Government News

The Western Australian Government’s submission to the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission’s State Wage Case has recommended the State minimum wage be increased in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

WA Commerce Minister Simon O’Brien said the Government recognised the importance of ensuring the incomes of workers who were dependent on minimum wages or award rates kept pace with the cost of living.

“It’s also important in the current economic conditions that we support the viability and competitiveness of our small businesses,” Mr O’Brien said.

“An inflation-based adjustment represents a balanced and sustainable outcome for employers and maintains the standard of living of workers in this State.”

A copy of the WA Government’s submission will soon be available on the Department of Commerce’s Labour Relations website: http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/LabourRelations 

In 2011 the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission granted a $19.90 per week increase to the State minimum and award pay rates. This resulted in the current minimum wage of $607.10 per week, or $15.98 per hour.

The South Australian Government has signed an agreement with the Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) to extend funding for its road safety research for another five years.

Minister for Road Safety Jennifer Rankine said the funding - more than $1 million each year until 2017 - demonstrates the State Government’s ongoing commitment to road safety in South Australia.

CASR’s research has been the catalyst for successful road safety initiatives, including the implementation in 2006 of the default 50 km/h urban speed limit, which is credited with preventing five fatalities each year.

CASR Director Professor Mary Lydon said the State Government’s ongoing support and confidence was vital in order to build on the expert knowledge and ongoing research that is being undertaken at the centre.

CASR was formally established by the South Australian Government in 2002, and has since been invited to collaborate with international organisations from France, Japan, Malaysia and the United States.

CASR is also the only research organisation in Australia that attends the scenes of road crashes, in order to collect data. The group has 20 staff members and seven postgraduate research students. CASR is also home to a new purpose-built Vehicle Safety Laboratory – the only facility of its kind in Australia.

The Laboratory is the official testing facility for pedestrian impact testing, a major part of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) crash testing process.

Upcoming projects include monitoring young driver travel patters, evaluating the effects of the Graduated Licensing Scheme and monitoring the implementation of the South Australian Road Safety Strategy 2020.

For more information about CASR visit www.casr.adelaide.edu.au

St Hilliers Construction has announced it has entered voluntary administration after the company reported a number of problems associated with the construction of the $350 million expansion of the Ararat Prison in Victoria.

The group blamed stalled negotiations over the previous few months with the Ararat Prison equity investors and its bankers in conjunction with the Victorian Government. The negotiations failed to procure an agreement for an additional $150 million in funding.

The group’s board found that it could not run the risk of incurring additional debt, and that the entry into voluntary administration was the only prudent course of action.

The company has appointed Moore Stephens Sydney corporate Recovery Group as administrators, who will take over the operation of the troubled group.

St Hilliers Group Executive Chairman Tim Casey said: “It is very regrettable that we have had to initiate this action. We have over a number of months explored and exhausted all possible avenues to recapitalise the construction business and find a solution to the significant cost and time overruns on the Ararat Project. Unfortunately a solution was not possible under the current regime.”

“We will now work actively and constructively with the Administrator and all stakeholders to continue all viable projects and to find a way to restructure the construction business going forward. For the rest of the St Hilliers Group it remains business as usual.”

The Federal Government is seeking comments on the Draft National Building Energy Standard-Setting, Assessment and Rating Framework.

Under the strategy, Federal, State and Territory governments have committed to developing a framework that will work towards consistent approaches on how buildings are assessed and rated for energy efficiency and sets a pathway for establishing a minimum energy performance standard for new buildings over time.

Comments are welcomed on the Draft Framework until 6 July 2012. Consultation forums on the Draft Framework are also being held in all capital cities in May and June.

For more information on the forums and related documentation, visit Draft National Building Energy Standard-Setting, Assessment and Rating Framework.

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) has released a report into the emerging trend of community governance in local government.

The report explores recent trends in community governance throughout the country, recognising it as distinct from the role of and practices of local government.

The report concluded that community governance had evolved to such a point that it is significant to local government planning and development as it represents the interest of council’s constituents.

The ACELG has urged that the relative freedom of local governance that has allowed community governance to flourish be allowed to remain.

The report found 11 key findings:

• 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.
• Size and geography both matter.
• 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.
• It is critical that all parties are well informed.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Councils adopting a community governance approach recognise the need for three separate roles: around decision-making and implementation, facilitation, and advocacy.
• The development of community governance as discussed in this report should remain free from statutory direction

The full report can be found here

The New South Wales Minister for Local Government, Don Page, has hit out at the expected cost increases that the state’s councils will face after the Federal Government’s Carbon Tax comes into force in July.

