Matt Mckenzie

A lengthy leadership transition provided Richard Goyder with the ideal preparation for his role as Wesfarmers’ boss in 2005, the outgoing managing director told today’s Business News Success & Leadership breakfast.

Chinese demand for Australian natural resources could be on a longer-term path of slow growth, although a major international development project could bring some benefits.

SPECIAL REPORT: Only a small number of oil and gas players in the Perth Basin are moving forward on projects.

SPECIAL REPORT: Ongoing uncertainty over state government policy and a lengthy approvals process are muddying the waters for local energy hopefuls.

Former Canaccord Genuity head of energy Asia Pacific, Angus Walker, has taken over the helm of Perth Basin energy producer Empire Oil & Gas today after the resignation of managing director Ken Aitken.

Tokyo-based Inpex’s Ichthys LNG project will provide a $34 billion boost to incomes in Western Australia across the period to 2050, and generate about $73 billion of tax revenue, according to an economic impact report by Acil Allen Consulting released today.

Schools, aged care facilities, shopping centres and bars are among the eclectic mix of establishments installing solar panels, amid predictions commercial rooftop installations could grow by nearly a gigawatt in Perth and surrounds by 2037.

RCR Tomlinson has lost the latest round in a long-running legal action against a former executive who was dismissed in 2009, and will pay nearly $300,000 in retirement benefits after the company's appeal failed.

SPECIAL REPORT: Backdoor-listed technology businesses and mining hopefuls have joined the state’s top performers in financial year 2016 in Business News’s annual analysis of total shareholder returns.

Olive oil, chocolate, avocados, marron and cider are among a number of Western Australian products that are ideal for local industry to target as premium markets, according to a report commissioned by the Department of Agriculture and food released Thursday night.

Sydney-based AGL made its long-awaited entry to the Perth gas market this week, with price cuts and a range of customer incentives underpinning the company’s offering as the sector’s newest player in the domestic gas sector.

Grain handling cooperative CBH Group’s partially owned subsidiary, Interflour, has officially opened a new malt production facility in Vietnam, which it said would give Western Australian farmers better access to the Asian nation’s beer market.

AWE has reported more positive drilling results at its half-owned Waitsia gas field near Dongara, which it has previously said could be the biggest onshore gas discovery in WA for 50 years.

Local universities risk losing much of the income derived from international students if they don’t rethink their curriculums and entry requirements, according to the chief of a prominent Asia-Australia business advocacy group.

An upgrade to a meat processing plant at Katanning, a chicken feed mill in Muchea, a new piggery at Moora and a live lobster holding facility in Welshpool are the latest in a string of investments that will boost the agribusiness sector in Western Australia.

East coast-based companies AGL Energy and Origin Energy have received approval to enter Western Australia’s domestic gas market, where they will join Wesfarmers subsidiary Kleenheat and Alinta Energy.

The red tape facing some businesses is having consequences beyond merely increasing compliance costs, according to chair of the federal government’s Black Economy Taskforce Michael Andrews, and is a contributing factor in tax evasion far more significant than any similar activity undertaken by multinationals.

SPECIAL REPORT: From storage to bookkeeping, Perth’s startup scene has found solutions to a range of problems many small businesses grapple with.

SPECIAL REPORT: Technological change is making parts of small business, such as managing accounts and chasing up invoices, less time and cost intensive.

A battle for control of the Earl Grey lithium deposit near Southern Cross between junior miners Kidman Resources and Marindi Metals will get under way in the Supreme Court today, with the trial expected to conclude within three to five days.

Graphite players have posted strong share price gains in the past 12 months and raised $66 million between them, but they are struggling to kick off production of the mineral. 

A Queensland business that uses sensors to detect unexploded bombs in former conflict zones in South-East Asia and Europe is now using its technology to help iron ore miners find pieces of equipment that have broken off in stockpiles.

A local startup is hoping to simplify some of the complexities that can arise when lending money to friends or relatives, bringing formality to agreements valued at $20 billion a year nationally.

If the thought of a premium branded wine or a high-end snack makes your taste buds tingle, Graham Ferguson’s psychophysical technology would be able to measure it.

West Perth-based fund manager NWQ has opened an office in New York as part of the business’s first foray into the US market.

More than 13,000 Western Australians found jobs in April in seasonally adjusted terms, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as unemployment in the state dropped 0.6 percentage points to 5.9 per cent.

Western Australian farmers are among the most optimistic in the nation, according to the annual Commonwealth Bank of Australia Agi Insights report to be released today, with 39 per cent likely to be investing in their businesses in the year ahead.

Poultry producer Ingham’s Chicken will invest more than $70 million to build a new feed mill near Muchea as part of a plan to grow production volumes in Western Australia.

BHP Billiton will begin dropping the "Billiton" from its name in a process beginning this week, and has signalled a further plan to eventually change its registered name, too.

Belgium and Luxembourg have been among the biggest contributors to growing overseas investment in Australia, as the level of foreign-owned assets in Australia doubled in the past 10 years to hit nearly $3.2 trillion at the end of calendar 2016.

Ratings agencies Moody’s and S&P have downgraded the debt of agribusiness Qunitis, while private equity fund Black Rock revealed it had taken a 5.1 per cent stake in the company.

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies has strongly criticised a federal government decision to abolish the exploration development incentive tax concession, which it warns will have severe consequences in a climate where exploration is already soft.