Murdoch's digital shake-up – The Fin; Mining boom reshapes nation – The Aus; Chiefs in dark on IR review – The Fin; Oakajee could be off for years – The Aus; Alcoa's Varanus Island damages action stumbles – The West
Murdoch's digital shake-up
Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd is about to dramatically transform the local media sector with a $2 billion takeover bid for James Packer's pay TV company and a radical restructure of its newspaper empire. The Fin
Mining boom reshapes nation
The mining boom is remaking Australia at a rate faster than the local population can handle, with Western Australia soaking up labour from all parts of the nation and immigration being ramped up to plug the gaps. The Aus
Chiefs in dark on IR review
Business leaders say they are unaware of the final recommendations from the government's Fair Work Act review panel but welcome the announcement they will be consulted before changes are made to the controversial industrial relations laws. The Fin
Oakajee could be off for years
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has admitted the $5.9 billion Oakajee port and rail project could be delayed for years but he remained ‘‘moderately optimistic’’ the troubled development would proceed on his watch. The Aus
Alcoa's Varanus Island damages action stumbles
Alcoa will resort to combing an official report into the Varanus Island explosion in a bid to rescue its faltering $158 million damages claim against Apache Corp. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 4: Billions of dollars in federal funding for roads, councils, community groups and possibly private schools are at risk after a landmark High Court decision yesterday.
Kevin Rudd's supporters say the July 1 introduction of the carbon tax will not be the “game-changer” being promised by Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan, increasing the likelihood of the Labor leadership being revisited in spring.
Page 10: The Gillard government has given its strongest signal yet it could demand media moguls pass a public interest test amid fears iron ore billionaire Gina Rinehart could use her stake in the ailing Fairfax newspaper company to campaign for her own political ends.
Page 11: Colin Barnett has continued his attack on the Liberal Party for not preselecting his preferred candidate Kate Lamont for Churchlands, saying she had the potential to be a future premier.
Page 14: The state government's key heritage adviser, the Heritage Council, does not want the heritage-listed Florence Hummerston kiosk to be removed to make way for the $440 million Elizabeth Quay redevelopment.
Page 15: Decades of overstocking on WA pastoral stations has caused near irreversible damage to the landscape, according to a Murchison farmer who has taken animals off his land to allow the environment to recover.
Business: Rio Tinto has cashed in on BHP Billiton's stuttering iron ore strategy, declaring yesterday that delays with “several high profile competitor projects” were a key reason for signing off on a $US6.2 billion of further investment in its biggest business unit.
Kerry Stokes' Seven Group Holdings is keeping its cards close to its chest as Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd and James Packer bunker down to flesh out a $2 billion takeover of Consolidated Media.
Seven West Media's WA chief has echoed News Ltd in dismissing the pessimism about newspapers in some quarters as premature.
The mining union wants state-owned electricity generator Verve to pay more for the coal it gets from Collie-based Yancoal, despite the pressure this would put on power prices.
Grange Resources has conceded it will struggle to fund its share of the $2.9 billion Southdown magnetite development near Albany after putting “at least” a 30 per cent project stake on the block.
The slump in retail boat sales has forced another top WA dealer into a drastic downsizing as buyers of the high-priced leisure craft shun the showroom in favour of cheaper private imports.
Alcoa will resort to combing an official report into the Varanus Island explosion in a bid to rescue its faltering $158 million damages claim against Apache Corp.
Western Areas is putting its Finnish spin-off on the backburner, signalling it is unlikely to go ahead with a London listing this year for the base metal asset seen as a key plank in its diversification strategy and a new vehicle for the miner's former boss Julian Hanna.
Embattled vanadium miner Atlantic has confirmed it is seeking royalty relief from the state government, but hotly denies this is linked to its current production and cash flow problems.
Stronger sales of apartments and leasing of commercial office space in the city boosted Finbar's 2012 financial year profit forecast which has been revised to $28 million from $24.03 million.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd is about to dramatically transform the local media sector with a $2 billion takeover bid for James Packer's pay TV company and a radical restructure of its newspaper empire.
Employment and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Shorten was involved in a physical confrontation with union leader Kathy Jackson and threatened to cut her off politically and personally when she refused to back his ally in an internal Labor election, the national secretary of the Health Services Union has claimed.
Rio Tinto is investing $US4.2 billion expanding its iron ore output despite an apparent freeze on spending at other mining houses.
Page 3: NBN Co has buckled after months of strong protests over possible price levels from the telecommunications industry and will rethink the terms for network access it offers companies such as Telstra and Optus.
