Morning Headlines

Nationals at war over mining tax

Federal Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has triggered a war with his West Australian counterpart Brendon Grylls by urging him to dump plans for a $5-per-tonne tax on iron ore and likening it to the Rudd and Gillard governments’ mining tax. The Fin

Real-time bank transfers to begin next year, says RBA

The ‘‘new payments platform’’ (NPP), which will allow bank customers to transfer funds in real time using just a phone number or email address, is on track to launch in late 2017, the Reserve Bank of Australia said on Thursday. The Fin

BHP and Rio’s stellar run may be done

Commodity prices may have bottomed, but investors hoping the big miners shares’ have further to rise are likely too late to the party, according to analysts and fund managers. The Fin

Palghat is Janus Henderson’s other bond king

Janus Henderson has revealed the soon to be top-50 global asset manager has appointed Kumar Palghat as global head of fixed income, elevating the cofounder of Kapstream to one of the highest investment roles in the $US322 billion group. The Fin

BP switches drilling plans to WA gas

Oil major BP has done a low-cost deal to buy into a venture aiming to find a massive gas discovery off the North West Shelf, just two days after its shock decision to cancel a $600 million drilling program in the Great Australian Bight. The Fin

Crackdown on super funds over life cover

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has put the nation’s biggest superannuation funds on notice that they must take greater responsibility for the life insurance sold to fund members, to ensure claims are being paid. The Aus

ASIC puts clamp on Ponzi accused

The corporate watchdog has placed further curbs on the activities of a Pilbara property developer accused of running what might be a $190 million Ponzi scheme. The West

$350m salt plan seeks tick

Plans for a $350 million salt production facility near Onslow are being formally evaluated by WA’s environmental watchdog. The West

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: Billionaire entrepreneur Brett Blundy has built a global business that employs almost 6000 people in retail, property and beef breeding by following 10 golden rules that have made his top executives millionaires.

Federal Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has triggered a war with his West Australian counterpart Brendon Grylls by urging him to dump plans for a $5-per-tonne tax on iron ore and likening it to the Rudd and Gillard governments’ mining tax.

Page 3: A senior Fair Work member has hit out at the commission’s axing of Coles’ workplace agreement that traded off weekend penalty rates, calling its reasoning "illogical" and saying it will lead to an "impossible nightmare" in determining workplace agreements.

Page 4: Scott Morrison may be about to become the luckiest treasurer in at least half a decade if the latest surge in commodity prices is sustained, potentially wiping around a third from his budget deficits almost overnight.

Page 5: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has backed Malcolm Turnbull’s appeals for Washington to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the basis it is an important tool for the United States to continue to exert influence in the Asia-Pacific.

Page 8: Representatives from the food industry are concerned Australian companies making Easter eggs and chocolate treats may be treated unfairly by planned government changes to food labelling that are to be phased in over the next two years.

Shadow minister for small business and financial services Katy Gallagher has backed Labor’s policy to push for women and men to be paid superannuation when they are on paid parental leave.

Page 12: The local arm of car manufacturer Volvo and the Swedish company’s motor racing division are being sued for misleading and deceptive conduct by an Australian V8 Supercars team.

Demand for Tesla’s Powerwall home storage batteries has jumped more than 30 times at some large installers after power blackouts in two states.

Page 14: The ‘‘new payments platform’’ (NPP), which will allow bank customers to transfer funds in real time using just a phone number or email address, is on track to launch in late 2017, the Reserve Bank of Australia said on Thursday.

Page 15: Australian sales of virtual reality headsets for entertainment and gaming are tipped to surge, with Sony’s PlayStation VR expected to be the most popular addition to local loungerooms.

Page 16: The activist investor behind the hostile takeover bid for Vanke, one of China’s largest property developers, has emerged as the fastest climber in the latest Hurun rich list, China’s equivalent to Forbes Magazine’s famous roll call of the super wealthy.

A hot summer, closure of illegal mines and better-than-expected steel production has delivered a surprise turnaround in China’s coal imports, which rose 15 per cent in the first nine months of the year.

Page 17: Tim Sloan, the newly installed chief executive of Wells Fargo, will not have much time to prepare his pitch for Wall Street following Thursday’s resignation of John Stumpf.

Page 19: Commodity prices may have bottomed, but investors hoping the big miners shares’ have further to rise are likely too late to the party, according to analysts and fund managers.

Magellan co-founder Hamish Douglass and the board held discussions around an agreement that would see Mr Douglass in effect bound from selling his stake below 20 million shares in a sign of his commitment to the company.

Transurban chairman Lindsay Maxsted has signalled he may step down from the helm of the toll-road group before his next three-year term is up.

Page 21: Super Retail Group director John Skippen may be one of the higher profile casualties as shareholder activism heats up heading into annual general meeting season.

Woolworths stands to make a tenfold return on its stake in Australia’s largest data analytics firm, Quantium Group, if chief executive Brad Banducci adds the investment to the list of non-core assets up for sale.

The listing of what was set to be Australia’s first public venture capital company, H2Ocean, has been pulled, but the firm intends to proceed with raising a private fund.

Page 22: Mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders doubt banking competition will be enhanced by forcing banks to offer mortgage ‘‘tracker loans’’ because the costs of funding such products would make them unattractive to borrowers, who have historically been unwilling to pay for interest rate certainty.

Page 23: Fund manager Maple-Brown Abbott is bullish on the resources sector and believes the tide is turning for several unloved stocks that have underperformed the market.

Janus Henderson has revealed the soon to be top-50 global asset manager has appointed Kumar Palghat as global head of fixed income, elevating the cofounder of Kapstream to one of the highest investment roles in the $US322 billion group.

