Industry News

The Australian Government will provide $50.3 million over four years to help ensure the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) is adequately resourced.

Funding will be provided, in part, by implementing cost recovery arrangements from 1 January 2013, providing an additional $46.1 million in revenue over the forward estimates.

The additional funding includes:

• $34.5 million over four years to enable ASQA to conduct compliance audits including cross jurisdictional audits;
• $6.9 million over four years to undertake up to three strategic audits per year targeting specific industry sectors or qualifications. Aged care, the early childhood development workforce and VET in schools have been identified as immediate priorities; and
• $9.0 million over four years for the redevelopment of ASQA's information and communication technology system.

The Australian Government will provide $18.1 million over four years for the establishment of three Australian Skills Centres of Excellence (ASCE) to support innovative production processes and teaching and learning methods in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.

The funding will be sourced by the redirection of funds from the National Workforce Development Fund (NWDF) which was established in the 2011-12 Budget as part of the Building Australia's Future Workforce package to support training and workforce development in areas of current and future skills need.

Each ASCE will receive $2.0 million per annum and be administered by a consortium led by a registered training organisation in partnership with industry, state and territory governments and other relevant stakeholders, which will be required to make a co‑contribution to the cost of establishing the centres.

The Federal Government has announced $29.8 million in spending for the creation of a new Manufacturing Technology Innovation Centre.

The centre will aim to create, foster and leverage innovative industrial design, engineering and product development through the spread of leading technologies, business processes and technical knowledge.

“This initiative will build on the Government’s existing business capability programs and help businesses realise new market opportunities, particularly in the Asian market,” Minister for Industry and Innovation Greg Combet said.

The Centre will be led by industry through the creation of a small number of sectoral collaborations involving major manufacturers, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), public research agencies, including CSIRO, and universities.

The initiative will provide examples of best practice to the rest of industry and utilise major manufacturers and industry arrangements to champion the diffusion of innovation across sectors.

It will also work to facilitate access by manufacturing SMEs to appropriate facilities with the aim of reducing risks associated with product development.

The initiative will assist growing manufacturing SMEs to be better managed, more capable and higher value enterprises. The Centre will support such enterprises to collaborate and innovate more effectively – key ingredients for success in a competitive manufacturing environment.

The Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Manufacturing will consult with industry on implementation of the initiative.

The Australian Government has announced in the Budget that it will discontinue the $1,500 standard employer commencement incentive payment and increase the standard completion incentive by $500 to $3,000 for existing worker apprentices in non-National Skills Needs List (NSNL) occupations, generating an overall saving to government revenue of $353.6 million over four years from 2012-13.

Commonwealth incentive payments paid to employers of existing workers undertaking an apprenticeship in NSNL occupations and employers of new workers undertaking an apprenticeship in non-NSNL occupations will remain unchanged.

The Government says the measure aims to target employer apprenticeship incentives more carefully and increase focus on skills shortage occupations and higher completion rates. It says that employers incur a range of costs in hiring new staff, and it is therefore appropriate that the incentive payment is lower for existing staff.

This measure will re-target apprenticeship incentive payments to encourage higher completion rates for existing workers in non-National Skills Needs List occupations.

In addition, the Government will achieve savings of $47.8 million over four years from 2012-13 by changing the payment arrangements for the standard apprenticeship commencement incentive. The incentive payment will be made six months after an apprentice commences employment rather than the current three months.

The standard commencement incentive currently provides employers of apprentices at or above the Certificate III level with $1,500 and employers of apprentices at the Certificate II level in nominated equity groups with $1,250.

The Victorian Government has announced a major overhaul and substantial changes to the deployment of staff of  the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) with the aim of refocusing it towards delivering research and development to rural stakeholders.

The plan will involve consolidation of operations in metropolitan offices from Box Hill, Frankston, Footscray, Knoxfield, Werribee and Woori Yallock, while shop fronts in Ararat, Birchip, Camperdown, Cobram, Kyneton, Ouyen and St Arnaud will be wound up and these staff members moved to existing rural DPI offices.

The savings generated will be reinvested into future research and development efforts by DPI.

