Sean Nicholls September 7, 2012 Sydney Morning Herald THE NSW Treasurer, Mike Baird, is proposing a dramatic lowering of the GST-free threshold for goods bought online from overseas retailers in a move that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars in extra tax. Mr Baird wants the Commonwealth to look at cutting the threshold from $1000 to about $30 to capture millions more transactions in the GST net and bring Australia into line with countries such as Britain. The move, which was a recommendation of the Productivity Commission report into retailing last year, would add 10 per cent to most international online purchases. But the trade-off is that it could help pave the way for the abolition of stamp duty on housing and other taxes by replacing the revenue that would otherwise be lost by the states. The Productivity Commission raised concerns that lowering the threshold would not be cost…

Deborah Gough September 9, 2012 The Age ·A GOODS and services tax on overseas online purchases will make Australian retailers only slightly more competitive, and will not be the adrenalin shot needed to revive local shopping, analysts and retailers say. ·A federal taskforce study has given support to lowering the $1000 threshold on GST on imported goods, saying the cost of collecting the revenue may not be as high as previously suggested by a Productivity Commission report. ·But, said Deakin University lecturer in consumer marketing Michael Callaghan, shoppers who bought from overseas websites would not be deterred by a 10 per cent rise through the GST, because they often saved up to 50 per cent. ”It is not going to alter shopping behaviour, that will just continue,” Mr Callaghan said. ”If they do their sums, if it was 10 per cent less they [consumers] would probably go to the local…

Bronwen Gora September 09, 201212:00AM The Sunday Telegraph THE heir to a $265 million pet food empire has been given the task of saving confectionery giant Darrell Lea. SWEET RECIPE EXPAND Rocklea Road DEVELOP Liquorice Range CAN Boiled lollies and sweets AXE Bulgarian Rock The sweet-toothed saviour Klark Quinn, whose Queensland-based family created their wealth on the back of VIP pet food, is not only confident of success but also hopes his new job will lead to true romance. “When I was a kid I used to think: Why can’t Dad make something fun like confectionery?” Mr Quinn said. “Pet food never helped with finding girls. Maybe this will be a step up.” Mr Quinn officially starts his new role tomorrow after the company changed hands for an estimated $25 million. Darrell Lea collapsed in July, leading to the loss of more than 600 jobs and the closure of most…

Colin Kruger, Miriam Steffens September 8, 2012 The Age STAFF at Australia’s largest magazine publisher, Australian Consolidated Press, were not the only ones sighing with relief this week when their private equity paymasters, CVC, announced that the business would be sold to the Hamburg-based, family-owned publishers, Bauer Media Group. ”I think they’re very relieved that it is in the hands of someone who knows the business, and not somebody who is only intent on buying into the company to make money,” says the legendary magazine publisher who will forever be associated with ACP, Ita Buttrose. ”They’re regarded as a good company,” she says of Bauer ”and they’re a family company, and in a way that’s not unlike the Packers when it was at its heyday. It was very much a family company.” The magazines division featured prominently in the popular ABC production Paper Giants, which focused on the launch of…

Gareth Hutchens September 10, 2012 The Age AUSTRALIA Post has signed up Westpac to its new digital mail service as the race continues among parcel delivery operators to grab an early share of a potentially lucrative new market. Westpac joins Telstra and AMP as partners in the Australia Post Digital MailBox initiative, which allows customers to access all their confidential letters and bills, and to make transactions, through a single online source. The move is part of efforts by Australia Post to generate new digital revenue streams as its traditional mail business comes under pressure from electronic media. The Australia Post partnership is in direct competition with Digital Post Australia, a joint venture of Computershare (40 per cent), Salmat (40 per cent) and a US digital mail technology start-up, Zumbox, which launched in March this year. In June, Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour told a Senate committee that the company’s…

AAP September 04, 2012 A SMOKING ban in all closed public spaces, including coffee shops, restaurants and bars, has gone into force in Lebanon under new legislation that promises hefty fines for offenders. Endorsed by Lebanon’s parliament last year, the law also bans tobacco advertisements, which have been criticised for luring young people into smoking. Smokers caught lighting up in a closed public space face a $US90 ($A88) penalty, while restaurant or cafe owners who turn a blind eye to offenders could be fined anything from $US900 to $US2700. The number of smokers in Lebanon is among the highest in the region and cancer-related illnesses directly linked to tobacco are rising at a rapid rate, health professionals say. Still, there is speculation as to how far the new ban can actually hold in a country where cigarette, cigar and nargileh (water-pipe) smoking is so popular and widespread. Some 46 per…