Industry News

Australia’s  first National Centre of Research Excellence in Nursing has been launched at Griffith University's South Bank campus.

Griffith University Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian O'Connor, described nursing at Griffith University as a major teaching and research strength and said NCREN was a platform for the further development of clinical nursing research expertise in Australia.

More than 10,000 nurses have graduated from Griffith University.

NCREN has received $2.5 million funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council for an initial five-year program of research focused on skin integrity and symptom management.

Ten chief investigators, among them eight nurses, are leading the research which is building an unprecedented body of evidence to inform nursing practices into the future.

The centre is partnered with the Gold Coast, Princess Alexandra and Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospitals in southeast Queensland, and the partnerships have already also extended to the Prince Charles and Royal Children's hospitals in Brisbane.

The Money Market and Debt eXchange (MMADX) has announced it has appointed Michael Go as the company’s first executive director.

Mr Go joins the start up from the National Australia Bank, where he was global chief operating officer, global markets. Mr Go boasts a 25 year career in global markets, having worked with a number of heavy hitting financial services and banking companies.

MMADX has announced plans to launch in the second half of 2012 and will be the first fully electronic trading system operating in the Asia pacific for market securities and repurchase agreements.

“MMADX offers a fantastic opportunity to the market given the perfect regulatory environment for a business of this type,”  Mr Go told Global Custodian.

“The chance to help shape and build a business in the new regulatory world of financial markets is very exciting.”

The Australian High Court has ruled that seven former non-executive directors of beleaguered construction firm James Hardie breached corporate law by misleading the Australian Stock Exchange over its asbestos compensation fund.

The High Court upheld a previous 2009 ruling that found the non-executive directors acted deceitfully in approving a statement issued to the ASX that claimed sufficient amounts of funds had been allocated to the fund.

The previous finding supported accusations by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that the company had under resourced the fund by more than $1.5 billion.

“We made it clear when launching these proceedings that the action was in the public interest as it would involve the responsibility of executives and non-executives when boards of public companies make important or ‘bet the farm’ type decisions,” ASIC Chairman Greg Medcraft said.  

Transurban’s CFO Tom Honan has announced his immediate resignation from the company and will br replaced by Samantha Hogg, three weeks after the appointment of Scott Charlton to the role of chief executive.

Ms Hogg, who has been with the company since her appointment as Treasurer in 2008, has been welcomed to the position by Chairman Lindsay Maxsted.

“I am delight that Sam has accepted the offer to become Transurban’s CFO. Sam has been an integral part of the executive leadership team over the last four years,” Mr Maxsted said.

Mr Maxstead praised the efforts of Mr Honan, describing him as ‘instrumental’ in guiding Transurban through the economic crisis.

“On behalf of the Board, I sincerely thank Tom and wish him the very best for the future. Tom leaves Transurban on an extremely solid financial footing,” Mr Maxstead said. 

The Acting Chair of the National Water Commission (NWC), Stuart Bunn, has released a position statement detailing the need for Australia to draw on its experience and knowledge to protect and sustain the unique water resources in the country’s north.

“Because the diverse hydrological and ecological systems in our north differ so much from other systems, development in northern Australia presents inevitable challenges for water management,” Mr Bunn said.

“We now have a historic opportunity to make sure that these largely undeveloped water systems support productive and healthy ecosystems, vibrant communities and rich Indigenous cultures.”

The position statement outlines five key principles to support the sustainable management of water resources as the region develops.

The key points are:

• Fully adopt and implement the National Water Initiative (NWI) water reform framework
• Undertake transparent and inclusive water planning as an essential prerequisite to effective water management
• Develop an informed and shared understanding of northern Australia’s unique water resources based on robust science and socio-economic information
• Recognise Indigenous interests in water planning and management
• Strengthen cross-jurisdictional institutions and forums across the north to support efficient and effective water management and planning

Transparent and inclusive water planning that balances development aspirations with environmental and cultural water requirements will be critical to building community confidence in decisions about how we share resources.

‘Achieving this will require an informed and shared understanding of northern Australia’s water resources based on robust science and socio-economic information.

The statement can be found here

The Federal Government has released a revised National Carbon Offset Scheme (NCOS), aiming to assist Australian businesses to offset their products with pollution reduction initiatives under the Federal Government’s Carbon Farming Initiatives (CFI).

