POLITICS & POLICY

With most Australians giving their thumbs of approval to Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan’s handling of the economy, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey downplayed on Monday the latest survey results, stressing that most of those polled were clueless on the true state of the country’s economy.

Junior miners welcomed Tony Abbott's $418 million election pledge, saying the incentive will help lessen the damage to exploration investment confidence caused by Labor's resource tax.

The present corporate legislation must be reformed to improve transparency and fairness in the capital raising system, a leading financial research firm has said.

Business leaders are claiming that Australia and New Zealand could both slash emission levels by at least 15 per cent and save cash in the process.

New Zealand retail sales has risen four times more than analysts have estimated in the second quarter, which would give more room for central bank Governor Alan to keep raising interest rates.

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan said on Friday that the Liberal Party needs to adhere on today’s 5:30pm deadline of submission for their spending commitments but the opposition refused to budge, accusing instead the Treasury as the source of the leak on their policies.

The controversial debates in the mining sector have hit Australia's reputation as a safe destination for mining investment and exploration, according to a survey.

Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen has put up a new challenge to the Coalition as the latter had been explicitly against the government's plan to increase the SG to bridge the foreseen $695 billion lacking funds.

Once re-elected, the Labor-led government will work on a legislation that will create a unitary regulatory body for Australia’s oil and gas industry.

Recent reports of major banks in Australia showing massive profits may become an election issue as a senator criticise the big lenders.

Toyota Motor Corporation joined the global sanctions against Iran as it announced on Wednesday that it is halting all auto shipments into the country as the international community steps up its efforts to dissuade the pariah nation from pursuing its nuclear program.

Fortescue Metals Group chair Andrew Forrest told businessmen gathered in Tasmania on Wednesday that the revised mining tax being pushed forward by the Labor-led government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard only favoured Australia’s big three mining firms.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is all set on face off confrontation with opposition leader Tony Abbot on Wednesday and she carries with her some potent ammunition in the form of a pledged $2.1 billion rail services repair projects in Western Sydney.

The Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) announced on its website Wednesday that it is withdrawing from the alliance that challenges the federal government’s proposed plain packaging for retailing cigarettes.

A major study to be launched in Brisbane today revealed that many Queensland family business owners have been pressured to postpone retirement plans by the dramatic fall in the value of their business and their retirement savings.

About half of Australian business leaders are doubtful that the country is heading the right way on a number of policies and chief among their concerns were infrastructure priorities and superannuation guarantees.

Traditional land owners of the aboriginal Arnhem Land called on the Northern Territory government on Friday to halt the planned off coast manganese exploration projects by a company until such time that actual consultations have already been conducted with them.

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan said on Friday that the new monetary policy statement of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is a solid testament to the country’s stable financial condition, in its observation that Australia emerged from the economic downturn in a much better shape than most economies.

The Australian Greens Party said on Friday that they would work on stopping the country’s four major banks from collecting $2 inter-bank ATM transactions, which they asserted is being shunned by financial institutions in the United Kingdom.

Nobel-laureate Joseph Stiglitz said on Friday that Australia has the Labor-led government to thank for when it steered the country out of harm’s way during the 2008 global financial crisis, indicating that such track record is hard to ignore when the time comes for electing new set of leaders come the August polls.

Yesterdays farmers' and environmentalists' rally at Parliament House has put the spotlight on the State Government and the LNP Opposition over their support for dirty industry, according to Queensland Conservation.

Australia’s superannuation system is still plagued by noticeable loopholes and requires some serious tinkering, that according to Superannuation Minister Chris Bowen as he reacted on ABC’s Thursday news that the country’s retirement fund only managed to collect an increase of three percent in returns since 1997.

The Alliance of Australian Retailers today called on the government to abandon its policy to require plain packaging for tobacco.

Hard-working Australians are in danger of losing their right to claim work-related expenses, and may even lose their tax refunds if Labor wins the next federal election and moves to adopt a key recommendation of the Henry Report, according to National Tax & Accountants' Association (NTAA).

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan expressed elation on Thursday that former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd vowed to campaign for the Labor Party once he has recovered from his gall bladder surgery.

Cancer Council Australia and the National Heart Foundation of Australia today called on all political parties to back the plan to phase in plain packaging of tobacco products, as a new, big-budget media campaign funded by the tobacco industry seeks to roll back the important health measure.

The Property Council of Australia today said that the State Government's move to decrease possible building heights in the South Brisbane area contradicts with the intent of the Government's own South East Queensland Regional Plan (SEQRP) and will negatively affect landholders in the area.

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan calls on opposition leader Tony Abbot to convince his ‘friends’ in big tobacco companies to halt their ad campaigns against the federal government’s plain cigarette packaging measure.

Family doctors will resent comments made by the Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon that GPs who have medical practices near government-funded Super Clinics need to question the services they offer, said Dr Adrian Sheen, President of Doctors Action.