Morning Headlines

Weak wage gains blow out budget

The Coalition government is bracing for a significant deterioration in next month’s budget update as weaker wages growth offsets any tax revenue boost from a surprise rebound in iron ore and coal export prices. The Fin

Gupta father and son team up for Arrium

Sanjeev Gupta, the British industrialist whose Liberty House Group is joining forces with his father’s bigger SIMEC shipping, mining and energy empire to make a serious joint bid for the Arrium assets, has been mystified for more than two decades as to why Australia didn’t ever become a steel-making powerhouse. The Fin

Confidence push for BHP’s Permian push

BHP Billiton has found a vote of support for its push into Texas’ Permian basin, with the top natural science agency in the US declaring the region contains more unconventional oil and gas than any other shale play in the United States. The Fin

Premier League ‘just the kick-off’

Sitting inside Optus Sport headquarters at the telecommunications company’s offices in Macquarie Park, Sydney, surrounded by television screens bringing in live feeds of football, cricket and data across its distribution channels, the Arsenal fan outlines his vision. The Fin

Union’s $100bn trail of disruption

More than $100 billion worth of projects have been disrupted by construction union “lawlessness”, according to new analysis released by the Turnbull government to try to persuade the Senate to pass the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill. The Aus

Chinese make a gold rush for Super Pit stake

Half of Australia’s most famous gold mine will fall into Chinese hands after a little-known group blew Australian bidders out of the water with a $1.3 billion-plus bid for a stake in Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit. The Aus

Rio jobs to go

Rio Tinto is preparing to sack up to 500 workers ahead of the March State election, a move likely to exacerbate tensions between the State’s biggest miner and WA Nationals leader Brendon Grylls. The West

Job gloom to ease soon, says Nahan

WA Treasurer Mike Nahan expects the jobs market to improve and is likely to cut the Budget forecast for State unemployment in the run-up to the March election. The West

The Australian Financial Review             

Page 1: The Coalition government is bracing for a significant deterioration in next month’s budget update as weaker wages growth offsets any tax revenue boost from a surprise rebound in iron ore and coal export prices.

The three Australian employees of Crown Resorts, detained in China for the past month, have been formally arrested and face the prospect of spending at least the next six months in custody.

Page 4: The age of middle-class welfare entitlement is coming to an end – unless you’re well off and over 65, according to a Grattan Institute call to scrap unjustified age-based tax breaks that cost the budget $1 billion a year.

Page 5: There is growing confidence within the Turnbull government that it will succeed in getting the Senate to pass two industrial relations bills it hung this year’s double-dissolution election on.

Page 6: The future is big data and artificial intelligence and IBM’s vast Watson intelligent computing system is one of the world’s most powerful cognitive machines. It’s cost the company $US25 billion to acquire and build Watson.

Page 9: China has signalled its intention to play a bigger role in freeing up trade and investment across the region as President Xi Jinping urged Pacific Rim leaders to adopt Beijing’s plan for a more inclusive trade deal.

Page 11: A leading US bank regulator has reversed course and positioned itself to claw back pay from former executives at financial group Wells Fargo, which was recently hit by a phony-accounts scandal.

Page 13: Sanjeev Gupta, the British industrialist whose Liberty House Group is joining forces with his father’s bigger SIMEC shipping, mining and energy empire to make a serious joint bid for the Arrium assets, has been mystified for more than two decades as to why Australia didn’t ever become a steel-making powerhouse.

Sean Healey heads up an investment firm with a difference – its value proposition is that the ‘‘boutique is beautiful’’. However in backing the little guys it has grown into one of the top 12 largest listed asset management firms globally.

Page 15: BHP Billiton has found a vote of support for its push into Texas’ Permian basin, with the top natural science agency in the US declaring the region contains more unconventional oil and gas than any other shale play in the United States.

When Acorns, a heavily hyped US micro-investing app, launched in Australia in February, the pitch to Millennials was simple: Here is an inexpensive and relatively low-risk way to get exposure to the sharemarket and grow your savings.

One of Atlas Iron’s biggest lenders-turned-shareholders, Marathon Asset Management, has been using the recent strength in the iron ore junior’s share price to cut back its hefty stake in the company.

Page 16: At last week’s fintech festival in Singapore, two announcements illustrate the speed at which the world of digital currencies is moving and how the future of money is set to be reshaped by the forces of technology.

Global investor Peter Hall has added a position in Foxtons, the British property agents, in anticipation the stock could quadruple from its post-Brexit market value.

