Latest Headlines

CONTRACTORS on the old Prescribed Payments System will face further tax change from July 1.This class of contractor has been quarantined from the Australian Tax Office’s alienation of personal services income provisions for the past two years.

THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has come under sustained attack in recent months as the big guns take aim at what they see as bureaucracy gone mad.

LOCAL pharmaceutical company Chemeq has raised a further $2.75 million through its share purchase plan and recent placements with institutions.

TELSTRA yesterday launched its new $21 million WirelessWest project to improve mobile phone coverage in WA.

Switzerland, which, in the 1890s, many of Australia’s founding fathers admired.Oh, how things have changed.Moreover, before the Great War, Swiss governance practices influenced many leading Labor identities.

THE need to move its large engineering workshop from Fremantle to Henderson has sparked a new business for a WA company.

DEMAND for specialist occupational health care in the remote mining communities of Australia is driving Gemini Medical Services, a joint venture between River Medical Services and local group Delta Health.

THE State Government’s recent display of a preference for gas power has reopened an old debate – which is the cleaner fuel?

THE jump in gold prices has led to a rush from investors into almost anything dipping its toes into the resource sector.

PRODUCERS need marketers and marketers need a product – it’s one of those golden rules of business.Willhart Ltd and Byte Power have recognised how they can apply this rule to their business and have agreed to permanently unite their expertise.

OLEA Australis will launch its new extra virgin olive oil next month in a move aimed at targeting domestic and international premium olive oil markets.

KEEPING in touch with employees ‘on the road’ is not always easy.Mobile phones can be out of range, inadvertently switched off, or insufficiently loud to conquer ambient noise.

THE City of Swan is undertaking a study into whether it could provide Internet services for as little as $10 per month.

A LOCAL company is powering a revolution on the water in Australia and around the world.

THE organisers of one of world hockey’s biggest tournaments have been forced to clear some unexpected legal hurdles in order to establish exclusive agreements.

IMAGINE a workplace where employees have no desks or computers, where the employees elect a board of directors from their peers, where there are no managers and no reception desk.

A RECENT Federal Court ruling on redundancy is already having implications for large businesses and their subsidiaries.

EMPLOYERS need to be wary of misreading market signals when it comes to taking on new staff in the current climate, according to Hays Personnel Services managing director Nigel Heap.

THE Reserve Bank of Australia’s move to raise official interest rates for the second time in a month could prove costly for the market’s most vulnerable sector.

LANDCORP has awarded RJ Vincent the construction contract for the Exmouth’s marina village project.The $10.57 million construction contract will provide new residential, commercial and tourist facilities for the entire region.

THE Housing Institute of Australia claims the move by the Reserve Bank to raise official interest rates will hurt the construction industry in WA.The HIA said the interest rate rise would dampen business and consumer confidence.

THE market for boutique commercial property in Subiaco continues to show good growth as parking pressure pushes businesses westwards from the city centre.

THE Property Council has put its support behind the Government’s plan for the new Mandurah rail line.The State Government unveiled its plans this week for the $1,403 million project – $15.5 million more than the original budget.

FEE bargaining within the architecture industry is seriously affecting the future viability of architectural firms, according to Oldfield Knott Architects managing director Ian Oldfield.

BP Australasia regional president Greg Bourne has often been called on to defend his company, sometimes in good humoured exchanges with friends, other times in more serious forums.

A restaurant industry stalwart wants to bring some European practices to the local scene, just as he did more than 50 years ago, as Julie-anne Sprague reports.

DOMENIC and Basilia Iasenza have taken over the operation of Gucce in Applecross and will open to the public tonight.

David Pike goes in search of the “Holy Grail” of wine buffs – a truly great Pinot Noir.Pinot Noir is a mysterious grape variety but it produces one of the world’s great drinks.

WHILE businesses operating through wholly owned group structures have been given one year’s grace from the new tax consolidation regime, advisers are warning against complacency.

EVEN with the accounting firepower of WA’s biggest listed company, dealing with the new tax consolidation regime is a fairly daunting exercise.

TIMING is a vital factor in any business’s decision to buy a new vehicle fleet, saving thousands of dollars in some cases, and costing similar amounts in others.

CURRENCY hedging is back in the minds of commodity producers as they watch their margins being eroded with each upward adjustment in the Australian dollar.