Today's Business Headlines

Labor's $120bn budget blowout

Future governments may need to raise $120 billion – or almost $20,000 for the average four-person family – by the end of the decade to pay for Labor's spending commitments. The Fin

Miners warn of shift to Africa

The mining industry has threatened to shift projects out of Australia to Africa despite claims by Foreign Minister Bob Carr that Australia is the most attractive place in the world to invest. The Fin

Razor gang targets federal grants

Thousands of federal grants promised to groups ranging from community bodies to universities are at risk as the government’s razor gang seeks billions of dollars in budget savings to offset the sharp downturn in revenue. The Aus

Steel price fans FMG woes

Concerns that Fortescue Metals Group may struggle to pay back the interest on its growing debt bill were inflamed yesterday when the iron ore price hit its lowest level for nearly 2½ years, sending its share price plunging. The West

Home mortgage beats rent

WA tenants worried they may never be able to afford their own home could be in for a surprise, with a report finding there are dozens of suburbs in WA where it is cheaper to buy than rent. The West

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: A staggering 47,000 West Australians are waiting to see a public hospital specialist to find out if they need surgery, figures reveal.

Page 3: Perth's hotel rooms are now the nation's most expensive – and scarcest; and it's keeping tourists away.

Page 6: Low and middle-income families will get $1,000 in subsidised dental care for each of their children – but they will have to wait until 2014 and hope Labor is re-elected to receive the payment.

The federal opposition has turned the tables on the Gillard government, questioning how Labor will pay for a multi-billion-dollar “black hole” of unfunded promises.

Page 10: WA tenants worried they may never be able to afford their own home could be in for a surprise, with a report finding there are dozens of suburbs in WA where it is cheaper to buy than rent.

It is home to some of the world's top luxury brands but life on Perth's ritziest shopping strip is not proving so easy for independent retailers, with three King Street shops closing this month.

Page 11: Tourism Minister Kim Hames remains confident that WA's rich new gold tournament will be a success, despite only two confirmed international participants seven weeks before tee off.

Page 18: The WA Police Union warns that the government will have “blood on its hands” if the road toll rises because of proposed budget cuts to key traffic squads.

Business: Concerns that Fortescue Metals Group may struggle to pay back the interest on its growing debt bill were inflamed yesterday when the iron ore price hit its lowest level for nearly 2½ years, sending its share price plunging.

Wooldridges' administrators are in talks with litigation funders over potential court actions aimed at alleviating the financial pain of the group's creditors.

Ausdrill boss Ron Sayers says the $1 billion mining services provider he founded would consider merging with a company of equal size if the right opportunity came along.

Ahead of a key meeting today to outline the progress of expansion moves, the chief executive of Esperance Port has warned miners not to overstate their claims to future berth space.

WA property developer Finbar Group has delivered a record net profit of $28.3 million for the year to June.

Sundance Resources is confident it will win critical mining permits in Cameroon and the Congo ahead of a December deadline to close out its takeover by China's Hanlong Mining.

A $100 million ferry Austal built on spec three years ago may be offered for charter in Europe next year if the vessel cannot be sold before then.

Michael Malone, who started iiNet in a suburban garage, has cashed in on the telco's “best year ever” by selling 4.2 million shares or 2.5 per cent of the company through is Perth Internet Ltd.

Regional television and radio group Southern Cross Austereo says the outlook for the media industry remains challenged with advertising revenues deteriorating in the six months to the end of June.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: Future governments may need to raise $120 billion – or almost $20,000 for the average four-person family – by the end of the decade to pay for Labor's spending commitments.

Australia's biggest private equity group, Pacific Equity Partners, has made an error in calculating the money required to run cleaning and coathanger company Spotless Group.

Former Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin says the federal government's decision to link carbon permits to European prices is a dangerous policy equivalent to signing up the Australian dollar to the euro zone.

Page 3: The mining industry has threatened to shift projects out of Australia to Africa despite claims by Foreign Minister Bob Carr that Australia is the most attractive place in the world to invest.

A slowdown in China's economy is unavoidable because labour costs are rocketing and neighbouring countries are outbidding it for Western contracts, the global chief executive of the third-biggest accounting business in China says.

Page 5: Tourism in Australia from all sources is edging up, and hotel room occupancy rates have beaten their pre-global financial crisis record, a new report on the sector by Deloitte shows.

