Today's Headlines

Medicare rise to fund disability

The federal government has settled on a $3.2 billion, 0.5 percentage point increase to the Medicare levy to help fund its National Disability Insurance Scheme and is expected to make an announcement on Wednesday. The Fin

Barnett likely to acquire gas land

The Barnett government appears set to continue acquiring land at James Price Point, north of Broome, despite Woodside's determined pursuit of a floating LNG solution for its Browse natural gas development. The West

Cousins floats new threat to Woodside

Prominent businessman turned environmental activist Geoffrey Cousins has re-emerged as a potential roadblock for Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the multi-billion-dollar Browse liquefied natural gas project off northern Western Australia.The Aus

Delays, cancellations slow office demand

Delays and cancellations at resources projects have lowered demand for office space in Perth's CBD, with short-term project space that was quick to lease last year among the hardest hit. The West

Garage start-up hits 10 figures

Michael Malone moved a step closer to cementing his status as WA's greatest nerd yesterday when his internet service group iiNet cut through the $1 billion market capitalisation barrier. The West

 

Top Resources Headlines

Woodside does FLNG deal

Woodside Petroleum is set to become the world's biggest operator of floating LNG after agreeing to terms with Royal Dutch Shell to use the Anglo-Dutch giant's technology for the Browse project.The West

Rio to push gem sales in India, China

Rio Tinto diamonds and minerals chief executive Alan Davies describes the pink diamonds from the Argyle mine in Western Australia's Kimberley region, which can sell for more than $US1 million a carat, as “the most expensive atom in the industrial world”. The Fin

Cousins floats new threat to Woodside

Prominent businessman turned environmental activist Geoffrey Cousins has re-emerged as a potential roadblock for Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the multi-billion-dollar Browse liquefied natural gas project off northern Western Australia.The Aus

Focus shuts Laverton operation

Focus Minerals' Chinese masters have wasted little time responding to the worsening gold price environment, shutting its Laverton mining operation acquired just two years ago in the $60 million takeover of Crescent Gold. The West

 

Top Politics Headlines

Medicare rise to fund disability

The federal government has settled on a $3.2 billion, 0.5 percentage point increase to the Medicare levy to help fund its National Disability Insurance Scheme and is expected to make an announcement on Wednesday. The Fin

Barnett likely to acquire gas land

The Barnett government appears set to continue acquiring land at James Price Point, north of Broome, despite Woodside's determined pursuit of a floating LNG solution for its Browse natural gas development. The West

Stronger, smarter, fairer: government prepares election ad blitz

The Gillard government will launch a taxpayer-funded advertising blitz to promote its signature social and economic policies ahead of the September 14 election, which it plans to fight on the theme of a ‘‘stronger, smarter, fairer’’ future. The Aus

Row brews over true cost of farming loans

Serious doubts have emerged over the federal government's farm finance assistance package, with questions about how much value will flow to farmers. The West

 

Top Property Headlines

Mortgage swindler goes to jail

A former high-flying mortgage broker who swindled friends, fellow churchgoers and clients out of more than $4 million for an imaginary retirement village dubbed “Mormonville” was jailed for five years yesterday. The West

Delays, cancellations slow office demand

Delays and cancellations at resources projects have lowered demand for office space in Perth's CBD, with short-term project space that was quick to lease last year among the hardest hit. The West

Westfield shrugs off Brazil split

Westfield Group will press ahead with its expansion plans into Brazil, even though it announced yesterday that it had parted company with its local partner, the Almeida Junior Family. The Aus

GPT ups the ante in $3bn Australand bid

The country’s oldest property trust, GPT Group, has indicated it may sweeten its $2.94 billion bid for Australand’s industrial and office property business as it yesterday reaffirmed earnings growth of at least 5 per cent this year, defying weak conditions. The Aus

 

The West Australian

Page 1: The Barnett government appears set to continue acquiring land at James Price Point, north of Broome, despite Woodside's determined pursuit of a floating LNG solution for its Browse natural gas development.

Page 5: Only half of all motorcyclists detected speeding receive traffic infringements despite the introduction of dual-lens cameras meant to reduce the chance of riders escaping the camera's view.

Page 6: WA workers would be hit with a new tax to pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme from July 1 next year but the state would not receive any benefit until Colin Barnett signed up.

Wayne Swan is under renewed pressure to tighten the nation's negative gearing system after figures revealed it is costing the Federal Government more than $13 billion-a-year.

Page 8: The gap between WA's richest and poorest areas is growing, figures from the tax office show, with rural areas falling further behind resource-rich areas.

Page 9: Serious doubts have emerged over the federal government's farm finance assistance package, with questions about how much value will flow to farmers.

Page 12: Australia's consumer and competition watchdog has labelled Perth Airport the second worst in Australia after Sydney and has criticised the airport operator fore delaying investments in passenger infrastructure.