The NCOS scheme was first introduced in 2010 to ensure national consistency and consumer confidence in the voluntary carbon market, and was revised following a review conducted in late 2011.

The Standard provides guidance on what is a genuine voluntary offset and sets minimum requirements for calculating, auditing and offsetting the carbon footprint of an organisation, product or event to achieve carbon neutrality.

"The NCOS provides a means of ensuring the integrity of the carbon offsets and carbon neutral products available in the Australian voluntary market for consumers and businesses alike," Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Mark Dreyfus said.

The NCOS has been revised in light of the Clean Energy Future package and the CFI, and provides increased opportunities for consumers and businesses to access domestic offsets under the Standard.

"Carbon credits created under the CFI can now be used to meet carbon neutral commitments under the NCOS, providing another market for landholders who voluntarily undertake greenhouse gas abatement activities," Mr Dreyfus said.

The revised Standard also allows carbon credits issued under the Government’s previous Greenhouse Friendly scheme to be used to offset emissions under the NCOS.

The revised Standard is available at National Carbon Offset Standard.

The CSIRO team behind one of the biggest developments in recent wireless local area networking technology has been named a finalist in the prestigious European Inventor Award 2012.

The team, comprising Dr John O’Sullivan, Dr Terry Percival, Diet Ostry, Graham Daniels and John Deane, have been nominated in the ‘Non-European countries’ category of the awards for developing the breakthrough technology which was the precursor to modern Wi-Fi.

The announcement marks only the second time an Australian team has ever been nominated as a finalist for the award.

“This is a great recognition for an invention that has transformed the way we work and live. We’re delighted that the inventors are being recognised through nomination for this award,” said Nigel Poole, CSIRO’s Acting Group Executive for Information Sciences.

“Australians can be proud that the rapid global expansion of indoor wireless communications is in part possible because of the WLAN technology invented by scientists at CSIRO.”

Winners of the 2012 award will be announced at an award ceremony in Copenhagen on 14 June. 

Trucking logistics 1^st Fleet has ceased trading after the company entered voluntary administration last week.

The news comes after around 1,000 of the company’s staff were locked out without warning. The appointed administrators, de Vreis Tayeh, have placed the company into liquidation.

“This is a regrettable outcome but de Vries Tayeh are working closely with the Transport Workers Union to assist 1st Fleet’s workforce in being placed with other employment,” read a statement on the de Vreis Tayeh website.

The company said the administrators are currently in negotiations with a number of possible buyers for the sale of some or all of the businesses segments.

The company has operations in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.

A draft of the Productivity Commission’s Barriers to Effective Climate Change Adaptation report has found that local governments are likely to play a leading role in the relation to key risks, including longer term sea level rise.

The report concludes that state and territory governments will need to support local governments in adapting to the effects.

The Commission will be holding public hearings in July and is seeking responses to its draft recommendations and a number of information requests contained in the draft report. A final report will be submitted to the Australian Government in September 2012.

The draft can be found here

Insurance group QBE has announced a series of major changes to its Group Executive structure following the announcement of Frank O’Halloran’s retirement form the role of Group Chief Executive Officer and John Neal’s appointment to the role effective this August.

In addition to Mr Neal and Mr O’Halloran, the Group Executive body will comprise:

• Steven Burns – Chief Executive Officer European Operations
• Neil Drabsche – Group Chief Financial Officer
• Colin Fagen – Chief Executive Officer Australian and New Zealand Operations
• John Rumpler – President and Chief Executive Officer North America Operations
• Jenni Smith – Group Executive Officer People and Communications
• Jose Sojo – Chief Executive Officer Latin America Operations
• George Thwaites – Group Chief Risk Officer

With the exception of Mr O’Holloran, the Group Executive body will report directly to Mr Neal.

“The changes are an important step in our leadership transition. They put in place the team that will work with John Neal to lead the business into the future. I look forward to continuing to mentor John and the team over the next three and a half months,” Mr O’Holloran said. 

The Commonwealth Bank and the NAB have passed cuts to their standard variable mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank slashed the official cash rate by 50 basis points.

The CBA cut its rate by 40 basis points, taking it down to 7.01 per cent per annum, while the NAB cut its rate by 32 basis points, down to 6.99 per cent.

While the CBA and NAB have cut their rates, the ANZ will wait until next Friday to make any announcement on their rates. 

The Victoria Government has announced Melbourne’s Webb Dock will keep the roll-on, roll-off car export and import after an ‘extensive feasibility’ study found impediments to the move to the Port of Geelong.

