Matt Mckenzie

Turnover for clothing retailers and cafes Australia-wide was halved in April 2020 compared to the same month in 2019, with Deloitte warning employment in some sectors may not recover for five to six years.

Southern Cross Electrical Engineering has won a $40 million contract for services to Energy Queensland, which operates the electricity network in the northern part of that state.

Moves by the federal government to broaden the remit of two climate change agencies have been cautiously welcomed by business leaders, with new rules to promote investment into carbon capture and storage following a review of the government’s emissions reduction fund.

Western Australia has lost about 80,000 jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, proportionally lower than any region other than the Northern Territory; while Bunbury, the Wheatbelt and inner Perth were the hardest hit parts of the state.

Driving growth through productivity, not higher taxes, is Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s key strategy for paying back the COVID-19-accrued debt, with a number of options for tax reform available if he has the ambition.

A $112 million hybrid microgrid to power Gold Fields’ Agnew gold mine has been completed, with 22 megawatts of renewable capacity, a battery, and gas/diesel backup plant in what the company claims is the largest such grid in Australia.

Barley growers in WA’s south are most exposed by growing trade tensions between Australia and China.

Tougher restrictions for securing foreign investment is the latest hurdle for miners seeking to develop projects.

The big iron ore miners are thinking about what’s next in the pipeline after projects such as South Flank and Koodaideri.

The federal government has borrowed nearly $60 billion since December, while 25,000 Western Australians will head back to work as stage one restrictions are lifted, according to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who has been tested for COVID-19 after a coughing fit in parliament.

A consortium including Georgiou Group has been selected as preferred proponent for the Tonkin Highway Gap project, while the state government has also promoted a number of initiatives to support construction jobs.

Central banks have ditched their traditional caution in attempting to stimulate economies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and an ongoing evolution in thinking about monetary policy helps explain why.

Shares in oil junior Jupiter Energy halved today after the company blamed day traders and social media activity for a 100-fold lift in its share price in late April, during which its chairman sold all his stock.

Gnangara-based Pacific Energy will acquire Kewdale’s Hybrid Systems Australia as the company positions itself to support an accelerating roll out of new electricity generation technology, such as standalone power systems.

The Chinese conglomerate behind Pilbara magnetite ore mine Sino Iron has said the operation reported a profit for the first time since it started up in 2013, after higher iron ore prices lifted revenue 15 per cent.

Potential for a hydrogen industry in WA has been ignited in 2020, with at least 12 feasibility studies under way, while the federal government has announced $300 million to support the industry.

A plan to install 15 gigawatts of solar and wind generation capacity in the Pilbara to export electricity to Indonesia has been approved by the Environmental Protection Authority.

Free to read: Malcolm Turnbull spoke to Business News about his life, passion for innovation, and why Australians should feel confident about standing up to China.

Woodside Petroleum’s balance sheet will be in good shape to weather the COVID-19 crisis, chairman Richard Goyder said today, while continuing his calls for the economy to be reopened.

Jupiter Energy chief executive Geoff Gander sold all of his stock in the West Perth-based, Kazakhstan-focussed oil junior last week after a surprise 70-fold surge in the company’s share price.

The state government’s stimulus package is much smaller as a portion of the economy than the federal government’s injections, opposition leader Liza Harvey said today, but Treasurer Ben Wyatt has bit back against her claim the government is hoarding a surplus.

Shares in a West Perth-based oil producer with operations in Kazakhstan have increased 70-fold this week, despite the company shutting down production and the collapse in global oil markets, leading to an ASX intervention.

The operator of Mirrabooka’s Xtreme Ice Arena, Roselink Enterprises, has entered court-ordered liquidation, after a legal dispute with a member of the wealthy Caratti family.

Iron ore exports nearly hit $100 billion in 2019 according to the latest state government data, while sales of gold and LNG reached new highs.

Woodside Petroleum has chosen London-based contractor TechnipFMC to develop the Lambert Deep and Greater Western Flank 3 project, in a contract worth up to $US250 million.

About one in five Western Australians in the hospitality and recreation sectors lost their jobs in a three-week period, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data suggests, while the RBA has flagged an economic recovery could begin in the September quarter with GDP growth accelerating to 7 per cent next year.

A historic overnight collapse in oil markets has not significantly shaken bigger ASX-listed energy producers today, but it does foreshadow continuing uncertainty for one of Western Australia’s largest export industries.

Andrew Forrest has run a nimble and remarkably successful campaign to procure medical equipment from China, while WA’s healthcare community has rallied to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hold the whiskey and the luxury dresses, WA manufacturing has shown its dynamism by shifting to sanitiser, scrubs and masks.

Months of darkness and depression after losing the Liberal Party leadership in 2009 made Malcolm Turnbull a wiser and calmer person, he writes in a new book which goes much deeper than the superficial personality conflicts of politics highlighted in recent media reports.

National LNG export revenue could fall by as much as 40 per cent in 2021 because of a collapse in the oil price, and the industry is unlikely to emerge as Australia’s saving grace as it did during the Global Financial Crisis.

Australia could experience a sustained recession into the second half of 2020, new research from Bank of America predicts, while the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics offers little insight into the impact of shutdowns on unemployment in Western Australia.