SearchArchives for September 2008
25 September, 2008Disability website names and shames
The Australian Human Rights Commission has been true to its word and launched a website exposing other Government websites found posting material difficult to access by people with disabilities.
Departments and Agencies found wanting by the Commission are to be named and identified on the site which was publicly accessible.
Human Rights Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes said he had warned Departments and Agencies that they needed to improve their internet services to people with disabilities and the WebWatch list would help get the message across.
“Last month I said publicly that Government Departments and Agencies needed to lift their game in providing equal access to public information for people with disability,” Commissioner Innes said.
He said the Commission welcomed the passage of a motion in the national Senate that drew attention to the need for ensuring non-discriminatory access to Parliamentary documents. The motion was put by Tasmanian Senator Stephen Parry at the request of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services, Senator Cory Bernardi.
The Senate noted the difficulties experienced by people with a disability, particularly people with vision impairment, in accessing some formats of Senate documents online; and called on the Government and the Department of the Senate to ensure all Hansard and Senate committee documents were made accessible via the Internet to people with a disability as soon as they became public.
“In a democracy it is particularly vital that information from the Parliament itself should be accessible to all,” Commissioner Innes said. “It is good to see the Senate taking a lead on this issue.”
He said the move by Senator Bernardi followed recent concerns expressed by a number of Australians who could not access important documents and sites, such as the Commonwealth Government’s Grocery Watch site and the recently released climate change papers.
WebWatch could be accessed at www.humanrights.gov.au
25 September, 2008
QGCIO has way with new methodologies
The Queensland Government Chief Information Office (QGCIO) has announced that it had developed standard approaches for managing projects, programs and portfolios across the State Government.
It said the methodologies offered a consistent approach that would ensure projects were delivered on time and within budget and that they produced the outcomes and benefits they were intended to.
It said the new methodologies were only available to the public sector and included:
- A Project Management Methodology;
- A Program Management Methodology; and
- A Benefits Management Framework
- A Portfolio Management Methodology; and
- Business Process Improvement Methodology
“To help build capability in the Queensland Government, the QGCIO will establish sourcing arrangements to provide training, coaching and mentoring services in the Queensland Government Methodologies,” the Office said.
“An Invitation to Offer will be published shortly, seeking offers from providers who have the necessary skills and capacity to provide these training, coaching and mentoring services.”
It said an information session had already been held with service providers giving more detail about the methodologies and the Invitation to Offer.
Other service providers interested in learning more were encouraged to register on the website, which included a free tender opportunity email notification service.
More details about the methodologies and Invitation to Tender could be found on the Office’s website at www.qgcio.qld.gov.au
25 September, 2008
Traffic green light for emergency dashes
New technology being trialled in Queensland could see Emergency Services vehicles guaranteed green lights all the way as they rushed through traffic to attend emergency situations.
Acting Premier Paul Lucas said a new way of managing traffic signals was being trialled in Bundaberg to ensure fire-fighters and ambulances had the safest and quickest route available to get to an incident.
“The technology trial will involve testing software that can turn traffic signals green as an emergency vehicle approaches an intersection, resulting in fewer delays for the vehicles,” he said.
He said Main Roads planned to test the new technology in one of their vehicles this month and in mid-October, test units would be installed in one ambulance and one fire engine in Bundaberg to see if travel times to incidents were reduced as a result.
He said if the trial was successful the system would be rolled it out to other cities.
Minister for Emergency Services, Neil Roberts said emergency vehicles often found it difficult to navigate a path through traffic due to increasing incidents of congestion and higher traffic volumes on Queensland’s roads.
“This trial will let us know if this new technology has the ability to save some of the time that is spent waiting for traffic to move out of the path of fire and ambulance vehicles,” Mr Roberts said.
“In an emergency, time is crucial and every minute counts.”
The Ministers said all 11 traffic signals along Takalvan Street, Bourbong Street and Quay Street in Bundaberg would be fitted with communications equipment to give emergency vehicles priority service during the trial.
The software had been designed to switch traffic signals to an emergency vehicle phase, in time to clear any traffic queue on the approach.
Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt said it was crucial motorists were aware this trial was going on and continued to follow the road rules.
“It is important that all road users obey the traffic signals at all times. We thank the community for their assistance during these trials,” Mr Pitt said.
