Julie-anne Sprague

The smell of wheat is well and truly gone.

Western Australia’s business community is divided about whether the state should introduce daylight savings permanently.

Iron ore hopeful Australasian Resources Ltd appears to have secured a major breakthrough on its plans to develop its giant Pilbara iron ore project after negotiating a funding deal with Chinese steel giant Shougang Corporation.

David Coomer has some exciting changes in store for diners at his popular Star Anise restaurant in Shenton Park.

A growing number of Perth property developers are offering stamp duty refunds in a bid to stimulate land sales, which they say have slowed significantly since Treasurer Eric Ripper flagged potential stamp duty relief in the upcoming May budget.

The board of Empire Beer Group Ltd will meet next week to discuss whether to abandon plans to develop a second Colonial Brewing Co at Warren Mead’s Oyster Bar at Port Beach in favour of another development opportunity in Fremantle.

The 24-hour cafe institution, Oriel Brasserie, will re-open next month.

Watershed Premium Wines managing director Geoff Barrett said his company would turn to foreign investment to continue in its push to plant a total 240 hectares of vineyards.

The property arm of Victorian listed wine group Cheviot Bridge is on the hunt for wineries in Margaret River, joining several other east-coast operators interested in buying a slice of the premium wine region.

One of Western Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable suppliers, Mercer Mooney, has been sold to Sydney-based Moraitis Fresh for an undisclosed sum.

WA's property market continued to slow in the December quarter with statistics out today revealing that new home building starts fell for a second consecutive quarter.

Former Sheraton executive chef Fritz Hansal says the service dished up at many Western Australian restaurants is poor. But he thinks that presents him with an enormous opportunity.

The Perth businessmen who race Etchells yachts can’t outdo each other by buying bigger boats. Instead, the strict rules imposed on the yacht’s dimensions by the Etchells racing body means the skippers compete on skill alone.

The Swan River is one of the best places to see the wealth being generated from the resources boom.

Royal Perth Yacht Club may have won a lengthy battle with the Swan River Trust to develop more boat pens at its Crawley annexe, but general manager Stuart Walton says the additional capacity will do little to solve a severe shortage of berths in Perth.

Amcom Telecommunications has acquired a high-speed data competitor by paying $6.25 million for the Perth business of People Telecommunications Ltd.

Perth-based internet service provider iiNet is poised to spend more than $5 million on an advertising blitz in Sydney and Perth in a bid to significantly increase customer numbers.

Perth Orioles coach Sue Gaudion explains her approach to team management.

The owner of Chutney Mary’s Indian Restaurant, Murray Kimber, plans to open a tavern in Subiaco by the end of the year after successfully appealing an adverse planning decision from the City of Subiaco at the State Administrative Tribunal last month.

Mining industry observers predict that the surging nickel price behind rocketing profits for the metal’s mid-cap producers will remain at record high levels for the next 12 to 24 months, with a round of consolidation in the sector on the horizon.

Former Macquarie Bank executive Mark Simpson has moved from Hong Kong to Perth to take up a role as Patersons Securities head of research.

One Mosman Park foodie couple enjoy the food, ambience and service at Twisted Fork so much that they are currently negotiating with the restaurant’s owners to lease a table.

Perth companies, iiNet and Psivida, will be dropped from the ASX/S&P 300 index after March 16 following Standard & Poor's March quarterly rebalance.

Winemaker Evans & Tate Ltd has clawed back some ground in the six months to December 31, posting a first-half loss of $6.7 million compared to a $44.4 million loss in the previous corresponding period following a string of big write-downs.

Western Australia’s love affair with double-brick homes is just one of the many hurdles the local industry needs to overcome if it wants to produce houses that are more sustainable and energy efficient, according to a leading Melbourne researcher.

Fears held by the state’s two AFL clubs about the impact of Super 14 club the Western Force on the corporate hospitality market have proved unfounded, with boxes for all three clubs sold out for the 2007 season.

Rick Hart Group will turn its focus to regional expansion in the next few years to further capitalise on Western Australia’s booming economy, which contributed to the group’s record first-half gross profit increase of nearly 30 per cent.

Western Australia’s corporate sector is splashing out on entertaining at a level not seen since the heydays of the 1980s, according to several top-tier catering companies.

Several Western Australian homebuilders are worried that the industry will lose key tradespeople to lucrative resources sector work if the housing market continues to slow.

Rick Hart has revealed he will step down as president of Fremantle Football Club in 2009, leaving recently appointed board member Richard Goyder as a contender for the top job.

Western Australian café chain The Merchant Tea and Coffee Company will open two stores in the UK in the coming months as part of an international expansion of the group following its listing on a small-cap London-based equities exchange last year.

Perth-based property developer Axiom Properties Ltd has capped off a big month in February, taking a 17 per cent slice of Queensland property investment and development company, Eumundi Group Ltd, for $4.3 million.