Industry News

Western Australia’s five inaugural governing councils for the State’s public health system have come into effect. The councils will see 45 high-level clinical, corporate, government and community representatives aim to streamline communications between the state government and local hospital needs.

The inaugural Health Service Governing Council chairs are:

• Professor Bryant Stokes (South Metropolitan Health Service), a highly distinguished neurosurgeon with three professorships at WA universities
• Rob McDonald (North Metropolitan Health Service), a former senior public servant who has held leadership roles with WA Police and the State Supply Commission
• Professor Geoffrey Dobb (Southern Country Health Service), director of the Critical Care Division and Head of Intensive Care at Royal Perth Hospital, and Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at UWA
• Nola Wolksi (Northern and Remote Country Health Service), a businesswoman who has also been a former Kalgoorlie-Boulder deputy mayor and community nurse
• Dr Rosanna Capolingua (Child and Adolescent Area Health Service), a respected GP with extensive experience in health management, education, research and corporate governance.

More information can be found here

The Western Australian Government has launched a scheme that ‘embodies the key elements of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).’

The My Way project will aim to improve choice, flexibility and control that people with disability have over the supports and services.

State Disability Services Minister Helen Morton said the project contained many of the key aspects of the Productivity Commission’s report for an NDIS.

She said the WA pilot project would demonstrate how funds could flow directly to people needing it most without being syphoned into a new national bureaucracy.

“This project has all the hallmarks of an NDIS with individualised funding, allowing more choice and control for people with disability of the services and supports that suit them in their local community,” Mrs Morton said.

“I wrote to Federal Minister Jenny Macklin two weeks ago offering WA to host an NDIS site to demonstrate this. In the meantime, we are going ahead with our own project which will deliver the best outcomes for people in WA.”

The Minister said the project would initially be offered in Cockburn-Kwinana; the Perth Hills; the Goldfields and the Lower South West Commission service areas to people with disability eligible for Disability Services Commission services.

The Western Australian Government has announced a multi-million dollar drilling program to establish if the Western Canning Basin in the Pilbara region can support industrial use water supply will begin this week.

The program, expected to be completed by December this year, is predominately funded by BHP Billiton Iron Ore, Fortescue Metals Group and North West Infrastructure and is being undertaken by WorleyParsons.

State Minister for the Environment and Water Bill Marmion said that Aboriginal heritage and flora and fauna surveys have already been completed in the area.

“Investigations undertaken before the decision to undertake a full scale drilling program indicated that a potential 10 billion litre source contained water fit for industrial use and of a sufficient volume to support a major scheme,” he said.

“If the results prove positive, the next step will be to enter into commercial negotiations for the development of a fit-for-purpose industrial water supply scheme.”

The Minister said if a scheme for industrial water use was developed, the current Hedland Water Supply Scheme would be prioritised for residential use and community amenities.

“This drilling program is a great example of the State Government working closely with industry to support the ongoing growth of WA’s Pilbara region,” he said.

The South Australian Government has announced applications are now open vor the SafeWork SA WHS Commissioned Research Grant Programme, aimed at improving work health and safety (WHS) outcomes throughout the state.

State Minister for Industrial Relations Russell Wortley said a total of $320,000 has been made available for successful applicants whose research projects match the objectives of the state’s Strategic Plan and are aimed at preventing work-related injury or illness.

The grants will help fund research in priority areas such as:

• the impact of precarious employment on WHS
• implications of social health trends and social policy for WHS in the SA Public Service
•  best practice for inspectorial services
• workplace-based WHS consultation
• WHS youth strategy

“High quality research into priority areas will inform and progress workplace safety knowledge and policy development which is critical to achieving positive health and safety outcomes in South Australian workplaces,” Mr Wortley said.

“University-based and independent researchers can apply for a grant to investigate interventions that will improve workplace health and safety outcomes.”

“Previous grant recipients have already achieved significant results in priority areas such as youth safety, high risk employment, psycho-social issues and workplace-based WHS consultation,” he said.

