Industry News

Optus has announced the launch of a major brand campaign aimed at connecting with its  customers on a more poignant, emotional level.

The centrepiece of the campaign is a 60 second television commercial which aired for the first time on Sunday 22 April. The commercial is a love story which is enabled by the digital world despite the two protagonists being in different physical locations (Shanghai and Canowindra, New South Wales). The key message is that Optus cares about its customers by bringing them closer to the things that matter most to them.

Gavin Williams, Head of Segment Marketing said, “The message of our new brand campaign is a very simple one – we share in what matters most to you. From connecting you with the people you love, to getting the hottest phone before anyone else, it’s possible with Optus.”

The campaign will run for approximately four weeks and will include national television, online, outdoor, print and cinema advertising. The new look and feel will feature in all Optus brand and product advertising both above the line and at point of sale moving forward.

“While our advertising has traditionally been very product focused, this new brand expression is all about building a stronger connection with our customers by letting them know we care. Animals will have less of a presence in our new advertising, than was the case previously however they are still very important as they represent the glue that makes things possible. They represent Optus,” Mr Williams said.

 The advertisement can be seen here 

Regional Australia Minister Simon Crean has called on local leaders to work cooperatively in the Latrobe Valley to help identify new opportunities to assist the area transitioning to a clean energy future.

Mr Crean’s calls come after he joined Victorian Regional and Rural Development Minister Peter Ryan and regional leaders at a roundtable discussion to hear industry perspectives about the future challenges and opportunities in the Latrobe Valley.

The meeting was the final in a series of forums jointly hosted by Regional Development Australia Gippsland, Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Australian Industry Group.

Mr Crean emphasised the Federal Government remains committed to assisting the area in dealing with its transition.

"Despite political differences over carbon pricing, we are taking a bipartisan approach to building jobs and skills for the Latrobe Valley as it moves to a clean energy future," Mr Crean said.

"Gippsland will continue as an energy region, but community and business leaders agree that the region must move to a cleaner form of energy generation, value-add traditional industries and diversify its economic base.

"Today local leaders have presented practical solutions to support the region through this economic transition, including in the areas of infrastructure investment, workforce development and innovation.

The Federal Government has announced it is seeking comment after the release of a standardised Deed of Access for exploration in the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA).

The release of the Interim Access Arrangements will allow companies to access the WPA under the contractural Deeds of Access while preserving the security of Defence activities in the area.

“Industry engagement is critical to ensuring the interim arrangements are both practical for the resource industry and effective in protecting the security of Defence activities,” Defence Minister Stephen Smith said.

Comments on the Deed of Access can be submitted to the WPA Coordination Office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 15 June 2012 to ensure they are considered.

Interested parties may also choose to attend a WPA Coordination Office workshop on the Deed of Access in Adelaide on 3 May 2012.

Once the Deed of Access and supporting processes are finalised, Government will be in a position to mark the end of the current moratorium phase of implementation. Companies will then be allowed to apply for access to the WPA based on the coexistence framework, supported by the Deed of Access.

The draft Deed of Access, registration details for the workshop in Adelaide and background information on the Review are available at the WPA Coordination Office’s website at www.defence.gov.au/woomera/.

Questions may be directed to the WPACO Coordination Office by phone at 1300 727 420 or by email toThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Telstra ha s announced its capital management strategy, outlining the company’s priorities and underlying principles that will guide the company’s future decision making.

The announcement comes after the company released its free cash estimates in the order of $2 to 3 billion in free cash over the next three years, subject to NBN roll out schedule and market conditions.

Telstra CEO David Thodey told a briefing that the company remains committed to best serving its shareholder and customer base.

“Telstra is focused on serving our customers through improved service, offering new products, as well as leveraging our rich set of assets,” Mr Thodey said.

He also told the briefing that Telstra was making no change to guidance for the 2012 financial year and reinforced its intention to pay a 28 cent per share fully-franked dividend in 2012 and 2013. This is subject to the Board’s normal approval process for dividend declaration and there being no unexpected material events.

The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) has announced it has selected Merimbula as the company’s first satellite earth station.

The first of 10 stations, the site on NSW’s Far South Coast will relay traffic between NBN’s satellite connected customers and other networks, and is expected to begin operations in 2015.

"Merimbula was chosen for a number of reasons: The climate is perfect for our needs. It’s also located close to reliable power and other infrastructure including the NBN’s core fibre transit network,” Matt Dawson, NBN Co's Satellite Project Director, said.

