WA, SA farm incomes up to record high
Broad-acre farmers in Western Australia and South Australia are on track to generate record income as bumper crops and improving live cattle exports lift the fortunes for primary producers. The Fin
‘Pure greed’ led boss to $1m fraud
It was pure greed that drove Michael Williamson to systematically defraud the Health Services Union of almost $1 million, the prosecution says. The West
Cabinet backs Qantas split option
Federal cabinet has agreed to remove the foreign ownership restrictions on Qantas Airways, opening the way for a split of the airline’s domestic and international arms. The Fin
Red Rock keeps kings jewels
A Melbourne-based hospitality giant is on the verge of locking up 42-year rights to key venues in WA’s premier tourist destination after taking up an option to extend its leases at Kings Park. The West
Premier joins PM’s China trip
Colin Barnett will join forces with Tony Abbott and a who’s who of Australian business to win new commercial opportunities in China next month. The West
Abbott fury as Labor, Greens block carbon tax repeal
Labor and the Greens have blocked the first of Tony Abbott’s carbon tax repeal bills in the Senate, sparking a furious reaction from the government. The Aus
ATO turns to mediation to avoid costly court battles
The Australian Taxation Office is stepping up its push to avoid costly court actions with big businesses and wealthy people. The Aus
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: Federal cabinet has agreed to remove the foreign ownership restrictions on Qantas Airways, opening the way for a split of the airline’s domestic and international arms.
Page 4: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and cancelled two high-level political exchanges in retaliation for Russia’s aggression.
Page 5: AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou has stepped down on the eve of the 2014 season after 11 years in the job and is tipped to enter the corporate world as a chief executive.
Page 6: Broad-acre farmers in Western Australia and South Australia are on track to generate record income as bumper crops and improving live cattle exports lift the fortunes for primary producers.
Page 8: Etihad Airways chief executive James Hogan has called on Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia Holdings to reach a truce in their financially damaging capacity war, saying it is important both airlines are strong and profitable.
Page 15: Simon McKeon, the incoming chairman of AMP , says no changes to the company’s strategy are required to boost the ugly share price performance of the wealth and insurance giant.
Page 17: Telstra chief executive David Thodey says the company is sick of “being the incumbent” telecommunications provider and has embarked on a three-year strategy to become a global technology player.
Page 19: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has stepped back from plans to require companies offering new investments to constantly monitor online forums like social media and correct any false views.
Page 20: Some of Australia’s biggest resources companies could lose a major investor if Norway goes through with a plan to ban its oil-fuelled sovereign wealth fund from investing in fossil fuels including coal ,gas and, ironically, oil.
Unions have fought off an attempt by Rio Tinto to deny redundancies to workers who refuse to be redeployed to another site, in a blow to big miners’ attempts to increase Australia’s “labour mobility”.
Page 25: Ericsson Australia chief executive Håkan Eriksson says he’s confident it will keep its $1.1 billion contract to connect 4 per cent of Australian homes and businesses to the national broadband network, despite rollout delays and an imminent review of the project.
Page 37: Australia’s largest estate agent network, Ray White, will open an office in Beijing this month, joining a rush of local agents who want a physical presence in China.
The Australian
Page 2: Asylum-seekers whose refugee claims are decided on Manus Island will be subjected to a much tougher assessment process, with nearly 100 decisions nearing completion.
Page 3: Former Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson has spent his first night behind bars and is likely to face a lengthy jail term when a final decision is made late this month on the penalty for defrauding his members of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Page 4: Labor and the Greens have blocked the first of Tony Abbott’s carbon tax repeal bills in the Senate, sparking a furious reaction from the government.
A $300 million fund originally for increasing childcare workers’ wages will be given to centre providers to spend at their discretion and at their leisure on the professional development of staff.
Page 17: The Australian Taxation Office is stepping up its push to avoid costly court actions with big businesses and wealthy people.
Page 18: Mbn Class Action Group, a group of about 30 Mirabela Nickel shareholders, has written to the miner’s administrator Korda Mentha asking if the company ‘‘engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and failed to disclose to the market its true debt position’’ before its shares were suspended from trading on the ASX on October 7 last year.
Page 19: Australia’s goldminers have raised more fresh equity in the past five weeks than they did in the preceding six months, reflecting a renewed investor appetite for gold stocks.
Page 27: IBM Australia has again begun slashing jobs, which could see about 500 people lose their positions following last year’s cull of more than 1500 workers.
The West Australian
Page 3: Ticket scalpers are snapping up hundreds of tickets to prime sporting events, charging massive mark-ups and ripping off fans by selling the same seat to multiple customers.
Colin Barnett has stepped into the role of Treasurer in the lead-up to a Budget for the second time in four years to cover for Troy Buswell, who has taken three weeks personal leave.
Page 6: South-west WA’s winter rainfall has plummeted more than anywhere else in Australia over the past 20 years and there are predictions it could plunge significantly further.
Page 9: Perth residents have marked the city down on traffic, public transport, education and crime in a national survey.
Page 13: Colin Barnett will join forces with Tony Abbott and a who’s who of Australian business to win new commercial opportunities in China next month.
Page 14: It was pure greed that drove Michael Williamson to systematically defraud the Health Services Union of almost $1 million, the prosecution says.
Business: Mining exploration in WA has fallen to a near four-year low as resource companies focus on their existing assets.
The bottleneck at Australian ports is threatening to choke the country’s ability to take full advantage of growing markets in Asia, according to a leading livestock exporter.
Plummeting demand for electricity has pushed back the need for a new major power station for Perth and the South West until next decade, the head of the newly merged Synergy has revealed.
A Melbourne-based hospitality giant is on the verge of locking up 42-year rights to key venues in WA’s premier tourist destination after taking up an option to extend its leases at Kings Park.
Former WA treasurer turned Federal MP Christian Porter has thrown his weight behind the regeneration of employee share ownership schemes, saying it is an important factor is incubating growth in industries such as the start-up tech sector.
