Business rebuts tax-cut attacks
A coalition of business groups has launched a blistering attack on Labor and Green opponents of corporate tax cuts, warning they are increasingly demonising employers of 80 per cent of all workers. The Fin
AAA warning over Labor’s plan
Labor leader Bill Shorten has pledged to match the government’s plan to return the budget to balance in five years, but with larger deficits in the four years before that, sparking warnings this could risk the nation’s triple-A credit rating. The Fin
Oil Search CEO ‘confident’ on InterOil deal
Oil Search chief executive Peter Botten maintains he is ‘‘quietly confident’’ his $US2.2 billion ($2.96 billion)-plus takeover deal for Papua New Guinea rival InterOil will get the green light from the US-listed target’s shareholders, but says it will be a ‘‘24-7-type exercise’’ to make sure it gets through. The Fin
China steel exports rise again
China’s politically sensitive steel exports rose again in May while imports of iron ore posted a small increase, as the world’s second largest economy delivered a mixed trade report for the month.
World Bank slashes global economic growth outlook
The global economy is increasingly vulnerable to a sharp slowdown as troubles in emerging markets mount and as advanced economies struggle to grow, the World Bank has warned.
CommBank braces for rate-rigging case
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is bracing for a similar lawsuit to the ones filed against its three competitors for alleged interest rate rigging.
BHP, Wesfarmers push lower tax agenda
The nation’s biggest miner and its largest retail conglomerate have declared that lowering business taxes would make Australia more attractive for investment, a fillip to the Coalition’s economic agenda.
The Financial Review
Page 1: A coalition of business groups has launched a blistering attack on Labor and Green opponents of corporate tax cuts, warning they are increasingly demonising employers of 80 per cent of all workers.
The chief financial officer of the Australian arm of real estate group Colliers International is being sued by his former executive assistant for sexual harassment.
Page 3: Countries that don’t use today’s ultralow interest rate environment to repair their budgets and set their economies on a growth path will rapidly become vulnerable to a ratings downgrade once global borrowing costs normalise, Standard & Poor’s warns in a report.
Page 4: Labor leader Bill Shorten has pledged to match the government’s plan to return the budget to balance in five years, but with larger deficits in the four years before that, sparking warnings this could risk the nation’s triple-A credit rating.
Page 6: Former defence minister and Ambassador to the United States Kim Beazley has been appointed to the board of Lockheed Martin Australia, a position he says will give him an insider’s view of a transformation under way in Australia’s defence industries.
Page 8: Labor Party leaders snubbed Australia’s annual oil and gas summit in Brisbane after concern in the industry that the opposition’s plan to impose export restrictions on gas threatens investment.
Page 9: Australians believe China is already more powerful in the region than the US and have a more neutral approach to the two competing powers than other key Asian countries, according to a major regional research project.
A new way of calculating health insurance premiums that could limit increases to 2.5 per cent a year and a website to grade health policies from ‘‘junk’’ to ‘‘platinum’’ are being pushed by Graeme Samuel, an adviser to the government’s private health insurance review until a few months ago.
Page 12: China’s politically sensitive steel exports rose again in May while imports of iron ore posted a small increase, as the world’s second largest economy delivered a mixed trade report for the month.
Page 15: Oil Search chief executive Peter Botten maintains he is ‘‘quietly confident’’ his $US2.2 billion ($2.96 billion)-plus takeover deal for Papua New Guinea rival InterOil will get the green light from the US-listed target’s shareholders, but says it will be a ‘‘24-7-type exercise’’ to make sure it gets through.
Page 15: Veterinary and pet shop chain Greencross is aiming to grab a bigger share of the $7.2 billion pet-care market from mass-market retailers such as Woolworths and Coles after sending its private-equity suitors packing.
Page 17: Key players in the Dick Smith drama will face a public grilling this year and be compelled to answer questions under oath over the collapse of the electronics chain in January.
Page 18: The $1.3 billion float of online music streaming business Guvera may not be cleared by the Australian Securities Exchange, which is still deciding on whether to grant a listing.
Rio Tinto has shored up its balance sheet for what it expects will be a prolonged period of pain in the mining industry by launching its second debt buyback in the space of two months.
