No super tax for Fortescue - The West; Adapt or sink, Combet warns industry - The Aus; RBA feeling the pressure - The Fin; Push to cap super payouts - The Fin; ‘Massive’ oil find puts Linc in orbit - The Aus
No super tax for Fortescue
Fortescue Metals Group has confirmed it expects to pay no Mineral Resource Rent Tax to the federal government this financial year, with chief executive Nev Power saying he would be “appalled” if the controversial super profit scheme added to Fortescue’s tax burden at current iron ore prices. The West
Adapt or sink, Combet warns industry
Industry Minister Greg Combet has warned manufacturers expecting a fall in the Australian dollar to change their business models or risk failure, as the government fine-tunes plans to help the sector cope with structural shifts in the economy. The Aus
RBA feeling the pressure
Calls by two Reserve Bank of Australia board members for state and federal governments to borrow for infrastructure projects may reflect concerns within the bank that it is under too much pressure from the federal government to turn around the economy. The Fin
Push to cap super payouts
Superannuation lump-sum payouts would be capped under a push to ensure retirees have enough money to last until they die. The Fin
‘Massive’ oil find puts Linc in orbit
Linc Energy shares surged 24 per cent on Thursday as investors piled on board on the strength of enormous estimates for the oil potential in its shale exploration acreage in South Australia. The Aus
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Bush trackers are on the trail of missing prospector Michael Graham after a Goldfields station owner stumbled on makeshift camps and SOS notes left by the 46-year old who has been missing, feared dead, for 12 days.
Page 3: Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi hopes a smoking ban in the Hay Street and Murray Street malls and Forrest Place will lead to similar bans in open areas across WA.
Page 4: Northam Hospital appears to beset by bad luck rather than malpractice, Health Minister Kim Hames said yesterday, referring to the deaths of five people soon after they were discharged in the past two and a half years.
Construction of WA’s first artificial fishing reefs has reached the halfway mark – with their completion expected by next month.
Page 6: Trigg residents were urged to evacuate their homes and peak-hour traffic came to a standstill as a fire raged in a bush reserve yesterday.
Page 7: Staunch, generous and quick to crack a joke, the wife of missing prospector Michael Graham is privately riding waves of anger and frustration.
Page 13: A Perth man told he faced being caned over an air-rage incident has escaped charges and was allowed to leave Singapore yesterday.
Page 14: A local government authority is suing the head of the Department of Environment and Conservation in a bid to recoup more than $1.7 million in waste fees it claims should never have been charged, plus interest.
Page 16: WA’s main waste processing authorities have warned that more than $650 million has to be spent on new processing plants in the next 25 years to give the state government any hope of improving a woeful recycling record.
Page 31: Fortescue Metals Group has confirmed it expects to pay no Mineral Resource Rent Tax to the federal government this financial year, with chief executive Nev Power saying he would be “appalled” if the controversial super profit scheme added to Fortescue’s tax burden at current iron ore prices.
Page 33: Cedar Woods Properties says it is in a “good spot”, bolstered by a strong first-half profit and armed with the financial firepower to snap up opportunities.
Environment Minister Bill Marmion has injected confusion into the issue of pollution restrictions on Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG project, claiming he would seek federal intervention if the development boosted WA’s greenhouse gas emissions beyond a certain amount.
James Packer’s $570 million luxury hotel project at Burswood has been given the green light by federal and state environment watchdogs, clearing the way for the massive development to begin as early as April.
Page 34: BHP Billiton faces an unusual challenge to its dominance in Port Hedland, with a group of miners and shipping companies attempting to undermine the Big Australian’s tugboat monopoly in the world’s biggest bulk export harbour.
One of WA’s biggest live sheep exporters says it is on target to resume shipments to Saudi Arabia this year, defying industry predictions that the crucial market will remain closed.
Sandfire Resources has for the first time issued production guidance for its DeGrusa copper and gold mine, saying it expects to produce 67,000 to 71,000 tonnes of copper and 49,000 tonnes of gold this financial year.
Page 38: Linc Energy shares surged as much as 33 per cent yesterday in a frenzy of trading on the back of Wednesday’s announcement of a potentially massive shale oil find in outback South Australia.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
Page 2: Calls by two Reserve Bank of Australia board members for state and federal governments to borrow for infrastructure projects may reflect concerns within the bank that it is under too much pressure from the federal government to turn around the economy.
Page 3: Superannuation lump-sum payouts would be capped under a push to ensure retirees have enough money to last until they die.
Page 4: The Catholic church has joined free speech advocates and media companies in opposing a revised definition of discrimination that includes conduct that “offends”.
Australia’s cold hard thirst has returned. After more than a decade of losing drinkers in their droves, Victoria Bitter is starting to grow sales.