Page 16: A former high-flying mortgage broker who swindled friends, fellow churchgoers and clients out of more than $4 million for an imaginary retirement village dubbed “Mormonville” was jailed for five years yesterday.

Business: Woodside Petroleum is set to become the world's biggest operator of floating LNG after agreeing to terms with Royal Dutch Shell to use the Anglo-Dutch giant's technology for the Browse project.

Michael Malone moved a step closer to cementing his status as WA's greatest nerd yesterday when his internet service group iiNet cut through the $1 billion market capitalisation barrier.

Focus Minerals' Chinese masters have wasted little time responding to the worsening gold price environment, shutting its Laverton mining operation acquired just two years ago in the $60 million takeover of Crescent Gold.

Gindalbie Metals' partner Ansteel has struck a financing deal that could see the Chinese steel group emerge with a controlling stake in the Karara mine.

Tox Free Solutions has deepened its exposure to Queensland resources business by striking an $85 million deal to buy one of the state's biggest waste management firms.

ANZ shares hit a record high as it lifted its dividend and posted a $3 billion-plus half year profit.

Delays and cancellations at resources projects have lowered demand for office space in Perth's CBD, with short-term project space that was quick to lease last year among the hardest hit.

 

The Australian Financial Review

Page 1: The federal government has settled on a $3.2 billion, 0.5 percentage point increase to the Medicare levy to help fund its National Disability Insurance Scheme and is expected to make an announcement on Wednesday.

Woolworths has been buying Australian-made Lynx, Rexona and Impulse deodorants from Singapore for 60 to 75 per cent of the price it pays locally.

Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls was rolled by his Liberal Party colleagues when he pushed for a $10 billion power sale, despite warning the state government faced a credit downgrade unless it reduced its debt.

Page 3: Australian airports are getting worse even as their owners are increasing profit margins, while congestion is growing as investment falls short.

Page 4: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group chief executive Mike Smith has warned the Gillard government against resorting to business tax rises that could impede economic growth and instead urged politicians to follow the lead of business by being disciplined on expenditure.

Former federal treasurer Peter Costello has urged both sides of the political divide to drop their spending promises, singling out Tony Abbott's paid parental leave scheme and his direct action climate policy, and Labor's national disability insurance scheme and Gonski school funding reforms.

Page 5: New Productivity Commission chairman Peter Harris is to appeal on Wednesday for bipartisan support for initiating regular nationwide audits of productivity-boosting reforms to remind the public about the need for ongoing change.

Page 6: Treasurer Wayne Swan will launch a fresh assault on critics who say he should have anticipated the slump in government revenue, and say the past 10 years have been a “forecaster' nightmare”.

Google will pay nearly seven times more tax for 2012 although its $6.1 million bill still represents a fraction of the estimated $1 billion-plus in revenue it earns in Australia.

Page 10: Queensland's drought-stricken interior is harsh but not unusual, according to climatologists, while Western Australian wheat farmers are suffering because of climate change

Page 13: Rio Tinto diamonds and minerals chief executive Alan Davies describes the pink diamonds from the Argyle mine in Western Australia's Kimberley region, which can sell for more than $US1 million a carat, as “the most expensive atom in the industrial world”.

Page 14: The Coalition will urge the Fair Work Commission to consider the impact of penalty rates on business when making rulings on pay and conditions, amid rising business concern about the industrial relations system.

Page 19: ANZ Banking Group chief executive Mike Smith has flagged that the bank will consider dual listing its shares on a stock exchange in Asia after 2017, a deadline it has set to earn more than a quarter of its profits from the region.

Page 21: In a significant victory for outgoing Shell Australia chair Ann Pickard, Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman has backed Shell's floating liquefied natural gas process as potentially offering the quickest way to develop its Browse gas project in Western Australia.

 

The Australian

Page 1: The Queensland government has sparked a national row over public sector reform after embarking on plans to sell off assets and outsource services with a controversial claim that it can ‘‘supercharge’’ the economy.

The Gillard government will launch a taxpayer-funded advertising blitz to promote its signature social and economic policies ahead of the September 14 election, which it plans to fight on the theme of a ‘‘stronger, smarter, fairer’’ future.

Labor's long-delayed scheme to protect whistleblowers is coming under fire, with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation criticising it as insulating government ministers and judges from disclosures of alleged abuse of their power and other wrongdoing.

Page 2: The Kimberley was the scene of a historic celebration yesterday as the traditional owners of the site of Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine opened the $US2.2 billion ($2.12bn) underground operation.

The Queensland government will largely leave the field of mining infrastructure if it goes ahead with plans to sell the industrial ports at Gladstone and Townsville as well as a state-owned railway line running from Townsville to Mount Isa.

Page 3: The nation’s key investment fund for tertiary education has lost its way, with the government squandering money on special interests and ignoring pleas for a revival of its original vision.

Iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest has been quietly meeting juvenile offenders caught in Western Australia’s troubled youth justice system, speaking to them about a range of issues including job opportunities in the mining sector.