Also in this round, the Mining and Quarrying OHS Committee will consider any submissions relevant to WHS in the mining and quarrying industries and, if successful, additional research funding will be granted.

SafeWork SA’s Annual Research Forum on 11 July 2012 will provide potential applicants with the perfect opportunity to discuss their ideas with like-minded researchers and previous grant recipients.

More information can be found here 

The South Australian Government has announced it has granted final approval for the construction of the state’s largest windfarm.

The $900 million, 105-turbine development will be constructed by Investec Bank Australia and will be built 15 kilometres from Jamestown, in the state’s south east.

“The application was approved after consultation with the relevant government agencies, consideration of public submissions and detailed advice from the Development Assessment Commission, an independent statutory authority,” Deputy Premier John Rau said.

South Australia is broadly considered to be the country’s national leader in renewable energy, with over half of the country’s winder generation generated in the state and 20 per cent of the state’s electricity supplied by wind energy.

State Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Tom Koutsantonis said the project will create up to 250 local construction jobs – while providing clean renewable energy directed into the national grid.

“The proposed 315 Megawatt wind farm will have up to 105 turbines – which will generate 1,050,000 Megawatt hours per year, enough to power 180,000 homes,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“This development has the potential to save 1.25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. That’s the equivalent of taking 290,000 cars off the road each year.”

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has published findings that show that over a quarter of Australia’s 8.9 million hospitalisations in 2010-11 necessitated surgery.

The bulletin, Surgery in Australian Hospitals 2010-11, provides an overview of the 2.4 million annual hospitalisations, with 1 million occurring in public hospitals and 1.4 million in private hospitals.

In the five years to 2011, admissions involving surgery have been rising 2.4% a year in public hospitals and 4.1% a year in private hospitals. But in the last year, annual growth in surgery admissions in public hospitals has outstripped annual growth in private hospitals 2.7% to 2.1%.

“This probably reflects a renewed emphasis by all levels of government to reduce elective surgery backlogs in public hospitals”, said AIHW spokesperson Alison Verhoeven.

Around 12% of surgery admissions were emergency admissions (requiring surgery within 24 hours). About 83% were elective admissions, with two-thirds of these occurring in private hospitals. A further 4% of surgery-related admissions were childbirth-related and 1% were for ‘other planned care’. 

Compared with national rates, Indigenous Australians and people living in remote areas had higher rates of emergency surgery admissions and lower rates of elective surgery admissions.

The most common reasons for emergency surgery admission were appendicitis, hip fractures and heart attacks, followed closely by leg fractures.

For elective surgery admissions, the most common reasons were cataracts, skin cancers, knee disorders and procreative management (including IVF).

Just over 50% of surgery hospitalisations were same-day admissions. For overnight surgery admissions, the average length of stay was around 4 days in public hospitals and 3 days in private hospitals.

Observations from the CSIRO’s Australia Telescope Compact Array have confirmed the existence of the first known “middleweight” black hole, three years after it was first discovered.

Dubbed HLX-1 (“hyper-luminous X-ray source 1”), the middle weight black hole lies in a galaxy known as EST 243-49, about 300 million light-years away.  It was discovered in 2009 by chance, when scientists found it stood out as a very bright X-ray source.

Prior to the discovery of HLX-1, scientists had only ever confirmed the existence of supermassive black holes, ones a million to a billion times the mass of the Sun, and stellar mass black holes, ones three to thirty times the mass of the Sun.

Research conducted so far indicates the black hole is likely to be between 20,000 to 90,000 times the mass of our Sun.

"We don't know for sure how supermassive black holes form, but they might come from medium-size ones merging. So finding evidence of these intermediate-mass black holes is exciting,” CSIRO’s Dr Ron Ekers said.

The middleweight black hole expels extreme temperatures and shines X-rays after to consumes a gas from a star or gas cloud.