“Everyone must continue to follow the traffic signals as they normally do, but be aware the operation of the signals could change from their usual patterns to allow emergency vehicles to progress through an intersection quickly.”
Mr Pitt and Mr Roberts emphasised the need for motorists to understand the rules for traffic around emergency vehicles.
“Safety on our roads is everyone’s concern. We ask that road users please take care at all times,” Mr Pitt said.
25 September, 2008
Sports Minister wins more gold for sport
Sports Minister Judy Spence has overruled her Department’s advice and restored funding to the State’s peak sporting and recreation bodies.
She also declared that proposed future cuts would not go ahead.
“Before I became Sport Minister the Department cut funding to State sporting and recreation organisations for the funding period 2008-2010,” Ms Spence said.
“They proposed further cuts for the next funding round in 2011.
“The rationale was to spread money across a greater number of sport and recreation activities.”
She said the cuts raised concern among sporting organisations and several had met with her to raise their fears.
Based on the “legitimate concerns,” Ms Spence said she had directed that full funding be restored for this year and that planned future cuts not go ahead.
She said 48 sport and recreation organisations would win from the new arrangement with the larger sports to have their funding levels restored including the Queensland Swimming Association, AFL Queensland, Football Queensland, Hockey Queensland, Queensland Athletic Association, Queensland Basketball, Queensland Cricket Association, Queensland Gymnastic Association, Queensland Netball Association, Queensland Rugby Football League and Queensland Touch Association.
“I have listened to their concerns and ultimately made the decision that the Government is in a position to reverse the Department’s funding cuts,” Ms Spence said.
“This increase represents a total of $767,000 this year alone, and a total of $1.5 million over the three years,” Ms Spence said.
She said the Government’s contribution to sport and recreation was already larger than any other State and her decision was further evidence of the Government’s commitment to make Queenslanders Australia’s healthiest people.
“Sport at the grass roots plays a critical role in the health of our people and our communities, and we recognise that.”
She said the funding injection was also recognition of Queensland’s standing in Australian sport at the elite level and that it would help keep Queensland as the benchmark for the rest of Australia.
25 September, 2008
Local Government on road to Canberra
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has announced the establishment of an Australian Council of Local Government.
Mr Rudd said every Local Government Council in the nation would be entitled to send a representative to the ACLG and the first meeting would be in Canberra in late November.
“This unprecedented gathering of the nation’s 565 local councils will be held on November 28,” Mr Rudd said.
He said it was the Government’s next step in forging a new, nation-building partnership with local communities.
Invitations to the inaugural meeting would also be extended to Local Government peak bodies and the Local Government and Planning Ministers in State Governments.
“This initiative will give local communities a real voice in the future of Australia’s national infrastructure,” Mr Rudd said.
The one-day meeting would address issues of national and local significance including:
- Building national and local infrastructure to boost Australia’s economic capacity and improve the quality of life in communities;
- Tackling immediate challenges facing major cities and growth corridors, including urban congestion, urban planning and design; and
- Steps towards Constitutional recognition for Local Government.
He said a 2006 consultants’ report estimated a $1.1 billion annual under-spend in community infrastructure renewals by Local Government.
He said a 2008 Productivity Commission report found that 20 per cent of Local Councils relied on Commonwealth and State grants for half of their revenue.
Mr Rudd said the Government was re-igniting the spirit of cooperative federalism and reaching directly to the level of Government closest to the community.
“Local Government represents the third arm of the Australian Federation,” he said.
“This new partnership is the most significant step forward for Local Government since the 1970s when the then Labor Government introduced Financial Assistance Grants to support services at the Local Government level.”
Mr Rudd said the 28 November meeting would also see the announcement of the ongoing membership and charter of the new Council.
President of the Australian Local Government Association, Paul Bell, welcomed the establishment of ACLG, saying it marked a new chapter in Federal-Local Government relations.
“The Council heralds the beginning of the Federal Government building a stronger relationship with Local Government and local communities across Australia,” he said.
“Local Government’s aim is to make sure that this is a substantial engagement on important issues that affect the lives of all Australians.”
25 September, 2008
Transport trainees on right track
A traineeship program being run by Queensland Transport in the Inala area could see more Indigenous Australians being offered jobs in the State Public Service.
