Mark Pownall

It’s a forlorn sight, stuck between the new Perth Arena indoor stadium to be built by BGC and the dormant wastelands of the stalled Northbridge Link project.

So, the argument goes on for another week about the proposed new sports stadium for Perth.

Attorney - General Jim McGinty’s battle with The West Australian newspaper last week was absurd and very disappointing.

If there’s two kinds of businesses I have never really grasped, it’s the fields of motivational speaking and network marketing.

South African-born businessman Norman Asch has struck a $5 million deal to sell his Webfirm business to Melbourne-based search engine and online media company Ansearch Ltd.

I’m not a real fan of budget week.

Collie is at the crossroads of Western Australia’s water debate in more ways than one.

A newly released Western Australian study has found that small businesses are far more active in terms of corporate social responsibility than previously thought.

The industrial relations genie is now out – Australian Workplace Agreements aren’t bad for everybody.

For those with an eye for politics, the past week’s discussion on Australian Workplace Agreements puts Western Australia at the forefront of the debate.

Getting things done in regional Western Australia may have its frustrations – amplified right now by skills shortages and overstretched bureaucracy – but Barry Humfrey reckons local knowledge is the key to success.

Dome Coffees co-founder Patria Jafferies has vowed to play a hands-on role at the Small Business Development Corporation after being chosen by the state government to chair the organisation.

We have a few great columnists whose fine work is to be found in the back half of this paper.

Morley-based Coventry Group Ltd has issued a big mea culpa on problems with a range of key initiatives, announcing that chairman Roger Flynn will take executive control of the business following the resignation of CEO Chris Glenn.

Like many other Western Australians, I enjoy wines from the state. Admittedly, my loyalty to WA-only products has waned over the years as I have learned to appreciate that our winemakers have some worthy competition elsewhere around the globe.

Wealth is strange subject which we have shied away from for many years.

The sleeping giant of Western Australia has definitely awoken, with the Perth-based Wesfarmers Ltd confirming it had secured more than 11 per cent of national supermarket player Coles Ltd worth $2.2 billion.

Two weeks ago I had to make a presentation to a sizeable group of businesspeople.

This week's WA Business News looks at the managed investment scheme business, a major sector in WA which is at the crossroads due to new federal rules, as well as WA lobbyists form their own lobby group, Kim Schlunke's new transport system and much more.

The current decision to end managed investment scheme involvement in any industry bar forestry has significant repercussions for rural Australia, not to mention the legion of city-based corporate types who have lived well off this system.

I very much appreciate state opposition leader Paul Omodei focusing attention back on the Perth foreshore.

Former Perth engineer Tony Inglis was back in town last week following up on a local contract won by his UK-based CTC Marine Projects Ltd.

Astute readers will have noted my absence during the past few weeks.

It is something of a familiar tale in corporate Western Australia – expatriates and those working on the east coast struggling to find a suitable job when they want to return.

It never rains but it pours, so they say.

Stamp duty on housing transactions is something that I have kept a weather eye on, to some degree, for the past year or two.

While the retail trading hours debate has waned for the time being, I thought I’d throw a little bit of fresh light on the subject from a personal perspective.

Beazley Medallist Chris Mofflin has ended a recent run of interstate departures by the state’s top school students by accepting a place at the University of Western Australia.

Investors may well be reaping what they sowed with Alinta’s management buy-out, having installed the management and then let them build a national giant.

AIM-listed Davos Resources Plc has agreed to pay more than $71 million for the key assets of failed group Croesus Mining NL, whose remnants are also subject to a recapitalisation offer from company rehabilitators, Ascent Capital Holdings Pty Ltd.

The Alinta Ltd management buy out has resulted in a massive amount of commentary this past week, much of it unflattering to those behind the move.

Asian discount carrier Tiger Airways has added the busy Perth-Singapore route to its scheduled flights, with plans to fly four times weekly from March with fares as low as $292 return.