Industry News

Colonial First State has announced a major shake-up of its executive management team, with Chief Executive Officer Brian Bissaker reportedly leaving his post after the role being made redundant.

Group executive, wealth management, Annabel Spring confirmed the restructuring, saying that the changes were being made in response to regulatory impacts, the acquisition of Count Financial and the continued growth fo the advice business.

“I would like to thank Brian for his substantial contribution to Colonial Frist State over the past 10 years, including the development of a very strong team, reaching number one in satisfaction and attaining $59 billion in platform funds.” Ms Spring said.

Also announced in the restructure was Marianne Perkvic’s promotion to leading the Advice business, while Linda Elkins will assume interim responsibility for the remaining business units. 

The ANZ has released its job advertising figures for April, finding the total number of job advertisements have fallen 3.1 per cent in April after rising 0.7 per cent in March, meaning the results are about 1.7 per cent lower than the April 2011 level.

The results show that despite a continued weakness across all states and territories, except the NT, the mining states are continuing to show stronger labour conditions, with Queensland also enjoying a strong market.

The release of the data coincides with the ABS publishing unemployment details, which found a 0.2 per cent drop in the unemployment rate to 4.9 per cent.

The report can be found here

Mining giant BHP Billiton has announced it intends to continue the consolidation of its Stainless Steel Materials and Aluminum Customer Sector Groups (CSGs) into a single CSG to be named Aluminum and Nickel.

According to the company, the new CSG will be headquartered in Perth under the leadserhip of Glenn Kellow as President.  

The CSG will include all nickel and aluminum assets in the portfolio, including Nickel West and Worsley, Cerro Matoso, Mozal, Hillside and Bayside and two non-operated joint ventures, Alumar and Mineracao Rio do Norte.

BHP Billiton Chief Executive Aluminium, Nickel and Corporate Development, Alberto Calderon said: “Despite the current challenges, BHP Billiton is committed to Aluminium and Nickel as commodities that may benefit from later phases of economic development in the emerging economies.

“However, individually, Aluminium and Nickel are small divisions relative to the other businesses in BHP Billiton. The combination of these into a single business unit will provide appropriate scale within the BHP Billiton portfolio, as well as simplifying the functional structure of the business to assist in our efforts to make it a more efficient and competitive organisation.”

The Western Australian Government has expressed its concerns over the expected cut to GST revenue, with Premier Colin Barnett saying up to $500 million is expected to be removed from the state’s coffers.

Mr Barnett warned that the sharpest drop in funding is likely to be in the area of training, which Mr Barnett says could not come at a worse time.

"The commonwealth and state had been working well on training, but the commonwealth is now reducing its commitment in this state where we need to train people because there are jobs and labour shortages," Mr Barnett told reporters.

"For the coming year, the state has picked up that shortfall, but we can't continue to do that because we haven't got the GST share to help fund it.

"You're going to see impacts in a lot of those commonwealth/state partnership agreements, and I think that's unfortunate."

South Australian Treasurer Jack Snelling also expressed his concerns with the budget spending.

"What we've got will be the largest writedown in revenue a treasurer in South Australia has ever had to face," Mr Snelling said.

South Australia is likely to face a $2.8 billion hit to its budget over the coming four years as GST revenues and state revenues drop significantly.

"As a government, we are committed to producing a fiscally responsible and financially sustainable state budget.

"In the wake of these revenue falls, tough decision will need to be made."

Queensland has joined other states in voicing their concerns, with State Treasuerer Tim Nicholls saying the Federal Government forgot the state.

“Queensland has received no funding for critical road, rail and port infrastructure across the state,” Mr Nicholls said.

“We have also suffered a cut of $2.5 billion in Specific Purpose Payments (SPP’s) for the next financial year which will result in cuts to services like skills and workforce development, community services, affordable housing and environmental payments.” 

The Federal Court has ruled that Energy Watch breached consumer law over 80 times, misleading consumers in relation to its energy price comparison service and the savings that could be achieved through the service.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) pursued action against the company in the High Court, which found that former CEO, Benjamin Polis, was personally culpable through his role as the voice-over in the radio advertisements.

