Labor plan to replace carbon floor price – The Fin; Woodside’s whale count is way too low, say gas hub opponents – The Aus; Telstra dash for $2bn bonus – The Fin; More Roy Hill up for grabs – The West; Power price rise relief in sight – The West
Labor plan to replace carbon floor price
The federal government is considering scrapping the $15 minimum price on carbon after 2015 and restricting access to much cheaper international carbon credits. The Fin
Woodside’s whale count is way too low, say gas hub opponents
Migrating whales and newborn calves are streaming past Woodside’s proposed $30 billion James Price Point gas hub site near Broome, eclipsing estimates in the company’s environmental impact assessment, which has received a record number of appeals. The Aus
Telstra dash for $2bn bonus
Telstra chief executive David Thodey is planning to spend $100 million to accelerate construction of a key aspect of the national broadband network and unlock a $2 billion windfall for shareholders. The Fin
More Roy Hill up for grabs
Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has added fuel to speculation of a funding-led delay to its $10 billion Roy Hill development by calling for new equity investors. The West
Power price rise relief in sight
WA households have likely been spared a $1.9 billion increase to their power prices over the next five years after an important legal victory by a state regulator. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: The Corruption and Crime Commission will itself be investigated over its handling of the credit card inquiry into Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan.
Page 5: The state opposition has accused Liberal MP Ian Britza of coming up with spurious reasons to travel to Texas, his wife's home state, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $12,000.
The state government has distanced itself from an audit by external consultants identifying $28 million of savings from hospital budgets through measures such as reducing hot meals and zimmer frames.
Page 8: WA households have likely been spared a $1.9 billion increase to their power prices over the next five years after an important legal victory by a state regulator.
Page 11: WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle has attacked colleague Melissa Parke for “sticking her nose” into the James Price Point gas hub furore, saying their party had supported the project from the outset.
Page 12: The 1980s agreement between the Burke government and Dallas Dempster to build the Burswood casino means the usual public planning and development processes will not apply to Crown Limited's $568 million hotel expansion.
Page 14: Bankwest was “essentially insolvent” and had made high-risk investments through the global financial risk era before it was sold to the Commonwealth Bank a Senate inquiry has been told.
The chances of a Reserve Bank interest rate cut are disappearing with the Australian jobs market holding up as people continue to find work.
Page 19: Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has cast doubt on a bid for a new medical school in WA, telling doctors there are no plans to increase the number of medical places in Australia.
Business: Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has added fuel to speculation of a funding-led delay to its $10 billion Roy Hill development by calling for new equity investors.
Muzz Buzz is set to open stores across Asia and eastern Europe as part of a global push to make it akin to the McDonalds of drive-through coffee.
Regis Resources has continued the flurry of merger and acquisition activity in the local resources space over the past four days by announcing a $150 million scrip takeover of the jointly-owned McPhillamys gold mine.
Telstra chief David Thodey is betting billions of dollars on high-tech mobile and broadband infrastructure to fast-track earnings and cement Telstra's dominance in the telco sector.
Fears about the exploding use of water in the Pilbara have prompted BHP Billiton and authorities to launch a major study into the availability of supplies in the resource-rich region.
Shareholder feuding at Empire Oil & Gas has culminated in a defamation action against the man leading the charge for a board spill.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Telstra chief executive David Thodey is planning to spend $100 million to accelerate construction of a key aspect of the national broadband network and unlock a $2 billion windfall for shareholders.
The federal government is considering scrapping the $15 minimum price on carbon after 2015 and restricting access to much cheaper international carbon credits.
Page 3: Former AWB managing director Andrew Lindberg has delivered a rueful warning on the perils of doing business abroad after the one-time wheat board chief was fined $100,000 for what a judge called “negligence” in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal.
Page 4: A group of Coalition senators will push to tighten tax loopholes for foreign investors and sovereign government-owned corporations investing in Australian farmland, potentially altering decades of tax-free deals between the Australian government and its overseas counterparts.
Page 5: The effects of tougher capital requirements on big banks will not be as bad as the banks are suggesting, according to testimony from a Reserve Bank of Australia official.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has denied angry allegations from customers being considered by a Senate inquiry: that it called in loans at Bankwest to force the bank's previous owner to cover the losses.
Page 6: The head of the competition regulator will today back the federal government's push to overhaul national energy market rules and claim safe ownership of power networks has contributed to energy price rises.
Page 9: The three biggest states have opposed the move by NBN Co to install fibre-optic connections to homes and businesses without asking permission.
Page 10: The jobless rate unexpectedly dropped last month as employers ignored gloomy economic news and kept hiring.
Gina Rinehart's $9.5 billion Roy Hill project has launched a domestic recruitment campaign to fill some of the 8,000 jobs that will be created during the iron ore mine's construction.
Page 13: The federal government's tax working group will challenge business to weigh up which tax breaks it would trade for a cut in the company rate, noting that each percentage point move would cost about $1.8 billion a year.
Page 15: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission raised concerns about conflicts of interest within asset consulting following its maiden review of the industry.
Page 18: Five years after the $US38 billion purchase of Alcan, Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese no longer appears to be an aluminium bull.
Page 19: National newspaper circulation losses slowed to 3 per cent in the June quarter, bettering the performance of metropolitan newspapers where print circulation accelerated its rate of decline to 6.6 per cent year on year.
