Today's Business Headlines

We've engaged Asia: business

Business has spearheaded stronger economic ties with Asia at the same time that Canberra’s spending on its main trade and diplomatic agencies has plunged as a share of the federal budget, adding to pressure on the Gillard government to match its rhetoric about the Asian Century with action. The Aus

Energy target 'magnifies risk'

The federal government's key energy adviser has flagged a threat to secure energy supply to consumers because of heightened financial risk in the wholesale electricity market and price volatility caused by the renewable energy target. The Fin

Wright pushes Rhodes timeline

Wright Prospecting is pushing to get its hands on Gina Rinehart's 25 per cent share of the Rhodes Ridge iron ore project within weeks as it eyes a mining deal for one of the Pilbara's best undeveloped deposits. The West

RBA spurns race to bottom

Australia should not aspire to the very low interest rates set by central banks in the US, Japan and Europe, Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Philip Lowe said last night, in one of the clearest signals that official rates in Australia are unlikely to be cut much further. The Fin

ACCC to probe Virgin's Tiger bid

Virgin Australia’s move to seize a majority stake in Tiger Airways and take over regional operator Skywest faces close scrutiny by the competition regulator, amid concerns the aviation industry will return to a duopoly. The Aus

 

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 3: Businesswoman Angela Bennett has scored a billion-dollar legal win over iron ore heiress Gina Rinehart in a battle for one of the Pilbara's richest iron ore deposits.

Retailers are reaping the benefits of a boom in all things Halloween, with pumpkins, lollies and witches outfits flying off shop shelves.

Page 10: The proposed Kimberley gas hub cleared another hurdle yesterday when Environment Minister Bill Marmion added more conditions but allowed it to proceed to the final state government approval stage.

Page 11: Regional development Minister Brendon Grylls said yesterday the goal of building the best possible artificial reef prompted the decision to award $1.8 million of Royalties for Regions money to a South Korean-backed company.

Page 12: A doctor pocketed tens of thousands of dollars from a program that awarded them $200 for every patient they admitted to hospital at Peel Health Campus, a parliamentary committee was told yesterday.

Page 13: At least two Liberal MPs have promised to cross the floor to vote against the Gillard government's radical plan to remove rights from asylum-seekers who sail to the Australian mainland.

Page 14: Virgin Australia plans to significantly increase the size of Perth-based Skywest Airlines after launching a takeover bid yesterday as part of its wider expansion plans to take on Qantas.

Page 17: Perth is a city in transition as people from other parts of the world and Australia swarm in to take part in the mining boom.

Page 18: Wharfies caused traffic chaos with a mock funeral outside the Fremantle office of shipping giant Maersk yesterday as part of a national protest against nine waterfront deaths in five years.

Business: Wright Prospecting is pushing to get its hands on Gina Rinehart's 25 per cent share of the Rhodes Ridge iron ore project within weeks as it eyes a mining deal for one of the Pilbara's best undeveloped deposits.

The end may be in sight for long suffering shareholders of Neptune Marine Services after a Singaporean shareholder made a takeover bid valuing the company at about $58 million.

Mining contractors and suppliers are set to come under even more pressure after BHP Billiton iron ore and coal boss Marcus Randolph hinted at intensified efforts to bring down the miner's Pilbara costs by squeezing the margins of its major suppliers.

James Packer avoided the embarrassment of a second strike against Crown's executive pay after shareholders overwhelmingly endorsed the casino operator's remuneration report at an annual meeting in Perth.

Homeowners are using rate cuts to pay off their mortgage faster rather than spend the money, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev says.

Rebel Empire Oil & Gas shareholders have fallen well short in their bid to unseat the company's board, attracting only 31 per cent of the vote at an extraordinary meeting yesterday.
Former fertiliser tycoon Pankaj Oswal was not in contempt of court when he leaked a report showing receivers of his Burrup Fertilisers empire splurged $100,000 on as many as 70 iPads and a corporate football box.

Noble Mineral Resources has postponed today's shareholder meeting at which investors were to vote on a deal that could have seen a Chinese group take control of the embattled Ghana-focused gold producer.

Changes to WA's beleaguered Building Act passed in Parliament last week ended a damaging chapter for the building industry after legislation designed to cut red tape resulted in a major slowdown in building approvals.

 

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission plans to overhaul the regulation of the $4.5 billion debenture industry following the collapse of Banksia Securities and Providence Capital.

Virgin Australia's plans to buy low-cost Tiger Australia and regional airline Skywest and return the domestic aviation market to a duopoly may struggle for approval from the competition regulator.

