AAP

Premier Colin Barnett says he hopes federal Nationals MP Tony Crook will sink the Labor government's Malaysia solution when he votes on it this week.

The Australian dollar rose around one and a half US cents, after breaching parity several times, as traders awaited more news on Europe's debt crisis.

Australia's sharemarket will climb back to its pre-financial crisis record high by 2013/14 and investors will enjoy returns higher than six per cent a year in the meantime.

New Woolworths chief executive Grant O'Brien will be paid $1.9 million in his first year in the job, but that could more than double with performance-based incentives.

Petrol prices hit a five-month high last week and motorists should expect more tightening at the bowser, an economist says.

The Australian share market ended higher but pulled back from earlier gains, as investors digested news that France and Germany have a plan to fix the eurozone debt crisis.

Stable interest rates and improving economic conditions will drive rising house prices in the next three years, with Perth and Sydney leading the way, a major mortgage insurer says.

The vast majority of chief financial officers believe Australia will avoid a recession even though the general climate of uncertainty is a major drain on already-low levels of business confidence,

Business groups have made an 11th-hour appeal to the federal government to make amendments to it carbon price legislation which is due to be voted on in parliament tomorrow.

Sundance Resources has rejected suggestions that Australian regulatory approval for a takeover bid by China's Hanlong Mining is being held up by an insider trading probe faced by former Hanlong exe

The Australian Greens will support the federal government's $300 million steel transformation plan.

The federal Labor caucus has watered down a motion calling for greater animal welfare protections covering the live export industry.

Apple says worldwide pre-orders of its new iPhone 4S topped one million units in the first 24 hours, breaking the record set by last year's model.

Federal Opposition frontbencher Sophie Mirabella has criticised the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, which organisers plan to bring to Australia this weekend.

An Aboriginal elder and anti-nuclear campaigner has called on the South Australian government to scrap its approval of BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam uranium and copper mine expansion.

Decmil Group has won a $70 million contract to design and construct the fly camp for Chevron’s $29 billion Wheatstone liquefied natural gas development.

A possible $2.2 billion Chinese take-over of uranium explorer Extract Resources is a step closer after Extract's biggest shareholder confirmed it was in talks with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Gro

Business conditions improved in September, thanks to a falling Australian dollar and talk of an interest cut, an National Australia Bank survey shows.

Jetstar says it's disappointed check-in workers plan to take industrial action on Friday with their "no weigh day".

A survey shows building activity and profits in the sector are expected to fall, possibly leading to job losses.

Base metals miner Kagara expects to sell its non-core Lounge Lizard nickel sulphide mine in Western Australia by the end of the year.

Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull is not listed to speak on the government's carbon tax legislation ahead of Wednesday's vote on the 18 bills.

Swiss commodities giant Glencore has extended its takeover offer for Minara Resources so it can mop up the remaining shares in the nickel miner that it does not already own.

The Australian share market opened one per cent higher, on the back of a strong lead from Wall Street.

The Australian dollar is higher after reaching parity with the greenback overnight for the first time since September 22.

US stocks rallied sharply Monday after Germany and France pledged over the weekend to find a solid plan to address the eurozone debt crisis and shore up European banks within weeks.

The Australian dollar rose more than half a US cent after a mixed weekend of economic news.

Both the Liberals and Labor in Western Australia say new electoral boundary changes will make it more difficult for them to win the next state election.

Employment growth is expected to remain sluggish as firms show reluctance to hire staff amid global economic uncertainty.

The new head of Australia's competition watchdog has the major supermarket chains, airports and the telecommunications sector in his sights.

The Australian share market closed higher as investors kept up the momentum from last week's rally, underpinned by positive US futures prices.

Labor's national broadband network strategy has been branded the "most extreme" example of government intervention in high speed broadband planning in the world.