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There's a good chance some businesses will raise prices now the card surcharge ban takes effect.

RetailPremium‘I absorb it and I go broke’: Cafe owners slam surcharge ban

Australia’s sweeping card surcharge ban has scrapped extra checkout fees on retail purchases, including coffees, clothes and groceries, with businesses warning higher prices could eat into shoppers’ savings.

Ryan Johnson

The Busselton bakery has been a top bakery spot in the south west for a number of years.

Small Business‘Breaks my heart’: WA bakery announces shock closure

‘Sometimes even when business is good, the numbers and the reality of running a small business simply don’t stack up.’

Zosia Melanczuk

Byssal founder Tim Grose is looking at aquafarming practices to build resilience and restore long-term ecological balance in marine environments.

StartupsPremiumMussel farming startup eyes WA’s marine offset dollars

Cockburn Sound startup Byssal is chasing restoration work from port and defence developers, growing mussels to feed fish and colonise seawalls.

Ryan Johnson

Thousands of smaller businesses now face a dilemma - absorb the cost of customers tapping their cards, squeezing already-thin margins, or build it into prices and risk driving away cash-strapped consumers. 

RetailPremiumIt’s lose-lose for small businesses as surcharge ban starts

Thousands of smaller businesses now face a dilemma - absorb the cost of customers tapping their cards, squeezing already-thin margins, or build it into prices and risk driving away cash-strapped consumers. 

Karen Leigh and Joe Flynn

Perth business owner Ateba Malik fears rising cost pressures and the threat of a fifth interest rate hike this year could tip her cake shop Drizzled over the edge.

EconomyPremiumNumber of WA firms facing cost crunch now at five-year high

The number of WA companies reporting rising cost pressures as a handbrake on growth has hit a five-year high, with the State’s peak business lobby group warning there’s little relief on the horizon.

Cheyanne Enciso

RBA governor Michele Bullock told businesses to ‘step up to the plate’ and contribute more to lifting the nation’s productivity.

EconomyPremiumBusiness hits back over RBA governor’s productivity jibe

Business groups say policymakers are better off assessing how the ‘ever-growing mountain of regulatory burden’ was hurting Australia’s productivity, instead of telling firms to lift their game.

Cheyanne Enciso

Cafes and restaurants are being warned to expect a downturn as customers manage tight budgets. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

BusinessPremium'Going to get tough': Why rate hike will hammer hospitality

Restaurants across the nation are bracing for falls in customer traffic after another interest rate rise, amid expectations consumers will cut back on spending.

Kaaren Morrissey

Erin Bell, founder of startup CoConnect App.

BusinessPremiumGoogle taps lifesaving WA mining app for accelerator program

Co Connect’s distress button got help to a worker within a minute, its founder says. Google has picked the largely customer-funded Perth business for its AI accelerator as it looks beyond WA.

Ryan Johnson

Paul Nelson from Paul Nelson Wines at the old Wignall's cellar door.

place for allPremiumNew ‘relaxed hub’ venue to soft launch with Sunday Sessions

A beloved winery and cellar door is getting a new lease on life with the proprietor promising a return to its live music and relaxed community hub roots in an upcoming soft opening.

Melissa Sheil

South Stirling farmer Reece Curwen and Majuba Bistro's Andrea Love have spokenout about the proposed cuts to working holiday-maker visas.

backpacker capsPremium‘Devastating’: Caps on backpackers mark ruin for businesses

Proposed cuts to working holiday-maker visa approvals has been met with backlash by regional business operators and the City of Albany who say changes would cripple vital industries.

Melissa Sheil

Loan enquiries from the State’s large businesses jumped 25.6 per cent in August compared with a year earlier, well above the national increase of 19.2 per cent.

BankingPremiumWA businesses chase loans to stay afloat

WA’s biggest businesses are scrambling for more credit but holding off buying new equipment, raising concerns companies are borrowing to keep the lights on rather than bankroll expansion.

Ryan Johnson

The CEO Institute’s latest Pulse report found just 8.5 per cent of Australian business leaders surveyed rated their companies highly at turning strategy into results. Four in 10 said getting work done depended heavily on particular leaders or teams.

