Industry News

The Queensland Government is planning to freeze all Queensland Rail bonuses.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said the bonus structure of Queensland Rail was not meeting community expectations.

“I have spoken to the chair of Queensland Rail and made it clear bonuses are only to apply where they are required under contracts set up by Labor,” Mr Emerson said.

“I think most people would take a dim view of bonuses at a time when we are making hard decisions to get Queensland back on track.”

In 2010/11 under Labor there were 1,337 bonuses costing $4.8 million despite claiming to link executive pay to performance.

“Labor announced in 2010 that executive pay would be linked to service delivery, the current leader of the Opposition didn’t follow through and let bonus payment get out of control,” he said.

“I accept that there are some circumstances where bonuses are required as part of an employment package, but $4.8 million is not an acceptable level, particularly when there is declining patronage and reliability reached a three-year low.”

Last month the LNP ordered Queensland Rail to refocus its business on the delivery of frontline services after significant increases in corporate numbers over the past two years.

This included staffing increases of 68 per cent in the communication, stakeholder and marketing area, 122 per cent increase in finance area, and 66 per cent in strategy and corporate services area.

The committee that will guide the preparation of the Central Queensland Regional Plan has met for the first time to begin development of the region’s Statutory Regional Plan to help resolve land use conflicts.

The committee includes the mayors of five councils, six Members of State Parliament and 11 members representing business, industry and community groups.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jeff Seeney said the Central Queensland Regional Planning Committee would be a forum to address community issues and interests.

“This committee will oversee the regional planning process and increase understanding within the community of the Central Queensland Regional Plan,” Mr Seeney said.

“Communities will be represented by their mayors who will put forward the views of their local regions during the process. Industry representatives will also have a voice at the table.

“The committee will make sure the views of both local and wider groups are considered in its work.”

There will be widespread community consultation throughout the development of the regional plan and a number of opportunities for community members to have input.

Mr Seeney said including land use mapping in the statutory regional plan would help resolve conflict between landholders and the agricultural and resources sectors.

“Central Queensland has diverse agricultural assets and an abundance of resource deposits,” he said.

“This plan will ensure the region grows in a managed and sustainable way and will let us deal with urban expansion, the timing and sequencing of infrastructure and enhancing agricultural, resource and tourism opportunities while ensuring management of environmental impacts.”

Mr Seeney said the committee would increase transparency of the regional plan development process, following an expression-of-interest process for community and industry representatives.

He said the committee would represent a range of regional viewpoints and interests during the preparation of the Central Queensland Statutory Regional Plan which is expected to be finalised in August 2013.

There will be opportunities for community input during the drafting of the plans over the next six months and a formal consultation period for submissions on draft plans early next year.


Members of the Central Queensland Regional Planning Committee are:

Councillor Ron Carige – Mayor of Banana Shire Council
Councillor Peter Maguire – Mayor of Central Highlands Regional Council
Councillor Terry Munns – Mayor of Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council
Councillor Gail Sellers – Mayor of Gladstone Regional Council
Councillor Margaret Strelow – Mayor of Rockhampton Regional Council

Mr Stephen Bennett MP – Member for Burnett
Mr Bill Byrne MP – Member for Rockhampton
Mrs Liz Cunningham MP – Member for Gladstone
Mr Vaughan Johnson MP – Member for Gregory
Mr Ted Malone MP – Member for Mirani
Mr Bruce Young MP – Member for Keppel

Ms Mary Carroll – Chief Executive Officer, Capricorn Enterprise, Rockhampton
Ms Elyse Riethmuller – Senior Executive, Fitzroy Basin Association Inc. Rockhampton
Ms Sandra Hobbs – General Manager, Central Highlands Development Corporation, Emerald
Ms Diane Morris – Treasurer, Enterprise Biloela Association Inc
Mr Andrew Barger – Director, Resource and Environment Policy, Queensland Resources Council, Brisbane
Mr Paul Bell – Acting Chair, Regional Development Australia - Fitzroy and Central West, Parkhurst
Ms Mabel Quakawoot – Director, Port Curtis-Coral Coast Aboriginal Corporation, Erakala
Mr Ian Burnett – Vice President, AgForce Queensland, Emerald
Mr Sam Bradford – Member, Golden Triangle Community, Springsure
Ms Saleena Ham – Project Officer, Moura Chamber of Commerce
Ms Elizabeth Alexander – Dawson Valley Cotton Growers Assn. & Central Highlands Cotton Growers & Irrigators Assn.