State Minister for Port Denis Napthine said the Department of Transport had explored the possibility of shifting the car trade to Geelong, but had found ‘significant’ issues with a lack of inabilities of suitable land, as well as concerns regarding shipping issues.

"That report has now been finalised and unfortunately it found that this move would not be viable,” Dr Napthine said.

"These concerns include the lack of suitable land at the Port of Geelong which is required to conduct pre-delivery inspections on imported vehicles as well as to consolidate and prepare vehicles for export.

"Access to the shipping channel also proved to be an issue with ships facing delays due to restrictions in windy conditions, coupled with the fact the channel is one-way," Dr Napthine said.

Dr Napthine said after announcing the expansion of container capacity at Webb Dock, the Government had further discussions with the automotive industry who made it clear that they opposed any move to Geelong.

"The automotive industry made it clear that their preference was to relocate to a new location at Webb Dock where there is sufficient land and round-the-clock access for shipping lines," Dr Napthine said.

"Regrettably the lack of available land combined with channel access issues and strong opposition from the automotive trade mean the proposed relocation of the car trade to the Port of Geelong is neither feasible nor viable," Dr Napthine said.

The feasibility study can be found at: www.transport.vic.gov.au/freight/ports/port-of-geelong-feasibility-study/_nocache 

The Imperial College of London has announced a breakthrough in breast cancer research, detailing findings that reveal a strong connection between molecular, or ‘epigenetic’, changes and the risk of blood cancer, meaning that early detection of the disease could be only a blood test away.

The research, published in Cancer Research, involved a study of 640 women with breast cancer and 741 controls.  The research analysed blood samples of the women to find out whether the alteration of single genes by a process called methylation can predict whether women have an increased breast cancer risk.

Lead researcher Dr James Flanagan found that the women with the highest level of methylation on one area of a gene called ATM were twice as likely to get breast cancer as women with the lowest level. This result was particularly clear in blood samples taken from women under the age of 60.

Importantly, because this is the first study using blood taken on average three years before diagnosis and in some cases up to eleven years, it shows that the genes were not altered because of active cancer in the body or by treatments for cancer, which has been a problem with previous studies that took blood after diagnosis.

The findings show strong evidence of a connection between a certain type of epigenetic alteration and the development of breast cancer, in some cases indicators showing up three years before the presentation of symptoms.

“We know that genetic variation contributes to a person’s risk of disease. With this new study we can now also say that epigenetic variation, or differences in how genes are modified, also has a role,” Dr Flanagan said.

“We hope that this research is just the beginning of our understanding about the epigenetic component of breast cancer risk and in the coming years we hope to find many more examples of genes that contribute to a person’s risk. The challenge will be how to incorporate all of this new information into the computer models that are currently used for individual risk prediction.

The Tasmanian Government has received the final report on the review of the role and function of the Tasmania’s public VET providers from the commissioned consultant Virginia Simmons.

The review covers the current governance, funding and operational arrangements of public providers of VET in the state, including covering their capacity to improve participation.

 “The future of VET in Tasmania rests on the issues canvased by this review, and it is crucially important that we take the time necessary to ensure we move forward in a considered manner.

“It is my intention to consider in detail the recommendations contained in the report over the coming weeks, and release the report in full after a Cabinet decision has been reached.

The review was conducted by Virsis Consulting director, Virginia Simmons AO, a former director and CEO of the Chisholm Institute of TAFE and a Deputy Vice Chancellor (TAFE) and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Industry Relationships) at Swinburne University of Technology.

More information can be found here

The South Australian Government has introduced a Bill before State Parliament to form an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.

The legislation will give the ICAC ‘significant powers’ to gather evidence and compel witnesses to answer questions and will be based on the Australian crime Commission model established in 2002.

Premier Jay Weatherill  said the ICAC would be completely independent of the Government, with the Bill including several measures to ensure accountability and transparency.

“A new joint committee of Parliament will be formed to examine the ICAC’s report to Parliament and reports from the Police Ombudsman and the Commissioner of Police,” Mr Weatherill said.

The seven-member Crime and Corruption Policy Review Committee will report to both Houses of Parliament on any matter of policy affecting public administration arising out of any of these reports.

The South Australian Government has announced that the planned school amalgamations, outlined in the 2010-11 State Budget, are to proceed.

The plan will see co-located junior and primary schools located on 24 sites across the state funded as a single school.

