Erik Pineda

Opposition leader Tony Abbott called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday’s parliamentary session to clarify if the deal she forged with the Australian Green Party would still ensure the planned privatisation of the national broadband network following its full implementation.

A sound fiscal policy and a lean budget plan could help the federal government in effectively curbing runaway public consumption instead of over-reliance on tweaking Australia’s interest rates.

A new survey has established an emerging reality that soon-to-be retiring Australians were clueless on most of the superannuation terms currently in use and may be ill-prepared for imminent retirement.

Too much government intervention on hobbling parts of the Australian economy could backfire and weigh down the country’s interest rates, according to treasury secretary Ken Henry.

While Christmas day has been officially declared as public holidays in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, many shift workers are poised to miss out their own family celebrations on that Saturday as some states and territories have yet to follow suit.

The federal government has admitted that the present times are ripe for the introduction of changes in the Australian banking industry and one significant factor that could shake the power-balance of the sector is the entry of a fifth major player.

The leading opposition figure tasked to shot down the $43 billion national broadband network may be barking up the wrong tree as revelations came out that he also maintains considerable interest in an IT firm set to benefit from the project’s roll out.

Queensland Nickel owner Clive Palmer poured down an early Christmas bonanza to his 800-strong workforce by throwing not only an early holiday party over the weekend but also surprising his employees with overseas trips and a brand Mercedes Benz for those the mining magnate regards as his top performers.

Emerging iron ore mining giant Fortescue Metals Group Ltd revealed its approved investment plan up to $US8.4 billion or $A8.51 billion that would be used to ramp up the mining firm’s current iron ore production capacity to an estimated 155 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

Emphasising the extent of damage incurred by Qantas Airways’ Flight 32 during its engine blowout incident over Indonesia last November 4, an aircraft engine expert could only conclude that all-aboard on the A380 superjumbo effectively cheated death when the aircraft still managed to land back in Singapore.

Citing unattractive demand currently prevailing on the service route, Tiger Airways has decided to suspend its flights between Darwin and Melbourne for two months though it made clear that no complete pull out for the airline is in the offing.

Giant telco firm Telstra Corporation Ltd is banking on an expected surge in customer numbers is fiscal 2011, reaffirming that the company’s previously set financial guidance is within reach despite projections that earnings could suffer a bit in the current financial year.

As Rolls Royce revealed that some 40 Trent 900 engines would require replacement on airlines using A380s across the globe, Qantas Airways gave indications that the national carrier would need to replace up to 14 engines currently employed by its entire A380 fleet, which remain grounded at this time.

Tasmanian gold miner BCD Resources hurdled another scare this week and escaped fresh threats of receivership as it secured a $10 million loan at the last minute which should keep its Beaconsfield mine site operating, its 200 employees working and its major lender grinning, for now.

Australia is poised to witness a wind fall of up to $132.9 billion as of the month of October, which mainly would come in the form of capital expenditures for lined up projects in the energy and minerals industry.

Luxury retailer David Jones Ltd barely saw sales growth during the initial quarter of the current financial year yet the company maintained its upbeat forecast of up to 10 percent profit growth for the rest of fiscal 2011.

Global mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd may soon be opening up its port and rail network as it confirmed on Thursday that a rail haulage cooperation and port access agreement with junior miner Atlas Iron Ltd in the Pilbara region of Western Australia is being discussed and could be finalised very soon.

Safety is paramount concern for giant mining firm BHP Billiton Ltd and more so in ensuring that people working on the company’s project sites are kept from being harmed.

The federal government is now feeling the heat of a growing cross-party demand that details of the national broadband network business plan be made public this week as independent MPs added their voice on the snowballing clamour.

Giant telecommunication service provider Telstra Corporation has appointed emerging advertising agency DDB Group to handle the telco’s new brand campaign that it hopes would improve the company’s connections top its subscribers.

Another Qantas Airways’ international flight was forced to turn back minutes after its take off but inherent engine trouble nor electricity issue were neither the cause this time.

Mobile phone service provider Vodafone Hutchison Australia is tossing off unlimited calls offering to Australian subscribers in its attempt to chip away a sizeable portion of the fixed-line market currently dominated by Telstra Corporation and Optus.

Next year’s initial growth figures could give out strong indicators for the Australian economy yet the numbers could prove a bit anaemic from earlier projections.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard made known her deep intents to include carbon price as a hallmark of her governance, underscoring the pressing importance of the measure not only for the whole duration of her leadership but also for the immediate future of Australia.

Australia must recheck the way it handles foreign aid funds and if necessary, identify the proper channel for appropriate funnelling of money to recipient countries to ensure that the dollars were put into good use.

After succeeding setbacks on planned merger and acquisition deals, BHP Billiton Ltd had conceded that absorbing such defeats were wholly difficult for the giant resources firm, which is also regarded as the world’s largest mining operator.

AWB Ltd shareholders voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to support the $1.24 billion takeover proposal of Canadian firm Agrium Inc for the Australian rural services provider.

The federal government is now battling a two-pronged war in defending the $43 billion National Broadband Network as the Australian Greens aired its demand to pore over on the project’s business plan right before the parliament rises for the summer break.

With another Qantas fight en route to Argentina turned back into Sydney Airport after an hour of flight due to electrical problems, the airline’s low-fare subsidiary Jetstar appeared to be smarting from the scary episodes that highlighted rising questions on the company’s safety integrity.