Budget axe risks survival of defence contractors, threatens innovation - The Aus; More red tape for resource projects - The Fin; Foreigners for Gorgon - The Fin; Hastie Group goes under - The West; Bowen was ‘told of concerns’ - The Aus;
Budget axe risks survival of defence contractors, threatens innovation
AS many as half of the 3000 small and medium-sized local companies that provide equipment for the Australian Defence Force are at risk of collapse because of budget cuts and delays to projects. – The Aus
More red tape for resource projects
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has sought to shore up her leadership by giving into union demands to force big resources projects to offer locally thousands of jobs earmarked for foreign guest workers. - The Fin
Foreigners for Gorgon
Fears of project cancellations cost blowouts are set to drive up to 30 energy and mining ventures to seek deals with government to import thousands of foreign workers with US energy major Chevron next in line. - The Fin
Hastie Group goes under
Embattled Hastie Group has collapsed under $500 million of debt, with more than half the ASX-listed company’s employees to be stood down today. – The West
Bowen was ‘told of concerns’
The Australian Manufacturing Union and three other unions wrote to Immigration Minister Chris Bowen three months ago warning that a proposed enterprise migration agreement for Gina Rinehart’s $6.5 billion Roy Hill project breached department guidelines for the deals. – The Fin
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Hong Kong-based organised crime syndicates are targeting Perth’s cocaine and methamphetamine market by coercing people with big debts to act as couriers and middlemen in WA.
Page 3: Australia is a nation of time wasters, according to a study of workforce productivity.
Page 9: Big water users should be charged more to ensure “scarce” drinking supplies are not wasted and people are given appropriate price signals, says Water Minister Bill Marmion.
Page 10: Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths are relying on cheap labour in countries such as South Africa and Thailand to deliver their burgeoning home brand lines at the lowest prices.
An $8.3 million taxpayer-funded operation to remove the wreck of a ship that crashed into cliffs on Christmas Island almost five months ago will start soon.
Page 11: WA’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has called for greater investment in programs proved to enhance the wellbeing of indigenous youth.
Page 13: A Perth fertility clinic has resorted to importing sperm because of a severe shortage of WA donors.
Page 29: Embattled Hastie Group has collapsed under $500 million of debt, with more than half the ASX-listed company’s employees to be stood down today.
Kingsrose Mining’s maiden dividend has provided a measure of comfort to investors suffering capital losses over the past six months and will likely put pressure on other mid-cap miners to also loosen the purse strings.
Page 30: News Ltd is poised to announce major job cuts as it restructures its print publishing business to ensure its survival in the digital future.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has sought to shore up her leadership by giving into union demands to force big resources projects to offer locally thousands of jobs earmarked for foreign guest workers.
Fears of project cancellations cost blowouts are set to drive up to 30 energy and mining ventures to seek deals with government to import thousands of foreign workers with US energy major Chevron next in line.
Barry Lambert, the chairman of financial planning group Count, has accused rival BT Financial Group of unsporting behaviour over its attempts to poach his firm’s advisors.
Page 3: High labour costs caused by the mining boom may have lost Australia the right to host one of the biggest science projects in history – the €1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) square kilometre array (SKA) radio telescope.
Rugby league fans who are slow off the mark have had to dig deeper for a ticket to next week’s State of Origin games after the NRL trialled an American ticketing system that raises prices in line with demand.
Page 4: The Australian Manufacturing Union and three other unions wrote to Immigration Minister Chris Bowen three months ago warning that a proposed enterprise migration agreement for Gina Rinehart’s $6.5 billion Roy Hill project breached department guidelines for the deals.
Page 7: Key business leaders have urged the Gillard government to stand firm on the decision to allow 1700 foreign workers to fly in to work on Gina Rinehart’s $6.5 billion Roy Hill iron ore mine, saying they will not steal local jobs.
Page 9: Westpac Banking Corp is standing by high-profile employee Grant Hackett in the face of a wave of negative publicity about the former Olympic champion.
Page 15: Lend Lease Group is talking to resources groups about buying stakes in infrastructure projects for the first time as it considers setting up funds for infrastructure investments.
Page 17: Institutional broker Hunter Green is attempting to rally support for a strategy to remove Brickworks’s 42 per cent stake in Washington H Soul Pattinson in the hopes it will increase the value of both companies.
