News
Independent panel to settle business squabbles With squabbles between businesses said to have soared during the global financial crisis, a trio of organisations has launched a bid to become Australia’s official ‘business umpires’, in what they hope will become a new boom economy for Australia. The Australian Centre for Commercial International Arbitration (ACICA), along with […]
Business groups keen to slash red tape The Federal Government’s draft reforms to cut red tape and improve corporate reporting, formally announced today, have been welcomed by leading business advisory firm BDO. BDO director Wayne Basford, an audit technical expert, urged the Government to ensure the Corporate Amendment (Corporate Reporting Reform) Bill 2010 would pass […]
Business owners advised to take a break over Christmas Australian business owners that fail to take a break from their business over the Christmas period risk damaging their health and their business, a leading business expert has warned. Nic Clark, CEO of national business development franchisor, 10X, said not taking holiday leave can cause exhaustion, […]
Good news for job seekers as job ads rebound After months of uncertainty, job seekers have finally been given some good news, with a major survey of employment advertising reporting a rebound last month. The ANZ bank reported in its monthly survey, the total number of jobs advertised in major metropolitan newspapers and on the […]
Queensland seems to have weathered the worst of the global financial crisis, with 77 percent of CEOs having positive views on the economy and 60 percent saying they were likely to hire in the next six months, according to the inaugural CEO Financial Index. The CEO Financial Index, commissioned by The CEO Institute’s Queensland members, […]
Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson will today unveil a craft that could soon carry tourists on an out-of-this-world trip into space. Branson will unveil Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2), an aircraft that can carry six passengers and two pilots on a trip into the unknown galaxy, at $215,000 a pop. The Mojave desert, between Los Angeles […]
St George follows Westpac’s lead on interest rates St George has followed Westpac’s lead on interest rates, moving past the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point increase, lifting its standard variable home loan interest rate by 0.39 percent. Westpac sparked furore late last week when it announced a 45 basis point increase to its standard variable […]
Google hits back at newspaper critics Google has hit back at its newspaper critics, rebuffing suggestions that it is profiting from their content. Fronting the World Newspaper Congress in India, Google chief legal counsel David Drummond told angry publishers that the search giant is a friend, not a foe. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt also […]
After it was reported last week that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had snubbed newly elected NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, claiming he was fed up with the state Labor party, Rudd and Keneally have engaged in ‘productive’ talks about the future of the fragile state. Last week Rudd publicly condemned the NSW Labor party via the […]
OBJECTIVE: To be the best customer service type person you can ever find! SCHOOL EXPEERENCES: I graduated in 2005! I treid to get into a college, but I decided that I didn’t really wanna do that. College is for people that aren’t self starters. I am a self starter. SKILLS: I can type really good, […]
Commonwealth Bank has announced it will increase its standard variable home loan interest rate by 37 basis points, in a move that is set to send ripples through the banking industry. Westpac came under fire earlier this week for lifting their rates to almost double the increase the Reserve Bank stipulated, while National Australia Bank […]
Kristina Keneally has taken over from Nathan Rees as premier of New South Wales, ending a tumultuous week for the State Labor Party leadership. Keneally, US-born daughter-in-law of author Tom Keneally, garnered 47 votes out of the 70 members of the party’s full caucus, an overwhelming show of support for the relative newcomer. She has […]
Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes announced that he was expecting a “good, but not great” Christmas at a Financial Services Institute lunch earlier this week. Sales of gift wrapping, decorations and hampers were “in line with expectations”, but he was being realistic about the prospects for Christmas given the economic climate of the past two […]
National Australia Bank has sparked a home loan rate war by undercutting Westpac’s interest rate rise of 45 basis points earlier this week, keeping their interest rate rise in line with the Reserve Bank’s increase of 25 basis points. The interest rate rise will take NAB’s standard variable home loan rate to 6.49 percent, effective […]
According to reports from the US, Google News has launched a news-specific crawler that lets online publishers automatically keep stories, photos or videos out of its index.
ACCC investigates petrol pricing The Federal Government has asked consumer watchdog, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate possible petrol price fixing. Competition Policy Minister Craig Emerson said Labor had long been concerned that petrol companies were colluding to set a weekly price cycle, and as such, asked the ACCC to look into the […]
Consumers unconcerned about rate rise The three consecutive rate rises handed down by the Reserve Bank have not dampened consumer spending, latest retail sales figures reveal. Australian retail sales rose a moderate 0.3 percent in October, with consumers spending more at department stores and in cafes. Department stores reported the largest growth in the month […]
Chocolate franchiser in strife for misleading franchisees The Federal Court has delivered a not so sweet message to chocolate franchiser Personalised Chocolates 4U (PC4U) and its sole director Troy Patching, declaring the company mislead franchisees and engaged in conduct in breach of the Franchising Code of Conduct. The ruling follows legal action undertaken by the […]
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Australians looking for work during the past six months, with one in five now ‘atively looking’ for work, a new survey has revealed.
Abbott hints at bringing back WorkChoices New Liberal leader Tony Abbott has hinted at bringing back John Howard’s controversial WorkChoices under a different name, if the Coalition is elected. “The phrase WorkChoices is dead. No one will mention it again. But we do need to have a free and flexible economy,” he said. ACTU president […]