CEOsPremiumThe indispensable trap: Why bosses risk missing sales

Business owners risk missing sales as their most experienced staff get bogged down in clunky systems and competing projects, new research suggests.

Ryan Johnson

Former Federal Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt.

BusinessPremiumAboriginal business register shut after ‘relentless attacks’

An Indigenous business register has shut after alleged attacks, leaving questions over its WA procurement partnership as State Government contracts awarded to Aboriginal suppliers reach $211.7m in six months.

Ryan Johnson

Ben Inkster Director, Robert Ansingh Engineer in background and Kevin Inkster Chairman, tool maker Arbortech bucking the trend of domestic manufacturing’s decline.

BusinessPremiumWA toolmaker chases US market, defies manufacturing decline

Malaga power tool maker Arbortech is chasing its biggest overseas expansion in 38 years after surviving decades of decline in Australian manufacturing.

Ryan Johnson

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financePremium‘Plot twist’ in RBA’s card surcharge ban

The Reserve Bank’s card surcharge ban has triggered an unexpected ‘plot twist’, with experts predicting it could even change how Australians pay for their goods and services.

Cameron Micallef

Adam Lee, Matthew Kerfoot and Andrew ‘Tuck’ Friars have taken over The Boatshed in South Perth.

Small BusinessPremiumReborn South Perth foreshore eatery ready to make waves

The new owners of The Boatshed admit their South Perth restaurant isn’t the first establishment West Australians think of when they hear the name. They want to change that.

Cheyanne Enciso

Albany Air's Sean van der Brugge with his Airefrig Australia scholarship award.

Award winnerAlbany air-conditioning expert takes out major gong

Albany Air’s Sean van der Brugge has taken out a major scholarship award for a refrigeration and air-conditioning apprentice at the annual industry awards, recognising a year of hard work and dedication.

Jacki Elezovich

Barricades Media owner and GoldMX presenter Samele Haell.

off airPremiumGold MX coming off air after 29 years of local music

Beloved and longstanding Albany community radio station Gold MX 1611AM has been forced to hang up the microphones after 29 years on air, with director Samele Haell calling time at the end of the month.

Jacki Elezovich

The owner says landlord entered the property on Saturday and took possession ‘without prior notice’, forcing the 86-place centre to close immediately.

Small BusinessPremium‘Blindsided’: Heartbreak at childcare centre’s shock closure

The owner says the landlord entered the property on Saturday and took possession ‘without prior notice’, forcing the 86-place centre to close immediately.

Ryan Johnson

Families have been left scrambling for care after Sonas abruptly shut its Wanneroo centre, with children’s hats and bottles still locked inside.

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Commercial PropertyPremium
exclusive
Parents scramble as childcare centre shuts ‘without warning’

The landlord entered the property on Saturday afternoon and took possession, forcing the centre to close immediately.

Ryan Johnson

The small business debt pile grew 5.3 per cent from $192.1b in the year to July, according to RBA data. Medium-business debt grew much faster, climbing 9.1 per cent to $582.8b.

Small BusinessPremiumSmall businesses face rate hike with staggering debt bill

Australian small businesses are carrying $202.2 billion of debt as markets increasingly bet on another Reserve Bank rate rise this month, while paying considerably more for money than the big end of town.

Ryan Johnson

Business leaders have given Canberra a kicking over productivity while betting heavily on artificial intelligence to wring more from their own operations, according to law firm Mallesons’ latest Directions survey.

EconomyPremiumCompanies blast Canberra over failure on productivity

Business leaders have given Canberra a kick over productivity while betting heavily on artificial intelligence to wring more from their own operations, according to law firm Mallesons’ Directions survey.

Ryan Johnson

The Towers at Elizabeth Quay are on the east side of the inlet.

Herd on the TerracePremiumElizabeth Quay apartment ‘defect’ fight heads to court

What do you do when your $500m Elizabeth Quay apartment building is riddled with defects and the builder has gone broke? Call in the lawyers, of course. Plus: Small business grants program a little top heavy.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the changes help to make the tax system fairer. Business groups don’t agree.

TaxPremium‘Why penalise small businesses’: Labor’s trust fix slammed

Federal Government offers small business a way around its $45b trust tax without dismantling their structures, but business groups say it’s failing to address the problem - it would make small firms poorer.

Ryan Johnson