Page 18: Woodside Petroleum’s new, broader expansion strategy under chief executive Peter Coleman is expected to be a focus of its investor briefing in Perth, on top of prospects for Browse, Pluto and Sunrise liquefied natural gas projects.
The chronic shortage of oil rigs plaguing Western Australia’s onshore petroleum industry has persuaded a group of local oilmen to fork out millions to set up a new venture that they expect will undercut rivals in other states.
Page 21: The immediate fallout for Australia’s banks from the taxpayer bailout of Spain’s fourth-largest banks is likely to be minimal, according to senior local bankers.
Macquarie Group has begun processing payments to collapsed broker MF Global Australia clients who sold their claims to the bank’s debt trading team.
Page 31: Worries about Europe and the global outlook are expected to further weigh on the Australian dollar this week.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: AS many as half of the 3000 small and medium-sized local companies that provide equipment for the Australian Defence Force are at risk of collapse because of budget cuts and delays to projects.
RESOURCE-SECTOR employers claim they are well advanced in their bid to bring in thousands of additional foreign workers to plug skills shortages in multi-billion dollar projects, putting them on a collision course with the nation’s labour movement.
Page 3: GENERIC drug company Ranbaxy is giving chemists free supplies of its anti-cholesterol pill Trovas, rival to the nation’s biggest-selling medicine Lipitor, in a move that means taxpayers are wasting about $410 million a year subsidising the drug.
Page 6: THE Gillard government has ordered an urgent review of indigenous work training programs, including the one pushed by mining magnate Andrew Forrest.
TRADITIONAL owners of the land where Toro Energy plans Western Australia’s first uranium mine have warned outsiders to stay away from their constructive talks with the company.
ALMOST 14,000 jobseekers filed into the Australian Mines and Metals Association’s jobs expo in Perth on Friday and Saturday.
QANTAS is looking at the potential of international services catering to fly-in, fly-out workers from Asia, with Qantas chief Alan Joyce vowing to move quickly if mining companies manage to get the politically explosive issue through Canberra.
Page 8: A NATIONAL container deposit scheme mooted by environment ministers would create costs of up to $1.76 billion during its first 25 years, a new coalition of industry groups and unions has warned.
Page 9: ROLEX has defended its ban on selling spare parts to independent watchmakers, who have alerted Australia’s consumer watchdog to an alleged Swiss ‘‘monopoly’’ over luxury watch repairs.
Page 21: EXXONMOBIL says it is on track to turn around a 2011 loss at its Altona refinery and is flagging potential expansion in the face of strong headwinds that continue to pressure the shrinking industry in Australia.
ALAN Joyce says he is already seeing benefits from the decision to cleave Qantas in two and has rejected warnings about duplication and return to the impasses caused by previous attempts at segmentation.
THE chief executive of Australia’s second-largest wealth management group, MLC, has called for a ‘‘truce’’ between the players in the $1.4 trillion superannuation industry to provide a more united front in dealing with government.
Page 22: UBS’S respected global economist Paul Donovan believes the troubled eurozone will survive the current crisis but warns that Australia will be hit as the powerful Asian region slows down as a result.
Page 23: THE powerful Property Council of Australia claims $1 billion worth of property projects are at risk due to the Gillard government’s move to double the withholding tax provisions paid on dividends distributed to overseas investors.
Wesfarmers is expected to confirm this week that Coles chief executive Ian Mcleod will stay on for at least another 12 months after his contract expires next May.
Department store chain Myer’s proposed $20 million to $30m online capital expenditure to boost internet sales has been called too low compared with international retail rivals.
Page 24: ALMOST one-third of the Australian workforce is underproductive, costing industry more than $41 billion a year in wages alone.
MACQUARIE Bank is standing firm on its bid to overhaul the board of coal junior Coalworks, raising renewed concerns about the salaries of key management and the lack of detail on a deal with Hong Kong’s Noble Group.
Page 26: APPLE chief executive Tim Cook is proving himself as much a master of employee and investor relations as he is of operational efficiency.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: The federal cabinet is divided over the integrity of the prime minister, with senior ministers disputing her claim she did not know until the last minute about a deal to allow Gina Rinehart to import 1700 workers to help build a massive iron ore project in Western Australia.
Page 2: The supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths are relying on cheap labour in countries such as South Africa and Thailand to deliver their burgeoning home brand lines at the lowest prices.
