Mark Pownall

I DON’T mean to bore regular readers with an endless repetition of my views on a select group of topics but I have to write a brief note to reiterate a point I have made several times about immigration.

WATER, the ageing population, energy and global trade are all issues regularly touched on by WA Business News.

RESEARCH and development are the lifeblood of a business’s future.

MARGARET River-based winemaker Palandri has confirmed a May 13 listing on London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, which will result in new investors taking up to 30

AFTER a false start our Legal Elite is up and running and the first few nomination forms came trickling in

Attorney-General Jim McGinty’s proposed magistrates court reform legislation has prompted concern for those chasing small debts.  

AFTER seven years at the helm of BankWest, Terry Budge is entering his last month in what was one of WA’s highest profile corporate roles.

I’VE noticed there’s a lot of talk about marginal tax rates suddenly.

BankWest chief executive Terry Budge is preparing to leave the job after seven years at the top, but he remains concerned about overzealous corporate regulation, as Mark Pownall reports.

NO matter what anyone says about young people today or the litigious nature of our society, every now and then something turns all that sour stuff on its head.

A VITAL component in the establishment of export markets is promoting products and services at overseas exhibitions – but the heavy price of this process has led one Perth-based company to offer a way to make this investment more cost effective. Previous

I WAS quite staggered this week to find that Alinta’s general manager of corporate communications David Franklyn had quit over his former employer’s $1.69 billion bid to buy the Australian and New Zealand assets of Duke Energy.

IT’S easy when you spend a short time away from Perth to find the grass is greener elsewhere, especially when you are on holidays.

FAITH was a big word washing around investor circles following the $1.69 billion deal by Alinta to take over the Australian and New Zealand assets of the US-based Duke Energy Group.

I HAVE been doing as much analysis of the free trade agreement with the US as possible and I simply can’t understand the objections that are arising from vested interests around the country, led by sugar growers.

PERHAPS growing a wine business is a bit like consuming a good red – you have to take the time to savour the taste.

HOW things change in a week.

ERIC Ripper should resign. At least that’s the call made by numerous people during the past week as the State’s Energy Minister has copped the full brunt of our displeasure at being deprived of air-conditioning, among other power services.

The judges’ job is getting tougher each year, according to Mark Pownall, who says the problem’s not a dearth of talent, but rather its abundance.

SWIFTEL chief executive Chris Gale looked like a man with a clear conscience as he mingled with the corporate crowd at the weekend’s Leeuwin Concert.

DARREN Haunold’s story of personal courage, tenacity and vision shone out among this year’s collection of 40under40 nominees.

Time for a little political transparency THE superannuation debate that flared up and lit a spot fire, until Prime Minister John Howard doused it with an opportunistic sprinkling of cynical politics, is worth a brief discussion.

THE article below is as complicated as a business story can get. The man at the centre of it is at the helm of a public company, yet his private business dealings raise many questions.

THE free trade agreement with the US is obviously the talking point this week.

WORKERS’ compensation is such a minefield that it rarely raises a wrinkle on the public’s brow until there is a major catastrophe.

TOO often in publishing we are accused of always seeking out the negative. Well, WA Business News tries where it can to balance the ledger and find the positive stories.

SWIFTEL Ltd CEO Chris Gale will have to shell out $100,000 in the next few weeks as part of a deal with the creditors of his private business interests, who have been trying to salvage about $1.2 million in debts.

FORMER Bond Corp executive Tony Oates is considering a fourth bail application, hoping that the presence of his wife in Perth and the purchase of an Australian business will help sway the WA Supreme Court.

MY research for last week’s editorial on petrol prices gave me reason to call the RAC for comment on the issue.

FUEL prices are not something I get worked up over very often.

THE Wine Industry Association of Western Australia walked into a storm when it announced that our State had a glut of red wine and that millions of litres were sitting unsold from last vintage.

PLANTATION player Timbercorp has ended talks with Futuris Corp over a planned joint venture to manage 167,000 hectares of mainly blue gum forests in Western Australia and Victoria.