Today's Business Headlines

Boost lagging productivity

Leading company chairmen have called for the election campaign to start focusing on Australia's lagging productivity, pinpointing Labor's Fair Work Act, red tape and federal-state wrangling as impediments to sustaining living standards. The Fin

Swan breaks mining tax promise

Wayne Swan has reneged on his parliamentary pledge to provide monthly forecasts of mining tax revenues, citing Australian Taxation Office restrictions on ‘‘taxpayer confidentiality’’ for previous payments. The Aus

Treasury warns of risk to surplus

Under-Treasurer Tim Marney has issued both sides of politics a stern warning that they must budget for and deliver bigger surpluses over the next four years to provide a buffer against volatile iron ore revenues and the Barnett government's infrastructure-focused debt binge. The West

Barnett pitches to Africa

Premier Colin Barnett has placed expanding ties with Africa at the centrepiece of an ambitious international relations push should he be returned to power at next month's state election. The West

Boom requires more engineers

The head of listed engineering firm Clough has called on the federal government to provide tax breaks to resources companies that invest in high-end local skills, warning that Australia is facing a critical shortage of engineers needed to sustain the boom. The Aus

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

Page 1: Australia's major sporting codes have been rocked by allegations of widespread use of performance enhancing drugs, links to organised crime and match fixing.

Page 3: WA motorists will soon be able to stop and refuel on the Kwinana Freeway with plans for two freeway service stations in Baldivis set to be approved by a joint panel today.

Page 4: WA sport supremo Ron Alexander has summoned leaders of WA's major sporting codes to meet on Monday to discuss yesterday's explosive Australian Crime Commission revelations on drug use.

Page 11: Under-Treasurer Tim Marney has issued both sides of politics a stern warning that they must budget for and deliver bigger surpluses over the next four years to provide a buffer against volatile iron ore revenues and the Barnett government's infrastructure-focused debt binge.

Page 14: People could be offered thousands of dollars in tax breaks and cash incentives to move under a coalition plan to develop northern Australia.

Page 16: East Fremantle Football Club says it will be forced to leave its home of 60 years unless plans to redevelop East Fremantle Oval get the green light.

Business: Premier Colin Barnett has placed expanding ties with Africa at the centrepiece of an ambitious international relations push should he be returned to power at next month's state election.

Clough chief executive Kevin Gallagher gave a wide berth to he debate surrounding floating LNG projects in Australian waters, indicating whichever way the technology went LNG contractors will have to adapt to meet it.

One of the handful of biotechs competing for attention in WA's resource heavy investment market is bulking up with a promising treatment for one of the world's deadliest cancers.

PMI Gold's merger with Canada's Keegan Resources is facing stiff opposition from some of its major shareholders, with the deal at risk of being voted down at a shareholder meeting on February 20.

Mines Minister Norman Moore has taken a swipe at the WA Nationals, calling the party's newly announced policy to pay for industry training as an unnecessary impost on an already stretched industry.

A three-judge panel at the Federal Court has rejected an appeal by Indian businessman Pankaj Oswal after he was denied full access to books and other records at Burrup Fertilisers.

Surging growth in mobile customer numbers in the December half has kept Telstra on tack for a full-year profit approaching $4 billion.

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW

Page 1: Leading company chairmen have called for the election campaign to start focusing on Australia's lagging productivity, pinpointing Labor's Fair Work Act, red tape and federal-state wrangling as impediments to sustaining living standards.

Telstra remains confident the rollout of the national broadband network is on track, giving the telecommunications giant more scope to increase its fully franked 28c dividend.

The Gillard government isn't ruling out increasing taxes on superannuation beyond its promise not to tax withdrawals by those aged over 60.

Page 3: Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has unleashed a tirade against Vodafone Hutchison Australia, accusing its chief executive of acting like Sol Trujillo, the divisive former Telstra boss.

Falling demand and rising gas and coal prices have changed the economics of new power plants, with wind energy becoming cheaper than building fossil fuel power stations.

Page 6: The West Australian budget is headed for a forecast $1.79 billion surplus in three years, fuelled by a sharp rebound in royalties from iron ore and other minerals, but debt is still predicted to rise more than $5 billion due to capital works spending.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has come under renewed opposition pressure over his 2011 forecast that employers would generate 500,000 jobs by mid-2013, after the release of sluggish labour force data.