"A number of other bright X-ray sources have been put forward as possibly being middleweight black holes. But all of those sources could be explained as resulting  from lower mass black holes," Dr Farrell said. "Only this one can't. It is ten times brighter than any of those other candidates. We are sure this is an intermediate-mass black hole — the very first,” Dr Ekers said.

A team of CSIRO scientists have been studying the black hole since 2010.

"From studying other black holes we know that sucking in the gas creates X-rays, but there's then a sort of reflux, with the region around the black hole shooting out jets of high-energy particles that hit gas around the black hole and generate radio waves," Dr Sean Farrell, an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Sydney said.

Telstra and Australia Post have announced the signing of a new deal that will see the country’s largest telecommunications group provide Australia based telecommunications and IT cloud services to the postal group.

The deal will see Telstra provide a managed IP network, mobile services, unified communications services and locally based cloud services to support the new Digital MailBox service.

Catriona Larritt, Australia Post General Manager Post Digital said the announcement demonstrated the organisation’s strong commitment to expanding its capabilities through digital services.

”We’re excited to be working with Telstra to make it even easier for customers to access our services all across the country,” Ms Larritt said.

Paul Geason, Group Managing Director, Telstra Enterprise & Government, said the new deal represents another large enterprise that has entrusted Telstra to manage its telecommunications and network services.

“Telstra is focused on delivering the best network services for large organisations and the agreement with Australia Post is testament to the trust corporations are placing in Telstra to design, build and manage their telecommunication and network services,” Mr Geason said.

“The investments Telstra has been making in network application and services, such as our $800 million investment in cloud computing capabilities*, means we are able to provide nation-wide reach and secure, reliable services. Australia Post has selected our cloud to host their Digital MailBox service and Telstra will also use the Digital MailBox to complement our existing digital options such as our website and mobile applications.”

The agreement will also see Telstra provide service management expertise for the roll out of the Australia Post IT network transformation project, as well as a new integrated service desk for all Telstra services provided to the organisation.

Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has hit out at the Federal Opposition’s ‘pretence’ of support of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Senator Conroy has accused the Federal Opposition’s supposed support of the NBN of lasting less than a week after Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told ACE Regional Radio Network that he is hostile towards the scheme, which he described as an investment ‘we don’t need’.

"This is at odds with Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who told the Sydney Morning Herald on 29 June, 'the Coalition will not cancel or roll back the NBN... the NBN will continue to roll out."

"Only under Labor will all Australians get the National Broadband Network. Only under Labor will all Australians get the benefits of fast, reliable, and affordable broadband.

"The choice for the Australian people is simple: support Labor and you'll get the NBN; support the Coalition and you won't."

Two of Australia’s biggest construction companies have entered in to a $225,000 enforceable undertaking after two concrete panels, each weighting 11.3 tonnes, fell from a contractor’s truck in October 2006.

No one was hurt in the incident near the Eastlink tollway project at Ringwood.

The tollway was being built by the companies which were in a joint venture. John Holland and Thiess subcontracted other companies to transport the concrete panels which were used as sound barriers.

Enforceable undertakings were a recommendation of the 2003 review of the Occupational Health and Safety Act by Chris Maxwell QC.

They are an alternative to prosecution in some cases and can result in a quicker resolution of an issue, but with a direct safety outcome.

In lieu of prosecution by WorkSafe Victoria, John Holland Pty Ltd and Thiess Pty Ltd will spend up to $225,000 to research best-practice for contractor engagement and management.

WorkSafe Victoria’s Deputy Chief Executive, Ian Forsyth, said the research was a terrific outcome for workplace safety.

“The money we would have expected to have been imposed as a fine will go directly toward a safety outcome with a practical application.

“A significant part of the application of workplace health and safety is not just applying what the law says about basic obligations, but what is also ‘reasonably practicable’.”

Under the terms of the enforceable undertaking, the companies will engage a WorkSafe-approved independent health and safety experts and report back to WorkSafe on their findings within six months.