The project is part of Queensland Transport’s $778,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Transition to Sustained Employment pilot initiative which was being run in partnership with the Department of Industrial Relations, the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Civic Solutions and Brisbane North Institute of TAFE.
Minister for Transport, Employment and Industrial Relations, John Mickel said the eight-week pre-employment program would provide a pool of people to be considered for one of 10 traineeships within Queensland Transport.
“The significant difference with this program is that all participants who successfully complete their traineeship will be permanently appointed within the Department,” Mr Mickel said.
“Queensland Transport, in collaboration with our State and Federal partners, is proud to be leading the way for other organisations in addressing the barriers our Indigenous community members face in seeking, gaining and retaining employment.”
He said a program like this was not just about addressing the skills gaps that existed for some Indigenous people – “it is about educating and engaging our workforce in realising the significant benefits we can gain by investing in our Indigenous community members.”
He said from the first intake of seven participants, one local mother of seven had been offered a permanent role as an Administration Officer and a further four participants had been offered traineeships within Queensland Transport.
MP for Inala, Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queensland had one of the lowest unemployment rates in Australia at 3.8 per cent but there were still groups struggling to find work.
“Initiatives such as these are important as they engage our local Indigenous community in working with organisations such as Queensland Transport to achieve significant employment outcomes,” she said.
“Assisting Indigenous people in and around Inala to find regular, stable work, particularly with an employer like Queensland Transport, will help us build the workforce we need to meet the demands of Queensland’s population and economic growth.”
Ms Palaszczuk said the program had already resulted in a large donation of office furniture, computer hardware and software to the Inala Elders Corporation for community use.
Minister for Communities, Lindy Nelson-Carr said the program was designed to enable Government to work in partnership with the Indigenous community.
“The people of South East Queensland will greatly benefit from this program in assisting the Indigenous Australians in overcoming the barriers they face in gaining and retaining employment,” she said.
She said the second pre-employment program was scheduled to conclude on 24 October and all 10 traineeships were planned to be filled by no later than early December.
25 September, 2008
Design board has designs on planning
A Board for Urban Places is to be established to advise on the design aspects of major infrastructure and urban planning projects.
Acting Premier Paul Lucas said the panel of design experts would be available to provide independent advice to the State Government and Councils on how to improve projects.
“Whether it be buildings, infrastructure projects or even whole new communities, this will make sure the focus is on creating more places and public spaces Queenslanders can enjoy,” Mr Lucas said.
“As our cities and towns become more densely populated the focus has to be on good design to improve quality of life.”
He said the Board was not about approving projects or taking town planning powers from Councils, but about providing expert advice right at the start when they were being designed.
“It’s important we get things right up front, putting extra effort into designing a community is a hell of a lot less expensive than dealing with social problems down the track,” Mr Lucas said.
“Not only is this quality of life valued by existing residents, it is an increasingly important factor as towns and cities compete for investment and skilled workers.”
The new board would provide general and project-specific advice on urban design, planning, architecture, landscape architecture, sustainability and built environment issues.
Urban design works at a number of scales: within individual sites or streets, within neighbourhoods, across the wider town or city, and its connections with the region.
Expressions of interest would shortly be called from people with the relevant skills and experience wishing to become members of the Board, which would be chaired by the newly appointed Government Architect, Philip Follent.
25 September, 2008
Office opens door on regional growth
A new office for the Department of Local Government, Sport and Recreation has been opened in Ipswich to cater for the high levels of growth in the region.
Officially opening the office, Local Government Minister Warren Pitt said it would provide the region’s Councils with closer face-to-face contact with the Department and improve service delivery for ratepayers in south-east Queensland.
“The establishment of offices outside the Brisbane CBD is part of the Department’s commitment to better understanding the challenges faced by Councils,” Mr Pitt said.
“South-east Queensland is one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia and this growth places significant pressure on State and Local Governments to work closely together to ensure the sustainability of the region.
He said the new Ipswich office would house staff from DLGSR and the Office of Rural and Regional Communities and would offer a more streamlined service to clients.
“The office will have 12 Departmental staff, with room to allow for up to 25 staff as the needs for the region grow,” he said.
