Obama grabs second chance – The Fin; Labor takes aim at power bills – The Aus; Last stand for Retravision – The West; Coalition to seek mine tax estimates – The Fin; Labour shortage concerns ease – The West
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Obama grabs second chance
US President Barack Obama won a decisive second-term victory that should revive stalled negotiations with Republicans over a “grand bargain” to tackle America's deep fiscal, immigration and energy challenges. The Fin
Labor takes aim at power bills
The Gillard government will unveil an all-out assault on power bills, recommending the deregulation of prices for households and small business and ‘‘time of use’’ pricing to prevent wasteful investments in poles and wires that are used for only a few hours a year. The Aus
Last stand for Retravision
The electrical retail industry is set for a sea change as the battered Retravision chain changes hands, with dozens of stores likely to migrate to other chains or close down. The West
Coalition to seek mine tax estimates
The Coalition will ask the new Parliamentary Budget Office to calculate how much the minerals resource rent tax will raise. The Fin
Labour shortage concerns ease
The labour shortage that has long threatened to stall the state's economy is finally easing, with two respected forecasters slashing projections for the shortfall of workers. The West
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 4: President Barack Obama has swept to an emphatic re-election win over Mitt Romney, forging history by transcending a dragging economy and the stifling unemployment that haunted his first term.
Page 7: Gina Rinehart's three estranged children face an epic and costly court battle against their mother after the NSW Supreme Court signalled that the case which split the famous family would run for at least another year.
Page 11: The chief of the Corruption and Crime Commission criticised the watchdog's critics yesterday and accused its parliamentary oversight committee of a lack of procedural fairness.
Page 13: Laws governing police pursuits passed the Lower House of State Parliament late yesterday after the Opposition labelled them “a tragedy and a catastrophe”, but failed to vote against them.
Page 16: The Gillard government will today embrace a national roll-out of smart meters to help households slash power bills.
Business: The electrical retail industry is set for a sea change as the battered Retravision chain changes hands, with dozens of stores likely to migrate to other chains or close down.
John Borghetti is on message: a takeover of Skywest by Virgin Australia would be good for WA and the travelling public.
As shares in Perth-based Paladin Energy hit seven-year lows yesterday, managing director John Borshoff hit the brakes on its expansion strategy, saying the miner's current uranium sale price would have to almost double before new developments could come online.
The labour shortage that has long threatened to stall the state's economy is finally easing, with two respected forecasters slashing projections for the shortfall of workers.
The WA government has handed Buru Energy a major advantage over other oil and gas explorers scouring the Kimberley, signing a landmark deal covering long-term tenure over its best acreage and the development of a domestic gas pipeline.
Apex Minerals has lost a bid to set aside a statutory demand from former managing director Mark Ashley for the $500,000 balance of his severance package from the troubled gold producer.
Noble Mineral Resources and Resolute Mining are expected to emerge from trading halts this morning to announce a peace deal after Noble shareholders narrowly rejected a recapitalisation proposal from China's Zhongrun Mining Investment yesterday.
Wealthy backers of the troubled Addwealth Achiever investment fund have suffered another blow, with the Supreme Court thwarting an $11 million move against property scheme group Questus.
Harvey Norman's profit for the first quarter has dived 20 per cent as low consumer confidence and price deflation continues to hit the retailer's technology and entertainment sales.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:
Page 1: US President Barack Obama won a decisive second-term victory that should revive stalled negotiations with Republicans over a “grand bargain” to tackle America's deep fiscal, immigration and energy challenges.
Mirvac Group's former chief executive Nick Collishaw has condemned his abrupt dismissal as “bizarre” and revealed how chairman James MacKenzie ousted him on the same morning his replacement was announced.
The BHP Billiton board is considering four internal candidates to replace chief executive Marius Kloppers in the next 12 to 18 months.
The Coalition will ask the new Parliamentary Budget Office to calculate how much the minerals resource rent tax will raise.
Page 3: The federal government would let the states keep billions of dollars in corporate income tax from newly privatised state assets under a plan to encourage the sale of public infrastructure to fund new projects.
Page 4: Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson has denied opposition suggestions his department breached its professional guidelines and non-partisan ethos over the leaking of Treasury calculations of Coalition policies by Treasurer Wayne Swan's office.
Page 6: Only the most flagrant breaches of carbon laws will result in prosecution and they will be rare, the federal watchdog says.
Page 7: A plan to bring cheap online purchases into the goods and services tax has gained broad support from state treasurers, who will discuss the option today as part of a tax reform meeting.
The federal government's energy white paper will urge state governments to follow Victoria's lead in deregulating electricity markets in a bid to shift the blame for near 70 per cent plus rises in some household electricity bills in the past four years.
Page 8: The national skills regulator will come down hard on shonky courses in construction, aged care and community services, in its first blitz of registered training organisations.
Moving to Western Australia feels like moving to a foreign country, according to a survey of workers in Australia's eastern states.
Subcontractors are reeling after financial problems at another construction company in Western Australia left small businesses millions of dollars out of pocket.
Page 9: State health ministers will push the Gillard government to abandon health spending cuts they say are based on a flawed assumption about the growth of the population.
Page 10: The Reserve Bank of Australia could already be printing money to intervene in the foreign exchange market, investment bank UBS says, but other strategists have cast doubt on the claim.
The success of the film Red Dog and last February's Perth Festival has generated $3 million in Lotterywest funding for Western Australia's arts and film industries.
Page 13: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has welcomed the re-election of US President Barack Obama and stressed US leadership will be vital to ensuring global financial stability and peace and security in the region.
