Today's Business Headlines

Explorers spend up in the West

Shell, ConocoPhillips and other global energy majors show no sign of pulling back from hugely expensive exploration programs off the coast of Australia, demonstrating an optimism about future major development despite increasingly strident concerns about costs. The Fin

Dumping leader doesn't pay for Labor

The honeymoon is over for the West Australian Labor Party nine months after the boost that followed its dumping of leader Eric Ripper in favour of Mark McGowan. The Aus

Sparkies join BER compo chorus

A peak electricians’ body has added its voice to criticism of the Barnett government’s handling of the federal schools building program, accusing it of failing to carry out due diligence on builders who later failed to pay their subcontractors. The Aus

Fortescue rediscovers appetite for expansion

The extra breathing space given by the $US500 million extension of its debt restructuring has put construction of Fortescue Metals Group's Kings iron ore deposit back on the agenda. The West

Wesfarmers plans $700m spin-off

Wesfarmers has called in Goldman Sachs and RBS to review the property strategy for Coles Group in a bid to tap institutional investment for its shopping centres and developments. The Fin

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 3: Restrictions on bottle shops, more CCTV cameras and alcohol-free zones in the city are among a raft of suggestions from central Perth and Northbridge residents and workers concerned about local safety, homelessness and alcohol abuse.

Page 4: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott discussed asylum-seeker policy with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday but passed up the opportunity to raise his plan of “turning back the boats”.

Page 11: A Perth real estate agent has foiled Nigerian fraudsters trying to sell an Edgewater home without the owner knowing.

Page 13: There is growing evidence the nation's housing market has turned the corner, with WA leading the way.

Page 14: One of Australia's most respected business leaders has dismissed notions that Perth's economic future is unsustainable, saying the city has long withstood predictions of its demise.

Business: The WA government is under pressure to lift compulsory third-party car insurance premiums after the state-owned Insurance Commission posted a sharp increase in claims and losses on its underwriting business.

Landmark riverside restaurant Mosmans is back on the market, with owner Brent Pollard putting up for sale the venue he picked up from bankrupted restaurateur Warren Mead four years ago.

The extra breathing space given by the $US500 million extension of its debt restructuring has put construction of Fortescue Metals Group's Kings iron ore deposit back on the agenda.

Former Avoca Resources boss Rohan Williams is planning a new Goldfields float as chairman of Dacian Gold, which has lodged plans for a $20 million initial public offering.

The Department of Mines and Petroleum will wait until KCGM completes its internal investigation into a haul truck rollover in the Super Pit before determining whether to take any action.

The federal government has moved to close a loophole allowing cheaper foreign workers on Chevron's $43 billion Gorgon project, cheering the union movement but sparking fresh concerns about rising costs on Australia's major resource projects.

The fate of Norseman Gold remains unclear, nearly two weeks after the company's main operating subsidiary slipped into administration.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: Civil charges by Fair Work Australia against former union official and crucial independent MP Craig Thomson over the Health Services Scandal will place more pressure on the Gillard government's slim hold on power.

The Gillard government's productivity drive will include specific roles for the two labour regulators to improve the efficiency of individual workplaces, as part of the first changes to Labor's Fair Work Act.

Wesfarmers has called in Goldman Sachs and RBS to review the property strategy for Coles Group in a bid to tap institutional investment for its shopping centres and developments.

Page 3: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Macquarie and Westpac are offering to buy some of the 27 million carbon permit given to the biggest carbon emitters.

Page 4: Prime Minister Julia Gillard arrived in New Delhi last night saying that it was time to expand the spectacular growth between the countries to other aspects of the relationship.

The bureaucrat at the forefront of the federal government's drive to boost productivity has warned wages growth will falter in coming years as the easy money boost from the resources boom fades.

Page 6: Business groups have welcomed the federal government's limited changes to the nation's industrial laws.

Page 17: Shell, ConocoPhillips and other global energy majors show no sign of pulling back from hugely expensive exploration programs off the coast of Australia, demonstrating an optimism about future major development despite increasingly strident concerns about costs.

Ten Network's television advertising revenue slumped 26 per cent last month while its fast-tracked shows from the US failed to ignite viewer interest on the weekend.

Page 19: Fortescue Metals Group is considering reactivating its $1.1 billion Kings project just six weeks after shelving the facility, buoyed by a recovery in the iron ore price and its successful $US5 billion debt refinancing.

Federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has rejected calls from some large energy users for intervention to secure adequate gas supplies, saying that greater market transparency and trading opportunities would do the job.

Page 24: Commodity prices will be 30 per cent higher next year as China recovers, but unemployment is heading to 6 per cent and the Australian dollar will stay stubbornly high, according to Westpac chief economist Bill Evans.

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Craig Thomson faces a costly legal battle after Fair Work Australia launched legal action against the independent MP, claiming he spent Health Services Union funds on a dozen separate engagements with prostitutes, and seeking orders that he pay back potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to the union.

Two senior opposition frontbenchers will travel to Sri Lanka to discuss the Coalition’s controversial policy of returning asylum-seeker boats to Sri Lanka.

The fate of one of the key promises Labor made to form minority government — constitutional recognition of councils — has been offloaded to a committee.

Page 2: A union leader who ensured Julia Gillard’s success in ousting Kevin Rudd has slammed her former employer, Slater & Gordon, accusing the legal firm of unprofessional conduct over a fraud scandal.

Page 4: Julia Gillard flew into New Delhi last night for almost three days of top-level talks that could breathe life into Australia’s hopes of selling uranium to India and boost resources and services exports to one of the world’s fast-growing economies.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr will make a final pitch for a temporary seat at the UN Security Council this week, and is scheduled to address a reception hosted by Australia outside the UN General Assembly.

Page 6: Business groups have strongly criticised the Gillard government for delaying substantial changes to the federal workplace laws until next year, accusing Labor of risking investment certainty by not acting to stop unions ‘‘holding employers to ransom’’ on new projects.

Page 8: The honeymoon is over for the West Australian Labor Party nine months after the boost that followed its dumping of leader Eric Ripper in favour of Mark McGowan.

A peak electricians’ body has added its voice to criticism of the Barnett government’s handling of the federal schools building program, accusing it of failing to carry out due diligence on builders who later failed to pay their subcontractors.

Treasury's estimate that Australia’s carbon price will reach $29 in 2015 is ‘‘not implausible’’, according to the nation’s top climate change official.

Business: A national body of finance brokers claims risky low-documentation lending was ‘‘out of control’’ during the boom years, with the practice driven by aggressive lenders chasing easy profits.

The man in charge of Royal Dutch Shell’s $US1.2 billion ($1.17bn) in annual research and development spending says it is education, rather than technical innovation, that can end the global controversy around fracking.

The Australian Shareholders Association has refused to bow to pressure f rom Billabong and founder-director Gordon Merchant over plans to oust him from the board over his role in the company’s rejection of an $842 million takeover offer.

Mount Gibson Iron is again in dispute with Chinese customer Rizhao, after the steelmaker claimed the iron ore miner breached an agreement on the export of material from its Koolan Island project in Western Australia.

Iron ore prices have rebounded recently, helped last week by a burst of demand in China following the country’s Golden Week holiday, but analysts and traders doubt the upward momentum is sustainable given the deceleration in the nation’s economic growth.

The chief economist of the Australian government’s risk agency is warning that the export and investment bias in China’s economy makes it ‘‘prone to a correction that could turn into a hard landing’’

Warring Nine Entertainment lenders remained intransigent yesterday ahead of this morning’s crucial meeting, which could result in the appointment of receivers.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: The most senior officer at the death of a young Brazilian student said the use of tasers during his arrest was unnecessary. Felix Baumgartner makes history by completing the fastest and highest skydive in history. Corruption allegations against former politicians could run for five months.

Page 2: Prime Minister Julia Gillard canvasses for the end of "insider" attacks during a visit to Afghanistan. Former Labor MP Craig Thomson faces huge fines in Fair Work action.

Page 3: A public school teacher investigated by police for downloading child porn was allowed to keep his job. Danielle Spencer was the one who called time on her marriage to Russell Crowe.

World: The father of murdered US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens does not want his son's death politicised in the presidential campaign.

Business: Ikea plans a store expansion in the coming years while slashing prices.

Sport: A leading world authority on anti-doping says there was a culture of denial in Australian cycling.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: Civil charges laid against Labor MP Craig Thomson. Russell Crowe and his wife Danielle Spencer have been living apart for a year.

