$18bn boost from China trade deal
Tony Abbott and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to shake hands on a trade deal in Canberra next Monday that will lift exports and cut the price of consumer goods, adding at least $18 billion to the Australian economy over a decade. The Aus
Warning on pastoral leases
Pastoralists will get formal offers to renew leases covering about 87 million hectares of WA over the next few days as the State Government steps up its efforts to avoid a land management nightmare. The West
Rio denies price collusion
Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh has defended the Anglo-Australian mining giant’s iron ore supply expansion and dismissed claims that the strategy was coordinated among global producers to drive out competition as “absolute nonsense”. The Aus
Woodside studies regasification plant to meet domestic obligation
Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the Browse liquefied natural gas project are working on a study into the regasification of LNG in Western Australia’s southwest. The Aus
Watpac wants Pluton mining to resume
Contractor Watpac says the only real option for Pluton Resources’ suspended Cockatoo Island iron ore mine is to keep operating under the direction of its receivers and bringing in revenue. The Fin
Flannery call for climate discussions
Environmental lobby groups are increasing the heat on the Abbott government ahead of the G20 Summit in Brisbane this week, issuing two reports showing Australia lags the rest of the world in combating climate change. The Fin
Gas reserves won’t lower cost, says BCA
The Business Council of Australia has declared that quarantining gas for domestic use will not curb the explosion in gas prices, rejecting calls for reservation policies by manufacturers reeling from soaring gas prices. The Aus
CPC looks to Asian region to beef up market
Australia’s largest privately owned beef producer, Consolidated Pastoral Company, expects more than half its revenue to come from the Asian region within two years as it pursues partnership opportunities in China, Indonesia and new markets such as Vietnam. The Aus
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Time Warner approached embattled broadcaster Ten Network about a $680 million takeover bid in another sign big American media companies are turning to regions such as Australia for growth.
Page 3: Secret documents obtained by The Australian Financial Review show Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation reported a $US1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) profit in 2009 that depended on a favourable Luxembourg tax ruling.
Page 5: The baby boom of the past 15 years will produce the biggest group of young people Australia has ever seen.
Page 11: Environmental lobby groups are increasing the heat on the Abbott government ahead of the G20 Summit in Brisbane this week, issuing two reports showing Australia lags the rest of the world in combating climate change.
Page 17: The new head of James Packer’s $6 billion investment empire says family controlled businesses have more scope to tap into the growing Asian middle class because they are free from the short-term constraints of ordinary listed companies.
Boral chairman Bob Every has estimated the company has lost $10 million from its ongoing legal battle with the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union but insists his chief executive Mike Kane will not back down from his fight over secondary boycotts in the construction industry.
Page 19: The managing director of Diageo Australia, which sells brands including Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Bundaberg Rum, believes Coles will eventually be able to reinvigorate its liquor retail business to be a much stronger competitor against rival Woolworths.
Page 35: Qantas will invest an estimated $15 million in the coming year in the biggest brand advertising overhaul for the airline since former chief executive Geoff Dixon hatched a plan with John Singleton to use Peter Allen’s I Still Call Australia Home soundtrack in 1997.
Page 40: Contractor Watpac says the only real option for Pluton Resources’ suspended Cockatoo Island iron ore mine is to keep operating under the direction of its receivers and bringing in revenue.
The Australian
Page 1: Tony Abbott and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to shake hands on a trade deal in Canberra next Monday that will lift exports and cut the price of consumer goods, adding at least $18 billion to the Australian economy over a decade.
Page 2: Business is warning that Australia’s push to become an affordable-energy super power is at risk as resources projects face growing competition from North America, Brazil and East Africa and rising costs damage local industries.
Page 3: Dozens of childcare training colleges have been caught churning out graduates who cannot change nappies, supervise children or write English.
Page 6: The Business Council of Australia has declared that quarantining gas for domestic use will not curb the explosion in gas prices, rejecting calls for reservation policies by manufacturers reeling from soaring gas prices.
Page 19: One of Australia’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities has been accused of a string of violations, including poor monitoring of sterile conditions and having impurities in its medicines, after an inspection by US government officials.
Australia’s largest privately owned beef producer, Consolidated Pastoral Company, expects more than half its revenue to come from the Asian region within two years as it pursues partnership opportunities in China, Indonesia and new markets such as Vietnam.
Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the Browse liquefied natural gas project are working on a study into the regasification of LNG in Western Australia’s southwest.
Page 21: Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh has defended the Anglo-Australian mining giant’s iron ore supply expansion and dismissed claims that the strategy was coordinated among global producers to drive out competition as “absolute nonsense”.
BHP Billiton is two weeks away from providing more detail around its NewCo spin-off, as well as the depth of cuts to annual capital expenditure plans to below an already re-based $US14 billion ($16.2bn).
The West Australian
Page 3: In a major coup for organisers, the all-conquering US swim team has agreed to compete in this summer’s BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series.
Page 6: Australia has been labelled a global “laggard” on the roll-out of renewable energy, with investment in cleaner, greener power plunging 70 per cent amid continuing uncertainty over the national target.
Work at one of WA’s only two coal mines has stopped for the third time in five months amid a continuing dispute between the contractor that runs the project and its Indian owners.
Page 7: WA is set to be the nation’s biggest winner from a free trade deal between Australia and China with skills gained by workers in the mining boom to translate into even more jobs over the coming decade.
The WA health system set an unwanted record over the past three months with the highest ambulance ramping figures on record for an August, September or October.
Page 16: Aussie executive chairman John Symond, the man who broke the big banks’ stranglehold on home loans, says confidence in WA’s housing market is behind a State-wide expansion.
Business: Pastoralists will get formal offers to renew leases covering about 87 million hectares of WA over the next few days as the State Government steps up its efforts to avoid a land management nightmare.
The family of richest man in Perthshire, Scotland, has helped turn an Ikea franchise into arguably the most successful retail business in Perth, Australia.
