Erik Pineda

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.

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.

Some 10 million Australians spend much of their online surfing accessing their Facebook accounts, with most using their mobile handsets as the preferred tool for posting updates and sharing contents on the popular social networking site.

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.

Qantas Airways Ltd sought the protection of the Australian Federal Court for fear that Rolls Royce could win the favour of a British court and prevent the national carrier from seeking compensation on losses it incurred at the height of the Airbus A380 engine troubles in November.

The federal government backtracks on its earlier commitment of hooking up newly built homes in Australia to the national broadband network (NBN), deciding instead that large-scale development projects would be given priority.

Caltex Australia appears to have rebounded from the losses in it incurred in 2009, achieving a much better profit in the current year and expressing optimism that full earnings would surpass last year’s results.

From diplomatic disclosures and embarrassments, the WikiLeaks controversies shifted its theatre of operation to commercial cyber battles as global hackers launched coordinated attacks on credit card websites that earlier halted payments being sent to the beleaguered whistle blower.

The Australian economy generated some 50,000 new jobs in November that effectively cut down the country’s jobless rate, which economists said could have improved more if only the workforce’s participation rate gears up in a much steadier rate.

The Australian manufacturing industry appears to have fought off the uncertainty bug in the December quarter, assuming a more definite path as business activities, investments and profitability saw firm improvements in the period.

Granting BHP Billiton continues to fly high at least within the next five years, the giant resources firms’ top executives are poised to be overwhelmed by windfalls that could see chief executive Marius Kloppers amassing some $71 million in share bonuses.

A new mining tax debate appears to be brewing as Australia’s giant miners insisted before the Senate select committee that all state and territory royalties should be creditable against the minerals resources rent tax liability.

The federal government’s much-awaited banking reform measures would be known anytime next week as Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan hinted that changes in the industry would be dealt with one at a time.

The federal government is scheduled to announce on Wednesday its decision on the contentious issue of the national broadband network’s interconnecting points, which Australian telco providers can hook up to in delivering high-speed internet access across the nation.

As heavy rains slowly subside in central Queensland, giant global mining firm Rio Tinto Ltd gradually returned to its mining activities in the region, following the incessant downpours during the past few days that transformed the area’s mining pits into temporary dams.

Coal producer Aston Resources reached a deal with giant Japanese firm Itochu Corporation, allowing the latter to acquire up to 15 percent interest on its Maules Creek project in the northern part of New South Wales.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd had a propensity to commit diplomatic faux pas during his time as prime minister.

As most economists had predicted, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) opted for a pause on the country’s rate movement and allowed the prevailing cash rate of 4.75 percent to roll over in December.

The state government steps up its efforts to promote home ownership for Queensland’s indigenous communities and wants the public to share their inputs on ways to push the program into a reality.

Prosperity may have been brought over by mining activities in Queensland and Western Australia but the attending decadence is also inevitable as the steady stream of thousands of workers fuelled boredom, alcoholism, prostitution and rising violence.

No federal funds would be poured on Tasmania’s efforts to reform its forest industry but Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave assurance that the state government could count on the commonwealth for help in implementing the new logging program.

Federal efforts of restoring the environmental health of Murray-Darling Basin suffered a setback on Tuesday with the decision of the area’s authority chair to quit his post amidst the ongoing controversies hounding the program.

Stiff competition among telecommunication firms would be the norm once the national broadband network becomes fully operational and with the NBN Co practically controlling the new fibre optics network set to be established across Australia, telcos are focusing on excellent customer service to stay on top of the game.

Closer scrutiny of the banking industry and stricter government regulation do not necessarily mean that competitive environment would be introduced in the sector, it’s all about healthy consultation between the government and industry players.

Media group Fairfax Media Ltd formally announced the resignation of chief executive Brian McCarthy from his position, pushing the media business into an international search for a replacement on the man who served the company for a number of decades.

Electronic retail specialist Harvey Norman is following the lead of its rival Myer as the company announced on Monday it would establish an online store that would process and ship goods from China to Australia.

The unusual wet weather condition that earlier prevailed in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria had resulted to crippling losses for many farmers in the affected areas, pushing back the national harvest estimates to 22 million tonnes from the earlier projections of 25 million tonnes.