Page 5: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott kicked off his 2013 election campaign by telling 165 MPs and candidates to prepare for a strong grassroots offensive.
Mothballed mining projects and cuts to government allowances have pushed down executive rents, but agents hope demand will boost returns for landlords this year.
Page 6: Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has ridiculed Queensland Premier Campbell Newman’s claim that he leads the most reformist government since the Kennett administration in Victoria in the 1990s.
The project to redevelop Sydney’s Ritz-Carlton hotel has become embroiled in another stoush as the owners of the site take legal action against the property executives they installed to run the development.
Page 8: After 14 years of negotiation, a landmark deal has been struck between Energy Resources of Australia and the Mirarr traditional owners of the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory, potentially paving the way for an accord to allow an extension of the project.
Parliament’s milk price inquiry may be reopened two years after Coles sparked a price war with Woolworths by dropping prices for fresh milk to $1 a litre on Australia Day.
Page 10: Former NSW Labor minister Eddie Obeid could be cleared of corruption over a deal in which his son allegedly helped then roads minister Eric Roozendaal buy a discounted Honda car.
Anti-coal activist Jonathan Moylan has been interviewed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission over alleged market manipulation in relation to a Whitehaven Coal hoax.
The Minerals Council of Australia has hit back at green group claims that $2 billion paid to resources companies under the fuel tax credit scheme amounted to a taxpayer subsidy.
Page 43: Fortescue Metals Group may reactivate more plans to expand production if it goes ahead with a sale of a minority stake in its infrastructure business – expected to fetch the miner more than billion – says chief executive Nev Power.
Page 44: Linc Energy shares surged 24 per cent on Thursday as investors piled on board on the strength of enormous estimates for the oil potential in its shale exploration acreage in South Australia.
Newcrest Mining, Australia’s largest goldminer, says its ability to meet production guidance this year will depend on the performance of its Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea, where a .4 billion expansion is nearing completion.
Page 45: Investors have clashed over the government’s two-strikes legislation designed to curb excessive executive pay as the first company to face a board spill under the controversial new laws faces a crucial vote from shareholders.
THE AUSTRALIAN:
Page 1: Julia Gillard’s star Senate recruit Nova Peris has lashed out at a smear campaign against her that has exposed deep divisions in the Labor Party and the indigenous community over her move into parliament.
The opposition’s immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, has reignited the debate over multiculturalism at the start of the election year, declaring a shift away from diversity to a more inclusive national identity is needed.
Industry Minister Greg Combet has warned manufacturers expecting a fall in the Australian dollar to change their business models or risk failure, as the government fine-tunes plans to help the sector cope with structural shifts in the economy.
A guard at Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre has been sacked for using excessive force on a volatile asylum seeker nicknamed Spiderman, after shoving him to the ground, lying on him and pinning him down for almost three minutes.
A Victorian detective who showed a ‘‘colossal degree of naivety’’ in leaking details of a major anti-terror operation to a journalist will ask police command to allow him to stay on the force to rebuild his previously exemplary career.
Page 2: Defence believes Australia needs to entrench its position as the dominant security partner for Pacific island nations at a time when China’s political and economic influence over the region continues to grow.
Brisbane is bracing for a potentially flood-inducing deluge as the remnants of Cyclone Oswald push south, unleashing chaos along the Queensland coast.
Wayne Swan will get to make his sixth appointment to the Reserve Bank board in May when Jillian Broadbent’s third term expires, with a push for her to be replaced by someone with strong financial markets experience.
Page 3: A cattle farmer in the coal-rich Bylong Valley has told a corruption inquiry that former Labor minister Eddie Obeid lied to the media about what he knew in relation to plans for a mine in the area.
The woman who established the Heiner inquiry has fanned the flames of controversy surrounding the shredding of the investigation’s documents, declaring that the retired magistrate who headed the probe must have ‘‘found something’’ to warrant the destruction.
Page 4: Teenage unemployment in Adelaide’s north has surged to almost 43 per cent — among the highest in the country — with unskilled workers feeling the brunt of manufacturing job cuts.
The prospect of a strike disrupting coal exports at Port Kembla and Newcastle in NSW has increased after a fresh breakdown in negotiations between Pacific National and the rail workers union.
Page 17: Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power is predicting an average iron ore price this year of a tonne, underpinned by the strong economic growth agenda of China’s newly installed leadership.
Two of Australia’s top corporate advisers, Simon Mordant and Ron Malek, who two years ago sold their Sydney-based Caliburn advisory business to New York-based Greenhill, have moved up to become vice-chairmen of the parent company.
