Today's Business Headlines

Put brakes on super fast trade: UBS

One of Australia's biggest investment banks has called for strict new high-frequency trading rules for some computerised orders, in a bid to make predatory trading unprofitable. The Fin

Bankwest, Saraceni row flares

The bitter battle engulfing Luke Saraceni's flagship Raine Square tower has deepened, with administrators accusing Bankwest appointed receivers of trying to block a looming $200 million-plus damages claim from the fallen property tycoon. The West

Rio's 'assembly line' has it way ahead

The technological sophistication of Rio Tinto's 240 million tonne a year Pilbara iron ore mines has made the company such an efficient miner that it is insulated from falling prices, iron ore chief executive Sam Walsh says. The Fin

Airport had warning of chaos

Perth Airport was warned 18 months ago about the unprecedented growth that has gridlocked the airport and which Qantas claims is costing it $10.8 million a year. The West

Chinese get the good oil

A group of six wealthy Chinese investors has splurged more than $15 million for the olive oil company formerly owned by two of the state's oldest and best-known business families – the Kailises and the D'Orsognas. The West

 

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 3: Western Power has admitted it failed to safely maintain a wooden power pole that was reported as having wood rot and almost six months later caused a bushfire in Two Rocks.

Page 11: Perth Airport was warned 18 months ago about the unprecedented growth that has gridlocked the airport and which Qantas claims is costing it $10.8 million a year.

Page 13: The likelihood of the Gillard government's wheat deregulation passing Parliament has increased dramatically after key independent Rob Oakeshott revealed his support for the abolition of Wheat Exports Australia.

Page 14: A piece of Gosnells has been named among the nation's most expensive suburbs putting it along side A-list areas such as Vaucluse and Toorak.

Business: A group of six wealthy Chinese investors has splurged more than $15 million for the olive oil company formerly owned by two of the state's oldest and best-known business families – the Kailises and the D'Orsognas.

Hartleys has joined rival Perth stockbrokers in reporting a sharply lower full-year profit because of the volatile financial market conditions.

The bitter battle engulfing Luke Saraceni's flagship Raine Square tower has deepened, with administrators accusing Bankwest appointed receivers of trying to block a looming $200 million-plus damages claim from the fallen property tycoon.

The creation of Australia's first national oil and gas regulator, National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, at the start of this year, has coincided with a marked increase in exploration expenditure in WA.

ExxonMobil and BHP Billiton may make a decision on the massive Scarborough gas field 350km off the Pilbara coast late next year as they study development options that include floating LNG.

News Corp's $1.94 billion offer for Pay-TV company Consolidated Media Holdings has gained Kerry Stokes' support after his Seven Group Holdings was blocked from bidding.

Australia Post will deliver on weekends for two months in the lead-up to Christmas after it announced plans to ramp up its parcel network and create digital mailboxes.

 

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: One of Australia's biggest investment banks has called for strict new high-frequency trading rules for some computerised orders, in a bid to make predatory trading unprofitable.

Competition regulator Rod Sims has sent a warning to News Limited that it would struggle to get approvals for any expansion into free-to-air television after waving through the media giant's $2.2 billion bid for James Packer's pay TV company.

Page 3: The ACTU is on the defensive over the unprecedented sacking of 20 staff as it runs a national campaign on job security that has targeted state conservative governments and big employers over job cuts.

Page 5: West Australian Liberal MPs have been urged to support wheat market deregulation by WA Labor MP Gary Gray, who says voting against deregulation legislation will cost the state's wheat growers $4 million a year.

Page 9: Former speaker Peter Slipper has helped the government defeat an opposition move to embarrass Labor over the carbon tax in a sign that the former Liberal MP will support the government on key votes.

Page 10: The technological sophistication of Rio Tinto's 240 million tonne a year Pilbara iron ore mines has made the company such an efficient miner that it is insulated from falling prices, iron ore chief executive Sam Walsh says.

Page 11: Australia Post is taking advantage of the growth in online shopping by investing over $1 billion to make parcels the main focus of its business as its mail delivery monopoly continues to generate losses.

Page 13: James Packer has bowed out of serious involvement in the media sector by declaring his proudest achievement is to be leaving on good terms with some of the biggest names in the business.

ExxonMobil's most senior executive in Australia has warned that multi-billion dollar investments in liquefied natural gas projects are under threat because of government policy and labour laws that combine to make Australia a “very, very expensive place to do business”.

