Mark Beyer

With most major ports located in the middle of populated areas, the government faces some tough decisions on infrastructure.

THE Industry Capability Network of WA has launched a new scheme to help Australian companies win supply contracts with major Asian oil and gas contractors.

UK company Cape plc's acquisition spree in Australia in 2007 has continued to have extraordinary fallout, with three new competitors emerging in the scaffolding and formwork sector in Western Australia.

The importance of building value has been highlighted by the financial crisis.

WE'VE gone beyond the old boom-bust cycle." How many times did we hear that comment over the past year or two? "We're in a new paradigm."

The state government has confirmed that the University of Western Australia will be the headquarters of a new $20 million radio astronomy research centre that is designed to help WA win the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array project.

THE failure of one commercial venture could provide a boost for a new and potentially much larger venture at the University of Western Australia, which is the likely headquarters of a $20 million radio astronomy research centre.

DURING the past two months there has been an unprecedented wave of bad economic news and plunging business confidence; but just how bad is Western Australia's economic outlook? Many people ask rhetorically why there is so much gloom in the local business

Oil and gas producers Apache and Santos have officially deferred development of the $900 million Reindeer gas project, as forshadowed last week in WA Business News, with engineering company Clough likely to be the biggest loser.

THE downturn in Western Australia's mining industry is starting to flow back to the energy sector, with Apache Energy understood to be reviewing its $900 million Reindeer gas project.

THE controversy over the federal government's proposed industrial relations reforms made me think back to the mid 1980s when people like Charles Copeman led a bruising battle to free up Australian workplaces.

WESFARMERS is the bluest of blue-chip Perth companies.

MINING entrepreneur Andrew Forrest provides a classic illustration of how share options, which are a key part of many remuneration packages, can be extremely valuable, and quickly become worthless.

BHP Billiton is the world's biggest mining company so it was fitting it was BHP that decisively marked the end of the five-year global resources boom this week.

I have been reading extensively this month about the deep problems in the US financial system and it has left me with one overriding conclusion.

Murchison Metals has disclosed that the state government is requiring it to include Chinese suppliers in its $1.5 billion Oakajee port and rail infrastructure project.

WHO remembers the final week of the 2008 state election campaign, when then premier Alan Carpenter ran an increasingly desperate and almost bizarre scare campaign? Every waking moment he told voters about the supposed dangers posed by uranium mining, nucl

Today marks the third birthday of the Daily Business Alerts service, which broke new ground in November 2005 when it started providing Western Australia's business community with breaking daily news in what was then the early stages of a long bull run.

THE debate over infrastructure provision in WA has taken many intriguing twists and turns since the election of the Barnett government.

HOW many dollars and how many share options does it take to motivate a chief executive? Judging by recent experience with engineering and contracting companies in the Perth market, it could be anything from $350,000 up to nearly $3 million.

ONE of the recurring criticisms of Western Australia is that the state is little more than a quarry for the rest of the world and that our small, one-dimensional economy drives bright, young talent to cities like Melbourne, London and Sydney.

THERE has been an intense focus in recent weeks on the impact of global financial trends on Western Australia's economic prospects but recent policy decisions have highlighted the equally important impact of government.

THE long-running debate over Australia's energy future heated up again this week, and it's likely to continue running as the economy goes through its ups and downs.

THE latest round of national research grants has highlighted the University of Western Australia's status as the state's premier research institution, though the grants also indicate that WA as a whole has not performed well.

THE global financial crisis has had a big impact on two energy projects off Western Australia's northern coast, with Coogee Resources and Nexus Energy both putting out 'for sale' signs this month.

PLUNGING international stock markets have been the most visible manifestation of the global financial crisis of the past month, but an equally worrying trend has occurred in debt markets.

A GROUP of companies active in Western Australia's fast-growing subsea oil and gas sector have established an industry representative body.

The stock market carnage over the past year has seen the value of Western Australia's blue chip stocks cut by half from their peak value while other stocks have been smashed to as little as 10 per cent of their top price.

THE global financial crisis has been an unmitigated disaster for investors and looks like getting worse, but the impact on the business sector in Western Australia is far from clear-cut.

MANY technology and innovation conferences in Western Australia have a sub theme that can be summed up as 'life after the resources boom', but the chair of next week's Leading Lights conference has a different focus.

THERE was something almost surreal about events last Friday when Western Australia lost the country's single largest resources project as the rest of the world trembled over the fallout from the global financial crisis.

THE formal swearing-in this week of the Barnett ministry marks the start of what should be an exciting period of government in Western Australia, though there will be no shortage of tough challenges.