THE NEWS WRAP: New Qld Premier to fight mining, carbon taxes with other Liberal states

Newly-elected Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says he will join the other Liberal states to “fight for the common cause” against Federal Labor on issues such as the carbon tax and the mining tax.

The announcement comes after the Liberals wiped out Labor in the Queensland election, winning 78 seats in the 89-seat Parliament, leaving Labor with just seven MPs.

Federal Trade Minister Craig Emerson has urged Newman to refrain from “playing politics” with the other Liberal states.

Solomon Lew says RBA is “out of touch”

Retail mogul and former Reserve Bank board member Solomon Lew has launched a scathing attack of the current RBA board, which he says is out of touch with the economy.

After revealing a 2.4% decline in half-year profit at his retail group Premier Investments, Lew said the Reserve Bank must immediately drop the official cash rate by up to 75 basis points to help non-mining sectors of the economy, including retailers.

He said the central bank has “mishandled the mining boom” and employment is going nowhere in the eastern states.

Air Australia to be wound up

Administrators for Air Australia have wound up the failed airline at a meeting of creditors in Brisbane.

Thousands of travellers were stranded when the Queensland-based airline collapsed last month, with debts of nearly $85 million, but less than $500,000 in the bank.

Around 350 staff will lose their jobs. However, Mark Korda, from administrator Korda Mentha, says these workers will recoup most of their entitlements through the Federal Government’s General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS).

Overnight

The Australian dollar is almost US1c higher following the release of weak US housing figures and a solid performance from Wall Street on Friday.  

At 6.30am this morning, the dollar was trading at 104.72 US cents, up from 103.87 cents on Friday afternoon.