Gary Kleyn

TELSTRA has one and, if the Federal Cabinet has their way, the four major banks in Australia will have one – an universal service obligation.

IRONICALLY, in the electronic age, one of the world’s oldest forms of trade is making a comeback. Trade in barter dollars has been proving internationally successful for the past thirty years.

THE real estate industry will be further hampered if the Federal and State Governments act on the advice given by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission following a review on the industry.

THE value of South West building approvals halved in December according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

BANKWEST is entering the securitisation market with an issue of $1.005 billion of mortgage-backed securities.

THE outlook for the property market in 2000 looks good despite rising interest rates says Real Estate Institute of WA public affairs director Lino Iacomella.

Back beach given makeover, Austrade is coming to Bunbury, and the work being done to improve Aboriginal employment prospects.

THE Australian Securities and Investments Commission has announced its revised policy on mortgage investment schemes.

WA LANDLORDS should be wary of defaulting tenants, says Realty Executives’ Keith Howes.

SMALL businesses have a chance to improve the returns on their business deposit funds.

PROPOSED changes to the Building Act currently before Cabinet will introduce competition to local government services, says Local Government Minister Paul Omodei.

EMPLOYER confidence about employment growth has decreased in the first quarter of 2000 when compared to the final quarter of 1999, according to the recent Morgan & Banks Job Index.

AT A time when the level of share ownership in Australia is the highest in the western world, members of the public are understandably clamouring for more information and research to help them come to grips with the share market.

THE Master Builders Association has expressed disappointment at the way the construction union has responded to the deaths of two workers earlier this year.

MOVES by the Property Council for the centre of Perth to be recognised as a key economic powerhouse in the State economy have borne fruit.

BUNBURY’S new CEO Michael Whitaker has put his first major stamp on the Bunbury City Council since taking office by appointing four new managers to replace the positions previously held by directors.

DOMESTIC sales of wine increased for the seventeenth consecutive month.

THE Kareelya Property Group is capitalising on the growing tourism sector in the South West with a further development in Busselton.

MORE than 12,000 people embarked on new careers as apprentices in the July-September quarter of 1999, according to figures compiled by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

THE WA Government’s budget mid-year review has indicated WA’s financial fortunes have been boosted by a jump in oil royalties.

DEREGULATION in the energy sector will pay off for remote WA and contribute to a second minerals boom as the cost-benefits of the changes are realised by mining groups.

THE economic impact of the 1999 Blues at Bridgetown festival has been estimated at $1.7 million.

A LINK exists between high performing schools and the property values of properties surrounding those schools, says Hegney Property Valuations managing director Gavin Hegney.

THE pre-GST spending spree is far from over, says Hartley Poynton CEO Tim Moore.

THE South West needs to wake up to the benefits tourism brings to the region.

WHILE the caravan park industry has won concessions in the form of a 5 per cent reduction in the GST the battle is not over for caravan park owners.

CITIBANK has unveiled plans to turn its branch network into a retail distribution system after a successful trial of the concept in Booragoon.

HOTHAM Valley, fresh from its $10 million spending spree in the South West, is poised to raise $4 million to $6 million in a public offering.

THE bulky goods retail property market is set to be the new baby of the property industry if forecasts by investment analyst BIS Shrapnel prove correct.

A NEW $3 million fertiliser plant is being built in Kwinana by private company Valefox Pty Ltd.

WA’S biggest trade mission to India has set sail.The mission, led by Commerce and Trade Minister Hendy Cowan, includes representatives from fourteen private sector organisations.

STOP bickering and work together for the common good of Fremantle, said Fremantle Chamber of Commerce executive director John Longley in his inaugural Chamber address.