Industry News

From 1 January 2013, Australia's national transport safety investigator, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), will take responsibility for investigating safety events on the metropolitan passenger and freight rail networks across Australia.

According to the ATSB, this national focus will see more investigations conducted across a greater range of safety matters,  and will ulstimately mean improved safety through the sharing and implementation of safety findings across all states and territories.

A new Bill recently passed by Parliament allows states and territories to request the ATSB to conduct a rail investigation in their jurisdiction. However, as an established rail, aviation and maritime safety investigator, the ATSB will continue to make its own decisions about what to investigate.

The ATSB's national rail safety investigation role will complement the regulatory function of the new national rail safety regulator.

Unions, including the AMWU, have urged the Federal Government and other politicians to back reforms for managing asbestos, including the removal of asbestos from all public buildings in Australia by 2030.

Acting AMWU National Secretary Paul Bastian, a member of the National Asbestos Management Review’s expert advisory group, hoped the tabling of the Review would mark a new era for asbestos management in Australia.
 
“The Asbestos Management Review should put a clear plan to the Federal Government. It represents a generational opportunity to deal with the problem of asbestos, in particular, the third wave of asbestos victims.

“Government must deliver on asbestos management and do so in an expedited fashion. Australia has one of the highest rates of asbestos related disease in the world and the incidents of mesothelioma will continue to remain at peak levels unless action is taken now.”

The unions are seeking that Government support:

· The need for there to be a national audit of asbestos and a prioritized plan of its removal in public buildings by 2030;
· The introduction of compulsory asbestos contamination reports for all domestic and commercial dwellings built prior to 1987;
· The establishment of a national statutory authority to co-ordinate a response to asbestos issues such as disposal, removal and public awareness.

A delegation made up of Mr Bastian, Lindsay Fraser of the CMFEU, Michael Borowick of the ACTU, Tanya Segelov of law firm Turner Freeman and Serafina Salucci, a mesothelioma sufferer, met with federal parliamentarians last week to urge action on the report.

“It was pleasing to see a willingness from those in Canberra to listen and engage on the issue. We’ll now await their response.”

Mr Bastian said he was inspired by 42-year-old mother Serafina Salucci, a member of the delegation, who spoke directly with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

“Five years ago Serafina was diagnosed with mesothelioma as a result of secondary exposure to asbestos from renovations in her family home when she was a child.

“She has had one lung and three ribs removed, yet she had the energy to walk the halls of parliament in what was a very long day. Like others who have been exposed to asbestos, she demonstrates courage and a determination to ensure others don’t suffer in the same way. We cannot let her down.”

More information about the Asbestos Management Review is here.

Revered industry veteran Mike Lattin has announced his departure from Australia based international broadcaster GlobeCast, having served nine years as CEO.

The company thanked Mr Lattin for his dedicated service and has appointed Simon Farnsworth as the company's new Chief Executive Officer. Mr Farnsworth has worked for ten years with the GlobeCast Group, most recently as Global Head of the GlobeCast Group's Broadcast Contribution services.

"Mike has led GlobeCast Australia over the last 9 years to become the leading broadcast services provider covering Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands with a relentless focus on our customers that will continue. Mike is a legend," GlobeCast's Chairman Peter Cosgrove said.

Mr Lattin will continue his work with the company in an advisory role.

 "I am delighted to continue with GlobeCast Australia in my new capacity and to assist Simon and his team. He is a talented executive with a talented team delivering at the leading-edge of global broadcasting," Mr Lattin said.

Mr Lattin has held senior management and programming roles at each of Australia's commercial TV networks, held similar roles internationally, and was Head of the Optus Television subscription TV platform. He is a former Chairman of ASTRA, the subscription television industry group. In 2001 he became a Director and CEO of MediaSat which later merged with GlobeCast Australia. Mr Lattin was appointed CEO of the newly merged company in 2003.

 An automated and continuous structural health monitoring system for the Sydney Harbour Bridge has been announced as a winner in this year’s Company/Group category State iAwards.

Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) together with NICTA (National ICT Australia) developed the high-tech system to automatically and continuously monitor the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s structural integrity.

Awards in the tools and infrastructure and elogistics and supply chain categories were won for the innovation.

Light-weight sensor technology was developed to provide real-time monitoring of the bridge’s structural health and the safety of its concrete deck. Using innovative algorithms and simple components the system can detect movements in the concrete deck which are considered to be abnormal, while ignoring normal movements due to vehicle traffic.

