Bills to rise $218
The average WA household will be slugged an extra $218 a year from July 1 after the state government announced yesterday that it would increase a raft of fees and charges above the rate of inflation. The West
Swan denies bid to cost Abbott paid leave scheme
Wayne Swan has denied using the nation’s independent budget authority to score a political point against the Coalition after a row over the release of a confidential cost estimate. The Aus
Rio and BHP confident of Asian interest
The new CEOs of Australia’s two largest mining companies, BHP Billiton’s Andrew Mackenzie and Rio Tinto’s Sam Walsh, are confident Asian demand for iron ore will remain strong, leading to healthy returns for low-cost producers of the steel making material. The Fin
Kleenheat left in the dark over gas price increase
Kleenheat Gas' bold play to shake up the residential gas market appears to have been missed by the WA government, with the Wesfarmers-owned division not officially pre-warned about yesterday's .4 per cent increase in regulated tariffs – unlike its dominant rival Alinta Energy. The West
Fashion giant plans $5m store
Spanish fashion giant Zara has revealed plans to open a three-storey, $5 million store in Murray Street Mall, putting it at the forefront of the race between big-name international retailers entering the Perth market. The West
Top Resources Headlines
Rio and BHP confident of Asian interest
The new CEOs of Australia’s two largest mining companies, BHP Billiton’s Andrew Mackenzie and Rio Tinto’s Sam Walsh, are confident Asian demand for iron ore will remain strong, leading to healthy returns for low-cost producers of the steel making material. The Fin
Kleenheat left in the dark over gas price increase
Kleenheat Gas' bold play to shake up the residential gas market appears to have been missed by the WA government, with the Wesfarmers-owned division not officially pre-warned about yesterday's .4 per cent increase in regulated tariffs – unlike its dominant rival Alinta Energy. The West
Rio CEO's budget plea: stop moving goalposts
Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh has warned the federal government ahead of Tuesday’s budget of the need for fiscal and regulatory stability, arguing that major investments in Australia can be made only in the knowledge that hurdles will not be altered mid-stride. The Aus
Santos chair takes parting shot at costs, regulation
Santos has warned that Australia’s gas industry faces the twin challenges of regulatory uncertainty and eroding cost competitiveness, raising the prospect of domestic gas shortages as well as the loss of new liquefied natural gas export development opportunities to emerging competitors in Canada, East Africa and the US. The Aus
Top Politics Headlines
Bills to rise $218
The average WA household will be slugged an extra $218 a year from July 1 after the state government announced yesterday that it would increase a raft of fees and charges above the rate of inflation. The West
Abbott's timid IR strategy
Business groups and leaders have criticised the Coalition’s industrial relations policy for avoiding tough decisions on penalty rates and unfair dismissal laws, but welcomed a crackdown on union corruption. The Fin
Swan denies bid to cost Abbott paid leave scheme
Wayne Swan has denied using the nation’s independent budget authority to score a political point against the Coalition after a row over the release of a confidential cost estimate. The Aus
Swan braced for job losses as mining fades
Wayne Swan has flagged that next week’s budget will show a rise in unemployment, despite a strong increase in job creation in the latest monthly labour force report. The Aus
Garrett tells states to lift Gap game
Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett will today demand that the states and territories dramatically lift their game on indigenous education, warning that they are not on track to meet their Closing the Gap targets. The Aus
Top Property Headlines
Fashion giant plans $5m store
Spanish fashion giant Zara has revealed plans to open a three-storey, $5 million store in Murray Street Mall, putting it at the forefront of the race between big-name international retailers entering the Perth market. The West
New chief's reshuffle shakes up Stockland
Stockland's new chief executive Mark Steinert released further details of his management team shake-up yesterday, revealing Merrill Lynch’s head of real estate investment banking Simon Shakesheff has been hired to oversee the group’s strategy as chief financial officer Tim Foster and residential property boss Mark Hunter leave the business. The Aus
Mirvac to focus on offices, inner-city units
Mirvac Group plans to buy and develop more offices and will target inner-city apartment developments in its residential arm, the group’s new chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz revealed in her first strategy and operational update to the market yesterday. The Aus
The West Australian
Page 1: The average WA household will be slugged an extra $218 a year from July 1 after the state government announced yesterday that it would increase a raft of fees and charges above the rate of inflation.
