Big bets have been placed on the assumption that a new bidder will emerge in the battle for control of Portman, the iron ore miner with a split board and widely differing valuations.
The Federal Government's plan to establish a unitary industrial relations system has been condemned by the union movement and Labor state governments but, more surprisingly, has gained a mixed response from business groups.
The business lunch has changed. Gone are the days of the three-martini lunch or even the ‘power' lunch. Perth's professionals are demanding a new style of dining when they're doing business, and local restaurants are rising to meet the challenge.
Business groups want skills training, industrial relations reform and budget policy at the top of the Gallop Government's second-term policy agenda. Mark Beyer reports.
New South Wales Premier Bob Carr has acknowledged the broadening of land tax and the introduction of a vendor tax last year are hurting the Labor Party in NSW.
The City of Perth is targeting businesses in the lead-up to May's council elections as voter apathy again threatens to deny business an effective role in the city's affairs.
Confidence is growing among developers with a view to new office construction as the outlook for Perth's office market moves into positive territory for the first time in several years.
Both major political parties may now resolutely embrace presidential-style campaigning by thrusting their leaders at voters but, at rock bottom, contemporary election campaigns are encounters between party-hired advertising agencies.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive John Langoulant has forecast a steadying of Western Australia's economy and the property market as industry catches up on a backlog of work.
There are two things I think we can be sure of from this election campaign – we won't be getting a canal and we won't see any significant deregulation of shopping hours for the next decade.
Colin Barnett's tactically motivated promise to build a $2 billion-plus Kimberley-to-Perth aqueduct wasn't the most far-reaching conservative promise of the election campaign.
Business people wanting to have their say in the upcoming City of Perth elections have less than three weeks to enrol, with registrations closing on Friday March 18.
While the business sector's apparent lack of involvement in the affairs of the City of Perth council is considered a sign of apathy or a lack of interest, an argument could be mounted that a hands-off approach is a sign that all's well.
The balance of power between state and local government often results in a relationship that's almost parental in its functioning, complete with the tension that type of relationship often invokes.
Calls for a capital city charter to give special status to the City of Perth as a valuable asset to Western Australia, and also as containing a unique constituency, have been made for some time.
The City of Perth's engagement with the business community is not just about registering voters, it also involves getting quality business candidates onto council.
As the representative organisation for the property sector and owners of CBD property, the Property Council is highly critical of the City of Perth's voting system for business.