Guidance materials will be developed as part of the process and be posted on the companies’ websites and distributed to industry stakeholders to promote awareness.

If the research project costs less than $225,000, the difference will be donated to Monash University’s Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research.

The research will look particularly at the selection, engagement, monitoring and management of specialist contractors which dominate major infrastructure projects. 

The companies have admitted they failed to provide and maintain a safe system of work and provide information instruction, training and supervision and that people other than employees were not exposed to risk.

“What we’ve achieved in this case is getting two major companies to pay for research that may have application elsewhere,” Mr Forsyth said.

The company transporting the concrete panels, Transdyer Management Pty Ltd (trading as Dyers Transport) was convicted and fined $30,000 in 2009 in relation to the incident. 

Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ) and Monash University have used the principles of ecology to explain why women are being driven out of academia.

The results of the study, published in the ecology peer-reviewed journal Oikos, reveal how a gender imbalance in science and academia is maintained by institutional barriers.

Dr Kate O'Brien from the UQ School of Chemical Engineering said in ecology a species can only establish itself and develop if the population exceeds a certain threshold.

“It's similar for researchers and academics who need to reach a certain point before they can attract more funding, more students to teach and high quality collaborators which can increase their research productivity,” she said.

“Yet there are barriers which prevent women from reaching this point.”

One of these barriers is the tendency of female academics towards part-time work in order to balance family and work commitments.

Working part-time is rare in academia while university managers find it difficult to assess the research performance of part-time staff using traditional methods.

The performance of academics and researchers is increasingly assessed using set metrics such as the number of papers produced in a year or the number of citations the research generates.

While these metrics can promote research output within an organization, they can also undermine diversity, which in ecological terms is fatal to a species as it underpins resilience.

“To use the ecology analogy, research productivity is similar to the birth rate of a new species,” Dr O'Brien said.

“Both need to exceed a critical rate if the population is going to grow and survive, or the academic is to become established in their field.

“However, research metrics are strongly biased towards full-time continuous employment and penalise academics who take time off before they become established.”

The ecological model also suggests that if women have children before becoming established as an academic, they will struggle to remain competitive with their full-time peers.

This explains drift of women from research into teaching, where performance is assessed on current rather than accumulated historical performance.

To address the gender imbalance Dr O'Brien and Associate Professor Karen Hapgood suggest that women who go part-time should be strategic and concentrate on either research or teaching.

In turn university managers should be cautious in judging success using metrics, and implement schemes to ensure that part-time work and career breaks are not “one-way tickets” out of research.

“The ecological approach demonstrates that any system which operates on a narrow criteria, be it a forest or a faculty, undermines itself by reducing both diversity and the pool of talent from which our researchers are drawn,” Dr O'Brien said.

“In a working environment dominated by those working full-time women need to be brave and be prepared to be the odd ones out.”

A specialist team of scientists and clinicians is set to begin clinical trials following a study which showed that co-treatment with two pharmaceuticals can help prevent obesity among those being treated with anti-psychotic medication.

Funded by an Illawarra Health and Medical Institute (IHMRI) clinical grant, the trial plans on co-treating patients with two drugs, olanzapine and betahistine.

The team involved in the new trial are: UOW Graduate School of Medicine Professor Nagesh Pai, Associate Professor Chao Deng, Professor Xu-Feng Huang (IHMRI/School of Health Sciences) and Dr Judy Mullen from Graduate School of Medicine, in partnership with Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District psychiatrists, Drs Ram Malesu and Sharat Lal.

In 2008 UOW researchers identified the link between olanzapine-induced weight gain and its action on the histaminergic system, which regulates the appetite.

“Olanzapine is the most commonly prescribed and effective medication for people living with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” lead scientist Associate Professor Chao Deng said.

“Although, it has significantly improved the lives of people living with serious mental illnesses over the past two decades, it can also come with devastating side-effects: weight gain, obesity and, in some cases, type II diabetes,” he said.

