AAP

Australia is lagging the world's best economies when it comes to productivity and needs a new plan to stop it falling further behind, BHP Billiton's chairman says.

Remerging Western Australia's power retailer and generator is a backwards step, federal Resources Minister Gary Gray says.

The job market appears to be in good shape, despite the unemployment rate climbing to a three-and-a-half year high in March.

Australian stocks have opened higher, led by strong gains from the big banks and supermarket chains.

Gold slumped Wednesday in the largest decline since November as details from the US Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting showed more discussion on throttling back on the central bank's easy-mone

Renters in Sydney, Perth and Darwin are set to pay more as those cities still lack sufficient housing, a study shows.

US stocks powered to new record highs on Wednesday after Federal Reserve meeting minutes suggested the Fed's easy-money policies would remain in place for a while longer.

The Australian dollar has rallied to its highest level in more than two months, helped along by Chinese trade data.

Energy Resources of Australia hopes to re-establish itself as a significant uranium producer by building a new mine in the Northern Territory.

The Australian share market has closed slightly weaker as investors sold off defensive and high yielding financial stocks after a couple of days of gains.

The RBA is painting a positive outlook for Australia's economy, despite the end of the mining investment boom nearing and the high dollar weighing on growth.

Mining and petroleum hub Karratha is leading the nation's mining towns in population growth.

Dairy producer Devondale has signed a decade-long deal with Coles to supply the supermarket giant's home brand milk.

The Australian share market has opened flat despite a lift in overseas markets overnight.

There's good and bad news for first home buyers - their loan repayments are shrinking but the amount needed for a deposit is rising.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shook off early weakness on Tuesday and pressed through to another record close, led by strong gains in tech shares Microsoft and Intel.

The Australian dollar is back above 104 US cents, thanks to weakness in the greenback and softer Chinese inflation figures.

The Australian share market enjoyed a bumper day, closing almost one and a half per cent higher on positive overseas leads.

Labor's shadow cabinet includes more than half of its 32 MPs, but not former minister Ljiljanna Ravlich.

Troubled surfwear retailer Billabong appears closer to being taken over, but at a significantly lower price than previously offered.

Fairfax Radio's drive timeslot, hosted by Howard Sattler, has bounced back in the latest Perth radio ratings, while Mix 94.5 remains the favourite station overall despite a slight dip in

A Perth real estate agency has been fined $10,000 for failing to lodge tenancy bonds within a reasonable period.

Western Australian businesses are more confident about the future despite the current weak operating environment, a survey has shown.

Shares in Australia's Alumina have leapt up after its joint venture partner Alcoa signalled that the aluminium industry had turned around, with a jump in profit.

An official Perth Monopoly game is in the planning, with Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi already throwing in her two cents worth regarding which landmarks to include.

Australian businesses are mildly confident about the future, despite concerns about possible weakness in the mining sector and political uncertainty in Canberra.

The Australian share market has opened higher.

Ten Network Holdings has posted a $243.3 million first half loss, its results dragged down by one-off redundancy, termination and impairment costs.

 Former industry minister Kim Carr has defended the rate of subsidies paid to the automotive sector, in the wake of Holden's decision to scrap 500 local jobs.

The federal coalition will deliver a faster, better, cheaper national broadband network to all Australians if it wins government, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.

Lawyers for billionaire Gina Rinehart have claimed her legal pursuit of several journalists is not intended to force them to reveal their sources - but rather a request for information pertaining t

Shares in Sundance Resources plunged after resuming trade today, after it officially canned its $1.3 billion takeover deal with China's Hanlong Mining overnight.