Tim Treadgold

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing investors who have shunned Western Australian mining companies for decades (because they prefer buying shares in banks) to smarten their game or risk being left holding yield-free assets as bank dividends dry up.

OPINION: The big changes forced on the mining sector’s FIFO operations is a perfect example of how upheaval in business can present opportunities to improve when the crisis has passed.

Investors seem wary of a couple of WA stalwarts, with a lack of timely decision-making in a changing marketplace part of the problem.

Some people find transitioning from an office environment to working from home difficult, but it needn’t be.

A falling oil price is a double-edged sword for WA.

OPINION: The outlook is threatening on several fronts for a global economy connected by trade links and mutually beneficial supply chains.

Tourism is the canary in the coalmine ahead of the global economic hit expected as China slows while dealing with the coronavirus.

OPINION: Western Australia’s lithium boom, which ran out of steam last year, will not be returning soon given the nationwide slowdown in China as it battles to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

There are concerns the share market’s strength doesn’t accurately reflect the nation’s economic performance, or outlook.

OPINION: Emerging countries will need to be brought into the tent if a global reduction in carbon emissions is to be achieved.

What Christmas gave to Australian retailers, the bushfires are taking away, but there could be worse to come for shopkeepers and shopping centre owners when the latest international trends wash up here.

OPINION: WA again stands to be the beneficiary of trouble elsewhere, with local producers of lithium, gold, iron ore and hydrocarbons the likely winners.

Ultra-low interest rates are driving a new subprime crisis in the US.

OPINION: A new US meal-delivery model could make its way to Australia.

OPINION: A better year is in prospect for WA’s resources-led economy but much has to go right on the international and local fronts.

OPINION: The Westpac transactions scandal exposes its dependence, and that of the other banks, on computerised processing to replace people and cut costs.

The Scarborough gasfields appear set to be at the heart of a development versus environment showdown that will have major political implications.

OPINION: The investment opportunities offered by new energy models could change the debate over climate policy.

OPINION: As welcome as they are for borrowers, the current era of ultra-low interest rates is creating the climate for a financial crisis.

OPINION: Australia is seeking to find a delicate balance in terms of trade with a major customer, China, and its strategic alliance with the US.

OPINION: Business sectors slow to recognise the need to shift gears in the face of technological change will struggle to survive.

OPINION: Sensible debate about the cost of progressive environmental policy is missing amid the noise from politicians and green activists.

OPINION: Political battlelines drawn as the Morrison government delves into the workings of the $2.8 trillion superannuation industry.

OPINION: Every cloud has a silver lining, even the attacks on the Saudi Arabian oil industry, because they could provide the incentive for customers to seek more liquefied natural gas from Western Australia.

Digital disruption seems set to affect the government’s provision of transport services, and other offerings are also ripe for the picking.

Alaska is a long way from Western Australia, but what’s just happened in the oil industry there could have a significant effect on plans to expand this state’s liquefied natural gas industry.

OPINION: Global economic and political events may dampen demand for minerals from some major WA projects.

OPINION: Low interest rates create winners and losers, but ultimately are a sign all’s not well with the world.

ANALYSIS: A recent rise in share prices for listed retailers reflects some positive signs across the economy.

ANALYSIS: An $A record gold price has the sector abuzz, while the sharp correction in iron ore prices will expose the looming reliance on WA’s vast deposits of low-grade ore.

OPINION: The failure of government and business to work together effectively in Chile provides a clear lesson for WA’s lithium players.

OPINION: Several factors have converged to lift the price of gold in $A terms, but local events may yet play a part in how lucrative those returns are to WA producers.