Noel Dyson

OUTLAW motorcycle gang members helping to organise stop-work meetings, people locked in sea containers, witness intimidation, builders forcing sub contractors to sign union Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and corporate

IT will be more than two years until the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre opens its doors to customers, but work to bring the people in has already begun.

PROPOSED new safety laws for WA have some employer groups running scared.

OFTEN considered a poor relation to other satellite centres, such as Joondalup, Midland is about to undergo a renaissance.

BUSINESSES are facing a three-fold increase in court costs after new court fees came into effect on January 1.The cost of filing any action in WA courts went up for both individuals and businesses. But fees only doubled for individuals.

THERE is some good in WA’s proposed Industrial Relations Reform Bill, according to former Australian and WA Industrial Relations Commission senior commissioner Gavin Fielding.

SMALL business are turning away from Government agencies set up to help them and instead approaching their accountants, their bank or friends for advice, a survey has found.

A DISALLOWANCE motion has being raised in the Legislative Council of WA Parliament to try and throw out the WA Government’s small business registration regulations.From January 1 business registrations went up from $93 to $103.

WA’S industrial relations system has come under the spotlight this week with the State Government’s controversial IR Reform Bill being debated in Parliament and the Royal Commission into Corruption in the Building Industry rolling into town.

RECRUITMENT firm CPE has entered the labour hire arena by buying Victoria Park-based labour hire firm Actsum for an undisclosed amount.Actsum has about 100 people on its books and an annual turnover of between $2.5 million and $3 million.

THE Australian subsidiary of Malaysian-owned Armourglass Limited is being bought by its management team of Frank Tenaglia and Gerhardt Trichardt.

AFTER about 10 years of industrial relations peace, the Pilbara region looks set to explode again.WA’s workplace agreements legislation has been credited with reducing industrial strife in the region, but that legislation is due to be superseded.

STANDARDS setting out what WA Government agencies must do to comply with the State Records Act have been released.

SMALL business appears likely to become a major battleground with at least three lenders planning major moves on the sector.

PIVOT Group has taken over the “kiss of death” office in the BankWest Tower.The office was once held by Bond Corp (back when the building was named after it) and failed downstream iron ore processor Kingstream.

INDUSTRIAL agents could become a thing of the past under the WA Government’s Industrial Relations Reform Bill.

YET another tax change that threatens to create as much confusion as the introduction of the GST looms over business.

MOVES are afoot to unionise grape pickers and bring wineries both large and small under a new State Award.Wineries operate under an Award so old its terms and conditions are below basic legal minimums.

HOPES of the WA Government changing its mind and re-routing the Mandurah-Perth line via Kenwick instead of down the Kwinana Freeway appear to be dashed.

BUSINESS people who own their homes through family trusts are likely to be hit by both the State and Federal Government’s tax regimes.

SMALL businesses are likely to miss most of the confusion and changes that are coming with tax consolidation.

ONE of WA’s favourite holiday towns could become a legal battlefield as people fight for views of the Indian Ocean.

CHANGES to the Stamp Duty Act currently before Parliament, which include doubling the maximum penalty for each offence from $10,000 to $20,000, threaten to make things even harder for directors.

LENDERS are becoming concerned about their security after one mortgagee lost a challenge against WA’s Criminal Property Confiscation Act in the WA Supreme Court.

CONCERNS are mounting that builders will be too scared to speak out when the Cole Royal Commission into Building Industry Corruption comes to town on March 18.Industry sources say the threat of union reprisals will gag many builders.

WA Premier Geoff Gallop has weighed into the population debate, calling for a national population policy to be created.

A QUIRK of the GST is preventing some property buyers from claiming input tax, even though they thought they were entitled.

WA is growing as a place of interest for those wanting to come to Australia as business or skilled migrants.

AS the immigration debate pitches like a rusty trawler in the Indian Ocean, one fact shines clear – Australia needs more people to reach its economic potential.

THIS will be a huge week for WA’s legislative framework.

AUSTRALIA’S immigration laws could be costing WA valuable business and skilled migrants.

A STAR-STUDDED collection of Perth’s business community, including Multiplex Constructions, the Barbagallo Group and media and wine industry mogul Jack Bendat is turning out for a chance to hear former US president Bill Clinton speak.