Industry News

The Western Australian Government has announced an $87.7 million funding package to implement road safety measures across the state.

State Road Safety Minister Rob Johnson said the Government had carefully considered the recommendations from the Road Safety Council in developing the package, which is predominately focused on metropolitan and regional road upgrades and road law enforcement.

“A key aim will be to make our roads safer with upgrades to metropolitan intersections and roadside safety improvements to regional roads in line with our 12-year Towards Zero road safety strategy.

In State Government outlined the following spending initiatives:

• $21.6 million for safety upgrades to metropolitan intersections
• $20.1 million for regional and remote road and roadside safety improvements
• $11.4 million to reduce impaired driving including 48 new concept cars; two concept motorbikes; expanded breath and drug testing; 20 additional drug testing machines; and 20 additional officers to conduct testing, equating to an additional 36,800 hours of enforcement. Community education to reduce drink and drug driving
• $17.9 million to reduce speeding, including 27,500 hours of additional traffic enforcement; additional school crossing zone lights; and community education
• $3.4 million on improving vehicle safety; crash testing; and a study of motorcycle crashes and roadside crash barriers
• $11.6 million on community initiatives such as establishing a road trauma support service, neurotrauma research, local government programs (Roadwise), school education (Road Aware).

The Australian Industry Group (AI Group) has urged the Minimum Wage Panel to take a cautious approach to the upcoming Annual Wage Review, saying that any changes could potentially damage non-mining sectors.

"Fair Work Australia needs to be mindful of the very sharp divergences in business conditions across the country and across different sectors. The severity of conditions in trade-exposed non-mining industries such as manufacturing and tourism and in the retail sector, make these important, big-employing sectors very vulnerable to an excessive wage increase,” Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox said.

AI Group have proposed the following:

• Firstly, that the Federal Minimum Wage be increased by $14.00 per week operative from 1 July 2012, with the same increase applied to award minimum wages.
• Secondly, if the Tribunal decides to grant a percentage increase instead of a flat dollar increase, the $14.00 should be converted to a percentage of the base trade rate (i.e. 2%) and that percentage applied to all classifications.

"The ACTU's proposed increase $26 per week up to the base trade level and 3.8 per cent increase for other classifications is economically unsustainable and would be damaging for the economy," Mr Willox said

Leighton Contractors have won $800 million worth in gas and water contracts in rural and regional Queensland after winning a tender issued by Australia Pacific.

The contract will see Leighton construct the $450 million gas gathering system south of Miles in Central Queensland as well as a number of water treatment facilities at Condabri Central, Talinga and Reedy Creek, with both projects expected to see 1,000 people employed. 

“Partnering with Australia Pacific LNG to deliver this important infrastructure in central Queensland will bring a combination of Leighton Contractors’ world class gas and infrastructure capabilities, as well as our vast experience in environmental management and community engagement,” Craig Laslett, Managing Director of Leighton Contractors said.

The two projects will form part of Australia Pacific LNG’s multi-billion coal seam gas to liquefied natural gas export project.

Under the gas gathering system contract, Leighton Contractors’ scope of works includes the installation, reinstatement and testing of approximately 1,220km poly welded pipeline, 1,730km fibre optic and power cables, and well head equipment. 

Early works for the gas gathering system will commence immediately with construction  scheduled for completion mid 2015. Onsite construction activities for the water treatment facilities will commence in July 2012 and are scheduled for completion in November 2013. 

The Federal Government has announced the 2012 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release, comprising of 27 areas across nine basins in waters off the coast of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

“The 2012 Acreage Release encompasses large frontier basins suited to exploration programs with numerous targets as well as smaller blocks of relinquished and highly prospective acreage in more mature areas,” Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson said.

The high level of early stakeholder participation led to multiple nominations for many of these areas, which are located in a range of water depths and vary in size and exploration history.

“The available acreage is supported by data and analysis by Geoscience Australia and all exploration and development activities will be subject to comprehensive assessment.”

“Today’s Acreage Release will allow offshore petroleum explorers to seek a larger role in an energy revolution, with a high probability of ongoing major petroleum discoveries in Australia, and more than 40 sedimentary basins yet to be fully explored.”

Maps and further information on the release areas and bidding process are available at www.petroleum-acreage.gov.au

Engineers Australia has called for urgent action to help counter the ‘unbalancing effect’ of the dramatic expansion of the resources sector within Western  Australia.

The group has warned that the continuing boom within the sector is destabalising the state’s economy, threatening its long-term viability.

