Gary Kleyn

BUNBURY City Council CEO Michael Whitaker’s honeymoon period looks set to end as his administration faces attacks from various quarters of the business community.

THE Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment plummeted 9 per cent to 101 in February, putting further interest rate rises in doubt.

THE downward trend in vacancy levels looks likely to continue according to Jones Lang LaSalle research analyst Frank Sorgiovanni.

THE managed funds market was valued at more than $560 billion in the December quarter – an increase of 6.5 per cent on the previous quarter.

THE Co-operative Bulk Handling Grain Silos at North Quay, will not be saved says Planning Minster Graham Kierath.

A SCHEME that rewards employers who take on more trainees and apprentices has been expanded into all regional areas.

TELSTRA has one and, if the Federal Cabinet has their way, the four major banks in Australia will have one – an universal service obligation.

IRONICALLY, in the electronic age, one of the world’s oldest forms of trade is making a comeback. Trade in barter dollars has been proving internationally successful for the past thirty years.

THE real estate industry will be further hampered if the Federal and State Governments act on the advice given by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission following a review on the industry.

THE value of South West building approvals halved in December according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

BANKWEST is entering the securitisation market with an issue of $1.005 billion of mortgage-backed securities.

THE outlook for the property market in 2000 looks good despite rising interest rates says Real Estate Institute of WA public affairs director Lino Iacomella.

Back beach given makeover, Austrade is coming to Bunbury, and the work being done to improve Aboriginal employment prospects.

WA IS on the move – all 2,525,500 square kilometres of it!That was the warning issued by the Department of Land Administration to land owners and leaseholders.

LATEST figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirm that part of the so-called ‘Great Australian Dream’ still includes owning your own home, says LJ Hooker’s Tony Cavallo.

WA’S main barometer of business sentiment has registered another leap in business confidence.

Pemberton’s Tourism and Progress Association is working with the South West Development Commission to develop a master plan for a tourism precinct in a bid to attract more tourists.

LISTED Perth-based property developer Finbar International has forecast continued strong profit and revenue for the remainder of the financial year.

MORE than three quarters of the companies questioned in the latest Dun & Bradstreet Business Expectations Survey admit they are not GST-ready.

EVIDENCE of plantations is growing in the South West as it becomes increasingly difficult to log existing forests.

THE Master Builders Association has expressed disappointment at the way the construction union has responded to the deaths of two workers earlier this year.

MOVES by the Property Council for the centre of Perth to be recognised as a key economic powerhouse in the State economy have borne fruit.

BUNBURY’S new CEO Michael Whitaker has put his first major stamp on the Bunbury City Council since taking office by appointing four new managers to replace the positions previously held by directors.

DOMESTIC sales of wine increased for the seventeenth consecutive month.

THE Kareelya Property Group is capitalising on the growing tourism sector in the South West with a further development in Busselton.

MORE than 12,000 people embarked on new careers as apprentices in the July-September quarter of 1999, according to figures compiled by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

THE WA Government’s budget mid-year review has indicated WA’s financial fortunes have been boosted by a jump in oil royalties.

DEREGULATION in the energy sector will pay off for remote WA and contribute to a second minerals boom as the cost-benefits of the changes are realised by mining groups.

THE economic impact of the 1999 Blues at Bridgetown festival has been estimated at $1.7 million.

A LINK exists between high performing schools and the property values of properties surrounding those schools, says Hegney Property Valuations managing director Gavin Hegney.

THE pre-GST spending spree is far from over, says Hartley Poynton CEO Tim Moore.

THE South West needs to wake up to the benefits tourism brings to the region.