Mark Beyer

Newly established Perth company OncoRes Medical has secured up to $6 million of funding to commercialise a surgical tool developed by researchers at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and the University of Western Australia.

Wangara-based building company McGrath Modular is being shut down after it was ensnared in problems associated with its Queensland owner and hit by weak market conditions in regional Western Australia.

The salary package for Wesfarmers' new managing director acknowledges the reality that many large companies pay big annual bonuses every year.

Finance director Terry Bowen will become the third top Wesfarmers executive to retire from the Perth-based conglomerate in the space of 12 months, with the group announcing three senior appointments along with details of incoming managing director Rob Scott's remuneration package.

Iron ore miners Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group have announced initiatives designed to assist local suppliers, with Rio establishing a dedicated procurement team and FMG shortening payment terms.

The share market ended the day steady after early gains by the big four banks evaporated in afternoon trade, and miners fall on weaker iron ore futures.

Perth tech startup QuizJam is seeking to raise $1 million through a convertible note issue to support continued growth of its online business.

The major shareholders in Wellard, including China's Fulida Group Holdings and local agribusiness Heytesbury, are expected to lift their stake in the livestock exporter after a big shortfall from its rights issue.

The state government has awarded three new roads projects to the contractors that had been working on the Roe 8 development, while also confirming the net cost of abandoning the latter project will be about $45 million.

G Medical Innovations Holdings has joined nearly a dozen Israeli tech companies to list on the ASX in recent years through Perth advisers.

Curtin University spin-out iCetana, which is commercialising video monitoring software, has become the second unlisted Perth tech company to complete a big capital raising this year.

Social enterprise Dismantle is showing its peers how to blend commercial acumen with a social purpose.

Opposition leader Mike Nahan has joined Premier Mark McGowan in calling for Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi to resign, after the State Administrative Tribunal today found she had committed 45 serious breaches of the Local Government Act by not disclosing travel and accommodation gifts.

SPECIAL REPORT: The number of international students coming to Perth has grown strongly over the past four years, but WA is still underperforming, particularly in the university sector.

Macmahon Holdings has finalised documentation for what is a potentially transformational deal with Indonesia's PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara, two months after announcing a heads of agreement in the midst of a hostile takeover battle.

Woodside Petroleum managing director Peter Coleman has sketched out plans to convert the two LNG plants on the Burrup Peninsula into an integrated processing hub that would take gas from the Browse Basin and other undeveloped fields off the Western Australian coast.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss public sector overhaul, medical research funding, CityLink developments and our university sector.

Perth company AusCann Group Holdings has become the seventh applicant to gain regulatory approval to cultivate medicinal cannabis in Australia, with the news lifting its share price by 17 per cent today.

The global company that runs many of WA's mine camps believes a technology platform developed with local ICT firm Velrada provides a blueprint for its international operations.

Women account for just 8.7 per cent of board positions at the top 100 Western Australian companies listed on the ASX, a report by the Committee for Perth has found.

Perth entrepreneur Steve Tobin is gearing up for an expansion of oil and gas and minerals exploration in Australia, after selling a majority stake in Terrex Seismic to a private equity group to fund the acquisition of what he believes is a breakthrough technology.

Senior public servants Stephen Wood, David Smith and Darren Foster are among the main winners from the state government's plan to create 11 larger departments.

Former company director Steve Noske has been sentenced today to 18 months' imprisonment and fined $20,000 after being found guilty early this month of insider trading in takeover target Westside Co

Mining services company Ausdrill has expanded its partnership with Hockey Australia, while AGL Energy has sponsored the West Coast Eagles as it seeks to lift its profile ahead of its planned entry to the Western Australian gas market.

In this Business News podcast, Dan Wilkie and Mark Beyer discuss big changes to the public service, property developers, opportunities in defence, a new Qantas service, and our annual review of mining projects.

Four Western Australian medical research organisations are aiming to boost collaboration after moving into the Ralph and Patricia Sarich Neuroscience Research Institute in Nedlands, which was officially opened this week.

Premier Mark McGowan has gently chided the mining and energy sector, saying it needs to lift support for local manufacturing, apprentice training and local employment.

BHP Billiton has cut its full-year copper production guidance and outlined plans to sell some of its US shale acreage, while also announcing record iron ore production and reaffirming plans for its South Flank development in the Pilbara.

Nearly 4,000 shareholders in West Perth company Moly Mines have effectively become stranded in the $63 million cashbox after a stand-off between its board and the ASX ended in a delisting of its stock.

UPDATED: Building commissioner Peter Gow has issued a clarifying statement today (Tuesday), essentially confirming the state government's view that lead leaching directly from brass fittings remains the only significant source of lead at Perth Children's Hospital.

CPB Contractors has failed in its application for an injunction against engineering group JKC Australia, which is claiming $39.2 million of liquidated damages related to work on the Ichthys LNG project.

In this Business News podcast, Dan Wilkie and Mark Beyer discuss 457 visas, chief executive salaries, Chinese investment in WA and the state of the construction industry.