Morning Headlines

GST rise in too-hard basket

Treasurer Joe Hockey has hosed down expectations the Abbott government will attempt to increase the GST next term as a lack of economic and political capital threatens its reform agenda. The Fin

Flight Centre in brace position for drop in full-year earnings

Flight Centre has warned that full-year earnings could fall as much as 4 per cent as weak consumer sentiment in Australia forces agents to discount ticket prices in order to stimulate demand. The Fin

GrainCorp: 2015 will be a ‘challenging’ year

Dry weather decimated GrainCorp’s earnings in 2013-14, but chief executive Mark Palmquist said the grains giant is facing an even smaller crop as drought hits growers on Australia’s east coast. The Fin

Texan pumps up buyout price

Christmas has come early for Resource Equipment shareholders in the form of a Texan billionaire prepared to pay an 86 per cent premium for the struggling mining services company. The West

Oil price dive gives renewables the jitters

Crashing oil and gas prices have added fresh uncertainty to the future of green power subsidies that underpin billions of dollars’ worth of investments in renewable energy projects around the world. The Aus

Telstra designs new deal for NBN

Telstra is set to pick up more than 50 per cent of the design and planning work for the National Broadband Network in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the company. The Aus

Big V drags down WA growth rate

One of WA’s economic fundamentals, population growth, has shuddered to its slowest pace in eight years as Victorians turn their backs on the West. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Treasurer Joe Hockey has hosed down expectations the Abbott government will attempt to increase the GST next term as a lack of economic and political capital threatens its reform agenda.

Page 3: It was a $660 million deal that shot former textiles trader Paul Fudge into the league of richlisters; the sale by his resources exploration company Pangaea Group of a substantial coal seam gas deposit in Queensland’s Surat Basin to Origin Energy.

Page 4: The two contentious toll road projects earmarked to receive $6.5 billion in federal funds as part of Tony Abbott’s promise to be the “infrastructure prime minister” are in disarray amid doubts about whether they represent value for taxpayer money.

Page 6: Attorney-General George Brandis has demanded that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation explain why it dropped a two-year investigation into Sydney hostage siege gunman Man Haron Monis in 2009.

Page 10: At a time when Chinese home property prices are down, ASX-listed property company Lionhub Group is going ahead with the building of a business park, the Singapore Xuancheng Technology Park in the province of Anhui, three hours from Shanghai.

Page 13: Fairfax Media and John Singleton’s Macquarie Radio network are days away from finalising a $200 million talkback radio merger less than a year after talks collapsed in bitter circumstances.

The competition regulator has approved the merger of Boral and CSR’s east coast brick businesses, freeing up valuable land for both companies and giving Boral a reason not to exit Australian brick manufacturing.

Flight Centre has warned that full-year earnings could fall as much as 4 per cent as weak consumer sentiment in Australia forces agents to discount ticket prices in order to stimulate demand.

Page 15: Woolworths buyers have told suppliers their products could be pulled from shelves just days before Christmas if they refuse to fund the supermarket giant’s new Cheap Cheap advertising campaign.

Dry weather decimated GrainCorp’s earnings in 2013-14, but chief executive Mark Palmquist said the grains giant is facing an even smaller crop as drought hits growers on Australia’s east coast.

Page 17: Perpetual Investments group executive Michael Gordon says the current volatility sweeping global markets could throw up opportunities for the group’s newly listed invested company, Perpetual Equity Investment.

Page 22: Both crude oil and liquefied natural gas prices are likely to face further downward pressure into 2015, forcing producers to adapt to a weaker short-term environment before conditions improve.

The Australian

Page 2: In a major boost for its hi-tech defence and aviation industries, Australia has been selected by the US Defence Department as a major Asia-Pacific regional hub to repair and maintain the new Joint Strike Fighter.

Melbourne might have the elegant boulevards, a fondness for high culture and a brown river, but among Australia’s cities only Sydney comes anywhere near European levels of population density, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed.

The federal government has moved to shut down debate on GST reform in the wake of calls to lift the consumption tax to 15 per cent as a way to tackle the financial pressures on Canberra and the states.

Page 5: Crashing oil and gas prices have added fresh uncertainty to the future of green power subsidies that underpin billions of dollars’ worth of investments in renewable energy projects around the world.

Page 9: The US and Cuba yesterday ended five decades of Cold War hostility, agreeing to revive diplomatic ties in a surprise breakthrough that would also ease a crippling trade embargo.

Page 17: ANZ, the largest lender of the big four banks to the mining sector, has increased its defence against a growing backlash towards banks’ financing of carbon emitters, installing new reporting measures and claiming its job is not to be the “moral police”.

Fairfax Media is plotting to clinch a triumvirate of deals before Christmas to lay the ground for a full-blown merger with a free-to-air television network in the New Year.

Telstra is set to pick up more than 50 per cent of the design and planning work for the National Broadband Network in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the company.

Page 19: Tabcorp’s Sky Channel may lose the rights to broadcast Victorian and NSW thoroughbred racing to a rival broadcaster — possibly Seven Network — as a row between the wagering giant and the racing-owned TVN channel explodes.

Page 20: It’s no secret that the life insurance industry in Australia has been badly hit by a jump in claims for total and permanent disability, but it has taken its regulator to formally quantify that the nation’s insurers lost some $650 million in the 2013-14 in that category.

The West Australian

Page9:  A Perth magistrate who had a trial aborted after using Google to investigate the case has been found to have breached procedural fairness and has resigned.

Page 13: The Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge, formerly the MS Readathon, which hundreds of thousands of students did over almost 40 years, has been scrapped because of low numbers.

Page 14: One of WA’s economic fundamentals, population growth, has shuddered to its slowest pace in eight years as Victorians turn their backs on the West.

Page 17: The sourcing and preparation of food at Gina Rinehart’s under-construction Pilbara iron ore mine faces greater scrutiny after a piece of fruit served on site was found to be laced with poison.

Page 31: Federal Labor is demanding the full cost-benefit analysis of the $1.6 billion Perth Freight Link be released, warning it may not stack up for taxpayers.

Business: Christmas has come early for Resource Equipment shareholders in the form of a Texan billionaire prepared to pay an 86 per cent premium for the struggling mining services company.

WA business elder and National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney has launched a defence of coal-fired power as the lender, and rival ANZ, rejected calls to stop funding mining projects.

The collapse of the WA-founded ILH Group followed increasing signs of stress, including a big annual loss and the departure of directors and management.

Reed Resources is hoping for a fresh start on the capital markets when a change of name takes effect today.

WA sheep and cattle producers can look forward to even stronger markets in 2015 as demand grows and supply dries up, according to Meat and Livestock Australia.