Western Australia's economy is expected to slow by almost 40 per cent in 2008/09 and nearly 50 per cent the following financial year as the fallout from the global financial crisis impacts the state and demand for resources commodities wanes.
The state government has confirmed that the University of Western Australia will be the headquarters of a new $20 million radio astronomy research centre that is designed to help WA win the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array project.
The weaker Australian dollar is expected to provide a buffer for Australia's commodity export earnings, which is forecast to drop by over 10 per cent for the 2009 financial year.
Manganese miner OM Holdings has revealed it has suspended shipments at a loss of over $12 million in response to weaker market conditions, which has also prompted a 30 per cent cut to annual production next year.
Premier takes on Mid West port push; Barnett says power merger has merit; $1.4bn to soften pain of carbon trading scheme; Arabs in multi-billion plan to buy WA farms; Up in smoke - share funds set for worst year on record
Premier Colin Barnett says he is "thrilled" with a federal government infrastructure package, which includes $195 million for the Ord River Irrigation Scheme but has very limited contributions for other projects in Western Australia.
Grange Resources shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of its merger with private Tasmanian magnetite iron ore pellet producer Australian Bulk Minerals.
Western Australia has received little in the federal government's $4.7 billion nation building package designed to help combat the affects of the global financial crisis, receiving a total of $318 million.
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Nickel miner Albidon says it will slash its mining workforce in Zambia by half and downsize its Perth office as part of cost cutting measures following an operational review.
Clean energy technology group Orbital Corp says it expects to post a loss of up to $2.7 million for the first half 2008/09 as it reviews its option to maintain its interest in a manufacturing joint venture.
Shares in West Perth-based Bass Metals have jumped as high as 40 per cent today after it reached agreement to buy the Hellyer processing plant from Intec for $4 million.
Burrup Fertiliser chief Pankaj Oswal has emerged as a substantial holder in West Perth-based Phosphate Australia, spending over $2 million for a near 6 per cent slice.
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AT a time when most directors are shoring up their interest in their own companies, Western Areas chairman Terrence Streeter has sold nearly $2 million worth of shares for the December month so far.
YOU don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to understand that, over the past 12 months, global financial markets have experienced some of the most severe and destabilising events ever seen.
Eddie Smith boosted his interest in Impress Energy for a scant 3 cents, buying 200,000 shares at a cost of $6,000, to bring his total securities to $67,046,937.
DURING the past two months there has been an unprecedented wave of bad economic news and plunging business confidence; but just how bad is Western Australia's economic outlook? Many people ask rhetorically why there is so much gloom in the local business
THE recent encroachment of Chinese producers into the state's resource sector has brought into question the value of shareholder returns, with cost plus off-take deals playing into Chinese hands.
THE decision by three non-executive directors - chairman Peter Mansell, Jenny Seabrook and Mel Ward - to quit the board of Western Australia's biggest publisher should not be a surprise.
ABOUT 236,000 square metres of extra retail space is due to come online in Perth over the next four years, according to a retail report by the Property Council of Australia (WA), with just less than half the extra space coming from new centres.
THE National Australia Bank’s Business Planning Survey has revealed an alarming level of complacency amongst the state’s small business owners when it comes to planning for the future, with 87 per cen
CHILD health researcher Fiona Stanley is a big fan of the concept of what she calls a "philanthropic hub" in Western Australia that would help donors refine their decision-making process and direct them to the worthiest causes that best fit thei
THE recruitment industry is anticipating increased demand for its services as the global economic crisis forces companies to slash jobs and laid-off employees seek professional agencies to resume employment.
Embattled technology developer Structural Monitoring has raised over $1 million through a rights issue, enough to keep the company going on a reduced cost basis.
Rio Tinto plans to cut 14,000 jobs, slash its 2009 capital spending from $9 billion to $4 billion and increase asset sales in order to reduce its $38.9 billion debt by a further $10 billion by the end of next year.