Three floors of DPI headquarters in the city will be closed – two at 55 Collins Street and one floor at 1 Spring Street. There will also be altered service delivery of DPI operations that will see DPI staff currently based in 15 DSE offices relocated to existing rural and regional DPI offices.

Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh said the refreshed DPI would focus on better supporting Victoria's agricultural industries to ensure future food supply for Victoria and to take advantage of export opportunities such as emerging Asian markets.

"Victoria's food and fibre exports were worth a record $8.07 billion in the 2010-11 financial year, making the sector the state's second-highest export earner representing 28 per cent of Australian agricultural exports," Mr Walsh said.

"There is growing worldwide demand for Australian agricultural exports and Victoria is well-placed to take a lead role, but it is important that DPI is in a position to deliver the most effective support, research and development to farmers as possible.

Mr Walsh said more DPI staff would be located in regional and rural Victoria than based in Melbourne, providing dedicated services for producers.

"The Government plans to instill new purpose into the DPI as part of its $213 million investment supporting Victoria's agricultural sector, headlined by the $61.4 million Growing Food and Fibre initiative."

An Australian first and world leading study into the overall health and wellbeing of children of same-sex attracted parents is being led by the University of Melbourne.

The study is the biggest of its kind to investigate the complete physical, mental and social wellbeing of children with same-sex attracted parents, and in particular the role that stigma and discrimination play in their health and wellbeing. 

Researchers aim to recruit 500 families representing around 750 children. To date studies of this type have rarely considered more than 100 children.

The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families (ACHESS) aims to describe all the issues surrounding a child’s health and wellbeing including for the first time, physical aspects and health behaviours including diet and exercise. 

Dr Simon Crouch from the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, The McCaughey Centre, Melbourne School of Population Health said, “We want our study to inform not only the parents to better understand the health needs of their children but also to inform policy to affect all those who come in contact with them such as teachers and GPs.”

Jason Tuazon-McCheyne has a six-year old son Ruben with his partner Adrian. 

“We are fortunate to have a healthy son. But if we can help researches understand what affects the health and wellbeing of children from families like ours then future same-sex attracted parents will be better equipped to ensure that their children develop healthily.”

The Federal Government has announced $38.8 billion in spending over the next four years to support the move to lift the cap on student places at universities.

The spending coincides with the Federal Government’s latest modelling that shows more than 770,000 students are expected to be enrolled at universities across the country.

“Australia needs a more highly educated workforce and we cannot afford not to tap into the talent of regional and disadvantaged students,” Minister for Tertiary Education Senator Chris Evans said.

“Our reforms mean more students are now aspiring to a tertiary education—one in six students attending university this year are from low socio-economic backgrounds and many are the first in their family to go to university.”

The Federal Budget will increase the amount of loading paid to universities for enabling courses. By 2014, this funding will have increased the value of the loading by 50 per cent to $3068 for each full-time enabling place. These courses are provided free to students who need additional help preparing for a university course.

The spending is broken down as follows:

• $25.8 billion for the Commonwealth Grant Scheme
• $8.4 billion for the Higher Education Loan Program
• $1 billion for equity and access measures
• $765 million for infrastructure
• $217 million to promote and recognise quality teaching and learning
• $2.6 billion in other targeted programs

The Federal Government has outlined an additional $126 million in funding for science and research in universities in 2012-13.

Announced in the Federal Budget, the increase will bring the total investment for university research to $1.72 billion for the 2012-13 year, and $9 billion for research and innovation around the country.

Minister for Science and Research, Senator Chris Evans, said the funding was critical to ensuring Australia remains internationally competitive.

“We need to maintain our world-class science reputation and invest in research to ensure Australia is well placed to drive innovation in the 21st century,” Senator Evans said.

The government's investment in university research and spending is broken down as follows:

• $656 million for the Research Training Scheme
• $233 million for Research Infrastructure Block Grants
• $345 million for Joint Research Engagement
• $219 million for Sustainable Research Excellence
• $248 million for Australian Postgraduate Awards
• $22 million for International Postgraduate Research Scholarships

“Our funding will support the academies to promote research and scholarships and provide independent, expert advice across government, industry and the community on issues of national and international significance—like science, technology, humanities and the social sciences—for the benefit of all Australians,” Senator Evans said.

