as posted here
The city of Perth in Western Australia is seeing its property market bounce back after a recent slump, it has been stated.
Perth went from being one of the cheapest places in the country to being more expensive than Sydney by 2006, valuation manager at Propell National Valuers Travis Coleman told the New York Times.
This boom was followed by a 12 per cent slump in prices, but the paper noted that the market in the city is now recovering, aided by the development of new mineral and gas projects in the state.
It observed that the average price in the city for a home is now AU$375,000 (£202,000).
The best place for those moving abroad to buy in Perth is the suburb of Bassendean, according to St George Bank.
In a list of the top locations in the country for value, the lender said it is "one of the few suburbs within the inner ring which still has a median house price below AU$500,000."
The other district it recommended in the city was Thornlie, due to its combination of affordability and proximity to amenities.
Written by Jamie Musk
as posted here
Monday, 28 September 2009
Petrol tipped to fall to $1 a litre
as posted here
THE price of petrol is heading back toward $1 a litre, an economist says amid continuing falling prices.
Nationally, the cost of unleaded fell by almost a cent in the past week, fresh figures from the Australian Institute of Petroleum reveal.
CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian says the fall in prices is far from finished.
"The key Singapore unleaded fuel price fell by over 12 per cent last week,'' he said, adding it was the biggest weekly decline in nearly eight months.
"This should translate into further savings for Aussie motorists.''
The strength of the Australian dollar against the greenback and oil companies' cutting of their margins in recent weeks mean the good news for motorists will continue.
"CommSec expects petrol prices to fall by two to three cents a litre over the next fortnight,'' Mr Sebastian said.
"In fact, motorists in some capital cities could be paying close to $1 a litre at the low point in the discounting cycle with the assistance of shopper dockets.''
as posted here
THE price of petrol is heading back toward $1 a litre, an economist says amid continuing falling prices.
Nationally, the cost of unleaded fell by almost a cent in the past week, fresh figures from the Australian Institute of Petroleum reveal.
CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian says the fall in prices is far from finished.
"The key Singapore unleaded fuel price fell by over 12 per cent last week,'' he said, adding it was the biggest weekly decline in nearly eight months.
"This should translate into further savings for Aussie motorists.''
The strength of the Australian dollar against the greenback and oil companies' cutting of their margins in recent weeks mean the good news for motorists will continue.
"CommSec expects petrol prices to fall by two to three cents a litre over the next fortnight,'' Mr Sebastian said.
"In fact, motorists in some capital cities could be paying close to $1 a litre at the low point in the discounting cycle with the assistance of shopper dockets.''
as posted here
Online report card plan teeters
as posted here
State Education Minister Liz Constable has not ruled out rejecting Federal plans to introduce a new online school report card system, saying that she has to work through some "complex issues" before attending a national education meeting today.
Her support is crucial to the introduction of the report cards - one of the Federal Government's education changes - that have already provoked criticism that they would lead to so-called league tables that name and shame underperforming schools.
The WA State School Teachers Union and the WA Secondary School Executives Association are outraged about the online reporting system, which will group schools according to the socioeconomic backgrounds of their students, then rank them based on academic performance.
It is aimed at improving use of resources and will give parents unprecedented information on how schools fare. It could become a political headache because it will expose struggling schools without providing promised information on each school's resources or how it improves the lives of students affected by poverty or other disadvantage.
Dr Constable would not say whether she supported the system and had not yet decided what proposal to put forward because she was still working through complex detail. "There are a range of perspectives and options that will still be looked at before a final decision is made," she said.
Education specialist Barry McGaw, who designed the system, said schools would be grouped with about 60 other "like schools" with students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. An elite private school such as Presbyterian Ladies College could be grouped with King's School in Sydney and an indigenous school in the Northern Territory could be grouped with a similarly remote WA school.
Each school will be ranked according to how well students do in the national literacy and numeracy test done by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Union secretary David Kelly said the tests were a useless way of comparing students and ranking schools by the results was "farcical". "This is a form of league tabling and it is again the Government trying to abrogate responsibility and justify itself by showing the community that it is caring and is going to make schools accountable or responsible," he said.
The union would support any boycott by principal and teacher groups.
Secondary school Executives Association head Rob Nairn said he opposed the plan because of its "dangerous" simplicity. It had to have protections to prevent exploitation of the material for league tables.
WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry said it was moderate league tabling that would encourage transparency and give parents important information
as posted here
State Education Minister Liz Constable has not ruled out rejecting Federal plans to introduce a new online school report card system, saying that she has to work through some "complex issues" before attending a national education meeting today.
