Neck and neck as Coalition closes in
Victorian, Queensland and West Australian voters are set to decide the outcome of Saturday’s federal election, with the three states swinging most strongly behind Labor since 2016, despite Scott Morrison remaining the preferred prime minister. The Aus
ScoMo’s blunt warning over union power under Labor
Scott Morrison made his final major pitch to WA voters yesterday, warning of union militancy under a Labor government. It came as Julie Bishop made a rare appearance to help the Prime Minister launch the Liberals’ WA campaign last night. The West
Rinehart’s Roy Hill comes clean about digging the dirt: lots of it
Gina Rinehart’s giant Roy Hill mine has flagged a major rethink of its 55 million tonne Pilbara operations, citing “variable iron ore quality” for a shift in plans that will force the company to move an extra 1.3 billion tonnes of dirt to provide ore that meets its customers’ standards. The Aus
Morrison’s home-buyer plan flawed
The Coalition’s $500 million plan to back first-home buyers who don’t have big enough housing deposits could see banks lift interest rates by 1 per cent to cover the costs of such higher risk loans and possibly deter lenders from participating in the scheme. The Fin
Climate change takes top spot as the most Googled poll issue
Climate change was the most searched political issue and Bill Shorten topped searches of political leaders, according to an analysis of internet search data over the past two weeks. The Fin
Elders boss sees China trade boost in ALP win
Elders managing director Mark Allison says a change in federal government may work in favour of farmers and Australian agriculture by boosting access to the Chinese market. The Fin
Loan plan gets thumbs up from WA
WA real estate heavyweights have dismissed criticisms of Scott Morrison’s new firsthomebuyer loan scheme arguing the program will have a stabilising impact on Perth’s failing house prices. The West
The Australian Financial Review
Page 1: The Coalition’s $500 million plan to back first-home buyers who don’t have big enough housing deposits could see banks lift interest rates by 1 per cent to cover the costs of such higher risk loans and possibly deter lenders from participating in the scheme.
National Australia Bank has blamed the push to transfer internet banking to the cloud and outsourcing to technology service providers for a recent series of embarrassing outages.
Page 2: ACTU leader Michele O’Neil will personally showcase unions’ bid for a 6 per cent increase in the minimum wage while Labor has promised to make a submission for a ‘‘real wage increase’’ on its first day in government.
Page 3: School students sit for the 2019 NAPLAN tests from Tuesday, and advocates of the system say the shift to online testing has undermined the arguments of many NAPLAN critics.
Page 6: Employers say Labor’s promises on increased aged-care staffing and nursing requirements would require extra funding that has not been costed.
Climate change was the most searched political issue and Bill Shorten topped searches of political leaders, according to an analysis of internet search data over the past two weeks.
Page 9: The scrutiny of foreign political donations has pushed both major parties to form organisations aiming to attract younger members of the Chinese Australian community.
Page 14: Morgan Stanley investment bankers stand to reap millions of dollars in fees for leading Uber Technologies’ initial public offering last week. Yet wealthy clients are facing losses.
Page 15: Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s surprise $714 million in new customer compensation costs – taking its bill so far to $2.17 billion – shows the banking and wealth sector is far from settling its massive task of repaying customers.
Page 17: APA Group’s choice of internal candidate Rob Wheals to replace retiring Mick McCormack as chief executive is expected to spark a broader upheaval in the senior ranks at the gas pipeline giant even as its prospects as a takeover target have lessened.
Page 19: A Labor government would strongly back the push for companies to disclose risks to their business from action to limit climate change and will sign government agencies up to the tough new reporting guidelines too, Opposition climate and energy spokesman Mark Butler says.
Page 20: Elders managing director Mark Allison says a change in federal government may work in favour of farmers and Australian agriculture by boosting access to the Chinese market.
Page 24: A quarter of all Australian households will be using internet-connected smart speakers by the end of this year, with Google devices dominating the likes of Amazon Alexa and Apple HomePod in the local market, according to a new study charting the rise of the so-called internet of things (IoT) in Australian homes.
The Australian
Page 1: Scott Morrison has called on independent candidates to declare whether they would support the Coalition or Labor in the event of a hung parliament, as the election contest tightens and the chance of a minority government rises.
Page 4: Google has argued Australia should follow Britain’s lead in providing stronger protections for search engines being sued for defamation for facilitating access to third-party content.
Page 6: John Howard has accused a “sneering’’ Bill Shorten of coming after ordinary, hardworking people with tax increases on their retirement income and housing, saying there is a growing community view “he’s after your savings”.
Page 8: Victorian, Queensland and Western Australian voters are set to decide the outcome of Saturday’s federal election, with the three states swinging most strongly behind Labor since 2016, despite Scott Morrison remaining the preferred prime minister.
Page 12: Saudi Arabia said yesterday two Saudi oil tankers were among four vessels targeted by a “sabotage attack” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, as tensions rise between Iran and the US.
Page 19: Gina Rinehart’s giant Roy Hill mine has flagged a major rethink of its 55 million tonne Pilbara operations, citing “variable iron ore quality” for a shift in plans that will force the company to move an extra 1.3 billion tonnes of dirt to provide ore that meets its customers’ standards.
Page 23: Westpac breached the law by relying on benchmark industry expenditure measures to assess potential mortgage customers rather than using them as a “crosschecking tool”, the corporate regulator told Federal Court yesterday.
The West Australian
Page 5: A change to the way WA students’ NAPLAN results are reported has revealed the full extent of the proportion of children failing to meet expected standards for reading and maths.
Page 10: Pauline Hanson’s day of election campaigning in WA took some odd turns yesterday when she confronted Australia’s first female Muslim MP in Wanneroo about an old lunch date and copped a verbal spray from a daughter of late construction tycoon Len Buckeridge.
WA real estate heavyweights have dismissed criticisms of Scott Morrison’s new firsthomebuyer loan scheme arguing the program will have a stabilising impact on Perth’s failing house prices.
Page 11: Scott Morrison made his final major pitch to WA voters yesterday, warning of union militancy under a Labor government. It came as Julie Bishop made a rare appearance to help the Prime Minister launch the Liberals’ WA campaign last night.
Business: WAFarmers has backed an independent panel of industry people overseeing a review of WA’s animal welfare laws, even though it includes an opponent of the live export trade.
Dairy co-operative Fonterra has sold New Zealand ice-cream brand Tip Top to global giant Froneri for $NZ380 million ($359 million).
Milk production is likely to cease on WA’s biggest dairy farm and the land put to other uses, according to owner Ross Woodhouse.
LNG exporter Mozambique has moved closer to having double the capacity of WA’s giant Gorgon project after Anadarko’s Mozambique LNG project secured another sale ahead of two planned investment decisions in the east-African country this year.
Eclipx Group says it has received interest “from a number of parties” for GraysOnline and Right2Drive, despite the underperforming businesses forcing the company to book up to $130 million in impairments.
Shares in metals hopeful TNG have leapt as much as 45 per cent on the back of its finalisation of an off-take agreement with Swiss group DKSH.
