Taking the flag

A small group of businesses across a handful of industry sectors were the really big winners in a year when times were tough for many.

In a year when big deals were few and far between, the $4 billion acquisition by the Kerry Stokes-controlled WA Newspapers Holdings to buy most of his other media assets was something of a standout

If there was one decision that highlighted the weakness of the stock market for most of 2011, it was the deferral of mining contractor Barminco's initial public offering.

Long haul: Julia Gillard has made up lost ground in the polls and should go a full term.

Those investors who have suffered through the uranium sector's miserable 2011 probably don't have any optimism left, but the ones who can summon up a last skerrick of hope may just find reasons to

Domestic energy users are finding lucrative export markets provide a challenging competitor to their supply and costs.

Outsourcing of state services through public-private partnerships may be a politically touchy subject but the Western Australian government has made significant progress in this field this year, ac

It is difficult to know which union could claim to have had the most success during the past year but militant labour groups certainly appear to have found the new federal industrial relations regi

A NUMBER of industry sectors lost out this year in the drama of volatile global markets and the high value of the Australian dollar, with tourism, hospitality, retail and residential construction a

It has been a year typified by tumult for the agricultural sector, with cattle farmers taking blows over international trade stoppages and dairy farmers going to war with supermarket giants over pr