Page 6: The state budget has slipped into long-term structural deficit, needing urgent cuts to avoid an endless Queensland-style string of multibillion-dollar deficits and mounting debt.
WA's top legal officers are engaged in a bitter stoush, with Supreme Court Chief Justice Wayne Martin saying Attorney-Genera Michael Mischin has threatened the judiciary's independence by blocking the planned live online streaming of court cases.
Page 11: Spanish fashion giant Zara has revealed plans to open a three-storey, $5 million store in Murray Street Mall, putting it at the forefront of the race between big-name international retailers entering the Perth market.
Page 12: WA has recorded its highest jobless rate in three years, coming under pressure as people flood into the state looking for work.
The business community has accused Tony Abbott of squibbing on his industrial relations policy by adopting a go-lightly approach to avoid a union scare campaign.
Page 13: Gina Rinehart's lawyers have set the scene for a showdown between Australia's richest woman and her only son, saying the multibillion-dollar battle over the family trust will come down to “a contest between family members”.
Page 14: West Australians have lost close to $1 million in investment fraud scams in the past five weeks – five times the amount for all of last year.
Page 22: More than 4,300 homes lost power and 40 Perth properties ere damaged as wild weather lashed the southern half of the state for the third day running yesterday.
Business: Rio Tinto has highlighted the importance of its $5 billion Pilbara iron ore “360” expansion, with chief executive Sam Walsh saying that despite “mixed views” from shareholders it stood out as a low-cost operation with the support of China's big growth market.
Marylyn New says she has proven her business acumen after completing a successful $121 million exit from Perth's hotel industry.
Kleenheat Gas' bold play to shake up the residential gas market appears to have been missed by the WA government, with the Wesfarmers-owned division not officially pre-warned about yesterday's .4 per cent increase in regulated tariffs – unlike its dominant rival Alinta Energy.
More rate cuts are on the horizon after National Australia Bank yesterday joined its wealthy rivals with a $2.9 billion first-half profit.
Santos has flagged that it could return more cash to shareholders through higher dividends.
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Business groups and leaders have criticised the Coalition’s industrial relations policy for avoiding tough decisions on penalty rates and unfair dismissal laws, but welcomed a crackdown on union corruption.
New BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie, who formally takes over on Friday morning, has a message for those who believe the mining boom is over: have faith in China.
Network Ten is set to land a knock-out blow in the battle for cricket broadcasting rights, having lodged a final bid with Cricket Australia worth $500 million in cash over five years.
Page 3: The Australian Tax Office has opened a new arm of Project Wickenby to target over 100 wealthy Australians as part of a combined multinational investigation to exploit a new database of tax haven bank accounts.
Page 4: Employment forecasts in next week's budget are more likely to be downgraded, with Treasurer Wayne Swan saying the shift way from the resources investment boom to an export focus will need fewer workers.
Page 5: Former Treasury secretary Ken Henry says voters want politicians to stop pandering to the daily media and concentrate on long-term policy development.
Page 6: Pressure on Tony Abbott from conservatives to dump his paid parental leave policy will intensify on Friday with the Spectator Australia magazine devoting its latest editorial to slamming the scheme as profligacy which flies in the face of Liberal Party doctrine.
The federal government will use next week's budget to try again to cut the baby bonus but may go further than the $500 million cuts announced in October.
Page 7: An alleged crime boss wanted in Papua New Guinea over the theft of $30 million has used a 457 work visa issued by the Australian government to avoid arrest and prosecution.
