Abbott stand sparks power price anger – The Fin; Pilots may ramp up action on Qantas – The Aus; ASA gives Wesfarmers warning – The West; Gindalbie supports home outfits – The Aus; $100m win for Diploma – The Fin
Abbott stand sparks power price anger
The electricity industry has warned that power prices will have to rise if the Coalition carries out its threat to abolish the carbon tax, as business leaders said prolonging uncertainty would hold up new investment. The Fin
Pilots may ramp up action on Qantas
Qantas pilots will consider ramping up industrial action after the airline said it saw no value in further conferences before Fair Work Australia unless a key claim was taken off the table. The Aus
ASA gives Wesfarmers warning
The Australian Shareholders' Association has raised concerns about the sustainability of Wesfarmers' dividend, warning any erosion of retail margins could put payouts under pressure. The West
Gindalbie supports home outfits
Gindalbie Metals has flagged that it supports local content in developing its West Australian $2.57 billion iron ore project, with more than 90 per cent of funds spent so far going to Australian contractors. The Aus
$100m win for Diploma
Listed West Australian developer Diploma Group is about to be awarded a contract worth almost $100 million to build stage two of the Queens Riverside development. The Fin
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 4: Tony Abbott's plan to turn back boats loaded with asylum seekers in unfeasible and would likely spark a major diplomatic dispute with Indonesia, Immigration Department secretary Andrew Metcalfe has warned.
Page 5: The woman who was the face of Westpac Bank's flagship city branch has been sacked amid allegations she secretly recorded a conversation with two of her bosses.
Page 7: Re-elected Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi declared Perth was on the cusp of a “Belle Epoque” and critics of change needed to be educated to understand the bigger picture.
Page 8: Federal bureaucrats have racked up bills of at least $100,000 after they sold two Parliament House billiard tables at a bargain basement price.
Construction unionist Joe McDonald made an emotional plea in court yesterday for the return of his right-of-entry permit, claiming he needed it to save lives.
Page 9: Cooking shows such as MasterChef are said to be partly to blame for soaring vegetable imports – a trend that is pushing local growers out of the market.
Page 10: A big slice of the Water Corporation's Leederville land will be sold and redeveloped into a residential and commercial hub under plans for a gateway to the suburb.
Page 17: Qantas has shifted into damage control after another Rolls Royce- powered 747-400 with 356 passengers aboard had a serious engine malfunction an hour after leaving Bangkok for Sydney.
Page 19: The Federal Government faces more pressure over its plans for a network of marine parks around Australia's south western coast.
Business: Rio Tinto plans radical surgery for its ailing aluminium division – Rio Tinto Alcan – in a last-ditch effort to improve returns from the business which was expanded with the ill-timed $US38 billion acquisition of Alcan in 2007.
Ausdrill is seeking approval for a multi-million dollar share incentive plan for Ron Sayers, saying it wants to better recognise the achievements of its founder.
The Australian Shareholders' Association has raised concerns about the sustainability of Wesfarmers' dividend, warning any erosion of retail margins could put payouts under pressure.
Fortescue Metals Group has increased the development budget for its Solomon project, designed to substantially lower group-wide operating costs by $US200 million to $US2.7 billion, but insisted an overall plan to treble iron ore production was on track.
Doray Minerals, the explorer behind WA's best new gold discovery, could find itself at the centre of takeover hype today after cashed up Ramelius Resources revealed itself as a 5.4 per cent shareholder.
Super Retail Group's $610 million takeover of sports chain Rebel Group will create a retail behemoth controlling one fifth of the $4 billion-plus sporting and outdoor leisure market in Australia.
Bankwest chairman Harvey Collins has sought to reassure staff that its managing director is not heading for the door, after reports surfaced that Jon Sutton would be replaced by a senior executive with parent Commonwealth Bank.
Buru Energy shareholders will be hoping for some good news this morning from the oil and gas player's exploration program in the Kimberley's Canning Basin, with market speculation last night that it may have made an onshore oil discovery.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: The electricity industry has warned that power prices will have to rise if the Coalition carries out its threat to abolish the carbon tax, as business leaders said prolonging uncertainty would hold up new investment.
Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten is pushing for tax breaks for foreign funds investing in Australia to help boost financial services exports to Asia.
