Stronger relationships between WA's small businesses and universities will help students finding employment in a post-COVID-19 economy, according to Murdoch University vice-chancellor Eeva Leinonen.
ANALYSIS: About 110 shops in central Perth sit empty after challenging years in retail, but some in the sector believe now is the time to make their move.
Restaurants, gyms and beauty parlours will be required to keep contact registers from next month despite the state government refusing to say when WA's border will fully reopen.
Western Australia's parliament has cleared the way for industrial manslaughter laws which will enforce a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment for workplace deaths.
The state government has today announced millions of dollars in support for local tourism operators as critics have continued calls for WA to reopen its domestic border.
Premier Mark McGowan has been accused of "protectionism" after he claimed reopening the borders to South Australia and the Northern Territory would provide no economic benefit.
The state's peak business group has strongly criticised elements of the state government's workplace safety bill but notably has supported plans for 20-year jail terms in extreme cases.
WA's hard borders will continue as other states look to ease restrictions by Christmas, with Mark McGowan warning a Brazilian-style resources industry outbreak would be catastrophic.
The state government is spending $167.4 million in upgrades to TAFE colleges around Western Australia, while also announcing reforms to skills, training and workforce development.
The state government has foreshadowed more big spending initiatives to boost the economy but been criticised for the lack of detail and not including tax reform.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said lifting coronavirus restrictions will be fast-tracked to allow more people into stadiums, pubs, restaurants, weddings and funerals, while acknowledging WA may keep its border shut through July.
Almost all businesses will be able to reopen in Western Australia next weekend, as the state becomes the first in the country to reduce the four square metre rule, and gatherings of up to 100 people will be allowed.
The state government has set up an advisory group, with executives from more than 20 businesses and community groups, to provide advice on the impacts of COVID-19 and measures to help economic recovery.
UPDATED: The state government has said it will adopt most of the recommendations arising from a parliamentary inquiry into short-term accommodation, with Tourism Council WA and the Australian Hotels Association WA welcoming the pledge to apply more stringent regulation to the sector.
The state government has today pledged to spend $2 million promoting regional tourism and $8 million on aviation, as it ramps-up its response to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
WA consumers are entering 2020 with subdued confidence, according to research from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA, with four out of five consumers surveyed expecting the economy to worsen or stay the same.
Australia's GDP showed only a slight expansion in the last three months, while WA's state final demand fell by 0.2 per cent for the quarter - the second weakest performing state.
One day after the federal government's so-called union-busting laws failed to pass the Senate, the CFMEU has sought to turn the focus on construction boss Gerry Hanssen whose company was fined in the Federal Court today.
The state government has today introduced harsher industrial manslaughter penalties, in an effort to bring WA's WHS laws in line with that of other states.
Western Australia has recorded the largest increase in employment of any state for the month of October, up by 6,300 people, but its unemployment rate has remained static at 5.7 per cent, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The McGowan has reversed one of its first policy initiatives, announcing over the weekend that Perth will once again be classified as a ‘region', making it easier for international students to gain work after their studies.
WA's Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC) this morning announced a 2.75 per cent increase to the state minimum wage, provoking criticisms from unions and business groups.
Wage growth in Western Australia has again come in at the lowest level in the nation in the year to March, prompting UnionsWA to call for workplace reform.
WA BUDGET: Property industry lobby groups have urged the state government to use its more favourable budgetary position to provide more stimulus to the housing sector.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten has dismissed a critique of Labor's wages policy, describing the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA as a trade union for employers and insisting wage increases were sensible.
More than a third of visitors to Western Australia who used Airbnb said they would never have had a holiday if it wasn't for the online home-share platform, the company asserted today, as it fought back against criticism by Tourism Council WA and the Australian Hotels Association.
The state government has announced it will proceed with the sale of gaming agency TAB and introduce a new 15 per cent consumption tax on all betting in Western Australia.
The state government has signed up for the Commonwealth's vocational training fund, which will provide up to $126 million in matched funding for a planned incentive scheme to boost apprenticeships and traineeships.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA has lashed the state government's decision today to reduce extended Christmas trading hours as applied last year.
The state government has foreshadowed a new graduate visa scheme to attract international students to WA but has no plans to reverse earlier policy decisions that have contributed to a plunge in the state's share of foreign students coming to Australia.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA said today it was disappointed the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission had agreed to lift the state's minimum wage by 2.5 per cent.
State government agency Tourism WA will have greater input into decisions on liquor licence applications, after Premier Mark McGowan today announced a series of regulatory reforms and red tape cuts.
