Mark Pownall

THE One.Tel debacle has led to unprecedented calls to end corporate greed, even from politicians who themselves are being examined for their own indulgent superannuation system.

THE tax-effective investment world will be closely watching a major test case in the Federal Court which started this week between the Australian Taxation Office and promoter Budplan.

AGRO-FORESTRY group ITC’s capital raising of between $13 million and $15 million is more than a cosmetic effort to improve its appeal to foreign interests.

BEEF prices might be up but almost no-one is speculating that moves by Warren Anderson’s Tipperary Developments on two Kimberley pastoral stations have anything to do with cattle.

AS the convention saga continues, Business News offers its support to the tourism industry, which must start to hurt when so much uncertainty exists.

THE Australian Taxation Office has referred up to a dozen tax-effective investment scheme promoters to other authorities and regulators, including the National Crime Authority.

BUSINESS people praying for some economic stimulation from the Federal Govern-ment’s Budget will be disappointed.

PETER Costello’s sixth Federal Budget might have delivered little that business wasn’t already expecting, but the corporate world should not be too disappointed.

TAX practitioners offered caustic responses to the Budget announcements claiming to have found little more than one substantial tax change – the decision to bring forward by a year the full input tax credits for the purchase of motor

THE fortunes of WA construction giant Multiplex are not tied to the $330 million Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre project.

ASK any stockbroker about the current market and you are unlikely to get much enthusiasm.

MINING group turned wine investor Tuart Resources is dealing with a $200,000 hangover from its February purchase of Nelson Ridge, the company behind WA’s biggest vineyard development.

AMBERLEY Estate’s managing director and chief winemaker Eddie Price expects to quit the Margaret River operation at the end of the month when a deal to sell to Palandri is hoped to be completed.

THE Federal Government has unveiled a $500 million rescue package for the estimated 28,000 victims of the collapse of insurance giant HIH.

IN something of a rarity for a family company, Alex Kailis is the third member of his family to run the group, yet he is only a second generation member.

THE state of Australia’s economy remained a sticky call this week with the release of a flood of variant data from ANZ, Reserve Bank, Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry reports.

SHOULD anyone be surprised that business is delaying paying bills, extending the time it has taken to meet creditors’ demands by 10 per cent in two years?

TURMOIL in the tax-effective market has prompted WA wine company Evans & Tate to drop plans to use a Managed Invest-ment Scheme structure to fund its Australasian Vineyard Trust.

TWENTY WA liquor stores trading under the Porters banner will have to wait at least two weeks before the future of their brand is known following Coles-Myer’s bid for its owner.

FRANCHISING is one of those odd concepts in business which create mixed feelings for market watchers.The franchise, by its very nature, limits creativity yet it still provides the flexibility to all grow faster than almost any business.

I WAS amused to read the rantings of the latest protest movement in a bright green flyer that was being handed at the bus drivers strike meetings by people holding copies of Socialist Worker.

PETER Costello’s long awaited announcement on the future on Royal Dutch Shell’s bid on Woodside Petroleum has ended months of speculation on whether the takeover bid could proceed under Australia’s foreign investment guidelines.

THERE are a lot of relieved people in WA following the Federal Government’s decision to block Shell’s bid.

WINE services group 1Auswines.com has shelved its Internet and retail plans for an outlet at the West Perth site of the Perth Ice Works to concentrate on its bottling and storage plans.

TAX scheme investors have won a reprieve in their long-running battle against the Australian Taxation Office but underneath the seemingly united front there are big differences on just how the matter should be resolved.

THE WA Wine Industry Association has opened a new education facility in Perth’s northern suburbs, the first in a series of planned metropolitan satellite centres aimed at improving the public’s knowledge of wine.

A SHAPELY set of legs featured in a new city apartment advertising campaign caused a stir at last week’s City of Perth council meeting as councillors debated whether it was simply stylish or just plain sexist.

THE furore in WA over the heavily marketed tax schemes appears to be gaining an increasing profile in Canberra, with the matter being given a big airing at Federal Cabinet this week.

Australia’s listed investment companies have been “out of favour” for more than a year, ever since new capital gains tax rules were announced, but for many investors it may be timely to reconsider this sector.

FIRST it was the graphic designers now we see it in the world of interior design – complaints from local industry that they don’t get a fair go when it comes to big State Government contracts.

WHO says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? One of Perth’s best known faces, Robert Ruse claims to have put his past behind him and is ready for another crack at business with a new venture.

Agricultural scheme pro-moters are reeling at the latest blow to their industry, with regulators chang-ing the rules about prospectus fore-casts in the middle of the key marketing period.