The High Court found that the advertisements mislead consumers in contravention of of sections 18(1), 29(1) and 34 of the ACL. They comprised of:

• 8 television advertisements broadcast in Melbourne and/or Brisbane,
• 9 radio advertisements broadcast in Brisbane,
• 33 print advertisements in The Age and Herald Sun newspapers,
• A wrap around to an issue of the AFL Record,
• Statements made on an Energy Watch website and other websites,
• 11 billboards in or around Melbourne; and
• Advertisements on a scoreboard at the MCG during 3 AFL games in the 2011 AFL season.

Energy Watch had also falsely represented that:

• It had an adequate basis to claim that it had saved residential customers $386 and business customers $1,878 in the 12 months following switching their energy retailer through Energy Watch;
• It would save residential and business customers those amounts in the 12 months following switching their energy retailer through Energy Watch.

“Energy Watch blatantly misled consumers about the service it provides and the savings they could obtain, as Energy Watch was earning commissions from its preferred suppliers for each customer who switched to them using the Energy Watch service,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

FYX, a new New Zealand ISP, has launched its first internet services in the country, promising to negate geo-location blocking on US services such as Netflix.

The company, which describes itself as an ISP that is ‘all about open access and freedom’, has promised to allow its users access to global services that have been traditionally blocked by a system of geographic restrictions.

“There is a bunch of stuff on the internet that a few of us didn't have the freedom to access (without stealing it, and we aren't into that). So we decided to FYX the internet by removing some of the barriers that were getting in the way of great choice,” the company announced on its website. 

The Teach Next Program has been modified to provide additional support to facilitate involvement in the program while at the same time cutting the number of placement offers expected to be secured for 2012. The changes will result in savings of $2.0 million over five years.

Teach Next was allocated $18.1 million in the 2011-12 Budget to establish a new pathway into teaching for 450 career-change professionals with relevant qualifications and experience to address known critical teacher shortages in specialised areas such as mathematics and science.

Following consultation with stakeholders and providers, the Government has agreed to provide additional financial assistance to:

• program participants to assist with study costs and relocation;
• teacher employers to support participant selection, placement and mentor release; and
• providers to assist in meeting the costs of recruitment and course delivery.

Participants may also be eligible for a FEE-HELP loan to fund the difference between the Commonwealth's contribution and the cost of the course.

The changes to the program will also revise participant numbers downwards from 450 to 395 and will be managed in four separate intakes over the four years of the program.

Further information can be found here.

The Federal Budget has allocated $14.3 million over three years to expand the Teach Remote Program, an initiative of the National Alliance of Remote Indigenous Schools (NARIS).

NARIS consists of 170 schools from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, enrolling around 16,500 Indigenous students.

The Teach Remote Program is focused on establishing a remote teacher network and standardising professional development for teachers in core subjects relating to the teaching of Indigenous students in remote communities.

Under Stage 2 of the program, the Government will provide support for:

• salary supplements of $10,000 in the first year and $20,000 in the second year to attract and retain up to 200 teachers; and
• one‑off payments of $1,000 to teachers to undertake professional development training in best practice in working with Indigenous students in remote sittings.

The Government will also provide additional funding to NARIS to maintain existing streams of work and to undertake new work such as resolving teacher registration and mobility issues.

The Australian Government has announced it will amalgamate the National School Drug Education Strategy, and the Values Education and Values Drugs programs into one program to create the Student Resilience and Wellbeing Program, creating savings of $10.3 million over four years.

The government maintains that consolidation of these programs will achieve administrative and financial efficiencies and allow for the development of a national approach to building student resilience and wellbeing while still supporting the policy intent of the original programs.

Savings under this measure will offset an increase in funding to the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority for the development of, amongst other things, a Health and Physical Education Curriculum. The curriculum will provide opportunities to support students to develop the resilience, knowledge and skills to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing.

The Federal Budget has cut the reward payments payable to primary and secondary schools under the proposed Reward for School Improvement program.

Reward payments will decrease from $75,000 to $50,000 for primary schools and from $100,000 to $75,000 for secondary schools. The number of schools receiving payments is unchanged.

The Rewards for School Improvement Program will provide payments to schools that have shown the most improved performance over 12 months, based on the proposed National School Improvement Framework.

The Government has announced it will postpone implementation of the National Trade Cadetships (NTC) initiative by one year to 2013-14, saving revenues of $12.5 million over two years from 2011-2012.

In 2011-12 an NTC Advisory Panel was formed under the leadership of Professor Denise Bradley to guide the development and implementation of the NTC initiative.