Page 10: West Australian Treasurer Troy Buswell has warned the state economy faces severe structural challenges as it grapples with slowing revenue and increased spending.
Page 12: West Australian Chief Justice Wayne Martin said the Attorney-General's decision to block the broadcast of cases on the internet is a threat to the independence of the court system.
Page 13: The new CEOs of Australia’s two largest mining companies, BHP Billiton’s Andrew Mackenzie and Rio Tinto’s Sam Walsh, are confident Asian demand for iron ore will remain strong, leading to healthy returns for low-cost producers of the steel making material.
Page 15: Fortescue Metals Group has added 3,000 workers since getting its $US9 billion expansion project back on track and now employs more staff and contractors than when it made savage cuts in September after the iron ore price plunged.
Page 17: Santos' incoming chairman, Ken Borda, has assured shareholders that rewarding them for increased earnings is “top of mind” for the board, confirming the dividend policy will be reviewed next year with the start-up of the $US19 billion liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea.
Page 19: Singtel Optus has called for the competition regulator to investigate the cost of NBN Co's satellite program, as part of a push for greater scrutiny over the government-owned monopoly's spending.
The Australian
Page 1: Workers would be able to trade off entitlements more easily and unions would face increased hurdles to entering sites under the Coalition’s workplace policy.
Page 2: Wayne Swan has denied using the nation’s independent budget authority to score a political point against the Coalition after a row over the release of a confidential cost estimate.
Wayne Swan’s former chief of staff suggests Labor’s pact with the Greens was an act of folly, as it aligned the party with a ‘‘loony-left’’ agenda despised by its rusted-on voters in the outer suburbs.
Julia Gillard is under pressure from within Labor’s ranks to rethink the decision to issue bridging visas to asylum-seekers that strip away work rights and could leave women and children without any financial support if they opt to challenge their claim for protection in a court.
Page 4: Wayne Swan has flagged that next week’s budget will show a rise in unemployment, despite a strong increase in job creation in the latest monthly labour force report.
Tony Abbott’s industrial relations policy has been criticised as ‘‘too cautious’’ by business, but condemned by Labor and the unions for providing a path back to individual statutory agreements.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Tony Sheldon has attacked a Coalition plan to review a new body charged with setting pay rates for truck drivers, warning that the safety of Australia's transport system could be at risk.
Page 5: Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett will today demand that the states and territories dramatically lift their game on indigenous education, warning that they are not on track to meet their Closing the Gap targets.
Business: BHP Billiton’s new chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has launched the world’s biggest resources group on a relentless productivity drive, aimed at improving shareholder returns against a backdrop of fading commodity prices.
News Corporation has posted a 14 per cent increase in revenue for the third quarter, better than market forecasts, and revealed it will hold an investor day in Australia to present the strategy for the stand-alone publishing company.
National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne has conceded it will be harder for the banks to hold back from homeowners’ official interest rate moves, after fatter margins from mortgages helped drive the big four’s interim cash profits to a record $13.4 billion.
Santos has warned that Australia’s gas industry faces the twin challenges of regulatory uncertainty and eroding cost competitiveness, raising the prospect of domestic gas shortages as well as the loss of new liquefied natural gas export development opportunities to emerging competitors in Canada, East Africa and the US.
Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh has warned the federal government ahead of Tuesday’s budget of the need for fiscal and regulatory stability, arguing that major investments in Australia can be made only in the knowledge that hurdles will not be altered mid-stride.
Caltex says it is well positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities across Australia but has warned its margins are likely to be squeezed as capacity in Asia and the Middle East grows.
Australian retailers may have a new ally in their calls for the GST to be applied to online imports from the US homeware giant Williams-Sonoma — the nation’s latest global entrant.
Stockland's new chief executive Mark Steinert released further details of his management team shake-up yesterday, revealing Merrill Lynch’s head of real estate investment banking Simon Shakesheff has been hired to oversee the group’s strategy as chief financial officer Tim Foster and residential property boss Mark Hunter leave the business.
