Government

Western Australia needs to be more aggressive in attracting foreign investment, Premier Mark McGowan told a Business News breakfast this morning, where he announced a recently established state economic office that is already facilitating dozens of projects.

Wages growth is picking up and performing better than many commentators expect, according to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, while the government will likely revise its surplus projection lower for the financial year.

Entrepreneurs across Australia are dipping a toe in new waters as the term ‘blue economy’ surges into the business world.

A $1 billion fund to subsidise grid reliability and an expert panel to review Australia’s emissions abatement program are signs the federal government might be rethinking its approach to climate policy.

Labor has walked away from its planned major redistribution of income, and sought to clarify confusion over coal mining that cost it at the last federal poll.

Today's decision by the state government to increase the payroll tax exemption threshold has been welcomed by industry bodies.

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese has used a speech in Perth to defend the importance of the mining industry, saying the market should be allowed to determine which projects, including in the coal sector, are able to proceed.

The McGowan has reversed one of its first policy initiatives, announcing over the weekend that Perth will once again be classified as a ‘region’, making it easier for international students to gain work after their studies.

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

Asian Engagement Minister Peter Tinley has talked up Western Australia’s business opportunities with Indonesia, as federal parliament is set to ratify a significant trade deal with the South-East Asian country.

A successful year for GMO Business Sales masked what was an otherwise quiet year for brokers across the state.

Almost $1.2 billion in dividends flowed to the state government from 11 of its businesses in the year to June 2019, according to their recently published annual reports.

Premier Mark McGowan has firmly urged BHP and Chevron to reach agreements with Woodside Petroleum so the giant Browse and Scarborough gas projects can proceed.

Former deputy prime minister Julie Bishop has urged Australia to act as a voice of moderation on international trade, criticising the US for exacerbating threats to the rules-based world order.

Continued Chinese investment into Western Australia could hinge on a fair outcome in the long-running dispute between CITIC Pacific and Clive Palmer's Mineralogy, according to Consul General Zhihua Dong.

Western Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points in September to 5.7 per cent, marking the fourth month in a row the rate has remained below 6 per cent.

OPINION: The Labor Party is struggling to embrace a common view of why it lost the 2019 federal election.

A recent Harvard study that found Australia’s export economy lacks complexity may itself be something of an oversimplification.

The Morrison government wants to change native title laws to ensure hundreds of mining leases are no longer in limbo.

The state government has banned 11 contractors for up to five years each, as a result of the Corruption and Crime Commission’s (CCC) investigation into the North Metropolitan Health Service.

The big banks have said they welcome the competition watchdog inquiry into mortgage pricing, with ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott admitting lenders have not properly explained why their rates do not keep pace with the tumbling cash rate.

Housing finance provider Australian Finance Group says lending for homes in the first quarter of the 2020 financial year in Western Australia has rebounded from record low levels to reach its highest figure since the end of the 2017 fiscal year.

Climate activists have brought traffic to a standstill in Perth's CBD as streets were shut down and police arrested protesters causing disruption.

SeaLink Travel Group’s $700 million takeover target, Transit Systems, has renewed two transport contracts in Western Australia worth around $57 million per year, as well as securing a new contract.

Australia is not as exclusively dependent on China’s economy as commonly perceived, according to research by Business News.

Busselton is set to have an underwater observatory, after the federal government committed $13 million to the project as part of its Regional Growth Fund.

BHP says big miners' profits will not survive if they simply pay lip service to the social and environmental toll of resource extraction, with the "social value" of a business decision increasingly important to a company's long-term future.

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

Solutions to prevent a potential looming shortage of critical minerals can be found in Rio Tinto’s increasingly high tech operations, particularly in the Pilbara, according to corporate relations vice-president Brad Haynes.

WA Profiling & Stabilisation, Aurecon, and Adtech FRP are the latest major winners of state government contracts, worth about $11.2 million.

The Water Corporation is refusing to release the details of a review it says backs a decision to insource a major maintenance contract, a move that runs counter to the economic reforms of recent decades.

Key cost of living indicators show Perth has become one of Australia’s least expensive capital cities in recent years.