PM's challenge to unite Labor – The Fin; Surplus not a 'dead duck' but tough to deliver – The Fin; Coles puts up for sale sign on national pubs business – The West; Axe cap on cheap foreign carbon permits: business – The Aus; Popular mayor touted as challenger to Grylls – The West
PM's challenge to unite Labor
Prime Minister Julia Gillard was working on a ministerial reshuffle last night trying to marry her pledge to bring a divided Labor Party together with the reality that five ministers voted against her in the leadership contest. The Fin
Surplus not a 'dead duck' but tough to deliver
A leading economist has warned the federal government that its prospects of achieving its promised surplus should be rated no higher than “a chance” despite a big surge in company tax revenue in the first half of the financial year. The Fin
Coles puts up for sale sign on national pubs business
Supermarket giant Coles will start selling its hotels as part of a strategic plan to find a joint venture partner for the rest of its national pubs business. The West
Axe cap on cheap foreign carbon permits: business
Big business has urged the Gillard government to scrap plans to impose limits on companies buying cheap international carbon permits, warning that the policy will saddle the economy and consumers with extra costs. The Aus
Popular mayor touted as challenger to Grylls
The Labor Party has secured a surprise candidate to contest the next state election in the Pilbara, where Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls is expected to run. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: A defiant Julia Gillard has fired the starting gun on an 18-month campaign to restore public faith in her and the Labor Party.
Page 3: Casino magnate James Packer played host to WA's business elite at Burswood yesterday, holding a high-powered private lunch to gain financial support for the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.
Page 4: Kevin Rudd will recontest his seat at the next election as he becomes the first former prime minister in almost 40 years to opt for the backbench.
Page 5: An ALP powerbroker whom Kevin Rudd described as one of the “faceless men” appears to have sacrificed his political career to let the Labor Party heal its wounds after its bitter leadership battle.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith is being touted as frontrunner to fill the vacancy left by Kevin Rudd in the foreign affairs portfolio.
Page 6: Disability reform, delivering a Budget surplus and rolling out the National Broadband Network will become Julia Gillard's priorities over the next 18 months as Labor attempts to put the bloodletting behind it and get on with governing.
Page 13: The Labor Party has secured a surprise candidate to contest the next state election in the Pilbara, where Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls is expected to run.
Telstra is to charge between $80 and $150 a month for its national broadband network services and has revealed plans to keep customers paying for copper-based telephone connections as long as possible.
Business: Senior business leaders have urged the federal government to refocus on the national economy following yesterday's damaging leadership challenge by Kevin Rudd.
Another chapter in the six-year court battle between Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group and Australia's corporate regulator will be written tomorrow when the warring parties appear in the High Court in Canberra.
Australia's oldest family company, Lionel Samson & Son, has gone outside for a chief executive for the first time, underlining its pledge to professionalise the WA group.
Supermarket giant Coles will start selling its hotels as part of a strategic plan to find a joint venture partner for the rest of its national pubs business.
Another two Australian iron ore players – one in the Pilbara, the other Perth-based but exploring in Africa – are a step closer to foreign hands after African Iron's biggest shareholder bowed to a South African bid and a Russian offer for Flinders Mines was deemed fair and reasonable.
Austal chief executive Andrew Bellamy says the worst is over for the shipbuilder's US operations, after the US Navy committed to buying another two vessels worth $US322 million ($300 million).
WA will have a new gold mine by the end of the year if Reed Resources meets its target after the board yesterday approved a plan to restart the Meekatharra operation 640km north-east of Perth.
Embattled drilling technology developer Coretrack will be looking for opportunities to either merge with or buy companies once it picks up the pieces from losing its key asset.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Prime Minister Julia Gillard was working on a ministerial reshuffle last night trying to marry her pledge to bring a divided Labor Party together with the reality that five ministers voted against her in the leadership contest.
Prominent trade unions have stakes in an underperforming superannuation scheme, covering 20,000 mostly itinerant workers, that is siphoning off fees and commissions back to the unions and into the accounts of members in a separate retirement scheme.
The deap-seated differences between Gillard supporter Wayne Swan and Rudd backer Martin Ferguson bubbled to the surface for the first time in public yesterday over the bruising leadership battle, but can be traced back to Labor's disastrous handing of the resources rent tax in 2010.
Page 3: James Packer's Crown Ltd is expected to lobby state governments for further special tax deals following its raid on Echo Entertainment Group and proposal for a $1 billion hotel and casino at Sydney's Barangaroo.
Page 5: Kevin Rudd pledged to “throw every effort” into securing the re-election of the Gillard government from his seat on the backbench, but left open the possibility that he could be drafted as Labor leader at a later date.
Page 7: A leading economist has warned the federal government that its prospects of achieving its promised surplus should be rated no higher than “a chance” despite a big surge in company tax revenue in the first half of the financial year.
A vengeful purge of cabinet ministers could hurt business and the economy, leading business figures warn.
Page 11: The federal government is under pressure to dramatically increase dental health spending in the budget after an expert panel recommended new programs for children and those on low incomes.
Page 12: Telstra is facing fresh criticism from consumer groups for forcing customers accessing the national broadband network to sign up to Telstra's landline network for phone calls.
Page 19: Prime Minister Julia Gillard's victory over Kevin Rudd in the leadership ballot has done little to ease uncertainty in financial markets, and fund managers and strategists are calling for an early election.
