THE NEWS WRAP: Government floats new tribunal for SME disputes

A new Federal tribunal could help small businesses resolve disputes, under new government proposals.

The idea, one of four options to be released today, follows findings last year that 6.5% of small businesses were involved in serious disputes over the last five years.

Other options include a new call centre to offer advice, offering an expanded mediation service or creating a “small business advocate” to investigate disputes.

WA government at loggerheads with Canberra

The WA government is set for a showdown with the Federal Government after the state said it would increase the royalty rate for iron ore from 5.6% to 7.5% over the next two years.

The move would cost the Federal Government around $2 billion under its mining tax. In response, Martin Ferguson, the federal resources minister, said that WA will end up losing more in GST revenues than mining royalties.

Facebook warns against privacy measures

A Facebook executive has warned that any restrictions placed upon the company due to privacy concerns could damage the entire ‘social web.’

In a written statement to US senators, Bret Taylor, Facebook’s chief technology officer, said that the notion of privacy had been changed by social media and that any clampdown on this would hurt the entire medium.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 45.14 points to 12,605.32. The Australian dollar was up to 106.53 US cents.