The concept was developed by RMS’ Peter Mann who is the Asset Manager of Strategic Infrastructure and the system was developed by a technology team led by NICTA’s Dr Athanassis Boulis.

“The trial is progressing well and RMS is planning to expand deployment of the system, which is proving practical and cost effective,” said Rob Fitzpatrick, Director of NICTA’s Infrastructure, Transport and Logistics Business Team.

Global engineering firm WorleyParsons has announced the appointment of Andrew Wood as the company's new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective at the end of the company's AGM on 23 October.

Mr Wood is currently a member of the company's Executive Committee and holds the role of Group Managing Director Finance. He has also held a number of key management positions within the company over his 18 years. He is broadly accepted as having been responsible for the company's successful drive into Thailand, Canada and Chile.

Mr Wood will take the position after John Grill steps down, having spent over 40 years with the company, who will step down from all roles before rejoining the board in early 2013. Mr Grill voiced his confidence in Mr Wood's appointment.

"I am confident that Andrew's skills, experience and vision for the future of WorleyParsons will result in a strong and successful leadership of the company," Mr Grill said.

Mr Wood thanked the board for the appointment, describing the announcement as an honour.

"I know that we have the right strategies, an exceptional leadership team and the talented and committed people to deliver for our customers and shareholders," Mr Wood said.

The University of Tasmania is to play a role in the development of Australia’s 100-petabyte storage cloud.

A $50 million Federal Government project, part of the Super Science initiatives announced in the May Budget, the Research Data Storage Infrastructure (RDSI) project is intended to transform the way in which research data collections are stored and accessed nationally.

The first stage of the storage network will see the creation of five nodes (data stores). Four primary nodes are to be established in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide, with the additional node allocated to Tasmania.

UTAS will work with CSIRO, the Australian Antarctic Division and the State Government in establishing the Tasmanian node.

It is expected that the national storage network will by 2014 will offer Australian researchers access to around 100 petabytes of data (a petabyte is equivalent to 1000 terabytes or one quadrillion bytes).

"Tasmania has been at the forefront of the management of research data, nationally and internationally," the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Paddy Nixon, said.

"Our special area of interest is the marine, Antarctic and climate data sets and this facility will underpin the growth in size of Tasmania's research collections in these areas."

Professor Nathan Bindoff, IMAS, (pictured), who as Director for the Tasmanian Partnership for Advanced Computing led the UTAS proposal development, said: "This facility has occurred as a result of Tasmania leadership in marine observing systems such as the related Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) project.

"It is exciting stuff, because the research data storage will mean more of Tasmania's data collections will be more easily available to more researchers.

"This increased availability of data is going to lead to more discoveries about the oceans, Antarctica and climate change,” Prof Bindoff said.

The University of Queensland (UQ) is leading the program on behalf of the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

According to Professor Max Lu, UQ’s Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, it could transform research in many areas including astronomy, genomics, physics and environmental studies.

“The recent announcement of Australia’s involvement in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an example of this rapidly growing area. SKA’s dishes will produce data each day equal to about 10 times the current global internet traffic,” he said.

Fairfax has announced David Hoath, CEO of its Melbourne publishing arm, as the company's new Chief Operating Officer of its Metro operations, reporting directly to Metro CEO Jack Matthews.

“The new COO role will play a critical part in the redesign and reinvigoration of our print mastheads," Mr Matthews said of the appointment.

“The COO role will also be responsible for the day to day running of the mastheads, including centralised circulation strategy and sales, manufacturing, distribution and facility management.”

“David’s experience in the complexities of print operations is vital in our evolution to an audience focused, cross‐platform business."

The internal changes form part of the company's ongoing Fairfax for the Future plan, which will see some 1,900 jobs shed from the company.

Mr Hoath's promotion coincides with the appointment of Guatam Mishra from COO Digital Media to strategy director for the Metro division. 

A new study has found that despite the advances of modern medicine, gaps still remain in our knowledge when it comes to clinicians looking after patients' well being, especially for older people.

La Trobe University Adjunct Associate Professor Benny Katz, Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care (ACEBAC), looked into the current trend of evidence-based medicine and it being adopted as a means of achieving optimal medical care to reduce variations in clinical practice.

‘Randomised controlled trials are considered the highest level of scientific evidence. However, older individuals are either excluded or underrepresented in these studies, and those who are included are often atypical of patients seen in clinical practice.