WorkCover NSW has developed a Bullying Prevention Kit to help employers identify bullying and know what to do about it.

In the last three financial years in NSW there have been 4,746 workers compensation claims for bullying and harassment at a cost of almost $100 million.

The kit, developed in response to increasing requests for information and assistance about workplace bullying, uses a green, amber, and red traffic light concept to help business develop bullying prevention systems.

Under NSW work health and safety law, businesses are required to have appropriate bullying prevention strategies in place.

Bullying is repeated unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety.

The Bullying Prevention Kit can be downloaded here.

The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) has warned the Australian Government against adopting American ideas which resulted in poor lending decisions which triggered the global financial crisis (GFC).

The ABA was responding to a report in The Daily Telegraph in which Financial Services Minister, Bill Shorten, spoke positively of the US Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which compels US banks to provide loans to communities, including low-income earners who live in that community. 

While Mr Shorten said he did not see the need for the US-style laws, the media report stated that he wanted banks to provide information on how much they lend to people in different areas of capital cities, the interest rates they charge and other information.

Steven Münchenberg, Chief Executive of the ABA, said: “We need to be very careful adopting ideas from the US where lenders made bad loans, where the sub-prime crisis resulted and where the economy is still reeling from the effects of the GFC.”

“We need to be very cautious about any measures from the Australian Government which puts pressure on banks to lend where they would not otherwise do so.”

“Banks do not discriminate against lending to any suburb – banks make loans to those customers who can afford to repay.”

“If a consumer fails a bank’s credit assessment when applying for a loan, then he or she will not be supplied a loan. This is sound risk management by banks and ensures the consumer is not supplied a loan that they will have difficulty in repaying, causing the consumer financial stress.”

“Futhermore, there are Australian laws which require responsible lending which were put in place by this Government. Also, there are other laws being put in place which will require banks to hold more capital. You can’t have it both ways – trying to limit lending with one hand and trying to increase it with the other.”

“It is also my understanding that at no time has Minister Shorten discussed with the banking industry these American ideas or what he describes as a lack of credit being supplied to the Australian community.”

“The facts are that the demand for credit, including mortgages is down at the moment. Banks are competing fiercely for fewer customers and there are excellent deals available. Banks have an obligation to lend responsibly and should not be pressured by the Government to do otherwise.”

Three external reports on potential savings and efficiencies in Health have been released for public consultation by the South Australian Government.

The reports propose savings including a reduction in health staff and hospital beds through natural attrition and by reducing unnecessarily long stays for patients, rather than reducing health services.

Minister for Health and Ageing John Hill said that while health funding would continue to increase in overall terms, savings were needed in the areas where performance was below national benchmarks.

“Health makes up the largest component of government spending, and we’re proud to have increased spending on public health services by $2.8 billion, or 129 percent, since Labor came to government.

“This investment has led directly to better outcomes for patients, as shown by our ED and elective surgery times which have improved dramatically and are now among the best in Australia.

“However, in the light of a tough global and national economic environment, the State Government has had to make tough savings decisions in all areas and this includes Health.

“In 2011-12 SA Health achieved savings of $64.5m and reduced central administration staff numbers by over 74 full-time equivalent positions plus seven executives.

“Measures currently underway include: reforms and efficiencies in imaging, pathology, pharmacy, mental health, outpatients, departmental staff reductions (through the use of TVSPs and non renewal of executive contracts), and reforms in finance, ICT and workforce management.

“SA Health expects to save a total of $120m a year by 2014-15 from these exisiting measures.

“In addition to this work, SA Health engaged Deloitte and KPMG to review the efficiency of the three metropolitan Local Health Networks – Northern, Central and Southern.

“If all of the efficiency measures in the three reports were adopted, the total additional saving to Health would be $83.1 million a year by 2014-15, bringing the total savings to $203.1 million a year.

“We are now releasing these reports for six weeks of consultation with interest groups, staff and the wider community.

 “The reports’ options for savings include reducing the number of hospital beds by up to 114 beds that would usually be flexed up in busy times and by reducing staff numbers by around 300 full-time equivalents.

“There will be no forced redundancies; I anticipate that the reductions can be met through natural attrition – not replacing some positions as people leave or retire – and by using fewer agency and temporary staff.