"There will be opportunity for local businesses to reap the benefits of high-speed broadband internet and for other residents and businesses to be drawn to the Shire, taking advantage of our lifestyle over the congestion of city living,” Mayor of Bega Valley Shire Council, Tony Allen, said.  

The United Nations communications agency has informed the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) that its current plan to launch two satellites is following the correct approval process.

The NBN Co received the advice from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU( finds that the company is not following an unduly risky process by purchasing satellites before finalising orbital positioning works.

"It is possible for a company to purchase a satellite in advance of it being put into use and the orbital slots being finalised,” the ITU said in a statement.

"In order to secure those slots the notifying authority, which in Australia is the Australian Communications and Media Authority, needs to (a) initialise the registration procedure with the ITU, and (b) resolve any major compatibility issues with operators of neighbouring satellites."

NBN Co has been proactively pursuing the ITU international frequency coordination process since August 2010.

The advice comes after NBN Co commissioned Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to manufacture two Ka-band satellites to deliver services to the 3 per cent of the Australian population who will not be serviced with fixed wireless or fibre services. 

The High Court has voted unanimously to dismiss an appeal by Roadshow Films claiming that iiNet was responsible for its customers using file sharing services.

iiNet CEO, Michael Malone, said the judgement showed that the claims were unfounded.

"iiNet has never supported or encouraged unauthorised sharing or file downloading," Mr Malone said.

"Today's High Court five-nil ruling confirms that iiNet is not liable for 'authorising' the conduct of its customers who engaged in online copyright infringement.

"This marks the end of more than three years of legal argument and challenges.”

Mr Malone said that the ruling showed that the entertainment industry should focus on providing a cheaper, lawful avenue for customers to access content, rather than pursue legal challenges.

"Increasing the availability of licensed digital content is the best, most practical approach to meet consumer demand and protect copyright," Mr Malone said.

"We have consistently said we are eager to work with the studios to make their very desirable material legitimately available to a waiting customer base - and that offer remains the same today."

Two in five Australian businesses are finding it difficult to recruit despite national job vacancies dropping to 219,000 (from 237,000 in 2010), research from Bankwest has revealed.

The second Bankwest Skills Shortage Survey, the latest addition in the Bankwest Financial Indicator Series, reports that businesses are being dealt a double blow as highly skilled candidates are harder to come by which in turn has lengthened recruitment timeframes.

Bankwest Business Chief Executive Ian Corfield said, “Australian businesses are clearly feeling the pinch of the skills shortage, with 41% reporting that it takes more than three months longer to recruit staff than it did a year ago.

“Businesses are seeing this as a significant issue and are therefore doing what they can to attract skilled performers, whether it’s improving benefits packages or recruiting workers from interstate and overseas.”

Across the country businesses are increasingly using tactics to attract the best talent, with nearly half (47.8%) increasing basic pay rates and a quarter (25%) offering additional financial incentives and benefits. Resources-rich Western Australia and Queensland are leading this trend with 63.4% and 55.8% respectively offering more lucrative salaries compared with the other states.

Businesses on the East Coast in particular are feeling the sting of the skills shortage more sharply than the rest of the country. More than two thirds (70.4%) of respondents in the Eastern states said that they are currently looking to hire or have hired staff in the last 12 months, with almost half (45.6%) reporting that they have had difficulty filling job vacancies during this period.

This compares to 60% of businesses on the West Coast looking to hire, with just under a third (32.6%) struggling to find candidates with the right skills.

This lack of available talent is having a direct negative impact on businesses. Most often existing employees have to work longer hours to make up for the shortfall in manpower, with two thirds (66.7%) of businesses reporting an increase in overtime.

The Bankwest Skills Shortage Survey also found that close to a quarter of businesses admit to error rates increasing and 33.7% are delivering late on products and services, with 22.6% being forced to turn down new work altogether due to lack of capacity.

“Businesses are in the difficult position of having to turn new work away – a tough decision to make given the uncertain economic environment,” said Mr Corfield.

Whilst a third (33.8%) of businesses nationwide are attracting workers from interstate to plug the skills gap, 41.1% of businesses in the mining states of Western Australia and Queensland are recruiting interstate and overseas workers to relieve pressure on their workforce.