“This investment will help Australian scientists and researchers drive innovation and remain competitive in the increasingly complex global economy.”

The Federal Government will provide $9.6 million over four years to set up a new information management system for the Australian Apprenticeships Program.

The Australian Apprenticeships Information Management System (AAIMS) will provide a streamlined electronic system for registering training contracts and processing payments. It will also improve workflow processes, deliver operational efficiencies and facilitate improved data sharing between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments.

The AAIMS will be developed over three years, replacing the existing Training and Youth Internet Management System.

The National Water Commission’s CEO James Cameron, (no, not THAT James Cameron), has called for the improvement and systematic monitoring of water plans to ensure that methods used are effective in meeting their environmental objectives.

Releasing two key reports identifying priorities and resources for improving environmental water performance, Mr Cameron said there is room for significant improvement of water management.

“Getting the appropriate monitoring arrangements in place, focussing on clearly articulated planned ecosystem outcomes, is critical to determining the extent to which water plans are delivering real benefits to the environment and to build community confidence in how well we are using our environmental water,” Mr Cameron said.

“The improved knowledge and lessons learned as a consequence of monitoring are also fundamental to the effective review of plans and consequent adaptive management.”

Mr Cameron called for a broader, national perspective in considering how to best manage water resources, saying more must be done in identifying a broader natural resource management policy framework.

This will ensure that our management of environmental water fully integrates environmental objectives with social, economic and Indigenous water objectives.

‘The Commission hopes that this report on the progress of Australia’s states and territories in managing their environmental water will encourage a national discussion amongst our jurisdictions and promote better practice’, he said.

The Australian environmental water management report 2012 can be found here

Budget allocations in the Transport and Infrastsructure portfolio have included funding to continue evaluation of the High Speed Rail project and support for National Transport Regulator reforms.

The Government will provide $20.0 million over four years to improve national transport planning,  with a particular focus on the High Speed Rail Unit to continue to evaluate a High Speed Rail project on the Eastern seaboard of Australia.

$37.9 million will be provided over three years to establish national transport regulators for heavy vehicles, rail safety and maritime safety.

The measure includes:

• $15.6 million over 2011‑12 and 2012‑13 to establish the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator in Queensland;
• $9.2 million over 2011‑12 and 2012‑13 to establish the National Rail Safety Regulator in South Australia;
• $10.1 million over 2012‑13 and 2013‑14 in capital and expenses to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to develop and purchase a national information system to support its role as the National Maritime Safety Regulator; and
• $1.0 million in 2011‑12 to each of Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory to assist with the costs of implementing the national reforms.

The Federal Budget has withdrawn the Australian Government’s 2009-10 Budget commitment to provide $50.0 million from the Building Australia Fund to the proposed Darwin Port Expansion project, redirecting the funds for road projects in the Northern Territory.

This funding will be applied to current projects on the Central Arnhem Road and Port Keats Road designed to provide access to Indigenous communities, and projects on roads impacted by the Ichthys LNG project being undertaken by the INPEX Corporation.

The Federal Government has announced a $3.56 billion injection into the Nation Building Program, which, if matched by the NSW Government, could see the completion of the full duplication of the Pacific Highway by the end of 2016.

Federal Minister for Infrastrucrue and Transport Anthony Albanese said the Federal Government is willing to match whatever spending the NSW Government makes on the project.

“We are simply asking the NSW Government to fulfil the commitments they gave prior to last State election and to honour the funding arrangements originally put in place in 1996 and reconfirmed in 2007 by former Prime Minister John Howard,” Mr Albanese said in a statement.

Federal Labor is prepared to step up and match any new funding which the NSW Government allocates to this vital nation building project on a dollar for dollar basis up to a limit of $3.56 billion. Getting this job done will require an equal partnership between both levels of government.

The announcement comes after the NSW Roads and Maritime Services estimated an additional $7.1 billion will be required to complete the works.

The Federal Government has announced an extra $225.1 million in Budget spending over four years in child care assistance to assist parents train and re-skill to enter or return to the workforce.

The Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance (JETCCFA) will provide assistance with child care fees for parents on income support, most single parents, while they are studying or training.

