Industry News

The Federal Government has announced that it will work co-operatively with farming and community organisations to halt the growing number of Quad bike related deaths.

Quad bikes are the leading cause of fatalities on Australian farms, with over 150 people killed in quad bike incidents since 2001.

The Federal Government will work with farming organisations, unions, industry and community groups to raise awareness of quad bike safety and provide farmers wither stronger support networks.

The announcement comes after a roundtable meeting in Melbourne between Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Bill Shorten and senior representatives from farmer organisations, industry, unions, farm safety organisations, officials from Safe Work Australia and other stakeholders to improve quad bike safety.

“Death and injury are increasing at an unacceptable rate. AgHealth found that 23 people died last year and 10 people have died so far this year as a result of quad bike incidents,” said Mr Shorten. 

“All options have to be on the table to reduce trauma. I’m disturbed that 20-30 years solely relying on training and education does not seem to be reducing death and injury.” 

“In 2011 AgHealth reported almost 80 percent of all quad bike fatalities occurred on farms and since 2001 almost half the deaths have been due to rollovers. 

To support these local networks there will be a QuadWatch webpage established and maintained by Safe Work Australia.  

The QuadWatch webpage will provide information and links on how to reduce quad bike incidents, quad bike safety research, work health and safety information and contact details for state and territory regulatory bodies all on the one site. 

Community groups, academic researchers and state and territory regulatory bodies will be encouraged to provide content to this website ensuring Australian farmers have the most up to date information to protect themselves, their families and their workers from quad bike fatalities.  

In addition to QuadWatch, Safe Work Australia will release an issues paper before the end of August seeking submissions on potential improvements to quad bike safety including crush protection devices.  

The QuadWatch website can be found at:www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/swa/QuadWatch

The Victorian Managed Insurance Authority and the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) have co-developed the country’s first Diploma of Integrated Risk Management targeted specifically at the country’s public sector.

“Reducing risk and improving risk management is a key priority for VMIA and the State of Victoria,” said Warren Hutcheon, CEO of VMIA, which delivers risk management and insurance services on behalf of the State.

“When we undertook a survey of risk managers across the Victorian Public Sector (VPS), we found 70% had learned on the job rather than through formal education.

“Despite the growing attention to the risk management sector, and the important role of risk management in a business partnership model, there are limited opportunities for professionals to gain accredited qualifications in this field.

The Diploma is set to include four modules covering risk management, general insurance, integrated risk management and management of specific risk exposures.

Each module costs $800 and the entire Diploma costs $3200 to complete. Enrolments for the Diploma will be open in late July, with the first intake to undertake the diploma between August and November.

Leighton Contractors has announced it has secured a $122 million contract for the construction work for a new coal-fired power plant in Davao City and Daveo del Sur in the Philippines.

The 300-megawatt circulating fluidised-bed coal-fired power plant is being developed by Therma South and is designed to meet the Mindanao region’s power supply needs.

Under the contract, Leighton Contractros will be responsible for the construction of a 120-metre diameter coal storage dome, installation of coal convenyors, ship unloader and stacker reclaimer, construction of 1,500 metres of 2.5-metre diameter circulating water mains, the circulating water intake structure, project-wide piling and site infrastructure.

“We are proud to be part of the consortium, together with Black & Veatch, and for being awarded this project as it recognises our comprehensive construction capabilities. Leighton Contractors (Philippines) has been an integral partner in the development of major building, mining and power projects in the Philippines for over 15 years,” CEO of Leighton Hamish Tyrwhitt said.  

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its global economy growth forecasts by .1 per cent, citing ongoing economic turmoil in Europe and the uncertainty in global financial markets. The revised growth figures see the IMF’s forecasts down to 3.5 per cent for the year, the lowest rate since the depths of the global financeal crisis in 2009.

A strong first quarter followed by a weakening second quarter was cited as a contributing factor in the revised growth projections. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook index found that strong business recovery and trade results had prompted confidence in the global economy in the first quarter, but slowing job creation and lingering unemployment levels were contributing to the downbeat assessment.

The IMF described the Euro’s ongoing woes as the epicenter of the financial market stress, particularly the ongoing political and financial uncertainty in Greece, while banking sector problems in Spain has continuing to plague the government’s ability to deliver fiscal adjustment and reform.

New data released from the US are pointing to a less robust growth than expected, with negative spillovers from the Euro zone contributing to an underlying los of momentum. 