Mr Page said the Federal Government has not factored into account the ‘significant impact of the tax on the local government sector.’

Mr Page released the following estimates:

• Dubbo City Council, which has estimated that its power bill alone will increase by $500,000;
• Tamworth Regional Council, which will see its electricity costs increase by $300,000;
• Camden Council, which is budgeting for Carbon Tax costs of $155,000;
• Wagga Wagga City Council, which has already put aside $660,000 to pay for the tax; and
• Shellharbour City Council, which estimates that it could pay up to $800,000 per annum or $15,000,000 over the life of their local tip.

“As Minister, I believe it is appalling that an already struggling sector like local government will have no direct compensation for the huge costs it will face due to the imposition of the Carbon Tax,” Mr Page said.

“Councils have been left confused and uninformed, leaving councils to play a guessing game as to how much the tax will cost them.”

Mr Page’s comments come after it emerged that two local councils in NSW, Shellharbor and Wagga Wagga, will be featured on the country’s top 500 polluters and will have to pay the $23 per tonne of carbon.

The Western Australian Government has announced it will wind back a recent decision on decreasing penalty interest rates to support families.

The move to increase the rates was initially proposed to support families by reducing penalty rates on late payments, but the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) successfully argued that the move would be counter-intuitive and would result in increased costs for the average ratepayer.

The move would have seen the penalty interest charged by Local Government on late rates payments from 11 per cent down to seven per cent.

“While the move was well intentioned, WALGA demonstrated to the Minister that it would actually have the opposite effect to helping families,”  WALGA President Mayor Troy Pickard said.

“WALGA estimated it would have created a $6 million shortfall which would have had to be recovered through rates increases which would actually result in most ratepayers having to pay more.”

The Queensland Government has formed an expert panel to review the Cross River Rail Project with an aim to ensure the next major investment in rail is “affordable and meets the future needs of South-East Queensland.”

State Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said the panel would help deliver a ‘realistic solution’ for the region’s needs.

The expert panel will consist of:

• Mike Scanlan, Specialist Rail Advisor with more than 35 years in rail transport
• Scott Lennon, Partner of PWC Economics and Policy Group
• Barry Broe, Co-ordinator General

The panel will deliver a report on 13 June 2012 that will properly analyse and confirm the problems facing the rail system, consider the options available, assess the business case already prepared for the project and provide recommendations for consideration by the State Government.

“This project has already cost $40 million, half of that contributed by the Federal Government to develop a business case and determine feasibility,” Mr Emerson said.

The Victorian Government has appointed three members to the Sustainability Victoria (SV) Board. The new members are Mr Ron Lovett and Mr Tony Hinton. An existing member, Ms Suzanne Evans, has been reappointed to the board.

"Now that the SV review has been considered and a new strategy developed that reshapes the organisation's focus, the new SV board will be working to deliver on this new vision for greater resource efficiency across Victoria," said board Chair, Dr Gillian Sparkes.

"With several board positions lapsing in April this year, it was important to ensure appointments to these positions could achieve a balance between board continuity and renewal."

The three appointed members replace outgoing members Ms Carolyn Lloyd, Dr Tony Marxsen, Ms Tanya Ha and Dr Nicholas Gruen.  Dr Sparkes, Mr Mike Hill, Mr Ross McCann and Ms Cheryl Batagol will continue as board members until July 2014.

The Sustainability Victoria Board is: Dr Gillian Sparkes, Chair (PhD, MBA, GAICD) ; Mike Hill, Deputy Chair; Cheryl Batagol, Chair of the Victorian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and is a member of the Victorian Catchment Management Council; Suzanne Evans; Ross McCann, Executive Chairman of Qenos and President of the Plastics and Chemicals Industry Association; Ron Lovett, Executive Manager - Business Strategy and Management of Abigroup; and Tony Hinton, consultant in economic policy and public policy issues.

The Australian Public Service Commission has released its snAPShot summary of employment for the calendar year to December 31, 2011.

The report shows that at 31 December there were 167,721 staff in the APS. This total comprised:

• 153,881 ongoing staff (up by 1.7% from 151,380 in December 2010)
• 13,840 non-ongoing staff (up by 13.4% from 12,205 in December 2010)

During 2011:

• 12,713 ongoing employees were engaged to the APS
• 10,155 ongoing employees separated from the APS

The snAPShot summary is available here.

