Morning Headlines

Leaders fail to land killer blow

Kevin Rudd has kept alive his election hopes with a hard-fought debate against Tony Abbott in which neither leader landed a knockout blow but Mr Rudd was the chosen winner by undecided voters. The Fin

Abbott cements lead as Rudd slips

Kevin Rudd and Labor are going backwards in the election campaign as the Coalition’s primary vote continues to climb and Tony Abbott’s personal approval rises. The Aus

Liberal rebellion on solar heats up

Colin Barnett is facing a backbench revolt over the state government's decision to halve its rooftop solar panel subsidy, with a pair of Liberal MPs accusing the government of lacking integrity. The West

WA's $1 billion debt blowout

Treasurer Troy Buswell has discarded the “fully funded, fully costed” election financial plan he put to voters in March, with the state government set to rack up $1 billion more debt in the next three years than it promised despite deferring and cancelling about $1 billion of projects. The West

UGL aims to split property, engineering

UGL is set to split its engineering and property arms as chief executive Richard Leupen aims to boost the company's flagging share price ahead of his departure next year. The Fin

Shell chiefs tout $200m FLNG benefit for WA

Shell's Prelude floating liquefied natural gas project would provide a $200 million benefit to Australia if about 70 per cent of operational contracts ere awarded locally, executives of the energy giant say. The West

Major WA gas users press for allocation

Floating liquefied natural gas developers including Woodside Petroleum and Shell would be forced to allocate more of their onshore gas production to the West Australian government under a plan being pushed by two of the state's major gas consumers, Alcoa and Alinta. The Fin

Mergers 'costly and divisive'

Council mergers will be costly, divisive and increase rates across the metropolitan area, leaving Perth residents worse-off, research shows. The West

The West Australian

Page 1: Colin Barnett is facing a backbench revolt over the state government's decision to halve its rooftop solar panel subsidy, with a pair of Liberal MPs accusing the government of lacking integrity.

Page 4: Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd will go into the second week of the election campaign claiming victory from a tightly scripted leaders debate that failed to reach any great heights.

Page 5: Migration agents have accused the federal government of discouraging skilled migration with surprise fee increases from next month.

Page 6: Alannah McTiernan says Australia should not rule out nuclear power as an option to tackle climate change, putting her at odds with the Labor Party leadership.

Page 7: Council mergers will be costly, divisive and increase rates across the metropolitan area, leaving Perth residents worse-off, research shows.

Page 10: Treasurer Troy Buswell has discarded the “fully funded, fully costed” election financial plan he put to voters in March, with the state government set to rack up $1 billion more debt in the next three years than it promised despite deferring and cancelling about $1 billion of projects.

The state government hopes changes to its First Home Owners Grant will result in 800 new homes being built every year.

Page 11: High profile Perth designer Ruth Tarvydas has less than a week to try to save a key plank of her fashion empire, with a deadline looming to secure a cash lifeline or face liquidation.

Business: Shell's Prelude floating liquefied natural gas project would provide a $200 million benefit to Australia if about 70 per cent of operational contracts ere awarded locally, executives of the energy giant say.

A WA inquiry into microeconomic reform will consider such concepts as user pays and promoting off-peak use of infrastructure as a way of compensating for the state's declining GST funding.

The federal government's mandatory renewable energy target is encouraging development of green energy projects in WA at a time when the electricity market is awash with excess capacity.

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Kevin Rudd has kept alive his election hopes with a hard-fought debate against Tony Abbott in which neither leader landed a knockout blow but Mr Rudd was the chosen winner by undecided voters.

UGL is set to split its engineering and property arms as chief executive Richard Leupen aims to boost the company's flagging share price ahead of his departure next year.

China's new leadership has succeeded in stabilising the economy, but infrastructure and property investment remain the dominant drivers of growth.

Page 3: Self-managed superannuation funds have been put on notice that realising capital gains by selling assets soon after setting up a pension could be regarded as tax avoidance.

Page 5: Tony Abbott has recommitted a Coalition government to returning the budget to surplus in its first term but only if Treasury forecasts are correct.

Page 6: A Coalition government could be forced to buy international permits if its Direct Action scheme fails to deliver the cuts in emissions needed to meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 5 per cent by 2020.

Page 8: The ACTU will use television advertisements to attack Opposition Leader Tony Abbott over the next fortnight, while putting most of its effort into direct lobbying of about 120,000 “soft or swinging” union members in 38 seats.

Page 15: Floating liquefied natural gas developers including Woodside Petroleum and Shell would be forced to allocate more of their onshore gas production to the West Australian government under a plan being pushed by two of the state's major gas consumers, Alcoa and Alinta.

The Australian

Page 1: Kevin Rudd and Labor are going backwards in the election campaign as the Coalition’s primary vote continues to climb and Tony Abbott’s personal approval rises.

Kevin Rudd used his first televised encounter of the 2013 election campaign with Tony Abbott to hammer the Coalition over a “continued policy of evasion’’ on election costings but the Opposition Leader declared voters deserved more than a ‘‘cheap scare campaign’’.

Page 5: The next federal government must commit to comprehensive tax reform and wind back middle-class welfare, including the Schoolkids Bonus and the Extended Medicare Safety Net, within its first 100 days, urges the nation’s peak welfare lobby.

Page 6: Labor has redoubled its claims of a $70 billion “black hole’’ in the Coalition’s election platform more than a week after the estimate was discredited, insisting on the number in a bid to force Tony Abbott to reveal his policies.

Business: UGL will go ahead with a $ 1.3 billion spin- off of its growing property business into a new company to be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in a bid to win stronger valuations for its businesses from the investment community.

The run of major deals in the infrastructure space is showing no signs of letting up, with infrastructure fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners mulling the exit of its $1.2 billion stake in the Port of Brisbane.

Increasing cost pressures, particularly in manufacturing and banking, will see local executives forced to stay in budget two-star accommodation instead of the five-star digs of days gone by.

Commonwealth Bank is expected to post a record $7.6 billion full- year cash profit and potentially reward shareholders with a special dividend as the reporting season kicks into gear this week.

Telstra says it is ‘‘agnostic’’ about what form of broadband network is adopted by the winner of the federal election.