Mark Pownall

THE WA Wine Industry Association has opened a new education facility in Perth’s northern suburbs, the first in a series of planned metropolitan satellite centres aimed at improving the public’s knowledge of wine.

A SHAPELY set of legs featured in a new city apartment advertising campaign caused a stir at last week’s City of Perth council meeting as councillors debated whether it was simply stylish or just plain sexist.

THE furore in WA over the heavily marketed tax schemes appears to be gaining an increasing profile in Canberra, with the matter being given a big airing at Federal Cabinet this week.

Australia’s listed investment companies have been “out of favour” for more than a year, ever since new capital gains tax rules were announced, but for many investors it may be timely to reconsider this sector.

FIRST it was the graphic designers now we see it in the world of interior design – complaints from local industry that they don’t get a fair go when it comes to big State Government contracts.

WHO says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? One of Perth’s best known faces, Robert Ruse claims to have put his past behind him and is ready for another crack at business with a new venture.

A PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY city is what council hopeful Tony Ransom wants to create.

A GEM dealer who quit Perth after being hounded by creditors has emerged with an apparent link to two Australians held in custody in Laos over the disappearance of sapphires from that country.

Agricultural scheme pro-moters are reeling at the latest blow to their industry, with regulators chang-ing the rules about prospectus fore-casts in the middle of the key marketing period.

SOME years ago I was approached by a salesman who sold tax-effective investments to people who worked in WA’s mining sector.

BOUTIQUE investment bank Gresham Partners has always been a quiet little earner for WA’s biggest industrial company Wesfarmers, contributing a healthy $2.5 million on average to the bottom line during each of the past couple of years.

WAS that a bugle sounding off in the distance?

TERRY Budge has already passed the halfway mark in his seven-year contract as the head of BankWest, outliving the average Australian chief executive’s tenure in the process.

Gas soaring as Eagles diveTHE $2.4 billion expansion of the North-West Shelf gas project will go ahead after the six partners Woodside, Shell, BHP, BP, Chevron and Mitsui/Mitsubishi decided to invest $1.6 billion in a fourth LNG production train on WA

BIG inventories of frozen rock lobster and jitters in the Japanese market are undermining the benefits of the falling Australian dollar for WA’s fishermen.

ALL of us have at some time or another felt that we live in a State that rivals paradise, here in WA. Interestingly it is not just us who feel that way.

ANY workplace agreement which is registered from this week will be valid for only six months after new workplace legislation comes into force.

INNOVATION remains a key theme in WA business circles this week with a series of key initiatives led by the WA Government and some of our most prestigious research organisations.

ALL of us have at some time or another felt that we live in a State that rivals paradise, here in WA. Interestingly it is not just us who feel that way.

BARELY a year has gone since Tony Barton stormed back into WA’s investment scene with his new company’s purchase of a half share in stockbroker DJ Carmichael & Co.

SOUTH Australian winemaker Normans Wines is likely target of a $200 million plus acquisition drive by three Margaret River wineries.

MARGARET River winemaker Xanadu is set to hit the acquisition trail in a stock market listing planned for as early as next week after raising about $8 million in new equity.

MEGA mergers like that proposed between Australia’s BHP and South African-based Billiton are real food for thought.

THE biggest story in Australia’s corporate history occurred this week with the announced merger of Australian mining giant BHP with London’s Billiton plc.

WINE company Evans & Tate hopes to emulate stock market giants Wesfarmers and Westfield Holdings with its plan to spin off property assets into a separately listed vehicle.

STAGGERING offers for young lawyers who have been working for less time than they spent at university should be seen as a portent of things to come.

THE cash box left after the failure of WA’s first wine company listing is fighting an east coast bidder from the industry, which appears to be after a $5 million kitty left after the sale of three vineyards last year.

A WA wine industry proposal to exempt producers’ first 1 million litres from the wine equalisation tax has been adopted at a national level as the producers prepare to use their electoral clout to wind back GST-driven exise increases.

MASS consumption of fast food is a New World phenomenon.People in traditional societies - such as Europe - tended to eat at a more leisurely pace.

A SURPRISE management change at AlintaGas is looming as the first tremor in WA’s electricity sector as it braces for seismic change under the new Labor Government’s plan to fully open the retail energy market.

Meet the inaugural members of the Business News – Business Panel.

ERG is considered WA’s standout innovation success by Perth’s business elite, capturing the business world’s attention by becoming a global leader in smart card and transit ticketing systems.