The NSW parliamentary inquiry into workers compensation, undertaken by a Joint Select Committee established on May 2, is underway.

The Committee, chaired by Robert Borsak of the Shooters and Fishers Party, will inquire into and report on:

• the performance of the Scheme in the key objectives of promoting better health outcomes and return to work outcomes for injured workers,
• the financial sustainability of the Scheme and its impact on the New South Wales economy, current and future jobs in New South Wales and the State’s competitiveness, and
• the functions and operations of the WorkCover Authority.

The Committee will also examine the WorkCover NSW Actuarial valuation of outstanding claims liability for the NSW Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer as at 31 December 2011, and the External peer review of outstanding claims liabilities of the Nominal Insurer as at 31 December 2011.

Submissions have been called for and the Committee will be holding public hearings on Monday 21st and Friday 25th May 2012.

More information is here.

The Productivity Commission (PC) has published a report examining the impact of the reforms implemented by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).

The Commission’s role was to assess the economic impacts of the reforms and, where practicable, examine whether the reforms potential were being met and opportunities properly explored.

For the first report in the series, the Assistant Treasurer has directed the Commission to focus on the impacts and benefits of two reform areas:

• aspects of the 'seamless national economy' deregulation priorities
• the vocational education and training (VET) reforms and initiatives that support young people make successful transitions from school to further education, training and employment.

The report concluded that COAG reforms in the VET area include the potential to:

• Increase GDP by a total of 1.95 per cent
• Boost productivity by 0.35 per cent
• Increase completions by 1.29 million over the period 2010-2020
• Increase the gross payments to individuals over their working life by more than $108 billion.

The Productivity Commission report identified the following reforms were needed, which align with the Commonwealth’s reform agenda announced by the Prime Minister ahead of COAG last month:

• Better quality through regulation – the Commonwealth established the Australian Standards Quality Authority to ensure nationally consistent regulation of VET providers;
• Greater transparency for users – the Government is developing the My Skills website, to be launched later this year;
• Better information available for students – the Commonwealth’s Unique Student Identifier will allow students to build a online skills passport that tracks their training history;
• Increased completions - The Commonwealth has set completion targets in the agreement with the States to tackle low completion rates in the VET sector.

The Commission’s report can be found here

Australia has once again featured in the top 10 highest polluting countries after the WWF released its 2012 Living Planet Report, showing that Australia’s carbon emissions are the top contributors to securing the dubious honour.

The biennial report, which measures the impact of human demands on nature, found that humans are using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide for, and that we will need two planets by 2030 if the current rate of consumption continues unabated.

The WWF has urged Australia to stay the course with its current legislative progress in implementing a tax before rolling out a full emissions trading scheme in 2015.

"Australia has some of the world's best renewable energy resources and know-how to be able to significantly reduce our carbon footprint. The Carbon Price and Renewable Energy Target are key mechanisms that together will drive the shift from coal to renewables,” said WWF Australia’s Climate Change Manager Kellie Caught.

“Just like the industrial revolution brought benefits to society, the carbon price will drive a new clean revolution that will have health and economic benefits but critically give our precious environment a fighting chance.”

Topping the list of the most polluting countries was Qatar, followed by Kuwait, the UAE and, surprisingly, Denmark.

The full report can be found here

The South Australian Government has released a draft roadmap aimed at maximizing the potential of the state’s unconventional gas resources in an environmentally sustainable way.

The roadmap, believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, will lay out crucial information for the sector’s stakeholders.

“It’s about starting a conversation about the benefits of unconventional gas to South Australia and we encourage all stakeholders including APPEA members to be engaged in that discussion,” State Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Tom Koutsantonis said.

“Even in its infancy the unconventional gas sector has the potential to deliver hundreds of millions, if not billions of investment dollars to this State and provide a new lease of life to the Cooper Basin.”

“The aim of the road map is to not only inform South Australians but also set a course for the environmentally sustainable development of this State’s large endowment of unconventional gas.”

The draft establishes the factors that will be taken into account in considering the approval of unconventional gas projects in considering compatibility with existing natural, social and economic environments.

The draft Road Map is open for public comment until 5pm Friday 27th July 2012, so that people and enterprises can influence the final form of the document.