The Government has also announced that the Child Care Rebate has been increased from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of out-of-pocket expenses up to $7500 per child per year.

In addition to receiving increased funding, the JETCCFA program will also be better targeted to help those parents who need it most and the rules for eligible courses changed to make sure that JETCCFA better supports training and study that most improves job prospects.

For further details visit www.deewr.gov.au

The Federal Government has announced $25.8 million in spending over four years to provide assistance for eligible mature age jobseekers in finding and keeping a job.

The Mature Age Participation – Job Seeker Assitance Program will begin on 1 January 2013 and will provide eligible job seekers aged 55 years and over with intensive job preparation assistance.

The program will also provide up to $500 per participant to purchase items and services they need to be work ready.

Professional career counselling, help with financial planning and the opportunity to share their experiences with other mature age Australians also looking for work, will be key features of the new program.

“To keep our economy strong we need to have highly skilled and experienced Australians in our workplaces,” Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Bill Shorten said.

“The skills and experience of a lifetime of work makes mature age Australians an extremely valuable asset to both our workplaces and the broader economy.”

The program will help to prevent longer spells of unemployment and will encourage job seekers to re-engage with the labour force sooner.

The program will be delivered by a panel of expert providers in areas or industries where the Government feels it will best meet individual, employer and community needs.

The Federal Budget has extended the government’s investment in the Interstate Rail Freight Network, with two new projects added to the existing capital works program.

They are:

• Moorebank Intermodal: the private sector will be commissioned to design, build and operate a major, new facility in Sydney's south west.  Scheduled to be up and running by 2017, it will aim to take 1.2 million trucks a year off the City's road network, prevent gridlock around Port Botany and ultimately transform the movement of freight across the entire eastern seaboard. The redevelopment of the Moorebank site will involve the relocation of Department of Defence facilities to new purpose built facilities at the Holsworthy Barracks at a cost of $559.4 million over four years.

• Torrens and Goodwood Junctions Upgrade: the section of the Interstate Network which runs through the heart of Adelaide will be upgraded by eliminating two existing bottlenecks: one at Goodwood and the other just north of the CBD. This will speed up the movement of freight trains through the City and allow bigger trains to operate along the rail corridor between Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The Government will provide $232.1 million in 2015‑16 from the Building Australia Fund to fund 50 per cent of the estimated cost of the Torrens and Goodwood Junctions rail project.

Commitment to these projects means that every nationally-significant, ‘ready-to-proceed’ project listed on Infrastructure Australia's original 2008 Priority List has now been funded.

Of the 47 major upgrades scheduled to be delivered across the Interstate Rail Network under the existing National Building Program (2008–09 to 2013–14), 22 are completed and a further 17 are underway.

The Federal Government has confirmed it will raise the low-income thresholds for the Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge as part of the 2012-13 Budget.

The increase in the threshold will be backdated to take effect from 1 July, 2011 and will see the low-income threshold increase to $19,404 for singles. Up from $18,839, and to $32,743 for couples, up from $31,789.

For families, the additional amount of threshold for each dependent child or student will also be increased to $3,007 (up from $2,919).

The increased threshold for families applies for the 2011‑12 income year and future income years while the increased threshold for singles applies only in the 2011‑12 income year, as this threshold will rise to $20,542 in 2012‑13 as part of the Clean Energy Future Plan household assistance package.

The Medicare Levy low-income threshold for pensioners below Age Pension age will also be increased. For the 2011-12 financial year, the threshold will rise to $30,451 (up from $30,439).

State high school students will learn engineering in Years 8-12 and be encouraged to consider engineering as a future career under a new teaching program being developed by The University of Western Australia and Governor Stirling Senior High School.

Students at the Midland high school will be being exposed to the world of engineering and learn how to find practical solutions to simple engineering tasks with the aim of demonstrating how they can make a mark on the world through further study.

UWA's Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, and organisations such as engineering firms Beacon and Sinclair Knight Merz, are working with the high school to develop a ground-breaking curriculum and delivery style for a new fully integrated Year 8-12 Engineering Program.