The Bankwest Skills Shortage Survey anonymously surveys approximately 800 individuals in key business roles nationwide, to assess their perspective of the current state of skills shortages in their workplace. The Survey assesses various aspects of skills supply in Australia including ease of finding suitably skilled workers, as well as impacts this has on the way businesses operate.

Mining unions from around the world have applauded the Australian government's decision to tax mining profits and urged other national governments to stand up to mining companies and follow suit.

Representatives of two major international union federations meeting in Sydney said the Australian Government's decision to impose a mineral resources rent tax was a brave political decision.

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy and Mine Unions (ICEM) and the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) represent mining and metal workers from every continent with a combined membership over 50 million workers.

Mining companies worldwide sought to pressure national governments into policies that generated exorbitant profits for shareholders at the expense of national prosperity, said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 

"If the mining companies are allowed to be successful with their attacks against government here in Australia it would send a negative signal to countries where similar measures need to be taken.

"As the mining industry grows it's critical that fair, appropriate policies are in place to manage that growth in the interests of all citizens - especially in the developing world."

A resolution passed at the Sydney conference last night noted that Rio Tinto boss Tom Albanese had claimed credit for toppling Kevin Rudd over the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax. It said mining nations should not see the mining tax as a threat but an essential means of ensuring citizens benefited from the booming industry.

Profits and revenue from mining were growing rapidly all around the world, said IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina.

"Nowhere in the world will mining companies give back to communities out of the goodness of their hearts," said Mr Raina.

"Australia's minerals tax is fair and reasonable, it's a good model for other countries trying to manage their resources in a manner that benefits all citizens."

The unions have called on all national governments to exercise their right to maximise the benefits of mining to their citizens.  

Australian unions have joined an international campaign to stop mining multinational Rio Tinto supplying the gold, silver and bronze for medals at the London Olympics in June.

In a strong field of anti-worker, anti-environment companies in the global mining industry, Rio Tinto is worst of all, unions say.

"If there was a gold medal for abuse of human rights, work rights and the environment, it would go to Rio Tinto," said CFMEU Mining and Energy Secretary Andrew Vickers.

"All Australians will be cheering our athletes on, but our winning athletes deserve medals that aren't tainted by Rio Tinto's brutal treatment of its own workers and communities."

The campaign (www.offthepodium.org)  has been developed in support of nearly 800 Canadian metal workers locked out of a profitable smelter by Rio Tinto because they refused a plan that put new starters on insecure work arrangements with half the pay.

The workers in Alma, Quebec, have been locked out of their jobs since December 30 as the smelter sits idle, said Joe Drexler, Strategic Campaigns Director of Canada's United Steelworkers Union.

"Rio Tinto's proposal would see Alma workers unable to support their families and devastate the community," said Mr Drexler, in Sydney for an international mining union conference.

Locking out these workers in Quebec is a violation of Rio Tinto's obligations to fair play under the Olympic charter, said Manfred Warda, General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union (ICEM).

"Rio Tinto would like to bask in the reflected glory of the Olympic Games, but it has a black record on the treatment of its own people."

International mining unions declared Rio Tinto their number one target for global campaigning, due to the company’s legendary anti-union, anti-worker, unsustainable labour, community and environmental practices worldwide.

A resolution passed at the ICEM World Mining conference in Sydney noted that Rio Tinto, like many transnational miners, was recording strong profit growth while engaging in brutal and unethical practices. The global union body resolved to commit resources to drive a global campaign against Rio Tinto well beyond the London Olympics.

After months in limbo, workers at the company’s Altona plant were asked to leave their work and privately informed about their redundancy before being escorted by security guards off site. 

AMWU National Vehicle Division Secretary, Ian Jones, said the way workers were told of their redundancies was disrespectful and undignified.

“This could have been achieved in a much more respectful and sensitive way. We do not agree with the process.”

He said the AMWU would now investigate whether workers had been selected for redundancy on the basis of their union activity.

“We’ll be meeting with our shop stewards and our lawyers. We’re going to scrutinize Toyota’s methodology,” Mr Jones said.

“There’s been a disproportionate percentage of shop stewards and OHS reps made redundant. There’s been some selective criteria applied to our shop stewards and we’d like to know why.”

Assistant Vehicle Secretary, Dave Smith, said the union's perception of Toyota has been shattered.