Underground coal gasification and mining company Linc Energy’s shares soared 30 per cent yesterday following reports it could be sitting on $20 trillion worth of oil in South Australia’s Arckaringa Basin.
Page 18: China’s powerful manufacturing sector is performing at its best level in two years, indicating that the national economy’s rebound is likely to be maintained.
Newcrest is banking on drawing first benefits of its now complete $3.3 billion capital expenditure on expansions and new developments in Papua New Guinea and Australia to meet its production guidance for the June year of at least 2.3 million ounces of gold.
Page 19: British energy giant BP plans to proceed with drilling four exploration wells in the Great Australian Bight after its extensive seismic survey confirmed the oilbearing potential of the region.
The nation’s largest building materials company, Boral, has been given the all clear by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to sell its NSW concrete masonry business to rival Brickworks.
Page 25: The globalisation of the Australian legal market continues apace, with Middletons changing its name to K&L Gates, following its merger taking effect this year, and Norton Rose set to merge with Fulbright & Jaworski in June.
Page 27: Tiger Airways officials expect keen competition to pose a continuing challenge as its Australian operations yesterday reported a 50 per cent increase in third quarter operating losses.
Page 28: Airline business confidence is on the rise, with more than half the global industry’s chief financial officers and cargo heads predicting improved profitability in the year ahead.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Court hears magazine queen Nene King went from riches to rags, and was smoking up to 10 marijuana joints a day when she was allegedly fleeced by conmen.
Page 2: Gippsland residents remain on red alert with fire crisis set to worsen.
Page 3: Scores of leading Australians have quietly snubbed the country's honours system by refusing to accept awards.
World: Philadelphia law officers lay hate crime charges against gang accused of imprisoning mentally disabled people in a decade-long scheme to steal their social security benefits.
Finance: Gold miner Newcrest insists it will hit its production targets despite a weaker-than-expected production update.
Sport: Eddie McGuire is behind a radical football reality TV bid being considered by the AFL.
THE AGE:
Page 1: Elective surgery to be cancelled for 1300 patients at three Melbourne hospitals over the next five months as the state's hospitals grapple with $107 million in budget cuts. Backlash against Senate candidate Nova Peris prompts her to address allegations of wrongdoing while she was a public servant.
Page 2: Katter's Australian Party dumps two candidates over gay slurs.
Page 3: Tony Abbott to launch a one-week mini-election campaign in a bid to reposition his image. Hot weather in Melbourne set to cost the city on average $46.5 million a year to the middle of the century, research finds. Alpine residents fearing bushfire threat urged to leave on Thursday before conditions became too intense as fire crews brace for Friday morning onslaught.
World: Hillary Clinton faces off against her critics over the killing of the US ambassador to Libya.
Finance: Fortescue Metals Group posed to branch out from iron ore.
Sport: Novak Djokovic eases into Australian Open final with one of his best ever performances.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Page 1: Nova Peris has addressed a whispering campaign alleging wrongdoing while she was a public servant more than a year ago.
Page 2: The poet who came up with the pledge thousands of Australian citizens will recite on Saturday likened it to "farting with sincerity".
Page 3: A licence to operate a floating heliport on Sydney Harbour was issued by the NSW government without a key requirement.
World: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has faced congressional committees over the killing of the US ambassador to Libya.
Business: Fortescue Metals Group is set to diversify into commodities and industries beyond iron ore.
Sport: Victoria Azarenka has won the right to defend her Australian Open but people are critical of her taking a lengthy time out.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH:
Page 1: Nauruan families are reportedly being paid up to $687 a week for up to four bedroom cottages.
Page 2: A Polish man made a raft of twigs and branches during cyclonic conditions from PNG to Australia.
Page 3: Magistrate Pat O'Shane is reported to be retiring from the bench on Friday.
World: A fire in Chicago has left a warehouse looking like an ice castle.
Business: Apple shares have tumbled afer a disappointing forecast for the coming months.
Sport: Victoria Azarenka has blamed breathing difficulties for leaving a court during a win over US teenager Sloane Stephens.
ADELAIDE ADVERTISER:
Page 1: Motorists would be able to pay car registration monthly and by direct debit under a range of measures the state government is considering to ease cost-of-living pressures in the lead-up to the 2014 election.
Page 3: Scores of leading Australians have quietly snubbed Australia's honours system by refusing to accept awards.
World: British Prime Minister David Cameron has pulled off the seemingly impossible with his pledge for a historic EU referendum.
Finance: Miner Fortescue Metals Group does not expect to pay the Minerals Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) this financial year while iron ore prices recover from falls in 2012.
Sport: New UCI Oceania president Tracey Gaudry will hold talks in Adelaide from today about a push for a second WorldTour race in Australia, as well as securing the TDU's future in Adelaide.
