China steels economy for lower growth – The Fin; PM weighing $1.4bn wages push – The Aus; Live sheep trade at crisis point – The West; WA Libs cave on wheat bid – The West; FMG rebounds 17pc on $US4.5b debt deal – The West
China steels economy for lower growth
A senior official at China's central bank has played down the need for another stimulus package or further easing of credit conditions in comments at a private meeting that suggest Australia should prepare for lower growth over the long term from its major trading partner. The Fin
PM weighing $1.4bn wages push
Labor is leaving open the option of giving $1.4 billion-a-year in taxpayer funds to private childcare workers as anger rises in government ranks about spending priorities, unfunded promises and deeper budget cuts. The Aus
Live sheep trade at crisis point
Australia's live sheep export industry is on the verge of a crisis after the federal government delayed a string of shipping permits amid animal health concerns. The West
WA Libs cave on wheat bid
WA Federal Liberal MPs have abandoned their long-standing commitment to deregulate the wheat market after being told an open brawl on the issue could destabilise Tony Abbott's leadership and threaten a coalition election win. The West
FMG rebounds 17pc on $US4.5b debt deal
Fortescue Metals Group will pursue asset sales and potentially take on minority investors in operating mines, despite the debt relief deal that sent the miner's shares soaring 17 per cent yesterday. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Dumped minister Rob Johnson has torpedoed a central plank of Colin Barnett's legislative agenda, telling colleagues he could not support new laws to allow the Corruption and Crime Commission to run joint organised crime operations with WA Police.
Page 3: Australia's live sheep export industry is on the verge of a crisis after the federal government delayed a string of shipping permits amid animal health concerns.
Page 6: One of the nation's biggest home lenders believes the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates at its next two meetings to take pressure off the Australian dollar and protect the nation from the impact of deep cuts in government spending.
Page 7: WA Federal Liberal MPs have abandoned their long-standing commitment to deregulate the wheat market after being told an open brawl on the issue could destabilise Tony Abbott's leadership and threaten a coalition election win.
Page 14: Perth Airport has given itself a “C minus” for the state of the airport which has had the most sustained growth for a capital city airport in Australia.
Page 19: Recycled sewage could provide Perth with up to 35 billion litres of drinking water a year within a decade and account for 20 per cent of the city's supplies by 2060, the Water Corporation has revealed.
Business liftout:
Page 1: Fortescue Metals Group will pursue asset sales and potentially take on minority investors in operating mines, despite the debt relief deal that sent the miner's shares soaring 17 per cent yesterday.
Apple's share price surpassed $US700 on Monday night after announcing record first-day orders for the latest iPhone, fuelling optimism that the company will keep generating the revenue growth that transformed it from a niche computer manufacturer into the world's most valuable business.
Page 3: Insolvency accountants at KordaMentha are planning to put the new Raine Square tower up for sale early next year after developer Luke Saraceni yesterday failed in his legal bid to kick them out as receivers.
Woodside Petroleum's cash coffers have swelled by $US2 billion following completion yesterday of the sale of a stake in the Browse project to the Japan Australia LNG consortium.
The pay packet of BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers has slumped almost $US2 million over the past year in part because of write-downs associated with the miner's embattled US shale gas strategy.
Page 5: George Jones has declared the first stage of Gindalbie Metals' Karara project virtually bulletproof, saying even sustained falls in iron ore prices to $US85 a tonne would not affect its ability to repay interest on its $1.5 billion debt.
French oil and gas engineering firm Technip has won a $263 million contract for offshore work on the Ichthys LNG project.
Page 7: Verve Energy has guaranteed there will be no further cost blowouts on its troubled $295 million gas power project at Kwinana, despite being forced to assume full financial risk for the development from the main contractor.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: A senior official at China's central bank has played down the need for another stimulus package or further easing of credit conditions in comments at a private meeting that suggest Australia should prepare for lower growth over the long term from its major trading partner.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is expected to announce a deal that will lead to childcare workers' pay in effect being subsidised by the budget amid tensions within the federal government about its unfunded spending spree.
