Treasury Secretary Ken Henry ended his long public service career on Tuesday as the federal government announced his resignation from office following more than 25 years of tax reforms advocacy in Australia.
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) may have to step in and help resolve the rising tension between the country’s biggest resources firms, the governments of Queensland and Western Australia and the federal authorities over the controversial mineral resources rent tax.
Taking the cue from the inquiry conducted by the Productivity Commission on executive pay in Australia, the federal government is floating a draft legislation that empowers company shareholders to expel firm directors that are deemed collecting undue high compensation.
The new delay suffered by Adelaide’s desalination plant project in South Australia would not jack up its overall cost, despite the initial four-month setback caused by a worker’s death.
Touting a much-reduced cost of under $36 billion from the original $40 billion plus estimates, the federal government hails the national broadband network initiative as workable and reasonable as per the NBN plan unveiled on Monday.
Miners found an ally on Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, who declared on Monday that the federal government needs to honour its royalty deal with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, regardless of the contentious issue on the agreement’s time frame.
Weeks after the federal government allowed some glimpses on the $36 billion national broadband network business plan, its full contents would be finally revealed on Monday, which experts said should contain the project’s actual scope, viability and profitability.
The government's metropolitan plan for Sydney 2036, which reveals that the city needs 770,000 more homes, lacks clear targets and implementation strategies, according to Australia's peak body for the residential construction industry.
The NSW government has approved the expansion of Sydney's $6 billion Barangaroo development to include a controversial hotel.
The federal government may mean well on its intention to bolster the competition environment of Australia’s banking industry but an overarching federal intervention could backfire on aims to further enhance its economic viability.
The Australian banking industry is competitive enough, according to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) chief executive Ralph Norris, who testified before the Senate inquiry on banking competition that enough players are currently engaged in the market.
The federal government is not headed on a collision course with Australia’s mining giants as Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan insists that the current debate on royalty taxes amount to nothing but minor dispute, which should see a quick resolution.
The first hurdle against the $8.4 billion Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) merger proposal has just been overcome as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) made known its clear intention to allow the acquisition deal.
The sharp fall of national dwelling commencements in the September quarter reinforces the urgent need for governments to address supply side policy failures, according to the peak building and construction industry association.
The Australian government's banking reform package failed to address lack of competition in the banking sector, the lobby group for non-bank lenders says.
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan earned a high mark of eight from consumer group Choice for his efforts in improving Australia’s banking system but his recently revealed banking reform measures got only a dismal five.
Some 600 hundred Chinese miners are set to fly in to Queensland and work on Clive Palmer’s $8 billion Galilee Basin coal development joint venture project with the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC).
Boosting competition alone will not satisfactorily address banking issues, the Finance Sector Union today told a Senate inquiry into competition within the Australian banking sector.
Confusion now arises as the federal government and three giant mining firms appear to disagree on a crucial provision of the minerals resource rent tax, in which resource companies insist that all state royalty payments are subject for refund by the commonwealth.
Synthetic gas producer Cougar Energy Ltd expressed optimism that the Queensland government would decide on its favour in January and would allow the resumption of its underground coal gasification (UCG) operations in Kingaroy.
The controversial $30 billion Woodside Petroleum’s Kimberley liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia won the nod of the state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) on Monday, leaving the WA environmental and federal approval as the only stumbling block for its realisation.
Regulatory interventions may be politically popular but risk being counterproductive, bankers warned today.
Full account number portability may address several banking issues, but major challenges remain, according to a leading market research agency.
The Coalition called the federal government’s newly-revealed banking reforms package as mere political patches and insisted that the proposals’ shortcomings would prove inadequate in solving the ills of the Australian banking system.
Following the federal government’s freshly-released banking reform package over the weekend, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens aired his reservations on the active role that authorities are set to play, in the name of promoting lower interest rates and better competition environment in the sector.
Australia's building and construction industry is concerned that the federal government's banking reform could pose a threat to business sector lending.
The Australian economy would see a more liberal trade policy in the months and years to come as the federal government reveals its agenda of encouraging healthier competition and tearing down tariff barriers to allow the influx of further investments.
The state government of Western Australia is training its attention on the possibility of more immigrant workers filling up the void of the worsening skill shortage in the area.
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan signified the looming role that credit unions would play once the Australian banking industry has absorbed the reforms set to be introduced by the national government, by signing up for his own credit union account.
The Australian government is not at fault on the latest mining tax row between federal authorities and giant resource firms, if Resources Minister Martin Ferguson was to be believed.
