Rudd calls post-boom election
Kevin Rudd has placed trust and economic management at the heart of Labor's campaign for re-election on September 7, while Tony Abbott has pinned his hopes on the Coalition's economic and border protection track record and the stability it has shown in recent years. The Fin
Underdog PM, ALP fade with the voters
Kevin Rudd’s personal support among voters has slumped back to levels last seen before he was removed as prime minister in 2010 as he opened the 2013 election campaign by declaring himself the ‘‘ underdog’’. The Aus
Rate cut to fuel battle on economy
The Reserve Bank will court political controversy if it hands down the expected interest rate cut at tomorrow’s board meeting, with the government likely to seize on the move as proof Labor is best-qualified to manage an economy facing challenges. The Aus
Sigh of relief as uncertainty ends
Business leaders have welcomed the announcement of the September 7 federal election, saying it will remove some of the uncertainty — the so-called Canberra discount — that has plagued consumer and business confidence in the last few years. The Aus
Barnett strikes deal for dual disability scheme
Midland and its surrounds have firmed as a likely launch site for the Commonwealth's DisabilityCare program in WA after Colin Barnett became the last state leader to sign up to the historic reform. The West
$2bn gas base trade-off hope
Colin Barnett has hinted the Woodside Browse consortium would need to fund a $2 billion oil and gas supply base at James Price Point in return for keeping key Browse Basin retention leases. The West
State won't help to get diggers out of a hole
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has ruled out giving royalty relief to gold and nickel miners who have been pummelled by the sharp fall in commodity prices. The Fin
Fortescue probed on 'insolvent trading'
Senior executives of Andrew “Twiggy’’ Forrest’s Fortescue Minerals Group face examination by a liquidator over allegations the group traded while insolvent during last year’s iron ore price slump, causing it to wrongfully terminate a contract worth more than $8 million. The Aus
Canada mine may be better than WA
Chevron has hinted at a lack of alignment between partners in its $52 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas venture over an expansion and signalled the addition of a fourth train may be less attractive than its rival project in western Canada. The Fin
The West Australian
Page 1: Kevin Rudd has sought to make trust and economic management the defining issues of the September election, saying Australians should ask themselves who will better navigate the post-China boom years.
Page 3: Serious fine defaulters can expect to be targeted at their homes by sheriffs calling the wheel-clamp their cars or confiscate their number plates from this month under tough new enforcement laws.
Page 4: Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott need to win just a handful of seats to govern in their own right after three years of the nation's first hung Parliament since the 1940s.
Page 6: The Liberal Party has left open the door to rejecting key tax increases as the first days of the election campaign are set to be dominated by which party can best manage the budget.
Page 7: Midland and its surrounds have firmed as a likely launch site for the Commonwealth's DisabilityCare program in WA after Colin Barnett became the last state leader to sign up to the historic reform.
Page 8: Lowering university entry requirements to get more students in has “sent the wrong message” about the quality of education at Murdoch University, according to one of its top academics.
Page 12: Airline passenger and air cargo traffic – said to be the best barometer of the world's economy – is on the increase, giving rise to cautious optimism that the worst of the global downturn may be over.
Business: Colin Barnett has hinted the Woodside Browse consortium would need to fund a $2 billion oil and gas supply base at James Price Point in return for keeping key Browse Basin retention leases.
Top shelf accounting firm Deloitte has pointed the finger at some resources companies for not realising the full value of mining projects amid a combination of excess enthusiasm, emotional attachment, narrow focus and big egos.
WA's biggest home builder ABN Group has pleaded for the Reserve Bank to cut official interest rates, arguing it would deliver a much-needed boost to the economy.
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Kevin Rudd has placed trust and economic management at the heart of Labor's campaign for re-election on September 7, while Tony Abbott has pinned his hopes on the Coalition's economic and border protection track record and the stability it has shown in recent years.
Australian Agricultural Company is considering an equity raising to reduce its mounting debt and to pay for the construction of an $85 million abattoir in Darwin that it says will make it a vertically integrated beef producer.
Financial markets are pricing in a 91 per cent chance of an interest rate cut at Tuesday's meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Page 3: Low stock levels and a rise in homebuyer appetite, supported by low interest rates, have spurred competition for quality homes, which may increase now the uncertainty of the election date has now been erased.
Page 6: Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has left open the option of adopting the government's levy on $700 billion of insured bank deposits as it emerged that a change of heart by Treasury was a decisive factor in Labor's surprise new impost.
The Parliamentary Budget Office has told the Coalition it can save around $5 billion from its plan to cut 12,000 public service jobs – some $2 billion more than the figure claimed by Labor – as a war about the opposition's bottom line began after the release of Labor's economic statement.