“A part of the Toyota way, the Toyota philosophy; a central plank of that is respect, and they have shown no respect for their workforce today, none whatsoever.”

The Federal Workplace Relations Minister, Bill Shorten, said the Federal Government was already working with the AMWU to help the redundant employees find work.

“Those workers can turn around and face their families and say, 'well the Government's got an employment coordinator, they're going to provide special assistance so that we can find and re-enter the workforce as soon as possible.’ Because mum and dad didn't lose their job because they did anything wrong. Mum and dad have been affected by the high Australian dollar which is making it difficult for manufacturing."

The Australian Workers' Union will be sending their National OHS Director, Dr. Yossi Berger, to Port Macquarie to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the contaminated worksite at the Pacific Highway upgrade just south of Port Macquarie.

Following Wednesday's reports of 5 road workers receiving medical treatment for nausea - after being exposed to strange clay-like material at the site, the AWU welcomed the State Government's announcement of an independent inquiry into the incident.

Newcastle Branch Secretary Richard Downie said the AWU was extremely concerned for any workers who may have been or still could be exposed to potentially lethal or carcinogenic materials and many serious questions needed to be answered.

"Any worksite where our members may have been exposed to hazardous chemicals is of grave concern and raises serious questions," Richard Downie said.

"Why was the presence of this potentially lethal material not considered prior the upgrade of the highway and why was there not a stringent risk management plan in place?

"These are questions that will need to be answered by the State Government's independent inquiry and we welcome their announcement," Mr Downie said.

Further testing of the contaminated soil at the roadworks site is set to continue.

"Our union will be meeting with the company and WorkCover once the final results have been released to ensure that the results confirm there is no potential risk to road workers or the wider community," Richard Downie said.

All Australians will be given the opportunity to engage directly with ACTU President Ged Kearney through a ground breaking collaboration with social media start-up OurSay.org.

The ACTU-OurSay Secure Jobs for a Better Future forum allows anyone to pose a question to Ms Kearney on any work-related topic. Users can post their own question, or vote on other questions, and Ms Kearney and a panel will answer the three most popular questions at the ACTU Youth Congress: Building the Future in Sydney on 14 May.

Ms Kearney said the OurSay forum was an exciting experiment for Australian unions and an expansion of the commitment to engage with the 2 million union members and the entire community.

“I’m expecting some tough questions, but here at the ACTU we strongly believe in a transparent and accountable union movement that is willing to engage genuinely with all Australians,” she said.

“Unions belong to their members, and we are keen to open new channels to communicate with all workers, particularly young workers. We want to hear what working life is like for you today, what are your problems and issues, and what do you think unions should be doing to build a better future.

Ms Kearney said she was particularly interested in questions about insecure work.

“About 40% of Australians are in casual, labour hire and contract forms of work, with few of the protections and entitlements of permanent employees – like paid leave or superannuation.

“For young people entering the workforce, a casual job is a good option – but what happens then? How do you find a secure job as your life priorities change? How can the growth of insecure work be addressed, especially so that younger workers have the same options their parents did? Tell us what you think unions should be doing to meet the challenges of the modern labour market, particularly for young workers.”

OurSay.org was started by a team of young people passionate about harnessing the power of social media to revitalise critical participation in Australian democracy. It aims to create a culture of active media engagement and developing critical debate in the public sphere over a longer period of time than the 24-hour media cycle.

The federal and state health ministers have opened the new children’s cancer centre at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.


The new haematology and oncology centre is one element of a three-storey redevelopment on top of the existing Gilbert Building. This work has also created space for a new 20-bed medical ward, a lung disease centre and a gene therapy laboratory.


The extensive redevelopment has been funded in partnership between the Commonwealth and State Governments, with generous support from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Little Heroes Foundation.


The new haematology and oncology facilities are named after the respected paediatric oncologist, Dr Michael Rice, who has been associated with the hospital for more than 50 years.


Minister Plibersek said, “The Michael Rice Centre brings together a place where children and teenagers with blood disorders or cancer can be treated.”


Minister Hill said, “The facilities include a special lead-lined room for children undergoing radiotherapy with a video link to a parents’ room. This physically isolates them to reduce the risk of radiation exposure for other patients and staff while still keeping them in close contact with their families.


“There are also two ‘negative pressure’ areas which allow for infectious patients to be nursed in isolation.”


