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WA business leaders say the federal budget has made life more difficult for local industry and fails to recognise the state’s importance to the national economy.

Australia's second-biggest telco, Optus, has suffered a 7.5 per cent slump in net profit for the year to March 31.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says his official budget reply won't be a complete list of the coalition's "spends and saves" but will paint a big economic picture.

The federal budget has failed to improve Australia's "inefficient" tax system, business leaders have said.

Every project in Australia worth $500 million or more must show how it will provide opportunities to local businesses, under new laws introduced into parliament.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has lifted its third quarter profit by 12 per cent to $1.9 billion.

The Australian market has opened higher due to strong overseas leads and the falling Australian dollar.

The big moves in currency markets over the past week have only a little to do with developments in Australia and a lot to do with the US.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended her government's budget, stating tough choices had to be made.

The Australian dollar has opened below 99 cents as another rally on Wall Street boosted the greenback.

US stocks have surged to new all-time closing highs on renewed optimism after a prominent hedge fund manager said the stock rally of 2013 still has more room to go.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has handed down his sixth consecutive budget deficit, saying sharper spending cuts would have put jobs and the economy at risk.

Mining giant BHP Billiton has said that its exploration and capital expenditure for the 2014 financial year will decline significantly to approximately $18 billion as the company looks to reduce co

Australia’s corporate regulator has dropped an asset stripping charge levelled against property entrepreneur Norm Carey, after the discovery of new evidence two weeks into a District Court trial.

The Australian dollar is trading slightly below parity with the US dollar as commodities prices fell following weaker than expected Chinese data.

A simple smile or kind word isn’t much to ask, but it can have a profound effect.

The Australian market has closed higher after a volatile day of trading due to the impending federal budget.

The shale gas industry doesn’t stack up commercially and companies that have invested in the sector are following a herd mentality, Woodside managing director Peter Coleman said today.

It might be too early to crack the champagne but junior miners are certainly celebrating the weakening of the Australian dollar, which had lost its traditional connection with commodity prices and

Perth-based mining contractor Barminco has refinanced its existing debts through an issue of high-yield notes in the United States.

Treasurer Troy Buswell has trimmed $92 million in government expenditure as rising spending and a “significant erosion” of revenue threaten to bring the state’s budget into deficit.

Perth-based explorer Bauxite Resources has announced it is buying back up to 10 per cent of its issued stock over a 12 month period.

Mining services provider Macmahon Holdings' shares have shot up by more than 20 per cent after it detailed positive growth in a "changing and challenging environment".

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett is declining to rule out further public sector job cuts as the state deals with a "volatile" environment.

Whatever else is revealed in tonight’s federal budget there is one thing I hope for – an end to the nonsense of ‘modelling’, because it is painfully obvious that modelling is nothing more than mode

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey is demanding the federal government publish a range of Treasury figures explaining revenue shortfalls, policy funding and future debt forecasts.

The federal government will abolish the baby bonus and project a return to surplus in 2016-17 in tonight's budget, the ABC has reported.

Disgruntled farmers have dumped several tonnes of grain outside West Australian Premier Colin Barnett's office, saying the state government's financial relief package is meagre.

The Australian market has opened flat as gains for defensive stock offset losses for Westpac and Macquarie banks.

The federal government has confirmed it will contribute $400 million to upgrading sections of the Perth-to-Darwin Highway and says there will be more for Western Australia in today's budget.

Australians will be spared a budget that "cuts to the bone" but should brace for a disciplined road forward, Treasurer Wayne Swan has warned on the day he delivers his sixth, and possibly, final bu