National Australia Bank's much-hyped online trading platform has come under fire from retail clients who claim it isn't user-friendly and they are having problems accessing basic information.

Page 15: Virgin Australia has told the competition regulator that consumers would benefit more if the alliance between Qantas and Emirates did not go ahead.

Page 17: The new chief executive of embattled mining services provider Macmahon Holdings has said the company is prepared for a takeover bid following its recent share price plunge.

Page 22: Commodity prices are likely to remain under pressure as the Chinese government delays new construction and renewed economic stimulus becomes increasingly doubtful.

 

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: A massive backlog of asylum-seekers has built up inside detention centres because processing has stopped since the Pacific Solution was reinstated and almost none of the new arrivals have been transferred to Nauru or Papua New Guinea, which are not yet ready to receive them.

Labor faces claims it has been ‘‘hoist with its own petard’’ after senior ministers attended a union function at which an offensive joke was told about Tony Abbott and his chief of staff Peta Credlin – a day after Julia Gillard declared she would ‘‘call’’ sexism and misogyny wherever she saw it.

Page 2: Treasury has backflipped on its refusal to provide the opposition with details of the costings of Greens policies under Freedom of Information.

Government ministers are flouting requirements that the impact of new regulations be assessed before decisions are made, a damning independent review has found.

Page 3: The exclusive eastern suburbs enclave of Point Piper in Sydney has topped the list of Australia’s richest real estate markets, with new research finding the median value of all houses within the suburb is $7.38 million.

Page 6: The worst unemployment rate in 2½ years confirms the Reserve Bank’s view that the labour market is weakening, reinforcing the likelihood of another interest rate cut next month.

Julia Gillard is facing growing anger from the conservative states over her policy of higher wages for low-paid community sector workers, with NSW warning the commonwealth funding offer falls well short of expectations.

The Gillard government faces calls to make a stronger commitment to clean-coal technology after a high-powered body revealed existing carbon capture and storage projects had already slashed more greenhouse emissions than all other energy-related climate change schemes in Australia and Britain.

The consumer watchdog has fielded 2500 complaints and inquiries about Labor’s carbon tax and carried out 50 initial investigations in the policy’s first 100 days.

Business: News Limited has triumphed in its battle for control of James Packer’s Consolidated Media Holdings, clearing the path for a shake-up of the Australian media landscape.

The gap between the warring debt factions in Nine Entertainment has narrowed, but the receivership clock is running down, with Goldman Sachs explicitly raising that prospect yesterday.

Retail Adventures, the company behind a number of discount chains including Crazy Clark’s, Go-Lo, Sam’s Warehouse and Tasmanian-based discount stores Chickenfeed, appears to be on the brink of collapse after the company asked its suppliers to halt all deliveries.

Brambles has reaffirmed guidance for the full financial year despite forecasting difficult economic conditions in some of its key markets.

Shares in mineral sands producer Iluka have been hit hard after price-cutting by arch competitor Rio Tinto — and Iluka’s own strategy of maintaining supply ‘‘discipline’’ in an effort to bolster prices — saw its sales revenue slashed by more than half in the September quarter.

Australia Post is continuing to lose money delivering letters but the growth of online shopping boosted net profit by 17 per cent to $281 million during the past financial year.

Virgin Australia has urged the competition watchdog to reject the 10-year timeframe Qantas and Emirates want for their sweeping alliance.

Executives at Kerry Stokes’s Seven West Media were paid $13.7 million in the company’s first full year of trading after Seven Media Group and West Australian Newspapers were combined into one company.

The local chief of US oil major ExxonMobil says Australia should be alarmed at the prospect of US gas exports, calling for policies to make our liquefied natural gas industry more competitive.

 

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: Funding for child sexual assault services and the child protection helpline are reportedly set to be scrapped over the next four years.

Page 2: Federal Minister Kate Ellis has upbraided Kevin Rudd's backers for criticising Julia Gillard over the Peter Slipper saga.

Page 3: The man who murdered the heart surgeon Victor Chang is to be released and deported to Malaysia.

World: Surgeons have removed a bullet from the head of a Pakistani girl and peace activist who was shot by a Taliban gunman.

Business: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has triumphed over Kerry Stokes in the battle for James Packer's Consolidated Media.