More than four years after its ill-timed $US38.1 billion acquisition of Canadian aluminium producer Alcan, Rio Tinto is taking steps to clean out a division that is has given it more headaches than most.
Super Retail Group will buy sports and leisure specialist Rebel Group for $610 million, sparking hopes that one of Australia's best performing retailers can turn around the underperforming sports group.
Page 4: After months of cutting back on debt, consumers and businesses have shown they are once again prepared to borrow.
Page 6: The system for carving up the GST is complicated and opportunities to simplify it are limited, the organisation charged with administering it says.
Page 8: A fresh front has opened in the battle over high-interest, short-term loans: Cash Converters is being sued by one of its former customers for lending him money.
Qantas Airways has denied a claim by the licensed engineers union that it is misleading the public over why five aircraft that are going to be sold off have been grounded.
Individuals and small businesses will learn today whether their neighbourhood will get high-speed broadband from the government in the next 12 months.
Page 10: The federal government is paying environment groups that back its carbon price scheme to run community campaigns supporting it and is considering a new round of advertising.
Page 14: West Australian Premier Colin Barnett defied some of the state's top bureaucrats when he scrapped a troubled software project set up to centralise departments' finance functions, new documents show.
Page 20: Fortescue Metals Group is forging ahead with plans to raise up to $US1.5 billion to help fund an expansion of its Pilbara iron ore operations by the end of the year, despite recent market volatility.
Page 21: Uranium producer Energy Resources of Australia is set to test the appetite of frazzled retail investors for about $180 million of equity after raising $380 million from institutions in its entitlement offer.
Page 50: Listed West Australian developer Diploma Group is about to be awarded a contract worth almost $100 million to build stage two of the Queens Riverside development.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Australia will need to spend a further $30 billion on wind farms by 2020 — about four times the capital investment in power stations in the national energy market during the past decade — to comply with the government’s enforceable targets for renewable energy generation.
Parents who allow their children to become truants will lose welfare payments under Labor’s plan to toughen elements of the Northern Territory intervention after a report found widespread acceptance of the controversial program in Aboriginal communities.
Unions will seek to protect the jobs and conditions of thousands of aluminium workers in Queensland and Tasmania after Rio Tinto Alcan moved to sell off 13 aluminium assets, including smelters and refineries.
Page 3: Qantas pilots will consider ramping up industrial action after the airline said it saw no value in further conferences before Fair Work Australia unless a key claim was taken off the table.
Samsung yesterday sought to ban sales of Apple’s new iPhone 4S in Australia and Japan, escalating the patent war between the two technology giants.
Page 7: NBN Co did not calculate the impact on its business case of a less controversial model in which Telstra could use its payTV cable to compete in broadband provision.
Page 8: The opposition has accused the government of ‘‘having something to hide’’ over the economic modelling used to estimate the impact of the carbon tax.
Wayne Swan has talked up his lobbying overseas for an ambitious euro-zone rescue plan, claiming no other Australian treasurer has ever engaged so much with international peers to help protect the global economy.
Farmers and unions have backed Trade Minister Craig Emerson’s plan to abandon the Doha talks and pursue a breakaway liberalisation push that would sideline protectionist nations.
Business: Soaring power costs have helped seal the fate of Rio Tinto’s struggling aluminium business, with the mining giant putting four Australian and New Zealand smelters and its troubled Gove alumina operations in the Northern Territory on the market.
Private equity group Archer Capital is selling sporting goods retailer Rebel to Super Retail for $610 million, after an anaemic equity market and retail environment forced it to abandon plans to float the company.
Chi-X has cleared the last hurdle to start trading at the end of this month, after the Australian Securities & Investments Commission confirmed yesterday that the securities market operator had met all its licence preconditions.
Fortescue Metals Group expects iron ore demand to remain strong, adding to the sector’s confidence in the China growth story.
Gindalbie Metals has flagged that it supports local content in developing its West Australian $2.57 billion iron ore project, with more than 90 per cent of funds spent so far going to Australian contractors.
A former chief executive of Marathon Resources has gone to court seeking a $1 million bonus he was denied when he was sacked.
Commercial property values have further to fall, with the strong Australian dollar masking poor returns, according to former Macquarie Group executive director Bill Moss.