Page 27: Aussie Home Loans executive chairman John Symond has hit out at the Reserve Bank of Australia over its decision not to cut interest rates, warning that struggling retailers and manufacturers will pay the price in the lead-up to Christmas.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Barack Obama returns to the White House for a second term ‘‘more determined and more inspired than ever’’, promising to reach out to political opponents in the weeks ahead to find a solution to his nation’s economic problems.
The Gillard government will unveil an all-out assault on power bills, recommending the deregulation of prices for households and small business and ‘‘time of use’’ pricing to prevent wasteful investments in poles and wires that are used for only a few hours a year.
Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson has been forced to defend the political impartiality of his department and declare that it did not leak advice, amid opposition outrage that Wayne Swan’s office released Treasury figures costing Liberal tax policies.
The states and territories are preparing to offer the federal government a deal under which they will slash inefficient stamp duties in exchange for a $13 billion slice of the nation’s income tax.
Page 2: Julia Gillard has congratulated Barack Obama on his re-election and vowed to continue working with the US to address the key challenges of the global economy, security and climate change.
Page 3: The minister favoured to take over the Victorian Treasury portfolio has been accused of a conflict of interest over his shareholdings in three of the big banks and BHP Billiton.
Page 4: The states and territories are preparing to offer the federal government a deal under which they will slash inefficient stamp duties in exchange for a $13 billion slice of the nation’s income tax.
The Coalition has questioned Julia Gillard for saying she was not ‘‘in charge’’ of the conveyancing file for a Melbourne property purchased with money from a union slush fund she helped create in 1992 for her then boyfriend, union official Bruce Wilson.
The new Parliamentary Budget Office will enable the Coalition to turn the tables and have government policies confidentially costed.
Page 6: Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal has been accused of breaking indigenous heritage laws at one of its burgeoning mine projects in central Queensland, with allegations that roads and a camp have been built without consulting local Aboriginal groups over the cultural significance of the site.
Page 7: Grants to research issues such as the history of emotions in Europe from 1100-1800 should instead be spent on projects supporting productivity and innovation, the opposition said yesterday.
Business: BHP Billiton has stepped up succession planning to find a replacement for Marius Kloppers, its chief executive of five years, by calling in a global headhunter to produce a short list of external candidates for a likely handover within the next 24 months.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is on track to hit another record profit, although it has warned that big business is beginning to feel the effects of the global economic slowdown.
News Corporation has defied the wider malaise infecting the media sector, with first-quarter profit tripling to $US2.23 billion.
Macquarie Bank and Mark Bouris have joined forces to lure customers away from the big four banks with discounted home loans, backed by the broadcasting power of Nine Entertainment.
Buru Energy’s attempt to develop Australia’s most promising onshore oil and gas region has received a major boost after it struck a deal with the West Australian government to build a $500 million pipeline from the Kimberley to connect to the domestic gas network in the Pilbara.
Downer EDI chief executive Grant Fenn believes the slowdown in mining projects is only temporary as the engineering company looks to opportunities in oil and gas, and government outsourcing.
Shares in furniture and electrical retailer Harvey Norman plunged to a 22-year low after the company reported a 20 per cent slide in pre-tax profit for the September quarter as consumer sentiment remained firmly negative.
Paladin Energy is targeting up to $US80 million ($76.4m) in cost savings over the next two years as it warns that the price of uranium needs to more than double before the miner will push the button on future expansions.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Barack Obama won the US election as he was able to draw votes from groups alienated by the Republican Party - women, young voters, Hispanics and gays. The outrage over initiation antics at Sydney University's St John's college has triggered a move to modernise governance arrangements of the college.
Page 2: The man who placed a fake collar-bomb on a Sydney teenager got the wrong house, instead meaning to target one of her neighbours.
Page 3: NSW MP and former treasurer Eric Roozendaal will be suspended from the Labor party following allegations in the state's corruption watchdog.
World: Barack Obama has won the US presidential election but a polarised government, which has been gridlocked for the past couple of years, remains in place
Business: After five years as chief executive of BHP Billiton, Marius Kloppers has been hit by speculation the company is seeking to replace him.
Sport: Jockey Damien Oliver will continue riding in the Spring Carnival, despite an investigation into allegations he placed a bet on a rival in 2010.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: After winning his second term as US president Barack Obama must face an even tougher challenge of uniting America.
Page 2-8: Breakdown of the US election.
Page 9: Former NSW treasurer Eric Roozendaal will be suspended from the Labor party pending the results of a hearing in the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
World: The late Jimmy Savile, an accused paedophile and UK television personality was also a suspect in the Yorkshire Ripper investigations.
Business: The Commonwealth Bank is on track to deliver a record $7.4 billion profit, despite the decline of business loans.
Sport: The Australian cricket team is planning to sledge champion South African batsman Hashim Amla and target leg-spinner Imran Tahir in the coming test series.
THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER:
Page 1: Re-elected US President Barack Obama declares "the best is yet to come".
Page 3: A defamation hearing has been told murdered model Corinna Marr was shot dead in 1997 in a "bikie hit" arranged by her husband.
World: A British MP has been suspended by her party after she swapped the political jungle for the Australian rainforest and became a contestant on a reality TV show.
Business: Adelaide company Hills Holdings has signed a multimillion contract with the federal government to provide satellite communications systems for its embassies worldwide.
Sport: Australia will engage Hasim Amla in a "psychological" sledging war and ruthlessly target leg-spinner Imran Tahir, according to a top-secret dossier obtained by The Advertiser.