Our fossil fuel energy future – The Fin; Australian banks work on Euro bank breakup plan – The West; Rio gets OK to up stake in Ivanhoe – The Aus; ‘Use it or lose it’ in WA – The Fin; Rudd backers mobilise over Carr – The Aus
Our fossil fuel energy future – The Fin
Australians will have to embrace coal seam gas, sell state-owned power assets and wear big price increases to finance $240 billion of new power capacity needed over the next two decades to meet the nation’s energy needs, the long-awaited energy white paper reveals.
Australian banks work on Euro bank breakup plan – The West.
Australia’s big banks have been working on contingency plans to ensure funding lines stay open in the event of a breakup of the eurozone region.
Rio gets OK to up stake in Ivanhoe – The Aus
Rio Tinto will be free to increase its stake in Ivanhoe Mines from early next year after securing a win in an 18-month dispute between the joint-venture partners.
‘Use it or lose it’ in WA – The Fin
Gas-guzzling businesses inWestern Australiahave won concessions to force petroleum giants to use or lose their big offshore reserves.
Rudd backers mobilise over Carr – The Aus
Supporters of Kevin Rudd are preparing to capitalise on the fallout from Julia Gillard’s cabinet reshuffle after the demotion of Victorian Left factional warhorse Kim Carr sparked uproar in the Prime Minister’s home branch.
The West:
Pg 10 – Kevin Rudd has made plain his disapproval of Julia Gillard’s reshuffle, singling out her biggest victim of her ministerial shake up for praise.
West business pg 1 – Treasury boss Martin Parkinson is losing patience with those who call for action to bring down the dollar.
Pg 1 –Australia’s big banks have been working on contingency plans to ensure funding lines stay open in the event of a breakup of the eurozone region.
Pg 2 – For Kevin Gallagher one word sums up trhe key difference between producing oil and gas and contracting margins. After 13 years at Woodside Petroleum, becoming chief executive at engineering firm Clough last month has been something of a wake up call for the Scotsman.
Pg 3 – WA should privatise its State owned electricity companies because having them remain in government ownership is distorting the WA electricity market according to the federal government’s draft energy white paper.
Pg 3 –Perth copper hopeful Hot Chili has done what many companies are struggling to achieve in this topsy turvy stockmarket, and that is carrying out an equity raising at a premium to its prevailing share price.
Pg 4 – Qantas is discussing the sale of a portion of its catering business that supplies meals to international airlines flying to Australian airports.
Pg 5 – Rio Tinto has won a legal stoush with its hostile joint venture partner Ivanhoe Mines, ensuring the resources giant’s 49 per cent stake in Ivanhoe cannot be diluted.
Pg 8 –IBM is rejoicing in the skills shortage engulfing WA and has moulded its business model on selling technology to resources companies that makes labour cheaper and more efficient.
The Financial Review:
Pg 1 - Australians will have to embrace coal seam gas, sell state-owned power assets and wear big price increases to finance $240 billion of new power capacity needed over the next two decades to meet the nation’s energy needs, the long-awaited energy white paper reveals.
Pg 1 – Fresh warnings of credit rating downgrades in the euro zone have sent 10 year Australian bond yields to a historic low, as investors seek the safety ofAustralia’sAAArating and sound fiscal policy.
Pg 3 – Banks, small businesses and other creditors will be given greater powers after corporate collapses, as part of a federal overhaul of the insolvency industry to be announced today.
Pg 2 - A Labor MP and former economics professor says income inequality in Australia reflects larger global forces at play and there may be little that policy can do to change it, amid a local and global protest movement calling for governments to arrest rising income inequality.
Pg 3 – Controversy has flared over the conduct of investigations into the finances of the Health Services Union, after the workplace tribunal revealed it would miss a self imposed deadline to report by the end of this year.
Pg 4 – Prime minister Julia Gillard came under fire from two of her senior ministers yesterday amid growing concern over her cabinet reshuffle, despite a big government effort to sell the contentious changes.
Pg 4 – Communications minister Stephen Conroy rebuffed concerns about the $35.9 billion national broadband network as he hit back yesterday at Coalition warnings about the project’s slow progress.
Pg 5 – The militant West Australian construction union, which runs many of the biggest building sites inPerth, has been allowed to rejoin the Labor Party before the Christmas Day retirement of its firebrand leader, Kevin Reynolds.
Pg 5 – The arbitration of deadlocked bargaining rounds between Qantas and aviation unions will continue well into 2012.
Pg 6 – Federal treasury secretary Martin Parkinson says the global financial crisis will have a lingering effect on budget revenue for the rest of the decade, with the Australian economy also facing the prospect of further collateral damage fromEurope’s debt woes.
Pg 6 - Former Gunns executive chairman John Gay deffered his plea on insider trading charges until next year in his first appearance before Launceston Magistrates Court yesterday.
Pg 7 - Big tobacco could face a claim for compensation in years to come from an Australian government, claims an American anti-tobacco campaigner who says his call for action has fallen on fertile ground.
Pg 9 - Gas-guzzling businesses in Western Australia have won concessions to force petroleum giants to use or lose their big offshore reserves.
Pg 10 – The federal government says more domestic oil refining plants may fold, but it is not expecting the closure of facilities to affect Australia’s ability to secure sufficient crude supplies over the medium term.
Pg 11 – The federal government is under pressure to overhaul state-based solar schemes to alleviate pressure on the electricity grid.
Pg 12 – Australia has a cost of living crisis where a three hour park at a suburban shopping mall costs more than in a high-end boulevard inParis, a paperback from the local bookstore is three times more expensive than online, and a trip to the movies is a near luxury pastime. A report by the Centre for Independent Studies released today blames tax and regulation for driving up consumer prices.