Mr Pitt said Ipswich was expected to become Queensland’s fastest-growing Local Government Area over the next 25 years. He said it was the oldest provincial city in Queensland and accounted for 43 per cent of available industrial land in south-east Queensland.
“There is no doubt that Ipswich is a hub for the growing western corridor,” Mr Pitt said.
“As the population increases, so too does the demand for infrastructure and with this demand comes a heightened expectation from the Council to manage the effects of this growth for residents.”
He said having Departmental staff on the ground would enable the delivery of local solutions to local problems by local people.
25 September, 2008
Experts buy into procurement talks
Experts from around the world have gathered in Brisbane for the fourth National Sustainable Procurement Conference.
Hosted by the Queensland Government Chief Procurement Office, the conference was an opportunity for public and private sector organisations to explore how sustainable procurement practices could be integrated into their businesses.
Experts in public sector sustainable procurement from the United Kingdom and New Zealand joined local speakers from the Government and private sector at the conference which was chaired by author, presenter and environmental advocate, Tanya Ha.
Based on the theme Integrate, Connect, Progress! the conference explored the integration of sustainability into procurement and the ways it could be progressed as a mainstream practice.
The Conference was the fourth in a series formerly known as the National Buying Green Conferences.
According to the Minister for Public Works, Robert Schwarten who prepared a foreword for the conference, sustainability had become an important strategic issue and sustainable procurement was high on the State Government’s agenda.
“In January this year I announced that all Government staff in Queensland will be expected to think green and ethical when buying goods and services,” Mr Schwarten said.
“Procurement gives us all the opportunity to advance the principles of sustainability (and) it is up to us to make the right choices.”
For Ms Ha, the time had come for action on sustainability and for making the right choices, which she said included purchasing choices.
“Good intentions won t reduce our emissions, recycle resources or save water,” Ms Ha said.
“While many organisations claim to value the environment, one that has a well implemented sustainable procurement policy is one that puts its money where its mouth is.”
She said with climate change, drought, fuel prices and biodiversity regularly in the news, sustainability was the “hot topic of our time.”
25 September, 2008
State bid to capture capture facility
Queensland has put in its bid to host a Commonwealth Institute for research into carbon capture, announced recently by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.
Acting Premier Paul Lucas and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson welcomed the PM’s announcement and asked that Queensland be considered as the hub for the initiative’s activities.
“This is an excellent commitment to carbon pollution reduction,” Mr Lucas said.
“Due to a range of existing activities and research initiatives already underway in this State and given the strength and importance of our coal industry we are best placed to host this initiative.”
He said the plan dovetailed with the Government’s ambitions published in its Tomorrow’s Queensland Q2 - green, strong and smart.
He said he had written to Prime Minister putting Queensland’s case.
“I congratulate the Prime Minister and the Commonwealth for their national and international leadership in this vital area of economic and environmentally sustainable use of our coal resource,” Mr Lucas said.
He said the Government was already well progressed in the technology drive, having established world-first legislation to encourage and sponsor low emissions technology development.
Mr Wilson said Queensland’s case was reinforced by the Callide Oxyfuel Project which had begun the retrofit of CS Energy’s Callide A power station, to demonstrate Oxyfuel technology with the Commonwealth’s collaboration,.
“Similarly, the ZeroGen IGCC is well advanced in attracting substantial sponsorship support from the Australian Coal Industry, and Japanese interests are also considering substantial support and involvement,” Mr Wilson said.
“Also Australia’s foremost research organisation, CSIRO, has been working for several years at the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technology and the Centre for Low Emissions Technologies, on a range of low emissions applied technologies projects.”
Mr Wilson said collaborative arrangements had been initiated and progressed with leading applied research organisations in Japan, Germany, the USA and China.
25 September, 2008
Inspectors net computer flops
A swoop on shops by inspectors from the Office of fair Trading has found almost a quarter of the stores visited did not have compliant computer pricing systems.
Inspectors visited more than 200 businesses across the State and compared the scanner price with the shelf price of more than 5,700 individual items. The inspections covered a wide variety of stores and businesses.
The spot checks found only 73 per cent of the stores had fully compliant computer pricing systems.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Kerry Shine said this represented only a small improvement on the results for 2007-08.
“Around two per cent of the 5,700 items checked scanned incorrectly in favour of the store,” Mr Shine said.
