Matt Mckenzie

Improving accuracy in measuring electricity consumption could provide benefits from the office block to the mine site.

Two Perth entrepreneurs are looking to clean up in the laundry business with new offerings that bring technology and style to an often thankless household chore.

Shares in Carnegie Clean Energy jumped 23 per cent today, with the company likely to receive financial support for an Albany wave project from the newly elected state government, while environmental activists are already putting pressure on uranium miners.

Trans-shipment has been floated as a solution to capacity constraints at bulk export ports in the state’s north.

40under40: Welcomed to Australia after fleeing his home country, Akram Azimi hopes to pay it forward by working to improve education standards for disadvantaged children.

There was a slight dip in the number of Western Australian businesses entering administration in January compared to the same month in 2016, according to the latest data from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

A Hong Kong-based company has joined the share register of live export business Wellard International just days after Holmes a Court family entity Heytesbury Holdings took a stake.

Moves to extend trading hours on weekdays and on Sundays could be a hit with voters, according to a recent survey conducted for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA, with 59 per cent of shoppers keen for longer weekday trade.

Australian Finance Group chief executive Brett McKeon will step aside after 23 years at the helm of the mortgage broker, after leading the company from its founding to an IPO in 2015 and winning the 2006 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award for WA.

The pickup in the state’s economy revealed in the latest GDP data hasn’t flowed through to spending on new cars, with vehicle sales in February 13.7 per cent lower than the same month in 2016.

Employment provider Programmed hopes to increase the number of indigenous employees in the national workforce by 5,000 within a decade, the company said at an announcement with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Generation One founder Andrew Forrest in Canberra today.

GDP has bounced back from a poor showing in the September quarter with December quarter seasonally adjusted growth of 1.1 per cent, while Western Australia snapped a five quarter streak of shrinking state demand to grow 0.4 per cent.

Shares in mining and civil contractor Brierty have tumbled 23 per cent today despite the company announcing a $3.8 million net profit for the six months to December, which the company said was above guidance.

Osborne Park-based heavy equipment supplier Emeco Holdings has reduced its first-half net loss after tax by around 70 per cent, to $31.3 million for the six months to December.

Subiaco-based energy company Australis Oil & Gas has announced an $80 million expansion of its shale acreage in the southern US, amid plans for a $100 million raising.

SPECIAL REPORT: Contractors face hurdles as they bid for work with major companies, and suggest a more open approach might bring benefits.

SPECIAL REPORT: Klen International’s work in the gold sector offers a valuable insight into how Western Australian companies are taking the expertise from the state’s resources industry and developing it well beyond the mine pit.

SPECIAL REPORT: Strong employment growth in the gold sector partially compensated for job losses in iron ore in the 2016 financial year, according to recently released data from the Department of Mines and Petroleum.

SPECIAL REPORT - MINING SERVICES: Higher commodity prices and investment to maintain iron ore volumes could help lift mining contractors out of the doldrums after several tough years. Click through to see this and links to four other feature stories.

West Perth-based Automotive Holdings Group has predicted the state’s automotive market will remain challenging in the short term, as the company reported a 20 per cent fall in net profit after tax in the six months to December.

There’s been a big rise in the exercise of contract termination for convenience clauses in the past four years, according to Jackson McDonald lead partner of projects, infrastructure and construction Basil Georgiou.

The local business that undertook one of the nation’s largest switchable glass projects as part of the development of Perth Children’s Hospital is now planning to target overseas markets.

Private sector wages growth of just 0.1 per cent in Western Australia in the three months to December, matched with recent unemployment figures, suggests the state’s spluttering post-boom recovery has some way to run.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is hoping to put an end to decades of fracking in Western Australia, if the party wins seats in the upcoming state election.

Shares in Atlas Iron fell 9.3 per cent today despite the company returning to after-tax profit in the six months to December on the back of higher volumes and a lift in the iron ore price.

Business representatives have welcomed a move to ease Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for hospitality and retail workers, saying it would be particularly beneficial for reducing unemployment in Western Australia.

Nickel miner Western Areas has returned to positive territory with a net profit of $516,000 in the six months to December.

Woodside Petroleum says it is considering new facilities at Pluto LNG to distribute the fuel in the Pilbara for mining and marine usage, as the company bounced back from large write-downs to post a sharp rebound in profitability for the first half of the 2017 financial year.

The state government's estimate for the cost of a tunnel to complete Roe 9 has fallen dramatically since the option was first floated in 2014, according to documents obtained under freedom of information by Labor.

Western Australia's unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points in January to be 6.5 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms, although the state now has the worst unemployment rate in the nation.

Iron ore miner Citic Pacific will cop a write down of up to $US1 billion on its Sino Iron magnetite operation in the Pilbara, less than a year after the facility completed commissioning.

UPDATE: A snap inquiry into alleged breaches of environmental conditions at the Roe Highway extension project will be held next week, after a motion introduced to Parliament by Greens Senator Scott Ludlam was today backed by the Senate.