Mark Pownall

A $US2.3 billion contract awarded by Chevron has been lauded as a significant contribution to local content; but the deal, the biggest single agreement for the Gorgon project so far, is unlikely to temper the fierce debate about the amount of work taking

The way our public transport network is run is unsustainable.

Be wary of what may fill the space vacated by the passing of the scandal-plagued News of the World.

In a week offering a mixed bag of economic news, word that Perth has leapt up the league table of expensive cities to live in may elicit conflicting emotions among those who observe the data closely.

IT should come as no surprise that the biggest and most common issue confronting a bunch of successful Western Australian companies is that of labour - getting and keeping the skills they need to meet the strong demand they are seeing.

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has been at pains to outline the detail in her carbon tax for voters she is attempting to insulate from her plan, but many of Western Australia’s major industry sectors, which face the direct impact from the impost, rema

A strong theme among Ernst & Young’s western region finalists for the Entrepreneur of the Year is the technology businesses that have developed to service the resources sector.

The financial disaster called the Office of Shared Services explodes the myth that bigger is better – a lesson for everyone, including health officials, who thinks centralising bureaucracy is anything but about consolidating power.

THE towns of Cambridge and Vincent want to reunite the elements of the old area of Leederville divided by the Mitchell Freeway as part of a plan to develop key pockets of land isolated by modern transport infrastructure.

WHEN the newly installed chairman of Murchison Metals invoked the name of Italian Renaissance figure Niccolo Machiavelli this week, the only surprise to some watchers of the Oakajee port project was that it took so long for the master of political intrigu

What is it with academics and their desire to sign proclamations about what is right or wrong?

ONE house fire in Swanbourne may not be enough to raise widespread concern about rooftop solar generation, but the incident is more significant than any damage the NSW state government found before it raised the alarm bells about these units last week.

Are we about to see a repeat of the pink batts drama relived in slow motion on rooftops equipped with solar photovoltaic systems? A NSW government audit certainly raises this spectre.

Ports such as Fremantle and Oakajee are vital, yet problematic, for the state’s development.

Should the military be used to stimulate development in the north-west?

THE state government believes Fremantle’s peak container capacity will not be reached until at least the end of the decade, with traffic to grow as much as 140 per cent before new facilities have to be built in Cockburn Sound.

PROPERTY developer Nigel Satterley wants the state to temporarily cut stamp duty rates and boost the first homeowners’ grant to kick-start the wallowing residential property market.

NATIONAL property developer Stockland has boosted its Western Australian residential land holdings by almost 40 per cent to close the big gap between it and local leaders, Satterley and Peet.

Could the elevation of the word ‘bogan’ to the highest levels of Australia’s government be yet another sign of Western Australia’s growing influence in the nation?

One of FMG’s earliest backers has been divesting.

THE beleaguered northern pastoral sector could be one of the beneficiaries of the state government’s recently released Kimberley conservation strategy, which includes references to relaxing restrictions on the use of grazing leases.

Is public transport a victim of its own success or a wasteful rort?

MORE than a year after it was expected, the state government has unveiled its Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy, a $63 million plan to cautiously protect the region’s most important cultural and natural assets.

The state government has snubbed private Kwinana port developer James Point Pty Ltd with a new plan to significantly expand Fremantle harbour's container capacity and start another review of the 'outer harbour' options at Cockburn Sound.

The sell down of Fortescue Metals Group shares by US-based Leucadia National Corporation marks a realisation of one of the resources boom’s most profitable punts - but by no means heralds its exit as major investor in Andrew Forrest’s miner.

Public transport users ought to be wary of complaining too loudly about squeezing onto packed trains during increasingly busy peak travel times because history has a habit of repeating itself.

Western Australia-based health fund HBF has offloaded its general insurance business to national giant IAG’s subsidiary, CGU, for an undisclosed sum as part of a strategy to focus on its core business.

CONSTRUCTION giant BGC is in the early stages of developing an offshore cement production capacity as it looks to offset the risks of manufacturing in Australia amid rising costs, notably the potential for a carbon tax.

THE common perception of the resources sector may be one of hum drum processes such as digging and drilling, but Belmont oil and gas services business Velocious proves that there are plenty of intellectual challenges in this sector for local players who p

The northern cattle industry has been hit hard by the suspension of the cattle trade with Indonesia.

LOCAL industrial giant Wesfarmers’ move to commit $45 million to further develop its plans for a massive upgrade of its ammonium nitrate plant at Kwinana further muddies the waters surrounding the future of Western Australia’s fast-growing explosives mark