Page 3: The Gillard government has committed to keeping weekend and holiday penalty rates at their current levels, while hedging on whether the number of public holidays should be limited nationally to 11.
Page 4: Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has predicted more mines will close because of the Queensland government's royalty increase and the slump in commodity prices, as the national commodities forecaster reduced the outlook for earnings.
The potential closure of Royal Dutch Shell's Geelong refinery underscores the need to make Australian businesses more competitive, says Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu.
Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson is wary about whether Australia can secure the next phase of the liquefied natural gas boom as high costs and rival projects cloud the medium-term outlook.
Page 5: Rio Tinto Australia managing director David Peever has called on the Gillard government to hold and urgent review of Australia's loss of competitiveness, warning that Australia's largest iron ore miner was struggling to make investment decisions in the “saw -tooth economy”.
Page 7: The Reserve Bank of Australia will spend the next two weeks closely watching commodity prices, the dollar, developments in China and the US ahead of a possible interest rate cut next month.
Page 9: Rod Sims has criticised the energy policies of the former West Australian Labor government, now in opposition and electioneering on energy prices.
Page 10: Prominent property developer Luke Saraceni has vowed to press on with a major damages claim against financiers after losing a Supreme Court battle to get receivers removed from the $500 million Raine Square Office tower.
Page 11: Almost a quarter of the top 100 companies have moved to overhaul their executive pay plans to appease angry investor and avoid their boards being spilled under the government's controversial “two strikes” rule.
The federal government has repeatedly been warned to make companies tell investors what executives actually take home in pay but has failed to act, experts say.
Page 15: Fortescue Metals Group appears poised to reactivate its suspended expansion plans by the end of the year after it completed a $US4.5 billion debt refinancing deal to secure its outlook.
National Australia Bank will target rival Commonwealth Bank of Australia in a bid to boost its share of the online trading market.
Page 17: BHP Billiton has frozen the base salaries of more than 100 senior executives for the current financial year as part of a broader cost-cutting measures in a tougher market environment.
China's Meijin Energy has offered more than $400 million to buy Northern Territory iron ore hopeful Western Desert Resources, in its latest move to establish a substantial Australian mining business.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Labor is leaving open the option of giving $1.4 billion-a-year in taxpayer funds to private childcare workers as anger rises in government ranks about spending priorities, unfunded promises and deeper budget cuts.
Company executives and unions have come under fire for poor management of the resources boom in a new row over the nation’s productivity as a sharp downgrade to export forecasts heightens alerts about industry costs.
Page 2: The Productivity Commission should examine the cost and environmental benefits of the Renewable Energy Target and the amount of carbon emissions actually saved, the Queensland government has said.
Wayne Swan has seized on a positive trend in the opinion polls, declaring the government has ‘‘some wind at our backs’’, and has urged Labor MPs to keep the pressure on the Coalition, predicting it will ‘‘splinter’’.
Page 3: Employers have criticised a union push to have thousands of employees paid for public holidays they are not rostered to work, labelling the claim costly and unproductive.
Page 6: Three years ago, there were queues of more than 300 ships waiting off the nation’s biggest ports to load up with coal and iron ore. Yesterday, there were about 90.
Wayne Swan is using a high-powered forum on the rise of Asia to argue there has been excessive focus on resources.
The government’s adviser on resources has forecast that prices for Australia’s key iron ore and coal exports will bounce back over coming months as China’s steel mills come back into the market.
Business: Shares in Fortescue Metals Group surged 17 per cent yesterday, after the troubled iron ore miner ended days of turmoil by securing a $US4.5 billion ($4.3bn) financing deal aimed at easing its liquidity crisis and avoiding a fire sale while iron ore prices remain weak.