The new floors on the Gilbert building also house the Breathing Space service which will assess patients with respiratory and lung illnesses as well as the new Allan Scott laboratory where research will continue into an airway gene therapy to treat or even cure the lung diseases associated with cystic fybrosis.

The Gilbert Building Redevelopment Project has been made possible with $15 million Federal Government funding, $4.4m from the State Government, $2.6m from the WCH Foundation towards the Breathing Space and $2m from the Little Heroes Foundation towards the Michael Rice Centre.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Minister for Ageing, Mark Butler, announced a 10-year plan to reshape aged care, beginning 1 July 2012.

The Gillard Labor Government will deliver the $3.7 billion Living Longer Living Better plan to deliver more choice, easier access and better care for older Australians and their families.

To make it easier for older Australians to stay in their home while they receive care, the Government will:

• Increase the number of Home Care Packages- from 59,876 to 99,669.
• Provide tailored care packages to people receiving home care, and new funding for dementia care.
• Cap costs, so that full pensioners pay no more than the basic fee.

To make sure more people get to keep their family home, and to prevent anyone being forced to sell their home in an emergency fire sale, the Gillard Government will:

• Provide more choice about how to pay for care. Instead of a bond which can cost up to $2.6 million and bears no resemblance to the actual cost of accommodation, you will be able to pay through a lump sum or a periodic payment, or a combination of both.
• Give families time to make a decision about how to pay, by introducing a cooling-off period.
• Cap care costs, with nobody paying more than $25,000 a year and no more than $60,000 over a lifetime.

The amount older Australians pay for aged care services will be capped and underpinned by tightened means testing, meaning older Australians will not be forced into a fire sale of the family home in order to get access to aged care.

This will not affect the million people already in the system.

To ensure there are immediate improvements as well, the government will also:

• Increase residential aged care places from 191,522 to 221,103
• Fund $1.2 billion to improve the aged care workforce through a Workforce Compact.
• Provide more funding for dementia care in aged care, and more support for services.
• Establish a single gateway to all aged care services, to make them easier to access and navigate.
• Set stricter standards, with greater oversight of aged care.

New Australian research has found eating fish may have the edge over fish oil capsules when it comes to lowering blood pressure, a known risk factor for heart disease.

The study, published in the Dietitians Association of Australia’s journal Nutrition & Dietetics, compared the effect of 1g/day of healthy omega-3 fats from fresh salmon and fish oil capsules on an ‘omega-3 index’ and heart disease risk factors.

Both fish and fish oil capsules increased the ‘omega-3 index’ to the level thought to be linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease. And eating fish, but not fish oil capsules, was also linked with a marked reduction in blood pressure.

Eleven patients with heart disease, recruited from St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, took part in the study. Participants were mostly working-age males with no smoking history and a moderate alcohol intake.

They either took two fish oil capsules six days a week, or ate two 150g serves of fresh Atlantic salmon per week, over twelve weeks. They then had a ‘wash-out’ period where they went back to their usual diet and didn’t take supplements, before swapping across to the other treatment for a further 12 weeks.

Researcher Catherine Itsiopoulos said the study showed that fish intake may have additional heart health benefits over fish oil for people with heart disease.

“Fish is a whole food, so as well as omega-3 fats it has other beneficial nutrients such as taurine and selenium. And it may be that eating fish replaces other less healthy foods, meaning a better diet overall,” said Associate Professor Itsiopoulos, an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

Catherine Itsiopoulos’ tips for increasing omega-3 intake through diet:

• Eat two to three meals per week of oily fish (such as salmon, sardines, mackerel or tuna).
• Choose omega-3 enriched eggs
• Use canola oil for cooking, flaxseed oil for making dressings and mayonnaise, and extra virgin olive oil for dipping, sprinkling and tossing onto vegetables and salads
• Use canola margarine as a spread or in baking
• Switch to omega-3 enriched wholemeal bread
• Try ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal) as a topping on breakfast cereal
• Use lean cuts of meat (beef or lamb).

The Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO) has launched its new consumer bulletin, Health Insurance Insider, as part of its ongoing consumer awareness campaign.

Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, Samantha Gavel said Health Insurance Insider was another one of the consumer information tools provided by her office to demystify the complexity of private health insurance.

“Consumers can only make the best decisions about private health insurance through access to the best quality information.

“The whole purpose of Health Insurance Insider is to provide consumers with regular updates on private health insurance issues so they can make the best choices for themselves and their families. This first edition focuses on the importance of consumers regularly reviewing their policy and keeping it up-to-date.”

