Government

Gold has pared its gains after data shows US job growth rebounded in April and stayed on track for its biggest weekly loss in six months as expectations for a US interest rate hike in June grew and eurozone political risk receded.

Oil prices have closed 1.5 per cent higher, rebounding from five-month lows, following positive US jobs data and assurances by Saudi Arabia that Russia is ready to join OPEC in extending supply cuts to reduce a persistent glut.

OPINION: A Productivity Commision analysis of the tax carve-up is just the start in what could be a divisive process.

The Reserve Bank of Australia seems content to leave interest rates on hold this year, with its growth and inflation forecasts slightly improving

Henderson-based shipbuilder Austal will open an Adelaide office for shipbuilding design and project management as it seeks to win a $3 billion federal government contract to build 12 new offshore patrol vessels.

Corporate Australia wants Canberra to deliver wider tax cuts for business and boost "good" spending in the federal budget next week, even as it urges the politicians to agree on a quicker path to a budget surplus.

The Australian dollar is higher against its US counterpart as the greenback is sold off.

Oil prices have plunged to five-month lows amid record trading volume in Brent crude, as OPEC and other producers appeared to rule out deeper supply cuts to reduce the world's persistent glut of crude.

Gold prices have fallen to the lowest in more than six weeks, on expectations of further US interest rate increases this year and receding political uncertainty in Europe.

A former New Zealand bureaucrat has been appointed to lead a three-person panel that will conduct a review into the state’s public service, where Premier Mark McGowan is targeting $750 million in savings.

Merchandise exports from Western Australia were up 35.4 per cent in March compared with that same month in 2016, as a clear trend emerges of improving trade figures for the state.

The head of Western Australia's public sector union has defended what is being viewed as a muted response to the biggest slashing of the public service in decades and job losses that might be in the thousands.

The state government has frozen Tafe fees for all courses over the next four years in the hopes of giving more people an opportunity to have an affordable education.

Chinese direct investment in Western Australia was more than 10 times higher last year than it had been in calendar 2015, according to the latest data compiled by KPMG and the University of Sydney.

Senior public servants Stephen Wood, David Smith and Darren Foster are among the main winners from the state government’s plan to create 11 larger departments.

The federal government won't guarantee Tasmania and South Australia will be no worse off under potential changes to the way GST revenue is carved up among the states.

The state government has cut the number of its departments from 41 to 25, with a fifth of jobs in the Senior Executive Service – Western Australia’s highest-paid bureaucrats – to go.

Confidence in the economy over the coming 12 months by local small and medium businesses has jumped to its highest level since December 2010, with Western Australian SMEs more bullish than most others in Australia, a new report says.

Premier Mark McGowan has gently chided the mining and energy sector, saying it needs to lift support for local manufacturing, apprentice training and local employment.

Major gas exporters on the east coast have promised to ensure higher domestic supplies, but the industry has slammed the federal government's new restrictions on gas exports.

Business owner Ra Stewart says she wants to bring responsible financial management and enthusiasm back into the council if she is elected mayor of Fremantle.

OPINION: Colin Barnett has decided to stay on as the member for Cottesloe, but how for long is another matter.

Chevron Australia has lost its appeal of a 2015 Federal Court ruling regarding the company’s financial and taxation relationship with its US parent, although the company has not ruled out a High Court appeal.

Newly appointed chief executives in WA are on substantially lower salary packages compared with recent years, a Business News survey has found. 

The state government has taken control of the trouble-plagued Perth Children’s Hospital to solve what it believes is the cause of the ongoing lead contamination problem.

OPINION: During the state election campaign, Mark McGowan said his government would repay the state’s debt as though it were a home mortgage; now, unfortunately, he is experiencing the equivalent of mortgage stress, which comes with taking on too much debt without enough income to service it.

The dramatic fall in the price of iron ore since the start of March could punch a $1.4 billion hole in the state’s finances in the next financial year.

Parts of corporate Australia have attacked the federal government's axing of 457 immigration work visas, claiming it is a politically driven move and unfairly targets less than 1 per cent of the workforce.

Low wage growth, rising household debt and global geopolitical tensions are all weighing on consumer confidence, ANZ Banking Group says.

Clive Palmer is formally waving goodbye to politics and disbanding his political party.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced the abolishment of the 457 skilled visa program, which will be replaced by a visa with new requirements for temporary foreign workers.

SPECIAL REPORT: Henderson shipbuilders have plans to put on hundreds of apprentices as billions of dollars in naval investment is expected in the next few years.