Today's Business Headlines

Investors 'misled by S&P rating'

Global ratings agency Standard & Poor’s faces a wave of potential litigation after being slammed for engaging in ‘‘misleading and deceptive conduct’’ by assigning its coveted AAA rating to complex and risky financial instruments that contributed to the global financial crisis. The Aus

Keep rates on hold, shadow RBA urges

An influential group of economists and monetary policy experts is urging the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep official interest rates on hold on Tuesday amid signs the Gillard government is backing away from its promise to deliver a surplus this year. The Fin

IMF backs widening GST as leaders reject Greiner call

The International Monetary Fund has backed shifting the burden from income taxes to the GST to lift economic growth, as a forthcoming OECD report shows Australia makes less use of consumption taxes than almost any other country in the developed world. The Aus

Buckeridge sues for $1b as port plan sinks

WA taxpayers face a $1 billion damages bill after a consortium led by Len Buckeridge walked away from an agreement to build a private port south of Fremantle. The West

Industry bid to skirt row on sheep cull

The live export industry yesterday launched a pre-emptive strike to counteract any public outrage and pressure to close the trade in the wake of last night’s airing of footage depicting the mass slaughter of Australian sheep in Pakistan. The Aus

 

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: WA taxpayers face a $1 billion damages bill after a consortium led by Len Buckeridge walked away from an agreement to build a private port south of Fremantle.

Page 4: The Reserve Bank is poised to leave on hold today after brighter economic data emerged from China and the US.

The High Court has agreed to hear a constitutional challenge to the mining tax from Fortescue Metals Group chief Andrew Forrest.

Page 5: Fewer than one fifth of West Australians who sued their local council over injuries suffered on ovals, playgrounds and public space have been successful, new figures show.

Page 7: WA punters could have as much as $100 million riding on the outcome of a series of local, national and international events today, with the Melbourne Cup shaping as one of the biggest betting outlays in recent history.

Page 11: The WA Bar Association will consider whether to take any action against Lloyd Rayney after the judge who cleared the barrister of an allegation he killed his estranged wife Corryn raised questions about his conduct.

Page 14: WA's business community has splashed out more than $3 million for front row seats at Perth Arena for at least the next two years.

Page 18: With unprecedented population growth and traffic congestion to double in the next 10 years, the need for a diverse public transport system in Perth has never been greater, according to experts.

Business: Michael Minosora's Atlantic has convinced Indonesian billionaire Anthoni Salim to release almost $US20 million from debt reserve accounts, providing much-needed cash as the company ramps up the Windimurra vanadium plant and tries to prove its many sceptics wrong.

The rain has come just at the wrong time for WA grain growers but it is still too early to tell what impact recent wet weather will have on this season's harvest.

The Southern Cross Constructions group's WA arm has joined its NSW sister business in administration.

Hanlong Mining has switched one of the two Chinese banks backing its takeover of Sundance Resources, bringing in China Everbright Partners to pad out its financial backing in place of regional lender Bank of Deyang.

Galaxy Resources managing director Iggy Tan has declared the company's latest multi million dollar capital raising its last major trip back to the market, with the company guaranteeing shareholders a cash-flow positive position by the first quarter of 2013.

Westpac expects to cut more jobs in the year ahead as it aims to simplify its business in the face of slowing economic growth and weak demand for loans.

The iron ore market is looking better now than a year ago despite the recent crash in spot prices, according to respected Macquarie Bank commodities analyst Jim Lennon.

Despite the volatility surrounding iron ore, Centaurus Metals chief executive Darren Gordon sees low cash costs and a manageable capital expenditure target as two of the two key factors pushing the company towards production at its flagship Brazilian project.

Shares in WA potash and base metals explorer South Boulder Mines fell more than a third yesterday after the company revealed the Eritrean government had increased its stake in the company's potash project by 10 per cent.

 

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: Ratings agencies across the globe could be forced to pay billions of dollars to investors who lost money during the credit crisis after the Federal Court ruled that Standard & Poor's rating of complex financial products was misleading.

Tim Chen has resurfaced as the new head of Telstra's international operations, exactly a month after the Beijing-based businessman quit the board of the telco in unusual circumstances.

Page 3: Free-to-air TV networks may have a resolution to the issue of licence fee rebates before the end of the year after being in limbo since June.

Page 4: An influential group of economists and monetary policy experts is urging the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep official interest rates on hold on Tuesday amid signs the Gillard government is backing away from its promise to deliver a surplus this year.