Ms Gavel said there were four things every Australian with private health insurance could do straight away to ensure they had right cover to meet their needs:

• keep their personal details up-to-date;
• review their policy;
• keep premium payments up-to-date; and
• be aware of fund rule changes and notifications.

“As with all things in life, circumstances may change from time to time, so it’s important that consumers are diligent on their own behalf and review their health insurance policy regularly to make sure it still meets their health needs.

“If consumers have any questions about changes to their policy or want to upgrade their policy, they should contact their fund as soon as possible.

Further information is available at  www.phio.org.au

Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Austin Health have come one step closer to understanding how our bodies regulate fat and weight gain.

Dr Barbara Fam from the University’s Molecular Obesity Laboratory group at Austin Health with Associate Professor Sof Andrikopoulos have discovered that the liver can directly talk to the brain to control the amount of food we eat. 

The results have demonstrated that the liver, which has never been classed as an important organ in controlling body weight before, is in fact a major player and should be considered a target for treatment of weight gain.

Test on mice showed that over-expression of a specific enzyme in the liver resulted in 50% less fat and the subjects ate less food than mice without the extra enzyme. Needed in the production of glucose, the enzyme called FBPase previously led to speculation that too much FBPase was bad for you. 

‘We actually thought that the mouse with the over-expressed enzyme would show signs of becoming diabetic since the enzyme is important in producing more glucose from the liver. However when we studied our mice in more depth, we were very surprised to see that this enzyme triggered a number of hormones that influence the control of appetite,” said Dr Fam.

“The really striking result was that the genes in the brain, important in making us increase our food intake were actually reduced.  

”The results suggest that consumption of a diet high in fat, causes an increase in liver FBPase that was likely put in place as a negative feedback mechanism to limit further weight gain. Importantly, FBPase does not function to control body weight under normal physiological circumstances but acts only when the system is exposed to excess nutrients such as fat. 

”When people eat diets loaded with fat and sugars particularly over the long term, it can have a number of different effects on the body but it appears that we actually have in place an innate system that protects us from any further weight gain that could happen while eating these type of diets.” 

More needs to be investigated to verify this in further trials, however this study has demonstrated that liver FBPase should be viewed not only as a mediator of glucose metabolism but also as an important regulator of appetite and fat. It also gives us great insight into why the liver is a very important organ.

Despite the fact that most of us give regularly to charity throughout our lives, when it comes to our wills, we give it all to family, according to a study conducted by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology.

The study provides the most detailed data available to date on how Australians bequeath their estates, with particular attention to charitable giving. It examined a random sample of Victorian probate records in 2006 and found about one in twenty people who leave a will, leave a charitable bequest.

"Most people tend to think that as Australians we are generous and respond well to people in times of flood, fire and other disasters, but only a small minority do so in their wills. When it comes to our estates, we make provision first for our families and then for charities," said researcher Dr Christopher Baker.

Dr Baker said an estimated 87 per cent of the adult population in Australia make gifts to charity each year, but only 5.4 per cent of Victorian estates made a post mortem charitable bequest in 2006.

"The records show that Australians overwhelmingly leave their estates to immediate family members - first spouses, then children. They also show that there is a significant discrepancy between what people do with their estates and intestacy laws that determine how estates are distributed in the absence of a will."

The study also found that two thirds of charitable bequests are left by people who do not have surviving children.

The study was conducted by Research Fellow in Swinburne's Faculty of Business and Enterprise Dr Christopher Baker and Swinburne Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Quality Professor Michael Gilding. The results have been published in the Australian Journal of Social Issues.

Swinburne University of Technology has been awarded the Open Universities Australia (OUA) Rising Star Nova Award 2012.

The bi-annual Nova Awards celebrate outstanding achievement by providers in using online technology in their nominated OUA unit to support and enhance learning.

Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Swinburne's Lilydale campus, Dr Lorraine Fleckhammer, received the Rising Star award for the OUA unit Introduction to Theories of Counselling (PSS270).

Swinburne has achieved significant growth in OUA, increasing enrolments by more than 30 per cent year-on-year.

Last year, Swinburne's OUA enrolments totalled about 22,500 students, with 200 enrolled in full programs.

The Nova Awards were presented at the Melbourne Convention Centre as part of the OUA conference in April.