‘There are many clinical scenarios that do not lend themselves to being answered by randomised controlled trials.

‘The aim of this study was to examine the approach to clinical decision making in frail older persons when there is little or no scientific evidence to guide management,’ says Dr Katz.

The ageing population will result in larger numbers of patients with complex age-related conditions seeking treatment for pain.

Dr Katz, who is also a Geriatrician at St Vincent's Hospital and Director of the Victorian Geriatric Medicine Training Program—used a case study to highlight many important issues surrounding the management of pain in older adults.

‘There is a need in clinical practice to find a balance with evidence-based medicine and the preferences of the patient for optimal health outcomes,’ says Dr Katz.

The study also highlights the importance of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA)—a multidimensional process designed to detect factors that may have a significant impact on the well being of an older adult.

‘When treating older people, clinicians not only need to take into consideration the severity of pain, but also the impact of pain and its treatment on cognition, mood and functional status.

‘Combining the practices of pain medicine and CGA may result in a better outcome,’ says Dr Katz.

‘A focus on the medical aspects and adjustment of treatment based solely on age will often not be adequate as it fails to take into consideration the heterogeneity of older adults.

‘Some will have aged ‘well’ and need little modification to the approach used for younger patients, while others who are frail or have multiple comorbidities will require a modified approach,’ says Dr Katz.

James Cook University and the Government of Papua New Guinea have formalised a research partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement at JCU Cairns.

The Memorandum outlines the way in which JCU (represented by The Cairns Institute) and the PNG Government (represented by the Department for Community Development) plan to work together on 18 research projects worth $5.5M.

“This is an exciting agreement, and the culmination of two year’s collaboration and discussion between Cairns and PNG,” Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dr Stephen Weller said.

“It is based on our mutual interest in enhancing life in the tropics and it will see The Cairns Institute applying its expertise, research and scholarship to issues of great importance to our nearest neighbour.”

Director of the Cairns Institute, Professor Hurriyet Babacan, said the Memorandum outlined the underlying principles of the research partnership, which included mutual respect, joint decision making and two-way learning.

PNG’s Secretary of the Department for Community Development, Mrs Anna Solomon, will sign the agreement. She will be accompanied on her visit to Cairns by the Department’s Deputy Secretaries Mrs Molly Willie and Mr Leo Kulumbu, First Assistant Secretary Mr Jack Simbau, as well as three other senior officers.

Professor Babacan said the Department for Community Development (DFCD) had prioritized two research projects for 2012–13.

Professor Babacan will lead a study of the nature and extent of disability in PNG.

Associate Professor Wendy Earles will investigate ways to improve information flow and analysis at a community level, in a project centred on information utilisation at PNG’s Community Learning and Development Centres.

“The DFCD’s primary function is to develop policies and legislation that promote community development,” Dr Babacan said.

“The Cairns Institute’s focus is on scholarship and research that will build a brighter future for the peoples of the tro pics. This is an exciting partnership for us all.”

Professor Babacan said more than 45 JCU researchers were involved in projects covered by the Memorandum of Agreement.

“We are working with PNG researchers, professionals and community leaders, forging long-lasting partnerships on projects that will make a difference,” Professor Babacan said.

In an international scientific breakthrough, a Griffith University research team has been able to photograph the shadow of a single atom for the first time.

"We have reached the extreme limit of microscopy; you cannot see anything smaller than an atom using visible light," Professor Dave Kielpinski of Griffith University's Centre for Quantum Dynamics in Brisbane.

"We wanted to investigate how few atoms are required to cast a shadow and we proved it takes just one," Professor Kielpinski said.

Published in Nature Communications, "Absorption imaging of a single atom" is the result of work over the last 5 years by the Kielpinski/Streed research team.

At the heart of this Griffith University achievement is a super high-resolution microscope, which makes the shadow dark enough to see. No other facility in the world has the capability for such extreme optical imaging.

Holding an atom still long enough to take its photo, while remarkable in itself, is not new technology; the atom is isolated within a chamber and held in free space by electrical forces.

Professor Kielpinski and his colleagues trapped single atomic ions of the element ytterbium and exposed them to a specific frequency of light. Under this light the atom's shadow was cast onto a detector, and a digital camera was then able to capture the image.

"By using the ultra hi-res microscope we were able to concentrate the image down to a smaller area than has been achieved before, creating a darker image which is easier to see," Professor Kielpinski said.

The precision involved in this process is almost beyond imagining.

