Chinese driven resources boom doomed: Dow chief – The Aus; Importing staff step too far: ACTU – The Fin; WA's GST cut a disgrace, says Barnett – The West; Conoco likes Woodside's Kimberley site – The Fin; Stowe fights to reclaim mine – The Fin
Chinese driven resources boom doomed: Dow chief
Australia was too reliant on selling mineral resources to China, Dow Chemical’s chief executive, Australian-born Andrew Liveris, warned yesterday. The Aus
Importing staff step too far: ACTU
The union movement is set to oppose a federal government plan to ease skill shortages in the tourism industry by bringing in up to 36,000 semi-skilled workers, including cooks and waiters, from overseas. The Fin
WA's GST cut a disgrace, says Barnett
Premier Colin Barnett has warned that programs are being cancelled and projects deferred as WA grapples with a cut in its GST share that will give the state just $1219 a head of population next financial year, compared with nearly $2177 in Queensland and more than $12,223 in the Northern Territory. The West
Conoco likes Woodside's Kimberley site
US oil major ConocoPhillips has thrown its weight behind Woodside Petroleum's push to develop James Price Point on the Kimberley coast as a major gas processing site, pointing to its key location as an export hub for gas in the region. The Fin
Stowe fights to reclaim mine
Fallen coal tycoon Ric Stowe has launched an audacious bid to reclaim his coal empire, taking legal action that could eventually force the West Australian government to give him back his mining tenements. The Fin
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Perth's growing traffic congestion has spilled over into small suburban streets as motorists search out peak-hour shortcuts known as “rat runs”.
Page 3: Fresh from entertaining her mining tax in law, Julia Gillard is now asking Perth-based resources chiefs to part with more cash – this time for the honour of bending her ear.
Page 5: WA's powerful corruption watchdog should only hold open hearings in “exceedingly rare” cases and has caused great damage to witnesses and its own reputation by denying procedural fairness in public examinations, a state parliamentary committee has found.
Page 9: Unmanned US spy planes could be launched from the Cocos Islands off WA to watch over China in a plan being considered by the Pentagon.
The West Australian is fighting a bid by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart to force the newspaper to hand over documents that could expose the sources behind a series of reports on her court battle and bitter family feud with three of her children.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants the international nuclear watchdog beefed up to help ensure radioactive material never gets into terrorist hands.
Page 11: Sacked Premier's media adviser James Larsson acted “alone and without direction” when he sent text messages about Opposition Leader Mark McGowan and emailed an image of his Rockingham home to journalists, a report has found.
Page 13: The unions are embroiled in a bitter fight after a unionist was led away by police yesterday amid allegations that industrial matters had been raised as political payback.
Page 16: Energy Minister Peter Collier has admitted that soaring power bills could be the government's Achilles heel at next year's election.
Page 19: Premier Colin Barnett has warned that programs are being cancelled and projects deferred as WA grapples with a cut in its GST share that will give the state just $1219 a head of population next financial year, compared with nearly $2177 in Queensland and more than $12,223 in the Northern Territory.
Forest protesters are offering cartons of beer and free trips to Broome as incentives for activists to disrupt logging in the South West.
Business liftout:
Page 1: Rio Tinto has set the scene for a new global diamond player to emerge after putting its diamond assets, including the Kimberley Argyle mine, up for sale months after BHP Billiton did the same thing.
More WA farmers are struggling to secure finance this season as banks seek to balance their books after a good year and second-tier lenders disappear from the market.
Page 3: The head of the world's third-biggest gold miner, AngloGold Ashanti, has called for politicians and industry to stop taking pot shots at each other and work together to keep Australia competitive against the developing world.
Brickworks has decided to shut down one of its WA brick-making facilities in response to a slump in demand and greater competition in the state.
Page 4: A tunnel Leighton Holdings is building in Brisbane has again bored a hole in the troubled construction giant's balance sheet, with the group poised to announce yet more losses from the Airport Link project.
Page 9: Stockland, Australia's third biggest property trust, has cut its full-year earnings guidance after blaming high interest rates and wet weather for slowing property sales.
Page 12: Programmed Maintenance Services has attributed some upbeat broker reports to the relentless march in its share price over the past two weeks.
Page 21: Offshore buyers seeking refuge from damaged property markets overseas are helping Australia's property market, with the cross-border money flow triggering a re-rating of the industrial sector by offshore funds.