“The Office of Fair Trading is now considering whether a number of prosecutions should be brought as a result.”
He said inspectors from OFT would turn up the heat on traders using computerised scanning systems, with a significant increase in compliance checks planned for 2008-09.
“Traders have a responsibility to ensure their products are scanning at the correct shelf price,” he said.
“Under the Fair Trading Act 1989 it is an offence to make a false or misleading representation of the price of goods or services.”
In the 2007-08 financial year, the Office of Fair Trading inspected 647 stores, and checked almost 17,000 scanned items against their advertised shelf price. More than 30 per cent of the businesses checked were found overcharging on at least one item.
“In 2007-08, the Office of Fair Trading prosecuted five businesses found to be consistently overcharging,” he said.
“Consumers should know they are paying the correct price for goods, and with rising costs of fuel and groceries many simply cannot afford to be overcharged.”
He advised consumers to take note of the advertised price when buying goods and if the price scanned incorrectly they could dispute this at the time of sale.
He said it also paid to check dockets before leaving stores to save a trip back.
“If you can’t resolve the problem with the store, contact the Office of Fair Trading at www.fairtrading.qld.gov.au or call 13 13 04.”
25 September, 2008
Fish review is on the right scale
An independent review of proposed new management arrangements for the East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery has been welcomed by Primary Industries and Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin.
“This independent review will provide the Queensland Government with additional support and expert advice in the decision-making process in relation to this fishery,” Mr Mulherin said.
“It also means that we can be confident that the final management arrangements to be considered by the Government meet requirements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act).”
He said the fishery was the largest and most diverse in the State and included the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
“The review will consider the fishery’s impacts on shark stocks and the potential for interactions with protected species, particularly dugongs, whales and sawfish,” Mr Mulherin said.
“The Queensland Government is well aware of the concerns that have been raised by a variety of groups, including the scientific community, about shark fishing and about species protected under the EPBC Act, including dugong. We hope that this review will ease these concerns.”
He said it was important to note that there were no proposals to establish a shark fin fishery in Queensland. The practice of finning shark at sea is prohibited under the Fisheries Act and there were no proposals to amend that.
The legislation also promotes the full use of the shark - for example, a fisher must be in possession of the shark fins and the barrel of the shark.
“Current proposals will actually limit the number of commercial fishers allowed to take shark to further protect vulnerable species, and establish a more stringent reporting regime for shark fishing,” Mr Mulherin said.
“Fisheries management is always about striking the balance between ensuring a healthy fishing industry and protecting our environment - when it comes to Queensland’s oceans it’s about getting the balance right.”
In developing its proposals, the Department set up a working group with shark experts from James Cook University and Queensland University and also used the risk assessments undertaken by CSIRO and EPA.
“This further review will add to the information and expertise which has already been gathered,” Mr Mulherin said.
“Queensland’s fisheries are managed in accordance with the principles of ecological sustainable development which takes into account sustainability, economic viability, and social impacts.”
The review of the fishery was expected to be completed by the end of next month.
25 September, 2008
Cycle path network saddles up for more
Approval has been given for 88 new projects that would expand the South East Queensland cycle network by an extra 90km.
According to Acting Premier Paul Lucas, the new projects were an investment in the health and liveability of South East Queensland.
“The projects are part of the State Government’s commitment of $556 million over 20 years for the development of cycle routes,” Mr Lucas said.
“Today’s $18 million State Government commitment will be matched by funding from Local Governments so all up, this will deliver $36 million worth of new and upgraded bikeways.”
He said the projects were an important part of the Government’s long-term strategy to reduce reliance on private vehicles, cut traffic congestion and carbon emissions, and improve the health of Queenslanders.
“Most bikeways can be used for cycling, jogging or walking – all healthy alternatives to get people around the South East without the need for cars.”
He said the South East Queensland Cycle Network would provide a vast system of linked bikeways stretching from Noosa down the Sunshine Coast through Brisbane and Ipswich to the Gold Coast.
“This is a massive boost to our bikeway program,” Mr Lucas said.
“The State Government funded 32 cycling projects with Local Governments in 2006/2007, 61 projects in 2007/2008 and work is now beginning on these 88 projects, due for completion in 2008/2009.”
