Staffers 'costing us billions' – The Aus; FMG open to Roy Hill rail talks – The West; Buswell faces big budget hole – The West; Carbon buyers wait for Europe – The Fin; Warning on gas price push – The Aus
Staffers 'costing us billions'
Business has backed a contentious plan to revitalise the public service and replace political fixers with tenured civil servants who can provide ‘‘frank and fearless’’ advice, amid warnings that botched decisions have squandered up to $20 billion in taxpayer funds. The Aus
FMG open to Roy Hill rail talks
Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power was back in an upbeat mood yesterday, talking up the prospects of the company's expansion and potential deals with Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project as FMG brought an end to another of its major debt issues. The West
Buswell faces big budget hole
Public sector bosses are facing deeper cuts than the 2 per cent efficiency dividends announced in the May Budget as Treasurer Troy Buswell tries to plug a big hole in the state's finances caused by falling iron ore prices and the high Australian dollar. The West
Carbon buyers wait for Europe
Australian companies are holding off from buying European and international carbon permits until changes to the domestic scheme are bedded down and uncertainty over the EU emissions trading scheme is resolved. The Fin
Warning on gas price push
Japan's drive to sever the oil link in the pricing system for liquefied natural gas could slow development of Australia’s gas industry, oil and gas company Santos has warned, saying the current pricing system was important to funding new developments. The Aus
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 3: Public sector bosses are facing deeper cuts than the 2 per cent efficiency dividends announced in the May Budget as Treasurer Troy Buswell tries to plug a big hole in the state's finances caused by falling iron ore prices and the high Australian dollar.
Page 4: Legislation to make James Price Point the only site on the Kimberley coast where Browse Basin gas will be processed has been introduced into the WA parliament.
Page 9: Mining boom towns in the Pilbara, including Karratha, Tom Price and Dampier, will be slapped with tough new liquor restrictions despite objections from publicans and mining giant Rio Tinto.
Page 13: Farmer Derek Kurwen says bureaucratic wrangling in Canberra more than 3600km from his sweeping property under the Stirling Range has cost him $80,000.
Business: China Inc has continued its raid on WA's gold sector, scooping up a majority stake in Goldfields miner Focus Minerals in a heavily dilutive $227.6 million share placement.
Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart has raked in a billion dollar bounty from her Hope Downs iron ore mining joint venture with Rio Tinto.
Macmahon Holdings' losses from a disastrous Pilbara rail project, which led its managing director to quit, are likely to hit $40 million, according to broking analysts.
Singapore-listed gold play LionGold Corp could be lifting its sights to bigger targets, despite leaving a trail of failed agreements among the Australian miners and explorers it had previously targeted.
Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power was back in an upbeat mood yesterday, talking up the prospects of the company's expansion and potential deals with Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project as FMG brought an end to another of its major debt issues.
The head of the Australian arm of the world's biggest sports marketing group concedes that the spiralling cost of attracting top golfers makes Perth's new international tournament a tough sell.
In a fresh blow to local manufacturing, Bristile Roofing will end 83 years of making tiles in WA in favour of cheaper Spanish imports.
Billabong shares have taken another hit after one of the two private equity companies vying to take it over pulled its bid off the table.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: Kevin Rudd's former top bureaucrat, Terry Moran, has given support for a scathing attack on the role of ministerial political staffers, who the Business Council of Australia complains are undermining the authority of the public service.
Grocon has hit Victoria's militant construction union with a $10.5 million claim for damages over an illegal blockade of four major building projects in Melbourne.
The International Monetary Fund has given a big tick of approval to the Gillard government's budget surplus target.
Page 3: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is threatening to block Woolworths' acquisition of a block of land in Sydney's west as part of a clampdown on creeping acquisitions by the major grocery chains.
Page 5: Australian companies are holding off from buying European and international carbon permits until changes to the domestic scheme are bedded down and uncertainty over the EU emissions trading scheme is resolved.
Page 6: Economists and business warn that jobs will bear the brunt of a faster-than-expected end to the commodity prices boom after eminent economist Ross Garnaut predicted Australia would struggle to cope with falling living standards.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has snubbed Treasurer Wayne Swan's attempt to have business agree to give up tax breaks for a corporate tax cut, refusing to back any of the options tabled as possibilities.
Page 11: The Reserve Bank of Australia recorded a $1.1 billion profit in the 2011-12 financial year, ending a multi billion-dollar run of losses, and will pay a $500 million dividend to the federal budget.
Page 15: The Australian Securities Exchange has received critical support from fund managers and shareholder representatives over its radical plan to carry out book-builds for company floats and capital raisings.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that concentration of power among Australia's big four banks and elevated house prices remain risks over the next few years.
Page 17: Fortescue Metals Group's decision to pay $US715 million to buy back a royalty over production from its Chichester operations will make it easier for the miner to sell a minority stake in the assets.
BHP Billiton has shelved plans to build more than $US5 billion worth of rail and port infrastructure in Queensland as part of a broader review of its coking coal growth ambitions.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Business has backed a contentious plan to revitalise the public service and replace political fixers with tenured civil servants who can provide ‘‘frank and fearless’’ advice, amid warnings that botched decisions have squandered up to $20 billion in taxpayer funds.
Wayne Swan will today launch a blistering attack on US Republicans, declaring ‘‘cranks and crazies’’ have taken over the party and have come to represent the No 1 threat to the world’s biggest economy.