However, the IMF has stuck to its projected global growth of 3.9 per cent in 2013, with developing country’s set to record a revised growth rate of 5.9 per cent.

Changes to legislation in Victoria is set to allow property trusts to gain access to financing for environmental upgrades, likely to result in significant increases to opportunities for green retrofitting in Melbourne’s city centre.

The amendment to the City of Melbourne Act will permit property trusts to enter into environmental upgrade agreements, which will connect local government charging powers to the city’s financial institutions.

Melbourne’s property trusts will now be able to apply for secure capital from financial institutions at competitive rates for up to 10 years, to be repaid through a Council charge that stays with the retrofitted building.

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the amendment will provide enormous opportunity for property trusts to transform many of Melbourne’s commercial buildings.

“We want to ensure that as many buildings as possible have the chance to take up the opportunity to retrofit their buildings and reap the environmental and financial benefits. That is why we went back to the government and asked for further legislative change,” Lord Mayor Doyle said.

“Property trusts are well equipped to undertake building retrofits and this legislative amendment will enable this group of sophisticated building owners to reduce energy and water use and lower carbon emissions in our city.
 

“When we signed our first agreement last year under the 1200 Buildings program, we demonstrated that Melbourne is committed to supporting the retrofitting market. This change in legislation is another important step forward in ensuring the environmental sustainability for our city well into the future.”

For information about the Sustainable Melbourne Fund and Environmental Upgrade agreements, visit www.sustainablemelbournefund.com.au.

The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has delivered its final assessment of the proposed James Price Point Liquefied Natural Gas precict, recommending the project for approval.

EPA’s Chairman Dr Paul Vogel said the assessment of the project was the largest and most complex it had ever conducted in the agency’s 40 year history.

“The assessment has been incredibly thorough and included wide consultation with community members and scientific experts, site visits and meetings with interest groups,” Dr Vogel said.

“After carefully considering each environmental factor, I have recommended a rigorous set of 29 conditions and offsets to ensure the EPA’s environmental objectives are met.”

The project is expected to produce up to 50 million tonnes of LNG per year from the Browse basin site 60 kilometres north of Broom upon completion. Dr Vogel said one of the site’s main draw cards was that it allowed a number of operators to work from a single site, meaning that the area was spared the proliferation of a number of large scale projects.

“The numerous conditions recommended will guide the ultimate development plan, as well as apply to specific, future LNG projects within the precinct,” Dr Vogel said.

“Future proposals will still need to be carefully scrutinised by the EPA to ensure that they were identified in the strategic proposal and fit within the strictly defined precinct footprint.”

The establishment of the James Price Point was born from the recommendations of the Northern Development Taskforce (NDT) which shortlisted over 40 sites for multi-user LNG precincts. The EPA recommended that the James Price Point site be selected, arguing that any environmental risks and impacts were likely to be manageable based on the available data.

The proposal will now be sent for Commonwealth approval.

The report will be open for public consultation for a 14 day period.

The full finding from the EPA can be found here

The Queensland Government has announced cuts to several employment and skilling initiatives it says the Federal Government already funds.

In what he described as a bid to remove funding duplication, Minister for Education, Training and Employment John-Paul Langbroek said the State Government was removing funding for programs that already receive substantial levels of Federal Funding. Mr Langbroek said that the State Government could no longer afford the $19 million to run the Skilling Queenslanders for Work Program.

Mr Langbroek called on the Federal Government and industry to continue to provide effective job readiness programs. 

The Minister said that no front line services would be effected by the cuts.

“Skilling Queenslanders for Work programs are not front line positions and we are committed to keeping our election promise that no font line positions will be affected”. 

“All 144 full time equivalent staff will be offered voluntary redundancies, vacant positions in the department, or will be put on the deployment list to be placed in other departments.” 

Work has begun on the $67 million in reconstruction works for the disaster-damaged sections of the Leichhardt and Dawsone Highways in Queensland’s Banana Shire Council region.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney  said the vital repairs would be undertaken progressively, starting on the Leichhardt Highway between Westwood and Dululu before moving to the Dawson Highway in November. 

“Both highways are important freight routes supporting the agriculture and resource industries in the region,” Mr Seeney said. 

Mr Seeney said the works would also help boost the construction industry with several contracts awarded. 