Page 17: Star fund managers need not apply at AMP Capital. That’s the motto from AMP Capital’s David Allen, the Englishman parachuted in to oversee the firm’s $26.8 billion listed share portfolio as global head of equities, and now charged with setting up AMP Capital’s global equities strategy.

As the dominant trustee for Australia’s residential mortgage-backed securities market, Perpetual Corporate Trust has accumulated data on 150 million loans from 58 lenders dating back almost 20 years.

Page 18: The two biggest US fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel said on Friday they would merge to cut legal bills and improve operating efficiency after tussling for years to win customers.

Page 20: Mining and Asian equities generally track in tandem, thanks to their reliance on China, but since the US election these two asset classes have diverged considerably, and Deutsche Bank sees some buying opportunities.

Page 21: In what is shaping up to be the quietest year for floats since 2012, many companies at the smaller end of the scale are pushing ahead with their IPO plans.

Page 29: Fetch TV chief executive Scott Lorson believes the telecommunications market will be the key battleground for subscription television as the national broadband network rollout ramps up.

Sitting inside Optus Sport headquarters at the telecommunications company’s offices in Macquarie Park, Sydney, surrounded by television screens bringing in live feeds of football, cricket and data across its distribution channels, the Arsenal fan outlines his vision.

It would be fair to say the Australian music industry has changed since Elton John hosted the first Australian Recording Industry Association awards in 1987 at the Sheraton Wentworth Hotel in Sydney.

The Australian

Page 1: More than $100 billion worth of projects have been disrupted by construction union “lawlessness”, according to new analysis released by the Turnbull government to try to persuade the Senate to pass the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill.

Half of Australia’s most famous gold mine will fall into Chinese hands after a little-known group blew Australian bidders out of the water with a $1.3 billion-plus bid for a stake in Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit.

Page 2: An economic hit to wages and profits will deepen the federal deficit by $24 billion by 2020, according to a new warning that heightens pressure on all sides of politics to compromise on savings to prevent a cut to Australia’s AAA credit rating.

Page 6: Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu has negotiated a historic 99-year, multi-million-dollar township lease agreement with the federal government that puts indigenous land fully in indigenous control.

International education’s value to the nation has surged past $20 billion, confirming the industry’s status as Australia’s third-biggest earner and easily the largest services export.

Page 7: Andrew Forrest, the billionaire miner who successfully lobbied for a trial of the controversial healthy welfare card in remote towns, is in the running for Australian of the Year.

Page 19: Donald Trump’s position on trade could provide an opportunity for Australian agribusiness exporters, but leading industry executives are worried that the fine print attached to current free-trade deals is limiting access to markets.

The personal toll on sacked Rio Tinto senior executive Alan Davies over the group’s Guinea iron ore bribery scandal has continued to mount, with the 20-year Rio veteran resigning as a nonexecutive director of Rolls-Royce.

Billionaire developer Harry Triguboff has close to doubled the amount he is lending to apartment buyers in the wake of restrictions from Australian banks and China’s crackdown on money flowing out of the country.

The Australian Taxation Office has won a $125 million claim against the founding family behind Nudie Juice, the Binetters, setting what is believed to be a record for a legal victory arising out of the Operation Wickenby inquiry into offshore tax evasion.

The West Australian

Page 1: Rio Tinto is preparing to sack up to 500 workers ahead of the March State election, a move likely to exacerbate tensions between the State’s biggest miner and WA Nationals leader Brendon Grylls.

Page 3: The boss of State-owned power provider Synergy has labelled WA’s electricity prices as fundamentally flawed, saying they benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.

Page 4: WA Treasurer Mike Nahan expects the jobs market to improve and is likely to cut the Budget forecast for State unemployment in the run-up to the March election.

Page 5: WA appears poised to lose a planned direct flight to London after Perth Airport all but closed the door on Qantas’ push to run the international route from its domestic terminal.

Page 14: Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says he will try to change the law so that the independent tribunal that sets WA politicians’ pay will have to follow the State Government wages policy which applies to public servants.

Page 18: Less than 10 per cent of Perth houses are affordable for households earning less than $68,000 a year, a report has revealed.

Page 20: The president of an association for independent greengrocers stores says it would be more difficult to employ teenagers and costs would be pushed up for small shopkeepers if the State Government proceeds with an Australian-first law to prohibit the sale of tobacco by children under the age of 18.

Page 49: Dozens of WA small and medium businesses will today vie for the multibillion-dollar right to help build the Australian Army’s new fleet of light armoured vehicles.

Rio Tinto has signalled that development of its driverless train system is back on track, moving responsibility for completing the AutoHaul project out of its technology division to iron ore boss Chris Salisbury.