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FREMANTLE'S Challenger TAFE will use a $7.5 million Federal Government grant to build new technical learning facilities and update student and staff facilities in an attempt to attract more local and overseas students.

THE Western Australian branches of the Property Council of Australia and the Urban Development Institute of Australia have released a planning processes review study outlining more

WORKPLACE Relations Minister Kevin Andrews has told Federal Parliament that the Building Industry Taskforce will become a permanent policing body, a year after the Royal Commission

IINET managing director Michael Malone has secured the top individual honour at this year's Western Australian Information Technology and Telecommunications Awards.

VAL Morgan may not think cinema slide advertising is a profitable venture in Western Australia, but a former senior executive Tony Brooks believes there is a strong market for the 15-second still ads.

THE 2004 membership campaigns of Western Australia's two AFL clubs are less about the football and more about the fans.

DALE Alcock Homes has returned to mainstream advertising ahead of an expected slowdown in the housing market in six months' time.

CAMBRIDGE Media has merged its print division with Optima Press in a move designed to propel the Leederville-based publisher into a new business phase.

He may have a familiar family name but John Mead's determined to do things his way, from an understated vibe to fur on the walls, as Julie-anne Sprague discovered.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Alexander Downer was in Perth last week for talks with local business and economic groups about the benefits of free trade.

Three quarters of listed Western Australian companies have changed their name over the years. Matthew Hooper and Mark Beyer have delved into the archives to review the changed identities of listed stocks.

APOLLO Gold Mining is an up-and-coming mining company while Clearview Capital is a ‘shell company' with no activities, so at first glance they don't seem to have much in common.

STATE Government moves to implement a Coastal Planning and Coordination Council to determine appropriate development along the coast has received a mixed reaction from local government authorities.

WOODSIDE Energy Ltd and the Department of Foreign Affairs are in discussions to win approval from the East Timorese Government for the development of large natural gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

WHILE serial name changers tend to be small companies, some of Western Australia's biggest blue chip companies have also changed their names.

A HANDFUL of well-known deal makers, including Farooq Khan, Reg Gillard and Tony Trevisan, cropped up with some regularity in WA Business News' review of serial name changers.

WHEN companies change their name, investors usually just see the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

LONG-TIME State Scene readers may recall a March 2001 column highlighting research by Dr Bob Catley, then of New Zealand's Dunedin-based Otago University.

I WAS quite staggered this week to find that Alinta's general manager of corporate communications David Franklyn had quit over his former employer's $1.69 billion bid to buy the Australian and New Zealand assets of Duke Energy.

WESTERN Australia has the highest proportion of tech-savvy farmers in the nation, according to the latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

IF it was not for the achievements made by John Driscoll (right) last year Marketforce could have faced some significant hurdles this year, according to Campaign Brief Awards judge

A SIGNIFICANT number of large mining and oil and gas developments are under way in and around Geraldton as the sector emerges from the shadow of the failed $2 billion Kingstream iron and steel project.

The recent collapse of Consolidated Constructions has its share of corporate mystery and intrigue, as Mark Beyer reports.

DATA communications and Internet provider Swiftel Limited has announced its intention to merge with privately owned voice services company, people telecom, in a scrip deal worth an estimated $50 million.

Why would one of Perth's top chefs apply for the shortest of short-term jobs? Julie-anne Sprague finds the answers.

In the back blocks of Canning Vale, where Perth's urban sprawl gives way to small farm lots, a group of scientists is creating a unique research and development centre.

GUSTO'S Highgate spies tell us there is a new Italian restaurant opening on the emerging ‘hospitality hotspot' on the Beaufort Street strip from the Queens to Luxe.

FAITH was a big word washing around investor circles following the $1.69 billion deal by Alinta to take over the Australian and New Zealand assets of the US-based Duke Energy Group.

IT'S finally happening, and it's happening much earlier than expected. But in politics nothing's lost by getting things out of the way sooner rather than later.

CONCERNS about the fire safety standards in some Perth nightclubs and other high-risk public buildings have prompted the City of Perth to consider establishing a risk management strategy to ensure building owners comply with current standards in the Build

IT'S easy when you spend a short time away from Perth to find the grass is greener elsewhere, especially when you are on holidays.

WESTERN Australian-based multi-platform real estate agency Asset Domain has merged with Dempsey Real Estate to create an integrated real estate company specialising in the top-end property market.