The main construction union used a clause in funding arrangements for a drug and alcohol charity to raise up to $1 million for union activities.

Page 3: The federal government's key energy adviser has flagged a threat to secure energy supply to consumers because of heightened financial risk in the wholesale electricity market and price volatility caused by the renewable energy target.

The tooth and nail scrap between Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting and rival dynasty Wright Prospecting escalated yesterday after Mrs Rinehart failed in a bid to retrieve a stake in the Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit.

Page 4: More women are becoming chief executives, but the pace of change is slow, census data shows.

Page 5: Australia should not aspire to the very low interest rates set by central banks in the US, Japan and Europe, Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Philip Lowe said last night, in one of the clearest signals that official rates in Australia are unlikely to be cut much further.

The West Australian government has rejected a plea by Fortescue Metals Group to defer the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in mining royalties.

Page 6: The Coalition accused the government on Tuesday of softening its long-held and oft-repeated commitment to a budget surplus this financial year in a parliamentary debate over the budget.

Page 11: The federal government will announce a $37 million scholarship scheme today to help tertiary students study in Asia, as Labor fends of criticism over a lack of detail and funding in its Asian Century white paper.

Page 17: Mining magnate Nathan Tinkler has blasted the board of Whitehaven Coal for poor performance, and revealed he will vote against all resolutions at its annual meeting tomorrow.

Page 19: BHP Billiton has cancelled plans for a $US460 million expansion of its Peak Downs coking coal mine in Queensland because it was concerned the new production could further depress prices.

Woodside Petroleum is being forced to involve traditional owners more in the environmental management of its $40 billion Browse liquefied natural gas project, requiring extra training for scientific monitoring of the impact on land and sea.

Page 20: China's Mejin Energy Group has walked away from a third proposed takeover of an Australian mining company, eroding its credibility for sealing acquisitions.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief executive Ian Narev has backed the government's push to forge closer ties with Asia, saying it will assist the bank's expansion into the region.

Bunnings managing director John Gillam is confident Australia's largest hardware retailer can grow its leading share of the $42 billion home improvement market, despite the arrival of new big-box player Masters.

 

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Business has spearheaded stronger economic ties with Asia at the same time that Canberra’s spending on its main trade and diplomatic agencies has plunged as a share of the federal budget, adding to pressure on the Gillard government to match its rhetoric about the Asian Century with action.

Labor's chief whip and former cabinet minister Joel Fitzgibbon has called on the Gillard government to ‘‘forget the ideology’’ of the renewable energy target and cut its fixed target to give households relief from rising electricity prices.

Almost half of all mothers in two-parent families are back at work before their youngest child turns one, completing a social revolution than has seen the dividing line between home and career disappear in less than a generation.

Page 2: For a second day, Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan have refused to directly guarantee a budget surplus in 2012-13, with the Treasurer saying demands he stand by his pledge to deliver a surplus ‘‘come hell or high water’’ amounted to a ‘‘hypothetical scenario’’.

Page 3: Virgin Australia’s move to seize a majority stake in Tiger Airways and take over regional operator Skywest faces close scrutiny by the competition regulator, amid concerns the aviation industry will return to a duopoly.

Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, has failed in a legal bid to stop a rival mining dynasty from seizing her multibillion-dollar stake in the Pilbara’s biggest undeveloped iron ore deposit.

Page 4: The nation’s labour force has risen by more than a million workers over five years but the number of unemployed has increased markedly in some states, reflecting the patchwork economy.

Page 6: Australia's historic push into Asia is being undermined by a chronic funding squeeze, which has halved the share of federal spending on key diplomatic and trade agencies this century.

Page 7: A childcare provider’s blueprint for reform calls for 457 visas for overseas workers, a single childcare payment with a generous means test, and increased assistance for bigger families.

Business: Virgin Australia boss John Borghetti has warned rival Qantas that the multi-million dollar deals set to shake up the local industry are part of a five-year plan that will produce further shocks for its bigger competitor.

James Packer today will urge Australian business leaders, politicians and bureaucrats to ‘‘stop treating China like it is the cold war’’, suggesting it should be made ‘‘almost compulsory’’ for all senior executives and bureaucrats to visit the world’s largest economy to help build better corporate and political ties.

Flight Centre is reverting to a bricks-and-mortar model of travel agents in the US and Britain through hyperstores with up to 60 staff members in an effort to drive growth.

Optus has ditched a distribution agreement with its largest third-party dealer TeleChoice in a retail strategy shake-up that will lead the country’s second-biggest telco to roll out 33 new company-owned stores.