Page 10: Australia's debt is set to hit European-style levels by mid-century unless the next government winds back spending or boosts taxes, according to an analysis of the budget based on Friday's economic statement.
The Coalition has promised to abolish the mining tax, which in the August 2 economic statement was downgraded for the fifth time to raise $4 billion.
Page 11: Unions will step up their election campaign by airing television advertisements that take a “more political edge” against Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Page 13: The Rudd government has sought to turn the future of the local car industry into an election issue, confirming $200 million in funding and a mandate for the Commonwealth to buy only Australian-made passenger vehicles.
Page 19: Caution is poised to reign this profit season as the fragile domestic economy, jumpy markets and weak commodity prices cause Australia's biggest companies to issue wary guidance for the 2014 financial year.
Page 20: The latest front in the battle between Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia for high-yielding business traffic between the east coast and Perth doesn't involve nicer lounges, flat bed seats or gourmet meals from celebrity chefs.
Page 21: West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has ruled out giving royalty relief to gold and nickel miners who have been pummelled by the sharp fall in commodity prices.
Chevron has hinted at a lack of alignment between partners in its $52 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas venture over an expansion and signalled the addition of a fourth train may be less attractive than its rival project in western Canada.
The Australian
Page 1: Trust on economic management has been thrust to the centre of the election campaign after Kevin Rudd declared Labor best able to handle the challenges of the end of the mining boom, and Tony Abbott accused the government of a budget ‘‘spend-a-thon’’.
Kevin Rudd’s personal support among voters has slumped back to levels last seen before he was removed as prime minister in 2010 as he opened the 2013 election campaign by declaring himself the ‘‘ underdog’’.
Kevin Rudd’s inner circle held its usual 6am conference call yesterday, knowing that school funding and disability care would be the big issues for the day, but with no sense the breakthroughs on both would help set the election date.
Page 2: Tony Abbott will need to find savings at least as large as the $17 billion in cuts announced by Labor last Friday to meet his election vow to improve on the government’s fiscal position, as he promises full disclosure of his policy costings.
Page 3: TheReserve Bank will court political controversy if it hands down the expected interest rate cut at tomorrow’s board meeting, with the government likely to seize on the move as proof Labor is best-qualified to manage an economy facing challenges.
Page 4: Tony Abbott has definitively ruled out forming a Coalition minority government if the election returns a hung parliament, saying he would refuse to cut deals with cross-benchers. Page 5: Labor will move today to ease a feud with the tertiary education sector by outlining ways to cut burdens on universities so they are ‘‘free to flourish’’ without unnecessary interference from Canberra.
Tony Abbott will run a campaign painting Labor and Kevin Rudd as the architects of drastic rises in the cost of living.
Page 7: The government looks poised to claim some early success in the election battle over asylum-seekers, with some of the boat people transferred to Manus Island last week seeking to return home.
Page 8: Kevin Rudd’s eleventh hour-deal on school funding with two conservative states has defused education as a key election issue.
The national disability insurance scheme will finally be a national program after weeks of negotiations between Kevin Rudd and West Australian Premier Colin Barnett ended with a phone call on Saturday night — and a key concession.
Business: Business leaders have welcomed the announcement of the September 7 federal election, saying it will remove some of the uncertainty — the so-called Canberra discount — that has plagued consumer and business confidence in the last few years.
The troubled Middle Eastern subsidiary of construction giant Leighton Holdings has launched legal action against a company controlled by one of the most powerful sheiks in Qatar following a dispute over a $ US325 million ($ 365m) construction project in Doha.
Australia's oldest and largest listed cattle empire, the Australian Agricultural Company (AAco), has confirmed a report that it is considering a capital-raising share issue to fund its future expansion as a beef export business.
Senior executives of Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Minerals Group face examination by a liquidator over allegations the group traded while insolvent during last year’s iron ore price slump, causing it to wrongfully terminate a contract worth more than $8 million.
Global capital expenditure on LNG facilities will skyrocket to nearly $ 228 billion in 2013- 17, an increase of 109 per cent over the preceding five years, a new report predicts.
The weakest profit outcome from the resources sector since the global financial crisis is expected to result in flat corporate earnings in 2013 when the earnings seasons kicks off this week, with a better performance from industrial companies taking up the slack.
More evidence that the mining boom has run out of puff is on its way as industry leaders Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton set about reporting sharply lower profit results, along with a new zeal for cost-cutting and capital discipline in response to weaker commodity prices and concerns about global economic growth.