The Coalition will vote against the symbolic pledge proposed by Labor to replace the promised referendum to acknowledge indigenous Australians in the Constitution.
Page 2: Rob Oakeshott will not withdraw his support for Julia Gillard despite her government’s decision to delay a referendum to recognise indigenous Australians, the latest commitment to the crossbench to be shelved by Labor.
Page 3: Grocon has launched Supreme Court action suing the construction union for $10.5 million in losses allegedly suffered as a result of the recent bitter dispute across the builder’s Melbourne projects.
Page 4: Uranium mining is back on the agenda in Queensland, with the Newman government saying for the first time that it is open to a ‘‘serious public discussion’’ of the controversial issue.
Page 5: Indonesia's agriculture minister is refusing to budge on the banning of more than 11,000 Australian breeding cattle in a new trade dispute between the countries.
Page 6: Interest rate cuts should be the first line of defence against economic weakness but Labor has been told to stand ready to abandon its budget surplus if world conditions deteriorate.
Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens has warned retirees face the risk of ‘‘disappointing’’ earnings in the years ahead because of the pump-priming of the European and US economies by central banks that has forced down yields on government debt.
Page 7: The Liberal Party’s call for more transparency and lower thresholds for foreign investment in farm land would ‘‘help debunk certain myths that are peddled’’, said rising backbencher Josh Frydenberg last night — an implied rebuke for Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce.
Business: Japan's drive to sever the oil link in the pricing system for liquefied natural gas could slow development of Australia’s gas industry, oil and gas company Santos has warned, saying the current pricing system was important to funding new developments.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev will be granted a $4.1 million bonus if the bank meets strict performance targets over the next four years based on shareholder returns and customer satisfaction levels.
Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group stands to save itself more than $200 million a year after negotiating the retirement of an onerous debt facility that had long been bleeding the company’s cashflows.
Earnings volatility and potential board spills because of a second ‘‘strike’’ on remuneration reports are expected to be the dominant themes in a lively annual meeting season.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev will be granted a $4.1 million bonus if the bank meets strict performance targets over the next four years based on shareholder returns and customer satisfaction levels.
More evidence is emerging that the Chinese economy is under pressure, with a preliminary survey of Chinese manufacturing activity in September showing continued contraction.
Brickworks, Australia’s largest brick and tile maker, has flagged a patchy recovery in the country’s housing market across the next 12 months after riding through some of the toughest industry conditions in 30 years.
Outdoor clothing and camping retailer Kathmandu has flagged a better result next year after reporting a 10 per cent drop in net profit this year, but it warned tough retail conditions were the ‘‘new normal’’ for the industry.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: A Bankstown unit complex fire was so hot it was almost explosive.
Page 2: Australia's immigration minister won't be the guardian of children sent to Nauru.
Page 3: The US advises its citizens to avoid Sydney's Martin Place and Hyde Park this weekend.
World: Barack Obama is the best-placed US president to win re-election since Bill Clinton in 1996, a poll shows.
Business: Private equity group CVC Asia Pacific to be shaken up.
Sport: Tim Sheens's position as Wests Tigers coach is looking less certain.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: A high school student dies after binge drinking with friends.
Page 2: The Muslim mother photographed with her three-year-old son holding a sign calling for beheadings says she's not a bad mum.
Page 3: The NSW Liberal Party is in disarray after a supporter of Energy Minister Chris Hartcher succeeds in overturning federal preselections.
World: Lindsay Lohan may have been drunk when she hit a pedestrian with her car.
Business: The International Monetary Fund endorses the Australian economy.
Sport: Manly coach Geoff Toovey says Anthony Watmough's shock Stilnox confession has motivated the team.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Spending on pokies in Victoria has decreased by almost a quarter in the past decade.
Page 3: The coalition has joined big banks and telcos in their fight against laws that aim to prevent them from sharing personal information about customers with companies overseas.
Page 5: Nauru is expecting Australia to take special care of asylum seeker children and teenagers who are without parents but sent to the island for processing under its revived Pacific Solution.
World: US President Barack Obama is in a better position to win November's election than any candidate since Bill Clinton in 1996, according to a nationwide poll.
Finance: The shake-up at one of the country's biggest private equity groups, CVC Asia Pacific, is part of a global restructure after its parent, CVC Capital Partners, this week sought to raise cash by selling 10 per cent of its empire.
Sport: Battle-ready Sydney has aimed its focus at former Swan Darren Jolly in an effort to strangle Collingwood's midfield in tonight's preliminary final.
THE HERALD SUN:
Page 1: An allegedly corrupt truckie tester is behind a serious rort in which hundreds of drivers were given fraudulently issued heavy vehicle licences.
Page 3: A jailed burglar will be questioned over the horrific murder of an infant after the child's parents were cleared of his death.
Page 9: Controversial jockey Danny Nikolic angrily declared at a racing board hearing he had nothing to do with Les Samba "getting murdered".
World: A British soldier who did not know she was pregnant has given birth on the front line.
Finance: The International Monetary Fund has given Australia's economy a clean bill of health, saying the nation still has the fuel to power through further global turbulence.
Sport: Ben Johnson says Collingwood has its arrogance back ahead of the preliminary final against Sydney at ANZ Stadium.