Engineers Australia has published a report calling for a more inclusive and strategic approach, including fostering a long-term approach to innovation, developing a State-wide engineering capability plan to counter skills shortage and attracting more engineers from other States and overseas.

The report makes 14 key reccommendations as part of the group’s strategic vision to meet the State’s engineering workforce needs in 2020.

The report argues that, given the importance of engineering to the State, more must be done to ensure that the resources boom doesn’t compromise the engineering requirements of other sectors, such as that is already being experienced within the local government sector.

“While efforts are underway to graduate more engineers, WA will not produce sufficient numbers to meet the level of demand in the foreseeable future,” says Chris Fitzhardinge, a former president of the WA Division of Engineers Australia and a contributor to the report.

“The consequence of the shortages, coupled with the high Australian dollar and other factors, are causing increased costs for locally supplied engineering goods and services, loss of work to overseas countries and the postponement of projects due to a lack of economic viability”

The full report can be found here (PDF)

The Federal Government has appointed Dr Justin Lee as the country’s new Ambassador for Climate Change, after outgoing ambassador Louise Hand departs the role to take up her new appointment as High Commissioner to Canada.

Dr Lee will act as the country’s lead negotiator within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, having recently completed his appointment as High Commissioner to Bangladesh, as well as having served in a number of foreign affairs positions.

"I look forward to working with Dr Lee in steering Australia's efforts towards the realisation of a global solution to the grim reality of climate change,” Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Bob Carr said.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, also welcomed Dr Lee’s placement.

"Dr Lee will be at the helm of Australia's ongoing negotiations to support a robust, binding new global agreement to provide a significant outcome for global carbon markets over the short, medium and long term,” Mr Combet said.

"I am confident Dr Lee will excel in this challenging role, securing outcomes that will help efforts to tackle climate change and help establish Australia as a key player in a new global clean energy economy."

Senator Carr thanked Ms Hand for her service in the role, which she occupied since 2009.

"As Ambassador for Climate Change, High Commissioner Hand was integral to Australia's contribution to international negotiations, including the Durban outcome,' he said.

An African uranium mine owned by Australia’s Paladin Energy has stopped work for 22 hours due to strike action from its employees.

The work force at the Kayelekera site walked off in protest of the company’s refusal to grant a 66% pay increase after the country suffered a 50% devaluation to the currency.

Unscheduled plant maintenance was performed during this period. The plant is expected to operate at about 65% capacity until striking national employees return to work.

The Managing Director/CEO, Mr John Borshoff, described the industrial action as “extremely unfortunate.”

He said: “Kayelekera Mine has been producing on target. It is indeed a great pity that this excellent performance will be marred by unnecessary and illegal industrial action. While it will have some impact on the Company’s total annual production results, we do not believe this will be significant if our national employees heed the advice of Government officials and return to work on Tuesday, 15 May 2012.”

Global charity and advocacy group, Save the Children, has published its annual report into the quality of life for mothers, showing that Australia’s ranking has slipped, precipitated by a lack of quality maternity leave.

Although Australia scored seven on the overall Mothers’ Index Rankings, it had slipped several places, while New Zealand took 4^th position.

The group found that Australia mothers are not faring as well as those in other western countries when comparing maternity leave and other options.

The report concluded that the Federal Government’s current maternity leave is lacking behind other countries.

"Probably one of the factors that's bringing us down the most is our paid parental leave scheme. It's recently introduced this year, 18 weeks at a flat rate," spokeswoman Nicole Cardinal told the ABC.

"That is less generous than what we see in most countries around the developed world. Norway, which came in at the top for instance, has about 36 to 46 weeks for women at almost full pay."

The Federal Government has announced that up to 400 new jobs will be created in Victoria as the National Broadband Network (NBN) is rolled out.

“Through the National Broadband Network, all Australians will access fast affordable broadband. The NBN will deliver tremendous economic benefits to Victoria and Australia through increased productivity, greater employment opportunities, and better access to information and services,” Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said.

The jobs will be generated through the $40 million investment in the NBN Co’s Clayton operations, which is expected to boost employment levels by between 300 and 400 jobs at the peak of the NBN rollout.

The Climate Commission has published a NSW specific section of its Critical Decade report, detailing the expected impacts of climate change on the state.

The report found that the state is becoming hotter and drier, with record breaking hot days having doubled since 1960, and the number of days above 30 degrees almost doubling.

The report also found that while wet periods are expected, the norm will trend towards declining rainfall, jeopardizing Sydney’s water security.

