Today's Business Headlines

Carbon tax to crush aluminium

The federal government has flagged an all-out effort to save aluminium jobs from the high dollar and the carbon tax even though Treasury modelling shows Labor's emissions-reduction policy plans to slice the industry in half by 2050 anyway. The Fin

Stricken Labor must try fresh tack, says Hawke

Former prime minister Bob Hawke has warned that the Labor Party in WA has lost the support of voters and must do more than trot out old policies and attitudes that no longer connect with an increasingly conservative electorate. The West

Second half shows Rio is doing it tougher than rival

While Rio Tinto’s full-year profit report yesterday delivered record underlying earnings and cashflows, stripping out its second half shows it is facing tougher operational headwinds than its rival BHP Billiton. The Aus

WA fills gas tank to keep Perth running

Western Australia's electricity generator, Verve Energy, has made a $25 million down payment to begin filling a strategic gas reservoir near Perth that will provide the city with up to 60 days' reserve power supply. The Fin

Wildcats hit by doubts over Arena open date

The Perth Wildcats will abandon plans to play at Perth Arena next summer if the state government cannot guarantee the troubled venue will be ready by October. The West

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Former prime minister Bob Hawke has warned that the Labor Party in WA has lost the support of voters and must do more than trot out old policies and attitudes that no longer connect with an increasingly conservative electorate.

Page 3: Health insurance premiums will jump for two million Australians with Julia Gillard on the verge of winning parliamentary support to means test the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate.

Page 5: The Perth Wildcats will abandon plans to play at Perth Arena next summer if the state government cannot guarantee the troubled venue will be ready by October.

Page 6: Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan declared yesterday that Aboriginal protesters who sparked security fears could expect heightened scrutiny after displaying threatening behaviour.

Page 8: The City of Perth has moved on an election pledge by Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi to provide free wi-fi in the CBD with the creation of guidelines to help roll out the service.

Business: Rio Tinto insists its aluminium assets are a good business, despite a massive write-down in the division dominating the mining giant's full-year results announced last night.

Protesting unionists will not be allowed within 100m of Chevron's city offices after the oil and gas giant yesterday won an interim Supreme Court injunction.

Mobile phones and fast internet services are boosting Telstra's bottom line while old technology such as copper telephone lines and printed directories continues to drag on revenue growth.

On top of board disunity and the forced search for a new chief executive, embattled Mount Gibson Iron revealed yesterday it was yet to resolve $18.4 million worth of legal disputes with disgruntled contractors.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: The Gillard government will get about $3 billion from the big mobile phone companies in an agreement that ends a bitter row over the renewal of their wireless spectrum licences and heads off a breach that would have endangered services to millions of customers.

The federal government has flagged an all-out effort to save aluminium jobs from the high dollar and the carbon tax even though Treasury modelling shows Labor's emissions-reduction policy plans to slice the industry in half by 2050 anyway.

Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese will forgo his annual cash bonus, after the miner took an extra $US8.9 billion hit to earnings because of its ailing aluminium assets.

Page 4: The peak national agency that vets foreign investment conceded last night it was limited in policing major transactions, as it came under scrutiny over foreign purchases of Australian farming land.

Page 5: Labor's mining tax is set to cost the budget bottom line more than it raises over the forward estimates, official Treasury figures show.

Independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor are set to combine with the opposition to enable companies to earn renewable energy certificates from power generated from burning native forest waste.

Page 7: The Reserve Bank of Australia may be undermining growth if it refuses to cut interest rates to help banks offset the cost of meeting stricter global capital requirements, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Page 14: Western Australia's electricity generator, Verve Energy, has made a $25 million down payment to begin filling a strategic gas reservoir near Perth that will provide the city with up to 60 days' reserve power supply.

Page 22: Rupert Murdoch's newspaper companies in Australia and Britain will book a $US250 million slump in earnings for the 2012 financial year, hit by weak advertising markets and restructuring charges.

Page 52: Stockland yesterday blamed the sluggish property market and challenging economic conditions for a 7.8 per cent slide in its underlying interim profit but vowed a better performance was in store by the end of the financial year.

Retail landlord BWP Trust has flagged greater income growth in the second half of this financial year as recent acquisitions boost its bottom line.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: The Gillard government will be pressured by global aluminium giant Alcoa and Victoria to cut a better deal under the carbon tax for its struggling Point Henry aluminium smelter in Geelong as part of a broader assistance package to save 600 jobs at the plant.

Joe Hockey has fumbled an attempt to establish the existence of a black hole in Wayne Swan’s calculations about the effect of Labor’s new mining tax on the federal budget.

Page 2: Lawyers hired by Fair Work Australia in its long-delayed three-year investigation into the Health Services Union were reviewing correspondence setting out ‘‘proposed findings’’ more than a year ago.

Page 3: Telstra has won almost one million new mobile phone customers in the past six months, with 100,000 taking up a service on its super-fast 4G network.

Qantas will take another of its flagship superjumbos out of service in the next six weeks to comply with a European directive that the global A380 fleet be inspected for cracks.

Page 5: Mining workers will push ahead with a seven-day strike at BHP Billiton’s coalmines in Queensland next week, after their union insisted the mining giant had left the employees with ‘‘no choice’’ but to escalate industrial action.

