Today's Business Headlines

New shots in battle over super
Australia's $300 billion retail superannuation industry will today pledge to roll back commissions, in a move aimed at improving the position of retail funds as they battle industry funds for market share. The Age

BHP, Rio face forced sales
Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton could be forced to sell iron ore assets to get the $US116 billion ($146bn) planned merger of their West Australian iron ore operations past regulators. The Australian

Rates anger grows
The political backlash against mortgage rate rises intensified yesterday even as the Reserve Bank acknowledged that deposit competition was pushing up the major banks' cost of funding home loans. Herald Sun

Great Southern's last pitch
Great Southern offered large investors in its cattle schemes secret financial incentives to change their votes to support a deal that was a last-ditch effort to save the embattled agribusiness company. The Fin Review

Building watchdog loses bite
Employers have accused the Rudd government of caving in to union pressure by reducing penalties against striking building workers, slowing access to the construction watchdog's coercive powers, and allowing projects to be exempt from the powers. The Australian

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Colin Barnett put his leadership on the line yesterday to push a reluctant Liberal Party into expanding weeknight shopping hours to 9pm in the metropolitan area.

Page 6: WA has an international reputation as the most over-regulated Australian state, leading free market think tank The Institute of Public Affairs claims.

Page 9: Australian wine producers have already ditched the name champagne and now rebadging of the nation's fortified wines has begun.

Page 10: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned banks that the government may boost competition in the sector as another two institutions lifted fixed interest rates.

Militant unions have the chance to have the construction cops called off if they behave, under federal changes to laws ruling building sites.

Page 12: Premier Colin Barnett said yesterday he was confident of a positive outcome on a new royalties deal for iron ore when he met BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers in Perth this morning for the first time since BHP and Rio Tinto announced that they wanted to merge their Pilbara iron ore operations.

Business: Australia's $300 billion retail superannuation industry will today pledge to roll back commissions, in a move aimed at improving the position of retail funds as they battle industry funds for market share.

Rio Tinto has used the release of shareholder documents for its $US15.2 billion ($18.96 billion) rights issue as an opportunity to try to mend fences with an angry Chinalco, the group it spurned by going down the rights issue path to a much-needed refinancing.

The team behind Kimberley Diamond Company is eyeing a push to roll the board of Indago Resources, just days after building a 9.9 per cent stake in the explorer.

The power struggle over Extract Resources has claimed its biggest scalp yet, with managing director Peter McIntyre to step down from the board of the uranium hopeful he helped build into a $15 billion market darling.

Alcoa has scuppered Eric Streitberg's $41,3 million plan to privatise Perth explorer Buru Energy after failing to back the controversial proposal.

Timbercorp's administrators are expected to apply to the courts this week for approval to wind up and sell the assets of the group's managed forestry schemes after uncovering a $170 million funding shortfall across the 11 projects.

Gindalbie Metals has blamed delays in receiving environmental approval for the $1.8 billion Karara iron ore project in the Mid West for its decision to axe one in five jobs.

Hostilities between Avoca Resources and Dioro Exploration have stepped up after the Rohan Williams-headed Avoca slated a $1.89 share valuation of its takeover target as having "no meaningful correlation" to its pre-bid price.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: Great Southern offered large investors in its cattle schemes secret financial incentives to change their votes to support a deal that was a last-ditch effort to save the embattled agribusiness company.

The peak body for the wealth management industry is to call for an end to commissions on investment products in an effort to shore up confidence in the sector, which has been battered by a series of failed investment schemes and heavy financial losses.

Page 3: Unions will be handed exemptions from the coercive powers of the Rudd government's new building industry watchdog in a move designed to placate internal Labor angst about the new laws.

Page 4: The federal government's tax changes to employee share schemes would stymie moves to better align long-term executive incentives with shareholders, the Productivity Commission heard yesterday.

Page 5: The opposition has strong concerns about the impact on the aluminium industry of the federal government's renewable energy target legislation, which is expected to be introduced into parliament today.

Page 7: The grains powerhouse of Western Australia has had a disappointing start to the winter cropping season and faces further challenges from hotter than average weather in coming months, which threatens to slash yields.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Employers have accused the Rudd government of caving in to union pressure by reducing penalties against striking building workers, slowing access to the construction watchdog's coercive powers, and allowing projects to be exempt from the powers.