Retailers have backed a proposal to extend the goods and services tax to downloaded music, games, software and other intangible goods sold by foreign companies, boosting revenue by around $1 billion.

Page 5: Automotive rivals GM Holden and Ford Australia have combined on a deal aimed at keeping a strategic car parts manufacturer in operation.

Page 8: Federal government reforms and a crackdown by the corporate regulator have failed to stamp out inherent conflicts of interest within ratings agencies, experts warn.

Page 13: Westpac Banking Corp chief Gail Kelly has called on the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates to help lift flagging consumer confidence and resuscitate businesses struggling under the weight of a high Australian dollar.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has blocked a plan to allow trading of foreign-listed shares on the local exchange, citing concerns about investor protection and potential investor confusion.

Page 15: Qantas Airways has told the competition regulator the “formidable” alliance of Virgin Australia and its international airline partners would be the major beneficiary if a tie-up with Emirates is not approved.

Page 17: Telstra has ordered a review of its $2.6 billion defined benefit superannuation scheme after it recorded its fourth deficit in five years in 2011-12.

Page 20: Rio Tinto has secured a long-awaited deal with China for power to its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia.

Investors believe that AngloGold Ashanti has more logical options for creating shareholder value than spinning off its Australian assets.

 

THE AUSTRALIAN:

Page 1: Global ratings agency Standard & Poor’s faces a wave of potential litigation after being slammed for engaging in ‘‘misleading and deceptive conduct’’ by assigning its coveted AAA rating to complex and risky financial instruments that contributed to the global financial crisis.

TAFE training in ‘‘need to have’’ job areas of mining, construction and tourism will receive public funding while training for ‘‘nice to have’’ jobs such as fitness instruction will be slashed under a plan to reorganise Queensland’s vocational-education sector.

Page 2: Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has told parliament that economist Ross Garnaut is no longer welcome in the country, after 46 years’ involvement in PNG.

Page 4: The International Monetary Fund has backed shifting the burden from income taxes to the GST to lift economic growth, as a forthcoming OECD report shows Australia makes less use of consumption taxes than almost any other country in the developed world.

The Reserve Bank board will be armed with fresh evidence of the softening economy as it meets today to determine whether to cut interest rates for the second time in as many months.

Australians are spending up big on electronics and house and garden supplies, heralding a nationwide lift in retail spending.

A deal to reopen component manufacturer Autodom will be announced this morning, after a breakthrough in crisis talks last night averted a shut-down to the automobile industry.

Page 5: The live export industry yesterday launched a pre-emptive strike to counteract any public outrage and pressure to close the trade in the wake of last night’s airing of footage depicting the mass slaughter of Australian sheep in Pakistan.

Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig was urged by his department to ‘‘express shock’’ at images to be aired on national television of Australian cattle being tortured in an Indonesian abattoir.

Julia Gillard has called on Asian leaders to do more to boost domestic demand as fears over the global economy dominated the opening session of a regional summit in Laos aimed at securing more support for Europe’s efforts to fix its currency crisis.

Julia Gillard has rebuffed concerns over the government’s budget surplus by dismissing global risks to future tax revenue as ‘‘hypotheticals’’ that cannot be included in the official forecasts.

Page 6: One telephone call from Julia Gillard or law firm Slater & Gordon would have led to confirmation that a union slush fund she had helped set up was a mystery to its own branch and almost certainly fraudulent, says a former Australian Workers Union boss.

Page 7: Federal cabinet will be asked to help underwrite the construction of a billion-dollar gas pipeline to save Rio Tinto’s loss-making aluminium refinery in Arnhem Land and up to 1400 jobs.

A Qantas engineering union has called on the airline’s head of government and corporate affairs to quit after it was revealed she is stepping out with Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes.

Business: The Commonwealth Bank is the latest institution to be implicated in allegedly misleading and deceptive sales of complex financial instruments that were at the centre of the global financial crisis, with a council and self-managed super fund suing the CBA for up to $140 million.

Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly has urged the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates today to help lift poor consumer sentiment and revive the Australian economy.

A body representing 10 regional high-risk mortgage funds — and which formerly oversaw the now failed $650 million Banksia Securities — says the corporate regulator is probing the funds.

The big Australian banks have hit fresh record profits, but questions are emerging over future profit growth given the economic volatility and subdued credit growth.

Bank of Scotland International is on the verge of offloading the final tranche of its ‘‘bad bank’’ loan book as it reviews its exposure in Australia.