Page 6: Economists and business figures have attacked the government’s economic reform credentials, despite Julia Gillard’s refocus on the economy winning the backing of union leaders.

The Gillard government is seeking support from the states to set up a new pay tribunal that business fears will bring waterfront-style disputes to the nation’s roads, after admitting yesterday it lacks the full constitutional power to establish the agency.

Business: Rio Tinto has written $US8.9 billion ($8.23bn) off the value of its struggling aluminium division, costing chief executive Tom Albanese and chief financial officer Guy Elliott annual bonuses and taking the sheen off a record underlying profit.

Testra's gamble to sacrifice margins and spend big to lure customers back to its network is paying off, with its booming mobiles business helping the telco post a strong profit result for the first half.

News Corporation has beaten market expectations with a 65 per cent jump in second-quarter net profit to $US1.06 billion ($980m), but warned costs related to the British hacking scandal had blown out and could not be predicted.

While Rio Tinto’s full-year profit report yesterday delivered record underlying earnings and cashflows, stripping out its second half shows it is facing tougher operational headwinds than its rival BHP Billiton.

Leighton subsidiary Thiess has won almost $2 billion worth of contracts in the past two weeks in Queensland and Western Australia.

Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust has spent the first half of fiscal year 2011-12 dramatically bumping up its capital expenditure commitments as the big-box battle between Wesfarmers’ Bunnings chain and Woolworths’ Masters chain starts to heat up.

Australia's largest residential property developer has cut net underlying profit by 8 per cent in the first half, but says the affordable housing market is recovering after falling sharply last year.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: The ability of Health Minister Jillian Skinner to work with government boards has been questioned by a Sydney businessman.

High income earners face increased health cover payments with the government poised to pass legislation to means-test the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate.

Page 2: A competitive school market is segregating students by ability, socio-economic background and ethnicity with profound effects.

Page 3: A Sydney abattoir has stopped slaughtering and faces permanent closure and prosecution after video evidence of animal cruelty emerged.

World: As the residents of the besieged Syrian city of Homs intensified their calls for help from the international community, the UN raised the possibility of a joint United Nations-Arab League mission to Syria.

Business: Rio Tinto insists its aluminium assets are a good business, despite a massive write-down in the division dominating the mining giant's full-year results presentation.

Sport: It's been nearly four years in the making and today the Independent Commission takes over the NRL.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: The entire Labor cabinet has been banned from talking to editors of the nation's major newspaper.

Page 2: Independent MPs Andrew Wilkie and Rob Oakeshott appear to have doomed middle income earners to a jump in health insurance bills.

Page 3: Parents could let their children change sex without court permission if a landmark legal bid is upheld.

World: Prince Harry is due to deploy to the frontline in Afghanistan at the controls of an Apache helicopter after passing a rigorous training course with flying colours.

Business: Telstra bolstered its bottom line, attracting another million customers in the past six months.

Sport: Harry Kewell's international soccer career may be drawing to a close despite his belief he can play on until Brazil 2014.

THE AGE:

Page 1: High-income families face increases in health insurance premiums of more than $1000 a year with the federal government now likely to lock in support for its long-awaited means-testing legislation.

Page 2: The Baillieu government will consider further electricity price subsidies and has ramped up pressure on the federal government to provide more carbon tax compensation in a bid to rescue aluminium giant Alcoa's Point Henry operation in Geelong.

Page 3: ANZ has quietly lifted the mortgage rate it charges new customers.

World: As the citizens of the besieged Syrian city of Homs intensified their calls for help from the international community, the United Nations has flagged the possibility of a joint UN-Arab League mission to Syria.

Business: Rio Tinto insists its aluminium assets are a good business, despite a massive write-down in the division dominating the mining giant's full-year results presentation.

Sport: Former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse says nothing Nathan Buckley had done during his coaching apprenticeship would have prepared him for the pressure he will face as the man in charge of the Pies.

THE HERALD SUN:

Page 1: A law intended to shield battered women from murder convictions has been hijacked by violent, often drug-crazed men.

Page 2: The Baillieu government is refusing to intervene in the case of a teacher who filmed a pornographic video with a former student.

Page 3: Families earning $166,000 are set to pay between $190 and $1000 more a year for hospital cover under private health insurance changes likely to pass parliament next week.

World: A top UN official says the United Nations plans to cut a billion dollars off its peacekeeping budget this year by closing or shrinking missions.

Business: Telstra has secured almost one million new mobile phone customers as its campaign to bolster its subscriber base continues without relent.

Sport: Harry Kewell, arguably Australia's greatest Socceroo, has revealed his international career may be ending.

THE CANBERRA TIMES:

Page 1: ACT Liberal leader Zed Seselja was repeatedly warned about serious breaches involving his staff.

US finds Australia responsible for dead Iranian prisoner.

High earners to lose health insurance rebates. Flood alert for Queanbeyan.

Page 2: ACT government relaxes ban on kava at festival.

Page 3: Developer tax to lift look and feel of Canberra.

World: UN, Arab League in envoy mission talk on Syria.

Business: Fox lifts News Corp earnings by 60 per cent.

Sport: Injuries to harden Campese: Meninga.