Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)

David Morgan has resigned from the board of mining company BHP Billiton BLT.L>, reducing the number of Australians on the company¿s board to three. Although the company does not require a minimum number of Australian directors, the chief executive and chief financial officer of BHP must be Australian residents. Dr Morgan will now be based in London working with private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co. Page 49.

Premier Investments, which owns retail outlet groups such as Just Group and Smiggles, yesterday held its annual meeting. The company is the investment vehicle of long-time retailer Solomon Lew. Following the meeting, Mr Lew told reporters that he was concerned that a further rise in the official interest rate next month could significantly affect Christmas sales. The Reserve Bank of Australia, which has lifted rates twice over the past two months, next meets on December 1.

Page 49.

Non-alcoholic beverage bottlers are recording a spike in sales as Australia experiences record-breaking spring temperatures. Australia's largest non-alcoholic bottler, Coca-Cola Amatil, is forecast to record profit growth of over 11 percent for the full year, helped by the recent surge in sales. However, analysts warn that temperatures can become too high for drinks companies to benefit, as people start staying at home to avoid the heat. Page 50.

Hardware retailer Mitre 10 yesterday reported a net loss of A$11.7 million for the 2009 financial year after selling and closing a number of stores, cutting staff and reducing inventories. However, the company said it had cleared the decks last financial year and have started 2010 with clear air, leading to a net profit of A$2.3 million for the first three months of the financial year. Page 50.

THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)

The Australian Minerals Council, representing Australia's coal mining industry, yesterday claimed that the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme would cost the sector A$12.5 billion and put it at a disadvantage to international competitors. The criticism has come despite the Government yesterday doubling assistance to the coal industry under the scheme to A$1.5 billion, in a bid to secure Opposition support.

Page 39.

Iron ore mining company Rio Tinto yesterday said it had reached an agreement with Iron Ore Holdings (IOH) which will allow Rio to examine IOH's Iron Valley deposit in Western Australia's Pilbara region. IOH, which is 51 percent-owned by Kerry Stokes, also announced that Rio has agreed to purchase up to 1.5 million tonnes of ore each year from its Phil's Creek deposit, also in the Pilbara region. Page 39.

Gina Rinehart's coal company, Hancock Prospecting, yesterday would not comment on offers from Resourcehouse's Clive Palmer to share the cost of infrastructure for coal projects in Queensland.
However, Hancock did say it believed an annual market for at least 60 million tonnes of its coal existed, which was enough to support planned new efficient infrastructure. Both companies hope to start construction of their projects next year. Page 40.

The chief executive of property company GPT Group, Michael Cameron, yesterday told investors that the company would drive growth by developing assets for long-term ownership. Mr Cameron said the company was currently undertaking around A$940 million worth of projects in the commercial, retails and industrial property sectors, while there is around A$2 billion worth of development projects within GPT¿s existing portfolio.

Page 40.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)

A federal parliamentary inquiry into child care this week issued a report criticising the regulatory supervision of the industry, including the collapse of ABC Learning Centres. That an organisation catering for up to 25 percent of the long day-care market should fail so rapidly following its rise to market dominance says as much about the deficiencies in child care policy and regulation as it does about ¿ the company, the report says. Page 3.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is challenging orders from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to protect a Sydney man's identity. The man has been banned from the financial services industry, however, the tribunal has ordered that his name not be published until a review of the ban has been completed. ASIC yesterday said that if it decided to pursue criminal charges against the man, his identity could not be suppressed by the tribunal. Page 4.

The chairwoman of the Financial Planning Association, Julie Berry, was forced to apologise to a fellow director of the association and the head of the federal parliamentary inquiry into financial planning earlier this year. In August, Ms Berry wrote to association board member Julie Matheson after Ms Matheson's submission to the inquiry was critical of educational standards for financial planners, accusing her of acting against the best interests of the association. Page 7.
THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)

According to the Financial Services Association (FSA), the introduction of new standards for financial planners need not see the end of commission based fees for financial planners. The Ripoll report has recommended that the Federal Government consult with the industry on finding a way to end commissions. The report calls for a statutory provision for planners to act in their clients' best interests, however, the FSA says such a provision can co-exist with commissions to planners. Page 1.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) yesterday warned that most banks, including all of Australia's major banks, require improved balance sheets to cover their lending exposures. Local banks have claimed that their tier 1 ratios show that Australian banks are amongst the strongest in the world, however, S&P says its new risk-weighted criteria show that all Australian banks have a capital ratio of less than 8 percent. Page 1.

Online sharemarket trading platform E*Trade has been fined A$75,000 by the Australian Securities Exchange for being overdrawn on its trust accounts by up to A$154 million. The exchange's disciplinary tribunal yesterday found that E*Trade, a subsidiary of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, had displayed a pattern of non-compliance with the rules, noting that the company has been fined by the tribunal nine times previously.

Page 2.

Patrick Snowball, the new chief executive of banking and insurance group Suncorp-Metway, has confounded speculation that the banking arm of the business may be sold off. Yesterday, Mr Snowball said, "the underlying businesses are fundamentally sound." Mr Snowball outlined a number of changes planned for Suncorp, but said that a distressing "transformational" reconstruction was not required. Page 4. Keywords: DIGEST AUSTRALIA BUSINESS (Sydney Newsroom +61-2 9373 1800; sydney.newsroom@reuters.com)

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