From 2013, students from Year 9 to 12 will be offered a new Cadetship as an option under the Australian Curriculum. The Cadetship will be delivered through local Trade Training Centres and other eligible venues.

The Federal Budget has cut funding to the Digital Education Revolution (DER) project pool in 2011‑12 to to provide savings of $24.4 million.

The DER project pool was established to provide funding for national initiatives that support the aims of the DER, such as the National Digital Learning Resources Framework. Funding of $6.0 million in 2012‑13 and $4.0 million in 2013‑14 will be available to continue funding these national initiatives.

The Federal Government has outlined $233.7 million in Budget spending for the continued rollout of a national eHealth system.

The rollout will allow Australians to register to creat a personal eHealth record, which will serve to ensure they receive the care they need from 1 July.

“It will be much easier for Australians with complex and chronic health conditions to ensure that all their health practitioners are able to access their medical history, making diagnosis quicker and more accurate.”

“We have made good progress in the past two years in the development of Australia’s eHealth system. This Budget provides certainty as we move from its development to its operation.”

eHealth spending in the 2012-13 Budget comprises –

• $161.6 million to operate the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system for the next two years, including registration and customer support, adoption support and benefits monitoring and evaluation;
• $4.6 million to maintain safeguards for privacy-related aspects of the PCHER system. This will mean that people can be confident that the privacy of their personal health information is fully protected; and
• $67.4 million as the Commonwealth’s share of joint funding with the states and territories for the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) work program for the next two years. This is to operate and maintain critical services and standards for the secure electronic exchange of health information, including healthcare identifiers, authentication services and eHealth standards.

The Federal Government has announced it will postpone the development of the Australian Baccalaureate for two years to save expenditure of $8.5 million over three years.

The Australian Baccalaureate is intended to be a voluntary internationally recognised qualification that will complement existing senior secondary school qualifications. Consultations for its development were due to begin in 2013‑14 with rollout expected in 2015 or 2016. However, components of the National Curriculum that are intended to support the Australian Baccalaureate have been delayed, which in turn will delay the rollout of the Baccalaureate.

The Federal budget has cut  funding for the National Career Development Strategy from 30 June 2012, generating savings of $17.0 million over three years.

The National Career Development Strategy was introduced as part of the National Career Development program to assist young people aged 15‑24 to transition from schooling into further education, training or employment.

The Government will continue to fund existing National Career Development initiatives under the National Partnership Agreement on Youth Attainment and Transitions which terminates on 31 December 2013.

Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased 0.2 percentage points to 4.9 per cent in April, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). There was also a decrease in the labour force participation rate of 0.1 percentage points in April to 65.2 per cent.

The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 15,500 to 11,501,000 in April. The increase in employment was driven by increased part-time employment, up 26,000 people to 3,438,200, and was offset by decrease in full-time employment, down 10,500 people to 8,062,800. The increase in employment was mainly driven by an increase in male part-time employment.

The number of people unemployed decreased by 28,800 people to 598,200 in April, the ABS reported.

The ABS monthly aggregate hours worked series showed an increase in April, up 6.6 million hours to 1,633.9 million hours.

There has been some interest recently in how changes in the Australian population impact on the estimates of employment from the Labour Force Survey. The responses collected from the sample of people in the survey are weighted to projections of the Australian population for the current quarter. These population projections are based on the most up-to-date information available, but are different to the official estimates of resident population that are calculated at a later date. In order to explain these issues, the ABS has produced a special feature article "Population Benchmarks and the Labour Force Survey" in this month's publication. 

More details are in the April 2012 issue of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), as well as the upcoming April 2012 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed (cat. no. 6291.0.55.001) due for release next week on May 17. Both publications are available for free download (after release) from the ABS website - www.abs.gov.au.

The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) and GS1 Australia have joined forces to create a new high level industry working group to improve supply chain efficiency and product traceability.

The ALC Supply Chain Standards Working Group will be comprised of industry experts from across the supply chain who will focus on better aligning the transport and logistics sector with Australian industry in the adoption of global standards for identification, information capture and sharing across supply chains.

“Australia’s rising freight task, coupled with low levels of productivity in the transport sector means industry must use all the tools at its disposal to improve supply chain efficiency” said Michael Kilgariff, ALC Managing Director.

