Today's Business News & Views

Trusting our politicians

1 hr ago

Mike Baird has played a key role in making NSW Australia's top performing state, but now it looks like cheap politics is getting in the way of sound economics. Michael Pascoe comments.

Public servants say they are denied freedom of speech on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.

'Muzzled': Public servants rage against Facebook gag

1 hr ago

Denied free speech and subjected to fear tactics, public servants grab their chance to vent.

President-elect Donald Trump needs someone to manage his business affairs to resolve questions of conflict.

How Trump could quell conflict-of-interest woes

COMMENT

Note to a new president on resolving a major issue.

Stripe president John Collison, 26, is now the world's youngest self-made billionaire, according to Forbes.

Stripe mints Ireland's youngest billionaires

At 26, John Collison, the co-founder of online payments service Stripe, has become the world's youngest self-made billionaire, according to Forbes.

Allowing banks to team up in Apple Pay negotiations would reduce competition to provide the payment services customers ...

Banks' bid to team up in Apple Pay talks rejected

The competition watchdog has knocked back a request from three of the country's major banks to launch a collective boycott of Apple Pay, in what it says is a "finely balanced" draft decision.

Investors are hesitating ahead of Wednesday's OPEC meeting.

ASX slips as metals rally runs out of steam

Australian shares ended marginally lower as a red-hot metals rally ran out of steam and investors showed some nerves ahead of OPEC.

Vocus chief executive Geoff Horth: In the past 18 months, Vocus completed a $1.2 billion merger with Amcom, then a $3.8 ...

$874m wiped off Vocus market cap as guidance falls short

Investors wiped $874 million off Vocus Communications' market capitalisation on Tuesday after its earnings guidance fell short of expectations.

AMP chief Craig Meller said the new group structure would deliver sharper focus on performance in the "core Australian ...

AMP shakes up management after massive losses

AMP has shaken up its management team in the wake of escalating losses in its life insurance division.

Investors have done well out of the election of Donald Trump earlier this month.

Markets Live: Banks find buyers

Shares reverse early losses to trade higher, led by buying in the big banks, while Vocus's earnings guidance is poorly received.

Rare jewels - whether a stake in a Macanese casino or the diamond engagement ring that Carey reportedly received from ...

What Mimi can tell Packer about Crown jewels

COMMENT

Followers of Crown Resorts and its controlling shareholder James Packer must be growing sick of reading about splits.

The view from Paris is a lot more hawkish than what experts think on the ground.

RBA rate hike 'would need decent data'

The view from Paris is a lot more hawkish than that of experts on the ground here.

175 Holden staff gathered to witness the final Australian-made engine.

A free lunch, a polo shirt, then shown the door

The very last Holden six-cylinder motor rolled off the company's Port Melbourne production line on Tuesday.

Wesfarmers chief Richard Goyder wants Perth-UK direct flights.

Wesfarmers chief says Perth needs direct flights to UK

The head of one of Australia's largest companies has urged the state government to do what it can to ensure Perth Airport gets direct flights from London.

Customers must download the Optus Xtra app and let it put static and video ads on to their mobile phone.

Optus offers customers free data in exchange for watching ads

Optus pre-paid customers who are prepared to have advertisements on their mobile phone's lock screen can earn a free gigabyte of data each month, worth about $10.

Traffic was at a standstill for hours on the West Gate Bridge.

Thrifty slugs man with late fee after West Gate traffic chaos

A Melbourne man claims Thrifty slapped him with a late fee after he became stuck in Monday morning's traffic chaos while attempting to return a hired van.

An artist's impression of the new Ballarat Railway precinct.

State government announces consortium for $44 million Ballarat Station precinct

Construction on the Ballarat Railway Precinct will begin by mid to late 2017 after the state government unveiled the consortium which will take control of the $44 million project.

Stripe founders become billionaires

Stripe co-founders John and Patrick Collison have become Ireland's youngest billionaires after a funding round raises the valuation of the business to over $US9 billion.

Qantas said the deal would have increased traffic from the US by 9 per cent.

Qantas bales out of plan to grow US traffic

Qantas has baled out of an ambitious deal with American Airlines that would have increased trans-Pacific traffic for both carriers, after a US regulator blocked it on competition grounds.

Optus offering free data

Optus is offering their pre-paid phone customers a free gigabyte of data or $2 extra credit every month if they download the Optus Xtra app.

Banks, Apple in stoush over digital wallets

A draft decision from the ACCC denies several of the big banks from negotiating as a bloc with Apple for access to its NFC technology.

Will someone pay for Norfolk Island to plug into a 42 Tbps broadband connection?

Norfolk wants a fibre-to-the-island connection

Stuck with a 2G mobile network and slow internet speeds, a group of Norfolk Islanders are agitating to get the ultimate technology boost: fibre-to-the-island.