Defence cuts a ‘threat’ to US Alliance, The Fin; Apache cops blast on Varanus, The Fin; Labor reaches out to the rich, The Aus; Rinehart hits out at Fairfax, The West; No port in a storm for WA yellowcake, The Aus
Defence cuts a ‘threat’ to US Alliance
The nation’s top defence analysts warn that the Gillard government’s deep cuts are threatening the future of the United States alliance and Australia’s status as a middle power. The Fin
Apache cops blast on Varanus
A crippling gas explosion at Apache Energy’s Varanus Island facility off the West Australian coast in 2008 was partly caused by low staffing, lack of corporate memory and inadequate systems to track problems, according to a damning assessment of the energy giant’s role in the incident. The Fin
Labor reaches out to the rich
Labor will fast-track the migration applications of wealthy businesspeople prepared to invest at least $5 million in Australia to address shortages of skills and capital and boost job-creation. The Aus
Rinehart hits out at Fairfax
Gina Rinehart has upped the pressure on Fairfax Media Group after being overlooked for a board seat in favour of accountant James Millar, warning the current board led by chairman Roger Corbett was failing shareholders. The West
No port in a storm for WA yellowcake
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s bid to capitalise on the uranium boom has been undermined by his refusal to export yellowcake from the state’s ports. The Aus
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: A young Bunbury mother is suing Perth’s biggest maternity hospital in a multimillion-dollar negligence claim for “catastrophic” injuries to her son born by emergency caesarean almost six years ago.
Page 5: Exiled Labor MP Craig Thompson has pleaded with the Opposition and the media not to push him “to the brink” as the parliamentary investigation into whether he deliberately misled the House of Representatives descended into farce.
Page 8: The long-awaited official report into the 2008 Varanus Island gas explosion has drawn damning comparisons between US energy giant Apache and the flawed culture that led to NASA’s space shuttle disasters.
Page 13: A “landmark” State Government program to lift its recycling rate by crushing building waste into road base has been suspended amid concerns it could release asbestos fibres.
Page 15: The State Government will today announce a $3.2 million push for WA cat owners to snip, chip and tag their moggies by November next year or risk having their pets “jailed” in new cat pounds.
Business: Gina Rinehart has upped the pressure on Fairfax Media Group after being overlooked for a board seat in favour of accountant
James Millar, warning the current board led by chairman Roger Corbett was failing shareholders.
Venturex Resources, with just $2 million cash to its name but plans to push ahead with redevelopment of the historic Whim Creek
copper mine in the Pilbara, is in the throes of securing Northern Star Resources as a cornerstone investor.
Myer would require $25 million a year in sales – a significant boost – to persuade it to keep its Fremantle department store under a plan to redevelop the site, chief executive Bernie Brookes said.
Sundance Resources believes it is on the brink of finally wrapping up a mining deal over its Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon that would kickstart Chinas delayed $1.7 billion bid for the company.
The Australian sharemarket lost ground yesterday to close marginally in the red for the year as fears of a disorderly Greek exit from the Euro outweighed US and Chinese stimulus hopes.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: The nation’s top defence analysts warn that the Gillard government’s deep cuts are threatening the future of the United States alliance and Australia’s status as a middle power.
Coles’ $15 million supermarket chief, Ian McLeod, is facing a pay cut as Wesfarmers seeks to renegotiate his contract to bring it more into line with other executives including his boss, Richard Goyder.
Fair Work Australia has begun legal proceedings against Craig Thomson in the Federal Court, dismissing the embattled MP’s claims that its report into his misuse of union funds was flawed and biased.
Page 3: The nation’s obsession with online shopping from overseas retailers is generating losses at Australia Post of about $70 million a year, forcing it to drive up prices for domestic parcels.
Any further mergers in the electricity industry are likely to be opposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, a decision that would hit the sale price of the NSW government’s big electricity assets.
Page 5: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy insisted yesterday that legislation tabled earlier in parliament would tackle the issue of tax lost due to profit-shifting by multi-nationals, against some expert advice on the technology companies.
Page 6: AGL will pocket a $210 million tax-payer windfall this year from its acquisition of Victorian brown coal generator Loy Yang, which stands to benefit under the government’s carbon tax and also a future Coalition government if the scheme is repealed.
Page 7: A crippling gas explosion at Apache Energy’s Varanus Island facility off the West Australian coast in 2008 was partly caused by low staffing, lack of corporate memory and inadequate systems to track problems, according to a damning assessment of the energy giant’s role in the incident.
Page 8: Iron Ore miner Fortescue Metals Group is looking to the eastern states as it searches for up to 200 new workers each month, but knows it will be hard to convince Australia’s notoriously immobile workers to up stumps and head west.
Page 9: Manufacturing in China has fallen at a quickening pace this month, adding to evidence that fallout from the European crisis is spilling into Australia’s highest trade partner.
Unions have sought local government approval for widespread public protests across central Queensland from today as about 3500 members of three mining unions stage a week-long strike at six BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance coalmines.
Page 11: Four superannuation finds have been forced to delay their mergers, costing members millions of dollars, following government dithering over planned tax relief to prevent schemes from crystallising losses when they
consolidate.
Page 15: Qantas has drawn the battle lines for control of key east coast routes in its domestic capacity war with rival Virgin as it prepares to add 900,000 additional seats on the “golden triangle” linking Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.
Page 19: Sundance Resources has held Chinese suitor Hanlong Mining to its $1.7 billion offer price as other details of the takeover agreement between the two parties have been tweaked.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: LABOR will fast-track the migration applications of wealthy businesspeople prepared to invest at least $5 million in Australia to address shortages of skills and capital and boost job-creation.