Page 24: The Property Council of Australia plans to use its economic muscle to steer a new campaign for a more co-ordinated approach to infrastructure projects in WA, incentives for more affordable homes, an increased supply of rental housing and changes to make the land-tax regime less onerous.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: A secret unit within Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation promoted a wave of high-tech piracy in Australia that damaged Austar, Optus and Foxtel as News was trying to take control of the pay TV industry.
The union movement will today defy Workplace Relations and Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten and refuse to give up wage increases in return for higher superannuation payments.
The federal Coalition split yesterday over the Gillard government's decision to block Chinese technology company Huawei from tendering for the $36 billion national broadband network.
Page 3: The federal government is concerned the Liberal National Party's win in Queensland could escalate political pressure on Canberra over cost-of-living issues, with conservative states likely to ramp up their rhetoric linking electricity price rises expected to hit on July 1 to the carbon tax.
Page 4: The union movement is set to oppose a federal government plan to ease skill shortages in the tourism industry by bringing in up to 36,000 semi-skilled workers, including cooks and waiters, from overseas.
Page 8: The federal government has ruled out tougher rules for foreign investment in agriculture, warning that any such changes could damage Australia's economic relationship with China.
Page 17: The market is braced for another Leighton Holdings write-down on its troubled $4.1 billion Airport Link project in Brisbane after trading in the shares was halted until tomorrow.
Page 19: US oil major ConocoPhillips has thrown its weight behind Woodside Petroleum's push to develop James Price Point on the Kimberley coast as a major gas processing site, pointing to its key location as an export hub for gas in the region.
Page 21: Rio Tinto is considering a trade sale or float of its global diamond division as it sharpens its focus on operating large, long-life expandable assets.
WorleyParsons has defended its role as lead contractor on Woodside Petroleum's troubled $15 billion Pluto liquefied natural gas project and says it hopes to use “lessons learned” on its role in Queensland's booming $50 billion coal seam gas industry.
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is set to unveil a push to introduce liquefied natural gas as a transport fuel in Australia, tapping into expected new gas discoveries onshore and providing a potential market for small-scale LNG plants.
Page 50: Manufacturing Australia will push for tougher anti-dumping rules, more flexible industrial laws, streamlined regulation and for the government to do more to tap the gas boom.
Page 51: Fallen coal tycoon Ric Stowe has launched an audacious bid to reclaim his coal empire, taking legal action that could eventually force the West Australian government to give him back his mining tenements.
Gina Rinehart's legal bid to make The West Australian newspaper reveal its sources in reporting on a bitter family battle has been postponed until next week.
Page 57: Diversified property group Stockland has cut its full-year earnings guidance, blaming the weak residential property market, out of cycle interest rate increases by the banks, and tough lending conditions for home buyers, along with wet weather in NSW.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: The expanded US military presence in Australia is likely to include giant unmanned patrol planes using the remote Cocos Islands and aircraft carriers, and nuclear-powered attack submarines based in Perth as part of efforts to refocus American defence resources in the region.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has ordered Anna Bligh’s husband to begin dismantling green energy programs he helped create, as the new LNP government moved to slash environmental spending to offset the federal carbon tax.
Australia's biggest open-cut coal mine will engulf rich farmland, west of Brisbane, after a court rejected a last-ditch bid by local farmers and greens to lock the gate because it would exacerbate climate change .
Seven of Australia’s biggest manufacturers will today demand a crackdown on the dumping of cheap Asian imports as part of a package of reforms to help the ailing manufacturing sector.
Page 2: Australia was too reliant on selling mineral resources to China, Dow Chemical’s chief executive, Australian-born Andrew Liveris, warned yesterday.
Page 3: The consumer watchdog will apply to the Federal Court this morning for orders against Apple over ‘‘misleading’’ advertising for the latest iPad.
Page 4: Julia Gillard intends to tough out her dramatic collapse in support in opinion polling, convinced the looming introduction of the carbon tax will allow her to regain control of national political debate by exposing Tony Abbott as a scaremonger.
Page 6: Australian intelligence agencies warned the Gillard government there was ‘‘credible evidence’’ Chinese telco Huawei was connected to the Third Department of the People’s Liberation Army, which is responsible for cyber-espionage.