Page 4: Wayne Swan will concede today that unemployment could rise as the resource boom fades and that lower than expected tax revenue will entrench budget deficits for longer than expected.

Stephen Conroy’s department is spending $25 million to spruik the National Broadband Network to suburban voters in a campaign that has so far required a record 21 reviews by the body that vets government advertising.

Page 8: Clive Palmer has signed up the first parliamentary recruits to his revived United Australia Party, taking on two former state Liberal National MPs who quit the party in Queensland about the time he did.

Page 9: Italy’s new Prime Minister will face an early test of his mission to reverse Europe’s austerity course today as he meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel after vowing to stop a policy he says is killing his country.

Business: ANZ has opened the door to revamping its corporate structure, including listings on overseas stockmarkets, to keep paying fully franked dividends as its earnings from Asia grow.

Prominent businessman turned environmental activist Geoffrey Cousins has re-emerged as a potential roadblock for Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the multi-billion-dollar Browse liquefied natural gas project off northern Western Australia.

Virgin Australia’s domestic capacity growth slowed to 3.1 per cent in March as the airline saw a turnaround in yields for the first time in six months.

Westfield Group will press ahead with its expansion plans into Brazil, even though it announced yesterday that it had parted company with its local partner, the Almeida Junior Family.

The country’s oldest property trust, GPT Group, has indicated it may sweeten its $2.94 billion bid for Australand’s industrial and office property business as it yesterday reaffirmed earnings growth of at least 5 per cent this year, defying weak conditions.

Origin Energy is launching a marketing campaign aimed at busting ‘‘myths and half-truths’’ about the industry after admitting its previous efforts were ‘‘not working’’.

 

The Daily Telegraph

Page 1: A throwaway line inside a corporate suite at an NRL game is being blamed for the Gai Waterhouse-John Singleton feud that rocked the racing establishment.

World: (Boston) FBI agents visited the home of terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife to take a DNA sample from her after traces of female DNA were found on one of the bombs used in the attacks.

Business: ANZ's shares hit an all-time high after the bank posted a record $3.18 billion half-year cash profit.

Sport: ASADA's case against the majority of Cronulla players rests on testimony from ex-Sharks trainer Trent Elkin who has allegedly told the agency that peptides were used at the club in 2011.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald

Page 1: Labor's $14 billion national disability insurance scheme will be funded in part by a special Medicare-style levy set at 0.5 per cent after Julia Gillard reversed her previous opposition to the special tax option.

Page 2: Richard Torbay's failed campaign to topple the federal independent MP Tony Windsor was being backed by a wealthy Tamworth businessman once accused of trying to bribe Mr Windsor to leave politics.

Page 3: Page 2 story continues.

World: (Boston) Authorities are scrutinising the activities of the wife of the dead Boston bombing suspect in the days before and after the attacks.

Business: ANZ's shares hit an all-time high after the bank posted a record $3.18 billion half-year cash profit.

Sport: NRL chief executive Dave Smith will review a transcript of Wade Graham's interview with ASADA investigators in a bid to resolve a legal dispute over the refusal of Cronulla Sharks players to dob in their teammates.

The Age

Page 1: Authorities are making room at Darwin's Wickham Point centre for refugee families with children. A special Medicare levy will help fund Labor's $14 billion national disability insurance scheme. The first note ever printed for the Commonwealth of Australia to go on sale with an asking price of $3.5 million.

Page 2: State inquiry into child sex abuse hears the Catholic Church paid out $450,000 to a rape victim when the church limit was $50,000 because she took them to court.

Page 3: Building workers rally brings northern end of CBD to a standstill as they protest against what construction unions say are poor safety standards on Grocon worksites. Almost a quarter of childcare services failing to meet the new benchmarks for health and safety.

World: FBI to probe the role of the wife of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect in the days before and after the attacks.

Finance: ANZ shares surge to new high as the bank promises shareholders a bigger slice of the future profits.

Sport: Essendon's conditioning coach Dean Robinson, who was stood down, delays the release of the internal probe of the AFL club's supplements scandal with a legal challenge saying any public findings or recommendations could deny him natural justice.

The Herald Sun

Page 1: Essendon may call in Australian Federal Police to verify the authenticity of an letter purportedly from World Anti-Doping Agency to former sports scientist Stephen Dank giving the all-clear for anti-obesity drug.

Page 2: Experts say regional ambulances should carry clot-busting drugs to to prevent country Victorians dying from heart attacks.

Page 3: Get ready for a $50m advertising campaign from the Gillard government promoting the Gonski school reforms.

World: Barack Obama voices his concerns to Russian Premier Vladimir Putin about reports that Syria is using chemical weapons on its own people.

Finance: ANZ share price jumps to its highest level ever after the bank beats expectations with a $3.18 billion first-half cash profit.

Sport: Documents show that some Essendon players were regularly injected with banned anti-obesity drug AOD-9604 for all of last season.