Time for the ACT Government to Get Serious About Tax

The Property Council of Australia has expressed disappointment in the ACT Government for not moving to eliminate the inefficient and inequitable taxes that were due to be abolished as part of the 1999 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on reform of Commonwealth/State financial relations.

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  2005 Rider Hunt State Award Short Listed Entrants Announced

Five new developments in the southeast Queensland area have been short listed to be in the running for the prestigious 2005 Rider Hunt state award, to be presented at the Property Council annual ball and awards evening on May 28.

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  California Architect Thom Mayne becomes the 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate

Thom Mayne, who founded his firm Morphosis to surpass the bounds of traditional forms and materials, while also working to carve out a territory beyond the limits of modernism and postmodernism, has been chosen as the 2005 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The Pritzker Prize caps a three-decade career in which Mayne has received 54 AIA Awards, some 25 Progressive Architecture Awards, as well as numerous other honors around the world. The sixty-one year old architect is the first American Laureate in 14 years.

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  Residential Building Holds Up, For Now

Master Builders Australia, the peak building and construction industry association, said the slight increase in seasonally adjusted dwelling commencements in the December quarter 2004 was evidence of resilience in the building industry in the face of a trend decline in activity that has been occurring over the past three quarters.

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Home Sales Bounce Back in February

Following a weak start to 2005, February was a better month for new home sales.
HIA New Home Sales figures released today showed a significant lift for the month of February, following on from two very weak months. Sales of houses and units jumped up by 35.9 per cent to 9,789 over the month, the highest level since July last year.

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  Good result for WorkCover should deliver premium relief

Australian Industry Group is calling for employer premiums to be reduced, following today's announcement of a significant improvement in the deficit of WorkCover - the New South Wales workers compensation scheme.

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Capral seeking $32m from shareholders

Capral Aluminium Ltd will seek $32 million from shareholders to support the company through a restructuring period.
Capral will complete the installation and commissioning of the Bremer Park plant near Ipswich in south-east Queensland in June, but it said during the transitional period it was critical to preserve the company's balance sheet.
Capral said it will go to its 4,000 shareholders who will be offered a 1 for 5 rights issue at $1.70 per share. The company hopes this will raise $32 million.
The aluminium extrusion and sheet supplier reported a net loss for the 2004 calendar year of $70.95 million. It had a net loss of $4.32 million in 2003.
Revenue from operating activities was down by 6.7 per cent at $356.8 million in 2004, compared with $382.3 million the previous year and there was no dividend.
In its financial report for 2004 Capral promised shareholders it would continue the restructuring of the company.
It said despite operational difficulties and delays and import competition, the strategic vision and belief in the future success of the company remains unchanged.
"Indeed, the inroads that importers have made into Capral's major markets in recent years merely serves to underscore the need for Capral to undertake a restructuring of the scale and nature that is now reaching its completion," Capral said.
"For shareholders and for everyone associated with the company, including many of our customers, we understand that this has been at times a frustrating and difficult period.
"This has required tough decisions to be made and implemented."
"However a stronger, more competitive and dynamic Australian manufacturer will emerge from this process."
Capral said when Bremer Park is fully operational the closure of the Eagle Farm plant in Brisbane and Milperra plant in Sydney will be completed.
This will focus manufacturing activity to Capral's three core sites at Canning Vale in Western Australia, Campbellfield in Victoria and Bremer Park.
The capital raising issue will be underwritten by GPG, Capral's largest shareholder.
A prospectus will be issued in March 2005. (SMH 23/2/2005)