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While native title is increasingly delivering on its promises for all parties, there remain those who aren’t convinced.

The federal government provides just more than $50 million each year to native title representative bodies (NTRB), yet both business and Aboriginal groups agree this is grossly inadequate.

A quick statistical snapshot neatly sums up the legal difficulties associated with native title. Presently, there are 606 native title applications awaiting resolution and most have been before the Federal Court for a matter of years.

Native title agreements reached in Western Australia during the past year have a major focus on providing employment and business opportunities for Aboriginal people.

Legal action against nickel miner Minara Resources has provided a stark reminder that negotiating a native title agreement is not the end of the matter for mining companies.

The Busselton Shire Council has released plans to expand and market Busselton Airport as a gateway to the South West for tourists and fly-in-fly-out workers.

The state government has approved a joint venture proposal to develop a new 338-hectare town centre near Wanneroo.

Options for getting into the Kimberley have never been better. Qantas, Skywest Airlines and Virgin Blue all offer differing flight and pricing packages that cover all budgets.

In the air

The City of Fremantle plans to transform the port city by redeveloping the tired east end and revitalising Kings Square and the adjacent Myer building in a move it’s hoped will create an exciting retail mix to rival Garden City.

The rejuvenation of Fremantle’s Booyeembara Park by North Fremantle-based landscape architects Ecoscape has won the firm a swag of awards at the state’s inaugural Australian Institute of Landscape Architects awards.

It’s a brave man who calls ‘game over’ these days, especially in Fremantle.

Winemakers in the state’s southern regions have joined their colleagues in the north by closing the chapter on vintage 2006. And what an interesting vintage it has been.

Alan Carpenter won a few friends here at WA Business News when he spoke at our Success & Leadership breakfast last week.

Because Sydneysider John Howard has won four elections – and his side seems set to win another – there’s a tendency to attribute to him much that he simply doesn’t, and never will, deserve.

Mortgage brokers could double their share of housing loans with the biggest winners likely to be the industry’s big players such as Perth-based Australian Finance Group, a conference in Perth was told last week.

From a cheap early 1990s entry into a struggling gold explorer, Terry Streeter has built a $100 million base from which to launch a major international resources exploration and production house.

Western Areas NL’s push to become Australia’s next mid-tier nickel producer is expected to begin in the second half of this year, with production from its Flying Fox project at Forrestania rising to 13,500 tonnes a year in 2010.

Pilbara copper and nickel producer Fox Resources Ltd’s major shareholder, Terry Streeter, has dropped a further $400,000 into the company’s Whundo prospects following some spectacular zinc drilling results there.

Air New Zealand has the package and attitude to redefine its place in the market.

As well as a total cabin makeover, Air New Zealand has developed new menus and wine lists that reflect the “relaxed luxury” theme.

The Kimberley coast is one of the most rugged and beautiful wilderness areas in the world. There are remote inlets, isolated beaches set beside earthy red rock, majestic waterfalls, intriguing tidal pools, unexplored islands and hundreds of rivers and cre

As the cold weather descends on the southern parts of the state, many of us dream of a holiday in the tropics. But you don’t have to go overseas to enjoy the warmer weather.

Mrs Briefcase is a canny shopper.

The end to vintage 2006 can’t come soon enough for winemakers in Margaret River and surrounding areas, but the end of harvest also gives the rest of us a chance to celebrate.

Political activity, more than other human endeavour, so often confirms the old adage about truth being stranger than fiction.

For some professional women in Perth, motherhood has been the catalyst for them to start their own businesses.

The debate over cork and stevlin may finally have been put to rest in Western Australia, but it has been enthusiastically replaced by argument over the merits of cleanskins – wine that is sold without a label, at a lower cost.

The city’s retail sector is heating up with agents witnessing price increases of more than 20 per cent in less than a year for prime space in the Hay Street and Murray Street mall precincts.

Is it just me, or has the budget lost relevance these days? For months we’ve been primed by reports of surpluses, possible tax cuts and how families will be looked after.

The high and open-ended cost of legal services is a perennial issue for companies and individuals alike.

Australia’s longest civil trial is scheduled to sit for a further four months after reaching an unprecedented 400 sitting days in early May.