For downloads of the draft road map and online lodgement of submissions go to: www.petroleum.dmitre.sa.gov.au/environment/register/comment

Federal Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Bernie Ripoll, has announced the appointment of Belinda Gibson and Ian Purchas as Members of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

Ms Gibson’s appointment will last until May next year, while Mr Purchas will be appointed for a three year term.

Ms Gibson was nominated by ASIC, of which she is the Deputy Chairman. Her responsibilities at ASIC include the supervision of corporations (and consequently their financial reporting practices), as well as the financial reporting and audit and insolvency practitioner teams within ASIC.

Mr Purchas was nominated by the Institute of Public Accountants. He is a Principal at RMG Partners Business Solutions, a Sydney-based insolvency and accounting practice, and is a Registered Liquidator and an Official Liquidator of the Supreme Court of NSW and Federal Court of Australia. He has practised in the insolvency profession for in excess of 26 years, including over 10 years' experience in a Principal/Senior Manager position in a specialist insolvency practice and 10 years' experience in a senior role at Coopers and Lybrand.

Mr Ripoll welcomed Ms Gibson and Mr Purchas to the FRC. "On behalf of the Government, I am very pleased to appoint them as Members. I am sure they will bring significant financial experience to the Council".

The Federal Government has announced future contracts for the Disability Employment Services-Employment Support Service, which will run for the next five years.

Minister for Employment Participation Kate Ellis said the spending will allow for an unprecedented level of support in helping people with disabilities find work.

“All Australians have a right to the dignity and self respect that employment brings and without access to paid employment, people with a disability risk life on the margins of our community,” Ms Ellis said.

The announcement comes after the Australian Government released the Disability Employment Services Star Ratings – which reveal the services that are performing well and those that need to improve.

These March quarter Star Ratings will be used as a basis to determine, which service providers will be required to re-bid for their existing business later this year.

Services performing at the 4 and 5 star level will not be required to re-tender but will be given the opportunity to expand and assist more job seekers in new areas.

The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the Industry and Disability Employment Australia welcomed the announcements.

“The additional two years will allow DES providers to develop and maintain supportive relationships with employers and most importantly with the over 75,000 people with enduring disability in the program,” Lynette May of Disability Employment Australia said.

View the performance ratings at www.jobsearch.gov.au/provider

Construction of Tasmania’s largest ever irrigation project is ready to start in the state’s Midlands region after the Federal and State governments gave final approvals for the $104 million Midlands Water Scheme.

Major design and construction contracts have been awarded and work will begin next month, creating 130 direct jobs during the two years it will take to build the scheme.

Federal Minister for Water Tony Burke said the project will significantly boost food production and employment throughout the region.

“Once complete, this scheme will provide a strong foundation for Tasmania’s growing food processing sector. Based on experiences elsewhere around Tasmania it is expected to create up to 300 on farm jobs over time,” Mr Burke said.

The Midlands Water Scheme takes water from Arthurs Lake before distributing it to farms within an irrigable area of 55,680 hectares.

Water from Arthurs Lake will be taken by 34km of mostly buried high pressure pipeline down the Western Tiers to a new mini-hydroelectric plant and small holding dam west of Tunbridge. From there a network of 103km of mostly buried pipelines and sections of waterways will get the water to farmers for productive agricultural use.

The Federal Government will contribute $55 million to the project, while the private sector has contributed $37 million and $12 million from the State Government.

Major contracts were awarded to Tasmanian companies Hazell Bros Group and Zest Pty Ltd with Australian-based contractor, Fulton Hogan Construction Pty Ltd the other successful tenderer.

Treasurer Mike Baird today announced the NSW Government has successfully refinanced the Sydney Desalination Plant for $2.3 billion, a result which is well above the book value.

The proceeds will be used to repay the debt held against the asset, with net proceeds of more than $300 million to be invested in the NSW Government’s infrastructure fund – Restart NSW.

Mr Baird said the NSW Government has accepted a binding offer to refinance the desalination plant from a consortium including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Hastings managed infrastructure funds Utilities Trust of Australia and The Infrastructure Fund.

“The selection of the consortium for the long term lease of the Sydney Desalination Plant is a great outcome for the people of NSW,” said Mr Baird.

As part of the transaction, Sydney Water has entered into a 50 year water supply agreement with SDP. Prices in this agreement are regulated by IPART.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The full report can be found here (PDF)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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