For the first time since WWII, Australia is faced with a hung parliament. At last count, the ruling Labor Party held 73 seats in the 150 parliament, with the opposition Liberal-National coalition holding 72. The remaining five seats are in the hands of independents (4) and the Greens. However, several seats ...Read more...

Tomorrow’s election is looking increasingly like not being decided on the day. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott have both been working overtime on the campaign trail in recent days, desperate to convince the Australian public that they are the best choice to lead the nation. However, opinion ...Read more...

Serious questions are being asked of the Australian aviation security program after an incident in Sydney. Hundreds of plane passengers were evacuated from Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport yesterday afternoon, following a breach in security regulations that was labelled as ‘serious’ by Qantas. The incident occurred after a QantasLink regional flight arrived in ...Read more...

The economic downturn has not, apparently, crossed over to pizza. In a major coup for the company, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises announced an increased full-year profit of 16 per cent, with the forecast of further growth to come in 2010. The year ending July 4 saw net profit at Domino’s rise to $17.8 ...Read more...

The leading lights of the hotel and leisure industry came out to celebrate the Accor group’s annual showpiece. The World of Accor event, held last week at the iconic Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, saw the international hotelier and service provider display its latest offerings, and the reception could not have been more ...Read more...

The latest round of trans-Tasman air rivalry has been won by Air New Zealand, Qantas and its budget operation Jetstar. Low-cost carrier Jetstar has announced plans to increase its burgeoning New Zealand operation, a move made easier by the departure from the sector by Virgin Blue. The Qantas owned subsidiary, Jetstar will ...Read more...

The ups and downs of the $2 billion-a-year national magazine industry are continuing. Latest readership figures have confirmed that the roller-coaster ride of recent times is far from over, with massive highs and lows facing publishers who are still attemtping to predict the market direction. For the six month period till June ...Read more...

Australia’s leading airline has announced that it if forecasting a greater profit return. The move comes on the back of higher loyalty-card income and a return to profit in the rebounding corporate travel market, which has led the group to speculate that first half earnings could be ‘materially stronger’ than previously ...Read more...

The owner of Frankfurt Airport has urged Air Berlin to refocus its operations on Germany’s leading financial centre. Air Berlin agreed to join the Oneworld team of airlines, which includes Australia’s national carrier Qantas, last month, with the encouragement towards Frankfurt Airport seen as the most logical and beneficial to compliment ...Read more...

The major airlines in Australia are avoiding defining a clear policy when it comes to the sensitive issue of overweight passengers. Tiger Airways calls the issue one of comfort or medical practicality, while Virgin Blue prefers to label obesity as impairment. Jetstar has said plainly that obesity is not a disability ...Read more...