Eager to reduce the incidence of preventable disease in a vulnerable population, Associate Professor Deng and his colleagues have been focusing their attention on another pharmaceutical agent, betahistine, which has been prescribed for common vestibular disorders, such as vertigo and dizziness, for over 40 years.  Betahistine has demonstrated a low rate (around 1 in100,000) of adverse side-effects.

In a recent animal model study, the IHMRI team identified that betahistine, combined with olanzapine, resulted in a significant decrease in appetite and a 45 per cent reduction in weight gain compared to subjects treated solely with olanzapine. The news came as a surprise given previous international studies, which reported that betahistine treatment had no consistent effect on body weight or appetite in the general over-weight population.

According to Professor Deng the findings, which have been recently published in the international Journal of Psychopharmacology, provide hope for the safe treatment of the obesity side effects.

“This study has shown that co-treatment of betahistine with olanzapine can hugely reduce the olanzapine-induced weight gain side effect through decreased feeding efficiency and food intake,” he said.

IHMRI Executive Director and UOW Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health) Professor Don Iverson also said that the study’s outcomes generated “real hope” for those being treated with antipsychotic medication.

“It is a good example of scientific research that translates into real outcomes for clinical treatment; precisely the kind of research that funding bodies around the world are encouraging,” he said.

Studies into producing renewable energy from almond waste and the potential for concentrated solar thermal technologies will share in more than $117,000 in funding under the  Emerging Renewables Program.

The Almond Board of Australia will receive about $32,000 in Emerging Renewables funding for its $60,000 study into the viability of energy production from almond waste.

A second grant of $85,000 to the Australian Solar Thermal Energy Association (AUSTELA) will go towards a $170,000 study of the potential of solar thermal electricity in Australia’s electricity market.

Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, congratulated the grant recipients and said these two grants illustrate the diversity of renewable energy sources available in Australia.

“There are a range of renewable energy fuel sources and technologies out there and when it comes to making renewable energy competitive, every technology should be given equal opportunity,” Minister Ferguson said.

The Almond Board of Australia study will assess the commercial viability of producing energy from almond processing waste across the almond production industry, in areas such as the South Australian Riverland and Victorian Sunraysia region. 

The study is expected to be completed in October 2012 and if positive results come back the Almond Board will have the opportunity to apply for further funding to progress the project through the new Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

“This is a great opportunity for a primary industry to investigate ways to reduce its energy use from conventional sources by converting to renewable sources and shows a pathway for other industries to do the same,” Minister Ferguson said.

The AUSTELA project aims to promote concentrated solar thermal (CST) technology by identifying the potential economic benefits of deploying the technology in the National Electricity Market and the implications for electricity costs and carbon emissions.

The study is expected to be completed in April 2013, with participation from the University of Technology Sydney and University of New South Wales.

More information on the Emerging Renewables Program and ARENA is at www.arena.gov.au.

James Cook University researchers have produced a study into the ecological consequences and social inequities of conservation agreements offered by state governments.

Dr Vanessa Adams, an ecological economist and a Research Fellow at Charles Darwin University and an Adjunct at the ARC of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at JCU conducted the work while at JCU.

Dr Adams said more than 4,000 Australian landholders had entered into conservation agreements to protect biodiversity on their properties.

These agreements bind future landholders to protect the land’s biodiversity, which ensures the long-term survival of plant and animal communities.

Dr Adams said natural resource and mining policies in the respective states, however, did not exempt these private protected areas from mining activities.

“In all states of Australia, the government can still issue exploration and extraction permits for mining activities in these private protected areas,” she said.

“This situation creates an imbalance in the commitment to conservation, whereby landholders incur the costs, but the government derives the benefits.”

Dr Adams worked with Dr Katie Moon, who was at the time a JCU Earth & Environmental Sciences student and PhD candidate.

Dr Moon is now a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the ANZSOG Institute for Governance/Institute of Applied Ecology within the University of Canberra.

