Industry News

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."

The Australian Government is seeking public input to help develop a new strategy for the identification, management and celebration of Australia’s heritage.

The new strategy will cover natural, Indigenous and historic heritage and set the direction for heritage policies and programs at all levels of government for the next 10 years.

Comment is invited from the community about how we can best recognise, manage and celebrate our heritage.

Submissions will be accepted up until 15 June.

To download the public consultation paper, visit www.environment.gov.au/heritage/strategy/submissions.html

The Australian Industry Group (AI Group) has released its Australian Industry Group Performance of Construction Index, recording a slump in construction during April.

Released in conjunction with the Housing Industry Association, the index found that the construction sector has fallen 1.3 points weaker, ending at 34.9 in April.

The index found that apartment building was the weakest of the four sub-sectors, with the index recording a slump fall to 22.9 basis points. The index of house building (33.3) and commercial construction (35.2) activity also remained well below the expansion-contraction threshold of 50.

"The fall in construction activity in April is further evidence of the widespread nature of the current slowdown in the broader economy. The ongoing weakness in the residential and commercial construction sub-sectors was exacerbated by the slowing in engineering construction activity that has now been in train since the start of the year. Last week's reduction in interest rates will help counter the existing headwinds while the construction industry will have a close eye on tomorrow's Budget and the impacts it may have on business, household and public sector demand over the year ahead," Australian Industry Group Director Public Policy, Peter Burn, said.

The key findings for the month are:

• The national construction sector contracted again in April with particular weakness in apartment building, housing and commercial construction.
• The latest Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Construction Index (Australian PCI®) in conjunction with the Housing Industry Association, dropped 1.3 points to 34.9 in April (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease).
• The Australian PCI® has now been in negative territory for almost two years.
• While resource-related projects are giving some support to the engineering construction sector, weak demand and difficulties securing funding for work continue to hamper the apartment building (22.9), house building (33.3) and commercial construction (35.2) sub-sectors.
• New orders sub-index contracted for the 23rd straight month in April - recording 32.3.
• Employment continued to contract at a broadly unchanged rate in April (39.6).

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy has hit out at Federal Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull, describing him as “either lazy, financially illiterate or both.”

Senator Conroy’s accusations come after Mr Turnbull described the National Broadband Network (NBN) as being "centre of Labor’s 2012-13 Budget cooked books.” Saying that the surplus relies on shifting expenses forward from the 2012-13.

“According to the 2011-12 DBCDE portfolio Budget statement, spending on broadband by the Department was forecast to be $57 million this year.  But in Tuesday’s 2012-13 portfolio Budget, this figure is revealed as having exploded to $484 million because inducements provided to Telstra for its deal with NBN Co have been brought forward as lump sums totalling $421 million to be paid out before June 30,” Mr Turnbull said in a statement.

“As a former merchant banker, Mr Turnbull presumably knows that you pay your bills when they fall due. The $450 million additional Departmental expenditure in 2011-12 is the payments made to Telstra under the terms of the Definitive Agreements.

“Similarly the claim of a $400M blowout in equity is false. Mr Turnbull’s assertion that there has been an increase in equity of $400M simply reflects that equity funding of $350M was deferred from 2011-12 to 2012-13. This was detailed in the 2011-12 Departmental Portfolio Additional Estimate Statement on page 39.”

Telstra CEO, David Thodey, has announced Robert Nason, Telstra’s Group Managing Director, Business Service and Improvement, will replace retiring FOXTEL chairman Bruch Akhurst.

Mr Thodey said Telstra’s Group Managing Director for Innovation, Products and Marketing, Kate McKenzie would also be appointed by Telstra to the FOXTEL Board. Ms McKenzie will take the board seat currently held by Mr Nason.  The changes are effective 1 June 2012.

“Robert and Kate each will bring tremendous experience and leadership ability to the FOXTEL Board at what is an important time for FOXTEL as it consolidates its acquisition of AUSTAR and continues to compete in a challenging market,” Mr Thodey said.

The Federal Government has announced that a further 11 councils are now eligible to apply for funding under the Australian Government’s Digital Local Government Program, aimed at assisting local governments make the most of the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

The program makes up to $375,000 available to assist the rollout of NBN enabled programs, including council services, to homes and businesses.

“The eleven eligible councils are located right around Australia – from Mandurah in Western Australia to Aspley in Queensland and Bellerive in Tasmania. I encourage all of them to take up the opportunity to use the NBN to improve delivery of essential council services to their communities,” Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said.

More information on the program can be found here

City of Perth Chief Executive Officer Frank Edwards has announced his retirement effective on 21 September.

