Government

The federal government is moving towards changing the way road usage is priced, a reform backed in last year’s Harper competition review.

Three leading professionals have joined forces to take control of the Peppermint Grove branch of the Liberal Party, which is influential in the preselection process for Colin Barnett’s state seat of Cottesloe.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expecting a negative blip in economic growth at the end of this year but is not overly concerned about it.

Legal issues swirling around One Nation’s Rod Culleton could cruel the party’s chances at the March state poll.

Western Australia experienced yet another horror month for new car sales, with the prospect of a last-minute turnaround to bring the year on par with 2015’s poor result looking very unlikely.

The federal government is on the brink of striking a deal with Western Australia to let the state run the National Disability Insurance Scheme locally.

A particularly stressful week for farmers has come to a relieving end with the Greens today supporting the federal government’s proposed 15 per cent backpacker tax after voting against it yesterday.

Western Australian women have gone backwards in terms of the gender pay gap, with full-time workers earning on average 30.9 per cent - or $43,000 a year - less than men.

The federal government’s plan for a 15 per cent rate backpacker tax has been knocked down in the Senate, with the state’s farming body left furious and desperate for a solution.

Colin Barnett says he would like to see penalty rates cut for casual small business employees on Sundays and public holidays, but lift the base rate for standard hours.

The Barnett government is hoping to raise $3 billion by selling 51 per cent of Western Power to Australian investors, and will also use the privatisation deal to remove about $8 billion of debt off the state’s books.

The state government has allocated $2 million for a new co-working space in Karratha to promote small business and startups in the area.

The state’s agricultural body has welcomed the Commonwealth’s decision to reduce its planned backpacker tax to 15 per cent, less than half than what was originally proposed.

Attorney General George Brandis says every decision he made in relation to the Bell Group liquidation protected the interests of taxpayers, as the Insurance Commission of Western Australia estimates the litigation over the matter could take another 15 years to resolve.

Attorney General Michael Mischin said today he was disappointed at the federal government’s role in overturning state legislation designed to settle the long-running Bell Group dispute, as the amount of litigation around the matter once again escalates.   

The federal government is aiming to provide better transport across the nation by considering changes to how Australians pay for roads.

Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the US election two weeks ago is already having ramifications for world trade, with his confirmation today he will withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership likely to spark a recalibration of plans among nations in the region.

Former Western Australian premier Richard Court has been named Australia’s next ambassador to Japan.

Western Australian businesses will have another opportunity to win work in the defence sector, with 30 companies today meeting the two potential head contractors for the Army’s Land400 procurement program.

Colin Barnett may be the government’s best performer in parliament, but his standing in voters’ eyes is fuelling talk of a challenge.

The state government reached a milestone in its asset sales program last night after passing a bill to enable the leasing of Port Hedland's Utah Point, despite opposition from a lobby group representing the miners that currently use the wharf facility. 

Unemployment in Western Australia surged last month, placing it ahead of South Australia as the worst-performing state in October.

Australian workers' preference for job security and shorter hours over pay rises has pushed wage growth to a fresh all-time low.

If a Donald Trump administration imposes tariffs on Chinese imports to the US, the hit to China would be limited but the move would spark a damaging trade war, a leading China-focused economist has warned.

Private companies Wilson Parking and Calibre Group have posted solid results for the 2016 financial year, with one returning to the black and the other nearly doubling its profit.

The United States Associated Press has called the presidential election for Republican candidate Donald Trump, after he won swing states Ohio and Florida and pulled bricks out of Hillary Clinton's rust belt blue wall, pushing WA gold stocks well up and causing volatility across financial markets.

Six south metropolitan councils are formalising a lobby group to push for development of an outer harbour near Kwinana as the March 2017 state election approaches.

The state government is putting the finishing touches on the business case for a second floating dock at the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, which it plans to pitch to the federal government to cement the complex’s place as one of the nation’s two shipbuilding hubs.

New car sales crashed in Western Australia last month, adding to a year of poor performance in the industry.

The state election next year looks set to be a close one, with two polls this week showing conflicting shifts in popularity among the major parties.

A co-funding program with angel investors and a commercialisation fund for Western Australia’s universities are the ‘big ticket’ items in the state government’s $20 million innovation strategy, released last night.

The state government will be working to avoid potential skills shortages as the federal government’s naval shipbuild program ramps up in the west, according to deputy premier Liza Harvey, as businesses hopeful of winning contracts for the build attended a defence industry procurement roadshow today.