No wishy-washy for Rio as first 100 jobs axed
The relentless cost drive dominating the iron ore industry entered its latest downward spiral yesterday, with the first 100 of an expected 800 Rio Tinto workers laid off across some of the giant’s biggest mine sites. The West
Forrest locks the gate on the family farm
Fortescue Metals Group did not actively explore land it held over the Pilbara pastoral station of its founder Andrew Forrest, in the latest sign the mining billionaire has tried to block, not promote, exploration and mining at Minderoo. The Fin
CBH in port win
CBH will seal long-term port access agreements with grain traders after the Senate voted against a disallowance motion which would have removed the co-operative’s exemption from the Bulk Wheat Port Access Code of Conduct. The West
Glencore takes aim at iron ore giants
Iron ore majors Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton will not be provoked into retaliating on Ivan Glasenberg’s latest attack on their expansion strategies, with the Glencore chief slashing Australian coal output because ‘‘we don’t want to be the ones forcing the price down with oversupply’’. The Fin
Spike in $A seconds before rates call
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating suspicious trading in foreign exchange markets after the Australian dollar spiked sharply in the seconds before the Reserve Bank of Australia announced its surprise decision to hold interest rates in March. The Fin
Potato row boiling as Tana eyes market
One of the nation’s biggest vegetable producers, Perth businessman Nick Tana, is set to reignite the debate over Western Australia’s controversial potato laws, threatening to take the state government to court if it rejects his application to enter the highly regulated market. The Aus
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: The official crackdown on Sydney property lending and new curbs on illegal foreign housing investment have boosted the Reserve Bank of Australia’s scope for future interest rate cuts.
Treasurer Joe Hockey has warned more suspicious house purchases are being investigated by the Foreign Investment Review Board following the shock decision to force a sale of the $39 million Point Piper home, Villa de Mare, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Page 3: Surgeons and hospital executives on generous salaries are taking advantage of a tax break that allows them to dine out, take holidays and even cater for their children’s weddings using tax-free dollars.
Page 7: The federal government would need to pass every one of its stalled budget measures – or find replacement savings – just to pay down the nation’s debt within two decades, Thursday’s Intergenerational Report finds.
Page 10: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating suspicious trading in foreign exchange markets after the Australian dollar spiked sharply in the seconds before the Reserve Bank of Australia announced its surprise decision to hold interest rates in March.
Page 16: Fortescue Metals Group did not actively explore land it held over the Pilbara pastoral station of its founder Andrew Forrest, in the latest sign the mining billionaire has tried to block, not promote, exploration and mining at Minderoo.
Page 23: Macquarie Group’s $US4 billion ($5.1 billion) acquisition of a portfolio of 90 planes will catapult it to just outside the world’s 10 largest plane lessors as the diversified financial services company seeks to benefit from increasing global air travel.
Page 25: The surprise switch in the chairmanship of Santos announced late on Tuesday has sharpened attention on the issues simmering beneath the surface at the beleaguered oil and gas player, in particular the troubled NSW coal seam gas business and the possible need for an equity raising.
Page 28: Iron ore majors Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton will not be provoked into retaliating on Ivan Glasenberg’s latest attack on their expansion strategies, with the Glencore chief slashing Australian coal output because ‘‘we don’t want to be the ones forcing the price down with oversupply’’.
Page 29: A new analysis has dashed hopes of an upturn in liquefied natural gas prices later this year, providing little comfort for new Australian projects poised to begin production.
The Australian
Page 2: Rock-bottom interest rates, cheaper petrol and a home-building boom are helping limit the damage to Australia’s economy from falling export prices, but not enough to stop unemployment rising, economists say.
Page 6: The Abbott government wants to cut the number of well-off patients who are bulk-billed by doctors, limiting free visits to concession-card holders and children.
Page 7: One of the nation’s biggest vegetable producers, Perth businessman Nick Tana, is set to reignite the debate over Western Australia’s controversial potato laws, threatening to take the state government to court if it rejects his application to enter the highly regulated market.
Gina Rinehart is urging Australia to get on board with Joe Hockey’s message that the country is living beyond its means.
Page 19: The Australian Securities Exchange is investigating cash-strapped Kazakhstan Potash Corporation after former Fortescue chairman Gordon Toll accused it of failing to tell the market it hadn’t kept up its end of a $US140 million ($178m) deal to buy a potash field in Kazakhstan.
The financial system faces a potential systemic threat if the unemployment rate starts to accelerate as housing prices surge, fuelled by falling interest rates, according to David Murray.
More than 1000 Rio Tinto jobs on the east and west coasts and many more around the globe could be in the firing line as chief executive Sam Walsh strengthens his cost-cutting drive by targeting duplication.
Page 20: Glencore, the world’s biggest listed commodities trader, has tipped 2015 could be a boom year for oil but it will sit on assets not yet in production until it is clear the price has lifted.
Page 21: The Abbott government has approved a $1.45 billion bid by the world’s biggest meat producer, Brazil’s JBS, to buy local smallgoods producer Primo in a deal that may help it sell processed pig meat in China.
The West Australian
Page 3: The Federal Government is investigating claims that foreigners have illegally bought homes in Perth.
Page 9: Perth is in the midst of a growing property ownership struggle, with a 10 per cent fall in the rate of people who own their homes and a 5 per cent jump in those with a mortgage over the past 20 years.
Treasurer Mike Nahan has vowed that households will be insulated as much as possible from Budget pain but he declined to repeat Colin Barnett’s 2013 election promise that future electricity price rises would be held to “at or about inflation”.
Page 11: Australia’s finances will sink under the weight of spending on health, education and the age pension unless the Federal Government makes even deeper cuts.
Page 12: Tony Abbott has scraped another barnacle off the ship of state, reversing an unpopular decision to cut pay for military personnel.
Page 14: Whitegoods and lounges are replacing new mines and LNG plants as the powerhouses of the Australian economy — but not fast enough to stem a likely lift in unemployment.
Business: The relentless cost drive dominating the iron ore industry entered its latest downward spiral yesterday, with the first 100 of an expected 800 Rio Tinto workers laid off across some of the giant’s biggest mine sites.
The WA Government’s claim the $1 billion Burswood stadium development will be a saviour for the local construction industry gained momentum yesterday with the second award of a big contract in less than a month.
Investigations are under way after a suspicious spike in the Australian dollar and drop in the share market in the seconds before Tuesday’s Reserve Bank interest rate decision.
CBH will seal long-term port access agreements with grain traders after the Senate voted against a disallowance motion which would have removed the co-operative’s exemption from the Bulk Wheat Port Access Code of Conduct.
South Boulder Mines shares jumped 1.5¢ to 28¢ following the release of a pre-feasibility study on its half-owned Colluli potash project in Eritrea, east Africa that found it could become one of the world’s lowest-cost potassium sulphate operations.