PM puts heat on RBA over rates – The Aus; Twiggy builds attack on PM – The Fin; Companies queue up to sue MCC over Sino – The West; Defence accuses ACC of tardiness in tax case – The West; Family woes 'are normal – The West
PM puts heat on RBA over rates
Julia Gillard has put the onus on the Reserve Bank to bring down interest rates to boost the economy, arguing that Labor has delivered on spending cuts and a budget surplus and there is now room for monetary policy to play a role. The Aus
Twiggy builds attack on PM
Andrew Forrest last night ramped up his revelations on mining tax deals forged before the June 2010 leadership spill, saying Prime Minister Julia Gillard had her own deal with the big miners under way well before the drama and Treasurer Wayne Swan was in on the action. The Fin
Companies queue up to sue MCC over Sino
Chinese contracting giant MCC faces engineering and construction companies joining forces in legal disputes worth tens of millions of dollars over the troubled Sino Iron magnetite project in the Pilbara. The West
Defence accuses ACC of tardiness in tax case
Federal authorities prosecuting veteran mining contractors Ron Sayers and Peter Bartlett have been accused of tardiness in preparing for what could be the state's biggest tax fraud trial. The West
Family woes 'are normal
Colin Barnett believes social problems associated with fly-in, fly-out rosters are exaggerated and that many workers actually enjoy the transient lifestyle. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: A task force set up to fight WA's obesity crisis was axed just hours after the Barnett government announced statewide budget cuts on Tuesday.
Page 3: Plans for paid parking at major Perth centres appear to be more advanced than indicated with documents revealing the policy is set to begin in Murdoch.
Page 4: Treasurer Christian Porter should hand his job to someone else if he was incapable of doing the “hard work of government in WA”, Julia Gillard said in Perth yesterday.
Children living in north west towns where fly-in, fly-out workers dominate are fearful of sexual predators and violence, a parliamentary inquiry into the FIFO workforce has been told.
Page 5: Colin Barnett believes social problems associated with fly-in, fly-out rosters are exaggerated and that many workers actually enjoy the transient lifestyle.
Treasurer Wayne Swan is trying to find more savings in next month's budget so he can offer small sweeteners to politically important voter groups to help improve the government's electoral stocks.
Page 6: A global recruitment drive will be needed to find thousands of workers for Perth's Fiona Stanley Hospital because of a labour shortage in WA, the multinational company that has the $4.3 billion contract to run the super hospital has warned.
Page 10: Police would struggle to respond as quickly to calls for help and the community would be at risk from prison overcrowding because of state government budget cuts.
Page 18: The small bar sprawl may have started in the inner city but intimate and niche venues are springing up all over Perth and even reaching as far as the Kimberley.
Business: Chinese contracting giant MCC faces engineering and construction companies joining forces in legal disputes worth tens of millions of dollars over the troubled Sino Iron magnetite project in the Pilbara.
Federal authorities prosecuting veteran mining contractors Ron Sayers and Peter Bartlett have been accused of tardiness in preparing for what could be the state's biggest tax fraud trial.
Fortescue Metals Group should prepare to be hit with some hefty legal costs, with its one-time cornerstone investor saying it is well placed to win a legal battle against the iron ore miner.
The Namibian phosphate project at the heart of a power struggle between Perth's Minemakers and UCL Resources will take longer and cost more than twice as much to build as previously thought.
BHP Billiton has signalled it expects to continue to feel the pinch from industrial action at its Queensland coal operations.
Chalice Gold Mines investors opted to focus on the positives yesterday, sending shares in the explorer 6 per cent higher despite learning it would miss out on up to $US20 million from the sale of its flagship Eritrean gold project.
One-time market darling Doray Minerals failed to excite investors yesterday with details of a scoping study for its high-grade Andy Well godl proejct.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Prime Minister Julia Gillard will today aggressively link her budget surplus goal directly to lower interest rates, saying that the Reserve Bank of Australia has “plenty of room” to cut its 4.25 per cent cash rate.
Parts of industry had surrendered to the union movement and given up trying to manage the workforce, veteran waterfront reformer Chris Corrigan said yesterday in a tough critique of Australian business culture.
Page 8: Accountants and financial planners who service self-managed retirement funds want the federal government to delay big changes to superannuation contributions rules for two years.
Page 10: Global mining unions have backed Australia's minerals resource rent tax as a model for other nations, as they launch a campaign to dump Rio Tinto as the supplier of the metal for the medals to be presented at the London Olympics in July.
Page 11: Business and universities have raised concerns about graduate quality as admission scores are lowered to fill unlimited places in undergraduate degrees in line with the federal government's productivity agenda.
Page 14: Andrew Forrest last night ramped up his revelations on mining tax deals forged before the June 2010 leadership spill, saying Prime Minister Julia Gillard had her own deal with the big miners under way well before the drama and Treasurer Wayne Swan was in on the action.
Miners outside of the big three would have been open to the tax amendments devised by Andrew Forrest and Kevin Rudd in the lead up to Mr Rudd's spectacular ousting as Prime Minister in 2010.
Page 15: A pact between Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest and then prime minister Kevin Rudd to overhaul the resource super profits tax would have almost doubled the country's national infrastructure spending if the miner's forecasts were accurate.
Slashing tax deductions for removing the dirt and waste above mineral deposits and coveted diesel fuel rebates could render some projects unviable, the mining industry has warned.
Page 17: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has blasted West Australian Treasurer Christian Porter for blaming budget cuts on falling goods and services tax revenue, saying that if he is not prepared to do the “hard work of government” he should stand down.
