Mark Beyer

The state government has a record capital works budget, but does it have the right priorities and can it deliver?

Seven Network Ltd chairman Kerry Stokes plans to break his silence on his challenge to the board of West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd, agreeing to speak exclusively at a WA Business News' Success and Leadership breakfast.

Energy giant Chevron has announced plans to develop its wholly owned Wheatstone gas field offshore from Karratha as a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, and says it is still pursuing plans to develop its long-delayed Gorgon LNG project nearby.

Aspiring iron ore miner Gindalbie Metals Ltd has disclosed that it may need to modify its start-up mining plans because of environmental issues associated with its $1.8 billion Karara project in the Mid West region.

Setting up the smart state

One of Western Australia’s major technology projects died a quiet death last week, two days before the Carpenter government cranked up support for the state’s next big technology project.

Listed accounting and financial services group Count Financial Ltd has bought a 25 per cent shareholding in West Perth firm RLF Bentleys Pty Ltd, formerly Rix Levy Fowler, for just under $1 million.

Listed accounting and financial services group Count Financial Ltd has acquired a 25 per cent shareholding in West Perth firm RLF Bentleys Pty Ltd, formerly Rix Levy Fowler, for just under $1 million.

BankWest's parent company HBOS Australia has reported a 15 per cent increase in profit, saying it is a good result considering the big investment in east coast expansion it has undertaken.

Increasing wages may seem a strange way to cut costs and lift business efficiency, but that is one option proposed by visiting management expert, Verne Harnish.

The times they are a-changin’

Global investment bank UBS has established a Perth office, having previously serviced the Western Australian market on a fly-in fly-out basis.

Traffic volumes in Perth are projected to increase by nearly 41 per cent over the next 15 years, substantially higher than growth in most other Australian cities.

The health, or lack thereof, of global credit markets is highly relevant to business in WA.

This week’s big economic and commercial news has highlighted the increasing importance of China to Western Australia’s future prosperity, and the relative decline of the US.

The Corruption and Crime Commission has released a series of explosive reports over the past three years, yet independent reviews of its findings have repeatedly reached contrary conclusions.

The increased iron ore price is great news for WA exporters but it does have a downside. It will quickly flow back in the form of higher steel prices, which will make future expansion projects more expensive.

Profit results lodged by a range of Western Australian companies this week indicate that it takes more than a resources boom for some companies to fire.

The federal government is looking for quick answers from a review it has established into the ability of temporary skilled migration schemes to help ease labour shortages.

The family of late Multiplex founder John Roberts is among the winners from three long-running tax disputes that have gone to the courts – and all decided in favour of the taxpayers.

The state government has delivered an unusual flurry of major social infrastructure announcements over the past week.

Two months after UK company Cape plc completed its $250 million takeover of Malaga scaffolding and formwork supplier PCH Group Ltd, nearly the entire management team has left PCH.

The state government has announced plans to amend the Stamp Act, with immediate effect, after Origin Energy successfully challenged a $3 million stamp duty assessment.

The Australian Small Scale Offerings Board is planning to revive the concept of a venture capital pitch event in Perth, to give emerging companies an opportunity to showcase their credentials.

The past week has thrown up a raft of extraordinary policy challenges for the Carpenter and Rudd governments, which are presiding over unusual times.

Law firm Lavan Legal has become the inaugural client for a secure email service that listed Perth technology company, Synergy Equities Group, believes sets a new benchmark.

After months of takeover speculation and feuding between Mid West iron ore miners Murchison Metals and Midwest Corporation, the two companies are once again independently pursuing their expansion plans.

Investors who have backed Paul van Saarloos over the past two decades have been on a rocky ride, but the Perth medical entrepreneur is increasingly confident that his current company is on the verge of success.

Property developer Ascot Capital, Clive Palmer's mining group Mineralogy and conglomerate Wesfarmers were the biggest donors to political parties in Western Australia in 2006-07, data released by the Australian Electoral Commission has shown.

Mr McGinty went out on a limb when he recruited Dr Fong to head up the state’s ambitious health reform plans, following the Reid Review

With Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group set to become the Pilbara’s third iron ore exporter this year, many other companies are racing to join the ranks of iron ore producers in the resource-rich region.

An experiment in public sector reform came to an untimely end last week with the resignation of Health Department director general Neale Fong.