The energy and resource sector has provided a boost for Australian mergers and acquisitions activity, against a background of falling global activity because of an uncertain economic outlook.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Support in NSW for restrictions on poker machines has plummeted under a clubs campaign, a Herald-Nielsen poll shows.
Page 2: Pressure is mounting on Sri Lanka over allegations of war crimes at the end of its civil war in 2009 ahead of the Commonwealth leaders' meeting in Perth.
Page 3: Sellers of so-called "legal highs" can create and market drugs so quickly that authorities would struggle to cope, a drug conference has heard.
World: Israel's High Court has begun hearing a challenge to a deal to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Business: Rio Tinto plans radical surgery to its ailing aluminium division following its ill-timed acquisition of Alcan in 2007.
Sport: Queensland Reds coach Ewen McKenzie is sure to be included in an assistant coaching or advisory role for the wounded Wallabies.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: Federal MPs will be able to pocket up to $70,455 if they lose their job.
Page 2: Premier Barry O'Farrell has stripped former ministers of the right to air travel and the occasional use of a car and driver.
Page 3: Australian Indy car driver Will Power predicted his sport would be rocked by tragedy just a day before a high-speed crash killed Brit Dan Wheldon.
World: A 13-year-old boy was a key figure in a 10-day crime spree in northern England.
Business: Employees are stealing more than ever because of fears about the economy, a global survey shows.
Sport: Rugby league clubs have sent a message to Wallabies five-eighth Quade Cooper - don't even think about demanding big money.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Bacchus Marsh landowners to fight moves by mining company to harvest brown coal in the area. Victorian government says no to hosting global conservation conference. Building industry watchdog slams union for not denouncing alleged violence by its staff. Male voters are shunning prime minister.
Page 2: Gold Coast film company trying to sue people for illegal downloads are major players in internet porn.
Page 3: Federal minister slams Victorian government for not taking action against sex slavery. Speaker Harry Jenkins says government has to help problem gamblers. Reviews into the $5000 sale of two billiard tables from federal parliament will cost taxpayers $100,000. Bali boy tests positive to drug tests.
World: Wall Street shuns Obama and doles money out to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Business: Rio Tinto to sell its aluminium division.
Sport: St Kilda loses its Irish rookie and fails to find homes for other senior players on last day of trade week.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: Police back Hodson children for inquest into the 2004 murders of their parents Terence and Christine.
Page 3: Two-year-old boy gets his first hair cut and he's not impressed. Federal MPs get generous redundancy deal of up to six months to cushion job loss.
World: New Zealanders told to expect the worst when cargo ship Rena breaks up.
Business: Sport apparel trader Rebel to be swallowed up by Super Retail, owner of Ray's Outdoors and Supercheap Auto.
Sport: St Kilda may get nothing in return for losing key players during AFL trade week.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: Canberra's arterial roads could be transformed into "development corridors" lined with shops, cafes and apartment buildings up to eight storeys high, according to the ACT government's planning vision.
Page 2: ACT government papers including FOI documents will soon be viewable online.
Page 3: ACT child protection workers are under "extreme duress" trying to find accommodation for Canberra's vulnerable children, according to the territory's Public Advocate.
World: The flood threat to Thailand's capital appears to have eased.
Business: Rio Tinto has continued to try to turn its disastrous, overpriced $38.1 billion Alcan acquisition into a positive by putting 13 of its aluminium units up for sale.
Sport: New Zealand is an overwhelming favourite to win Saturday's Rugby World Cup final.
THE COURIER MAIL:
Page 1: Processing complaints are delaying life-saving improvements to Queensland's health system.
Page 3: Federal government has sold two billiard tables for $6,000 and then spent $100,000 determining if the sale was properly conducted.
Page 4: The failed Malaysian people swap deal costs Australians $5 million.
Page 5: Qantas pay dispute to further disrupt travel plans for passengers departing or arriving at Brisbane airport.
World: A British police officer has denied killing a newspaper seller at the G20 protests.
Business: Mining giant Rio Tinto will abandon aluminium smelting in Australia after putting up 13 worldwide aluminium operations up for sale.
Sport: Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has vowed to lead the side to a second Rugby World Cup.