“The contract for the works was awarded to BMD and Acciona in a joint venture, with three gravel supply contracts awarded to local central Queensland suppliers,” he said. 

“In addition, contracts totaling $12 million were awarded to Central Queensland Quarries, Hanson Construction Materials and Hopkins Brothers.” 

The project is expected to be completed by early 2013, weather permitting. 

The Queensland Government has announced it is committed to finding the ‘right size’ of public service after figures show that public servant numbers fell by almost 3000 full-time equivalents at the end of June.

Premier Campbell Newman said the Government’s recent payroll figures showed that there were 198,944 full-time equivalent employees for the fortnight ending 13 July, down from 201,934 FTEs on 29 June.

Mr Newman took the opportunity to hit out at the ‘shambolic’ nature of the state’s payroll and IT systems left in place by his labor predecessors.

“In addition, these figures include the regular reduction of casual teachers that occurs at the end of a school term, while there are significant fluctuations in health staff numbers from fortnight to fortnight – meaning the total numbers could increase again within weeks.” 

Mr Newman said his Government was committed to finding the correct size of public service for Queensland, striking a balance between affordability and maintenance of frontline service.

“The LNP Government wants to protect as many public sector jobs as possible, but the reality is the former Labor Government employed 20,000 more public servants than the people of Queensland can currently afford,” Mr Newman said. 

WorkCover NSW and WorkSafe Victoria have both used National Farm Safety Week to redouble their efforts to ensure workplace health and safety obligations are followed by farmers.

WorkCover NSW reminded the state’s farmers that the new ntional WHS laws that commenced operations in January means that farmers and farm managers are responsible for the health and safety of workers and other people who visit the farm, including customers, visitors and tradespeople.

General Manager of WorkCover’s Work Health and Safety Division, John Watson, said WorkCover was continuing to support the farming industry to adjust to the new arrangements.

“Farm safety continues to be a priority for WorkCover NSW after six fatalities and 1,766 injuries in the agriculture industry during 2010/11 that cost the WorkCover Scheme more than $20.1 million,” Mr Watson said.

“The most common injuries involved mobile plant and vehicles including tractors, quad bikes and machinery as well as sprains and strains while handling animals, and being hit by, and falling from, animals. 

Meanwhile in Victoria, WorkSafe has kicked off a year long safety campaign aimed at reducing the number of fatalaties and injuries occurring on farms.

More than half of the 478 claims WorkSafe received in the agriculture industry last financial year came from livestock farming, particularly dairy, sheep and beef cattle farming,” WorkSafe Victoria’s Ross Pilkington said.

“Many injuries were caused by workers being hit by moving objects, body stressing, slips, trips and falls and vehicle accidents.”

How machinery is used in dairy processing, livestock handling, the use of tractors and quad bikes and equipment maintenance are just some of the main areas WorkSafe inspectors will focus on as part of the campaign.

Quad bike safety will also continue to be a focus, particularly the use of helmets as a basic safety device. WorkSafe is urging employers to consider fitting crush prevention devices to provide potential additional protection in the event of a rollover. 

Inspectors will also be looking to see if safe systems of work including proper instruction, training and supervision are in place.

“If you’ve got things under control we’ll be in and out very quickly but if you don’t, action to get issues fixed will be taken either through voluntary compliance or through issuing an improvement notice,” Mr Pilkington said.

“Farms need to be treated like any other workplace out there, even if it’s a small, family operated business.”

“They don’t have to be dangerous, they can be made safer but it requires a team effort. Taking the time to think through a problem and following it with action could make a huge difference.”

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia has called for the Productivity Commission to develop a more accurate method to track performance of Australia’s major cities; and calling on all three levels of government to integrate the way they plan, regulate and operate metropolitan infrastructure.

“Australia’s governments invest tens of billions in urban Australia each year, yet we don’t objectively track the effectiveness of this spend,” said IPA Chief Executive, Brendan Lyon.

“That’s why our report calls for the Productivity Commission to be tasked with delivering a dashboard of performance indicators, so that everyone can see performance improvements in our cities over time.

“A dashboard that measures city-wide economic and social indicators as well as sector specific indicators such as congestion on road networks, will allow governments and the public to continuously track the performance of cities and the degree of success in fixing urban Australia.”

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) has found that while the state continues to reap the benefits of the ongoing mining boom,  global uncertainty around the Greek debt crisis and the possibility of a slowdown in China has affected the production of key commodities, translating into a contraction of business confidence.

