Industry News

The Federal Government has announced its approval of the Alpha coal mine and associated rail works in Queensland, paving the way for construction of the country's largest coal mine.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke said he had granted approval for the mine subject to 19 conditions directed at environmental protection, specifically the Great Barrier Reef.

"My approval follows a rigorous assessment process after I was forced to step in and complete the assessment. This has ensured the highest standards of environmental regulation were applied to this project,'' Mr Burke said.

"While the decision has taken an additional three months since the Queensland Coordinator General's report was released, I'm satisfied that we have now put in place the required additional conditions for the protection of the environment including the Great Barrier Reef."

The Queensland Government welcomed the decision, but spared little time in agitating for the Federal Government to approve the South of Embley bauxite mine.

The approval conditions set out comprehensive management and monitoring arrangements including:

• The proponent will be required to submit a Caley Valley Wetland Management Plan for the Minister's approval and to ensure that coal dust impacts on the Caley Valley Wetland are minimised through various measures including covered wagons or equivalent.
• A Matters of National Environmental Significance Management Plan to maximise the ongoing protection and long term conservation of EPBC listed threatened fauna
• Several management plans will manage potential impacts on the values of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and species including dugongs, turtles and migratory birds
• Significant and comprehensive land offsets to protect listed threatened ecological communities and species
• A proponent-established trust, with initial funding of $2 million, to conduct research on the black-throated finch and the squatter pigeon, with provision for a more strategic approach to protect all key species in the Galilee Basin in the event that any further mines are approved in the basin,
• Management plans covering mine rehabilitation, vegetation, water quality and regional impacts on water quality, and
• Identify threshold limits and management measures for any coal dust impacts on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and reporting to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority every six months.

An alarming 46 per cent of Australian workers would rather quit their job than contend with a workplace issue, according to suicide prevention group R U OK?

The R U OK? Australian Workplace Relationships Survey has found that 48 per cent of the 1,554 surveyed workers would resort to taking a day off when faced with a tough time at work.

Conducted in partnership with The Centre for Corporate Health, the survey also revealed the ineffectiveness of Australian workplaces in dealing with difficult problems, and that it is leading to serious detrimental impacts on employee mental health and wellbeing.

The survey also found that managers often lack the skills required to hold the meaningful and often difficult conversations about their work and performance, while only half of those surveyed said they felt they could talk with colleagues or managers about personal issues at work.

An even larger majority of employees (82 per cent) felt uncomfortable bringing up workplace problems with their human resources department, perhaps stemming from a reluctance to ‘formalise’ the problem.

Rachel Clements, co-founder and Director of Psychological Services of the Centre for Corporate Health, said that when workplace issues are not resolved they can lead to workplace conflict and the onset of mental illness.

“We know that once a workplace conflict occurs and if it is not dealt with quickly and appropriately, there is a much higher chance of employees developing psychological problems at work. The aim of this report is to offer workplaces ways to address this widespread issue,” Ms Clements said.

R U OK? CEO, Jaina Nearn, said that the survey shows that organisations need to better understand the import role they play in employee mental health and wellbeing, and how they can proactively stop problems becoming larger.

“Managers and employees need to feel confident in their ability to have meaningful conversations, as well as feel they can turn to someone for support when struggling with an issue impacting on their performance in the workplace,” Ms Nearn said.

The full copy of the survey can be found here

The Commonwealth Bank’s Business Sales Indicator (BSI) has shown that consumers are returning to their conservative ways in the absence of further stimulus measures.

The BSI, which measures the economy-wide spending by tracking the value of credit and debit card transactions, dropped 5.4 per cent in the July period, following a 3.1 per cent gain in June.

Commonwealth Bank’s Acting Execive General Manager for Local Business Banking said the latest figures were a disappointing result for the country’s businesses, which had been buoyed on increased spending in the prior months.

“It’s definitely a blow to businesses which, in the past couple of months in particular, had been the beneficiaries of greater levels of consumer spending thanks to a number of positive economic announcements,” said Mr McGrath.

Despite the slump, spending remains up 4.7 per cent on one year ago in seasonally adjusted terms.

Five of the industry sectors fell in July in trend terms, a similar result to June. The strongest monthly trend increase in sales occurred in Mail Order & Telephone Order Providers (up 3.5 per cent), Service Providers (up by 3.3 per cent) and Wholesale Distributors and Manufacturers (up by 1.7 per cent). Amongst the weakest sectors in July were Automobile & Vehicles (down 0.7 per cent), Transportation (down 0.6 per cent) and Personal Service Providers (down by 0.2 per cent).