Telstra's $150 million investment in exclusive rights to broadcast Australian Football League matches over mobiles and the internet appears to be paying off.
Page 20: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp expects its earnings growth trajectory to fall over the next year and anticipates a “significant restructuring” of its Australian business in coming months.
Page 38: BWP Trust, which holds a $1.3 billion portfolio of Bunnings Warehouse outlets, expects to boost its income in the coming year as its portfolio expands.
The ailing home building industry will experience only a minor improvement next year, as interest rate cuts appear less successful than in the past at boosting demand, according the building industry forecaster BIS Shrapnel.
Besieged Perth developer and fund manager Aspen Group has secured $65 million of fresh working capital and bank facilities.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Australia's navy patrol boats are literally cracking up under the strain of intercepting the surge in asylum-seeker vessels, with one boat now banned from operations and structural cracks discovered in at least two others.
CSIRO chairman Simon McKeon has warned against slashing research and development tax breaks to fund corporate tax cuts, saying Australia should abandon the ‘‘clever country’’ title if it doesn’t actively encourage innovation.
Page 2: The Australian Wheat Board’s former chief executive has warned about the dangers of working with other countries after being fined $100,000 and temporarily banned from managing companies for failing in his duties during inquiries into AWB’s Iraqi kickbacks.
Page 3: Migrating whales and newborn calves are streaming past Woodside’s proposed $30 billion James Price Point gas hub site near Broome, eclipsing estimates in the company’s environmental impact assessment, which has received a record number of appeals.
Farmers may soon have to mount surveillance cameras in their dairy sheds and sheep yards if they want to continue to supply Coles with farm produce.
Page 4: Some of the nation’s biggest lenders — including many recipients of $14 billion worth of federal government mortgage support — are refusing to give borrowers copies of forms they signed to get low-doc loans.
Gina Rinehart’s $9 billion Roy Hill iron ore project has responded to the backlash against its plans to import up to 1700 foreign workers by launching a local recruitment drive for the huge development in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has questioned whether Qantas management is ‘‘needlessly scrapping’’ thousands of jobs in a short-term response to the sharemarket.
Page 5: Telstra has given its strongest signal that it is prepared to work with Foxtel to allow the group to mirror the success of Britain’s BSkyB by bundling broadband connections with pay-TV services in a bid to boost subscribers and profits.
Page 6: Tony Abbott is facing a renewed push for tougher rules on foreign investment as his Coalition colleagues press for a stricter national interest test that could be used to reject big farm acquisitions.
Business: Australia's Future Fund has revealed it has invested more than $20 billion through offshore tax shelters, including the Cayman Islands, warning of lower returns if it does not minimise its tax bill.
The Reserve Bank says the structure of the domestic bank bill swap rate should be examined, although he believes a rate rigging scandal similar to Britain’s Libor crisis could not happen in Australia.
News Corporation’s $US1.55 billion ($1.46 billion) fourth quarter loss on the back of writedowns largely in its publishing business has underlined the rationale behind the company’s historic split into entertainment and publishing businesses.
The board of Fairfax Media will meet today to discuss a $1 billion-plus writedown, expected to be announced at the company’s annual results on August 23.
Pay-tv operator Foxtel has posted a 8.5 per cent rise in annual profit on the back of subscriber growth of 1.3 per cent and 50 per cent shareholder Telstra backing an expanded business model.
The stakes in a bidding war for greater control of Australia’s network of natural gas pipelines were raised after APA Group sweetened its offer for Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund.
Travel agency Webjet plans to increase its products after reporting a 24 per cent lift in annual profit to $13.6 million as more people used online bookings despite a flat travel market.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Kayakers Tate Smith, Dave Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear were inconsolable after a loss in Beijing, now they are ecstatic after a win in London. Nathan Outteridge is basking in Olympic glory but knows his chosen sport, sailing, is not the be-all and end-all. An audit of the NSW public sector calls for 132 reforms including more outsourcing of government services, a crackdown on subsidies and an investigation of teacher sick leave. The coalition is split over the cause of and best response to power price rises.
Page 2: At a witching hour vote, Ku-Ring-Gai councillors slashed the size of 18 development projects in Sydney's north.
Page 3: A state government review has recommended requiring 2500 public school teachers to attend performance improvement programs.
World: The ruined city of Salaheddin was the prize as rebels and regime forces battled in Syria this week.
Business: Telstra boss David Thodey is betting billions on the strength of high-tech mobile and broadband infrastructure to drive earnings.
Sport: Steve Hooker shares strong bonds with fellow pole vaulters.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: Kayakers Tate Smith, Dave Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear are Australia's new oarsome foursome after they paddled their way to Olympic gold. Former Hey Dad! TV star Robert Hughes has been arrested in London to face charges of sexual and indecent assault on five girls.
Page 2: Former Hey Dad! child star Sarah Monahan broke down in tears after learning co-star Robert Hughes had been arrested in London.
Page 3: Robert Hughes will face sexual and indecent assault charges after an investigation that spanned two years, four countries and more than 100 witnesses.
World: Parkinson's sufferer Bob Hoskins will retire from the big screen.
Business: Customer growth has fuelled Telstra's bottom line but is likely to slow.
Sport: Kayakers Tate Smith, Dave Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear are Australia's newest Olympic gold medallists.