These factors were reviewed in the June edition of the WA Resources and Economics Report, which was published by the CMA in conjunction with KPMG.

CME Chief Executive Reg Howard-Smith said while continuing to be the powerhouse of the nation, the WA resources sector was facing some challenges. 

“Over the March quarter WA has seen decreases in production of several commodities, particularly iron ore largely due to cyclonic weather shutting port operations,” Mr Howard-Smith said. 

“Continued speculation on what impact the Greek debt crisis will have on Australia has hit the market pretty hard and particularly affected small and mid-tier miners who are susceptible to these types of jitters. 

“With this uncertainty, it’s not the ideal time to throw in some new taxes but that’s the reality with the implementation of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and Carbon Tax now in effect. 

“China is expected to remain a big consumer of Australia’s mining exports and a good indicator of that is the monthly crude steel production in China to May this year being higher than the same period in 2011. 

Other key findings in the June 2012 WA Resources and Economic Report: 

• The March quarter is relatively quieter for mineral and petroleum exploration owing to seasonal factors amongst others and as a result, recorded a 23 per cent drop from the previous quarter to $883million 
• New minerals projects added to the Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics advanced project list include Rio Tinto’s Nammuldi mine expansion, Atlas Iron’s Horizon 1 growth project and Wesfarmers’ ammonium nitrate plant expansion 
• Total market capitalisation of WA resource companies at end May 2012 was $92.8billion, a decrease of 21 per cent from end of February 2012 reflecting renewed market concern about the Greek debt crisis and possible China slowdown 
• Australia’s terms of trade continued to decline, falling 4.3 per cent partially caused by a weakening in the price of exports due to slowing demand 

The June 2012 WA Resources and Economics Report is available here 

Western Australian Environment Minister, Bill Marmion, has received legal advice from the State’s Solicitor’s Office regarding the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) assessment of the Browse LNG Precinct at James Price Point in the state’s Kimberly region.

“Based on the advice received from the State Solicitor’s Office, I have approved the EPA making a delegation specific to the assessment of the Browse LNG Precinct,” Mr Marmion said.

“I believe the EPA has taken the appropriate course of action and have confidence in the integrity of the EPA chairman Dr Paul Vogel, to provide me with informed advice and recommendations on the project.

The highly contentious $30 billion project has seen spirited debate over its impact on the pristine areas of the Kimberly coast.  The EPA was expected to hand down its final recommendation over the report last month, but four of the five board members were barred from submitting their contributions on grounds of conflict of interest, meaning Dr Vogel will make the recommendation by himself.

Mr Marmion said the EPA’s report will be subject to a two-week period within which any party can lodge an appeal. 

Australian Broadband Services (AusBBS) has announced the appointment of Ian McGregor as non executive Chairman and Andrew Kent as non executive Director and technology strategy advisor.

Both appointees are internet veterans having played key roles as senior executives, alongside AusBBS Founder Rob Appel, in the formative period of ISP success story OzEmail. OzEmail was Australia’s first major ISP, holding the number one position in the local ISP market until 1999 when it was sold to MCI Worldcom for AUD540M.

“I am delighted to welcome Ian and Andrew to the AusBBS Board,” said AusBBS CEO, Rob Appel. “These appointments reunite a team with the skill range and experience to take up the challenge of creating a new ISP business model in the midst of the NBN roll out.”

“Ian McGregor brings direct experience of the financial dynamics behind high growth ISP businesses,” continued Appel. “His background as CFO at OzEmail during its listing on both the ASX and NASDAQ, and sale to MCI Worldcom, and more recently as CFO of Unwired, give him a unique insight into the creation of successful ISP models.”

Digital rights lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has expressed its deep concern over the proposed changes to National Security legislation, which it says if passed, will implement a culture of surveillance akin to Iran or China.

EFA’s concerns stem from the release of the Federal Government’s Discussion Paper, which is now under consideration in Parliament.  EFA has expressed concern over the proposals contained within the paper, saying that it will allow for a massive expansion of surveillance activity across the entire spectrum of community and represents a threat to civil liberties for all Australians.

“It is of particular concern that with such a wide-ranging and potentially significant legislative reform, the community has been given a mere four weeks in which to digest the implications of the proposed changes and to make submissions to the Joint Committee,” the group said in a statement.