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s bid to capitalise on the uranium boom has been undermined by his refusal to export yellowcake from the state’s ports.
THE electricity industry has warned that the exit of more aluminium smelters from the Australian market will ‘‘punch a big hole’’ in the customer base of electricity generators, threatening future investment in baseload and renewable power, and potentiallyleading to higher electricity prices.
Page 2: SO much money has been taken out of the Defence budget that the plan for a potent force set out in the Rudd government’s 2009 white paper is dead, Australia’s most respected defence-budget analyst has declared.
NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley last night warned that a future Coalition government would be unable to find a buyer for the $36 billion national broadband network if it stopped the project on coming to power.
Page 4: LABOR’S landmark policy change to allow uranium sales to India is yet to be put into effect amid divisions within the government over whether to proceed with a deal seen as crucial to the relationship between the countries.
Page 8: MORE than half the migrants receiving work visas are moving to Sydney and Melbourne, rather than the resource industry states, as local workers face increased competition for jobs from immigrants at a time of low employment growth.
Business: THE nation’s competition watchdog has warned that future power generation takeovers will face a tougher path, after its approval of AGL Energy’s takeover of the Loy Yang brown coal power station cut the number of southeast wholesale power providers down to five.
FURTHER evidence of a slowdown in China’s economy has not deterred Rio Tinto from advancing its iron ore expansion plans, with key executive Sam Walsh confident demand will continue to grow.
FAIRFAX Media has weighed up the merits of making a play for Nine Entertainment as the embattled newspaper, magazine and digital publisher seeks ways to boost dwindling profits and a falling share price.
THE top four Australian banks are paying a premium for retail deposits and protecting savers from interest rate cuts in a bid to stay out of volatile international wholesale funding markets.
NEW Zealand Finance Minister Bill English yesterday handed down a budget targeting a slightly reduced deficit of $6 billion in the financial year 2012-13, and seeking to almost
double the pace of growth to 2.6 per cent in 2012-13.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: A police investigation has found 19 critical risks in Australia's border security measures allowing
smugglers to easily import drugs and arms into the country.
Craig Thomson has made a public plea for the media to back off amid growing concern for his well-being.
A Current Affair says it will not pay a prostitute who signed a statutory declaration alleging Craig Thomson was a client of hers until they have finished their investigation.
The NSW government is considering paying fishermen to leave the industry after figures indicate wild fish stocks have been reduced.
Page 2: Police have dismantled a child prostitution ring that exploited runaway and homeless girls, selling them for sex for $10.
World: Eurozone finance ministers have drawn up plans for Greece's exit from the euro and Germany's central bank has called for a suspension for financial assistance to the struggling nation.
Business: Retail giant Myer's chief says the expected impact of the carbon tax and the instability of the Gillard government has made Australia less attractive to overseas investors.
Sport: Bill Harrigan denies telling NSW assistant Trent Barrett the video referee made the wrong decision awarding Queensland centre Greg Inglis's try in the first State of Origin match.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: Schoolyard bullies may have a difficult time finding employment as a new scheme is rolled out that will ask those under 22 years old looking for work to agree to a character check from their schools.
Page 2: Jobseekers may be denied employment if character checks from their schools reveal they were bullies.
Page 3: The father of the four girls fighting to remain in Australia against court orders compelling them to return to Italy says he is a model parent and denies allegations he is violent.
World: A nanny who used to work for Sharon Stone is suing her former employer for wrongful dismissal and harassment.
Business: Company filings reveal Mark Zuckerberg and other investors sold millions of Facebook shares before the price plummeted.
Sport: Referee boss Bill Harrigan says the decision to award Queensland centre Greg Inglis's controversial try was the correct one.
THE AGE:
Page 1: The biggest reforms in decades to Australia's waterfront and freight supply chains will be unveiled by the federal government in a bid to crack down on corruption.
Page 3: Metro has resorted to skipping stations and running unscheduled short services since its new timetable was introduced last month, stranding passengers so its trains will run on time.
Page 5: Several foreign prisoners are already serving parole in Indonesia, according to both the immigration and the corrections departments, giving hope that Schapelle Corby could be released this year.
World: European leaders have expressed determination to keep Greece in the eurozone.
Business: The boss of Myer has added his name to a growing list of businessmen warning that foreign investors are starting to shun Australia as a place to invest.
Sport: Melbourne coach Mark Neeld has axed three high-profile players for the upcoming match with Carlton.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: An alarming number of Victorians think sexist jokes and slang are acceptable.
Page 3: Despite a claim that urban sprawl is making people fat and unhealthy the Baillieu Government has vowed to protect suburban backyards.
Page 5: Howls of protest from both sides of Indonesian politics have condemned the decision to grant clemency to Schapelle Corby.
World: A Pakistani surgeon recruited by the CIA to help find Osama bin Laden has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason.
Business: Gas has emerged as the new hero of Australia's resources boom as investment by energy and mining companies soars to staggering new heights.
Sport: Melbourne coach Mark Neeld has dropped underperforming trio Colin Sylvia, Aaron Davey and Cale Morton.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: A federal and state police taskforce says Australia's border security is exposed to 19 "critical" risks.
Page 2: Protests continue over proposed cuts to Australian National University's School of Music.
Page 3: Canberra brothel madam convicted of slavery will spend at least four years behind bars.
World: European Union summit warns Greece to stick to bailout terms.
Business: AGL moves to take full control of Victoria's largest power generator after receiving the regulatory go-ahead from the competition watchdog.
Sport: Canberra Raiders captain David Shillington says team is fully behind coach David Furner's decision to cut Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson for alcohol breaches.