Miners, makers take gloomy views

The collapse in global confidence last month took a hefty toll on business conditions, which slumped to their lowest in three years, a leading survey shows, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Almost half the companies included in National Australia Bank's business survey, published yesterday, thought the federal budget also would hurt their interests, with miners and manufacturers the most pessimistic.

The survey shows that weak employment conditions and profitability dragged down business conditions by 4 points, to minus 4, which led economists yesterday to predict further job losses.

Mining was responsible for much of the decline, as a sharp fall in commodity prices hurt the industry's profits and employment conditions. Despite a super-sized interest rate cut of 50 basis points last month, business confidence also fell, dropping by 6 points to minus 2, as fear for the future of the eurozone intensified.

Senior Citi economist Joshua Williamson said the gauge of business conditions pointed to an annual economic growth rate of about 2.5% compared with growth for the year to March 31 of more than 4%.

Farmers call for clarity on Alpha rail

The stoush between the federal and Queensland governments over rail lines crucial to major coal projects in the Galilee Basin has created uncertainty that is costing farmers millions of dollars in lost land sales and agricultural productivity, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The federal intervention freezing the $6.4 billion Alpha coal project last week has exacerbated the concerns of farmers, who have been promised a meeting with Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney in Moranbah.

Farmers have been in limbo for years about whether to sell, invest or negotiate a deal with mining companies that need to link their coalfields in central Queensland some 500km away to the port at Abbot Point. But federal Environment Minister Tony Burke exacerbated the problem last week when he froze the approval process for the Alpha project owned by India’s GVK Group and Gina Rinehart.

Auditor could face jail term

THE former auditor of mining success story Sandfire Resources faces up to five years in jail if found guilty of charges over a family shareholding in the company, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Kevin Somes, a partner at Perth accounting firm Somes Cooke and a well-known figure in the city's mining industry circles, appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court on Friday to face 18 charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Somes was charged with six counts of failing to be independent as an auditor and 12 counts of making a false or misleading declaration to ASIC.