead to Australians paying more for pharmaceuticals.

Page 4: Labor’s victory in two NSW by-elections has given it the advantage of incumbency in the general election next March, but the result showed it still has a way to go to regain the confidence of voters.

The clean energy sector has hit back at Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane’s criticism that changes to the renewable energy target should not be news to the industry, saying the overhaul represents a broken promise.

Page 5: Fresh from a win against merging two indigenous economic bodies, Dawn Casey will lobby politicians to support a $2 billion “land account’’ to be managed by the Future Fund.     

Page 17: Australia’s biggest and most powerful retailers will hold a series of closed-door meetings with senior politicians and regulators in Canberra today.

The corporate cop has made a fresh bid for new powers to obtain intercepted telecommunications information, arguing the National Broadband Network rollout will help render some traditional sources of intelligence of “very little use”.

The billionaire Perich family is working on ploughing as much as $100 million into its dairy empire in a bid to capitalise on soaring demand for milk products in Asia and to encourage more farmers to return to the industry.

Page 18: Coles is resisting a push by the competition regulator to fuse the two unconscionable conduct cases launched against it into a single court action, preferring to fight each court battle separately to give it a better chance of success as well as protecting the reputation of its most senior executives.

Page 19: Fortescue Metals Group chief financial officer Steve Pearce believes the iron ore miner can still make more early debt repayments this financial year, even if iron ore prices do not improve.

Page 23: The AFL is set to negotiate the richest sports deal in Australian television history, with an opening bid of $1.5 billion-$1.6bn.

Page 25: The digital revolution at sports stadiums will allow fans to order beer from their seats, re-watch game plays from different angles and have flawless mobile phone connectivity all the time with high-density WiFi.

The West Australian

Page 1: WA’s peak business body has called for a radical change to trading hours over Christmas, with shops to open from 6am Monday to Saturday and for 12 hours on public holidays.

Page 3: Motorcycle riders and their passengers accounted for one third of the catastrophically injured who made third-party insurance claims in the past four years, despite motorbikes representing just 5.5 per cent of registered vehicles in WA.

Page 9: One in five Perth buses is still running late, despite figures showing a slight improvement this year.

Page 10: Tony Abbott has opened the door to making major changes to the GST — but only if the States are willing to share the political pain.

Turning back asylum seeker boats is on the verge of becoming bipartisan policy after Labor signalled it might continue the arrangement, despite opposing the hard-line tactic for six years in government.

Page 14: WA’s economy is in for a bumpy ride over the next two years as it transitions from the construction phase to the export phase amid unpredictable commodity prices, an economic forecaster has warned.

Page 19: Swan Valley wineries have had some of the biggest visitor numbers on record, sparking renewed optimism in the industry about the valley’s tourism future.

Business: The independent body that runs the wholesale electricity market has accused State-owned energy provider Synergy of entering into poorly designed contracts that leave consumers to pick up the bill.

Norwegian giant Statoil, one of the world’s biggest energy companies, has made its first push into WA after picking up a remote exploration permit off the Pilbara coast.