Mark Pownall

WHILE the only way is up for developments in Scarborough – with at least five buildings above eight stories approved late last year – the beachside precinct still has some way to go before its transformation as modern tourism district is complete.

THE state government is moving to the next phase of its redevelopment of the Perth Cultural Centre, with six tenders currently being advertised from which a team of consultants will be selected to develop a master plan for the precinct.

PROJECTS in the Perth CBD and Midland worth a collective $155 million have brought the total value of developments on the books of listed property group Diploma Construction to $560 million.

The sudden departure of the Oswals leaves many questions unanswered.

Profits tax debate has an echo of past policy.

THE problems besetting the Oswal family’s key Australian interest, Burrup Holdings, have changed the dynamics of a three-way race to meet the next generation of explosives demand as a result of the massive expansion of the Pilbara’s iron ore production

A high level meeting of the key players in the Chinese-owned Sino Iron project in Beijing has confirmed the delay-plagued Pilbara magnetite production plant would be commissioned this July.

MICHAEL Smith believes being a Perth-based director helps him juggle time because the four-hour-plus flying time (to anywhere) provides a cocoon for him to get things done.

THE small number of women on the boards of Australia’s leading companies is clearly at the forefront of the minds of leading Western Australian directors.

WHILE some of the resources sector’s IPOs did extraordinarily well in 2010, there were plenty of companies already on the ASX that outperformed the best of the newcomers.

Eric Ripper's gilding the lily a bit when he spruiks Labor's record on tax reform

THE landscape has changed for Western Australians who want to be on the boards of national companies, according to some of the state’s leading directors.

Perth’s leading non-executive directors consider the issues that are most important to them.

VETERAN director Peter Mansell continues to rebuild his corporate portfolio with an appointment to a special advisory role with emerging resources investor Hanlong Mining Investment.

The argument over online retail and GST comes down to one’s interpretation of a ‘level playing field’.

THE mining sector is often portrayed as the most rudimentary of industries, simply digging up dirt and shipping it to Asia.

Perth-based driver Rosco McGlashan wants local businesses to help him beat the land speed record.

Government interference in the taxi industry doesn’t seem to be helping things.

The mining tax and the accompanying political shenanigans were not the only events of 2010, even though it might have felt like that for many business leaders in Western Australia.

It remains to be seen if the nation’s mining leaders retain their high-visibility profiles on the next stage.

WHEN Colin Barnett chose to play the states’ rights card just before Christmas 2009 it seemed like a strategy with a hint of desperation.

THE specialist group set up to negotiate with miners the fine print of the revamped mining tax probably has just one job – to keep the industry from again uniting behind a major political campaign like it did for six weeks in the middle of this year.

Major mining investment house Resource Capital Funds has had a freezing order on some of its assets lifted after reaching agreement with the Australian Taxation Office just two days before it was due in court to argue its case.

Major mining investment house Resource Capital Funds has had a freezing order on $42 million worth of its assets lifted after reaching agreement with the Australian Taxation Office just two days before it was due in court to argue its case.

Are we somehow fearful of the freedoms we have inherited during the past 50 years?

THE state government’s progress on restructuring its $11 billion superannuation fund is being watched closely as business looks for opportunities and unions highlight concerns they have with outsourcing plans.

ONE the biggest and most active investors in Australia’s junior mining sector, Resource Capital Funds, has become embroiled in a dispute with the Australian Tax Office just weeks after the tax man concluded an investigation into its founder.

Western Australia's dominant health fund HBF has dismissed speculation about a merger with UK-owned Bupa to create the nation's biggest health insurer.

N a city where people are used to being 20 minutes from anywhere, a bit of traffic congestion can really get the blood boiling.

Some of the arguments against a coal mine near Margaret River ignore the reality of development in the area.

THE passing of entrepreneur Kevin Parry last weekend severs yet another link with the heady days of the 1980s from which Western Australia earned its ‘wild west’ tag.

THE Western Australian Institute for Medical Research has won a $2.4 million grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation to fund a scanner for imaging tumours.