Mark Pownall

IN a state where project funding is so often measured in the billions of dollars, a $1.5 million investment hardly seems like much of a milestone.

WESTERN Australia’s four public universities, which all recorded improved financial positions for the 12 months after the global financial crisis, have revealed steady increases in student numbers and revenue that has outpaced rising staff costs

PREMIER Colin Barnett is expected to reshuffle his cabinet in the wake of the departure of Troy Buswell from ministerial ranks following the scandal surrounding his affair with Greens member, Adele Carles.

Property developers rarely get mentioned in the same breath as the phrase ‘corporate social responsibility’.

A SERIES of moves by political staffers into roles linked to the resources sector reveals the growing need for corporate players to find their way around bureaucracy and political roadblocks.

THE Kailis name may be an integral part of the Western Australian business scene, but it has also been synonymous with privately held, family businesses.

It seems a lot of people are missing the point about tax.

TWO years ago, the state government’s superannuation operation was flying high.

LISTED giant Sonic Healthcare has moved to increase its share of the occupational medicine market by buying Osborne Park-based Prime Health Group for an undisclosed sum.

State Treasurer Troy Buswell has cited potential costs of up to $467 million as a key reason for killing off the privatisation of government employees' superannuation administrator GESB, ending two years of speculation about its future.

A man who loves bancruptcies offers insight into how to make a business work.

THE Perth-based chief of one of Australia’s leading medical sector players – St John of God Health Care CEO Michael Stanford – has warned of a shake-up in the pathology business as a result of changing federal government policy.

AQUACULTURE has a chequered history in Western Australia but the growth in demand for seafood from Asia, coupled with the decline in wild stocks, continues to generate new opportunities.

State Treasurer Troy Buswell has killed off the privatisation of government employees' superannuation administrator GESB, ending almost two years of doubt about its future.

IT might be every little boy’s dream to run a company that owns trucks and diggers, but yellow goods group Emeco Holdings’ new CEO Keith Gordon gives little indication of living out a childhood fantasy.

MOVEMENT at Perth law firms continues after a busy March of major shifts in the wake of the arrival of London-based Allen & Overy, with several big legal defections taking place.

DEPUTY Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s whistlestop tour of Western Australia last week returned the political conversation to industrial relations for the first time in several weeks.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to engaging indigenous enterprises.

Australia is ill-prepared to deal with potential threats in the north-west

LAST year, the leadership at Aboriginal-owned BYAC Contracting learned a very big business lesson when the global financial crisis hit – the dangers of its over-reliance on a long-term customer.

Premier Colin Barnett's former chief-of-staff, Deidre Willmott will be leaving her role as coordinator for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth but has ruled out a tilt at parliament, for now.

MINING magnate Clive Palmer might be from Queensland, but he doesn’t mind weighing into Western Australia’s political scene, as he did in Albany at the weekend with promises to spend up big in support of The Nationals WA campaigning at state level.

Do the wealthy have a moral obligation to help those less fortunate?

The signs aren’t good for MIS plays after major upheaval in 2009.

The launch of a new internet service by Kerry Stokes raises intriguing questions about the strategy.

Canberra doesn’t have the money to take control of the health system – yet.

As Australia’s fiscal muscle shifts inexorably to Canberra, so too does the focus of everyone, from the premier down, who is seeking funding decisions from the national capital. And they are just as likely to be disappointed by the process as Colin Barnet

THE official stock exchange listing of Osborne Park-based rural merchandiser FarmWorks Australia has highlighted the seemingly sluggish passage of corporate plans at two other agribusinesses, AACL and Rewards Group.

AS Perth surveys the damage wreaked by Monday’s storm, political observers were picking over something completely different – the results of two state elections at the weekend and trying to assess the implications for Western Australia.

The maternity leave plans of both major political parties leave a lot to be desired.

THE destruction of wealth wrought by the global financial crisis has focused many private business people back to their core operation, and given them cause to think about strategies for preserving what they have in case of another big bust.

Big private businesses have generally withstood the shock of the GFC.