Patrick Corp boss Chris Corrigan has warned that “government
inspired micro-meddling” and the freight industry’s obsession with
forming committees have emerged as the biggest menaces on the
waterfront, reports The SMH. Seven years after winning his battle against the once powerful
Maritime Union of Australia, Corrigan yesterday took aim at the
numerous government endorsed committees and reports into improving
port efficiency and competition.

For the past eight months former Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd
chief executive Peter Yates has had a frustrating time, reduced by
the strength of the share market to counting the money in Allco
Equity Partner’s bank account and looking and waiting for the right
opportunity to arise, says Stephen Bartholomeusz in The Smage. Yates has used an unusual bid vehicle and a novel structure to
bid for an unlikely target – Baycorp Advantage. Its appeal was threefold. The first is that it is in a
sector, financial services, that one of Yates’s primary sponsors
knows well. The second was the appeal of its monopoly in credit references and the third
was Baycorp’s balance sheet. It has no net debt at all.

The tax office wants employees to dob in bosses
who neglect their obligations as another red-tape deadline hits small
business employers this week, with the introduction of superannuation
choice for employees, reports The Australian. Super choice started on 1 July this year and by 28 July employers must
have handed their employees a choice form so they can select a super
fund of their own preference.

Tabcorp has taken its first significant step into Asia,
announcing that its Keno lottery joint-venture had won a deal in
China that is expected to generate about $50 million a year for
Tabcorp within five years, reports The Smage.

On Wall Street, US stocks closed lower overnight, after a volatile session during which early gains
evaporated in the face of rising crude futures and drab earnings
reports. The Dow Jones closed down 54.7 points at 10,596 – MarketWatch has a full report here.