"If we change the frequency of the light we shine on the atom by just one part in a billion, the image can no longer be seen," Professor Kielpinski said.

Research team member, Dr Erik Streed, said the implications of these findings are far reaching.

"Such experiments help confirm our understanding of atomic physics and may be useful for quantum computing," Dr Streed said.

There are also potential follow-on benefits for biomicroscopy.

"Because we are able to predict how dark a single atom should be, as in how much light it should absorb in forming a shadow, we can measure if the microscope is achieving the maximum contrast allowed by physics."

"This is important if you want to look at very small and fragile biological samples such as DNA strands where exposure to too much UV light or x-rays will harm the material.

"We can now predict how much light is needed to observe processes within cells, under optimum microscopy conditions, without crossing the threshold and destroying them."

And this may get biologists thinking about things in a different way.

"In the end, a little bit of light just might be enough to get the job done."

A school-based eating disorder prevention program created by researchers from Flinders University is set to become an iPhone app.

Dr Simon Wilksch and Professor Tracey Wade from the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences have received a $50,000 State Government grant to expand Media Smart – an eight-lesson body image program – into a phone application and website.

Aimed at students in Years 7 to 9, the existing media literacy program includes information for teachers, detailed lesson plans and a workbook to educate young people on topics such as airbrushing, media representation and peer pressure.

Dr Wilksch, a postdoctoral fellow from the School of Psychology, said the plan was to now make Media Smart more accessible and relevant to an older adolescent and early-adult audience at high-risk of an eating disorder.

“One of the main points of difference from the original version of Media Smart is that we’re not only taking it online, we’re also enhancing the program to specifically target young adults who are showing early signs of an eating problem,” Dr Wilksch said.

“In the past the program has focused on entire classes of young adolescents in a school-based setting but we’re hoping this time to be able to prevent eating disorders in older, high-risk individuals who might otherwise go on to develop these serious problems,” he said.

Media Smart was developed in 2005, evaluated and later made available for schools to buy and download through the Flinders website in 2010, with the program since running in schools across Australia, Japan and Malaysia.

A large-scale evaluation of the program, involving 540 Year 8 students from 24 South Australian classes, half of which did not complete the course, found that students who took part in Media Smart had significantly lower levels of important eating disorder risk factors, even two years after finishing the course, with 98 per cent describing the program as valuable and enjoyable.

Dr Wilksch said a recent Flinders study of more than 9,000 young women nationally revealed 23 per cent of them were experiencing “disordered eating”, including skipping meals, binge eating and using diet pills, which further highlighted the importance of more accessible support programs.

“Translated to the local context our research suggests that many thousands of young South Australian women are experiencing the numerous serious consequences that accompany disturbed body image and disordered eating,” he said.

“Other studies have told us that young people consider more realistic media messages and greater access to positive body image messages as the two most helpful ways of improving body image, and this project will address both of those needs.”

The future of the Carbon Tax may be uncertain, but a carbon price is here to stay, according to research from The Australian National University released with a commentary in Nature.

The research, by Dr Frank Jotzo of the Crawford School of Public Policy in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, surveyed the views of Australian large emitters, carbon financiers and carbon market experts.

Dr Jotzo found that 79 per cent think that there will be a carbon price in 2020, but 38 per cent think the current scheme will be repealed by the end of 2015. Of those who expect the scheme to be repealed, half think that a carbon price will be reinstated in Australia by 2020.

“The research shows a pervasive uncertainty about the future of Australia’s carbon pricing mechanism. But most respondents think that the carbon price is here to stay. The result is a powerful one in light of the current deep political division in Australia between parties supporting carbon pricing, and parties rejecting it, “said Dr Jotzo.

The study also found significant variation of predictions about the future carbon price.

“The average expected carbon price for the first three years of Australia’s scheme is near the fixed price of $23 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent,” said Dr Jotzo. “But it then falls to a predicted $11 per tonne for 2016, before rising back to $22 per tonne in 2025. A majority of respondents expect a price floor to be in place.

“Averages, though, mask a huge variation of expected outcomes. While 20 per cent of respondents expect a zero effective carbon price at 2020 and 2025, at the other end of the spectrum 20 per cent of experts expect a carbon price of $35 tonne or more in 2025.”

Dr Jotzo added that the survey – conducted by the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy - revealed that larger emitters are already taking actions to reduce emissions, despite the political uncertainty.