The government will put raising productivity at the heart of a new strategy to conquer Asian markets, to be unveiled by mid-year.
Western Australia’s Corrective Services Minister Terry Redman was forced into a humbling backdown yesterday after endorsing the use of prisoners from a privately run jail to staff a new hospital to be run by the same contractor, a plan he later said did not exist.
Page 8: The family of renowned Kimberley painter Paji Honey child Yankarr has been waiting eight years since her death to receive any part of her estate from Western Australia’s Public Trustee.
Business: Mining giant Rio Tinto has all but put up the ‘‘for sale’’ sign on its diamonds division in a move that could net the diversified mining giant up to $US5 billion ($4.7bn).
Leighton Holdings has signalled another write-down on its troubled Airport Link project, potentially leading to a hit of at least $90 million on its June earnings guidance.
Residential housing developer Stockland has blamed tighter controls on lending by banks, higher interest rates and bad weather for an earnings downgrade that sent its shares tumbling.
Centro's general manager of finance, Paul Belcher, says he was not fully abreast of the company’s short-term debt levels when preparing the company’s erroneous 2007 accounts, a class action trial into the company’s near collapse later that year has heard.
Chevron is continuing talks with potential customers seeking supply from its $US29 billion ($27.5bn) Wheatstone gas export project in Western Australia.
The Bank of Queensland’s capital raising and increase in bad debt provisions have been interpreted by the market as new chief executive Stuart Grimshaw’s steps to clear the deck to get the regional bank back on track.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Australian customs staff accused of colluding with organised crime to bring drugs into the country.
Page 2: AFL legend Jim Stynes farewelled in Melbourne.
Page 3: Western Sydney residents outraged at plans to build a waste treatment plant on a site once used to make asbestos.
World: Nine US Supreme Court justices will decide the fate of Barack Obama's healthcare reforms.
Business: Leighton Holdings is expected to announce more losses from Brisbane's Airport Link.
Sport: Western Suburbs great Tommy Raudonikis blasts Wests Tigers for losing to Canberra.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: Surveillance cameras in schools have stopped playground bullies.
Page 2: Doonside Technology High School in Sydney's west has reported a 70 per cent drop in bullying thanks to CCTV.
Page 3: Speaker Peter Slipper dresses up for parliament but wears jeans for the diggers.
World: The wife of a US soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians insists he's innocent.
Business: Reserve Bank assistant governor Guy Debelle says funding costs tell only part of the interest rate rise story.
Sport: Parramatta will target Manly giant Tony Williams.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Jim Stynes' clan celebrates his life. Border security officers suspected of smuggling drugs and other contraband into Australia. Proposed Australia-US Indian Ocean air base could launch drone flights.
Page 2: Baillieu government drops commitment to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new coal-fired power plants. Wet summer brings forward plans for bush burn-offs. Labor lawyer John McCarthy appointed ambassador to the Vatican.
Page 3: Schools feel the pain as budget cuts hit. Competition watchdog takes on Apple over iPad 4G claim. Comedy festival has a brainy-nerdy feel about it. Organiser considers legal action after actress Sigourney Weaver pulls out of sustainable business conference resulting in the event being cancelled. Rock band Jet calls it a day.
World: Japan warns nuclear security summit that the world must not be lulled into a myth of safety.
Business: Brisbane tunnel puts a hole in Leighton's balance sheet.
Sport: Bulldogs coach calls on his plays to show their nasty streak in opening round against West Coast.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: Thousands farewell Jim Stynes in an emotional St Paul's service.
Page 2: Property owners feeling the pain as mortgages turn sour.
Page 3: Girl power as Leigh Sexton and Jennifer Evans win MKR. Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight granted taxpayer-funded lawyer for his latest court battle.
World: UK PM David Cameron admits to wining and dining at least 15 big paying donors.
Business: Coopers beer boss Glenn Cooper says Coles and Woolies just too powerful.
Sport: Richmond president Gary March says Tigers have to make finals this year.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: ACT gov defends Cotter dam plan as bill tops $400m.
Page 2: Union lauds move to close Canberra work sites.
Page 3: Retail war threatens Australian food processors.
World: Syria accepts Kofi Annan's peace plan.
Business: Huawei concerns cross threshold and need action.
Sport: Folau learned from my debut: Hunt.
