Today's Business Headlines

Decades of wealth from boom

Australia stands poised to capitalise on an economic transformation unparalleled in the nation’s history, with a resources and commodities boom capable of generating $480 billion of exports in the next 20 years and creating 750,000 jobs. The Aus

Key MPs plan rival tax forum

The key independents who gave their support the the Gillard minority government are threatening to hold an alternative tax forum to discuss “banned” reforms to the GST, mining tax and carbon tax. The Fin

Rio gets state waiver in $292m Pilbara water deal

Rio Tinto has surrendered its priority entitlement to a lucrative Pilbara water supply and will instead spend $US310 million ($292.4 million) to build a new borefield, in return for state government exemptions on a requirement to introduce secondary processing to its WA iron ore business. The West

Strikes ban gives peace to projects

Construction and metalworkers unions have agreed to a seven-year ban on illegal strikes at oil and gas giant Woodside’s main West Australian projects, in return for a suspension of millions of dollars in fines against their members. The Aus

Last-minute bid to oust Lord Mayor

The battle for Perth lord mayor has become a two-horse race after an 11^th hour challenger to incumbent Lisa Scaffidi emerged yesterday. The West

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, is embroiled in another court battle with her family after one of her twin daughters filed a lawsuit against her in Sydney.

Page 5: The battle for Perth lord mayor has become a two-horse race after an 11^th hour challenger to incumbent Lisa Scaffidi emerged in the form of King Street landlord Anne Bontempo yesterday.

Organisers of the Kimberley ultra-marathon had no direct contact with the Fire and Emergency Services Authority before the ill-fated event.

Page 7: Australians will be able to compare rates for a two-minute call before committing to a mobile phone plan under a planned overhaul of customer service standards in the telecommunications industry.

Page 14: Julia Gillard says Tony Abbott must recognise that the refugee swap deal with Malaysia offers the most effective and humanitarian deterrent to a “transnational crime of great evil”.

Pressure is off the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates amid signs the WA jobs market is faltering following the release of yesterday's employment figures.

Page 18: WA tourism and business leaders have begun preparing the state for a wave of Chinese tourists, with numbers expected to jump fivefold in the next decade.

Business: Rio Tinto has surrendered its priority entitlement to a lucrative Pilbara water supply and will instead spend $US310 million ($292.4 million) to build a new borefield, in return for state government exemptions on a requirement to introduce secondary processing to its WA iron ore business.

Fund managers and analysts have labelled SABMiller's failed attempt to rope in the Takeovers Panel over its hostile $11 billion bid for Foster's as a sideshow, arguing the Anglo-South African brewer will need to substantially raise its offer to drag the deal over the line.

Cortona Resource's at-times tortuous journey to bring the Majors Creek goldfield in NSW back into production is heading for the finish line after the Perth company said it has finally received regulatory approval.

A new recession in some rich countries cannot be ruled out and the eurozone crisis could deepen, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned.

Tony Poli's Aquila Resources has had a legal win over estranged joint venture partner Vale, with the Brisbane Supreme Court granting an injunction to prevent a crucial vote on how to develop the partners' $1.25 billion Eagle Downs coal project in Queensland.

The rise of cut-price online retailers, “astronomical” rent rises dictated by shopping centre landlords and the strong Aussie dollar have conspired to sent yet another well-known Australian label to the wall.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: Unemployment has climbed to a 10-month high as the mining boom reshapes the economy and turmoil on global financial markets deters businesses from hiring.

The Australian Taxation Office plans to benchmark the performance of self-managed superannuation funds, allowing funds to compare their returns and costs, but also potentially exposing those that are not paying enough tax.

Page 3: The key independents who gave their support the the Gillard minority government are threatening to hold an alternative tax forum to discuss “banned” reforms to the GST, mining tax and carbon tax.

Page 4: Gina Rinehart is being sued by her daughter, Hope Rinehart Welker, over a financial dispute clouded in secrecy.

The introduction of the federal government's proposed carbon tax will not have an impact on the reliability of power supply over the next two years, despite industry concerns about the phasing out of brown-coal power stations.

Page 6: The Greens have vowed to reject any move to resurrect offshore processing of asylum seekers, and leader Bob Brown has accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of endorsing policies far more radical and divisive than any pursued by the Howard government.

Page 20: Partner poaching is rife among major firms as managing partners look for ways to grow revenue in the 2011-12 financial year.

Spurred by the mining boom and Western Australia's proximity to Asia, global and national firms alike are making the WA market a priority.

Page 44: Grupo ACS, Leighton Holdings' ultimate parent, plans to exert influence over the Australian group by overseeing its capital allocations, according to an investor briefing.

Foster's Group has won the opening skirmish of the takeover battle with SABMiller as the takeovers watchdog rejected claims that the Australian brewer misled investors in its recent full-year results presentation.

Page 45: Iron ore miner Vale is considering the sale or lease of 18 giant ships it had ordered to help it better compete with Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton in sales into the Asian market after Chinese ports refused to accept the vessels while they are controlled by the Brazilian company.

Ukrainian-owned miner Consolidated Minerals is battling the strong Australian dollar and a sliding manganese price as it ponders an initial public offering of its shares.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Australia stands poised to capitalise on an economic transformation unparalleled in the nation’s history, with a resources and commodities boom capable of generating $480 billion of exports in the next 20 years and creating 750,000 jobs.

Julia Gillard has dismissed Greens attacks on her asylum-seeker policy as she prepares for a strategy meeting with senior colleagues today aimed at sharpening Labor’s political tactics for next week’s crucial resumption of parliament.

Australia's wealthiest person, Gina Rinehart, is once again involved in a legal battle with a family member, this time her 26-year-old daughter, who is suing her in a commercial dispute.