“The majority of Australia’s major carbon emitting companies have already taken action to reduce their emissions, and even more expect to make such investments over the next three years.

“Industry is not letting policy uncertainty get in the way of some action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

A study published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has shown that poor school experiences, such as suspension, repeating a grade and risky behavior, such as drug taking and smoking, are important predictors of whether a student will complete year 12.

The School completion: what we learn from different measures of family background report, led by Jacqueline Homel and researchers from ANY’s Social Policy Evaluation, Analysis and Research, uses simple measures of family background to paint a clearer picture of the relationship between disadvantage and educational outcomes.

The study combines data from both the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) and the Youth in Focus (YIF) survey.

“The comparison of LSAY data and the YIF survey provide a broad set of disadvantage measures such as parental and family characteristics, family income, welfare receipt history, students’ early experiences at school and their participation in risky and/or antisocial behaviour,” commented NCVER Managing Director, Dr Tom Karmel.

“The inclusion of these broader measures shows that commonly used indicators of disadvantage, including parental education and occupational status, are less significant than previously indicated. In addition, current family income has only a small effect on Year 12 completion.

“Students who have repeated a school year have a 30 percentage point lower probability of completion (YIF), while students who were ever suspended were 19 percentage points less likely.

“Plans to participate in Year 12 and go on to university increase the probability of achieving these goals by 24 and 8 percentage points, respectively.

“Risky activities such as smoking and alcohol consumption are also a marker of a lower chance of competing year 12.”

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), track young people aged 15- 25 as they move from school into further study, work and other destinations. Analysis of LSAY is produced by NCVER on behalf of the Australian and state and territory Governments with funding provided through the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

Copies of School completion: what we learn from different measures of family background are available from: www.lsay.edu.au/publications/2503.html 

Work in replacing inefficient and gaining irrigation systems and conducting thorough water audits to detect leaks has earned the Western Australian Town of Claremont the title of Waterwise Council.

State Water Minister Bill Marmion congratulated Claremont on becoming the state’s 19^th Waterwise Council, saying the effort made by the down was a major accomplishment.

“Claremont has replaced old, inefficient irrigation systems with new ones to increase the efficiency of water application,” Mr Marmion said.

“The system has leak detection technology, and irrigation scheduling based on the daily evapotranspiration rates to make sure only the minimum amount of water is used to maintain the turf. This is making best use of valuable groundwater resources in watering public open spaces.”

“The town conducted a water audit of the Claremont pool and found some leaks which had caused water spikes of up to 10,000 litres per day,” Mr Marmion said.

“This has been repaired and reduced annual water consumption by half, with further planned scheme water efficiency measures expected to reduce annual consumption by another 34 per cent.”

The Waterwise Council program is run through collaboration between the Department of Water, Water Corporation and the International Council for Local Environment Initiatives - Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). In order to achieve Waterwise Council status, councils must demonstrate improved water management at corporate and community levels by setting and achieving goals to reduce their water consumption.

The South Australian Government has announced plans to extend laws that punish assaults on paramedics or health workers more severely to other areas of the state’s public hospitals.

Under the current laws, which were introduced in 2009, assaulting a paramedic or health worker in an Emergency Department has been treated as aggravated offence, which carries more severe punishment by the courts.

“I will consult with the Attorney General on whether this can be extended to the inpatient areas of our public hospitals, giving staff the additional protection of this more serious offence,” State Minister for Health and Ageing John Hill said.

“As soon as a potentially challenging situation arises, staff can call a code black, bringing in security and other staff to support them and wherever possible avoid aggression escalating into violence.

“Analysis of incidents in our public hospitals shows that most do not involve an intention to harm and that contributing factors include: drugs, alcohol, age-related issues like confusion and dementia, mental health issues and other health conditions such as head injuries.

“In the past year, there’s been an increase of around 4 percent in the number of code blacks called in EDs and around 10 percent for code blacks in the other areas of our major metropolitan hospitals.”

Toll Group has announced the sale of its interstate linehaul and warehousing operations of its Toll Refrigerated business to Automotive Holdings Group, owners of the Rand Refrigerated Logistics, for $6.5 million.

The group’s refrigerated business has revenues of around $75 million and made a small operating loss in the financial year to 30 June. The sale of the business forms part of Toll’s ongoing strategic review of the businesses that started in May.

“Due to the challenging market conditions and margin pressure faced by this business, we concluded that, in this case, divestment was the best option,” Toll Group’s Managing Director Brian Kruger said.