Page 4: The Greens will oppose key elements of the employer push for changes to Labor's Fair Work Act, and will seek to lift bargaining limits and let more employees request flexible hours.
Interstate migration has become less popular in the decade since 2001, even as Australia's population has grown rapidly.
Page 7: Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has ruled out any changes to the carbon price package if problems arise after the tax starts on July 1 but predicted it would be business as usual for most businesses.
Page 8: Interest rates look increasingly likely to be left on hold in July for the first time in three months as signs of a hiatus in Europe offset concern about the faltering domestic construction industry, economists say.
Page 10: Business leaders say they are unaware of the final recommendations from the government's Fair Work Act review panel but welcome the announcement they will be consulted before changes are made to the controversial industrial relations laws.
Page 13: Unquantified job cuts foreshadowed at News Ltd have raised concerns about local content in the company's publications around the country, and staff have been “operating in a volatile and uncertain environment” despite the absence of immediate redundancies, says the journalists' union.
Page 21: James Packer has all but inked the deal that will see him sell out of the media assets he inherited from his late father Kerry, providing a war chest for his ambitions in the growing casino industry in Australia and across Asia.
Rio Tinto has pushed back its forecasts for peak Chinese steel production as miners around the world struggle to convince their shareholders that they should be making investments in new production.
The key question about News Ltd's $2 billion bid for Consolidated Media Holdings is whether Kerry Stokes wants to remain involved with the pay television sector.
Page 23: Australian retailers will have to find new ways of luring customers and garnering sales as customers eschew products in favour of experiences and find wider ranges and better prices online.
Page 26: Grange Resources is looking to sell at least 30 per cent of the Southdown magnetite iron ore project near Albany in Western Australia as part of its plan to have the $2.88 billion development fully funded by the end of the year.
Page 30: The world's biggest liquefied natural gas importer, Korea Gas Corporation, has urged Australian gas developers to use more Korean construction companies to help ease infrastructure bottlenecks and labour shortages.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited has moved to dramatically reshape the Australian media landscape with a $2 billion deal to consolidate the pay-TV industry and a wholesale restructure of its operations that accelerates its transition to a digital future but identifies ongoing value in printed newspapers.
The mining boom is remaking Australia at a rate faster than the local population can handle, with Western Australia soaking up labour from all parts of the nation and immigration being ramped up to plug the gaps.
Page 2: Labor has caved in to pressure from the Greens to delay a crucial budget measure to increase taxes on big investors, amid fears the change would stop funding for infrastructure, including clean energy projects.
Hopes of changes to lift Europe out of its debt and banking crisis are shifting to the European Council meeting in 10 days after German, French, Italian and EU leaders agreed to consider further integration of the financial system.
Julia Gillard will promote Australia’s credentials on global environmental protection at a UN summit on sustainable development today, highlighting ocean preservation and her government’s carbon tax.
Greg Combet has likened the difficulty of selling the carbon tax to the union campaign against the Howard government’s waterfront reforms in the mid-1990s, as he vowed to win public support for the policy and declared it would be business as usual for most companies after the carbon tax began on July 1.
Page 5: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has given in-principle support to News Limited’s $2 billion bid for Consolidated Media Holdings and while the deal still faces regulatory hurdles he has indicated there appears to be little to stand in its way.
Page 6: ACTU secretary Dave Oliver wants to discuss dramatic changes announced by Fairfax Media this week with the government and has accused the publisher of failing to explain why it plans to sack thousands of its workforce.
Page 8: The mining boom is remaking Australia at a rate faster than the local population can handle, with Western Australia soaking up labour from all parts of the nation and immigration being ramped up to plug the gaps.
New home construction slumped to the lowest level in more than 11 years this year, prompting calls for further interest rate cuts and adding to confusion about Australia’s economic outlook.
Page 9: The government-owned company building the $36 billion National Broadband Network has been forced to revise its controversial pricing plans after a backlash by telcos and internet service providers.
Business: News Limited looks well positioned to push ahead with a $2 billion bid for James Packer’s Consolidated Media Holdings, after the competition regulator indicated it had an open mind on the deal and shareholders in Kerry Stokes’s Seven Group questioned whether it had the balance sheet capacity to pull off a rival offer.
Gina Rinehart has finally held a discussion with Fairfax Media chairman Roger Corbett since a storm erupted over her push for board representation, but the stalemate over her refusal to accept key conditions remains unresolved.