“Since 2002, we have employed 4569 (42 percent) more nurses, 1217 (56 percent) more doctors and 1146 (60 percent) more allied health workers.

“Beds will not be closed through a reduction in services as in some other States, but rather through reduced lengths of stay in hospital for patients where appropriate.

“Advances in modern medicine and technology mean that patients need to stay in hospital for much shorter periods of time, which in turn means those beds can be used more efficiently.

“If we were to reduce bed numbers by the recommended 114 by 2014-15, SA’s rate of hospital beds per 1000 population would still be 2.6, which is above the national average of 2.3 beds.

“While I want to consult with staff and the wider community on all of the recommendations in these reports, I can say that the proposal to make Noarlunga Hospital a day-only service has been ruled out as it would be a cut in services and go against South Australia’s Health Care Plan 2007-2016.

“I have also asked SA Health to look at alternatives to the proposed reduction in funding to the McLaren Vale Hospital to achieve better value from the funding that is provided to that hospital.

“Other options for savings include: reviewing the relatively high cost of food services at the Repat and Noarlunga Hospitals, ensuring prosthetics and medications are clinically and cost effective, increasing the cost of admission to the FMC hydrotherapy pool and outsourcing café services at FMC and Noarlunga Hospitals.

“I appreciate that these reports present a challenge, but in the current global financial climate we must all spend within our means and operate as efficiently as possible.

“Over the next six weeks we will consult widely on these reports, listening to the views of staff, patients and the wider community.

“I plan to return to cabinet at the end of this period with a plan of action that will allow us to reduce spending while maintaining standards.”

The Hospital Budget Performance and Remediation reports and information on consultation are available from www.sahealth.sa.gov.au .

The South Australian Government has announced the seven-member board of the Urban Renewal Authority  which will be charged with delivering and increasing the supply and diversity of affordable housing and accelerating the renewal of social housing stock.

Minister for Housing and Urban Development Patrick Conlon said the newly appointed Board had considerable experience and skills in development, business, planning, government, health, environmental issues and social housing.

“The Board has a specific mandate to work on three key strategic priorities for the State Government - creating a vibrant city; renewing our neighbourhoods to make them safe and healthy; and having an affordable place to live for everyone,” he said.

“Through the URA, the State Government has a commitment to work with local communities, councils, industry and not-for-profit organisations to ensure our urban developments create wellplanned and better connected neighbourhoods close to transport, employment and services.

“We also want to deliver State Government priorities across portfolios to deliver all the outcomes that we strive to achieve and our Chief Executive Fred Hansen will work together with the Board towards these goals.”

The URA was established on 1 March, 2012, bringing together a significant portfolio of the State’s assets, valued at more than $10 billion, from the former Land Management Corporation, Defence SA and the South Australian Housing Trust.

Members of the URA Board appointed to a three year term (from 1 August 2012) are:

Ms Bronwyn Pike (Chair) is a former Victorian Government Minister with portfolio responsibilities and experience across health, housing, education and community services.

Mr Michael Terlet AO (Vice Chair) has private sector experience in international trading, investment and corporate governance and was made an Officer of the General Order of Australia for contributions to industry and export.

Ms Jennifer Westacott (Member) has a background at senior levels in public and private sector administration and is currently the Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia.

Mr Theo Maras AM (Member) is the founder and Chairman of the Maras Group and has property investment and development experience.

Ms Helen Fulcher (Member) is the former Chief Executive of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and has experience in the development and delivery of social housing in South Australia, New Zealand and Western Australia.

Dr Amanda Rischbieth (Member) is the Chief Executive of the Heart Foundation (SA) and has over 30 years’ experience in health, clinical, education, research, executive management and corporate governance roles.

Mr Craig Holden (Member) is Director of Forme Projex and currently a board member of Common Ground Ltd.

The Victorian Government’s State Services Authority is seeking a new CEO.

The State Services Authority manages executive remuneration and employment policy for the Victorian Public Service and the wider public sector; is responsible for promoting high standards of governance, accountability and performance for Victorian public entities; assists the public sector in workforce planning and the creation of sleadership and management capacity; and assists departments and agencies to improve the way quality candidates for jobs are sourced and recruited.

Pam Whiting is currently Acting CEO of the Authority.

Redland City Council is recruiting a new CEO, following its decision in June not to renew the contract with Gary Stevenson when it expires at the end of the year.