Her support is crucial to the introduction of the report cards - one of the Federal Government's education changes - that have already provoked criticism that they would lead to so-called league tables that name and shame underperforming schools.
The WA State School Teachers Union and the WA Secondary School Executives Association are outraged about the online reporting system, which will group schools according to the socioeconomic backgrounds of their students, then rank them based on academic performance.
It is aimed at improving use of resources and will give parents unprecedented information on how schools fare. It could become a political headache because it will expose struggling schools without providing promised information on each school's resources or how it improves the lives of students affected by poverty or other disadvantage.
Dr Constable would not say whether she supported the system and had not yet decided what proposal to put forward because she was still working through complex detail. "There are a range of perspectives and options that will still be looked at before a final decision is made," she said.
Education specialist Barry McGaw, who designed the system, said schools would be grouped with about 60 other "like schools" with students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. An elite private school such as Presbyterian Ladies College could be grouped with King's School in Sydney and an indigenous school in the Northern Territory could be grouped with a similarly remote WA school.
Each school will be ranked according to how well students do in the national literacy and numeracy test done by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Union secretary David Kelly said the tests were a useless way of comparing students and ranking schools by the results was "farcical". "This is a form of league tabling and it is again the Government trying to abrogate responsibility and justify itself by showing the community that it is caring and is going to make schools accountable or responsible," he said.
The union would support any boycott by principal and teacher groups.
Secondary school Executives Association head Rob Nairn said he opposed the plan because of its "dangerous" simplicity. It had to have protections to prevent exploitation of the material for league tables.
WA Council of State School Organisations president Robert Fry said it was moderate league tabling that would encourage transparency and give parents important information
as posted here
WA trucking industry hits slump
as posted here
Cortlan Bennett, Business Editor
Lesmurdie owner-operator Steven Marijanich said some drivers had seen the warning signs, but many had ignored them.
``People think the money's going to last for ever and then they go out and buy all the brand new gear and all of a sudden, boom!'' he said.
`I've been saying it for years _ as soon as the Beijing Olympics were over, everything stopped.
``People laughed at me, but it happened. There was no more demand for steel and iron ore out of China.
``A lot of local industry just stopped _ I think it shocked everyone _ because since October, things have just been dead.
``We're earning about 40 per cent of what we were last year and some would be lucky to be earning that.''
Huntingdale-based A&F Transport is really feeling the pinch.
The husband-and-wife team of Arthur and Fiona Wheatcroft bought four trucks during the boom, in addition to the one Mr Wheatcroft was driving, and set up their own transport firm.
But being close to $1 million in debt, and with only enough work for one truck a few days a week, they're on the brink of collapse.
``It's bad. It's really bad,'' Mrs Wheatcroft said. ``It's been bad from October last year.
``Apparently when the Beijing Games were on, everything got shut down over there _ all the steel mills _ and they're still not running at 100 per cent.
``It's been a double-whammy for everybody.
``During the boom, we were making up to $4000 a truck each week. Now we've got one truck going and it's not even working every day.
``I've actually let all my drivers go because I've got nothing for them.''
``We're not sure what we're going to do. We don't know whether we're going to fold or try to persevere and keep going.''
Like many owner-drivers, Mrs Wheatcroft said her husband was so busy during the boom that he bought one truck after another to keep up.
He employed drivers and the next thing he knew he was running his own business.
Mrs Wheatcroft quit her full-time job at the Health Department to run the administrative side.
``If I had a crystal ball, I wouldn't have given up my job,'' she said.
``We're not the only ones _ don't get me wrong _ there are so many people out there in our position.
``They're all saying it's the worst the industry has even been in.
``It's a nightmare. So many of our friends have folded.''
Casuarina owner-operator Peter Swift said many ambitious drivers had themselves to blame.
``Everybody said the boom was going to last 10 years _ it lasted five,'' he said.
``The last one was the biggest and everybody was greediest.
``A lot of the industry has got itself to blame. Blokes who had one or two trucks now have 20 trucks and they're out there now trying to turn work over.
``It's pretty hard. What's happening is work's got that quiet that the general blokes are jumping into our (specialist) work and cutting the guts out of it.''
``I can ride it out, but it just irks me that there's work there but you just can't do it for the rates that are offered _ the big companies are dictating the rates now.''
Mr Marijanich agreed.
``Blokes are taking loads to Port Hedland and then they're sitting there waiting for a backload to make up the money they lost going up there,'' he said.
``And they're sitting there for two weeks, waiting. They still have to make money and so they flog each other for the work.''
