Mark Beyer

The state government has suspended or deferred capital works projects worth $565 million to make room for its preferred projects in areas like health, power and water.

The centrepiece of the state government's 2007 budget is a $433 million tax relief package targeted at first home buyers, property owners and motor vehicle buyers.

Economic Regulation Authority chairman Lyndon Rowe has praised the state government's contentious increase in water tariffs even through the government did not fully accept the ERA's advice.

Plans by listed mining company CI Resources Ltd to revive its fortunes by appointing new directors, including former state development minister Clive Brown, have suffered a major setback after the federal government rejected plans for new mining leases on

Perth inventor and entrepreneur Steven Goh has bounced back from his troubles at online stockbroking firm Sanford Ltd by attracting $US10 million in venture capital funding for his new technology company and emerging from bankruptcy.

The state government has backed away from plans to merge its key science and technology advisory bodies, preferring instead to make only small changes to the structure of its Science and Innovation Council.

Reforms to improve the handling of commercial disputes in Western Australia’s court system have had a very positive impact, Chief Justice Wayne Martin said this week.

This year’s $US32 billion ($A40 billion) takeover of US power utility TXU was famous for being the world’s biggest private equity deal, but it has also become renowned for the role of environmental activists.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd has revised a 2004 iron ore sales agreement with Chinese company Fengli Group Ltd to include a joint marketing agreement for 'excess' production.

Straits Resources Ltd's low-profile chairman David Toms has resigned from the company's board after selling his entire shareholding for $120 million.

The battle for control of energy company Alinta Ltd hotted up again today after Macquarie Bank Ltd and AGL Energy Ltd confirmed they were in negotiations that could lead to a new takeover offer.

Belmont-based industrial services company Paladio Ltd has announced its fourth and by far biggest acquisition in the past year, with plans to buy Karratha construction company Decmil Australia Pty Ltd for $50 million in cash and scrip.

West Perth-based gold miner Gleneagle Gold Ltd has been placed in administration after the company failed to deal with commissioning problems at its Fortnum gold project, which commenced production in July last year.

The federal government has announced plans for a High Court appeal to confirm the powers of the Takeovers Panel, following a surprise Federal Court ruling in a case involving Alinta Ltd that cast doubt on the future of the panel.

The Geraldton Iron Ore Alliance has sought to win support from the state government by releasing a study that predicts mining projects in the Mid West region will provide a massive boost to economic growth and employment.

Maintaining good working relationships with external lawyers is much more important than introducing alternative billing arrangements when it comes to managing legal costs, according to legal counsel surveyed by WA Business News.

The Takeovers Panel has concluded that its operations should be able to continue effectively despite a Federal Court ruling last month that cast doubt on its future.

Three substantial commercial law firms have been established in Perth in the past year and each has adopted a fundamentally different strategy and business model.

The booming WA economy has prompted many businesses to establish or expand their in-house legal teams, creating new professional opportunities for lawyers and new challenges for law firms selling their wares.

An increased amount of litigation and regulatory action over the disclosure practices of listed companies has become one of the main risks facing company directors.

Construction company Laing O’Rourke Ltd and the Dampier Port Authority hired two of Perth’s top law firms last year when they became enmeshed in a complex dispute over the building of a new jetty; but that hasn’t helped them achieve an effective outcome.

Seven months after releasing its first prospectus, and in the face of strident criticism from the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia, Perth company Integrated Legal Holdings Ltd is pushing ahead with plans for a share market float.

The Legal Practice Board of Western Australia has taken the unprecedented step of publicly criticising the planned stockmarket float of Integrated Legal Holdings Ltd, which plans to acquire three Perth law firms.

Investment bank Babcock & Brown has invested an estimated $300 million in Gordon Martin's Coogee Resources Ltd, five months after Coogee scrapped plans for a $380 million public share offer and stockmarket float.

Steel fabricators in Western Australia have experienced a slowdown in work volumes during the past six months, despite the boom in resource and infrastructure projects across the state.

When the Water Corporation was established in 1996, its first chairman was a former state government minister, Peter Jones.

Kwinana-based engineering and fabrication company, Ausclad Group of Companies Ltd, has won Australia’s top national award for workplace health and safety management.

Curtin University and Woodside Petroleum Ltd have teamed up to develop a $2.5 million research facility designed to improve the extraction of oil and gas from deepwater reserves.

The LNG industry has been a significant contributor to Western Australia’s resources boom and has been on the brink of making a much larger contribution, but rising costs and skills shortages have once again pushed back the likely start date for some of t

Two of Western Australia’s biggest companies, Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Iluka Resources Ltd, have adopted major changes to their executive remuneration schemes to provide more effective incentives.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd has revised its development plans, admitting that giant gas projects proposed for the north of Western Australia will have to be developed sequentially because of shortages of skilled labour and contractors.

Western Australia’s water and electricity utilities are planning further big increases in their capital works spending, to nearly $1 billion a year, as they seek to keep up with fast-growing demand.