Today's Business Headlines

Stop bank-bashing – Chaney – The Aus

National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney has called on both sides of politics to take the ‘‘economic high road’’ and to stop using the banking sector as a ‘‘political football’’.

MPs gain big raises, lose perks – The Fin

Federal MPs will get a pay rise of more than 30 per cent – based on the value of their work – and lose contentious perks as the Gillard government establishes a more transparent parliamentary pay system.

Apache moves on Burrup with ANZ’s blessing – The Fin

Energy giant Apache Energy has signed a conditional deal to buy the remnants of the Burrup Fertilisers empire once controlled by tycoons Pankaj and Radhika Oswal.

Burswood site for new stadium – The West

Perth’s new 60,000 seat stadium will be built on the back nine holes of the Burswood Park Golf Course, immediately south of the Graham Farmer Freeway. 

Mallesons joins forces to create king-size firm – The West

Mallesons Stephen Jaques will today put to bed months of speculation when it signs off on a merger with China’s King & Wood to create the biggest law firm in Asia.

The West:

Pg 3 - Perth’s new 60,000 seat stadium will be built on the back nine holes of the Burswood Park Golf Course, immediately south of the Graham Farmer Freeway.

Pg 4 - Bunbury and Fremantle port workers returned to work yesterday after agreeing to a four week conciliation period with stevedoring company POAGS.

Pg 9 – Julia Gillard has scores a $2200-a-week pay rise under a shake up of politicians salaries that will curb overseas junkets and clip the wings of jet-setting retired federal MPs.

Pg 10 – Martin Ferguson has fuelled disquiet over Julia Gillard’s leadership, declaring his loyalty to the Labor Party rather than Prime Minister.

Pg 16 – The president of WA’s peak lawyer’s group has taken a parting swipe at both sides of politics for engaging in a never ending law and order auction that is changing “our essential liberal democracy”

Pg 55 – With banks coming under intense scrutiny from Canberra ocer record profits and mortgage rates, National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney has vented his frustration, saying the banking sector should not be used as a political football. 

Yesterday’s $32.4 million sell down by director’s and senior management of GR Engineering Services matched their desire to harvest some cash with institutional demand for more stock and improved free float.

The WA Government will today name former Boral executive Roger Johnston as the new chief executive of the Port Hedland Port Authority, ending more than a year of uncertainty at Australia’s biggest tonnage port.

Pg 56 – Mallesons Stephen Jaques will today put to bed months of speculation when it signs off on a merger with China’s King & Wood to create the biggest law firm in Asia.

Pg 57 –Commodity prices have been savaged on heightened fears that contagion from Europe’s debt crisis will choke global economic growth.

Construction of Chevron’s $43 billion Gorgon LNG project has reached a milestone with the arrival of an 10,000 tonne cargo ship, the first big vessel to berth at Barrow Island’s newly completed wharf.

Pankaj Oswal’s lender ANZ is thought to have agreed to sell the Oswal family’s stake in the Burrup Fertilisers plant to gas giant Apache for about $560 million. 

Pg 58 – Investor demand for safe haven assets sent Australian government bond yields to record lows and the dollar crashing through parity to the greenback yesterday, while tumbling metal prices saw the sharemarket finish deep in the red.

The Fin: 

Pg 1 - Australian banks have been ordered to stress test their ability to withstand a sharp rise in unemployment , a collapse in the property market and economic recession amid rising anxiety over the European debt crisis. 

The union at the centre of the country’s longest running industrial dispute has appealed Fair Work Australia to force bionic ear marker Cochlear to engage in “good-faith” bargaining to reach an enterprise agreement to give it better access to workers.

Pg 3 - Federal MPs will get a pay rise of more than 30 per cent – based on the value of their work – and lose contentious perks as the Gillard government establishes a more transparent parliamentary pay system. 

National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney has called on politicians to take the “economic high ground” and start educating the public about the benefits of strong banks rather than perpetuating ill-informed criticism that they produce super profits.

Pg 4 - Regional media companies Prime Media Group and Southern Cross Media are expected to be the first participants in any shake up of the media sector triggered by the recommendations of the Gillard government’s convergence review.

Telstra claims that the Gillard government’s media convergence has lost its focus on deregulation and threatens innovation.

Pg 6 – Workers are facing the threat of significant lay offs as besieged manufacturers look to cut payrolls and governments slash spending.

Pg 7 – A prominent union official has attached the Reserve Bank of Australia’s hands off approach to the exchange rate and urged it to act against the strong dollar.

Pg 8 – The Collapse in international carbon prices has increased risk that the Gillard government’s clean energy program will be underfunded by about $3 billion a year once its local emissions trading market begins in July 2015.

Pg 9 – The federal government has not complied with its own rules on limiting red tape, the Office of Best Practice Regulation has found.

Pg 13 – International drinks giant Schweppes will use labour hire workers to keep operating its Victorian plant where it has locked out about 150 workers continuing the trend of employers taking a tougher line on industrial action. 

Developer Brookfield Multiplex pulled out of a Federal Court action designed to prevent militant unionist Joe McDonald from coming within 100 meters of its construction sites in Western Australia.

Fair Work Australia has found that industrial action by the Australian Nursing Federation threatened the safety of patients.