Page 8: Australia's top sporting codes have been rocked by a 12-month investigation into organised crime and drugs in sport, which found use of prohibited substances including peptides hormones and illicit drugs was widespread among professional players.

Page 11: Tax incentives and fast-tracked citizenship for skilled migrants prepared to settle in remote areas are being considered under a Coalition policy to develop northern Australia, but more contentious ideas such as low-tax economic enclaves and shifting entire government departments have been dismissed out of hand.

Page 15: Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation said its underperforming Australian newspaper division was a key factor behind a downgrade in earnings guidance, setting the tone for what is expected to be a tough reporting season for traditional media companies.

Page 17: National Australia Bank will remain under pressure from investors to cut costs and offload its troublesome United Kingdom business, despite posting an increase in quarterly profits thanks to stronger revenues and a decline in bad debts.

THE AUSTRALIAN

Page 1: Drug-cheating athletes have been warned they will face automatic bans of four years — double the current penalty — if they fail to turn themselves in by the end of the year to authorities conducting an Australia-wide purge of the major sporting codes.

Business leaders have demanded the government stop tinkering with the superannuation regime and warned that constant electioneering is undermining business confidence and consumer sentiment.

Wayne Swan has reneged on his parliamentary pledge to provide monthly forecasts of mining tax revenues, citing Australian Taxation Office restrictions on ‘‘taxpayer confidentiality’’ for previous payments.

Page 2: Prominent union leader Tony Sheldon has warned of fresh industrial action across the aviation sector in coming months as his union pursues new claims on behalf of 5000 workers supplying ground, freight and catering services to airlines.

Labor would have to target the richest 5 per cent of workers in order to extract substantial revenue from tax hikes on superannuation, experts said last night as the government vowed to focus on ‘‘fairness and equity’’ in the system.

Business is generating enough new jobs to keep the unemployment rate steady, despite pressure on competitiveness from the high Australian dollar and weak retail spending.

Page 4: Millions of dollars in revenue for Australia’s major sporting codes are at risk as sponsors seek reassurances from sports’ governing bodies about allegations of widespread use of performanceenhancing drugs and links to organised crime.

Page 6: The Coalition has won a six-week advantage in gaining access to the nation’s top public service mandarins to test its election policies and the government’s programs, but Tony Abbott is pressing the most senior public servant for immediate consultations.

Federal opposition plans to populate, invest in and develop northern Australia if elected on September 14 have been welcomed by farmers and businesses operating in remote northern communities.

Page 8: A rebound in the iron ore price is predicted to boost West Australian government coffers by more than $2 billion by 2016 and spare the state from a projected deficit next year.

Business: Skyrocketing demand for Apple’s popular iPhone 5 has helped Telstra hit the one million handset milestone on its superfast 4G network and deliver an 8.8 per cent rise in first-half profit to $1.6 billion.

News Corporation will have to negotiate a difficult Australian advertising market as it engineers the historic split of the company between its TV and movie business and its traditional newspaper and publishing assets.

Investors are bracing themselves for the country’s largest residential developer Stockland to write down the value of its stock when it reports earnings next week.

National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne looks set to act on costs as a fall in bad debts from its troubled British operations and improved margins put the bank on track to post a record $6 billion profit against a subdued economic environment in an election year.

The head of listed engineering firm Clough has called on the federal government to provide tax breaks to resources companies that invest in high-end local skills, warning that Australia is facing a critical shortage of engineers needed to sustain the boom.

A mining company says it will plead guilty to damaging an Aboriginal sacred site in the Northern Territory, but plans to contest two charges of desecrating it.

Supermarket giant Coles has turned to social media to counter ongoing public criticism that its $1 a litre milk is forcing dairy farmers out of business.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Page 1: Organised crime is behind a performance enhancing drug scandal across multiple codes of Australian sport. Former resources minister Ian Macdonald was to pocket more than $4 million in deals between friends and his departments, evidence at ICAC reveals.

Page 2: A sports scientist implicated in the Essendon doping investigation is the owner of a rejuvenation clinic that sells peptides online.

Page 3: Former supporter of Julian Assange, Jemima Khan, says she has been alienated from the Australian after producing a film he considers to be anti-WikiLeaks.

World: US President Barack Obama will reveal legal justification to Congress for drone air strikes that could kill US citizens who are conspiring with al-Qaeda in other countries.

