Rudd wrong as Qld jobs jump
Kevin Rudd has been thrown on the defensive on economic management after a surprise fall in full-time jobs offset by strong growth in Queensland that challenges his warnings about the damage from the state Liberal National Party government’s ‘‘ austerity’’ cuts. The Aus
Budget crunch hits boom state
Western Australia, the epicentre of the resources boom, is forecasting rising debts for the foreseeable future that threaten its AAA credit rating and has led the government to impose austerity budget measures. The Fin
Treasurer Buswell attacks your hip pocket
Troy Buswell has imposed sweeping tax, fee and charge slugs while cutting departmental budgets in a desperate attempt to balance the state's books amid unprecedented demand for services and infrastructure. The West
Slugged despite payroll tax relief
Businesses won promised payroll tax relief in yesterday's state budget but have been slugged in other areas by a government desperately searching for revenue. The West
Figures point to gloomy jobs market
Ten thousand West Australians have lost full-time work this year but another 80,000 could join them as the mining construction boom peters out. The West
Australia must cut project costs or risk losing out: Woodside chief
Australia will lose investment to other countries if it does not cut project costs faster, business leaders warned. The Fin
Iron ore prices too high: China
China's powerful mining association has warned that elevated iron ore prices are not sustainable while China’s iron and steel industry continues to suffer from overcapacity and operating losses. The Aus
Rio Tinto cans aluminium sale
Rio Tinto has been unable to find a buyer for its troubled Pacific Aluminium business, forcing it to abandon the multi-billion dollar sale of the asset that almost crippled the company. The Fin
Rains too late to save crops
Soaking rain throughout most of the Wheatbelt has boosted harvest hopes but came too late to save crops on the eastern edge of the region. The West
The West Australian
Page 1: Troy Buswell has imposed sweeping tax, fee and charge slugs while cutting departmental budgets in a desperate attempt to balance the state's books amid unprecedented demand for services and infrastructure.
Page 3: Gina Rinehart has accused her two estranged children of being “largely if not wholly” responsible for the public breakdown in their relationship, saying she has always put their interests ahead of her own.
Page 5: The 75 per cent of first-homebuyers who historically put their government assistance towards an established home will see their leg-up slashed by $4,000 under a push to stimulate construction.
The Barnett government will slash the amount it pays householders whose solar panels export power back into the grid under a budget savings measure condemned by WA's peak renewable energy group.
Page 6: Ratings agencies have warned Troy Buswell against running up any more debt or risk losing the state's AAA credit rating.
Page 7: The 2013-14 state financial blueprint will go down in history as “the budget of broken promises” that would hurt WA for years, Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said yesterday.
Page 9: The massive health budget will get its smallest boost since the Barnett government came to office, prompting fears by doctors the impact will be felt immediately in already overcrowded hospitals.
Page 11: Soaking rain throughout most of the Wheatbelt has boosted harvest hopes but came too late to save crops on the eastern edge of the region.
Page 14: Ten thousand West Australians have lost full-time work this year but another 80,000 could join them as the mining construction boom peters out.
Business: Businesses won promised payroll tax relief in yesterday's state budget but have been slugged in other areas by a government desperately searching for revenue.
Telstra added more than one million new mobile phone customers last financial year as it reinforced its market dominance on the way to a $3.9 billion annual profit.
A 71 per cent drop in profit has helped Rio Tinto avoid the federal government's mining tax, with chief executive Sam Walsh saying the controversial tax is working exactly as intended.
Newcrest will take a $6.2 billion hit to its bottom line from write-downs on its assets in 2012-13.
A Liberal backbencher has revealed the extent of the financial crisis facing WA farming in an explosive speech to state parliament.
One-time market darling Blackthorn Resources regained some of its shine yesterday, jumping 123 per cent on the back of drill results from its copper project in Zambia.
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Western Australia, the epicentre of the resources boom, is forecasting rising debts for the foreseeable future that threaten its AAA credit rating and has led the government to impose austerity budget measures.
Rio Tinto has been unable to find a buyer for its troubled Pacific Aluminium business, forcing it to abandon the multi-billion dollar sale of the asset that almost crippled the company.
Page 6: The Australian Greens have been reduced to pleading for preferences from South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, fearing that without them senator Sarah Hanson-Young will lose her seat and cost the minor party the balance of power in the Senate.
Page 7: The number of asylum-seekers arriving by boat has dropped more than 800, or 29 per cent, in the first three weeks of Kevin Rudd's hardline Pacific solution.
Page 8: A proposed cut for the Renewable Energy Target could increase the cost of power to consumers by $1.3 billion between now and 2020 by reducing downward pressure on the wholesale energy market, new research says.