Page 2: The security firm that plunged the London Olympics into chaos is in line to guard Australia's offshore asylum centre.

Page 3: Hyde Park rioter tells a court he had not seen the anti-Islamic film that sparked the protests.

World: British prime minister will sign a deal with Scotland's first minister for a historic referendum on independence.

Business: The Reserve Bank's interest rate-cutting cycle is starting to pay dividends with the property market showing signs of life.

Sport: Steve Noyce's career at the Roosters is over.

THE AGE:

Page 1: Ambulance Victoria employees have been siphoning off a powerful and highly addictive liquid painkiller and replacing it with water to avoid detection. Looking more like an astronaut that a base jumper, Austrian Felix Baumgartner takes one giant leap for man as he plunges 39km to earth. Sydney University law professor Patrick Parkinson, who conducted an independent inquiry into how the Salesian order sent three sex offenders abroad, says he was misrepresented by the Catholic church in its submission to the Victorian parliament. Media magnate Rupert Murdoch tweets that scumbag celebrities met the British Prime Minister over phone hacking scandal.

Page 2: Refugees deemed threats to national security by the Australian Security Intelligence Agency will have the right to have the assessments reviewed. Local community near the site where Jill Meagher's body was discovered is divided over a permanent memorial for her.

Page 3: Victorian government crackdown on union-friendly deals is meaningless, say unions. Police uncover four marijuana green houses in one street in Melbourne's outer western suburb of Brookfield. After turning to social media to threaten to hijack and crash the plane because of a five-hour delay, an Australian muay thai boxing trainer was barred from his flight home from Singapore. Planning Minister Matthew Guy said it was cheeky of a Singapore-based developer to sell apartments for a planned 220 metre apartment tower that had not yet been approved. Desperate developers resorting to giveaways such as cars, furniture, landscaping and cash rebates of up to $20,000 to sell blocks of land.

World: The father of the US ambassador killed in Libya says his son's death should not be politicised in the presidential campaign.

Finance: Global furniture retailer Ikea to double its store network in Australia and slash prices to stay competitive.

Sport: Trainer Leon Corstens sticks by embattled jockey Damien Oliver, who has four rides in Wednesday's Caulfield Spring racing.

THE HERALD SUN:

Page 2: Julia Gillard demands a personal assurance from Afghan President Hamid Karzai that he is doing everything to stop anymore insider attacks against Australian troops. Gillard to start talks to sell uranium to India.

Page 3: Police investigate Ambulance Victoria over tampering of high end pain relief drugs. Firefighter Scott McGraw prepares for his run-up the Eureka Towers stairs.

World: Former king of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk dies in Beijing aged 89.

Business: Australian property sector showing signs of revival after the latest interest rate cut.

Sport: Leading trainer Leon Corstens backs embattled jockey Damien Oliver by keeping him on Commanding Jewel in Wednesday's Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield.

THE CANBERRA TIMES:

Page 1: Canberrans still have the longest median wait for elective surgery, even though the time has improved. ACT Liberals leader Zed Seselja defends the need for a potential tripling of household rates. A former ACTTAB executive admits in court to stealing more than $500,000 from his employer. Some Canberran apartment dwellers are set to benefit from new car lifts that allow two cars to fit in one space.

Page 2: The ACT local election gets nasty.

Page 3: Federal police appeal for a green-light on a controversial proposal allowing it to track internet use.

World: The Pakistani teenage activist shot in the head by the Taliban is about to be moved to a UK hospital.

Business: Nine Entertainment's future hangs in the balance, with key stakeholders set to meet on Tuesday.

Sport: The Brumbies get a leg-up ahead of the 2013 Super Rugby season, with plans to build a $15 million high performance centre and the University of Canberra signing on as sponsor for another year.

THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER:

Page 1: Liberal firebrand Cory Bernardi has reaffirmed his controversial comment linking gay marriage to bestiality, branding the political and media reaction as "hysteria".

Page 3: The tuna industry says it will "fight to the death" over plans to explore for oil next year in the middle of its fishery in the Great Australian Bight.

World: Skydiver jumps from space to land in the record books.

Business: China's importance to the Australian wine industry has continued with bottled wine exports setting the pace, and selling for a higher average price than French wine for the first time.

Sport: Liam Jurrah meets Port Adelaide Football Club in bid to revive career.