Their study outlines the ecological consequences and social inequities of conservation agreements offered by state governments.

“Landholders must comply with the conditions of the conservation agreement, which can include limiting grazing activities, excluding domestic animals such as dogs, or replanting trees that have been removed,” she said.

“Such commitments come at a cost to landholders, both in terms of time and money.”

They cite Bimblebox Nature Refuge as an example of where a private landholder's investment in conservation is being threatened by mining activities.

“Bimblebox is an 8,000 ha private protected area gazetted in 2003. Waratah Coal’s proposed Galilee Coal Project would place a “mega” mine on the nature refuge severely impacting the natural values the refuge was set up to protect.

“The proposed Galilee Coal Project is one of several proposed mega coal mines in the Galilee basin including the Alpha Coal project which recently received state level approval.”

In their journal article they argued that the conflict between economic and conservation policies must be dealt with in a more transparent manner.

“Mining within private protected areas, such as Queensland’s Nature Refuges, creates social consequences that could erode the public’s willingness to participate in such ’programs in the future,” Dr Adams said.

“Landholders who wish to conserve a part of their property through such agreements, basically have no guarantee that the area will be protected from mining interests”, she said.

The researchers offered a solution to overcome these inequities.

“We believe there are ways forward for dealing with competing values before agreements are put in place,” Dr Adams said.

“Before an agreement is signed, any existing interests in the property should be resolved, including mineral exploration or extraction permits,” she said.

Such an approach is used in the establishment of national parks and can increase the security of the conservation area.

“To ensure that landholders’ investment in their private protected areas is not lost, it is imperative that the process be reformed to address these potential conflicts at the outset.”

The Federal $200 million Clean Technology Innovation Program has been launched and is now open for applications.

The competitive, merit-based grants program twill support applied research and development, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation activities that lead to the development of new clean technologies and associated services including low emission and energy efficient solutions, that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

The program will provide grants of between $50,000 and $5 million on a co-investment basis of one dollar of government funding for each one dollar of the applicant’s investment.

AusIndustry is holding information sessions in capital cities during July.

More information is here.

Samsung Electronics says second-quarter operating profit is likely to hit a record high of about 6.7 trillion won ($A5.75 billion).

The South Korean firm said on Friday its April-June operating profit would be between 6.5 trillion and 6.9 trillion won, nearly 80 per cent up from a year ago.

Its previous record was 5.85 trillion won profit, reported in the first quarter of 2012.

Samsung said revenue for the quarter was expected to come in between 46 trillion and 48 trillion won.

Although Samsung did not break out figures for each division, analysts believe at least four trillion won of its profit is from its mobile business.

Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, mobile phones, flat-screen panels and televisions, will announce full results later this month.

What does the future hold for local government in NSW? Can councils play a stronger, more effective role to support local communities? Can they all survive financially? Will they need to change their focus, structures or boundaries to meet the changing needs of their communities?

These are some of the questions the Independent Local Government Review Panel will be asking councils and community members over the next two months as the Review’s first round of consultation begins. To mark the start of the discussions, the Panel has launched a new website and released a consultation paper for public comment.

The Independent Review Panel was appointed by the Minister for Local Government, the Hon Don Page MP, earlier this year following an approach from the Local Government and Shires Associations.

Under the chairmanship of Professor Graham Sansom of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Local Government, the Panel will spend the next 12 months holding discussions with the widest possible range of people and organisations throughout New South Wales, reviewing and commissioning research, and assessing a variety of local government models. The two other members of the Panel are Ms Jude Munro AO and Mr Glenn Inglis.

Several rounds of consultation are planned, commencing with a month-long “listening tour” from July 23.


“This first round of consultation is deliberately broad,” Professor Sansom said. “The Minister has made it clear that “everything is on the table” for this review and we want to honour that by allowing people to raise all the issues that are important to their councils and communities. This will help us to refine key concerns and options for our research and for further consultation.