Page 19: The corporate regulator will allow fintech start-ups to test their ideas with real customers for six months without having to hold a financial services licence, under a new ‘‘regulatory sandbox’’ proposed by Treasurer Scott Morrison in the May budget.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is bracing for a similar lawsuit to the ones filed against its three competitors for alleged interest rate rigging.
Page 20: Evolution Mining chairman Jake Klein says the string of big deals that Australian mid-tier gold companies have made to grow their portfolios and attract global investor interest is all but over.
Sensible dividend policies would have gone some way towards averting the $US199 billion ($267 billion) wasted by the world’s biggest miners on failed capital expenditure at the height of the commodities boom.
Qantas Airways, which could complete a $500 million on-market buyback by the end of this week, looks increasingly likely to return more cash to shareholders with its full-year results in August despite its recent warning of tougher market conditions.
Page 25: Clough’s new chief executive has told gas producers that putting the screws on contractors is not the answer to cost hurdles for new projects and they should focus instead on better collaboration and project definition.
Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman isn’t totally ruling out a larger, scrip-based acquisition, but would keep the cap on any cash deal at about $US1 billion.
Page 39: Lending to property investors grew at its slowest pace in nearly two years in April as loan restrictions to foreign and investor buyers tightened.
The Australian
Page 3: West Australians are rethinking their opposition to a Queensland style catch-and-kill shark policy after two fatal attacks that threaten the coastal way of life, Premier Colin Barnett says.
Page 5: Port Adelaide Football Club’s ambitious move to capture Chinese interest has landed the club the most watched home-and-away game in AFL history.
Page 7: The nation’s biggest miner and its largest retail conglomerate have declared that lowering business taxes would make Australia more attractive for investment, a fillip to the Coalition’s economic agenda.
Page 9: Labor is engaging in a childcare ruse “more deceitful than money laundering” because it is shuffling money it does not have to pay for its promises, claims Social Services Minister Christian Porter.
Page 10: David Cameron said remaining part of the EU was the “British thing to do” as he faced senior Eurosceptic Nigel Farage in a television grilling two weeks before a knife-edge referendum.
Page 19: Local and offshore property developers are pulling back, quietly shelving or delaying projects as a perfect storm of tightening lending, rising building costs, a drop in Chinese buyers and an impending apartment oversupply bites.
Page 21: One of China’s biggest investors in Australian agriculture has called for more certainty and transparency around Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
A former ANZ financial adviser has been banned for one year because he was not adequately trained or competent to provide the relevant financial services.
Page 21: Fortescue Metals Group would have struggled to achieve what it has were it subject to the new crackdown on forward-looking statements that has sent angst through the junior resources industry, says Fortescue’s billionaire chairman Andrew Forrest.
Page 25: The global economy is increasingly vulnerable to a sharp slowdown as troubles in emerging markets mount and as advanced economies struggle to grow, the World Bank has warned.
The West Australian
Page 1: An audit of Perth’s long-delayed $1.2 billion children’s hospital has warned that the State Government cannot rely on claims by builder John Holland that its contractors have been paid for the Nedlands project.
Page 6: WA needs 86 new childcare centres or the average centre needs to accommodate three more children to cope with demand, data analysis shows.
Page 14: The ANZ bank warned Pankaj Oswal’s wife the Indian businessman could go to jail for fraud if she did not cover almost $US1 billion in debts, a court has been told.
Page 16: Nationals leader Terry Redman has argued regional WA should receive funding in good and bad economic times, amid calls from political parties to rein in the Royalties for Regions fund.
Page 18: Billionaire Andrew Forrest has told a Perth mining conference that the Federal Government should cancel family benefit payments for the parents of truants, describing the failure to ensure children attend school as lunacy and child abuse.
Page 50: Wellard is staring down the barrel of a second profit downgrade within six months of a much-hyped float of its livestock export and shipping operations.
BHP Billiton has outlined plans for a massive new Pilbara iron ore mine that could eventually replace its 80 million tonne-a-year Yandi operation, northwest of Newman.
Investors will closely watch Aspen Group’s next move after a sudden and sweeping leadership overhaul which bears the hallmarks of a board falling-out.