Government

Australian retailers recorded their strongest January sales growth in six years as increasingly confident consumers headed back to the shops.

Workers' output has increased over the past decade but wages have not risen proportionally because of corporate greed, Australia's peak union body says.

Australian businesses have shelved plans to hire new staff or make significant investments in the first half of 2013.

Nearly a third of voters believe the federal government's controversial mining tax should be amended to raise more money rather than being dumped altogether, a new survey has found.

Australian junior miners' growth ambitions are being stymied by a lack of federal government support, a new report says.

Job advertisements rose in February to their highest level since October 2012, a leading employment survey says.

A rise in iron ore and coal exports is expected to have been the major driver of economic growth in an otherwise weak final three months of 2012.

The number of companies that posted a profit during the recently concluded reporting season rose to its highest level in three years.

On the last Sunday before the state election, the Liberals and Labor were making promises to families, seniors, people with disabilities and children.

Western Australia's relationship with Asia is 20 years ahead of the rest of the country, Premier Colin Barnett says.

There are signs of life and glimmers of hope in the market after a reporting season that beat expectations - albeit only slightly - and promised better things to come.

The credibility of Liberal and Labor election promises are both under question, with Troy Buswell admitting the Liberals three major pledges are reliant on being half funded by the Commonwealth, an

Thousands of angry unionists knocked on Premier Colin Barnett's office door to voice their frustration at overseas recruitment yesterday - only to find he was out campaigning thousands of kilometre

Western Australia's Liberal party is promising to chip away at the state's housing crisis by removing outdated restrictions on granny flats.

The federal government has released a consultation paper for its plan to change the timing of company tax payments.

A better-than-expected capital expenditure outlook is another sign the Reserve Bank of Australia won't need to cut the cash rate further.

Disgruntled prison officers in are about to decide whether to strike for a better pay deal as the state election approaches.

Global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's expects Australian economic growth will remain close to trend in coming years, as public debt peaks at a low level.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard believes the Australian dollar will stay high for some time but says this shouldn't stop the nation from having a viable manufacturing sector.

Premier Colin Barnett has committed a future Liberal government to build the long-proposed Perth-Darwin Highway adding to a string of expensive transport projects the competing parties have promise

The Australian Greens and the federal coalition both want Labor's mining tax subjected to another Senate inquiry, but for entirely different reasons.

Qantas has rejected former prime minister Malcolm Fraser's claim it interfered in the case of two Australian businessmen languishing in detention in Dubai.

Former Premier Ray O'Connor, who was jailed for six months in the mid 1990's as part of the WA Inc scandal, has died.

Western Australia's business community says a pledge by Troy Buswell at this morning's debate with Ben Wyatt to increase the payroll tax threshold by $100,000 does not go far enough to ease pressure on companies. (Click through to watch the full debate).

Seven Western Australian business representative groups have come together in a united front against payroll tax, urging whichever party wins next month's state election to “lift the tax on jobs”.

The federal opposition in the Senate has put forward a motion of no confidence in the Labor government for its handling of the mining tax.

Western Australia appears set to follow Victoria and opt out of Julia Gillard's proposed Gonski school reforms, if Premier Colin Barnett is re-elected in March.

Nurses have accepted an in-principle offer of a 14 per cent pay increase over three years from Premier Colin Barnett, putting an end to bed closures and further strike action.

Engineers, IT professionals, corporate services managers and accountants continue to be in short supply across Australia, research shows.

The mining industry has backed the Liberal Party's pledge to invest $20 million to ensure the continued growth of the resources sector in Western Australia if it wins next month's state election.

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says the federal government's Gonski education reforms should be fast-tracked and the necessary funding drawn from a redesigned mining tax.