Announcing the Council’s decision, mayor Karen Williams said she believed a fresh approach was needed to a new era which would focus on “efficient, streamlined operations, a culture of innovation and new approaches, and a customer focus mindset”.

Mr Stevenson was formerly CEO of Rockhampton City Council.

Universities need to be more aggressive in fighting red tape, funding shortages and incoherent policy, UNSW

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, Professor Fred Hilmer, has warned that Australian universities face decline under current conditions and urges them to be more aggressive in fighting red tape, funding shortages and incoherent policy.

In a wide ranging speech to the National Press Club, Let’s Stop Pretending— A Realistic Vision for Australian Universities, Professor Hilmer, the Chair of the Group of Eight (Go8), said universities were treated like “fly-by-nighters” under a “dysfunctional and smothering array” of regulation. He cited an example where UNSW had to prove it had a library and teaching spaces before it could get approval for a new diploma.

Professor Hilmer said without urgent and significant policy change, universities were heading for decline. He said if he was Education Minister he would cut red tape and regulation including restructuring the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency; adopt a long-term national research strategy; and deregulate undergraduate course fees for domestic students.

“It’s time to take the next step — fee deregulation ... the government should allow universities to charge increased fees from students in degrees with high private benefit, such as business, law, engineering and medicine. The impact on these students is significantly ameliorated by the HECS system which requires repayment of fees only when and if certain income thresholds are reached and could be further ameliorated by scholarships.”

Flagging a more robust lobbying effort, Professor Hilmer said universities needed to step up and “play in the public policy field a lot more aggressively than we have been”.

“We’re getting close to a time when we’ve got to do pretty much what the mining industry did. Just say no, take out ads, and be absolutely vocal.”

He said this was vital if universities were to have any chance against oppressive government regulation and fee structures.

The Queensland Education, Training and Employment Minister John-Paul Langbroek has announced a series of measures to reduce expenditure in his portfolio.

They include savings of $22.8 million by cuts to Parent Awareness Strategies, advertising and research and policy programs; axing of the Skilling Queenslanders for Work program to save $19 million, with the loss of 144 full-time-equivalent jobs; and the phasing out of Queensland Comparable Assessment Tasks, performance-based assessments aligned to the Australian Curriculum,  to save $3 million this financial year.

Departmental staff have been advised that there will be no new appointments, essential-only travel and accommodation, no spending on furniture or office equipment, and the removal of plants. 384 temporary contracts were finalised by June 30, including departmental IT workers.

The new Director of Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research says his focus will be to ensure that high quality research is effectively translated to health practice and policy so that it makes a real difference to the lives of children and families. 

The University of Western Australia's Winthrop Professor Jonathan Carapetis started in the role last week after heading the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin.

Professor Carapetis was appointed to replace Founding Director Professor Fiona Stanley, who retired at the end of last year.

Professor Carapetis said he was very keen to forge strong links with the people delivering health services at hospitals and the Health Department.

"As a paediatrician I know how important it is to have that strong connection between practice and research.  It not only means that we're working on the basis of the latest evidence but that what we see in clinics can also be fed back to shape and inform the type of research that's undertaken," Professor Carapetis said.

"The Telethon Institute has an outstanding record of advocacy and influence and I'll be very keen to see that continue and grow.

"In particular, Aboriginal child health research will continue to be a priority area and I am committed to pursuing that agenda at both the Institute level and through my own research interest in rheumatic heart disease."

Professor Carapetis said he was also excited by the Telethon Institute's strong focus on scientific discovery.

It's very important that we better understand the biological basis underpinning the disease process at the cellular and molecular levels as well as the influence of genetic and environmental factors.

"I think the mix of translational and discovery science is very powerful and gives the Institute a breadth and depth that sees it very well positioned for the future."

With the Institute's geographical position on Australia's west coast, Professor Carapetis said he was keen to increase its activity in international health issues.

"Our proximity to Asia and Africa and our expertise in child development and Indigenous child health research presents some excellent opportunities within the broader region," he said.

The Telethon Institute for Child Health Research was founded in 1990 and has more than 500 staff and postgraduate students investigating major diseases, disabilities and disorders affecting children and families.

Acting NSW Minister for Health, Kevin Humphries, has announced that more than 4000 positions for Junior Medical Officers (JMOs) in NSW are to be advertised.