The NSW government’s planned $100 million-plus privatisation of superannuation management platform Pillar has hit a snag after the competition watchdog said a sale to one front-runner, ASX-listed Link Group, would reduce competition.

Page 25: As much as BHP Billiton insists the US shale business deserves ‘‘tier-one’’ status, the market remains unconvinced. Investors who attended the petroleum division’s briefings this week in Sydney and Melbourne point to the dependence on a price recovery to achieve growth in the US onshore business that would offset the steep decline in the conventional business.

The traditional method for setting coking coal prices is allegedly in terminal decline, but Barry Tudor won’t be placing his business’ future in the hands of the spot market.

Page 26: Infigen Energy’s incoming chief executive Ross Rolfe envisages the wind power producer becoming increasingly involved in battery storage and solar power as it looks to diversify its business and manage risk.

Oil major BP has done a low-cost deal to buy into a venture aiming to find a massive gas discovery off the North West Shelf, just two days after its shock decision to cancel a $600 million drilling program in the Great Australian Bight.

The debacle that sent Samsung Electronics to its biggest three-day stock rout since 2012 isn’t scaring TT International and Skagen from South Korea’s biggest company.

Page 27: Newcrest Mining has had a moral victory over BHP Billiton, after shareholders in exciting gold and copper junior Solgold voted to approve Newcrest’s proposal to become a substantial shareholder.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is expected to take control of Australian News Channel, which owns subscription television channel Sky News, for between $20 million and $25 million.

Page 38: Westfield Corporation co-chief executive Steven Lowy says Australia should brace itself for the impact of technology on shopping centre sales which has already occurred in countries like the US.

The Australian

Page 1: Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s first state visit to Australia next month will reset the sometimes strained relationship between the two countries and lay the groundwork for closer economic, defence and security ties.

An Australian academic’s discovery of global gold price collusion has sparked a looming US trial in which four of the world’s major banks are being sued for up to $1 billion over claims they rigged the price of the precious metal at the expense of investors over a decade.

Page 3: The Australian Bureau of Statistics has threatened to axe its 30-year-old collection of information on industrial disputes and cut the frequency of crucial economic reports on retail and housing sales as it tries to balance its budget.

Page 4: More than 4000 Qantas employees have won extra paid parental leave and domestic violence leave under an agreement that offsets the impact of an 18-month pay freeze with two one-off pay bonuses.

Page 6: Federal ministers are on the alert for more Labor tactics to catch them off guard and cement the impression of a chaotic government after Revenue Minister Kelly O’Dwyer struggled yesterday to answer questions on a key tax bill amid claims she should be sacked.

Leading business figures are intervening in the tax debate by calling on parliament to pass the government’s plan to reduce the corporate rate to 25 per cent over the decade, arguing that it will charge growth in smaller enterprises.

Page 19: The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has put the nation’s biggest superannuation funds on notice that they must take greater responsibility for the life insurance sold to fund members, to ensure claims are being paid.

Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media is selling its stake in the company that owns Sky News Australia, with suitor News Corporation set to finalise a $20 million-plus acquisition.

International intraday stock trading platform Select Vantage has launched defamation proceedings against the corporate regulator, alleging it made false claims and secretly warned major market players including Credit Suisse against dealing with the company.

Page 21: Qantas is returning to Beijing after a seven-year gap as the nation’s No 1 airline draws new battle lines with rival Virgin Australia to cash in on China’s burgeoning and travel-hungry middle classes.

Slater & Gordon has said it will “vigorously defend” itself against a $250 million-plus class action filed on behalf of 3000 aggrieved shareholders by rival law firm Maurice Blackburn.

Page 22: Global packaging group Orora continues to have a strong appetite for growing its business via acquisitions as it experiences “subdued’’ trading conditions in its key regional markets of Australia, New Zealand and North America.

Page 24: Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney-General has expanded its scrutiny of Malaysian public investment fund 1Malaysia Development, or 1MDB, by opening a criminal investigation into a small Swiss lender recently penalised for its ties to the fund.

News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch and chief executive Robert Thomson saw their salaries increase in the latest fiscal year, helped by higher performance-based payments and an extra week.

The West Australian

Page 3: Aldi’s plan to sell alcohol in its WA stores has again been thwarted by the State’s liquor authority, which has rejected the chain’s liquor-licence application in Joondalup.

Page 9: The corporate watchdog has placed further curbs on the activities of a Pilbara property developer accused of running what might be a $190 million Ponzi scheme.

Page 16: Colin Barnett has accused Labor of opening a legal can of worms with its pledge to subsidise personal shark-deterrent devices for surfers and divers if it wins next year’s State election.

Page 26: More money will be spent on Perth’s remarkable heritage enclave — the two rows of inner-city 1890s homes that have defied the ravages of time and the claws of developers.

The former head of the Reserve Bank has warned further cuts in interest rates will not kick-start the economy without labouring the country with dangerous levels of private debt.

Page 61: Plans for a $350 million salt production facility near Onslow are being formally evaluated by WA’s environmental watchdog.

Shovel-ready land worth more than $280 million was last night showcased to developers by the WA Government.

Australia’s biggest chicken company, Ingham’s Group, is set to list on the share market with a value of up to $1.5 billion.

Page 62: The WA Property Council will challenge the State’s politicians to create conditions to allow the industry, which contributes $31.8 billion to the State economy, to take over where the resources industry left off.

Page 63: Contractor ECM is set to take a bigger stake in thermal power company Enerji at a heavily reduced price under a proposed revamp of their partnership deal.