Government

FOR almost 25 years, Leeuwin Estate has staged a series of alfresco concerts in its picturesque grounds as part of the winery's ongoing association and sponsorship of the arts.

SOME of the Western Australia's top companies have cut or redeployed staff in recent weeks.

THE Perth music landscape has been irreversibly transformed over the past decade with events organisers for outdoor concerts and festivals poised to stage one of the busiest summers in Perth's entertainment history.

CREATIVE Nature Communications has won the top prize for its WA Museum Alcoa Frog Watch website at the 2008 WA Web Awards.

BHP Billiton Iron Ore has been in negotiations for 18 months to get its labour agreement approved, which is the first step to be granted the right to employ overseas workers on 457 visas.

HOW many dollars and how many share options does it take to motivate a chief executive? Judging by recent experience with engineering and contracting companies in the Perth market, it could be anything from $350,000 up to nearly $3 million.

ENTREPRENEUR Brad Matheson founded online community and dating service Lunch Works in 2004 after discovering a unique position within a congested market in Perth.

THE skills shortage has been an important element in the changes to Perth's social fabric during the past five years.

THE state government has announced the appointment of chief executives for three of its major agencies as the focus turns to who will take the reigns at the departments set to be restructured.

THE highly lucrative and increasingly competitive international education market is now top of mind for many of the state's educational centres and learning institutions, as demand for their services goes global.

WESTERN Australian businesses may still have critical skills shortages to deal with, but in the current climate of uncertainty many employers are also looking for legal advice to potentially downsize their workforce.

THE debate over infrastructure provision in WA has taken many intriguing twists and turns since the election of the Barnett government.

WHILE the top end of town chases the advertising dollar in securing chart-topping commercial acts to tour Western Australia, a niche market for musical entertainment has emerged with a different focus.

FOR someone who wasn't even a member of a political party just four years ago, Agriculture and Food Minister Terry Redman has settled comfortably into his new, if somewhat unexpected, role.

TAPPING into the unemployed local working age population is an option being explored by Western Australian businesses to ease the skills shortage.

THE average debt per person in Australia is now about $28,000.That's $28,000 for each of the almost 20 million people we have in our great nation.

Events ACEA Breakfast: Association of Consulting Engineers of Australia presents: Are you prepared to risk a WorkSafe investigation or a prosecution?

MIGRATION is such a broad ranging and complex issue that it needs to be concentrated in a single arm of government, the recent WA Business News migration forum was told.

IF the economic slowdown has some in the Western Australian engineering sector looking over their shoulders, Maunsell AECOM is claiming not to be one of them.

The Western Australian Trade Enquiry Service is operated by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia (CCI) with the support of the WA Government's Department of Industry and Resources.

Property developer Nigel Satterley believes the Perth residential property market is virtually at the bottom of its downward cycle, with increases to the first home owners grant and the drop in interest rates injecting some stimulus into the market.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA has expressed concern that the fundamental strength of the local economy is being undermined by uncertainty and pessimism.

A major redevelopment of Belmont Park racecourse is back on the table after Planning Minister John Day today approved the advertising of a metropolitan region planning scheme amendment.

Construction of the $55 million Muchea Livestock Centre has been given the green light by the state government.

The federal government's proposed petrol price monitoring scheme, which has its foundations in Western Australia, has been defeated in the Senate.

Western Australia had the nation's fastest annual wages growth of more than 5 per cent in the year to September, but it has started to fall away.

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Galaxy Resources has appointed Iggy Tan as the company's managing director.

Expressions of interest are open to childcare providers wanting to operate the non-viable ABC Learning centres.

The North West Iron Ore Alliance has appointed former chief executive of the Association of Mining & Exploration Companies (AMEC), Dr Justin Walawski, as its chief executive.

Alcoa has shelved the proposed expansion of the Wagerup alumina refinery in Western Australia, estimated to cost approximately $3 billion, amid weakening demand and volatility in financial markets.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has defended Treasury's growth forecast, saying it does not conflict with more pessimistic predictions by the World Bank and the Reserve Bank of Australia.