Page 7: The Gillard government has less than three months to find close to $4 billion to fund a $2.7 billion dental scheme for children and a $1.3 billion dental top-up for adults on low incomes.

Page 8: The carbon price that Australian businesses will pay from 2015 is about to be in effect determined in negotiations between European countries, and Australia will have no role or say in the outcome.

Page 14: Directors representing some of Australia's largest companies say there are genuine problems with the industrial relations system, but business leaders are reluctant to complain because of the polarised nature of debate on the subject.

National Australia Bank and Woodside chairman Michael Chaney has backed calls by former prime minister John Howard to return to individual contracts to reverse poor productivity.

Page 21: Former BHP Billiton executive Graeme Hunt is the lead contender to become Transfield Services' next chief executive after Peter Goode resigned to join London-based private equity firm Arie Capital Partners.

Page 23: Southern Cross Media chief executive Rhys Holleran has conceded the regional broadcster is locked into the same Ten Network low-rating programming that caused its TV revenue to drop 8 per cent for the 2012 financial year.

WorleyParsons chief executive John Grill signalled the engineering group's global reach would protect it from the resources slowdown in Australia as it forecast “good growth” in 2013.

Page 25: Australia's largest gold producer, Newcrest Mining, is reviewing the $4.8 billion cost of developing its Golpu deposit in Papua New Guinea because of the slump in global financial markets.

Paladin Energy chief executive John Borshoff believes uranium prices have bottomed but warns prices for the nuclear fuel will need to rise substantially to encourage the development of new supply.

Page 37: Australia's listed home builders, developers and materials companies have been battered by the deteriorating residential property market.

Page 41: Former Aspen Group managing director Angelo Del Borello is raising money to buy a $30 million Perth office block through his company Acure Asset Management.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Thousands of federal grants promised to groups ranging from community bodies to universities are at risk as the government’s razor gang seeks billions of dollars in budget savings to offset the sharp downturn in revenue.

The landmark $4.1 billion dental package announced yesterday to fix up the nation’s teeth will save taxpayers about $1.5bn over the next two years, thanks to large savings from the axing of two existing dental care programs.

Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, has issued a stern rebuke to those jealous of the wealthy: start working harder and cut down on drinking, smoking and socialising.

The government’s plans to link Australia’s emissions trading scheme to Europe have been attacked by the chairmen of two of Australia’s biggest carbon polluters.

Page 2: The nation’s major construction union has promised fresh demonstrations outside Grocon building sites today, despite Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten condemning ‘‘thuggery’’ and urging it to abide by court orders.

Bitter rivalry over coverage of unlicensed Qantas engineers is set to continue after a group of unions with traditional coverage of the workers failed to convince Fair Work Australia to issue orders preventing poaching by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.

Page 4: A high-powered group of industry leaders, including former Sydney Olympics supremo Rod McGeoch, is calling for major streamlining of the tax systems of Australia and New Zealand to help create a seamless transTasman powerhouse and unlock $NZ5.3 billion ($4.1bn) in economic growth across the nations.

Page 5: A new approach to trade training will drag Australia out of a ‘‘time-served’’ model by changing the way apprentices are taught, managed and paid.

Page 6: Business will find it easier to prepare for a Coalition government that scraps the carbon tax as a political brawl breaks out over the scheme’s new link to the European carbon price.

Windfarms have vowed to fight a rearguard action against changes to the renewable energy target as a potential plummet in the carbon price to $12 a tonne in 2015 raises new fears that the renewable projects would be uneconomic.

Business: Peter Goode made a surprise exit as chief executive of construction and maintenance business Transfield Services yesterday — sending the company’s shares sharply down and prompting questions about the company’s strategic direction.

Southern Cross Austereo will focus on costs as the radio and TV company comes under pressure from a subdued advertising market and flat earnings in the year ahead, but it has done what many media companies have struggled to do this reporting season: post a solid full-year profit result.

An expected iron ore price floor that miners have long been flagging could be a long way off, with prices of the steelmaking ingredient continuing to slump amid talk that China is subsidising high-cost iron ore production.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr is backing the theory that the boom is far from over, saying prices and demand should recover by the time Australia’s committed investment pipeline plays out.

A $350 million explosives factory planned on the back of BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine expansion has been axed, as the fallout from the project’s cancellation continues to be felt across industry.

A former director of the International Monetary Fund has backed austerity measures in Europe, putting him at odds with IMF boss Christine Lagarde, who worries that rapid spending cuts could thwart economic recovery.