The trend towards hot and dry weather has also made the state substantially more bushfire prone, with very high fire danger days becoming more frequent.

The report found that coastal infrastructure in NSW is vulnerable to flooding from the anticipated 1.1 metre rise in sea levels by the end of the century, with between 40,000-60,000 houses, 1200 commercial buildings and a 250 kilometre stretch of highway at risk of inundation.

The Climate Commission has continued to strongly argue for the decarbonisation of the country’s economy, finding that the longer the country depends on fossil fuels the more costly it will be.

The Commission concluded that the state is well-placed to capitalise on the global trend towards clean energy, with the sector attracting $263 billion worth of investment in 2011, representing one of the fastest growing sectors in the world.

The full report can be found here (PDF)

Mr Greg Bourne has been appointed acting chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency board (ARENA).

ARENA commences on 1 July 2012 as a key component of the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future package, consolidating $3.2 billion in funding for renewable energy innovation.

The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP has also appointed Dr Brian Spalding to the ARENA board, in addition to the ex-officio appointment of Mr Drew Clarke, Secretary of the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (RET).

“ARENA’s independent board will have a mix of skills in renewable energy technology, business investment, commercialisation and corporate governance,” Minister Ferguson said.

“Mr Bourne and Dr Spalding’s experience and drive will ensure ARENA gets off to a good start and maintains momentum in Australia’s renewable energy sector.”

Mr Bourne brings to the board an extensive background in renewable energy development and project commercialisation, including as a former director of Carnegie Wave Energy and chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund Australia from 2004 to 2010.

Dr Spalding is a current Australian Energy Market Commissioner with more than 30 years’ experience in power system operations, as well as providing continuity from the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy board. 

Australia is fast becoming a destination for work, as well as play, with new Tourism Research Australia (TRA) figures estimating $10 billion was spent in 2011 by business event visitors. 

The Business Events Visitors 2011 snapshot shows that business travel has recovered from the Global Financial Crisis and a $1.8 billion decline in visitor expenditure in 2009.

The Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson AM MP, said Australia is increasingly seen as an attractive option for international business event visitors.

“Compared to 2010, international business event visitor expenditure rose by 14 per cent and international business event visitor numbers rose by eight per cent to 881,000,” Minister Ferguson said.

“International business event visitors have also spent more time in the country, an increase of 12 per cent to 14 million nights in 2011.

“This is important for the industry as the business travel market is a high-yield market, with business event travellers generally spending $100 per night more than other types of traveller,” said Mr Ferguson.

Global technology provider Fujitsu has launched a $60 million upgrade of its Noble Park data centre in Melbourne.

The investment by Fujitsu focused on security, connectivity and availability enhancements to provide its 2,000 Australian enterprise and government customers with increased access to secure hosting services.

The Noble Park facility is also now operating as one of the most energy efficient facilities of its size in the country.

The Noble Park facility, which was purpose-built for Fujitsu in 1988, is a 6,700m² building on 18,600m² of land. Following the upgrade to Tier III standards, the design incorporates 4 main data halls suitable for cabinet and cage installations. Fujitsu data centres have a power usage effectiveness (PUE) target of 1.7 and the company reports all greenhouse gas emissions produced by Noble Park, as well as all others in its Australian data centre network, to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System (NGERS).

Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand chief executive officer Mike Foster said in the last few years Fujitsu had made significant local investments in new technology areas including data centres, cloud services, application development and managed services.

"We will continue to invest in ensuring that our customers have access to the best possible infrastructure in the region," Mr Foster said.

"The Noble Park upgrade is consistent with this strategy. The facility makes a key contribution to Fujitsu's global data centre capability, which includes over 100 data centres worldwide."

Fujitsu services over 2,000 customers in Australia and New Zealand and has a presence in over 100 countries.

The Australian Energy Regulator has issued the 2010 electricity performance report for the Victorian distribution network service providers (DNSPs).

The report presents the 2010 financial and service quality performance of Victoria's five electricity DNSPs:

• CitiPower
• Jemena Electricity Networks
• Powercor
• SP AusNet
• United Energy Distribution.

The report aims to provide greater transparency about the financial and service quality performance of the distributors. It compares performance over time, since 1999, and between businesses to encourage improved services for customers.

When extreme events outside the DNSPs' control are excluded, the Victorian DNSPs reported improved supply reliability, compared to 2009. The AER notes that 2009 was a particularly bad year for reliability for service due to the heatwave experienced in Victoria.