Australia is forecast to lose $20 billion in export revenue in 2012-13 on the back of the dramatically falling bulk commodity prices, but the government’s resource adviser says demand will continue to rise as the investment phase of the mining boom is yet to peak.
The federal government has been urged to pass new laws requiring superannuation funds to direct a small proportion of the trillions of dollars they have under management to the venture capital industry to avert a ‘‘capital strike’’ that risks crippling the sector.
BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers has taken a $4.4 million cut in 2011-12 pay after forfeiting his short-term bonus because of the ill-timed $US4.75 billion ($4.55bn) acquisition of US shale gas assets last year.
Chinese billionaire Yao Junliang has added Northern Territory iron ore to his Queensland coal ambitions in a $435 million friendly takeover bid by his Meijin Energy for the Adelaide-based Western Desert Resources.
Junior Altona Mining and Xstrata have called for an independent valuer to determine the price the mining giant should pay for a stake in the company’s Queensland copper-gold project.
The high-profile corporate adviser David Feetham has launched a public attack on Alesco, accusing the board of starting a ‘‘Mexican standoff’’ that threatens the future value of the company.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Muslim leaders in Sydney have broken ranks with their international counterparts to say there should be no more protests against the anti-Islamic film that has sparked violent riots around the world. The government's official forecaster has taken the axe to its iron ore and coal outlook, predicting the first slide in mining income since the global financial crisis. Premier Barry O'Farrell will allow coalition MPs a conscience vote on a bill to legalise same-sex marriage.
Page 2: The deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, has slammed the Nationals in the wake of Labor making gains in the polls, saying the minor party is damaging the coalition.
Page 3: Drug sniffer dog operations are set to increase when police are handed new powers to deploy them on Kings Cross streets and across the rail network without a warrant.
World: The spread of violence against a US-made film mocking the prophet Muhammad to new countries in the Islamic world has dashed hopes in the West that the furore might be contained.
Business: A defiant Fortescue Metals raised its borrowing capacity to $US12.8 billion yesterday, clinching a refinancing deal that sent its shares roaring.
Sport: Sea Eagles great Max Krilich says Melbourne players should have been made to hand back the premiership rings they collected as 2007 grand final winners over the Silvertails.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: A poll has found four in 10 voters in NSW don't know Barry O'Farrell is the state's premier.
Page 2: Ticket sales for Saturday night's NRL grand final qualifier between Souths and the Bulldogs have hit 42,000, with the game destined to be a sellout. 15 Sri Lankans on Christmas Island are ready to return home because they don't want to be sent to Nauru, it's been claimed.
Page 3: Funds for one of the army's great recruiting nurseries - the Australian Army Cadets - will be slashed under government plans to cut more than $5.0 billion from Defence.
World: The Duchess of Cambridge didn't get the chance to put the topless furore behind her in the Solomon Islands after being greeted with a line-up of bare-breasted dancers.
Business: Fortescue Metals has added $1.6 billion to its value in one day after unveiling a $4.5 billion credit facility to refinance looming bank debts.
Sport: Manly will go into Friday night's grand final qualifier against Melbourne carrying a 37-year unbeaten streak in preliminary finals.
THE CANBERRA TIMES:
Page 1: A drop in commodities prices threatens the government's budget surplus and new spending promises.
Page 2: Parties have made a pitch for the vote of older Canberrans with promises of more free bus transport and a land bank for aged care facilities ahead of October's ACT election.
Page 3: ACT Labor plans for territory to be on 90 per cent clean energy within eight years.
World: Thousands of Chinese protest Japan's purchase of islands in the East China Sea claimed by the world's most populous nation.
Business: Australia's third largest iron-ore miner, Fortescue Metals, seals refinancing deal of up to $12.27 billion to end speculation of a potential of a fire sale of its assets.
Sport: Canberra teenager Nick Kyrgios aims to become the world's best junior tennis player next year and become the first ACT player to crack the world's top 100 in over 15 years.