Mr Lucas said wherever possible, bikeways were provided separately from the existing roadway, to cater for all road users, including school children. Where appropriate, cycle priority lanes would be clearly marked on traffic lanes on existing wide roads.
“The funding also provides for route signage to help bikeway users find their way around the system to activity centres, employment areas, shops, schools, public transport and other destinations.”
The Acting Premer also encouraged employers to provide end-of-trip facilities that included secure bicycle racks, showers and change areas so staff and visitors could ride or walk to work.
Details of the projects and more information about the South East Queensland Cycle Network Program was available at: www.transport.qld.gov.au
25 September, 2008
More time for luck in a big city
A proposal to extend the “core time” of cities from 9-to-5 to a 14 hour spread is among the issues to be explored at the 9th World Congress of Metropolis being held in Sydney in October.
Connecting Cities: City Regions, is the work of six leading global academics and urban professionals examining the impact of urban development and the new structures of mega-cities.
The 14 hour Working City by James Calder, Director of the Global Workplace Sector at Woods Bagot Architects was one of the contributions in the report which suggested new ways of sustaining and improving city functionality with the redistribution of jobs and greater use of public transport.
Mr Calder said planners and Governments were starting to realise the climate change crisis was forcing Australians to look at ways to do more with less.
“The internet and virtual connectivity that allows us to work most efficiently in the 24 hour global marketplace presents one solution – the 14 hour working city,” Mr Calder said.
“The 14 hour working city would enable early and late shifts - work times would overlap to spread movement across a far greater number of hours during the day.
“This may increase productivity for workers and organisations, increase utilisation of public transport, roads and office buildings and end the peak hour rush.”
Former NSW Planning Minister, Frank Sartor said the 2008 Metropolis Congress presented a great opportunity to examine issues and challenges universal to all cities.
“Half the world’s population lives in city regions and this is predicted to increase to 75 per cent in less than 50 years, so better management of city regions is critical to long term sustainability,” Mr Sartor said.
For more information on the Congress and the plans visit www.metropoliscongress2008.com
25 September, 2008
Pest control flicked to new Council
A new Ministerial Advisory Council has been established to help protect Queensland’s primary production and environment from disease and pests.
Primary Industries and Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin announced the formation of the Biosecurity Queensland Ministerial Advisory Council at the State AgForce conference in Proserpine.
It would include biosecurity experts and industry leaders in its membership.
“The new Council will provide the Government with independent strategic advice on Queensland’s biosecurity into the future,” Mr Mulherin said.
“The Queensland Biosecurity discussion paper, currently out for consultation until the end of September, provides the opportunity to shape a robust strategy for our future.
“While the strategy is still open for consultation, we are already moving forward with shaping our future approach to biosecurity.”
He said the Council would operate across the spectrum of primary production and environmental biosecurity, and would be asked for advice on a range of Statewide, regional and industry specific issues.
It is expected that senior level representatives of key stakeholder bodies will sit on the Council along with members with specialist expertise.
“We will shortly be seeking nominations for these positions,” Mr Mulherin said.
“We will be looking to appoint people who bring with them a high level of public recognition for their particular fields of expertise.”
25 September, 2008
Heritage comments to make history
Public comment has been invited on the performance and effectiveness of Queensland’s Indigenous cultural heritage legislation.
Minister for Natural Resources and Water, Craig Wallace released a review paper on the State’s Indigenous Cultural Heritage Acts at the Hughenden Regional Community Forum with local MP Betty Kiernan, Member for Mount Isa.
Mr Wallace said the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 and the Torres Strait Islander Cultural Heritage Act 2003 each stipulated that the legislation had to be reviewed within five years of commencement.
“This review paper is seeking the community’s views on the effectiveness of the legislation since it took effect in 2004,” Mr Wallace said.
Submissions are being sought on topics such as whether the legislation has done what it set out to do, what is working well and what could be improved.”
He said the review would identify whether the legislation had fulfilled its key objective, which was to recognise Indigenous people as the primary authority on Indigenous cultural heritage and its management.
He said Queensland had 22 registered cultural heritage bodies and 23,000 sites on the Department of Natural Resources and Water’s cultural heritage database.
The review team planned to travel to the regions to hear first hand from those who were working with the Acts.
