Emily Piesse

Australia’s free trade agreement with the US is vital to the national interest and must be further promoted where possible, Australian Ambassador to the US, Dennis Richardson, told a WA Business News breakfast last week.

Small businesses are not often targeted by not-for-profit organisations seeking corporate partnerships, yet the smaller end of town has much to offer, according to many in the NFP sector.

South Perth-based biodiesel producer Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd has undertaken a share placement and rights issue to raise $14.8 million for infrastructure development of the company’s production facilities in Adelaide and Picton.

The 457 temporary long-stay business visa may have helped to alleviate skills shortages in Australia, but extensive processing times and onerous compliance requirements on employers are limiting its effectiveness, according to some industry groups.

Record high commodity prices may ease over the next five years, but Australia’s economic growth will remain positive, according to the latest commodities report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Three Perth universities are challenging Curtin University’s previously held monopoly on accredited town planning education, with new courses in the discipline being introduced at UWA, Murdoch University and ECU in 2007.

In addition to the 40under40 awards, four special prizes were awarded by the program’s strategic alliance partners – the City of Perth, UWA Business School, Murdoch University and Edith Cowan University.

Simmering tensions between Canberra and the states have been further exacerbated by the announcement of grants revenue allocation for the next financial year.

Dentistry may still be largely a cottage industry, according to DB Dental owner David Bailey, but the industry is following other health professions in a trend towards corporatisation.