“Central to this is adopting a whole of supply chain approach to the way in which we identify and utilise new and emerging technologies, as well as foster new opportunities on the horizon.

“The ALC Supply Chain Standards Working Group will play an important role in the future growth and prosperity of the freight logistics industry by improving productivity through improved supply chain efficiency and product and shipment traceability.”

According to GS1 Australia CEO Maria Palazzolo, “Many Australian industries have already adopted GS1 standards to reduce supply chain costs and are now seeking the same approach from their transport and logistics providers. The limited use of global standards is not confined to Australia and has resulted in the recent establishment of a GS1 Global T&L Interest Group.

“I am extremely pleased that the ALC has agreed to create this Working Group to align with industry requirements both locally and globally,” she said.

The Working Group Objectives are to:

• Work with industry groups to help resolve supply chain issues including non-compliant pallet labelling, poor intermodal visibility, rapid recall and withdrawal of defective products and poor data quality.
• Align the T&L sector with Australian industry in the adoption of global standards for identification, information capture and sharing across supply chains.
• Consider the potential benefits that other relevant technologies and services may provide
• Develop a work plan that provides a possible T&L industry roadmap to implement global GS1 standards and related industry solutions.
• Develop industry guidelines and case studies.

ALC Members are eligible to be on the Working Group. Other industry members may be invited to contribute by invitation of the ALC Board.  The Terms of Reference for the Supply Chain Standards Working Group is available at www.austlogistics.com.au under the Regulation tab.

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government has launched a report into how Australia’s communities are embracing the potential of community governance.

The findings have practical implications for the development of a community governance approach and a recognition that community governance requires new ways of working and new ways of understanding the roles of the different parties.

For Local Government

Finding 1 Local government's communities have a stronger expectation that they will be involved in decisions which affect them, and this may influence the way in which individuals vote.

Finding 2 Size and geography both matter.

Finding 3 A community governance approach changes the roles of elected members, from a purely representative democracy model to one where community input is sought issue by issue.

Finding 4 It is critical that all parties are well informed.

Finding 5 A community governance approach highlights the importance of ensuring that the council is able to hear all the voices within the community and not just the traditional 'squeaky wheels' or other loud voices.

Finding 6 In all councils it is councillors who have ultimate responsibility for the council's policy on community engagement but there is a need to tailor actual delivery to the circumstances of the individual council, other pressures on elected members, and the council's culture and structure.

Finding 7 Most councils involved in the study have recognised in different ways the need for community capability building initiatives and community governance often amounts to a process for decision-making about a particular place or places within the larger area served by a council.

Finding 8 Place-based management virtually amounts to a prerequisite for a genuinely effective and comprehensive approach to community governance, and there is likely to be a growing trend for councils to look at reorganising their structures to reflect this.

Finding 9 There is likely to be tension between state government planning, for example planning directed to allocating anticipated population increases within metropolitan centres, and a community governance approach. The former is a top-down approach to imposing decisions on individual communities and the latter a bottom-up approach expressing the community's preferences. Finding 10 Councils adopting a community governance approach recognise the need for three separate roles: around decision-making and implementation, facilitation, and advocacy. Finding 11 The development of community governance as discussed in this report should remain free from statutory direction.

For Community banking

Finding 1 Community banking can be seen either as a stand-alone phenomenon specific to a particular sector and firm, or as a specific example of a more general case; how communities can retake a measure of control over services which in recent years have been centralised away from communities because of issues such as economies of scale (cost cutting), regulatory intervention etc. Seen in this latter way, community banking suggests other possibilities for community delivery of market-based services.

Finding 2 It seems likely that the community reinvestment activity of community bank branches will become an increasingly important contributor to community governance within their catchments. Finding 3 There is a growing recognition of the importance of having good information about the nature of community need, and different means for addressing it. This is likely to result in increased collaboration between local government and community banking.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS


The evolution of community governance is now a significant development both within local government and through other networks such as community banking. It clearly reflects a growing interest on the part of communities in being much more closely involved in decisions which affect them. The likelihood is that this interest will underpin a continuing shift towards a community governance approach. It is therefore important to draw on learning from this project to determine what can best be done to facilitate the further evolution of community governance. In particular, the emerging relationship between local government and community banking provides a useful way of identifying the pivotal role of local government as the 'soft infrastructure' within the community with the capacity required both to identify the community's needs, preferred options and priorities, and to provide the necessary research and policies.