Mr Swift said bigger companies were also squeezing out smaller operators.
``With Gorgon, they brought Linfox (Logistics) in from over east, but they haven't got a very good record of looking after sub-contractors,'' he said.
Linfox confirmed this week that it had secured the transport contract for the Gorgon gas project, but there were no jobs for WA drivers yet.
However the company said that would change as the project got closer.
Transport Workers Union WA spokesman Tim Dawson said there was no doubt truckers were ``doing it hard'', but he was hopeful new resources projects would create more work.
``There's no doubt some of these projects in the North-West are going to help, but it doesn't help the bloke sitting at home now when they're threatening to repossess his house or his truck, does it?'' he said.
as posted here
Cortlan Bennett, Business Editor
September 26, 2009 06:00pm
WA'S trucking industry has hit the skids, according to owner-drivers, as the economic crisis bites hard.It's a far cry from a year ago, when the resources boom created a driver shortage and a flurry of new-truck sales.
Drivers say the double whammy of the global financial crisis and the end of the Beijing Olympics _ which had created a huge resource demand for infrastructure projects _ have forced many out of business and others to ruthlessly undercut each other.Lesmurdie owner-operator Steven Marijanich said some drivers had seen the warning signs, but many had ignored them.
``People think the money's going to last for ever and then they go out and buy all the brand new gear and all of a sudden, boom!'' he said.
`I've been saying it for years _ as soon as the Beijing Olympics were over, everything stopped.
``People laughed at me, but it happened. There was no more demand for steel and iron ore out of China.
``A lot of local industry just stopped _ I think it shocked everyone _ because since October, things have just been dead.
``We're earning about 40 per cent of what we were last year and some would be lucky to be earning that.''
Huntingdale-based A&F Transport is really feeling the pinch.
The husband-and-wife team of Arthur and Fiona Wheatcroft bought four trucks during the boom, in addition to the one Mr Wheatcroft was driving, and set up their own transport firm.
But being close to $1 million in debt, and with only enough work for one truck a few days a week, they're on the brink of collapse.
``It's bad. It's really bad,'' Mrs Wheatcroft said. ``It's been bad from October last year.
``Apparently when the Beijing Games were on, everything got shut down over there _ all the steel mills _ and they're still not running at 100 per cent.
``It's been a double-whammy for everybody.
``During the boom, we were making up to $4000 a truck each week. Now we've got one truck going and it's not even working every day.
``I've actually let all my drivers go because I've got nothing for them.''
``We're not sure what we're going to do. We don't know whether we're going to fold or try to persevere and keep going.''
Like many owner-drivers, Mrs Wheatcroft said her husband was so busy during the boom that he bought one truck after another to keep up.
He employed drivers and the next thing he knew he was running his own business.
Mrs Wheatcroft quit her full-time job at the Health Department to run the administrative side.
``If I had a crystal ball, I wouldn't have given up my job,'' she said.
``We're not the only ones _ don't get me wrong _ there are so many people out there in our position.
``They're all saying it's the worst the industry has even been in.
``It's a nightmare. So many of our friends have folded.''
Casuarina owner-operator Peter Swift said many ambitious drivers had themselves to blame.
``Everybody said the boom was going to last 10 years _ it lasted five,'' he said.
``The last one was the biggest and everybody was greediest.
``A lot of the industry has got itself to blame. Blokes who had one or two trucks now have 20 trucks and they're out there now trying to turn work over.
``It's pretty hard. What's happening is work's got that quiet that the general blokes are jumping into our (specialist) work and cutting the guts out of it.''
``I can ride it out, but it just irks me that there's work there but you just can't do it for the rates that are offered _ the big companies are dictating the rates now.''
Mr Marijanich agreed.
``Blokes are taking loads to Port Hedland and then they're sitting there waiting for a backload to make up the money they lost going up there,'' he said.
``And they're sitting there for two weeks, waiting. They still have to make money and so they flog each other for the work.''
Mr Swift said bigger companies were also squeezing out smaller operators.
``With Gorgon, they brought Linfox (Logistics) in from over east, but they haven't got a very good record of looking after sub-contractors,'' he said.
Linfox confirmed this week that it had secured the transport contract for the Gorgon gas project, but there were no jobs for WA drivers yet.
However the company said that would change as the project got closer.
Transport Workers Union WA spokesman Tim Dawson said there was no doubt truckers were ``doing it hard'', but he was hopeful new resources projects would create more work.
``There's no doubt some of these projects in the North-West are going to help, but it doesn't help the bloke sitting at home now when they're threatening to repossess his house or his truck, does it?'' he said.
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