Mirvac Group plans to buy and develop more offices and will target inner-city apartment developments in its residential arm, the group’s new chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz revealed in her first strategy and operational update to the market yesterday.
One of Australia’s biggest investment groups, AMP, has called on the federal government to match an opposition pledge to make no more negative changes to superannuation for three years, warning that constant fiddling was undermining confidence in the system.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Page 1: Australian cricket's ruling body has launched legal action against the Nine Network concerning the broadcast of domestic cricket, imperilling their 36-year history. Discontent in the Liberal Party is growing over Tony Abbott's Direct Action climate change policy.
Page 2: A study suggests sleepiness is impeding the education of Australian children.
Page 3: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has unveiled the coalition's industrial relations policy in an attempt to head off debate ahead of September's election.
World: Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping and detaining three women for more than a decade in America, also allegedly beat his wife and repeatedly locked her in a wooden box.
Business: National Australia Bank chief Cameron Clyne says it will be difficult to hold back part of any future interest rate cuts.
Sport: The South Sydney NRL team has locked in its "big five" players for the next five years.
The Daily Telegraph
Page 1: A couple who fell more than 20 metres from a cruise ship deck into waters of the NSW coast are still missing. Richmond airforce base could be used by five million domestic passengers annually until a second Sydney airport is built.
Page 2: The federal government is set to launch a crackdown on foreign investors leaving Australia with tens of millions of dollars in unpaid tax.
Page 3: The search for a young couple who fell from a cruise ship into waters off the NSW coast continues in the Port Stephens area.
World: The Queen's speech to open British parliament has been marred by claims an Australian political strategist was involved in having several key policies omitted.
Business: The National Australia Bank says in future it will be in a better position to pass on rate cuts in full after recording a three per cent lift in profits.
Sport: Todd Carney has sacrificed about $1 million to stay at the Cronulla Sharks NRL team for the next five years.
The Age
Page 1: Victorian politicians will all be paid more than $150,000 a year, including a more than $11,000 expense account, under a controversial new pay deal that gives backbenchers almost an extra $15,000 a year; the 36-year relationship between Australian cricket and Nine is in danger after the sports ruling body launched legal action against the network.
Page 2: An alleged crime boss wanted in Papua New Guinea over the theft of $30 million has used a 457 visa issued by the Australian government to avoid arrest and prosecution.
Page 3: Sleepiness may be holding Australian schoolchildren back in the international education race.
World: A 52-year-old bus driver has been charged with the kidnap and rape of three young women who were imprisoned in his Cleveland home; Ariel Castro locked his wife in a wooden box, repeatedly imprisoned her in their home and viciously beat her as part of a two decade campaign of violence and death threats, her family has alleged.
Business: National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne concedes it will be difficult to hold back part of any future interest rate cuts from borrowers, because the war for deposits that was pushing up costs has eased.
Sport: The feel-good factor of Nathan Foley's return has been offset by the loss of captain Trent Cotchin for Richmond's interstate test against Port Adelaide on Saturday.
The Herald Sun
Page 1: State MPs sacked by voters will get a golden handshake of up to $75,000 under a plan unveiled to boost politicians' pay.
Page 2: Hoddle St mass killer Julian Knight is seeking legal aid for a High Court battle to try to win his release in less than a year.
Page 3: Sports scientist Stephen Dank has links with bikie boss Toby Mitchell.
World: Nine people are feared dead after a container ship crashed in Italy's busiest port of Genoa, bringing down a 50m-high control tower.
Business: The Australian dollar has surged after official workforce figures revealed the jobless rate is falling, reducing the chances of a back-to-back rate cut.
Sport: Geelong onballer Allen Christensen has warned the Cats could be blown away against fellow ladder-leader Essendon tonight if they give away a start.