Perth house prices fell 1.5 per cent in January, amid a national fall of 1.6 per cent that further dampened growth as natural disasters swept across the nation, a survey shows.
The West Australian opposition has urged Premier Colin Barnett to grant the Oakajee port and rail consortium an extension and stop acting like a dictator.
Rail movement between Perth and the eastern states will be shut down until Thursday at the earliest, with 10 sections of the line around 400 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder underwater due to heavy rains.
The fallout from troubled office development Raine Square continues, after receivers seized control of a nine storey office tower on St Georges Terrace and the New Esplanade Hotel.
Consulting, construction and contracting company VDM Group says its outlook is dependent on winning new major work, after recording a disappointing interim loss of $16.4 million, down 415 per cent on the previous half-year.
Ausdrill has announced a record $36.3 million interim profit on the back of its Brandrill acquisition from December 2009 and increased exploration levels in the resources sector.
A stronger Australian dollar saw Centro Properties Group's first half net profit surge to $553 million, but wasn't enough to prevent a company restructure prompted by its heavy debt burden.
Diversified junior explorer Reed Resources has announced a discounted $40 million capital raising to fund the purchase of the recently acquired Meekatharra gold project.
National development giants Lend Lease, Australand and Mirvac have been shortlisted by the state government to develop five sites in Karratha's city centre and to develop a 160-hectare, 2,500 dwelling estate at Mulataga.
The state government has claimed it will save taxpayers $11 million a year through office consolidation, but refurbishment costs for the relocated departments' new homes are expected to reach more than $85.9 million.
Engineering services firm RCR Tomlinson has boosted its first half net profit slightly on the back of the mining boom and says a large backlog of projects will boost growth this year.
Using natural gas to generate power and fuel buses is a better way to reduce carbon emissions than falsely assuming a carbon tax will cut energy use, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says.
Japan's JFE Steel has rejected BHP Billiton's proposal for monthly pricing for coking coal, rather than the quarterly pricing arrangement that was introduced last year, according to reports.
Perth-based residential development group Peet has announced an interim profit of $22.2 million, driven largely by price and margin growth in Victoria.
Atlas Iron has announced a maiden profit result of $30.1 million for the half year ended December 31, and has flagged that profit will increase in the second half of financial year 2011.
Australia will put a price on carbon emissions from mid next year, but Prime Minister Julia Gillard has released no details on how the price will work or how it will affect businesses.
Perth-based engineering and construction group Clough has announced that its Clough Curtain joint venture has been awarded $209 million in work orders associated with the PNG liquefied natural gas upstream infrastructure project.
THE trend for the private sector to deliver traditional government infrastructure in Western Australia has continued, with a private consortium selected to fund, build and operate a new $300 million water treatment plant at Mundaring.
