Morning Headlines

Rinehart blames high costs on government

Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, has attacked federal and state governments for inflicting high costs on local miners, which are battling plunging iron ore prices as global supply swells. The Fin

WA farmers buck land laws

Western Australian farmers are trying to repeal a controversial environmental law that they argue is destroying the value of thousands of properties. The Fin

Chevron plans first Gorgon LNG shipment

Chevron will ship its first LNG cargo from the $US54 billion ($70.5 billion) Gorgon project before year’s end and said the monster venture would be ‘‘nicely profitable’’ despite the drop in crude oil prices. The Fin

Fortescue holds out hope for debt deal

Fortescue Metals Group is facing investor pushback on a proposed $US2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) term loan slated to refinance existing notes and may have to move it to the high yield bond market, Thomson Reuters publication LPC said last night. The West

Despite slump it’s all systems go at Roy Hill

Barry Fitzgerald, the chief executive of Roy Hill Holdings, said on the sidelines of the Global Iron Ore and Steel Forecast conference in Perth yesterday that the project was still on track for its target first shipment by September despite the halving in iron ore prices over the past year. The Aus

Audits, fines for dodgy colleges

Training colleges will be banned from offering laptops, prizes and other inducements to attract students, and unscrupulous institutions fined and forced to refund their course fees, under dramatic reforms to rein in the soaring cost of student loans to taxpayers. The Aus

RBA gets wish as world turns on US rates

The Australian dollar has slipped to the critical US75¢ mark for the first time since May 2009, finally aligning with where Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens thinks it should be, as financial markets come to grips with the United States raising interest rates in the second half and possibly as soon as June. The Fin

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Treasurer Joe Hockey’s suggestion that superannuation savings be used as a financial shock absorber during Australians’ working lives has been shot down by his cabinet colleague, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who called it a ‘‘thoroughly bad idea’’.

In a sign that Reserve Bank of Australia’s strategy to deflate the currency is partly working, the dollar traded below US76¢ for the first time since 2009 on Wednesday afternoon.

Page 3: The Australian Crime Commission is targeting foreign nationals spending up big on Australian residential property, as part of an international investigation into money laundering.

Page 5: Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has indicated he will adopt a single, tapered childcare rebate in which low and middle-income earners would be rebated a higher percentage of childcare fees, as recommended by the Productivity Commission.

Page 7: The federal government will crack down on private colleges which are rorting HECS-style loans for vocational diplomas in a move which it believes will save $16 billion over the next 10 years.

Page 9: Implementing workplace policy changes sought by employers could increase labour productivity in the resources sector, potentially creating up to 36,000 jobs and boosting gross domestic product by at least $11 billion, an analysis by KPMG shows.

Page 13: Western Australian farmers are trying to repeal a controversial environmental law that they argue is destroying the value of thousands of properties.

Page 19: The Australian dollar has slipped to the critical US75¢ mark for the first time since May 2009, finally aligning with where Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens thinks it should be, as financial markets come to grips with the United States raising interest rates in the second half and possibly as soon as June.

Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, has attacked federal and state governments for inflicting high costs on local miners, which are battling plunging iron ore prices as global supply swells.

Page 21: Arch-rivals Telstra and Optus are in fierce disagreement about the decision to marginally reduce the regulated price for accessing Telstra’s fixed copper network.

Former Reserve Bank board member and Western Mining Corporation boss Hugh Morgan is set to join the list of former mining bosses to establish their own private funds amid the market downturn for resources stocks.

Page 25: Chevron will ship its first LNG cargo from the $US54 billion ($70.5 billion) Gorgon project before year’s end and said the monster venture would be ‘‘nicely profitable’’ despite the drop in crude oil prices.

The Australian

Page 1: Training colleges will be banned from offering laptops, prizes and other inducements to attract students, and unscrupulous institutions fined and forced to refund their course fees, under dramatic reforms to rein in the soaring cost of student loans to taxpayers.

Page 2: A forum comprised of Leighton Contractors, Lend Lease, Fulton Hogan, John Holland, Laing O’Rourke and other major constructors has warned of a “four-figure” loss of jobs as work grinds to a halt.

Page 6: The counting of Senate ballot papers might be delayed until after polling night and the number of voting booths reduced as the Australian Electoral Commission weighs up radical changes to safeguard the integrity of elections.

Page 19: Australia’s big iron ore miners are on a path towards “self-destruction” and could leave the country with a case to answer before the World Trade Organisation, the head of North America’s largest iron ore miner has warned.

Barry Fitzgerald, the chief executive of Roy Hill Holdings, said on the sidelines of the Global Iron Ore and Steel Forecast conference in Perth yesterday that the project was still on track for its target first shipment by September despite the halving in iron ore prices over the past year.

Page 20: The China free-trade agreement will guarantee Australian companies at least the same access for investment into China as provided to their competitors under future FTAs with other countries.

Page 21: The bosses of the nation’s most powerful stevedoring companies, Asciano and DP World, will hold meetings with the chairman of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission tomorrow to demand an intervention into the country’s ports after the Port of Melbourne slapped an 800 per cent increase on stevedore rents.

The West Australian

Page 4: Prime Minister Tony Abbott was criticised by his most influential Aboriginal supporters yesterday for describing people living in WA’s remote communities as making a “lifestyle choice”.

Page 6: Senior Liberal Malcolm Turnbull has savaged the Abbott Government’s Budget sales pitch, declared the “time for spin and slogans is over” and warned that inept economic managers “seldom survive the next election”.

Page 6:  Education Minister Christopher Pyne says the Federal Government was forced into its divisive higher education reforms because Labor back-flipped over more than $2.3 billion of cuts to universities it had proposed.

Page 11: A barney has broken out between business owners and councillors over a wildly popular hawkers market running in Victoria Park on Friday nights.

Business: A proposed $56 million buy-up of a cluster of WA farms has been put on hold by the company which agreed to buy the properties as part of ambitious plans to produce and ship huge numbers of sheep for overseas markets.

Chevron has moved to finally end speculation about the launch of its $US54 billion ($71 billion) Gorgon project, saying fuel gas would arrive on Barrow Island within days to start up the project’s first turbine generator while the first LNG cargo should set sail before the end of this year.

Fortescue Metals Group is facing investor pushback on a proposed $US2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) term loan slated to refinance existing notes and may have to move it to the high yield bond market, Thomson Reuters publication LPC said last night.