Mark Pownall

WHILE Save Ningaloo campaigners were in the final stages of their long running and, ultimately, successful battle against the Maud’s Landing development, a wealthy conservationist linked to their cause may well have had his mind elsewhere.

WESTERN Australia’s dominant media player The West Australian newspaper has advertised nationally for a new editor following the departure of Brian Rogers, who surprised the industry recently by resigning just six months into a two-year contract.

PROFESSIONAL indemnity is one of the crises that has failed to capture the imagination of the very people who will end up being affected – consumers.

IT was with some trepidation that I prepared for the judging process for this year’s Family Business Awards.

THE high-profile dumping of the Maud’s Landing proposal near Coral Bay may have been politically expedient but it leaves the Gallop Government looking extremely weak when it comes to policy.

INVESTORS in the ailing Preston Vale vineyard are being asked to replace the $27 million project’s original management company Southern Wine Corporation in a bid to keep the managed investment scheme alive.

EVERY week we publish dozens of government-based contracts and tenders in our For The Record section – doing our bit for transparency by picking through the reams of available information.

THE legacy of Kingstream Steel continues to linger with the Supreme Court of Western Australia finding that Landcorp had significantly undervalued land that was to be compulsorily acquired for the ill-fated project north of Geraldton.

SOME of you might have noticed Dr Fiona Wood gracing the cover of a magazine that came with an edition of a national newspaper this weekend.

ALAN Green jokes about how he is going to improve his golf handicap after June 30, the date he steps down from his management position at EG Green & Sons, the company behind Harvey Beef and Western Australia’s dominant force in meat processing.

FOR anyone thinking of making a tax-effective investment during the final weeks of this financial year, a review of the collapse of Tuart Resources should prove a timely eye opener.

THIS week I received an interesting note that started me thinking. The notion it contained was generally against compulsory superannuation.

THE Federal Government’s Australian Research Council has backed WA wine producer Evans & Tate’s ambitious five-year project to develop Australia’s best chardonnay, providing $500,000 in funding through the University of Western Australia.

THE situation occurring in the Western Australian parliament with the Greens (WA) decision, unusually backed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in at least one instance

UPSTART wine producer Palandri Limited is drawing up plans for a property trust investment product that would own and manage vineyards.

AUSTRALIA is missing out on a major trade opportunity because it lacks a coordinated approach to attract foreigners here for medical treatment, according to Professor Ian Constable.

AN article I wrote last week on the Federal Government’s plans to place an environmental levy on plastic shopping bags has highlighted a number of issues — including a pet subject of mine, taxation.

WHATEVER you might think of the way Singaporeans run their state, you have to hand it to the head of its airline and his management team for taking a pay cut due to the tough economic circumstances.

WESTERN Australian businessman Jeff Burch is bewildered by the fact that the plastic bags he introduced to Australia’s supermarkets 20 years ago suddenly appear to have been elevated to the top of the Federal Government’s environmental hitlist.

AM I wrong or are there a lot more ideological battles taking place in our country than there has been for a long time? Recently we’ve had the obvious ideological battleground of whether Australia should commit forces to war.

IT’S that time of year again, when all the wailing and gnashing of teeth keeps us all in a miserable state. Yes, that’s right, its budget time.

IT is good to note that Fisheries Minister Kim Chance is taking a close interest in the rock lobster industry, one of our most successful niche exports.

THE bunfight surrounding VRI Biomedical had just gone off the corporate radar over the Easter break when the sudden implosion of national therapeutic drug giant Pan Pharmaceuticals appeared as a large blip on the screen this week.

THE $100 million collapse of the Pollock group of companies may have been triggered by tax authorities, seeking to recover unpaid GST owed by one of the trading entities.

I ATTENDED a function the other day on the value of corporate citizenship and was surprised by the level of debate that this subject sparks.

HIGH-PROFILE surgeon Fiona Wood admits that she was not an instant convert to the world of business.

I HAVE already shown my colours in the debate over retail trading hours but, with the extended deadline for submissions set to close this week, I thought it was worth revisiting the subject.

A CORPORATE fracas is often the public version of an ugly divorce.

SCHAFFER Corp director Danielle Blain has sold shares worth almost $1.8 million, a move that barely dented her holding after the diversified industrial’s extraordinary share price rise during the past 18 months.

WHILE new Australian Stock Exchange rules for corporate governance should be viewed as a victory for common sense, I can’t help wondering if it is all too little too late – and not just from the regulator.

THE war. It is a topic that is not far from everyone’s thoughts at the moment as our troops become involved in this controversial conflict.

THE recent setback for the development of the Burrup – with delays to the Canadian-based company Methanex’s plans to build a methanol plant – shows how fragile investment in major projects can be in a global economy.