Morning Headlines

Taxman steps up foreign pursuit

The Australian Taxation Office has stepped up investigations into Australians with Swiss bank accounts, pursuing some individual debts worth more than $100 million. The Aus

No joy for miners as more mills to close

Australian iron ore producers are set to come under more pressure as Vale returns to shipping from a Brazilian port and China looks to close more steel mills. The West

Qube seeks passive role for CIC

Chris Corrigan’s Qube Holdings has sought assurances from its partner Global Infrastructure Partners that Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation will play only a passive role in their joint bid for Asciano in the wake of the backlash against a Chinese company’s lease of the Port of Darwin. The Aus

China’s import block hits WA lobster trade

WA’s multibillion-dollar Western rock lobster industry has been rocked by the mysterious closure of trade routes into China, its biggest export market. The West

Tennis in turmoil as director search begins

Tennis Australia will begin interviews for new board members on Wednesday, as controversy continues over a series of board resignations on governance issues in the past six weeks. The Fin

Supermarkets accused of misusing data

The former chief executive of a supermarket supplier says Coles and Woolworths could be using the sensitive market information they demand from manufacturers to make their own private label products more successful. The Fin

China rout points to turmoil

The local stock market faces the prospect of further turmoil, as oil again dipped below $US30 a barrel yesterday and Chinese markets returned to freefall. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has personally intervened in the nation’s $7 billion compensation claim against BHP Billiton and Vale in an attempt to speed progress of financial settlement for the environmental and social damage caused by the tailings dam tragedy in Minas Gerais.

Page 2: Tennis Australia will begin interviews for new board members on Wednesday, as controversy continues over a series of board resignations on governance issues in the past six weeks.

Page 3: A lucrative Central Queensland cattle property and associated coal mining tenements worth millions of dollars are in the sights of administrators looking to claw back money from Clive Palmer’s embattled nickel refinery.

Page 4: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is being urged to stop wealthy superannuants accessing billions in tax advantaged dollars by exploiting a measure that gives tax breaks to fulltime workers in their 50s and 60s.

Page 5: Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has slammed a bid by the Maritime Union of Australia to overturn a Fair Work ruling suspending industrial action at stevedore Patrick’s container terminals.

Apple paid $85 million in Australian income tax last year, despite making almost $8 billion in local revenue, accounts filed with the corporate regulator show.

Page 13: The former chief executive of a supermarket supplier says Coles and Woolworths could be using the sensitive market information they demand from manufacturers to make their own private label products more successful.

Page 15: A confidential submission made by Japanese oil company Inpex Corporation has revealed the company’s extreme sensitivity to potential tax changes that would drive up funding costs and risk derailing expansion projects.

At least 20 current and former employees of Origin Energy have offered to be witnesses in support of whistleblower Sally McDow’s Federal Court action, in which she has alleged the company covered up serious compliance failures at its gas and oilfields.

Page 18: Heineken’s profits in Australia have gone flat. The local arm of the Dutch brewer suffered a 16 per cent fall in annual profits in its latest financial year as the joint venture company it operates with beer and dairy group Lion notched a net profit after tax of $10.5 million for the 12 months ended September 30, 2015.

The Australian

Page 1: Malcolm Turnbull has quashed hope of a new political consensus for an Australian republic, warning that the timing for change is wrong and attempts by Labor to force the issue risk a second referendum defeat.

Manufacturing is rebounding as a low Australian dollar makes locally made goods more competitive with their overseas rivals.

Page 3: An enrolment boom at universities has flatlined, delivering a budget reprieve to a federal government struggling with runaway tertiary education debt.

Page 17: The Australian Taxation Office has stepped up investigations into Australians with Swiss bank accounts, pursuing some individual debts worth more than $100 million.

Global shipping rates for bulk cargoes have slumped, in a fillip to Australian commodities exporters, but at the same time benefiting rivals who do not enjoy the same proximity to Asian markets.

Page 18: Shares in Kerry Stokes’s Seven Group Holdings could come under further pressure in the days ahead after leading investment bank Goldman Sachs issued a damning assessment of international mining equipment giant Caterpillar.

Page 19: Chris Corrigan’s Qube Holdings has sought assurances from its partner Global Infrastructure Partners that Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation will play only a passive role in their joint bid for Asciano in the wake of the backlash against a Chinese company’s lease of the Port of Darwin.

Page 20: Influential Scottish investment fund Baillie Gifford has spotted value in Seek, emerging as the Australian-listed jobs site’s fourth-largest shareholder after building up its stake since late last year.

Page 26: New postgraduate student numbers slumped last year, in an unexpected sign that one-way growth under the demand-driven higher education funding scheme has hit a speed bump.

The West Australian

Page 1: A country primary school teacher who was sacked after being accused of cheating by giving Year 3 students answers to a NAPLAN test has successfully challenged her dismissal.

Page 3: WA’s multibillion-dollar Western rock lobster industry has been rocked by the mysterious closure of trade routes into China, its biggest export market.

Page 13: Doctors are warning that a common type of antibiotic used to treat young children with respiratory infections could be bad for their long-term health.

Page 18: Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan and Opposition Leader Mark McGowan have traded on-air barbs in an ugly slanging match over the Commissioner’s policing model.

Business: The local stock market faces the prospect of further turmoil, as oil again dipped below $US30 a barrel yesterday and Chinese markets returned to freefall.

The mining union has called for a futures group to investigate alternative uses for WA coal — with ideas ranging from fertiliser to perfume — amid growing fears for up to 900 people employed in the sector.

Australian iron ore producers are set to come under more pressure as Vale returns to shipping from a Brazilian port and China looks to close more steel mills.

The WA company behind the Rusty surf brand has dumped its licensing firm in the key North American market following a drop in annual sales.

A development portfolio containing more than 190ha in Dongara has been listed for sale with CBRE.

Final planning approvals are close to being secured for construction on Defence Housing Australia’s apartment complex in Fremantle.