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A Chinese company has abandoned plans to take control of rare earths explorer Lynas Corporation after Australian regulators demanded it reduce the scope of the planned transaction.

Western Australia will not be bullied by the federal government into joining the other states in a national occupational health and safety regime, Treasurer Troy Buswell says.

The state opposition says an independent small business commissioner and changes to the commercial tenancy act will better protect the rights of small retail businesses compared to amendments proposed by the Barnett government.

WA's rail network is not ready for the next harvest and this could result in a large increase in the amount of grain being transported by road, the WA Farmers Federation has warned.

Planning Minister John Day has today released the government's planning reform agenda including the integration of environmental and planning approvals and appeals.

Eneabba Gas claims there is as much gas in one of its Mid West tenements as set aside by the Gorgon gas project partners for the domestic market, as it releases a maiden resource for one tenement.

The state government has managed to keep its annual budget in the black despite revenue growing by just 0.5 per cent and spending skyrocketing by 13.5 per cent.

Fisheries minister Norman Moore has imposed new restrictions on the rock lobster industry in a bid to halve the annual harvest from its long-term average of 11,000 tonnes to 5,500 tonnes.

Cazaly Resources will raise $4 million through a private deal with an unnamed Chinese company, as it looks to advance Parker Range iron ore project in the Yilgarn region.

Another Chinese entity has made its way onto Mount Gibson Iron's share register, with the coal company buying Shougang Concord's interest in the miner for $176.3 million.

Nomad Building Solutions says it has secured work valued at $43.3 million that includes a contract for the federal government's Building the Education Revolution project.

West Perth-based explorer Globe Metals and Mining has raised $5.2 million, giving a boost to its aim of becoming one of the world's largest supplier of ferro-nobium.

Gas giant takes tax office to court; Investors take $125m Gwalia settlement; ACCC not happy with grain traders; ETS ultimatum a stunt: Turnbull; Recovery could stall: Henry

PERTH'S commercial office market and the state's building industry are both looking to big gas developments such as Chevron's Gorgon project to be a key driver of activity.

The Rudd government should concentrate its efforts on planning for Australia's long-term needs.

IT has the potential to become one of the great ironies of Western Australia's unfolding LNG boom - hot rocks powering the Pilbara's accelerating oil and gas-based economy.

A 40-year dream is about to become reality near the dunes at the end of the Mitchell Freeway.

IT is the land where Alan Bond infamously painted the sand dunes green to make the brochures look better.

LAND development has changed substantially in the past decade or so.

KING Neptune has been waiting a long time for this.Amid much anticipation of rapid development, a six-metre high statue was built almost three decades ago, facing southward from a promontory at Two Rocks towards Perth, 60 kilometres distant.

THE major engineering companies in Western Australia cut employment by 15 per cent during the past 12 months, defining the impact of the global financial crisis on the sector.

The redevelopment of Claremont has the potential to change the way local governments look at revitalising tired suburbs.

AN administrative blunder by copper miner Aditya Birla Minerals has set the scene for another David and Goliath battle over mineral resources in the Pilbara.

BENCHMARK Projects managing director Chris Carman has built a lengthy career out of establishing landmark developments.

Giant LNG develop-ments such as the massive Gorgon project are only half the story behind the boom conditions reappearing in WA.

THE green light for the Gorgon gas project has boosted the share prices of most of the contractors vying for a slice of the estimated $43 billion cost to build Australia's single biggest resource project.

THE proposed $140 billion joint venture of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto's Pilbara iron operations stands to have a major impact for local contractors.

LIKE many apprentices, Mark Stewart dreamed of establishing his own business rather than working for a wage.

POLITICIANS were wrong to claim the $43 billion Gorgon LNG project alone would keep all the state's workshops ticking over, leading engineers and contractors have warned.

IF prominent businessman Michael Chaney's actions are anything to go by then Western Australia's corporate sector is poised to enhance its social responsibility through the new Centre for Social Impact at the University of Western Australia.

ONE fortune in a lifetime is enough for most people, but not if you are the 'golden Greek', a schooldays nickname for Kerry Harmanis, the man who pocketed $500 million less than a year before the 2008 stock market meltdown.

At Nahm Thai, the family that cooks together, works together, studies together and lives together, is the one that stays together. Russell Quinn reports.