POLITICS & POLICY

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) recent decision to leave the cash rate untouched this July could finally put an end to the unusually high interest rates on savings accounts and analysts are in turn advising borrowers to use the opportunity to settle debts.

Rio Tinto is looking to ramp up projects again after the Gillard government's switch from the resource super-profits tax (RSPT) to the minerals resource rent tax (MRRT).

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is set to meet with junior miners this Friday on her first stop to Western Australia as head of the government, in an apparent attempt to soothe their reservations on the new mining tax, which was forged with talks attended only by giant mining companies and senior ministers last week.

BHP Billiton Ltd has declined to reveal the total effective tax it will pay under the Gillard government's mineral resource rent tax, according to The Australian.

The fight for the small business vote has started in earnest, with Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott pledging a minister for small business in the federal cabinet and the introduction of an ombudsman if duly elected.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) said today that it would intensify efforts to collect more taxes specifically targeting some small business owners who reportedly resort to cash transactions in order to evade paying their tax obligations.

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan lauded the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) decision to upgrade the country’s growth forecast for both 2010 and 2011, declaring that the world financial institution’s thumb of approval is a testament to Australia’s position as a world leader in global economic recovery.

Coal India Ltd., the world's largest producer, is now more keen in using a proposed sovereign fund to buy mines abroad that can supply the equivalent of 8 percent of domestic output as energy demand rises, a government official said.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she is amenable to discuss a disputed natural gas project in East Timor to gain support for asylum seekers.

Gold mining executives based in North Queensland has expressed reservations today that the federal government could again effect changes on the super profits mining tax once it gained re-election.

West Australians appeared to be encountering mounting difficulties in meeting their electricity bills even as the state’s electricity distributor, Synergy, has disclosed that unpaid power bills rose to $8 million last year and the company currently maintains collectibles up to $9 million.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Wednesday that its anticipated findings on the proposed merger of the country’s two giant mining companies would be further delayed, as it announced that the suspension was made “at the request of the joint venture parties to allow them to make additional submissions to the ACCC.”

The federal government will give a formal response to the landmark Cooper superannuation review within weeks.

The Gillard government's decision to pacify mining companies by revamping the resource tax could cost the budget $35 billion in revenue this decade, a report says.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to keep interest rates steady in the coming months as an upsetting slowdown most likely sets in around the world.

Europe is in for a long and sluggish road to recovery while the continent’s economic outlook remains gloomy, that according to Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan as he addressed on Wednesday the Australian Lebanese Chamber of Commerce conference in Sydney.

Australian Defence Minister John Faulkner will announce that he will quit his job in the ministry after the next national elections, which Prime Minister Julia Gillard would likely call by year's end.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) is welcome to most of the recommendations of the Cooper review of the superannuation industry and declared that the reforms being suggested by the reports were fundamentally good for the country’s retirement system.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has decided to provide reprieve to Australian homeowners as it left the official cash rate untouched at 4.5 percent this July, in a move that is largely anticipated by most economists due to concerns on major inflation data that would be known by the end of the month.

Tony Burke, Sustainable Population Minister of Australia, says that better regional centers are the solution to infrastructure stress and urban sprawl piling up in the capitals.

The ATO (Australian Tax Office) has remained stalwart on its position in compelling Australian taxpayers to submit tax returns electronically via Windows-only applications.

Aidan McLindon, Queensland MP, has announced that he will push through with his plan of turning Cairns into Australia’s Las Vegas, despite the city mayor’s rejection of the plan.

The mining industry must live with the revised resources tax since it is the best available deal that could be cut out from the Gillard government for now, and junior mining companies who felt left out from the negotiations must speak out now and grab the chance to be heard.

The federal government’s mineral resource rent tax on mining companies could leave the country’s giant resource industry players largely unscathed as compared to the now-presumed dead resource super profits tax’s possible dreadful effects, that according to rating agency Moody’s Investors Services.

The Gillard Government has been untrue in its account of the effect of the revamped resources tax on forward revenue, the Coalition says.

Senator Bob Brown on ABC television last night pledged to put the revised tax through a ''very close Senate scrutiny'' with a purpose of studying the repercussions on small business.

The Cooper superannuation review has held a highly interventionist method to regulation after enumerating extensive cases of market failure in Australia's $1.3 trillion superannuation industry.

The pension industry should offer a new standardised fund with lower charges to help employees save an additional $40,000 (US$33,700) for their retirement, according to a government-commissioned review overseen by Jeremy Cooper, former deputy chairman of Australia's markets regulator.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) called on companies on Monday that they need to exercise vigilance in submitting their financial reports especially this result season, as it warned supposedly erring firms that the agency is bent on scrutinising hundreds of firms for closer reviews.