Special Reports

Western Power is planning to hire gas turbines from overseas this year to ensure it can supply enough electricity to Perth during the hot summer months.

HERITAGE COUNCIL CONSERVATION AWARD 

SINGLE RESIDENTIAL AWARD (joint) 

INTERIOR AWARD 

In the year of the built environment (YBE), the WA Royal Institute of Architects awards have a special significance in recognising design that reflects the capacity to affect the way that Western Australians live, work, play and interact with their enviro

At least 10 new power stations are likely to be built in Western Australia over coming years to cope with growing electricity demand and the retirement of existing units.

 MULTIPLE RESIDENTIAL AWARD 

The Dobson family and investment manager Rewards Group are relatively new to the Ord River irrigation area but together they are well on the way to having a big impact.

Sugar miller keen to grow 

An unlimited supply of cheap water has long been touted as one of the great attractions of the Ord River project, but the reality is not so simple.

The State Government is hoping a report due this month will help to kick start much-needed expansion of the Ord River project. Mark Beyer reports.

Cotton comeback?

RICHARD Norton and Chris Smailes are just a few weeks away from celebrating the 10th anniversary of their boutique law firm Nortorn & Smailes.

IN the early 1980s, when Jon Carson was a young solicitor, he started working on the financing and construction of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.

SETTING up a new law firm has clearly done nothing to dent the professional standing of Lee Christensen, who has been ranked the State’s top insolvency lawyer for the second year running.

COMMERCIAL litigation is a term falling out of favour with many lawyers, who prefer the more diplomatic term ‘dispute resolution’.

TREVOR O’Sullivan’s love of the law started at an early age.

APART from the Legal Elite scattered across these pages, WA Business News would like to acknowledge another winner.

TONY van Merwyk is passionate about his work.

FOR the second year running, Perth’s corporate lawyers provided a closely run contest in WA Business News’ Legal Elite survey.

THE past 12 months has been a busy and interesting period for Hunt & Humphry partner Michael Hunt, who has been ranked by his peers as the top mining lawyer in Western Australia for the second year in a row.

THROUGHOUT his career Wayne Martin has had the knack of being in the right place at the right time, and this year he positioned himself perfectly to win the barristers’ section in the WA Business News Legal Elite.

A RUNNER-UP in last year’s WA Business News Legal Elite survey, Mallesons Stephen Jaques partner John Naughton has gone one better in 2004, ranking as the top banking and finance lawyer in Perth.

A PRODUCTIVITY Commission Report released in 1999 indicated that Australians were paying too much for telecommunications services compared with OECD standards.

WHILE broadband comes in a range of guises, it is already an essential service for many business and residential consumers.

Access to telecommunications infrastructure, particularly affordable broadband services, remains a problem for some Western Australian businesses. WA Business News brought together some of the State’s key players to discuss the issue. Alison Birrane repor

MOST of the world’s developed economies operate with a single incumbent ruling the telecommunications market.

TECHNOLOGY and Industry Advisory Council spokesman Rob Meecham told those at the WA Business News luncheon that access to existing telecommunications infrastructure already in the ground remained problematic as it was too costly for businesses to access.

AUSTRALIAN Telecommunications Users Group national director Walter Green said there had been a significant cost reduction in the delivery of fibre to homes in the first half of last year.

WITH greater demand for broadband and an increasingly technology savvy consumer base, the availability, cost, type and quality of broadband is being brought into question.

WITHOUT world class, affordable telecommunications infrastructure the distance between an already remote Western Australia and the rest of the world is even greater.

PHARMACEUTICAL company Imugene has become a direct competitor to Chemeq after licensing a new technology developed at the University of Adelaide.