Political debate over Telstra reforms likely to be delayed until 2010: Economy Roundup

The Federal Government’s debate in the Senate over proposed reforms for the telecommunications industry is set to continue even into next year, it has been revealed.

According to reports in the Australian Financial Review, the changes are scheduled to be debated on Thursday – the final day of Parliament before the Christmas break.

The Government is attempting to push through its legislation in order to force telecommunications giant Telstra to separate its retail and wholesale networks.

However, it is expected the debate will be delayed due to discussions over the Government’s emissions trading scheme, which are set to take place today and tomorrow but could continue on.

“We note that the bill has been listed for Thursday, the final day of the Senate this year, which suggests the government believes debate on the bill is unlikely to be concluded this session,” Liberal senator Nick Minchin said.

Meanwhile, confidence has been given a boost as new car sales continued to rise during October according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for total sales of new motor vehicles increased by 3.7% compared to September, and is 3.3% higher than the same estimate for October 2008.

The figures reveal sales of all vehicle types increased during October, with sales of sports vehicles rising 3.7% and passenger vehicles by 1.2%.

Sales also increased in each state, with Tasmania recording the largest increase of 6.7%, followed by South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory at 5.3% and 4.6% respectively.

Shares slightly higher after negative Wall Street leads

Meanwhile, the Australian sharemarket has opened slightly higher this morning despite negative leads in the US, but has remained mostly flat during morning trade.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 32 points or 0.69% to 4718.2 at 12.00 AEST, while the Australian dollar opened half a cent lower at US91c.

Commonwealth Bank shares have increased 0.2% to $52.88, while Westpac increased 0.4% to $24.29. NAB lost 1% to $28.40, as ANZ gained 0.4% to $21.83.

James Hardie Industries NV has said it expects operating profit for the current financial year to reach $US115 million excluding key items, with revenue to be within a $US77-115 million range.

The announcement comes after the company recorded a net loss of $US97.5 million for the first half of the year ending 30 September.

“Management cautions that market conditions remain uncertain and the upcoming northern hemisphere winter is expected to be a very challenging period for the company to generate significant operating earnings,” James Hardie said in a statement to the ASX.

The chairman and one director of Goodman Group could be voted off of the board at the company’s next meeting due to anger over the company’s underperformance over the past 18 months, The Age has reported.

Reports suggested advisor film RiskMetrics recommends shareholders vote against Ian Ferrier’s appointment as chairman, along with executive director Jim Sloman.

But Ferrir said the calls were not appropriate and that “if I was a shareholder, I would be disappointed with the past couple of years but I could say what RiskMetrics is saying is inappropriate”.

Brambles looking to expand into China

Pallet manufacturer Brambles has said it is looking to increase its market share in the US, and move into other areas such as China, chief executive Tom Gorman has said.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for growth for us around the world in the CHEP space and, in fact, in the Brambles space,” Gorman told ABC’s Inside Business. “One of the areas we’re looking at is geographic expansion, so basically taking the pooling concept and moving into new markets.”

“We think the US, and Continental Europe for that matter, are both markets… [where] in terms of pallet pooling we have enormous growth opportunities to grow in both markets, and we’ll be looking at new verticals, so new segments to grow in, new customers, and of course, winning share from our competitors.”

Mining entrepreneur Joseph Gutnick has said a new venture with a Chinese group will hopefully rival fertiliser company Incitec Pivot.

Gutnick’s US-based group Legend International has entered into a deal with Wengfu group in order to investigate a phosphate mine near Mount Isa. He told Sky News Business that the company was well placed to proceed and that feasibility studies are now underway.

“We’re very confident that this beneficiation plant and phosphoric acid plant and the added-on value products will come into fruition and start next year,” he said. “We think this [deal] is a company-maker, and we believe it has tremendous potential, and we’re confident we’ll be another fertiliser company in Australia.”