Page 3: The misuse of prescribed pharmaceuticals is Australia's fastest-growing drug problem, raising the possibility that deaths from prescribed drugs may eventually surpass those from illicit drug overdoses, doctors have warned.
World: The blood-spattered children lay on a patterned rug, their wounds graphic proof that youth offers no protection from the dark forces unleashed in Syria.
Business: Australia's big four banks face write-downs totalling almost $250 million in the wake of Hastie Group's collapse into receivership at the weekend.
Sport: Quade Cooper has been fast-tracked into the Wallabies' train-on squad because of concerns that Kurtley Beale, the first choice Test five-eighth, might not be able to play against Scotland in Newcastle on June 5.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: The bodies of diggers killed in Afghanistan were mistakenly placed in upside-down caskets for their final journey home and others had medical equipment removed before an inquest could be carried out.
Page 2: A young real estate agent may have fallen under a taxi and died after being refused entry because the 6km fare was too short.
Page 3: Council rates to the tune of $100 million from Barangaroo will go to help build a light rail system under a deal being hammered out between Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the state government.
World: Pop diva Lady Gaga's Indonesian show has been cancelled after Islamic hardliners threatened "chaos" if she entered the largely Muslim country.
Business: Credit card providers are reaping in an extra $30.4 million a month by failing to pass on rate cuts to cardholders.
Sport: Luke Lewis has recovered from the "kick in the guts" of being dumped as captain to lead his Panthers to a memorable win over premiers Manly.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Julia Gillard is battling new leadership speculation amid a bitter cabinet rift over claims she was ambushed by the controversial approval of 1700 foreign workers for a mining project and indications that chief whip Joel Fitzgibbon has been organising against her. Secret police files reveal that some of Victoria's most notorious underworld bosses have strong ties to figures on Melbourne's waterfront, including to a senior union official. Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths are relying on cheap labour in countries such as South Africa and Thailand to deliver their burgeoning homebrand lines at the lowest prices. More than 2000 jobs will be axed after embattled engineering company Hastie collapsed under an estimated $500 million of debt.
Page 3: Why was Gina Rinehart given special government approval to bring around 1700 foreign construction workers to Western Australia's remote Pilbara?
Page 5: A planning application for a massive 474-unit apartment development in towers of up to 10 storeys has been lodged for suburban Bundoora. One of Melbourne's most loved landmarks is set for big changes with the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron poised to get the go-ahead for a multimillion-dollar breakwater extension adjacent to St Kilda Pier.
World: For the Egyptians who fought so hard to unseat the regime that dominated their lives for 30 years, the results of the first round of the country's first free presidential election are unthinkable.
Business: Australia's big four banks are facing write-downs totalling almost $250 million in the wake of Hastie Group's collapse into receivership at the weekend.
Sport: The mood of the Carlton and Demons match can be summed up this way: late in the last quarter, a section of the remaining crowd tried to initiate a Mexican wave, perhaps an unprecedented development at a football match.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: Defence force investigators mishandled the remains of diggers killed in Afghanistan and wrongly placed three bodies in the lids of caskets.
Page 3: In death as in life, brave teen Shaun Wilson-Miller will continue to inspire others to live as he did like there's no tomorrow. Australia's laziest workers waste almost a quarter of their time at work, at a staggering cost of over $40 billion a year.
Page 7: Taking on the world's best athletes doesn't faze Sally Pearson, meeting Black Caviar did. More trains are running on time since Metro introduced a major overhaul of its timetable.
World: A gruesome video shows rows of dead Syrian children lying in a mosque in bloody clothes with gaping head wounds, in what activists are calling one of the worst attacks yet in Syria's 14-month-old uprising.
Business: Australia's $202 billion franchising industry must get back to basics and back up its promises when trying to attract new business partners, a court has warned.
Sport: Carlton coach Brett Ratten demanded and received action from his players in contested ball and clearances at the MCG.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: Reports that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's leadership is yet again under threat.
Page 2: Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in Australia.
Page 3: The ACT's discrimination authority says religious and racial harassment is emerging as a serious problem in some of Canberra's upmarket private schools.
World: International pressure on the UN rises to toughen measures against Syria, after bloody assault on Houla.
Business: Hastie Group's collapse may result in $250 million in write-downs for Australia's big four banks.
Sport: ACT Brumbies player Jesse Mogg named in the Wallabies squad.