Junior Medical Officer positions are open for doctors who have at least one year of post graduate work experience and are looking for a vocational or prevocational training position.

The JMO positions offer the opportunity to train in a range of specialties in public hospitals across the State including psychiatry, pathology, intensive care medicine, emergency medicine and rural generalist training, expanding the skills and capacity of the NSW medical workforce.

“The annual JMO recruitment campaign is the largest in the country and offers exciting opportunities to pursue specialist training across the State,” Mr Humphries said.

“These positions offer a variety of training opportunities and include rotations through different specialty teams and clinical environments at one or more hospitals while undertaking specialist training.

“This is the first year that the Rural Generalist Training Program - a State-wide program which focuses on training doctors as general practitioners with advanced skills to deliver services to NSW rural communities - will be offered as part of JMO recruitment in NSW.”

For 2013 advanced skills training will concentrate on anaesthetics and obstetrics skills. In this area, 15 training positions across NSW rural and regional Local Health Districts are being advertised and applicants can apply to these positions through the JMO recruitment campaign. 

“The NSW Government is committed to supporting postgraduate education and training for the State’s doctors to ensure the changing needs of our growing population can be met,” Mr Humphries said.

“NSW Health is making a significant investment in postgraduate medical education to enhance the level of support for training and education of junior doctors and to improve the distribution of doctors particularly in outer metropolitan, regional and rural NSW. 

Applications for JMO positions will close on 15 August 2012.  Further information is at
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/jobs/recruitment/jmo.asp

The Royal Women’s Hospital and La Trobe University have conducted the world’s largest clinical trial of one-to-one (caseload) midwifery care. 

The COSMOS trial (COmparing Standard Maternity care with One-to-One Midwifery Support) found women who receive this type of care were more likely to have a normal birth without medical intervention.  These women were also less likely to need epidural pain relief during labour when compared with standard maternity care.

More importantly, their babies were less likely to be admitted to special care or neonatal intensive care.

The study, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, also found women were more satisfied with the caseload care they received during pregnancy, birth, and after birth in hospital and at home.

The caseload model involved women being looked after by a primary midwife throughout pregnancy, birth and in the early postnatal period. Some 2,300 women at low risk of medical complications during pregnancy took part in the trial at the Women's.

Lead author of the study, Associate Professor Helen McLachlan from Mother and Child Health Research at La Trobe University, said midwives and women had the opportunity to establish a relationship during pregnancy with the caseload model of care.

“This relationship appears to build a woman’s trust and confidence before, during and after the birth, helping women have a more positive birth experience,” Associate Professor McLachlan said. 

According to Professor Della Forster, a co-author and Professor of Midwifery at the Women’s, a reduction of caesarean rates in low-risk pregnancies was a welcome outcome of the trial.

“We want to avoid caesarean births wherever possible because of the risk of complications for both mothers and babies,” Professor Forster said.

The study is the first trial of caseload midwifery in Australia and only the third internationally. The results will assist policy makers and maternity services in planning for future models of maternity care in Australia and internationally. 

The study was funded by a $600,000 National Health and Medical Research Council grant.

To obtain a full copy of the report contact Mikhaela Delahunty, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Three regional universities will receive $19.6 million in federal government funding to improve their research capacity and drive stronger performance outcomes.

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research Senator Chris Evans announced the funding as part of the Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program, which fosters partnerships between regional universities and larger organisations with more established research capacity.

The Australian Catholic University will receive total funding of $7.9 million to partner with the University of Melbourne, St Vincent's Hospital (Melbourne) and the O'Brien Institute to develop and implement a suite of cardiovascular research projects.

Bond University will receive total funding of $5.75 million to partner with the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and the Australian Institute of Sport to develop its expertise in research disciplines such as sports science, human genetics, and the treatment of bone, joint and other diseases.

The University of Notre Dame Australia will receive total funding of $5.96 million to partner with the Australian National University, the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Kimberly Institute, to enhance its research strength in the areas of Indigenous health and wellbeing, healthy ageing, and chronic disease management.

This funding is in addition to the $61.5 million for 12 projects which were announced under the CRN program in May 2011, bringing the Australian Government's total funding to date to $81.1 million.

From 1 January 2013, certain fathers and partners will be entitled to Dad and Partner Pay when they have or adopt a child. 

