Morning Headlines

Labor and banks head for collision

Labor leader Bill Shorten is using banks’ reporting of profits to step up his campaign for a royal commission, demanding that the ‘‘greedy’’ banks should be investigated for putting profits and executive rewards before customers. Mr Shorten has not ruled out supporting a new tax on bank profits. The Fin

Banks must compete on deposits: ANZ chief

The banks’ ability to lend will be curtailed if they don’t compete harder to prevent savers withdrawing deposits in search of better yields, ANZ Banking Group chief executive Shayne Elliott says. The Fin

Forrest slams Grylls over tax threat

Newly installed Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls wants the nation’s two biggest miners to secure GST reform for Western Australia or face a $7.2 billion mining tax designed to salvage the state’s tattered finances. The Fin

REA banks on property snoops to fuel global push

Australians’ love of property, either to buy or just have a look around, has reached such epic proportions that Tracey Fellows is confident REA Group’s latest step will continue to expand the high-flying multinational’s global horizons. The Aus

IOOF boss says super tinkering at an end

Chris Kelaher, managing director of financial services provider IOOF, believes there will be no further government tinkering to the $2 trillion superannuation system after the Turnbull government’s proposed reforms riled sections of the public. The Aus

Clinton ‘two-faced on trade’

Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump has used a major economic policy speech to portray Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as two-faced on the Trans-Pacific Partnership mega trade deal with Australia, New Zealand and other key Pacific rim nations. The West

Price drives lift in cattle herd

WA has defied national trends to increase its cattle herd as the value of beef and live exports skyrockets. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Labor leader Bill Shorten is using banks’ reporting of profits to step up his campaign for a royal commission, demanding that the ‘‘greedy’’ banks should be investigated for putting profits and executive rewards before customers. Mr Shorten has not ruled out supporting a new tax on bank profits.

The Tax Office has dramatically stepped up its campaign against profit shifting by big miners, amid fears that the huge growth in LNG exports from the North West Shelf will trigger a new wave of marketing hubs in Singapore and Switzerland.

Page 3: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has warned investment banks to improve their management of conflicts of interests, and to stop leaning on research analysts to market floats.

Page 4: Growing fears of an unworkable, populist Senate crossbench have coincided with a fall in business confidence that has intensified speculation over the need for ‘‘unconventional monetary policy’’ in Australia.

Page 5: Liberal MPs are pushing for the government to choose the bidder most prepared to accept tough conditions on the ownership of Ausgrid rather than just the one offering the highest price after former prime minister Tony Abbott said he would not like to see Australia ‘cede control’ of the asset to a foreign company.

Page 6: Newly installed Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls wants the nation’s two biggest miners to secure GST reform for Western Australia or face a $7.2 billion mining tax designed to salvage the state’s tattered finances.

Page 10: Donald Trump tried to reset his stuttering presidential campaign by turning to economic policy, casting himself as a pro-growth, tax-cutting Republican businessman who can resuscitate America, against a ‘‘tax, spend and regulate’’ bureaucrat in Hillary Clinton.

Page 11: The banks’ ability to lend will be curtailed if they don’t compete harder to prevent savers withdrawing deposits in search of better yields, ANZ Banking Group chief executive Shayne Elliott says.

Page 13: Oil Search and ExxonMobil have held urgent talks with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in a bid to prevent the escalation of landowner grievances that could disrupt production at their PNG LNG venture.

Cochlear chief executive Chris Smith has predicted a slowdown in the hearing implant maker’s profit growth this year but said July sales were ahead of forecasts and ‘‘we see the momentum continuing’’.

Page 14: News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson has tipped real estate businesses, led by REA, Move and iProperty, to become the biggest driver of earnings in the future.

Page 15: Apple has launched a blistering attack on three of Australia’s big banks, saying their request to collectively negotiate over digital wallet access to the iPhone will compromise the handset’s security, reduce innovation and blunt Apple’s entry into the payments market in Australia.

Page 17: Woolworths might have become the poster child for the price war in the $90 billion supermarket sector, but arch-rival Coles has not escaped unscathed, as food deflation crimps profit margins and sales.

The Australian division of struggling US miner Peabody Energy appears to have lost money in the first half of 2016, and the miner’s debt problems could see it lose control of a Hunter Valley coal mine.

Page 20: Bond fund manager Vimal Gor has likened the incredible concentration of power within financial markets to something out of The Matrix and a nod to Elon Musk’s theory that we are living in a computer simulation.

The Australian

Page 2: Shanghai-based conglomerate China Capital Investment Group has powered back into the Queensland tourism sector, buying the South Molle Island resort in the Whitsundays for about $25 million.

Page 4: A mammoth deep-water rig measuring 36 storeys high, 120m long and 80m wide that cost almost $1 billion to build is weaving its way from a Korean shipyard to the Great Australian Bight.

Page 5: The resources industry has reacted furiously to a mining tax plan unveiled by West Australian Nationals leader Brendon Grylls, who plans to deliver the massive revenue grab should he again become the state’s political kingmaker after the next election.

Page 8: A small hike in graduate jobs and salaries has failed to arrest a long-term decline in outcomes, with more students competing for a limited pool of full-time jobs.

Page 21: Australians’ love of property, either to buy or just have a look around, has reached such epic proportions that Tracey Fellows is confident REA Group’s latest step will continue to expand the high-flying multinational’s global horizons.

Page 23: Carsales boss Greg Roebuck isn’t convinced the latest reinvention of its rival CarsGuide is going to make much of a dent to his business, as the leading auto classified website delivered robust full-year results.

Page 25: Chris Kelaher, managing director of financial services provider IOOF, believes there will be no further government tinkering to the $2 trillion superannuation system after the Turnbull government’s proposed reforms riled sections of the public.

The West Australian

Page 4: Brendon Grylls yesterday claimed BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto could save themselves from his planned royalty increase if they successfully lobbied the Commonwealth to implement a WA GST floor of 75¢ in the dollar.

Page 6: Premier Colin Barnett has resurrected talk of an open-range zoo in Perth, five years after it was first floated as a plan for 2024.

Page 9: Perth’s fashion festival is facing a funding cut from its biggest supporter after the City of Perth questioned whether it was delivering value for money or was “just a big party” for parts of the community.

Page 25: Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump has used a major economic policy speech to portray Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as two-faced on the Trans-Pacific Partnership mega trade deal with Australia, New Zealand and other key Pacific rim nations.

Page 29: WA has defied national trends to increase its cattle herd as the value of beef and live exports skyrockets.

Wellard’s disclosure practices are again in the spotlight after it was forced to request a voluntary suspension from trading.