The Dean of the Faculty, Winthrop Professor John Dell, said Governor Stirling Senior High School was part of the WA Education Department's gifted and talented program.  The new partnership with UWA would now also offer a specialist high school Engineering program with two streams of student intake: academic and vocational.

"The school is becoming a specialist centre in Western Australia for engineering education," Professor Dell said.  "Being a part of this is important because UWA is striving to want to promote engineering as a career pathway.

"We want to show that engineering is more than calculating an exact answer.  It's about sustainability, social impact and environmental responsibility and about finding solutions to the very big problems facing the world - such as climate change, poverty, and the supply of clean water and health services.

"We're helping to provide a new model for excellence in education and boosting engineering expertise in the State.

Established in 1959, GSSHS has a large number of educationally high-achieving students.  The school is undergoing a $63 million building redevelopment program with new facilities due to open next year in time for the first intake of Year 8-12 engineering program students.

Australian research has shown that computers can be used to identify cancer treatment targets that wouldn't otherwise have been considered.

Professor Mark Ragan from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), who led the research team, says they found that computational methods could be used to untangle the intricacies of cancer biology.

“Cancer is not a disease caused by single genes. Rather, it is changes to the underlying gene regulatory networks that prompt tumours to grow and spread,” he said.

“Understanding gene regulatory networks in healthy and diseased tissues is therefore critical to devising effective cancer treatments.

“These networks involve vast numbers of interactions between different molecules, making conventional experimental approaches, which are focused on individual genes, too time-consuming,” he said.

The findings came from the team's analysis of different computational methods of studying gene regulatory networks.

By contrast, computational methods can examine complex networks of interacting molecules across entire systems. The challenge for researchers is determining the accuracy of such methods.

The IMB team undertook a thorough analysis of nine different computational methods that represented a variety of approaches. They then took the method judged most effective and applied it to real ovarian cancer data.

“Our evaluation demonstrated that it's possible in some cases to use computational methods to gain insights into cancer biology.

“These methods can pinpoint targets that wouldn't otherwise have been considered, which can then be validated with laboratory experiments.”

The findings are published in the current edition of the scientific journal Genome Medicine, where it has been nominated as part of the thematic series Cancer bioinformatics: bioinformatic methods, network biomarkers and precision medicine.

The Federal Government has announced $350 million in funding to assist irrigation infrastructure reform in the Murray Darling Basin.

The funding will allocate $150 million over six years for round three of the On-Farm Irrigation Program from 2012-13 to support individual infrastructure improvement projects. The funding will be spent as follows: $4.0 million in 2012‑13, $25.0 million in 2013‑14, $75.0 million in 2014‑15, $29.0 million in 2015‑16, $10.0 million in 2016‑17 and $7.0 million in 2017‑18.

The funding will come from the existing resourcing of the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Program. 

Federal Minister for Sustainability Tony Burke said he will call for applications for the funding in the coming months.

"This program builds on the good work of farmers in improving water efficiency at an on-farm level. Irrigators have informed my department that they have spent funds for supplies and services from two previous rounds of this program almost entirely to the benefit of regional businesses,” Mr Burke said.

"I expect this to be the case also with the additional funding. Other benefits will be improved flexibility of crop rotation from new irrigation systems, reduced labour times and costs, reduced nutrient run-off and application rates, increased crop yields, the ability to spend financial savings on other on-farm upgrades, and more sustainable farms."

The Budget will also provide $200 million over four years ($25.0 million in 2012‑13, $50.0 million in 2013‑14, $75.0 million 2014‑15, and $50.0 million in 2015‑16) to pilot a program to integrate water recovery with the strategic reconfiguration of irrigation delivery networks.

TheStrategic Sub-System Reconfiguration Program will provide funding for the purchase of water entitlements, the decommissioning of under‑utilised or inefficient water delivery infrastructure, a replacement stock and domestic supply system if required and a disconnection incentive. The program will replace the existing Irrigator‑led Group Proposals program.

The cost of program will be met from within the existing resourcing of the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure and Restoring the Balance in the Murray‑Darling Basin programs.

"The program is being developed in consultation with key irrigation water providers and will be flexible to encourage projects which work for the particular circumstances of each irrigation district,” Mr Burke said.