Mark Beyer

Four years ago, WA Business News started writing about the shortages of skilled labour that had emerged in economic hot spots such as engineering and mineral exploration.

I WAS in Houston last week at the annual Offshore Technology Conference, touted as the world’s largest gathering of oil and gas professionals.

Graphic design is not an industry normally associated with exports, yet West Perth firm BKAY Design generates a big chunk of its revenue from sales to international clients.

I’ve been on the road this week but still managed to keep up with the news.

The fallout from the failure of Lift Capital Partners and Opes Prime Group is spreading, with at least four Perth company directors having a big parcel of shares sold as a result of their involvement with the east coast margin lenders.

The ructions that have stirred up international financial markets this year and cast a pall over the global economic outlook would, you might think, make investors and business operators cautious.

Struggling biofuels company Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd is planning to raise $3.1 milion through a rights issue pitched at the deeply discounted price of 2.5 cents per share.

Equinox Minerals Ltd chief executive Craig Williams has become the third Perth company director to have a big parcel of shares sold by Merrill Lynch as a result of links to failed margin lender Lift Capital Partners.

Former University of Western Australia academic Dr Bruce Gray had a big win over his erstwhile employer in a landmark Federal Court ruling handed down last week but faces the prospect of further legal action from the company he founded, Sirtex Medical Ltd

The Howard government was repeatedly attacked for undermining workers’ rights, so it is ironic that one of its creations, the Workplace Ombudsman, has become a forceful protector of workers.

If recent trends in London and New York are any guide, more Australian lawyers could be following the likes of Tim Lester and Heath Lewis back to Perth.

Spending time away from Perth is a good way to get perspective on the changes taking place in the city.

The biggest talking point in Australia during the past week has, not surprisingly, been Kevin Rudd’s talkfest, the Australia 2020 summit in Canberra.

A new phrase entered the Australian business lexicon when Perth company directors Rick Crabb and Gillian Swaby lodged substantial shareholder notices with the Australian Securities Exchange this month.

While some big players vacate their city offices for the suburbs, they are making room for those who prefer to stay in the CBD.

Five years of solid growth has enabled Clayton Utz to become the second largest law firm in Perth, behind only long-time market leader Freehills.

Union membership has declined to 1.7 million people, or about 19 per cent of the workforce, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found.

Last week’s takeover of United Credit Union continues a long run of Western Australian financial institutions falling prey to interstate and overseas predators; but surprisingly, this trend has done little to dampen competition.

Readers with long memories may recall that one of Bob Hawke’s major initiatives upon being elected prime minister in 1983 was to convene a national economic summit.

Japanese company Inpex has attracted the ire of environmental campaigners over its planned gas project off the Kimberley coast, yet it won an environmental award at last week’s Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) conference

The possibility of Western Australia becoming a major international centre for radio astronomy has prompted the state’s two major universities to recruit some of the world’s top minds in this specialist field

The multi-million dollar fortunes of Paladin Energy Ltd chairman Rick Crabb and company secretary Gillian Swaby are at risk after the company disclosed that about half their shares are subject to margin loans with failed lender Lift Capital.

Engineering and construction company Clough Ltd has continued a run of big contract wins, being awarded a $260 million contract for Apache Energy's Devil Creek gas project in the Pilbara.

The market value of Western Australia’s biggest listed companies tumbled by 7.4 per cent in March to $160.7 billion.

The buoyant stock market conditions that prevailed for most of 2007 have helped broking firm DJ Carmichael & Co achieve a big increase in profit.

Electricity dispute  

Western Power has responded to the skilled labour shortages and rising costs in Western Australia by adopting a fundamentally different approach to its contracting and capital works program.

Kerry Stokes' Seven Network Ltd today continued its attack on the performance of West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd, arguing that WAN's improved quarterly results did not mean the company was "back on track".

The state government plans to introduce a $780 million subsidy scheme to limit increase in electricity prices, after rejecting a recommendation to lift prices by about 60 per cent over two years.

Western Australia is best known for its mining and agricultural exports, but in the past month a handful of local companies and institutions have announced deals that will widen the state’s export profile.

Managing risk in the financial sector  

The mining sector, the small business sector and the regions all claim from time to time to be the powerhouse of Western Australia’s economy, and they will all find evidence to back up their claims in a new research report prepared by the Chamber of Comme