Nathan Tinkler has stepped up his fight against Whitehaven Coal, confirming he will vote against all the miner’s resolutions at its annual meeting tomorrow, as he warns shareholders the company may fail to deliver a profit this year.

Leighton Holdings has reconfirmed its earnings guidance for the full financial year, announcing a net profit of $317 million for the nine months to the end of September.

 

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: Consumers will be able to cut their electricity bills by agreeing to companies remotely switching off their appliances during spikes in demand, under a federal government proposal.

Page 2: A Jetstar pilot and crew were held hostage for more than six hours by a mob of angry passengers in China after their flight was diverted because of bad weather.

Page 3: Authorities would be allowed to use teenagers to conduct sting operations on retailers under a change to liquor laws being pushed by a leading research body.

World: New York has been left paralysed by superstorm Sandy.

Business: The competition regulator says it will closely assess Virgin Australia's move to take a controlling stake in Tiger Australia.

Sport: Channel Nine is salivating at the prospect of screening day-night tests, and will push for the floodlit fixtures to be part of the next media rights deal.

 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1-7: The death toll on the US east coast from superstorm Sandy stood at 16 last night.

Page 9: Staff from NBN Co have spent almost as much on taxis and trains as the government-owned company has made from new customers.

Page 11: An Aussie model was tasered by police after trying to climb into Tom Cruise's LA home in a drunken escapade.

World: The nanny accused of stabbing to death two children under her care has woken from her coma and asked about the welfare of her own family.

Business: James Packer will continue his fight for Asian high-rollers today by railing against the hurdles Chinese tourists have to jump over to get into Australia in the first place.

Sport: The NRL is facing a showdown with angry players tomorrow in their demand for a bigger share of the $1 billion television deal.

 

THE AGE:

Page 1: Apartment building in Manhattan's financial district is now part of the East River as Superstorm Sandy wreaks havoc in New York. AFL learns of a secret meeting at AFL club Melbourne in 2009 where coaches were told of the importance of forfeiting matches in favour of early draft picks. Victorians being declared bankrupt for non-existent debts without them even knowing they have been taken to court. State government cuts will deprive 38,000 students of subsidised transport to school.

Page 2: Prime Minister Julia Gillard stonewalls parliament about her role in helping set up a union slush fund her former boyfriend used to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from.

Page 3: The board of collapsed Mowbray College may face legal action after reports the school may have traded while insolvent for years. Monet's Garden exhibition will light up Melbourne's winter next year at the National Gallery of Victoria. And Choice magazine's Shonky Awards go to, among others, Ticketek and Ticketmaster, Cabcharge and Jetset Travelworld. Jetstar crew held hostage by angry passengers in Shanghai. Melbourne Victory sue promoter for unpaid fees in its friendly against Greek side Olympiakos.

World: Hurricane Sandy leaves New York paralysed and darkened in its wake.

Finance: The competition watchdog is keeping a close eye on Virgin Australia's planned buy-out of Tiger Australia because it will remove a third force from the domestic aviation industry.

Sport: Nine Network to push for day-night Test matches at the next media rights deal.

 

THE CANBERRA TIMES:

Page 1: Hurricane Sandy leaves New York paralysed. The pediatric registrar at Canberra Hospital quit clinical medicine after the 2009 death of baby Elijah Slavkovic.

Page 2: A Jetstar pilot and crew were held hostage for more than six hours by a mob of angry passengers after their flight was diverted from Beijing to Shanghai because of bad weather.

Page 3: A teenager accused of animal cruelty has an IQ of 133.

World: US hurricane puts end to presidential campaigning. (Washington)

Business: The Australian market closed slightly higher on a quiet day of trading as Wall Street shut down because of superstorm Sandy.

Sport: Canberra Capitals star Lauren Jackson will be limited to the bench for another week because of a hamstring injury. (Basketball)

THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER:

Page 1: Fine dodgers will lose their homes and be "named and shamed," as tough new measures are used to recover a record $254 million in unpaid fines.

Page 3: More than 100 patients a week are having faulty hip and breast implants removed because the federal government has subcontracted the approval of medical devices to a group of shady companies from the back streets of Turkey and Eastern Europe.

World: Superstorm Sandy has sidelined the US election campaign.

Business: Embattled soda ash producer Penrice Soda Holdings has scored an embarrassing Australian first - shareholders have voted for a board spill after registering a "second strike" against the company's executive remuneration.

Sport: Greater Western Sydney is seeking another meeting with Kurt Tippett to find out whether it can fit him into the club's salary cap and entice him to join.