Australian ship operators could pay zero company tax and bypass Labor’s Fair Work Act when working international trade routes under reforms the government will fast-track to salvage the crisis-hit local shipping industry.

Page 2: Labor's revamped mining tax has been thrown into jeopardy, with key crossbencher Andrew Wilkie demanding changes and Greens leader Bob Brown strengthening calls for a comprehensive review. The Aus

The unemployment rate has risen for the fourth month in a row as companies become fearful about taking on new workers at a time of economic uncertainty.

Construction and metalworkers unions have agreed to a seven-year ban on illegal strikes at oil and gas giant Woodside’s main West Australian projects, in return for a suspension of millions of dollars in fines against their members.

Page 4: Warnings that 600 asylum-seekers a month will descend on Australia if offshore processing is not restored — risking European-style cultural problems — are ‘‘alarmist nonsense’’ claims the Coalition, saying the figure was never put to it during official briefings.

Phone and internet providers will be forced to send text alerts before customers breach their credit limits after a deluge of complaints about ‘‘bill shock’’.

Page 6: The solar installation industry has been struck by a second failure of a solar credits trader amid a political row over the regulation of the government’s renewable energy target.

Page 7: The brother of a competitor who died in an ultra-marathon organised by the same company behind last week’s disastrous Racing the Planet event in the Kimberley has claimed the Hong Kong adventure group was ‘‘reckless’’ and ill-prepared.

Business: Australia is underestimating its opportunity to transform the mining boom into decades of sustained prosperity by supplying the mining, energy and food demands of China and the rest of emerging Asia.

The Takeovers Panel has thrown out a complaint by SABMiller over what the hostile takeover suitor claimed were ‘‘misleading and deceptive’’ statements by Foster’s in the Australian brewer’s annual results last month.

ANZ Bank has rejected claims that it failed to report a massive fraud allegedly committed by Indian businessman Pankaj Oswal that was uncovered as the bank was trying to recover almost $900 million in loans made to the tycoon's Burrup Fertlisers.

Aquila Resources has had another legal win in one of its numerous coal disputes with Brazilian giant Vale.

Fresh from winning the National Broadband Network construction tender for Western Australia, contractor Service Stream is preparing to bid for the South Australian and Northern Territory contracts that are yet to be awarded.

Telstra is still on track to reach a deal with the competition regulator to save its $11 billion deal with the NBN Co, chief executive David Thodey said yesterday.

Rupert Murdoch has described the News of the World phone hacking scandal as ‘‘a major black eye’’ for News Corporation but remains confident the media and entertainment group will ‘‘put things right’’.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: Labor MP Craig Thomson and union leader Michael Williamson, who is on the ALP national executive, allegedly received secret commissions from a major supplier to their union.

Page 2: Julia Gillard flew home early from New Zealand on Thursday night to try to break the impasse over asylum seeker policy as a row erupted with the Greens after they accused Labor of lurching to the right of the Howard government.

Page 3: Employment has stopped growing, rendering improbable the budget forecast of 500,000 new jobs and pushing up the unemployment rate.

World: Jousting between the leading Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney dominated the first debate involving Texas Governor Perry, a Tea Party favourite who used the occasion to play to his conservative base.

Business: Bonds issued by Australian banks and big business have crashed to the lowest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers as volatile European credit markets have kept many at bay.

Sport: Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens says it's now or never for his boys ahead of first qualifying final, against St George Illawarra at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: NSW's 600 RailCorp transit officers could lose their jobs but be given the chance to become police officers.

Page 2: Senior police have called for tougher laws to protect children from perverts as a man avoided jail for the second time for trying to lure girls into his car.

Page 3: Ten NRL league clubs have warned they will cut millions in funding to their football team and even pull out altogether because of the federal government's plan to limit how much people can gamble on poker machines.

World: Muammar Gaddafi has slammed reports he had fled to neighbouring Niger.

Business: The number of Australians out of work is at a 10-month high with the number of people looking for full-time work soaring to nearly 460,000.

Sport: All Blacks icon Buck Shelford has declared the Kiwis a superior side to Australia and the Springboks on the eve of the World Cup.

THE CANBERRA TIMES:

Page 1: High speed rail would be a game changer for the ACT, according to a Strategic Regional Plan.

Page 2: ACT teachers cancel strikes after progress in pay negotiations.

Page 3: Greens leader Bob Brown calls government officials "turkeys" for saying onshore processing would lead to civil unrest.

World: Pacific leaders have upheld sanctions on Fiji and refused to let them rejoin a regional forum.

Finance: Aquila Resources has got a court injunction to stop a meeting where a Brazilian mining company would have bought a 50 per cent stake in it.

Sport: Troubled rugby league player Todd Carney will definitely not be joining the Canberra Raiders in 2012.

THE COURIER MAIL:

Page 1: The woman suspected of killing her daughter before jumping to her death from the Story Bridge was no demon, says her friend.

Page 2: Latest job figures put Premier Anna Bligh's pledge of 100,000 new jobs during her term in office in doubt.

Page 3: Queensland's most notorious prison escapee Brenden Abbott has been transferred back to the jail he broke out of.

Page 4: Two people have been killed in a chopper crash on Queensland's central coast.

Page 5: Queensland's decision to introduce a prep year is expected to be rewarded with the release of national literacy and numeracy results.

World: Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to vanquish NATO forces and says he has not fled Libya.

Business: Poor national job figures had a negative impact on the Australian sharemarket.

Sport: Former All Blacks flanker Josh Kronkfield upset his countrymen by ranking David Pocock ahead of Kiwi skipper Richie McCaw.