Mr Edwards has held the position since April 2002.

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said that Mr Edwards had served the City with great distinction during a period of rapid growth in the City. She paid tribute to his managerial and leadership skills and expertise.
 

She said his departure date will allow the process of seeking a replacement Chief Executive Officer to be completed and a smooth transition to occur. 

The Federal Government has announced plans to expedite assistance for unpaid entitlements for workers who have lost their jobs at transport company First Fleet and car parts manufacturer CMI Industrial.

“This means that workers can access their unpaid entitlements sooner and not have to wait until the companies go into liquidation later this month,” Workplace Relations Minister Shorten said.

"The collapse of these companies represents exceptional circumstances. I am satisfied that my decision today is consistent with the intention of the scheme and is not being used to facilitate business restructuring.

“After receiving clear advice from administrators today that CMI and First Fleet will go into liquidation, we can now move to ensure workers can access GEERS assistance faster.

At least 450 people have lost their jobs in New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland through the collapse of First Fleet, and almost 50 workers have been made redundant at CMI Industrial in Victoria.

The Government has announced it will limit the availability of the employment termination payment (ETP) tax offset.

 From 1 July 2012, only that part of an affected ETP, such as a golden handshake, that takes a person's total annual taxable income (including the ETP) to no more than $180,000 will receive the ETP tax offset.

Amounts above this whole‑of‑income cap will be taxed at marginal rates. The whole‑of‑income cap will complement the existing ETP cap ($175,000 in 2012‑13, indexed) which ensures that the tax offset only applies to amounts up to the ETP cap.

The ETP tax offset ensures that ETPs up to the ETP cap are taxed at a maximum tax rate of 15 per cent for those over preservation age and 30 per cent for those under preservation age.

Existing arrangements will be retained for certain ETPs relating to genuine redundancy (including to those aged 65 and over), invalidity, compensation due to an employment‑related dispute and death.

The measure provides savings to the Budget of $196.4 million over the forward estimates period.

The Federal Government has passed its Schoolkids Bonus through Senate, despite the Federal Opposition voting against the move.

The bonus will see the 1.3 million families with children in school receive financial bonuses from January next year.

Eligible families will receive:

• $410 a year for each child in primary school
• $820 for each child in secondary school.

The Schoolkids Bonus will be automatically paid to eligible families in two separate installments each year – before the start of Term 1 and Term 3.

This new payment will replace the Education Tax Refund from 1 January 2013. Under the current system, about one million families aren’t getting the full amount back at tax time.

Australia’s natural capital or environment assets are worth $4,574 billion and accounted for more than half of Australia’s total economic wealth in 2009-10 found the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The value of our natural capital in current price terms, trebled between 2000-01 and 2009-10, driven by rises in mineral commodities and land values.

Some of the key data included in the publication are:

• Water consumption in Australia fell by 43% between 1996-97 and 2010-11;
• The biggest net energy users within Australia in 2008-09 were the manufacturing industry at 1,034 Petajoules and households at 1,015 Petajoules, each representing about 26% of net use by industry and households in Australia (excluding exports and conversion losses); and
• Greenhouse gas emissions (excluding LULUCF) for Australia increased by 33% between 1989-90 and 2008-09.

The new ABS publication Completing the Picture: Environmental Accounting in Practice explores the relationships between economic activity and the environment, and which help to address concerns over sustainability, climate change, the Murray-Darling Basin and green growth. This publication follows the adoption of the System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) as an international statistical standard by the United Nations Statistical Commission in March this year.

The adoption of the SEEA provides an opportunity to inform government decision-makers, policy analysts, scientists, industry and other groups about how SEEA style environmental accounts could be used and further developed in Australia. The ABS will be hosting a conference next week in Melbourne(14-15 May) to examine how environmental accounts can be developed and used in Australia.

The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) has announced the town of Bourke, in far north-west NSW, will host a new facility to help deliver high speed broadband to remote communities across the country.

The satellite ground station gateway forms part of the NBN’s Long Term Satellite Service, designed to deliver broadband speeds of up to 12 Mbps to homes, farms and business in remote parts of Australia.

The satellite service will deliver broadband speeds to the 7 per cent of the Australian population who cannot be serviced by the rollout of the fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service currently being rolled out.

Following extensive consultation with Bourke Shire Council, the new facility is planned to be constructed on an existing industrial development, approximately eight kilometres north of the town centre.

Once built, the ground station will comprise a single storey building with up to three 13-metre-in-diametre satellite dishes. Construction is expected to begin next year with the facility scheduled to be up and running by 2015.