Page 25: BHP Billiton has intensified its focus on drilling in liquids-rich regions of its new onshore US petroleum assets as it tries to combat historically low natural gas prices, but that may not be enough to avoid an impairment charge at its annual results in August.
Coalition broadband policy is “manifestly” in the interests of Telstra shareholders, opposition communications spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull has claimed ahead of a crucial announcement by the company this morning on capital management.
Page 27: Murchison Metals has avoided a showdown with shareholders over the use of proceeds from the sale of its 50 per cent interest in the Oakajee port and rail project in Western Australia by abandoning a search for new investment opportunities.
Page 28: Thousands of Bankwest customers are suing the Commonwealth Bank of Australia-owned group for allegedly charging excess penalty fees.
Page 51: Listed property group Mirvac is confident it can deliver an ambitious $1.5 billion project in the West Australian town of Karratha, despite the constraints of working in such a remote location.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Julia Gillard has put the onus on the Reserve Bank to bring down interest rates to boost the economy, arguing that Labor has delivered on spending cuts and a budget surplus and there is now room for monetary policy to play a role.
Page 4: Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury has blamed his department for the inaccuracy of revenue forecasts, saying it had difficulty estimating them with any precision.
Frozen summer favourites including Drumsticks and chocolate Billabongs could soon be back under local ownership as Swiss food giant Nestle prepares to sell off its Peters ice-cream business.
The chairwoman of an expert panel advising the government on the design of its $10 billion green bank conceded yesterday she harboured concerns that the first loans would be handed out just weeks before a federal election that could result in the dismantling of Labor’s carbon tax.
BHP Billiton has warned that strikes could affect production at its Queensland coking coalmines, after blaming industrial action and wet weather for missing March quarter production expectations.
Page 7: The furore over the National Broadband Network has intensified amid fresh claims that the $36 billion project is 15 months behind schedule because of ‘‘fundamental’’ shortcomings in Labor’s policy and that cost blowouts are inevitable.
Business: Asian sovereign wealth funds and central banks have seized a record level of Australia’s growing government debt, which is soon likely to threaten the nation’s debt ceiling.
Bowen Basin industrial action is likely to have long-term effects on BHP Billiton’s profitable Queensland coking coal business, as rolling strikes run down stockpiles and leave the miner battling to catch up on mining schedules.
Major investment banks have wiped up to $US900 million ($866m) from their full-year earnings forecasts for Rio Tinto after the miner’s guidance and first-quarter production for iron ore and copper came in lower than expected on Tuesday.
Bank of Queensland has ruled out any immediate rise in interest rates outside Reserve Bank policy movements unless markets suffer a ‘‘major shock’’.
Bankwest was yesterday drawn into Australia’s largest class action as lawyer Maurice Blackburn filed a claim on behalf of another 6600 unhappy customers.
Genworth Financial has delayed the float of its Australian mortgage insurance business after an acceleration of claims pushed it into the red.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Julia Gillard will hit back at business groups and others demanding interest rate cuts while criticising her government's pledge to return the budget to surplus, saying they cannot have one without the other.
Page 2: Five road workers have recovered after exposure to a mystery toxic chemical they unearthed while building a new section of the Pacific Highway near Port Macquarie.
Page 3: The state government has warned of gas shortages emerging in NSW within the next two years as it puts its weight behind coal seam gas to head off any supply disruptions.
World: International sanctions aimed at the Syrian government have cut its financial reserves in half and pressure must be maintained on Damascus to stop its bloody crackdown on opponents despite a shaky five-day ceasefire, the French Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe, says.
Business: While jet skis and motorbikes satisfy the average bloke's need for petrol-powered thrills, the uber-rich are sinking to greater depths to get theirs.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: Why radioactive materials, a banned pesticide and food were on the same truck that crashed on the Pacific Highway in 1980 is a mystery.
Page 2: People are being wrongly jailed over paperwork bungles in what the man in charge of our local courts describes as "the day-to-day realities in the life of a magistrate".
Page 3: The chairman of the Sydney Airports Corporation (SAC) entered the airports war full throttle yesterday, accusing Transport Minister Anthony Albanese and shadow treasurer Joe Hockey of backing a second Sydney site only as an election tactic.
World: A former bad boy rapper was yesterday convicted of a two-decade old murder - a cold case shooting that was only solved when he walked into a police station and turned himself in so could square himself with God.
Business: Shopping centre landlords are being forced to offer up to a year of free rents to retailers as they fight to stop their malls turning into ghost towns.
Sport: Master coach Wayne Bennett has warned the NRL's billion-dollar TV payday is at risk unless footy bosses stamp out the ugly wrestling tactics destroying the game as a spectacle
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: Prime Minister Julia Gillard will call for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates. A study says children are better off spending time in front of television rather than hanging out either with friends or in childcare.
Page 2: ACT commercial landlords slam local government's policy to limit the spread of the big two supermarkets groups in the territory.
Page 3: The University of Canberra will launch an inquiry into pass allegations of Chinese students in journalism course.
World: The wives of British and German ambassadors to the United Nations implore Syrian president Bashir al-Assad's wife to stand up for peace.
Business: Global mining giant BHP Billiton is more exposed to more strikes at its Queensland coal mines after declaring stock levels were depleted with no end likely to the workers' dispute.
Sport: Canberra Raiders skipper Terry Campese says he's ready to fight and save his rugby league career following another season-ending injury.