Pg 14 – The brother-in-law of Eddie Groves, founder of the collapsed ABC Learning Centres group, has lost a court battle over a $29 million tax bill.

Pg 15 - It was minus 12 outside, but in the Beijing head office of mega Chinese law firm King & Wood in November 2010 the atmosphere was electric.

Pg 22 – The sharp fall in the gold price over the past few days has sent gold equities plunging on worries that the precious metal is entering a bear market.

Pg 37 – Hedge funds that hold more than a third of Nine Entertainment Co’s $2.7 billion of senior debt are trying to come up with a plan that would oust private equity owner CVC Asia Pacific, convert their debt into equity and give Nine’s senior managers a stake in the business.

JB Hi-Fi chief executive Terry Smart has declared the retail conditions are tougher than ever after the company warned investors to prepare for the first decline in earnings since first being listed in 2003.

Pg 38 – Andrew David, the fourth chief executive of Tiger Airways in as many years, says he thought long and hard before accepting a role that most in the industry regard as a poisoned chalice.

Pg 39 – Energy giant Apache Energy has signed a conditional deal to buy the remnants of the Burrup Fertilisers empire once controlled by tycoons Pankaj and Radhika Oswal.

Orica has revealed that the final bill from the Kooragang Island chemical plant closure could exceed $50 million and chairman Peter Duncan admits the four pollution incidents at the site since mid year “damaged” the company’s reputation.

Pg 41 – The board of Wesfarmers has approved a $550 million expansion of its CSPB ammonia nitrate plant south of Perth. 

Pg 42 – Perpetual has launched Project Ice as part of its intention to overhaul its advice platform for private clients and restructure the way it markets financial products to retail and wholesale clients.

The Aus: 

Pg 1 - Manufacturing Minister Kim Carr has declared Australia’s carmakers are under ‘‘acute stress’’, revealing he has scheduled talks with the chiefs of General Motors and Ford in Detroit next month to save the local industry.

Pg 2 - Unions have declared employers emboldened by the aggressive industrial tactics of Qantas after Schweppes became the latest company to lock out its workforce in response to industrial action yesterday.

Pg 4 - Australia's Defence procurement policies have become so dysfunctional they amount to a fundamental failure of governance that would never be tolerated in any successful business, a Senate committee has found.

Pg  5 - Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has fanned Labor leadership tensions by refusing to endorse Julia Gillard over dumped predecessor Kevin Rudd.

Pg 19 - Electronics retailer JB Hi-fi last night provided a stark reminder of the tough climate for retailers as they head into the busiest week of the year, warning of a 5 per cent drop in pre-tax earnings for the first half.

National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney has called on both sides of politics to take the ‘‘economic high road’’ and to stop using the banking sector as a ‘‘political football’’. 

Pg 20 - One year after it knocked back offers of $800 million for ammonia firm Burrup Fertilisers, ANZ Bank has struck a deal with US energy company Apache Energy to sell it a 65 per cent stake for the discount price of $560 million.

One of the nation’s top law firms, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, is changing its name and forming a new international business with China’s biggest law firm, King & Wood.

Telstra has laid the groundwork for an international telecommunications network after extending its reach into Asia with the acquisition of two new telco operating licences in Singapore and Japan.

Pg 24 - Coalworks has appointed advisers after the junior was put in play through billionaire Nathan Tinkler’s $2.25 billion deal with Whitehaven Coal.

Overseas investors are showing strong and increasing interest in holding Australian dollar denominated bonds and commercial paper as a diversification and safe haven strategy, according to two separate investment bankers this week.

The Sydney Morning Herald:

Page 1: Treasurer Mike Baird has signalled further cuts to drag the NSW budget back into the black.

The fallout from Prime Minister Julia Gillard's ministerial reshuffle has worsened. 

Page 2: Train, bus and ferry commuters are being encouraged to buy longer-term transport tickets before the end of the year when prices will rise more than five per cent.

Page 3: The billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has suggested the Gillard government could delay next year's prized return to surplus and increase its overseas aid budget instead.

Business: Retail investors have shunned BlueScope Steel's onerous rights issue, choosing not to throw good money after bad, leaving the underwriters with a substantial $135 million shortfall. 

Herald Sun:

Page 1: Victoria's fattest and unhealthiest towns and suburbs are being put on a diet and get-fit program in a shape-up heralded as one of the biggest in the world.

Page 3: Christmas greetings, nativity scenes and carols are under attack in a growing number of Australian schools, kinders, businesses and organisations.

Business: National Australia Bank has returned fire after a week of political bank bashing as it joins the chorus of lenders warning that future rate cuts may not be passed on in full. 

The Age:

Page 1: Thousands of state public sector jobs will be cut, motorists will face a $35 jump in registration fees and almost $500 million will be ripped out of Victoria's workplace insurance scheme in a desperate bid by the Baillieu government to balance its books.

Page 2: Australian cattle farmers fear Indonesia's plans to cut the amount of beef it imports next year will be a massive blow to the industry.

Page 3: A key state advisory committee has urged the Baillieu government to exclude cattle from Victoria's Alpine National Park, in a rejection of the coalition's controversial grazing trial.

Business: JB Hi-Fi has surprised analysts with a pre-Christmas downgrade that shattered hopes the festive season would save retailers.