Page 24: Qube Logistics is pushing further into the mining sector following last week's acquisition of Western Australia's Giacci Holdings, a bulk commodities transport and storage operator.
Equatorial Resources has agreed to sell its 20.5 per cent stake in fellow iron ore junior African Iron into Exxaro's takeover bit, all but ensuring the South African suitor will move to compulsory acquisition.
Page 30: French firm Alcatel Lucent has won two contracts worth a combined $US35 million to build telecommunications networks at two of Australia's biggest resources projects, Prelude and Gladstone.
Page 46: Tensions are reportedly escalating across BHP Billiton's Queensland coal country as the impasse sets firm between management of its BHP Mitsubishi Alliance coking coal joint venture and three unions covering seven mines at the centre of 15 months of fractured talks over a new enterprise agreement.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Julia Gillard plans to harness the authority gained from her crushing leadership victory over Kevin Rudd and the resignation of factional warlord Mark Arbib to rebuild her government’s credibility with mainstream Australia.
Powerful business leaders are urging Julia Gillard against punishing key cabinet ministers for backing Kevin Rudd, warning a major frontbench reshuffle could be a damaging distraction from making the economy more competitive and productive.
Julia Gillard’s backers have urged her to exercise her heightened authority over the Labor caucus by dumping key ministers who led the campaign against her leadership, clearing the way for a substantial cabinet reshuffle within days.
Page 2: Big business has urged the Gillard government to scrap plans to impose limits on companies buying cheap international carbon permits, warning that the policy will saddle the economy and consumers with extra costs.
Page 3: Chinese mining officials are surprised when they learn that they do not need to bribe Australian officials to secure mining projects in this country, a former Australian senator has privately told international security intelligence service Stratfor.
The NBN Co has insisted that the $36 billion National Broadband Network is encouraging competition between retail telecommunications providers after Telstra revealed it would charge households at least $50 a month to use the internet on the NBN.
Page 4: Julia Gillard has signalled a change in political style, but no shift in policy in the wake of a venomous leadership row that triggered disputes over key decisions on health, the mining tax, climate change and asylum-seekers.
Julia Gillard yesterday ruled out changes to the carbon tax and described the price as ‘‘right’’.
Business: Goodman Fielder, one of Australia’s largest listed food companies, could become the target of a $1 billion-plus takeover offer after a lightning raid on the company saw up to 10 per cent of the company change hands yesterday.
Virgin Australia is working on plans to launch a rival offering to the prestigious Qantas Chairman’s Lounge, to be pitched at highly valued passengers, including federal politicians, celebrities and chief executives of top100 companies.
The likelihood of Caltex Australia closing its two refineries increased yesterday after they stumbled to a $208 million fullyear loss and the company announced an increasingly bleak outlook for the industry’s future.
Rare-earths miner Lynas’s shares took a tumble yesterday following a weekend protest in Malaysia attended by thousands of locals opposed to the company’s processing plant.
Equatorial Resources has agreed to sell its African Iron stake into Exxaro’s offer, triggering a sweetener from the suitor.
James Packer has vowed he will not dilute his shareholding in Crown in any corporate play for rival Echo Entertainment, but investors in the target company are opposed to him securing a board seat and control without paying a premium.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Prime Minister Julia Gillard faces a second reshuffle after the shock resignation of minister Mark Arbib.
Page 2: Australia cannot hide behind its strong economic ties with China, a senior Chinese government adviser says.
Page 3: Telstra has revealed plans to charge $80 to $150 a month to use its national broadband network services.
World: Cooler heads are calling for calm in the debate about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Business: Supermarket giant Coles will start selling hotels as part of its national pubs business plan.
Sport: Berrick Barnes is set to return to the Waratahs starting line-up on Friday night.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: The resignation of former Labor factional boss Mark Arbib has left the federal government reeling.
Page 2: Sydney City Council is selling space to car share schemes for a pittance as motorists are charged $48 a day for parking.
Page 3: Toxic unflued gas heaters will continue to be installed in NSW public schools.
World: Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum must win Michigan in the Republican presidential primary.
Business: KFC and Sizzler are demanding their travelling staff eat at their stores.
Sport: Soccer chairman Frank Lowy has told maverick Gold Coast owner Clive Palmer to respect the game or leave.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: Julia Gillard's resounding win in Monday's leadership ballot must put to rest doubts about her legitimacy as prime minister. Customs culling one in five of its senior executives as it prepares to cope with looming budget cuts.
Page 2: Flood warnings for Canberra and parts of southeastern Australia.
Page 3: Australian editor Kirk Baxter gets Oscar.
World: Three dead, dozens hurt in Canadian train crash.
Business: High oil price boosts energy profits for ROC and Beach.
Sport: Canberra's Lauren Boden catching attention as a 400m hurdler.
THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER:
Page 1: Prime Minister Julia Gillard to name at least two new ministers after defeating Kevin Rudd in the Labor leadership battle.
Page 3: A silent film wins the Oscar for best picture.
World: The US and its allies reject the Syrian regime's referendum on a new constitution. Reports say Camilla is increasingly taking time away from Prince Charles because of the strain of British royal life.
Business: Beach Energy secures two rigs to progress its shale gas projects in the Cooper Basin.
Sport: Michael Clarke wins the Allan Border Medal. The Adelaide Crows to continue with playing youngsters in the NAB Cup.