Toll will retain its other refrigerated transport and warehousing operations which are currently provided by other businesses within the Group.

Approximately 100 Toll staff will transfer to Automotive Holdings Group as part of the sale.

Australia Pacific LNG has announced plans to develop a second 4.5 million per annum production train for the coal seam gas to liquefied natural gas project on Curtis Island off Gladstone in Queensland.

The investment in the second stage includes further development of related upstream gas gathering and processing infrastructure as well as the formal approval for Bechtel to commence construction of the second production train.

“Today’s announcement is an important milestone for the Australia Pacific LNG project, and is the final step in the approvals process for our 9.0 mtpa coal seam gas to liquefied natural gas project,” APLNG Chief Executive Officer Page Maxson said.

“Substantial progress has already been made on our project in the gas fields, along the pipeline and at the liquefaction facility; and with this final approval in place, we are on track to supply our customers with a cleaner-burning and reliable energy source.”

Recent modeling by the APLNG shows the fully completed facility will generate 6,000 construction jobs and 1,000 ongoing operational jobs.

“We are focussed on ensuring Queensland benefits from this project through the creation of opportunities for suppliers and contractors, and to date we have spent more than $2.3 billion with local companies,” Mr Maxson said.

The Federal Government has announced a $15.2 million training initiative for 36 communities across the country to assist in the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) under the Digital Hubs and Digital Enterprises program.

The successful applicants will operate 24 Digital Hubs and 20 Digital Enterprise programs to highlight the opportunities of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

These programs will:

• help individuals in local communities improve their online and digital literacy skills;
• assist local residents to understand the opportunities created by the fast, affordable and reliable broadband delivered by the NBN; and
• work with small businesses and not-for-profit organisations to develop their online presence and take full advantage of the NBN.

 “Residents and businesses in these communities will learn about the opportunities and benefits of fast, affordable and reliable broadband, as well as get training and advice about how they can use the NBN,” Minister for Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy said.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has published a report that shows nearly one third of all prison entrants suffer from a mental health issue.

The Mental health of prison entrants in Australia: 2010 shows that 31 per cent of prion entrants report ever being told by a doctor, nurse, psychiatrist or psychologist that they had a mental health disorder, including drug and alcohol abuse.

“This is about 2.5 times higher than the general population,” said AIHW spokesperson Tim Beard.

The study draws on previously collected data from the 2010 National Prisoner Health Census. At the time of the 2010 census, 16 per cent of respondents reported that they were taking medication for a mental health disorder, while 14 per cent reported experiencing very high levels of stress.

“Prison entrants with a history of a mental health disorder have poorer socioeconomic and health characteristics than those without,” Mr Beard said.

“For example, two-thirds were either unemployed or unable to work due to disability, age or other condition.”

According to the survey, prison entrants with a history of mental health disorders had more extensive criminal histories, with about one third of those being imprisoned five or more times.

According to the AIHW, this group was significantly more likely to engage in risky health behaviors, including illicit drug use, smoking and drinking dangerous quantities of alcohol.

“Risky health behaviours are particularly prevalent among those taking medication for a mental health disorder,” Mr Beard said.

“Among these, three-quarters had used illicit drugs in the last 12 months, more than half consumed alcohol at risky levels and nearly 90% smoked.”

About 1 in 3 prison entrants taking medication for a mental health disorder had visited the prison clinic for a mental health issue during the two-week National Prisoner Health Census, with nearly half visiting on three or more occasions.

The Federal Government has announced a $2.3 million grant under its Emerging Renewables Program (ERP) to assist BlueScope Steel’s $5 million development of a prototype building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system.

The BIPV system will see BlueScope develop a new roofing profile that joins Australian steel roofing and inverter systems with international second generation thin-film solar technologies.

The system will provide simultaneous installation of roofing and solar technology, and will be capable of generating energy for the electricity grid.

"Today’s $2.3 million grant, issued under the $126 million Emerging Renewables Program, will allow the mass deployment of this technology across residential, commercial and industrial rooftops in Australia," Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson said.

"The prototype will be easily scaled up to the operational stage ensuring future BIPV systems can be cost-effective without Government subsidies.

"This project will help make Australia a world leader in BIPV development, particularly for thermal roofing featuring flexible thin-film technology."

Australia’s installed rooftop photovoltaic capacity increased from 23 to 1450 megawatts between 2008 and 2012 and is expected to grow to more than 5100MW by 2020 and 12,000MW by 2031.