Under this new scheme, eligible working fathers and partners can get up to two weeks of Dad and Partner Pay to take time off work to care for a newborn or newly adopted child. This is part of recent changes to the Australian Government Paid Parental Leave scheme.
 
The scheme is a government-funded payment. Under the scheme, eligible parents who are the main carer of a newborn or newly adopted child get up to 18 weeks pay at the National Minimum Wage.

For a child born or adopted on or after 1 January 2013, eligible supporting partners (including adopting parents and same-sex couples) will also be entitled to 2 weeks’ pay (also at the National Minimum Wage).

Applications for Dad and Partner Pay can be made from 1 October this year through Centrelink.

 Employees can be entitled to payments under both the Paid Parental Leave scheme and an employer funded scheme. 

There have also been some changes to the Fair Work Act 2009, about unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards.  These include changes to clarify:

• when pregnant employees can start their unpaid leave
• keeping in touch days during unpaid parental leave
• rules about providing pay slips
• entitlements where there is a stillbirth or infant death.

Under the changes, employers will also need to tell the employee who will be doing the job of the person that’s on unpaid parental leave (called ‘replacement employee’) that their position is temporary.

See Paid Parental Leave for more information.

The Minister for Workplace Relations Bill Shorten has announced the appointment of the Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) Advisory Board.

The FWBC Advisory Board will provide expert advice to FWBC Chief Executive Leigh Johns on policy and priorities for the inspectorate to deliver compliance arrangements for the building and construction sector.

Members of the Advisory Board are:

• Mr Randell Fuller (Chair) – Employee Relations Manager, Brookfield Multiplex Constructions
• Mr Jim Barrett—Australian Industry Group (employer representative)
• Mr Tim Lyons—ACTU Assistant Secretary (employee representative)
• Ms Judith Bornstein—industrial lawyer and former Commissioner of the Industrial Relations Commission of Victoria
• Mr Peter Henneken—former head of the Queensland Department of Employment and Industrial Relations and current Chair of the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission.
• Mr Nick Wilson - Fair Work Ombudsman
• Mr Leigh Johns – Chief Executive, Fair Work Building and Construction

For more information on Fair Work Building and Construction, visit www.fwbc.gov.au

Richard Van Breda has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Queensland Government owned electricity generator Stanwell Corporation Limited.

Mr Van Breda will have overall responsibility for Rockhampton's Stanwell Power Station, Stanwell's Rockhampton office and other power-generation sites in Far North Queensland, Mount Isa, at Ipswich and near Kingaroy in the South Burnett.

He has been the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Stanwell since January 2012, having joined Stanwell in 2002.  He was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2005. He joined Tarong Energy as Chief Financial Officer in 2008 and was appointed in that position at Stanwell in 2011, following the restructure of the Queensland Government owned electricity generators.

Cougar Energy has appointed Rob Neill as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective 6 August 2012.

The appointment follows Dr Len Walker’s decision to step down from these roles to focus on the commercial development of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology in Asia.

Dr Walker will remain on the Board as Executive Director - Technology and Commercialisation.

Mr Neill has held management positions within the resources sector. In the UCG sector was Senior Commercial Manager at Linc Energy Limited where he worked across Linc’s divisions of UCG, Gas to Liquids, Drilling and Mergers & Acquisitions for more than two years.

“The Cougar Board is extremely enthusiastic about securing the services of an executive with Mr Neill’s broad resources industry background, strong understanding of UCG and Asian business experience”, Cougar Energy Chairman, Mr Malcolm McAully, said.

“This is another significant step forward in Cougar Energy’s Asian strategy following on from the establishment of a regional office in Beijing, extension of our UCG technology licence agreement with Ergo Exergy Technologies, Inc., and the progressive development of potentially commercial UCG projects in selected Asian countries,” he said.

“Mr Neill’s appointment will bring a strong commercial injection into the project development work currently being undertaken by the Company in Indonesia, China and Mongolia,” he said.

Since leaving Linc Energy, Mr Neill has been the CEO & Managing Director of NSP Asia Consulting, a boutique consulting firm based in Singapore advising investors and resources companies on mergers and acquisition opportunities in the coal and iron ore sectors in Asia and Australia.

Ultraviolet radiation has caused a steep increase in deaths among marine animals and plants, according to an international team including scientists at the Oceans Institute of The University of Western Australia.