Sport: Two Australian riders have been named in testimony and evidence in the doping investigation led by the US Anti-Doping Agency into Lace Armstrong and his team.

 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: Sri Lankan navy reportedly says government workers, businessmen, electricians and security guards are among those seeking passage to Australia via boats.

Page 2: Treasurer Wayne Swan has admitted poor judgement for not objecting sooner to an offensive joke about Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his female adviser, Peta Credlin.

Page 3: An advertising agency reportedly charged $1 million to edit a line from the federal government's carbon tax compensation campaign.

World: US President Barack Obama has been in damage limitation mode after a "bad night" during the first debate with Mitt Romney.

Business: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has rejected Seven Group Holdings to snap up Consolidated Media.

Sport: The warriors will name Matt Elliott as their coach for the next two years.

 

THE AGE:

Page 1: This is Adrian Ernest Bayley - the man accused of raping and murdering Jill Meagher. The Age is allowed after a court ruling to publish for the first time the face of the man who allegedly abducted Ms Meagher from Sydney Road in Brunswick.

Page 2: There's no point beating about the bush: Geoff Shaw almost certainly rorted his parliamentary entitlements for commercial gain and probably lied about it under oath; A Canadian spy who compromised Australian intelligence information has pleaded guilty to espionage, having reportedly sold secrets to Russia for $3000 a month.

Page 3: Chief Commissioner Ken Lay has banned suspected racefixing jockey Danny Nikolic from Crown Casino.

World: Surgeons have removed a bullet from the head of Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old schoolgirl and peace activist shot by a Taliban gunman on Tuesday.

Business: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has triumphed over Kerry Stokes in the battle for James Packer's Consolidated Media to emerge as the unassailable player in Australia's pay TV industry.

Sport: The US Anti-Doping Agency's 1000-page report of damning evidence about Lance Armstrong's participation in the biggest doping conspiracy in sports history was like falling off a bike at high speed.

 

THE HERALD SUN:

Page 1: The key whistleblower who triggered the investigation into Geoff Shaw has called for the premier to dump the MP from the Liberal Party.

Page 2: A day after Julia Gillard declared she would call out sexism and misogyny, Labor has been embarrassed by ministers attending a union dinner where a vulgar joke was made about Tony Abbott and his chief-of-staff, Peta Credlin; Family members and politicians have vowed threats will not stop them attending Bali bombing memorials.

Page 3: An expert panel would be set up to ensure millions of workers get access to the best super funds through their employers, under a proposed superannuation overhaul.

World: A woman in France has received a telephone bill for an amount equivalent to almost 6000 times the country's annual economic output.

Business: Unemployment is on the rise and there will be more pain ahead as the latest round of deep job cuts announced by some of the nations biggest companies hit home.

Sport: Carlton and the AFL are on a collision course over a penalty for Heath Scotland after his king-hit controversy.

THE CANBERRA TIMES:

Page 1: Opposition leader Tony Abbott says Canberra did well under the Howard government, despite conceding the city "did it tough" after job cuts.

Page 2: Canberra Liberals say they will reform the justice system if elected.

Page 3: Child protection authorities apologise to Canberra father for placing his three-month-old daughter in foster care without his knowledge.

World: US Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan prepares to take on Vice President Joe Biden in a crucial debate on Friday.

Business: RBA still on-track to cut rates next month after Thursday's official jobs data.

Sport: Lance Armstrong was at the heart of the biggest doping conspiracy in sports history when he won the Tour de France seven years in a row, a US Anti-Doping Agency report says.

THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER:

Page 1: A farm in the heart of the city, a public bath on the River Torrens, open access to the Government House garden, line dancing in Whitmore Square and closing major streets for lunchtime trade are part of a vision put forward by one of the world's leading urban planners to transform Adelaide.

Page 3: Big Brother favourite Josh Moore leaves show after sudden death of his only sibling.

World: US President Barack Obama has tried to reassure panicking supporters, insisting he will win re-election despite a "bad night" in a first debate in which he had been "too polite" to Mitt Romney.

Business: News Limited needs only to sign on the dotted line to snap up pay-TV group Consolidated Media after the competition watchdog rejected a rival bid by Seven Group Holdings.

Sport: Adelaide's determination to have a stand-alone reserves team has included the plan to buy cash-strapped SANFL club Sturt.