Queensland has replaced the usual suspect of NSW as the nation's sickest state and threatens to drag Australia into a prolonged recession.

Page 3: Seven Network presenter David Koch hosted an education program for GPs produced by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co, which addressed concerns about the safety of its anti-arthritis drug Vioxx.

Pay-TV group Foxtel has joined the growing chorus of media companies seeking a comprehensive review of Australia's media and telecommunications regulation ahead of the $43 billion national broadband network rollout.

Page 4: Kevin Rudd is considering offering Peter Costello a job, revealing he wants to use the former treasurer's experience in the service of the nation, despite Mr Costello's decision to retire from parliament.

The Rudd government plan to switch off coercive powers in selected parts of the construction industry was giving unions a "get out of jail free card", especially in Victoria, which had become the "heart of darkness" for industrial standover tactics and intimidation.

Page 5: The government's proposed commercial property bailout fund was last night voted down in the Senate by the coalition and the Greens in a move the government said could jeopardise thousands of construction jobs.

Further variable mortgage rate increases were unlikely in the current round of rate adjustments by the major banks, a senior executive with one of the nation's Big Four lenders has said.

Australian farmers can expect their best winter crop in four years, with grains production for the season likely to rise by 5 per cent on 2008-09 levels.

The Reserve Bank believes both the world and Australian economies are stabilising and the International Monetary Fund has, for the first time since last July, raised its forecast for the world economy.

Page 9: Stamp duty on all newly built homes in NSW will be slashed by 50 per cent in a drive to kick-start the housing sector and relieve the serious shortage of rental accommodation, Treasurer Eric Roozendaal announced yesterday.

Fourth-year apprentice electrician Adrian Pisto is hoping the NSW government's $62.9 billion infrastructure splurge will keep him in a job.

Page 10: Queensland will have to rely on the success of its proposed $15 billion privatisation program if it is to retain its AAA credit rating.

Page 11: A dramatic reversal in Queensland's fortunes has prompted the Bligh government to warn of rising unemployment, dwindling growth and eight more years of deficit in a sign the boom state has well and truly gone bust.

Business: Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton could be forced to sell iron ore assets to get the $US116 billion ($146bn) planned merger of their West Australian iron ore operations past regulators.

China's $US200 billion sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, has committed $200 million to a financing facility for the troubled Goodman Group and may emerge with a substantial shareholding in Australia's biggest industrial property trust.

Pacifica Group's remaining shareholders have been confronted with a mop-up takeover bid worth barely one-tenth the $300 million offer they rejected two years ago, as the Australian automotive sector mainstay fights for survival.

The towers used to transmit ABC and SBS signals are likely to be in the hands of the Canadian government superannuation fund by the end of the month after key investors warmed to a sweetened $1.64 billion takeover bid for Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group.

BHP Billiton expects to export its first uranium to China this year, laying the ground for future sales from its planned Yeelirrie project and Olympic Dam expansion.

The market clearly was expecting much more from the Goodman Group than yesterday's latest piecemeal approach to refinancing of its heavy debt load.

Timbercorp administrator Mark Korda last night gave managed investment scheme participants some better news by indicating he would move to get a court order to wind up the group's forestry schemes and return money to them.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett will consider legislation, if necessary, to ensure his state is not denied hundreds of millions of dollars in stamp duty from Rio Tinto and BHP's planned production joint venture.

Global surfwear retailer Billabong International will cut its debt and improve its working capital position after raising $291 million from institutions and retail investors in a rights issue.

Agricultural chemicals supplier Nufarm says its net operating profit for the current financial year is likely to be about 15 per cent lower than previously forecast.

Optus has trumped Telstra in the race for the Australian Taxation Office's $240 million managed network services contract.

The $22 billion Wesfarmers conglomerate should be broken up to release capital for investment in its retail operations.

Mirvac's largest shareholder, the giant Dubai-based developer Nakheel, has clawed back some of its losses on its investment in the Australian property trust.

Avoca Resources has hit back at takeover target Dioro's rejection of its offer, labelling the junior goldminer's independent valuation as unrealistic.