In annual terms, two of the 20 industry sectors contracted in July, a similar result to both May and June. The weakest sector was Airlines and Hotels & Motels whilst at the other end of the scale, spending was strongest at Wholesale Distributors and Manufacturers (up by 27.1 per cent), Mail Order & Telephone Order Providers (up 25.8 per cent), Service Providers (up by 24.5 per cent).

Victoria and New South Wales posted the worst results in the country, with sales in Victoria falling by 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent in New South Wales. The strongest results were in South Australia and the ACT, both of who recorded a 0.8 per cent bump. 

The NAB bank has experiencing a resurgent customer satisfaction rating amongst its business customers, according to the latest results from DBM Consultants’ monthly Business Financial Services Monitor (BFSM).

The bank’s satisfaction rating reached 7.0 in the rating, equaling its highest ever in the ranking. Despite the good news for the NAB, the Commonwealth Bank has fallen from 7.3 to 7.1m losing its lead over Westpac, who recorded a steady 7.2.

ANZ has appeared to have stopped its decline in satisfaction ratings, after experiencing four consecutive falls mid this year, to finish at 6.8.

“It is possible that ANZ has arrested its decline,” BFSM’s Managing Director, Dhruba Gupta said.

“While there may well have been a negative reaction to its decision to announce its lending rate independently of the RBA and its rivals, businesses tend to grudgingly accept these decisions over time.”

The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) has commissioned Jeff Roorda and Associates (JRA) to develop the first State of the Local Assets Report, which will form the technical base for continued advocacy for increased government funding for local roads int the future.

The report will provide a snapshot of the state of the country’s local road assets in terms of their condition, functionality and utilization and is scheduled to be launched at the 2012 National Local Roads and Transport Congress in Hobart in November.

The report will detail the assets of over 60 urban and non-urban councils who have nominated to participate in phase one of the work, with each council receiving material required to participate in the coming days.

The findings will help to inform our position in relation to both the new National Heavy Vehicle Regulator regime that is expected to take effect from 1 January 2013 and the work associated with the Heavy Vehicle Charging and Investment project that is proceeding under the auspices of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) road reform agenda. 

Rail giant QR National has a round of 750 voluntary redundancies, bringing the total number of positions shed from the company to 900 for the calendar year.

The company has cited the ongoing organizational restructuring as the reason behind the job losses, saying the redundancies will be targeted towards increasing productivity and lowering costs.

Under the restructuring scheme, the company has earmarked $75 million for the 750 voluntary redundancies over the next 12 months.

“The benefits of transformation and restructuring, including the strong expected uptake for the current voluntary redundancy program, will deliver sustainable cost savings and efficiencies in coming years,” QE National Managing Director and CEO Lance Hockridge said.

The announcement comes after the company increased its underlying EBIT up to 52 per cent, up from $383 last financial year. 

The Federal Government has announced its support for an evidence based and expert led process for selecting and assessing default superannuation funds in modern awards.

Minister for Finance and Superannuation, Bill Shorten, said the move would ultimately lead to more transparency and competition in the field.

Mr Shorten says the submissions by the Treasury and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) in response to the Productivity Commission’s draft report into default fund superannuation arrangements for modern awards will ensure default funds in modern awards will meet the best interests of its members.

“We want default contributions to be put into the most secure and high performing funds possible so Australian workers can maximise their retirement savings,” Mr Shorten said.

The joint submission supports the Productivity Commission’s suggestion that the selection of default funds for inclusion in modern awards to be undertaken by an expert panel within Fair Work Australia (FWA).

Around 70 per cent of award reliant employees in Australia do not actively choose their superannuation fund. This means the selection of default superannuation funds for modern awards must be driven by the best interests of member employees.

The submission by Treasury and DEEWR proposes funds seeking to be listed as default funds in modern awards should have the opportunity to put an Expression of Interest to the expert panel within FWA, which would assess the funds against legislated criteria proposed by the Productivity Commission.

A Full Bench of FWA would then consider the expert panel’s report, hear the views of industrial parties and determine whether or not to vary the relevant awards.

The Federal Government has succeeded in its efforts to see law enforcement agencies be able to force internet service providers to store data on subscribers while a warrant is sought.

The Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 makes amendments to existing legislation which will prevent ISPs from deleting data upon request of a law enforcement agency.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the passage of the legislation will also allow Australia to accede to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.

"Cyber crime is a growing threat that touches all aspects of modern life. It poses complex policy and law enforcement challenges, partly due to the transnational nature of the internet," Ms Roxon said.

Greens Communications spokesperson, Senator Scott Ludlam, hit out at the passage of the legislation, saying that it would make it significantly easier for police agencies to trap and share Australians’ private data with other police forces around the world.

"With an inquiry into Government surveillance only just getting under way, this move is provocative, pre-emptive and typifies everything that is wrong with the way the balance is tilting against the rights of the individual," Senator Ludlam said.

Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has joined his New Zealand counterpart in the release of a draft report that finds telecommunication companies are making ‘excessive profits from trans-Tasman mobile roaming charges.

Senator Conroy and New Zealand Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Amy Adams, presided over the joint investigation which provided options for both governments to consider to put downward pressure on mobile prices so that customers who use their mobile phone when travelling between countries will know what it will cost.

"The draft report makes it clear that telecommunications companies are stinging consumers on trans-Tasman mobile roaming charges and that their profit margins are excessive," Senator Conroy said.

"New Zealanders have started to enjoy lower roaming prices recently, and the draft report shows that the pressure created by our joint investigation has been a key factor in this reduction," Minister Adams said.

The draft report provides a number of options to the Australian and New Zealand governments to curb trans-Tasman mobile roaming charges, including:

• Improving pricing transparency
• Using legislation to allow roamers to become local end-users, so they are charged local instead of overseas mobile prices
• Unbundling roaming services so people can use one network for domestic communications and a different network for trans-Tasman roaming
• Introducing wholesale and retail price caps.

The Australian and New Zealand governments are now seeking submissions on the draft report from consumers, the telecommunications industry, and other stakeholders, which will inform the response adopted.

The draft report, which was prepared by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, and New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Employment and Innovation, is available from DBCDE's website at: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/ttmr

Submissions are invited on the joint Australia-New Zealand draft report by 27 September 2012.

The University of Queensland has announced a research project measuring the impact of the coal seam gas (GSG) industry on Australia’s underground water supplies.

The research undertaking has been announced as one of the initial projects at UQ’s new Centre for Coal Seam Gas, and will see researchers analyse underground water chemistry to improve conceptualisation and numerical modelling of the impact of the CSG industry on aquifers over three years.

“Incorporation of water chemistry data that is held by CSG companies into a unified database will greatly extend understanding of basin hydrology, aquifer interactions and processes controlling the water chemistry,” said lead researcher Associate Professor Sue Vink.

“The project will result in publicly available databases that identify health and environmental risk indicators, provide a baseline for assessing aquifer connectivity, and guide water re-use, treatment and re-injection options,” she said.

In two more technically-focused projects, researchers will improve understanding of coal permeability and stimulation methods, including hydraulic fracturing, permitting better gas recovery, and establish how unwanted solid particles resulting from drilling and well operation can be reduced.

“It's important we research and understand these processes so we can improve operations through the application of our findings,” said UQ engineering researcher Professor Victor Rudolph.

The Australian Centre for Excellence in Local Government (ACELG) has published new research that reveals that councils taking a strategic approach to social media can achieve effective outcomes in engaging with communities.

However, the research also shows that leadership is critical in taking advantage of the social media in view of potential barriers, concerns and implementation issues.

The Connecting with Communities: How Local Government is Using Social Media to Engage with Citizens report involved 560 councils and a series of in-depth interviews with key staff, elected members and local government professionals.

"I'm very pleased that ACELG has undertaken this comprehensive research on the topic. It's crucial that local governments’ tap into this resource and use it to effectively to connect with the community,” Lord Mayor of Adelaide City Stephen Yarwood said.

The report shows that social media is rapidly becoming a critical means of communications, showing that a rapidly growing pool of councils are using diverse social media tools.

"Social media brings a different set of demands to traditional communication and it is important for councils to ensure they are appropriately resourced and ready to integrate it into their communication strategies,” the report’s author Anne Howard said.

The full report can be found here

The Western Australian Government has approved the appointment of Alan Mulgrew as the new Chairman of the Western Power Board.

State Energy Minister Peter Collier welcomed Mr Mulgrew’s appointment, acknowledging Mr Mulgrew’s vast experience in a multitude of major industry sectors, including energy; major infrastructure; and transport and construction.