Within local government, the development of community governance has benefited from the freedom which individual councils have had to develop their own responses to its development as they have perceived it. It is important that this freedom from legislative direction remains – there is no 'one size fits all' approach to community governance, and there is enough diversity amongst different councils to make it clear that finding tailored local solutions will often be the best approach.

At the same time, an understanding of the very real strength of being able to develop solutions unique to the circumstances of individual councils needs to be tempered with recognising the benefits of sharing experience, and identifying common issues which are best approached collectively.

The report finds that consideration should be given to the following:

• A further review of the respective roles of elected members, management and community organisations in community governance with the objective of sharing experience and considering whether there are specific changes required. Such a review would best be undertaken by or on behalf of the sector itself rather than by a higher tier of government.
  
  
• Establishing processes and mechanisms by which councils (and others) involved with community governance can share their experience. This could include an interactive website as a means for documenting current practices and facilitating discussion of the issues arising.
  
  
• Professional development and capacity building programs for elected members, council management and community groups who may be involved in community governance activity.
  
  
• A study of success factors for community governance from a community perspective, exploring the conditions under which communities succeed in establishing community governance as a genuine way of working.
  
  
• Ongoing engagement with the community banking network in order to support its community governance potential. This may be best achieved by working collaboratively with Bendigo’s Community Banking Strategic Advisory Board.
  
  
• Examination of the extent to which complex regulatory frameworks represent a barrier, or at least a disincentive, to the further development of community governance. One way forward may be to learn from councils and communities who are seeking to overcome these barriers.

For a full copy of the report download from www.acelg.org.au

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has received new funding totalling $180.2 million over four years in the 2012-13 budget.

The Government has allocated $101.9 million over four years in operational funding. ASIC previously received non-ongoing funding to cover operating activities, including $28.8 million in 2011-12. Provision of this funding enables ASIC to continue to provide current levels of regulation and supervision of the financial market.

ASIC will also receive $23.9 million over four years to facilitate the implementation and enforcement of the Future of Financial Advice reforms.

The Government will provide $43.7 million over four years (including $16.3 million in capital) to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to replace its current market surveillance system with an enhanced, integrated system with increased data mining and analysis capacity.

The cost of this measure will be offset by additional fees of $33.0 million over four years on market operators and participants.

ASIC will further receive $10.7 million over four years to develop and maintain an online registration system for auditors of self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs). As part of the registration process, ASIC will develop a competency exam and be responsible for the deregistration of non-compliant auditors.

Up to 4,200 Commonwealth public servants will lose their jobs as a result of measures in the 2012-13 budget, with 3000 expected to be made redundant over the next 14 months.

The CPSU is calling on the Government to guarantee that the job reductions will be done without forced redundancies.

CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said "Finance Minister Penny Wong said last November that the Government had a 'strong expectation' that the 4 per cent efficiency dividend would be met without the need for forced redundancies.

"We welcomed Minister's Wong's statement at the time. Now that the budget position is finally known, we are seeking confirmation from the Government that there will be no forced redundancies," said Ms Flood.

The union also warned that cuts to the public sector will hit regional areas hard pointing out that two third of federal public servants are located outside Canberra.

"Some of the biggest cuts were in agencies with the largest regional footprint such as Tax Defence and Human Services," said Ms Flood.

"We are concerned that public servants in regional centres such as Toowoomba, Wagga Wagga, Newcastle, Nowra, Darwin, Townsville, Hobart and other towns will struggle to find other work if there are redundancies in their offices.  In many parts of regional Australia the federal public sector is one of the biggest employers.  It is vitally important that every effort is made to maintain public sector employment in regional areas where good jobs are hard to find," said Ms Flood.

"The public sector is not an inexhaustible source of savings for Governments. In many departments there is little or no fat left to cut, all that is left are the staff that run vital programs."

The union also warned that customers will feel the impact of the budget cuts through reduced services and increased waiting times.

"We are already seeing the impact of previous cuts on ordinary Australians and these measures will only make the situation worse," said Ms Flood.

"In DHS, Baby Bonus applications are taking up to 70 days to process and the Family Payments backlog has risen from 30,000 to 70,000 cases.  In DVA, Veterans are waiting up to 40 days to have pension increases processed. Customs is seeing delays at airports in peak times of up to 90 minutes", she said.