Rio Tinto and its partners have committed to spend $US6.2 billion ($6.08bn) on iron ore expansions in the Pilbara and Guinea despite economic uncertainties, allowing Rio to take a shot at the new-found capital expenditure caution at its arch-competitor BHP Billiton in the process.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has admitted the $5.9 billion Oakajee port and rail project could be delayed for years but he remained ‘‘moderately optimistic’’ the troubled development would proceed on his watch.
The scale of BHP Billiton’s expected writedown on last year’s $US20 billion push into the US shale gas industry could be less than originally feared, thanks to a rebound in US gas prices from 10-year lows.
Iron ore play Grange Resources has begun a sales process over its huge Southdown development project in Western Australia, with the company looking for a deal that could net it more than $200 million and avoid the need for an equity raising.
Lynas chairman Nick Curtis has not lost confidence in investing in Malaysia despite controversy over the miner’s processing plant, saying the facility had passed high-level scrutiny that proved the operation was safe.
National Australia Bank will slow its aggressive residential mortgage lending, but still aims to keep growing at a faster rate than its rivals.
The Reserve Bank has given banks five years to create a new payments system that will enable consumers and businesses to transfer funds between each other instantly and outside of normal banking hours.
Grocery wholesaler Metcash has moved to take full control of hardware chain Mitre 10 as it reaffirmed guidance for full-year earnings growth of less than 5 per cent.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: The federal government calls for calm after the High Court declares chaplaincy programs to be invalid.
Page 2: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy flags revisiting media ownership laws as Fairfax Media and News Ltd restructure.
Page 3: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange seeks asylum in Ecuadorean embassy in London.
World: Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak reportedly close to death.
Business: News Corporation poised to double its stake in pay TV giant Foxtel and buy out James Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings.
Sport: Aussie rules set to be played on rugby league soil at Birchgrove.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: The promised rail line between Rouse Hill and the city is missing a link.
Page 2: The North West Rail link will now end at Chatswood, on Sydney's north shore.
Page 3: The federal government forced to review all directly funded schemes after the High Court ruled chaplaincy programs to be invalid.
World: British company offering seats to the moon.
Business: The Packer dynasty prepares to leave the media industry.
Sport: Maroons coach Mal Meninga wants Sam Kasiano to tell the world he's a Queenslander.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Baillieu plan to sack the worst five per cent of Victorian teachers. Toowoomba father of six throws Australia's federal system of government into a legal and constitutional crisis with his successful challenge of the national school chaplaincy program. Julian Assange seeking Ecuador asylum because he believes he's been abandoned by Australian government. Baillieu government comes up with "decisive action" as its new catch phrase.
Page 2: Foreign Minister Bob Carr says ICC close to apologising in the Melinda Taylor case, which would set her and three colleagues free from Libyan detention. Ecuador an odd choice for asylum for champion of free speech.
Page 3: News Corp tightens its grip on the Australian media landscape with plans to double its stake in pay-TV giant Foxtel. Author Anna Funder wins the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her best-selling novel All That I Am.
World: Israel sending back illegal South Sudanese migrants.
Business: News Corp $1.97 billion takeover bid for James Packer's CMH will double its stake in pay-TV operator Foxtel.
Sport: Richmond uneasy about the parlous financial state of its VFL affiliate Coburg.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: A marathon drinking session led to the alleged assault of a young woman by Geelong's Jesse Stringer, who's been banned from selection for the rest of 2012.
Page 2: Teenager grilled by police over the death of an 11-month-old boy at Bendigo. Black Caviar's owners meet Charles and Camilla at Royal Ascot.
Page 3: Young cancer survivor and five friends have been caught up in murder claims over the death plunge of a hotel worker in Peru. Teachers may be called upon to give up some of their 11-week annual holidays to do training courses.
World: Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak on life support.
Business: James Packer likely to sell his last major media asset to Rupert Murdoch, which will end his family's 94-year role in Australian publishing and broadcasting.
Sport: A possible Madonna concert at Etihad Stadium in the new year raises AFL concerns about the ground surface.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: Rupert Murdoch's News Limited unveils long-awaited restructure, which will lead to big job cuts.
Page 2: The ACT's parents associations and teachers unions say the safety of children and staff must be considered when returning dangerous kids to school.
Page 3: The ACT government backs down on plans to hike fees for litigants in the territory's courts and tribunals.
World: Prime Minister Julia Gillard warns of more "stumbles" in the global economy on the way to recovery.
Business: Australia's major newspaper publishers, Fairfax Media and News Limited, move away from print business.
Sport: The Australian Institute of Sport says there may be a "high risk" to a contagious outbreak of whooping cough, just 36 days out from the Olympic Games.