“Mr Mulgrew offers substantial levels of expertise across a range of areas that will be major assets as Western Power continues the significant process of change undertaken since the Liberal-National Government took office,” Mr Collier said.

“He is a natural leader who has demonstrated an intelligent, commonsense approach to business, in Australia and overseas, across many senior board and corporate positions."
 

Mr Mulgrew’s appointment coincides with the appointment of new CEO Paul Italiano. 

The New South Wales Government has released a memorandum advising Ministers of the Government’s commitment to a new era of open government, with online communications forming the cornerstone of the reform.

The three key Open Government initiatives outlined by the State Government are:

• Implementing a whole of government policy that supports the use of social media for enhanced public engagement and service delivery
• Expanding and promoting Publications NSW as the default and easily searchable repository for published Government information
• Developing best practice guidelines for the design of government websites, and applications for smartphones and tablets to make government information available in a way that suits the customer.

The State Government has outlined four major open government principles, with transparency, participation, collaboration and innovation.

To achieve this, the State Government has announced it will enhance:

• Online access to government services to make them available anywhere, anytime
• Online communications, including social networks, for internal and public dialogue
• Online mechanisms for community and industry collaboration on innovative solutions

The release of the memorandum comes after the State Government released its ICT Strategy 2012 in May, outlining the actions required to significantly boost the state’s ICT sector.

The number of registered diesel vehicles has increased by 60.6% from 2007 to 2012, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

Queensland had the largest percentage of diesel powered vehicles with 26.3%, followed by New South Wales (25.50%) and Victoria (21.4%). The Australian Capital Territory had the smallest percentage of diesel powered vehicles with 1%.

At 31 January 2012, diesel powered vehicles made up 15.9% of registered cars in Australia, compared to 14.7% at the same time last year.

Over the same period, petrol powered vehicles decreased from 82.1% to 81.1%. 

The number of vehicles registered in Australia at 31 January 2012 was 16.7 million (up 2.5% from 2011).

Motorcycles continued to grow in popularity at a faster rate than any other vehicle type in the twelve months to January 2012. From 2007 to 2012, motorcycle (including scooter) registrations had an average annual growth rate of 7.7%. 

For further information see Motor Vehicle Census (cat. no 9309.0).

The Western Australian Government has passed two bills aimed at improving the governing of water services before State Parliament.

State Water Minister Bill Marmion said the passage of the Water Services Bill 2011 and the Water Services Legislation Amendment and Repeal Bill 2011 marked a significant milestone on the State’s water reform agenda.

“These Bills represent a major step forward in modernising the way water is provided and will bring benefits for water customers and service providers,” Mr Marmion said.

“Industry will benefit from updated legislation facilitating easier entry of new water service providers to the market and, for the first time, all water service providers will operate under the same set of powers and obligations.”

The legislation will see the formation of the office of the Water Ombudsman, a move Mr Marmion said has been supported by community advocacy groups to help resolve disputes between customers and water utilities.

The changes would also allow some of the State’s water service providers to offer new services such as bulk water supplies, drainage, recycled water and sewerage services.

It will also allow the development of codes of practice for water service providers.  A discussion paper on the first proposed code for customer service will be released for public comment on September 1, 2012.

The South Australian Government has launched a new framework to shape the state’s climate change action by Government and the community in the State.

The Prospering in a Changing Climate: A climate Change Adaptation Framework for South Australia, launched by State Minister for Sustainability Paul Caica, sets the foundation for local action to address the impacts of climate change.

“Despite efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we are already experiencing changes in weather patterns,” Mr Caica said.

“This framework will help the community to not only respond to climate change, but also to take advantage of opportunities that a changing climate will bring.”

While Mr Caica lauded the work done by a number of communities across the state in preparing for climate changes, he urged further collaboration in mitigating and preparing for the effects of future climate change.

“Adaptation to climate change will require collaboration across sectors and industries that may not have worked together in the past and this framework gives us the ability to incorporate adaptation principles into planning at the local and State Government levels and in the private sector,” Mr Caica said.

Mr Caica said the adaptation principles were already being built into State Government policy.

Copies of the framework can be downloaded from www.sa.gov.au/climatechange

The South Australian Government and the SA Local Government Association has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), formalising their mutual commitment to developing child friendly communities.

State Minister for Education and Child Development, Grace Portolesi, said the agreement showed a strong commitment to ensuring children and young people are protected and given a voice in matter that affect them.