The Discussion Paper is available here (PDF, 689KB):http://aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=pjcis/nsl2012/additional/discussion%20paper.pdf

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has published the Winter edition of its National Outlook, a comprehensive housing report card, which has tracked a significant decline in activity over the first half of the 2012 year.

The Outlook shows deteriorating conditions for the housing sector, describing the decline as a return to GFC-lows experienced in 2008.

The HIA is predicting a continuing decline after a 11.2 per cent decline in housing starts in 2011. The association is forecasting a further 11.5 per cent decline in starts for the remaining of 2012, to a level of just 133,420.

“HIA has noted for a considerable time the risk that new housing again revisits levels experienced as a  result of the GFC,” said HIA Chief Economist, Dr Harley Dale.

“That situation now appears unavoidable, to the detriment of thousands of businesses and households,  not to mention the overall domestic  economy.”

“We are experiencing a combination of softer housing demand and high-cost  housing  supply, which together mean that the nation is under-building by a significant amount. Put simply, Australian consumers are nervous about the global and domestic economies, and meanwhile around $200,000 of the price of a new home is due to taxation. It’s an unsustainable situation.” 

The Master Builders Association (MBA) has urged Fair Work Australia’s review of the modern award for apprentices and trainees to clarify the role of the States and Territories in apprentice regulation.

CEO of MBA, William Harnisch, has called for a greater streamlining of legislation between the Modern Award regulation and State and Territory legislation to protect help young people’s jobs.

“The review of modern awards for apprentices and trainees is the perfect opportunity to clarify who has jurisdiction to govern apprentice regulation. There is too much grey in whether modern awards can cover matters beyond merely setting wages and hours of work for apprentices and trainees,” Mr Harnisch said.

“The union’s vision for Modern Award regulation would vastly increase costs to employers and strain the industry’s capacity to train young apprentices. As an example, a 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage is estimated to result in a reduction in teenage employment by between one and three per cent.”

Mr Harnish’s calls come after the Federal Government proposed the introduction of competency based wage progression for apprentices and trainees under the awards, and idea that the MBA cautiously supports but has urged more research into. 

The Federal Government has pledged an additional $1 billion to support the pay rise awarded to workers in the social and community services sector.

The additional $1 billion will see the Federal Government contribute a total of #1 billion through to 2021, as part of the phase in period.

The funding will help some 150, 000 of Australia’s lowest paid workers benefit from pay rises of between 23 per cent and 45 per cent thanks to the February ruling of Fair Work Australia.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the funding would mean the Federal Government now expects state and territory governments to meet their obligations and commit their share of the required funding.

“Employees in our social and community sectors work in some of the most challenging of jobs such as counselling families in crisis, running homeless shelters, working with people with disabilities and with victims of domestic violence or sexual assault,” Ms Gillard said in a statement.

“These employees make a real difference to lives of some of our most vulnerable community members and they deserve to be properly rewarded for their efforts,”

Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation, Greg Combet, has announced the appointment of tewo new Board members for Commercialisation Australia and enhanced support for the manufacturing sector under the program.

Mr Combet announced the appointment of Brisbane-based manufacturing expert Christine Bridges-Taylor and Adelaide-based biotechnology authority Dr Leanna Read.

Ms Bridges-Taylor is General Manager at B&R Enclosures, a family owned and operated company specializing in the manufacture and supply of electrical products designed for Australian conditions, and has extensive experience in managing manufacturing entities.

Dr Leanna Read was a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council for six years and the founding Managing Director and CEO of biotechnology company, TGR BioSciences Pty Ltd from 2001 - 2011. She is currently a member of BioAngels, an Adelaide-based Angel investor network.

The Federal Government has announced that Australia will host a high-level conference in October to help combat the growing challenge of malaria.

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bob Carr, announced the Malaria 2012 Saving Lives in the Asia Pacific conference while attending the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Cambodia last week.

"The conference will provide an opportunity for Asia-Pacific leaders to build on our successes, protect the gains and further develop regional responses to malaria,” Senator Carr said.

"Despite recent progress in tackling malaria, there are still more than 200 million malaria cases globally, with around 30 million cases in our region.”

Malaria 2012 will be held over three days in Sydney from 31 October – 2 November 2012. Representatives from governments and development partners across Asia and the Pacific will attend the conference along with leading health and development experts.