“The Panel is an independent body and we approach this process with an open mind and open ears. We really want to hear what people have to say about the future of local government in this State.

“Councils play a vital role in community life,” Professor Sansom continued, “so we will be taking our time to carefully explore all the issues raised. We need to come up with the best possible framework for local government over the next 20-30 years to meet the future challenges facing NSW communities. Our final report will be presented to the Minister in July 2013.”

Some of the key issues the Review will explore include:

• Councils’ ability to support the current and future needs of their communities
• Councils’ capacity to deliver infrastructure and services in a timely and efficient manner
• The financial sustainability of local councils
• The need for effective local representation and decision-making
• Barriers and incentives for voluntary boundary changes and the scope for increased regional cooperation between councils.

The consultation paper provides a number of key questions to open the discussion, with an opportunity to respond via an on-line feedback form, email, or written submissions.

The program includes visits to all regions and meetings in: Broken Hill, Wagga Wagga, Jerilderie, Guyra, Newcastle, Taree, Tamworth, Ballina, Kiama, Orange and Dubbo, as well as several centres across Sydney.


Further information is available on the Independent Local Government Review Panel’s website at www.localgovernmentreview.nsw.gov.au

The Federal Government released figures which show that $2.8 billion in lost super has been reclaimed. The figures now estimate the total amount of lost super is now $17.4 billion, a 14 per cent fall from the previously reported $20.2 billion.

Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Bill Shorten, said the figures show the Government is on the right track in reforming the super system.

"The number of lost member accounts fell from 5 million to 3.6 million – a reduction of 28 per cent," Mr Shorten said.

"The average value of a lost super account is around $4,800. Some of these accounts are inactive and owners could consider consolidating them to make the most of their retirement savings and avoid paying unwanted fees. 

"The best way for people to avoid losing super is to ensure that their super fund has their tax file number."

The Victorian Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, has met with local councils to discuss the next phase of consultation on the direction of Melbourne's planning future. 

In the coming months, Mr Guy has announced he will host a series of forums with metropolitan mayors and chief executive officers as well as industry stakeholders to further discuss the future of the city's planning direction.

"Melbourne and Victoria are experiencing important changes to the way we live and the way we want to live. These forums will give direction to our discussions and will provide important information for our ultimate vision," Mr Guy said.

"Planning for Melbourne's liveability, economic growth, jobs and future investment needs to look not at the now, not at the next five years but for the next decade and beyond."

The Metropolitan Planning Strategy is expected to be completed by mid to late 2013. For further information and to have your say visitwww.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au 

The Australian Industry Group's (AI Group) Australian Performance of Construction Index has found that the industry's rate of contraction has remained broadly unchanged at  34.8 (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease).

Published in conjunction with the Housing Industry Association, the Index found poor demand and falling workloads impacted heavily on activity. The residential and commercial construction sub-sectors remained deeply in negative territory in the month, with apartment building recording its steepest fall in ten months to 21.8. Engineering construction remains the strongest sector despite falling by 1.4 points to 39.9 in June.

"The residential and commercial construction sub-sectors continue to be a drag on overall business activity with lack of demand and access to finance both holding these important sub-sectors back. Engineering construction is stronger particularly due to mining-related projects but the overall construction sector continues to languish," AI Group's Director of Public Policy, Peter Burn, said.

Key findings in the Index include:

• The national construction industry remained in the red in June according to the latest Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Construction Index (Australian PCI®), in conjunction with the Housing Industry Association which was relatively unchanged, up just 0.1 points to 34.8 (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease).
• The Australian PCI® has now been in contracting for 25 straight months.
• Construction activity was 28.9 which is the lowest level since February 2009.
• Apartment building was the weakest performing sub-sector at 21.8. House building was 30.7, commercial construction was 26.6 and engineering construction was 39.9.
• The new orders sub-index registered 33.4 in June largely due to reduced work in house building and apartment building.
• Wages (55.7) and input prices (73.7) were higher

The full Index can be found here