Investors fled junior Northern Iron yesterday as it was left on the shelf after rival takeover bidders walked away from the table.

The media sector has become a predator’s ball with a raft of investors buying into underperforming companies in anticipation of a recovery in the advertising market.

Shares in Leighton Properties-controlled Devine have slumped 6.9 per cent after the residential developer issued a profit warning on the back of increasingly weak conditions in the Victorian property market.

 

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

Page 1: Australia's top jockey Damien Oliver has admitted to racing authorities that he bet on a rival horse in a 2010 race and expects to be charged soon.

Page 2: The Reserve Bank is expected to leave rates on hold, making this the first Melbourne Cup day in six years it will have done so.

Page 3: The federal government faces a fresh threat to its plan to return the budget to surplus after the High Court agreed on Monday to hear a challenge to the mining tax by the minerals boss Andrew Forrest.

World: Counties in 31 states are accepting tens of thousands of electronic absentee ballots from US soldiers and overseas civilians, despite experts having warned for years that internet voting is easy prey for hackers.

Business: Westpac chief Gail Kelly declared she is prepared to draw a line in the sand over the bank's profitability, declaring the lender will be prepared to forgo lower returning business for areas of faster growth.

Sport: The racing industry is set to be hit this week by a multimillion-dollar superannuation claim from jockeys that could stretch back as far as 20 years.

 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Page 1: Americain will aim to become just the third eight-year-old to win the Melbourne Cup on the day America heads to the presidential polls.

Page 2: Melbourne Cup A-Z.

Page 3: To his family he was a joker, but to police gunshot victim Faalau Pisu was an active member of the Comanchero bikie gang.

World: A two-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of ravenous African wild dogs after he fell off a railing his mother had put him on to view the animals at a zoo in the US.

Business: The Reserve Bank should cut interest rates again today to ensure there is economic life after the mining investment boom, according to a panel of economists.

Sport: Dunaden, Americain, Mount Athos and Red Cadeaux are the favourites for the Melbourne Cup.

 

THE AGE:

Page 1: The High Court will hear a landmark challenge from Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals to the controversial mining tax. Barack Obama puts his case in last ditch effort to win over votes as a divided America goes to the polls. The Victorian government's commitment to developing the Port of Hastings appears to be wavering.

Page 2: Live animal exporters move to assure government MPs the trade is ethical and economically important after Four Corners screens heartless culling of 20,000 Australian sheep in Pakistan. Hunger strikers protesting against hell-hole conditions on Nauru.

Page 3: Authorities have information of misconduct but leading jockeys Damien Oliver and Jim Cassidy are free to ride in the Melbourne Cup. No other horse race matches the Melbourne Cup, says leading trainer Luca Cumani. It's not just the girls dressing up, the blokes are going all out too. Australians shelling out $500 million in bets for the Cup and the record $100 million Oz Lotto draw.

World: Internet voting from US soldiers and Americans overseas is open to hacking, experts warn.

Business: Westpac chief Gail Kelly ready to dump lower returning business for areas of faster growth after a five per cent lift in full-year cash profit to $6.6 billion.

Sport: Craig Williams says he'd put Dunaden ahead of three-time winner Makybe Diva if the French raider can carry his hefty weight to back-to-back Melbourne Cups.

 

THE HERALD SUN:

Page 1: Delta Goodrem backs Americain to win the Melbourne Cup.

Page 2: Will it be lucky 13 for Cups king Bart Cummings?

Page 3: Aussies expected to bet more than $250 million on the Cup. Julia Gillard turns to US presidential race to tip Americain.

World: Thousands who lost their homes in Hurricane Sandy now face a big freeze without shelter.

Business: Westpac may cut jobs as loan demands falter.

Sport: Punters are putting their hard earned on the Luca Cumani-trained Mount Athos.

THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER:

Page 1: Delta Goodrem and Melbourne Cup favourite Americain are champing at the bit ahead of today's big race.

Page 3: South Australian opposition leader Isobel Redmond is expected to deliver her long-awaited frontbench reshuffle today but deny her new deputy Steven Marshall the prized treasury role.c

World: Tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed or damaged by superstorm Sandy are facing a new crisis in New York as temperatures plunge.

Business: Business and households are in a strong position to invest when they start to believe the economy is on the way up, BankSA managing director Jane Kittel says.

Sport: Punters are turning their allegiances from the French to an Italian, plunging the Luca Cumani-trained Mount Athos towards favouritism for today's Melbourne Cup.