Albany top town
ALBANY has been recognised as WA’s top tourism town at the Country Tourism Association’s 2000 annual conference and dinner presentation. Tourism Minister Norman Moore said a record 16 towns had entered the GWN Brand WA Top Tourism Town Awards this year.
$2.4m Telethon
CHANNEL Seven’s 33rd Telethon raised more than $2.4 million for WA’s sick children. Part of the funds will go towards the upgrading of ventilators and monitoring equipment for the neonatal unit at King Edward Memorial and Princess Margaret Hospitals. The Telethon Home in Mindarie was auctioned for $330,000.
National 1 offer
WA-based national distributor of office products National 1 officially closed its share offer one week early oversubscribed. The company offered 20 million 40¢ shares. National 1 aims to raise $8 million, representing almost 20 per cent of the company, which will have an initial market capitalisation of approximately $42 million.
Boost for arts
WA’S major performing arts companies are set to receive a $9.6 million boost after State Cabinet signed off on its funding commitment under the Major Performing Arts Inquiry. The joint Commonwealth-State government agreement has provided an increase in funding for major performing arts organisations.
Diamonds online
BHP has launched Aurias, the company’s first move into online diamond retailing. Aurias customers have initially been given the choice of 1,300 polished diamonds from BHP’s 51 per cent-owned Ekati Mine in Canada. A small number of larger diamonds are also available from the Aurias website at www.aurias.com
Borrowings rise
COMMERCIAL and finance commitments rose 2.6 per cent in August substantially offsetting the previous months fall, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Commercial finance lent for August totalled $18 billion – almost $1.5 billion higher than the previous month.
