Staff Reporters

AN INTERIM stop order has been placed on the WA Blue Gum Project 2002 replacement prospectus lodged by WA Blue Gum Limited.

WEST Perth-based IPT Systems has approved a change to the name of its wholly-owned subsidiary, MTIC Corporate Pty Ltd to Synergy Business Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, effective immediately.

HAVING gone through the process of changing its name to reflect a reformed image, Griffin Energy Pty Ltd, formerly Griffin Coal, has now released plans to become a sustainable business.

AGRICULTURE Minister Kim Chance has called for an independent review of the skeleton weed eradication program.Mr Chance has established a five-member panel to be chaired by Dexter Davies.

THE chairman of the ACCC, Professor Alan Fels, said he has no fear that big business will use a review of the ACCC’s powers to attack him.

BROADBAND and co-location provider Swiftel Ltd has signed several new customer contracts in recent weeks.

WHEN it comes to mainstream advertising, consumers are accustomed to screening messages to separate fact from fiction.

AFTER 16 months of commissioned research, workshops, conferences and individual dialogue, Australia’s input into a worldwide initiative to look at sustainability and the mining and minerals industries has been released.

THE president of the WA Industrial Relations Commission is the latest prominent figure to criticise the WA Government’s changes to IR laws.

WITH interest rates heading north over the next 12 months, what are the options for borrowers and investors?

BANKWEST has set up The Project Centre to manage in-house projects worth more than $500,000.

DO you want to see Professor Allan Fels talking about competition policy in WA? That will be Thursday at the Hilton then.

HAVING ploughed $1 million into exploring the Windimurra Superproject and the Jillawarra project, prospector Mark Creasy is seeking the backing of public investors through a $4 million initial public offer of Apex Minerals NL.

WHILE demand is high for lawyers with up to five years’ experience, it is certainly a different story at the lower end of the market.

MID-LEVEL law firm Deacons is undergoing major changes as part of its bid to reach the top of Perth’s second-tier operators.

Barnett promised he would produce a discussion paper on the directions he hoped the party would travel in modernising its practices and management.

JUST two years ago most legal firms were very much enamoured with the multidisciplinary model.But steps in this direction in WA have been tentative at best, with many firms holding back altogether.

PERTH accounting firm McKessar Tieleman has won a World Bank contract to teach Chinese small to medium-sized businesses how to become more profitable.

MEDICAL indemnity insurer United Medical Protection was placed in provisional liquidation this week following a Government decision not to support a bail out.

THE brain drain sucking talent away from WA appears to be slowing and, in some cases, even reversing.Legal recruiters and law firms are starting to record more expressions of interest from people looking to move to WA.

Some legal industry and mining company operators have told WA Business News that the new section seems to be “a little bit more payback to the unions”.

THERE has been a shakeup in WA’s barrister ranks thanks to six Supreme Court and Royal Commission appointments.Christopher Pullin, Eric Heenan and Carmel McClure have all been made justices of the Supreme Court.

LARGE trades in Amity Oil Limited shares this year have prompted the Australian Stock Exchange to request a new list of Top 20 share and option holders.

REYNOLDS & Associates Advertising & Design has picked up Stratagem’s client list after the latter entered voluntary administration earlier this month.

IN the lead-up to Anzac Day, past and future Australian peacekeepers were in the news.

PLAYING golf can be an expensive exercise … lost balls, broken clubs and the unplanned stop at the 19th hole can add up to a fair sum of money at the end of the day.Then, of course, there’s the actual cost of getting on to the greens.

THIRTY nine of WA’s 40 top-paid public company directors earned more than $400,000 in 2001, and number 40 was only a shade behind that figure.

WA-BASED Ivanhoe Mines Ltd has expanded its Mongolian presence after signing two new agreements, delivering it an additional 353sq kilometres on two new prospects, Shuteen and Turquoise Ridges, which sit about 120 kilometres north

THE lease of Ardross restaurant Campo de Fiori has been sold to Gala Group Pty Ltd.The company is operated by German-born Johannes Lang and Marianne Kempf.

SOME people believe that old things just creak, while others find beauty in the world of the antique.The WA Business News list of antique-selling shops shows there’s no general interest in the purchase of clocks.

OPINIONS are divided over the benefits of exempting small businesses from Federal unfair dismissal laws.

FRANCHISES have become so prevalent and so successful that it seems there’s one for nearly every aspect of daily life.