“This MOU is a commitment to working together to ensure South Australia continues to be a great place to be a young person and to raise a family,” she said.

“It outlines some possible work that we can collaborate on like joint research projects, strategies for meaningful consultation with children and young people, and enhancing integrated parenting services.”

LGA President, Kym McHugh, said that the Association is committed to working with Councils and the State Government to ensuring that South Australia is a child friendly state that provides opportunities for children to explore and expand their horizons in a safe environment.

‘Our two spheres of Government need to work together to facilitate strategic approaches that respond to the needs of children and young people’ Mr McHugh said 

Mining giant BHP Billiton has announced it has elected to shelve the $30 billion expansion of its Olympic Dam expansion in South Australia.

The company announced that due to current market conditions and subdued commodity prices, it would seek less capital-intensive methods of expanding its operations in the site.

“As we finalised all the details of the project in the context of current market conditions, our strategy and capital management priorities, it became clear that the right decision for the Company and its shareholders was to continue studies to develop a less capital intensive option to replace the underground mine at Olympic Dam,” BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers said.

“ Value is always our primary consideration. We believe today’s decision reflects an appropriate, prudent and disciplined course of action.”

Mr Kloppers said that despite the company’s decision to shelve the expansion project, the market for copper remains strong but will wait to ‘find the right solution to unlock this resource.’

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said that discussions between the Government and BHP Billiton will commence as soon as possible, but admitted that it was a ‘major disappointment for South Australia and the nation’.

“It is also a particular disappointment for the regional towns like Roxby Downs, Port Augusta, Port Pirie and Whyalla who had started to experience the benefits in activity that this expansion was bringing,” Mr Weatherill said.

A report compiled by global professional services specialist Towers Watson shows that Australians are significantly more pessimistic about their financial fortunes than developed recessionary countries.

The latest Global Workforce Study (GWS) found that 56 per cent of Australian employees are worried about their future financial state, compared to the UK and France who reported 46 per cent.

But its hardly a surprise, says Lesley Brown from Towers Watson, with our preoccupation for listening to endless pessimistic reports in the media significantly contributing to our overall dour perspective on employment.

“On reflection, it’s not surprising that Australian employees are in a pessimistic state as there have been lay-offs occurring across a range of industries over the past few years as well as a strong focus on the weak global economy in our current affairs,” Ms Brown said.

Alarmingly, the report found that 72 per cent of employees were not fully engaged with their work, despite 51 per cent of employees recording an upward trend in the number of hours they work.

The report also found that job security is now the most important factor in considering new roles, ahead of traditional leading elements such as advancement and development opportunities.

Employee’s overall trust in their leadership has also taken a battering, with only 42 per cent of respondents saying they have trust and confidence in the job done by senior management, with only 45 per cent of employees trusting information received by their immediate management.

“The findings suggest that, in the current climate, employees are finding it particularly difficult to sustain the kind of positive connection to their companies that yields consistent productivity,” Ms Brown said.

“When they are not fully engaged, it leads to greater performance risk for employers. It makes companies more vulnerable to lower productivity, higher inefficiency, weaker customer service and greater rates of absenteeism and turnover.”

Key Australian statistics and findings from the Global Workforce Study 

The Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT) has hit out at the proposed forced amalgamations of a number of Tasmanian councils, saying that they stand to benefit a handful of vested interests at the expense of ratepayers.

LGAT’s comments are directed at the campaign being led by Tasmanians for Reform (TFR), who recently released a set of guiding principles in their call for the amalgamations and reform in local government.

LGAT says savings and efficiencies were already being delivered through council cooperation and resource sharing and councils, as the closest level of government to the community, were delivering major initiatives that may well be lost in larger bureaucracies.

TFR maintains that improved services and sustainable rates growth can only be achieved through structural reform of the local government, and amalgamations would lead to reduced cost of living as well as improved services, infrastructure, transparency and skills of council employees.

"Tasmanians for Reform is calling for meaningful changes to local government that will see improved services, greater capacity and reduced costs," TFR Chairwoman Mary Massina said.

"The principles highlight that local government reform is not about destroying the sector, but is in-fact about making it better."

LGAT President, Barry Easther, said that while local government is not opposed to amalgamations of councils, it should only be done where there is clear beenfits tfor all ratepayers and improves services for the community.

“However, we will not accept being forced into amalgamations simply to satisfy the greed of vested interests or to provide some diversion from some other greater political or economic issue,” Cr Easther said.