Business: Telstra has increased its customers by 600,000 in the first half of the financial year, setting themselves up for a $3.6 billion full-year profit.

Sport: The Australian Crime Commission report into corruption in sport points fingers at leaders of each game and suggests organised crime, match fixing and drugs not approved for human use.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Page 1: Australian sport is in crisis amid claims of widespread drug use.

Page 2: The NRL and AFL are among sporting codes in crisis after an Australian Crime Commission investigation revealed sports scientists and coaches are involved in doping players with performance-enhancing drugs.

Page 3: Athletes who are guilty of doping should turn themselves in and dob in their teammates, says Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare.

World: Bulgarian investigators believe an Australian bus bomb suspect is living in Lebanon.

Business: Virgin Australia's multimillion-dollar plan to take over Tiger Airways may be in jeopardy after regulators expressed concerns the move would return passengers to the days of airline duopoly.

Sport: Australian sport stars are being blackmailed into match fixing after being supplied drugs by criminals.

THE HERALD SUN

Page 1 and 2: The AFL and all other major sporting codes have been plunged into crisis after Australian sports blackest day.

Page 3: The real devil of the drugs in sport allegations is in the detail. And, as in most hellish scenarios, fortune or fame is the root cause. The Australian Crime Commission has exposed a sinister sporting world.

World: Jemima Khan is the first of Julian Assange's supporters to publicly criticise his behaviour, claiming he believed he was above the law.

Business: The chasm between Telstra's good and bad businesses is growing as consumers flock to its mobile division but the directories arm withers, industry experts say.

Sport: The AFL has declared war on drug-takers and pushers as part of an unprecedented crackdown on criminals infiltrating the sport.

THE AGE

Page 1: Australian sport has been rocked by revelations that organised crime is behind the increasing use of banned performance-enhancing drugs by multiple athletes across top sporting codes and possible attempts to fix matches. Law enforcement agencies investigating claims of match fixing are concentrating on a massive international betting plunge on one A-League soccer game. A supplier of nutritional supplements to the Fremantle Football Club has been prosecuted and fined $3.1 million for unlawfully importing unregistered substances.

Page 2: The state government has been accused of tinkering around the edges after announcing a ban on smoking at children's playgrounds but failing to introduce bans in outdoor dining areas. Personal tax rebates of up to $10,000 to lure workers to northern Australia remain under consideration by the coalition as Tony Abbott distanced himself from other controversial proposals in a leaked discussion paper sent to state premiers. West of the city, a new exhibition at Footscray's Trocadero Art Space explores the politicisation, and some would say demonising, of poor old Pantone 448C, the khaki green colour appropriated by the unmarked cigarette packets.

Page 3: Health institute will suspend assessments of people in court and close 16 hospital beds for the criminally insane as it grapples with budget cuts. Victoria's unemployment rate has jumped to the highest level since the global financial crisis, with the loss of 30,000 jobs from the state economy in January. Yarra City Council has tried to rush through heritage protection for a forgotten segment of Victoria Street, Abbotsford, after a developer applied for a demolition order to make way for two apartment towers. Money is tight in Victoria for TAFEs, teachers and hospitals, but the state government has found millions of dollars to upgrade a level crossing in the safe Liberal seat of Brighton.

World: In an abrupt U-turn, President Barack Obama will hand over to Congress classified documents outlining the legal justification for drone strikes that kill United States citizens abroad who conspire with al-Qaeda.

Business: Telstra has defied weak industry-wide mobile phone growth by adding more than 600,000 mobile customers, positioning the nation's dominant telco for a full-year profit of more than $3.6 billion, its biggest in three years.

Sport: AFL clubs will have their staff audited, sports science staff registered and be instructed to undertake mandatory reporting of any doping issue in an attempt to stamp out widespread illegal drug use across the league.

THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER

Page 1: The Police Complaints Authority has launched an investigation into the prosecution of controversial former Liberal senator Mary Jo Fisher.

Page 3: Health fund premiums are set to rise by around $150 a year for families on April 1, while some health fund members face premium rises of up to $1875 as government budget cuts affect their subsidies.

World: Bruce Willis says he's against any new gun control laws that could infringe on Second Amendment rights.

Business: Telstra is confident of achieving its full-year growth targets after more than 600,000 new mobile customers signed on in the first half.

Sport: The AFL has declared war on drug takers and pushers as part of an unprecedented crackdown on criminals infiltrating the sport.