"We chose Bourke because it was an ideal location with an ideal climate. The town is also located close to reliable power and other infrastructure including the NBN's core fibre transit network - the main fibre transmission lines linking towns and our exchanges,” NBN Co’s Program Director, Satelittes, Matt Dawson said.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has been allocated $10.7 million over four years to develop and maintain an on‑line registration system for auditors of self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).

As part of the registration process, ASIC will develop a competency exam for SMSF auditors. ASIC will also be responsible for the deregistration of non‑compliant auditors. Auditors may begin to register with ASIC from 31 January 2013.

The Government will also provide $10.6 million over five years (including $1.5 million in capital funding in 2011‑12) to the Australian Taxation Office to police registered auditors, check their compliance with competency standards set by ASIC and refer auditors to ASIC, for enforcement action.

The cost of this measure will be offset by increases in the SMSF levy and fees charged by ASIC for sitting the competency exam.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released a discussion paper on proposed arrangements for the authorisation of MySuper products.

Accompanying the discussion paper is a draft authorisation application form together with instructions, as well as draft Prudential Standard SPS 410 MySuper Transition (SPS 410) which sets out requirements for trustees moving member balances into a MySuper product.

On 3 November 2011, the Federal Government introduced the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (MySuper Core Provisions) Bill 2011 into Parliament under which a registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensee intending to offer a MySuper product must seek authorisation from APRA.

The MySuper authorisation package released today builds on APRA’s release on 27 April 2012 of draft prudential standards for superannuation. A number of elements in the draft authorisation application form request the submission of documents that will be required under the prudential standards.

APRA Deputy Chairman Ross Jones said the proposed authorisation requirements have been carefully aligned with the legislative requirements. 

‘We encourage RSE licensees considering offering a MySuper product to use the draft application form and instructions in discussions with their Board on their plans, and to open discussions with APRA supervisors on the issue as soon as possible.’

The authorisation process for RSE licensees wishing to offer MySuper products will commence from 1 January 2013. Once authorised, RSE licensees can offer these products from 1 July 2013 onwards.

Draft SPS 410 outlines requirements for all RSE licensees during the transition period from 1 July 2013 to 1 July 2017, by which date all accrued default amounts must be in a MySuper product except in limited circumstances.

The consultation package can be found on the APRA website at: www.apra.gov.au/Super/Pages/Superannuation-reforms-2011-2013.aspx

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced it has agreed to grant Viterra more time to further develop its port terminal services access undertaking.

The announcement will allow Viterra more time to work with industry to improve the proposed auction system for port terminal services in South Australia for the export of bulk wheat.

Viterra, the port terminal operator, is required by the undertaking to introduce an auction system in South Australia. Viterra has applied for more time to develop an auction system that addresses the problems that were highlighted by recent auctions in Western Australia.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the extended timeframe will provide Viterra and the industry with the opportunity to thoroughly consider and address complex problems that may have arisen with the proposed auction system.

"The South Australian wheat industry needs time to develop an auction system in order to avoid the inefficient outcomes experienced in WA.

"The introduction of an effective auction system will promote competition across the South Australian wheat industry to the benefit of Australian wheat farmers," Mr Sims said.

The variations to the access undertaking provide that in the event that an auction system is not ready by August, then Viterra will accept bookings on a first-in, first served basis for shipping capacity between 1 October 2012 and 31 January 2013.  The variation allows for an auction to be held in November for shipping capacity from 1 February 2013, unless further extended by agreement.

The Federal Budget has provided $467.1 million over seven years (including $41.2 million in 2016-17 and $40.9 million in 2017-18) to implement the SuperStream reforms that are part of the package of Stronger Super reforms.

The cost of implementing the SuperStream reforms will be recovered through a temporary levy on Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority regulated funds from 2012-13.

The additional SuperStream levy will be AU$121.5 million in 2012-13, AU$111.1 million in 2013-14, AU$83.1 million in 2014-15, AU$69.3 million in 2015-16, AU$41.2 million in 2016-17 and AU$40.9 million in 2017-18.

The changes implement the recommendations of the Cooper Super System Review of superannuation and are designed to improve the  superannuation system through better use of technology and by standardising data and payment requirements for member-related superannuation transactions such as contributions and rollovers.

The funding will be invested in information technology systems for agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Initial funding of $14.6 million was provided to the ATO in the 2011-12 Budget to develop a business case and undertake initial expenditure on the SuperStream project.

Further information can be found in the Government Response to the Super System Review at http://strongersuper.treasury.gov.au.