Government

The City of Perth council has voted unanimously in favour of making the city's three major pedestrian areas smoke-free.

Demand for credit is on the rise for the first time in a year but it's too early to talk of a turnaround in consumer spending.

Any moves away from live animal exports and towards more meat processing in Western Australia will be well planned and in consultation with the industry, Opposition Leader Mark McGow

The state opposition says its ambitious Metronet rail plan would cost about $3.8 billion, about half the amount estimated by the state government.

A survey that shows businesses have estimated a 14.5 per cent jump in energy costs due to the carbon tax underlines why the impost must be scrapped, Tony Abbott says.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has called on the federal government to publish its latest budget position numbers so the coalition can work out its surplus prospects.

Australians appear to be swapping credit for savings, with a recent study showing intention for taking on debt at a three-year low.

Australian business confidence rebounded in December following an interest rate cut and positive developments in the US and China.

Australia's mining construction boom is expected to peak in late 2013 and government spending cuts are making it harder to find a new driver of economic growth, economics advisory group Deloitte Ac

One day after being heckled by environmental protesters in Broome, premier Colin Barnett has announced plans to make the world-renowned Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley part of a new national park

West Australian Labor leader Mark McGowan has officially launched his party's state election campaign, declaring it a "referendum on priorities" and claiming he was more in touch with the community

The nation’s peak industry group has applauded the federal government’s reinstatement of incentive payments for employers taking on first-year apprentices to engineering trades.

When people crack open a tinny on Australia Day, it could be a rosy economy that they're toasting.

Treasurer Wayne Swan says the federal government is giving infrastructure financing "serious consideration" as a Labor appointee to the Reserve Bank board calls for budget deficits to fund new road

The state government will seek proposals from industry for the design and construction of a new underground bus station to replace the Wellington Street Bus Station, which will be sunk as part of t

Businesses' enthusiasm to invest has sunk to its lowest level in at least 15 years against the back drop of a high Australian dollar and soft growth in non-mining sectors of the economy.

 European share prices have risen, with London hitting a near five-year high in light trading amid a public holiday in the United States, although the luxury goods sector was tarnished by a gl

The Australian dollar is slightly higher ahead of news from a meeting of Japan's central bank.

Economists believe consumer prices rose modestly in the December quarter, but not slowly enough to lock in another interest rate cut for Australian homeowners.

Western Australia is still the best performing economy in the nation but the Northern Territory is now closing the gap, according to a new report.

The WA Labor party has pledged $30 million to keep the ‘Tier 3’ grain rail lines open and trucks off the roads if it wins the election in March.

Treasurer Wayne Swan is on his way to the United States for a meeting with Federal Reserve officials to discuss the state of the world economy.

Federal and state authorities would be "nuts" to allow Woodside to replace the gas hub proposed for James Price Point with a floating processing plant, Western Australia's Premier Colin Barnett has

The WA government has told Sandfire Resources it intends to lift the royalty rate for some of the output from its DeGrussa copper mine to 7.5 per cent, which could mean an extra $7 million the mine

The Western Australian government has sparked immediate protests after allowing resources giant Woodside to perform feasibility work at sacred Aboriginal burial sites as part of the proposed gas hu

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says it is important that Congress raise America's borrowing limit before the Treasury runs out of manoeuvring room to avoid a potential default on US debt.

The federal government is resisting pressure to reveal how much it is receiving from the minerals resource rent tax.

The federal opposition says the government should come clean with the public on how much the mining tax has raised to date, then immediately move to scrap it.

Consumer prices are rising in line with the Reserve Bank of Australia's target for inflation, a report says.

Australia is ranked the third most free economy in the world despite its score falling slightly in the past year, a new report says.

The state government is expected to raise $10 million from the sale of a 1,500 square metre parcel of prime riverfront land at the edge of the heritage-listed Sunset Hospital site in Dalkeith.

First home buyers who jointly purchase a property with a private company are still eligible for the state government’s First Home Owners Grant, in light of a ruling by the State Administrative Trib