Pg 17 – The shine has come off the weekend’s European debt summit and another bout of negativity has returned as ratings agencies reminded investors that the euro zone’s problems are far from over.
Pg 21 – Global fund managers are shunning equities and turning towards the relative haven of fixed income, in a sign that risk averse investment attitudes are becoming entrenched.
Pg 28 – The flat residential housing construction market may be a thorn in the side of Boral, but its bet that a major increase in resources work would underpin earnings could be paying off.
Pg 41 – CSR chief executive Rob Sindel has descrives the Gillard government’s proposed carbon tax as dangerous and stupid and predicted it will lead to higher prices for consumers of its building products.
Pg 43 – Fairfax Media has started rationalising its newspaper printing operations as its talks with arch-rival News Ltd about sharing printing and distribution facilities in Sydney and Melbourne continue.
Pg 45 – Atlas Iron chief executive David Flanagan says WahNam’s move to appoint experienced mining executives to the Brockman Resources board has strengthened the chances of cooperation between his company and the junior iron ore developer.
Pg 49 – Dire building figures released yesterday have vindicated the central bank’s recent interest rate cuts, with industry predicting more job losses as the sector contracts and work dries up.
The Australian:
Pg 1 - A Stevedoring company chaired by Chris Corrigan has locked out hundreds of wharfies and helicoptered in non-union labour over union pickets to unload ships, in an escalating dispute that presents Bill Shorten with his first challenge as Julia Gillard’s new Workplace Relations Minister.
Pg 1 - A new energy blueprint pins the nation’s economic prosperity on a massive expansion in the use of gas and warns that nuclear power will have to be considered if clean energy technologies fail to become cost-effective.
Pg 1- Supporters of Kevin Rudd are preparing to capitalise on the fallout from Julia Gillard’s cabinet reshuffle after the demotion of Victorian Left factional warhorse Kim Carr sparked uproar in the Prime Minister’s home branch.
Pg 2 - Incoming Attorney-general Nicola Roxon is looking to spearhead legal action against Big Tobacco to help the states recover the estimated $31.5 billion that smoking-related disease costs the hospital system each year.
Pg 3 - Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson has declared Europe will plunge into recession next year and says the downturn will hitAustralia’s revenue growth for up to a decade.
Pg6 - Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has delivered a scathing attack on the Productivity Commission, mocking the economic adviser for being out of touch after it raised concerns the National Broadband Network could breach the government’s competitive neutrality policy.
Pg 31 - A functioning corporate bond market is a step closer to reality after the release of a paper coincided with a round-table discussion attended by the nation’s top bureaucrats and executive talent.
Pg 31 - A further large chunk of Nine Entertainment debt is poised to change hands after BOS International auctioned its $127 million share of the media company’s syndicated debt yesterday.
Pg 31 - Seeking to strengthen its offshore oil and gas ‘‘use it or lose it’’ laws, the federal government plans to allow third parties to put in effective preliminary bids for petroleum projects that current holders say are not ready to be developed.
Pg 32 -ANZ Bank’s bid to claw back almost $900 million from the sale of Burrup Fertilisers will drag into the new year after receiver PPB Advisory admitted the process had been hindered by a dispute over a gas supply contract and a web of litigation.
Pg 32 - Rio Tinto will be free to increase its stake in Ivanhoe Mines from early next year after securing a win in an 18-month dispute between the joint-venture partners.
Pg 32 - Whitehaven Coal’s move to becomeAustralia’s largest listed independent coal company via the $2.25 billion purchase of billionaire Nathan Tinkler’s assets could flush out a rival bidder.
Pg 33 - The number of Australian mortgages facing financial trouble is falling, with homeowners benefiting from lower interest rates.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Page 1: Voters should be given the power to force early elections in NSW, a majority of experts has advised Premier Barry O'Farrell.
Page 2: Stephen Conroy has accused the Productivity Commission of being out of touch after it called for further analysis of the National Broadband Network.
Page 3: Finance Minister Penny Wong and her partner Sophie Allouache have become parents. NSW households would face electricity price rises of 13.35 per cent if a heavily polluting power station was closed, a federal government study has found.
Business: The big banks have been working on contingency plans to ensure funding lines remain open in the event of a break-up of the eurozone.
Herald Sun
Page 1: The smart meter rollout will continue because too much money has been spent on it to cancel it.
Page 3: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy lets slip the F word. Hoon drivers at a wedding party caught on film.
Business: Moody's worried that Australian housing market could implode ifEurope's debt crisis spreads.
The Age
Page 1: Police warn sporting administrators to protect their codes or risk being infiltrated by organised crime.
Senator Penny Wong becomes a parent with the birth of daughter Alexandra to her partner Sophie Alloache.
Page 2: Opposition says Baillieu government failing to deliver on at least 10 key recommendations of the bushfire royal commission.
Murray-Darling Basin plan could turn small towns in northern Victoriainto "basket cases", meeting told.
Page 3: Baby boomers have no plans to retire because of financial concerns.
Sir Zelman Cowen's state funeral a celebration.
Wealthy families getting subsidies to put their kids through university.
Business: Qantas in talks to sell a share of its catering business that supplies food to incoming airlines.
CanberraTimes:
Page 1: Australia's top one per cent of earners take twice as big a slice of national income as they did three decades ago.
Page 2: Fond farewell for former governor-general Sir Zelman Cowen.
World: Canada becomes the first nation to withdraw formally from the Kyoto Protocol.
Business: Export billions to keep rolling in despite uncertain global backdrop.
Monthly business survey says conditions improved in November.