State Minister for Education and Child Development Grace Portoesi said the scheme was officialising an already adopted practice.

“In visiting a number of these schools it was clear that many already operate as a single school in many respects,” Ms Portolesi said.

“These 24 sites are an anomaly within the broader education system and this move brings them in line with the vast majority of our schools which only receive a single administrative grant to support the operation of the school.”

To support the transition process, each newly amalgamated school will receive a capital grant to upgrade facilities in the new school to support the new arrangements and in addition each will also receive an additional $100,000 one-off grant to assist in the transition process.

Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers are leading a world-first study which could change the way Huntington’s disease is treated.  

Participants in the 18-month study, which is in its final testing stage, are undergoing a regular program of brain-training exercises, gym training and social stimulation.

Testing at the halfway stage showed significant improvements including:

• Participants deteriorating 50 per cent less than the control group when measured by the Unified Huntington’s disease rating scale;
• An increase in overall body mass (according to the Body Mass Index), compared to untreated controls, who lost body mass;
• An increase in muscle mass, compared to muscle loss for untreated controls; and
• Increase in overall physical and mental health

Participants attended regular sessions at leisure centres across WA, including the gyms at ECU’s Joondalup and Mount Lawley Campuses.  They were also given activities to complete at home, with Exercise Physiologists and Occupational Therapists visiting their houses regularly to implement exercise programs at home.

There is currently no known cure for Huntington’s disease. The disease progresses slowly over a 10 to 25 year period, resulting in physical, mental and emotional changes, which can include a loss of muscle coordination and cognitive processes.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has signed an agreement with the world's number one business software company, SAP, to deliver certified training courses for its products.

Senior Lecturer at the School of Information Systems at QUT, Dr Darshana Sedera said courses would be offered through a SAP u-academy established at QUT.

"The SAP u-academy training partnership is a great achievement as QUT is the only academic institute in Queensland to offer these courses," he said.

"The first course offered towards the end of May is already booked out."

SAP is the most commonly-used enterprise system software in major corporations and government departments in a range of industries, around the world.

SAP software was the software of choice of international companies such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Canon, Coca Cola, Nike and Ericsson and in Australia Linfox, the Australian Tax Office, Australia Post, BHP Billiton and National Australia Bank were some of its customers.

SAP systems currently run:

• defence systems in 107 countries,
• production of 75 per cent of the world's beer,
• 65 per cent of the world's chocolate,
• 40 million barrels of oil and
• 32,000 car engines per day, and 50 million bank transactions per day.

SAP courses will be delivered through QUT's 'Study-ERP' group, which provides research and professional education on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

The u-academy SAP certification involves two to three days of intensive class contact in Brisbane and then two to three months of study with access to a trainer.

Through the SAP u-academy, QUT will offer 13 SAP certifications across a range of fields from retail to logistics planning, plant maintenance and repair to human capital management.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released details regarding the licensing and registration of financial services companies wishing to deliver services regarding emissions under the Australian Government’s carbon pricing mechanism.

ASIC Commissioner, John Price, said registration will help providers of financial services meet their licensing requirements under the Corporations Act 2001.

“From 1 July 2012, emissions units recognised under Australia's carbon pricing mechanism will be financial products. ASIC's priority is to help market participants understand and meet their obligations when providing financial services concerning these products,” Mr Price said.

Registrations for those involved in advising, dealing, making a market, or providing a custodial or depository service in relation to emissions units can be lodged with ASIC from 1 May 2012 until 30 June 2012.

Applications to register to provide financial services in emissions units can be made here

Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) marked the start of underground construction works on the Ranger 3 Deeps exploration decline at Ranger mine.

ERA has engaged Macmahon Holdings Limited to construct the 2.2 km decline to a depth of ~400 metres.

ERA will invest an estimated $120 million in the Ranger 3 Deeps Exploration Decline Project to conduct close spaced underground exploration drilling to further define the Ranger 3 Deeps ore body, and to explore areas adjacent to the resource. The mine lies within the boundaries of Kakadu National Park.

In addition to the Ranger 3 Deeps exploration decline Project, ERA is conducting an extensive surface drilling programme on prospective and under explored areas of the Ranger Project Area over the period of 2012 to 2014 at an estimated cost of $40 million.

Chief Executive Rob Atkinson said that "the construction of the exploration decline marked the start of a challenging and exciting transition for the company."