Page 9: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he hasn't spoken to News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch for three years, after trying to drag Opposition Leader Tony Abbott into his stoush with Australia's biggest media group.
Page 10: Australia will lose investment to other countries if it does not cut project costs faster, business leaders warned.
A rising number of male voters appears to be giving up the struggle to find work as the job market weakens, creating a soft underbelly in Labor's traditional support base.
Even a mild slowdown in China's economy would send Australian unemployment rocketing above 6 per cent, cut house prices by 10 per cent and force the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates even further, analysis by ratings agency Standard & Poor's shows.
Page 11: The West Australian government has slashed its forecast take from payroll tax over then next four years as the economy cools and shifts into a less labour-intensive phase of growth.
Page 12: Taxpayer handouts for first home buyers in Western Australia will rise to $10,000 for those buying newly build premises, but cut to $3000 for those buying established properties.
Page 13: Telstra has defended its decision not to increase dividends for its 1.4 million shareholders despite strong growth in profits and after generating more than $5 billion in free cash.
Royal Bank of Canada's head of equity research and two analysts who cover the junior resource sector have all left the broker in what is understood to be fallout in what is understood to be fallout from the Newcrest Mining selective disclosure debacle.
Page 16: Rio Tinto boss Sam Walsh has pledged more action on cost-cutting, asset sales and debt reduction to beef up the mining giant's balance sheet and help withstand volatility in markets.
The Australian
Page 1: Kevin Rudd has been thrown on the defensive on economic management after a surprise fall in full-time jobs offset by strong growth in Queensland that challenges his warnings about the damage from the state Liberal National Party government’s ‘‘ austerity’’ cuts.
The chief executive and 50 per cent shareholder of Foxtel have demolished Kevin Rudd’s claim that the National Broadband Network policy is bad for the pay- TV business.
Page 2: Union attempts to restrict the use of contract labour have received a setback following a Fair Work Commission ruling.
The nation’s biggest and most profitable iron-ore miner, Rio Tinto, has paid no mining tax for the whole of the tax’s first year, receiving up to $ 74 million as a refund on the only quarterly payment it had paid.
Page 3: Gina Rinehart has ruled out the possibility of her son, John Hancock, serving as a “co- trustee’’ of the multi- billion- dollar family trust, drawing on his experience to criticise him as ‘‘totally unsuitable’’.
Reports of the death of printed newspapers have been greatly exaggerated, according to a study that suggests people spend far more time reading the paper versions of Britain’s 12 national titles than browsing their websites.
Page 4: Kevin Rudd’s demands for $2 million in campaign funding from Queensland Labor’s investment arm has been rejected, sparking an ugly brawl between factions within the ALP.
Page 5: Jeff Kennett has unleashed a withering attack on the Greens, warning the minority party should be preferenced out of existence to protect the nation’s economic and social fabric.
Page 6: Business has warned that Australia’s ability to make the transition from the peak of the mining boom is in jeopardy if it fails to deal with soaring costs on large projects, including rates on construction projects for union workers that are approaching those of New York.
Public schools in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory will continue to receive extra funding through a national partnership for targeted education programs under a Labor government despite not signing up to the school funding reforms.
Page 7: Internal Liberal focus group research reveals that Tony Abbott’s paid parental leave is overwhelmingly popular and most of the people expressing support are “low to middle-income families’’.
Page 8: A decade of boom- time budgets has come to an end in Western Australia as economic growth slows dramatically, commodity prices weaken and t he state plunges into a forecast deficit next year.
Business: Telstra boss David Thodey has shrugged off concerns the telco giant cannot sustain the strong growth in the mobile market that is driving earnings, but says the company must expand overseas to continue growing.
Rio Tinto has been forced to abandon a sale of its Pacific Aluminium unit because it could not get a good enough price, placing in further doubt plans by new chief executive Sam Walsh for aggressive asset sales to reduce debt.
China's powerful mining association has warned that elevated iron ore prices are not sustainable while China’s iron and steel industry continues to suffer from overcapacity and operating losses.
China's trade rebounded last month, a positive sign for the world’s second-largest economy amid widespread concern it is losing steam.
Beleaguered goldminer Newcrest Mining has lifted forecast writedowns to $ 6.2 billion just two months after a shock update that sent its shares plummeting.
Commonwealth Bank, the nation’s biggest mortgage lender, has weighed into the debate on whether low rates could fuel a property bubble, saying prices remain below previous highs in many markets and conditions are far from frothy.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce believes there is still too much yield- sapping capacity in the domestic aviation market, but says it is tapering off and will ultimately work its way through the system.