Unplanned minutes-off-supply and unplanned interruptions are two key indicators of customer reliability. The report found that compared with 2009, the unplanned minutes-off-supply fell by 27 per cent and there was a 16 per cent decrease in the number of unplanned interruptions.

In addition, improved reliability in 2010 has generally meant a large decrease in guaranteed service level payments to customers who experienced particularly poor levels of reliability. However, there were increases in payments for failure to be on time for appointments arranged with customers.

The report is available on the AER website, www.aer.gov.au.

The Victorian Government has announced details of the next phase of the rollout of its $100 million Energy for the Regions program.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural Development Peter Ryan said the strategy would explore new opportunities to get energy and infrastructure sectors focused on delivering natural gas to communities in regional and rural Victoria.

"Over the past 12 months, Regional Development Victoria and its independent technical advisers have been engaged in a rigorous process of reviewing bids received from gas suppliers as part of the first direct negotiation phase," Mr Ryan said.

"We are very pleased to announce that through this process, the Coalition Government has successfully reached agreement for two regional gas projects in Mildura and Huntly.

"Now the government is stepping up its campaign with a broadened strategy to engage natural gas suppliers to deliver natural gas to other priority areas."

Mr Ryan said the expanded strategy would explore both conventional and alternative options for the delivery of reticulated natural gas to communities and industry in regional Victoria.

"The uncertain economic climate impacted on the direct bidding process, which ultimately did not elicit the strong response we had anticipated for a number of communities," Mr Ryan said.

"This new strategy will look at a wider range of options, such as proposals to decant and transport Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the outskirts of regional towns or industrial estates, reducing the significant costs involved in the construction of major pipelines and associated infrastructure."

Mr Ryan said the expanded strategy, due to commence in the second half of 2012, would include a plan to offer gas distributors a fixed subsidy 'bounty' amount to supply priority towns.

"The 'bounty' offer will utilise information gained through the process to date along with work separately completed by RDV's technical advisers," Mr Ryan said.

"In addition, bids will be invited from the market for a CNG/LNG delivery system and local town reticulation networks."

Mr Ryan said the Coalition Government remained strongly committed to providing more regional Victorians with access to natural gas.

"With a positive result for the people of Huntly and Mildura now achieved, the government will focus on the delivery of natural gas to other priority communities including Avoca, Lakes Entrance, Invermay, Winchelsea, Heathcote, Orbost, Warburton, Marong, Bannockburn, Terang, Wandong-Heathcote Junction and Maldon."

The Commonwealth and Victorian Governments have announced a $570 million construction contract for the Regional Rail Link.

The $570 million contract was awarded to a consortium consisting of: John Holland, Abigroup, Coleman Rail, AECOM & GHD, who will partner with MTM, V/Line and the Regional Rail Link Authority to deliver the works between the City and the Maribyrnong River.

The scope of works includes:

• Construction of a new 1 kilometre rail overpass over the Maribyrnong River area;
• A rail-over-rail flyover between the Maribyrnong River and Hopkins Street Footscray;
• 4.5 kilometres of new tracks to separate metropolitan and regional trains within Melbourne's busiest rail junction;
• Extensive track reconfiguration and major upgrades to the existing North Melbourne rail-over-rail flyover which will be used to access platforms 1-8 at Southern Cross Station;
• Major bridge modifications at Dynon Road, Moonee Ponds Creek, Lloyd Street and Dudley Street; and
• A new twin track rail bridge over Dudley Street in West Melbourne.

This is the second last contract to be awarded for the multi-billion dollar project and covers the track works between the City (Southern Cross Station) and the Maribyrnong River including a new 1 kilometre rail overpass over the Maribyrnong River which will facilitate the movement of regional trains between the inner west and Southern Cross Station.

When complete in 2016, the Regional Rail Link will remove major bottlenecks from Victoria’s public transport system by separating regional and metropolitan trains.

The announcement follows the three contracts awarded in December last year for signalling and design and construction works between Footscray and Werribee.

The Regional Rail Link project is being built with $3.2 billion in funding from the Australian Government and the Victorian Government contributing the balance.

Delivery of the Regional Rail Link project involves a total of six major packages of work, with the only remaining contract at West Werribee Junction to be awarded in the middle of 2012.

NSW Water Commissioner, David Harriss, has invited comment on the proposed water shepherding arrangements for the Barwon-Darling river system and its tributaries.

“Following the NSW and Commonwealth governments Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on shepherding water for the environment, the NSW Government is investigating and seeking to agree on an approach for the introduction of water shepherding in NSW,” said Mr Harriss.