Australian companies are continuing their push into Africa to diversify away from Australia’s high-cost environment but the downturn is affecting growth projects, with access to capital difficult for juniors trying to grow in the resources-rich continent.

Grocery wholesaler Metcash has warned it will miss its own forecasts for earnings per share to grow by up to 5 per cent after a dilutive capital raising and a series of costly acquisitions.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: Senior executives from Toll Holdings, Australia's largest transport company, have been disciplined for inappropriate sexual conduct during a meeting. Politicians are having gifts of travel and high-end entertainment lavished upon them by lobby groups and large companies. A $4 billion initiative to combat poor oral hygiene in lower income families has been launched by the government.

Page 2: Kevin Rudd's wife Therese Rein has received more flight upgrades from Qantas than any other person in the country.

Page 3: Labor has done a preference deal with a party that is anti-carbon tax in a bid to beat incumbent Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore in the upcoming council elections.

World: Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife has won the hearts of those at the party's convention after a speech in which she talked about love.

Finance: A US advisory firm is circulating a report saying Australia faces a collapse in housing prices, a bank crisis to rival Europe's and a run on its currency.

Sport: Manly fullback Brett Stewart has signed a contact to stay on at the club for another four years.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: New figures reveal Australians are being forced to choose between buying a home and having children as it is becomes increasingly difficult to afford both.

Page 2: A property report find 54 suburbs in NSW where mortgage repayments are cheaper than the median cost for renting.

Page 3: A $4 billion deal between the government and the Greens will mean children aged between two and 17 from lower income families will have dental treatment funded by Medicare from January 2014.

World: Hurricane Isaac has made landfall about 145 km south of New Orleans.

Business: An online bicycle retailer that attracted more than a million hits per day has been awarded the 2012 Telstra Australian Business of the Year Award.

Sport: Greg Inglis has been rated as the NRL's most destructive player after scoring two tries and setting up three more against the Eels last weekend in what was deemed one of the best individual performances of the last decade.

THE AGE:

Page 1: Top Australian jockeys ordered to answer questions about their knowledge of suspected race fixing as part of an inquiry. Senior male executives at Toll Holdings disciplined for sexually inappropriate conduct during a business meeting. Julia Gillard makes spectacular entrance to Pacific Islands Forum. Thursday will formalise a sad and bitter ending to Carlton coach Brett Ratten's tenure.

Page 2: The Israel lobby, Qantas and mining companies leading the charge in lavishing federal politicians with junkets and gifts.

Page 3: Bitter building union dispute with Grocon widens with work on a major Sydney project stalled and hundreds of protesters set to converge from early Thursday at a Melbourne picket line. A total of 32 patients died in 2010-11 as a result of 58 catastrophic mistakes made in Victorian hospitals, new data shows.

Page 5: Low-income adults can look forward to a $4 billion expansion in public dental services from 2014 - if Labor wins the next election - but will lose a scheme focused on the chronically ill from the end of this year.

World: Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, steals the heart of the party's convention by telling the audience she wanted to talk about love, not politics.

Business: Australia faces a run on its currency, a deeper collapse in housing prices and a bank funding crisis to rival Europe's as it faces life after the mining boom, US advisory firm report says.

Sport: Carlton's player leadership group gives the all-clear for the club to pursue Collingwood forward Travis Cloke. Mick Malthouse is a risky proposition for Carlton, Robert Walls says.

THE HERALD SUN:

Page 1: Blockading construction workers in central Melbourne are earning almost double the wages of typical Victorians and getting more than 13 weeks paid leave.

Page 3: Peter Clarke, the head of the Baillieu Government's planning body, took a private job with a company benefiting from contracts with the authority under his control. Grave fears held for up to 150 refugees missing at sea between Java and Sumatra.

Page 5: Julia Gillard makes spectacular entrance to Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga. Public transport chiefs set to launch fare evasion blitz, after report shows evasion soared with the introduction of Myki ticketing.

World: Mitt Romney unveils "secret weapon" - his wife Anne - at official launch of his US presidential election campaign.

Business: Australia's leading companies have suffered a deep slide in profitability, with more than $12 billion wiped from bottom lines in a year.

Sport: Carlton will make an official offer to Mick Malthouse as early as next Wednesday, with the club to confirm coach Brett Ratten's sacking on Thursday.