The team synthesised 1784 published experiments on marine organisms around the world to evaluate the magnitude of impacts caused by increased ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) in a study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.  Until now, the role of UVB radiation as a possible cause of the global decline in the health of marine ecosystems had not been quantified.

The marine life most affected by UVB are protists (such as algae), corals, crustaceans and fish larvae and eggs, thereby affecting marine ecosystems from the bottom to the top of the food web.

Since the 1970s, a continuous emission of fluorocarbon compounds (CFCs) has led to the reduction of the stratospheric ozone layer and consequent elevated levels of UVB, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.

Winthrop Professor Carlos Duarte, Director of the UWA Oceans Institute and co-author, said the impact of increased UVB radiation had not been fully addressed to date because of two key misconceptions - that the Montreal Protocol (first signed in 1987) "fixed" the ozone layer and that UVB does not penetrate to significant depths in ocean waters.

"Whereas the Montreal Protocol was effective in preventing further deterioration of the ozone layer, this has not yet recovered, and now we know that damaging UVB radiation can penetrate to considerable depths in clear ocean waters," Professor Duarte said. 

Today's study builds on evidence of considerable impacts of UVB radiation on marine plankton and ocean processes.  The research was coordinated by UWA Professor Susana Agustí.

"The effects of ultraviolet radiation detailed in this study mainly affect organisms growing near the ocean surface, such as eggs and larvae of invertebrates and fish, which are exposed to very high UVB levels," Professor Agustí said.

"Our results provide evidence that marine organisms in the Southern Hemisphere are more resistant to elevated UVB radiation than those in the Northern Hemisphere, and that resistance of organisms in the Southern Hemisphere has increased over time.  These observations suggest that high mortality of sensitive marine organisms in the Southern Hemisphere, where UVB levels have increased the most, has already selected for the more resistant organisms.

"The experiments included in this research involve organisms and species that have survived after the erosion of the ozone layer caused by CFCs.  Therefore, the results suggest that an increase in UVB radiation could have a heavy impact on marine biota.  A clear evidence of this impact is the reduction of mortality rates of up to 81 per cent when reducing exposure to UVB present in larvae of commercial fish such as cod, anchovies and other organisms.

"Our results strongly suggest that increased UVB radiation over the past four decades may be a hidden driver of the widespread decline of marine life, from corals to fish, often attributed to other pressures, such as climate warming, overfishing and other impacts."

The Spanish National Research Council and the Catholic University of Chile were also involved in the research.

The University of Western Australia has teamed up with Agilent Technologies, one of the world's leaders in measurement technology, for  a five-year collaboration that will enable the development of ground-breaking applications in Life Sciences. 

The partnership with Agilent Technologies will contribute to UWA's local, national and international research and teaching alliances through the Centre of Metabolomics, The ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology and the UWA Comparative Analysis of Biomolecular Networks Research and Training Centre. 

The UWA Centres have agreed to put Agilent platform technologies and applications to the test in an effort to advance international training opportunities while furthering research into some of society's big challenges in health, food production and the environment.

Through its Agilent Global Academia Program, Agilent has already donated a high-resolution mass spectrometer, used to provide accurate metabolomic analysis of molecules in complex samples, as well as cash grants as part of the five-year collaboration with UWA.

Researchers stand to benefit from a big increase in capability in areas of research including drug discovery and metabolism, innovative pathway mapping in diseases such as cancer and diabetes, environmental pollution characterisation, food analysis and disease biomarker discovery.

Metabolomics is the analysis of metabolites (the products of a metabolic reaction) in biological samples and this type of analysis is provided for researchers by the UWA Centre for Metabolomics.  The centre supports biological research from many disciplines including plant, animal and medical sciences.

Winthrop Professor Steven Smith, Director of the Centre for Metabolomics, welcomed the arrival of the critical new infrastructure to UWA.  "It will provide cutting-edge metabolomics technology for use by many researchers in diverse areas throughout UWA and the State," he said.

Leading liver cancer researcher Professor George Yeoh, explained the new LC-QTOF mass spectrometer will help to identify pathway targets that can be used against cancer cells, as well as for monitoring outcomes of strategies to control cancer cells.

"We expect that many pathways that have been implicated in tumour development will be more accurately and comprehensively assessed for the first time," he said.

Agilent will provide additional assistance to the centre to support researchers through its applications specialists located in Australia and overseas.