“The proposed arrangements look at the feasibility of shepherding Commonwealth environmental water from the Barwon-Darling system and its tributaries, including those commencing in Queensland, through the Menindee Lakes to the River Murray system.”

Mr Harriss said the objective is to optimise the use of water entitlements purchased by the Commonwealth for the environment, and to provide the capacity to deliver water to high priority environmental assets downstream, without reducing the reliability of supply to existing water users.

“After considering various options an ‘end-of-system’ accounting and dealing framework for water shepherding is proposed. These proposed arrangements ensure a ‘transparent rules’ based approach, utilising existing frameworks.”

“Consistent with the MoU, one of the guiding principles in the development of the methodology is that there are no adverse impacts on third parties, such as irrigators.”

“We now invite all interested parties to review and comment on the draft proposed water shepherding arrangements during the consultation period. Submissions close on 2 July 2012.”

“During this period, direct consultation with peak stakeholder representative groups will be conducted to ensure the approach to shepherding and the eventual operational procedures are informed by the views of interested people.”

“The NSW Government is committed to continuing to restore the health of rivers and wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin – water shepherding is another important aspect in achieving this goal, whilst maintaining the productive use of water for communities that depend on the resource,” Mr Harriss said.

All responses will be considered and it is anticipated that a detailed water shepherding implementation plan will be completed by mid-2012.

Detailed information, including the Proposed arrangements for Shepherding Environmental Water in NSW - draft for consultation, Shepherding Water for the Environment – Progress of the NSW Water Shepherding Project 2011 document, the MoU and a submission form is available at www.water.nsw.gov.au

The University of Adelaide has entered a partnership with the Shanxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Zhendong Pharmaceutical Company to form Zhendong Australia China Centre for Molecular Traditional Chinese Medicine.

At the University of Adelaide, the Zhendong Centre will be based within the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science. The Centre will investigate the mode of action of Traditional Chinese Medicine using the rapidly growing field of Systems or Network Biology which looks at the regulation of complex biological systems in the body.

"The application of systems biology to Traditional Chinese Medicine is particularly exciting because it explores what effects there may be on the molecular/genetic networks that are altered in sickness," said Director of the Zhendong Centre, Professor David Adelson.

"This not only will provide us with an understanding of how Traditional Chinese Medicine acts - supporting its evidence-based integration into Western medicine - but will also increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying disease."

Professor Adelson has also been appointed Chair for the Molecular Basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a new Chair endowed by Zhendong Pharmaceutical Company as part of its investment in this research.

The Queensland Government has opened the plan for the proposed $500 million coking coal project in the Cape York Peninsula for public comment.

The Queensland Coordinator-General has is due to release the draft terms of reference for the proposed underground mine, which is about 150 kilometres north of Cooktown.

“The mine has the potential to operate for at least 30 years and could export 1.5 million tonnes of coking coal per year, meaning it would be important to the economic development and Indigenous employment in Cape York and Far North Queensland,” Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Jeffy Seeney said.

The proposed Aust-Pac Capital mine is situated on freehold land owned by the Kalpowar Aboriginal Land Trust.

The call for comment comes after the project was declared significant last month, meaning an environmental impact statement will now be required and will run concurrently with a Federal Government environmental assessment.

“The draft terms of reference form the basis of the project’s EIS which will consider the environmental, social and economic implications of the proposed mine,” Mr Seeney said. 

The draft terms of reference can be viewed here

All public submissions must be in writing and received by the Coordinator-General by 5pm on Tuesday 12 June 2012. 

Post: The Coordinator-General 
c/- EIS project manager – Wongai Project 
Significant Projects Coordination 
PO Box 15517 
City East Qld 4002 

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The potential closure of Caltex's Kurnell refinery would be a body blow to the NSW economy, and would leave Australian motorists exposed to future petrol prices, says the Australian Worker’s Union.

AWU National Secretary Paul Howes today said the future of the Kurnell refinery was on a knife's edge, with about 800 jobs at risk.

"Caltex will ultimately make a commercial decision based on whether or not they can make more profit by importing petrol, rather than refining it in Australia.

"It is clearly a marginal decision for the company, but the implications for motorists and workers are serious – especially if Caltex gets it wrong.

"Retaining a local manufacturing presence would give Caltex greater flexibility, and would be an important safeguard for motorists should there be a spike in the cost of imported fuel."

Mr Howes said the AWU was working with Caltex's local management to deliver productivity gains at the Kurnell refinery.

"The Kurnell refinery plays an important role in Australia's energy security. We cannot afford to reduce our domestic refining capacity."