Mt Isa MP Betty Kiernan said she was pleased the Government was consulting with Indigenous communities about this legislation.
“I encourage the local community to have a say on this legislation,” she said.
Mr Wallace said submissions could be made to the Department of Natural Resources and Water and to allow for a reasonable consultation period the review would close on 28 February 2009.
The full review paper was accessible at www.nrw.qld.gov.au by following the links.
25 September, 2008
EPA defends against noise
The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected claims it ‘ignored’ noise complaints by Main Beach residents in relation to a local construction project.
The Authority said it investigated complaints from residents and was in the process of responding to them.
It found that the construction company was complying with noise control measures imposed by the Gold Coast City Council but was looking at ways of minimising it even further.
Prisoners put to work
Queensland Corrective Services has developed a new program for giving prisoners "real world" employment and training opportunities to increase their reintegration into the job market on release.
The new Prisoner Employment Policy and Action Plan 2008-2011 incorporates a model based on a 12-hour working day which was expected to revitalise prison industries and maximise the benefits to prisoners, industry and the community.
Ombudsman goes into print
The Queensland Ombudsman, David Bevan has issued the latest edition of his newsletter Frontline Perspective, offering advice to Public Service staff on dealing with complaints from the public.
Issue No. 5 of the newsletter includes case studies on dealing with unreasonable demands and keeping complainants informed of progress as well as ‘tips and traps,’ and a discussion on why people complain.
The newsletter can be accessed at www.ombudsman.qld.gov.au
Robina Hospital contract
The Gold Coast has become one step closer to receiving more hospital beds following the appointment of the managing contractor for the $287.7 million project to further expand Robina Hospital.
Baulderstone Hornibrook Queensland Pty Ltd was selected from four applicants to work with Queensland Health and deliver the hospital expansion.
The expansion was expected to deliver an additional 179 beds to increase capacity and improve patient services for the Gold Coast region.
Call for volunteers
The State Government was hoping to increase by 50% the proportion of Queenslanders involved in their communities as volunteers.
The Department of Emergency Services is leading the charge with a $52 million funding package over five years (from 2006) to increase and improve equipment and training for emergency services volunteers.
OECD stats man to speak
The Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of the OECD, Enrico Giovannini, is to be one of the keynote speakers at the inaugural NatStats08 Conference in Melbourne in November.
The objective of the conference session on Measuring Progress in Societies was to foster the development of sets of key economic, social and environmental indicators to provide a comprehensive picture of how the well-being of a society is evolving.
The outcomes from the session would provide an important regional perspective for the next OECD World Forum which will be held in Korea in late 2009.
Miners remembered
Those who have lost their lives in mining disasters were commemorated on Miners Memorial Day, held on 19 September.
That day was the anniversary of the 1921 coal dust explosion at Mount Mulligan in far north Queensland where 75 miners lost their lives.
More than 1450 miners have died in mining tragedies over three different centuries of mining in Queensland.
Ambulance staff recognised
The Queensland Ambulance Service has acknowledged its best-performing officers at Brisbane Region’s “Star Care Awards.”
Chris Nicholls was named Emergency Medical Dispatcher of the Year and also received the State-level award in the same category.
Graceville’s Robert Blumke was awarded the Young Hero of the Year award for actions he took after discovering a man slumped over the steering wheel of his running car and Capalaba-based Anthony Galea was named Patient Transport Officer of the Year for his commitment to achieving a high level of patient satisfaction, as well as his positive, courteous and helpful approach.
Eatons Hill Ambulance Station was recognised as Station of the Year for its work environment, supportive atmosphere and patient focus.
Medals for SES
Eight “Orange Angels” from the Mt Morgan State Emergency Service have been presented with Meritorious Service Medals and National Medals for long-service to their local community.
Two husband and wife teams were recognised, with Kevin and Wendy Porter awarded medals for 30 and 25 years service respectively, while Colleen and Graham Roberts received recognition for 20 years.
Tourism numbers grow
The number of Queenslanders employed in tourism has grown at twice the national average over the past few years according to new research released by the Sustainable Tourism Research Centre.
Since the number of people employed in tourism was first measured by researchers for the 2003/04 year, the number of people directly employed in tourism in Queensland had increased by 15 per cent in 2006/07 to 119,000.
During 2006/07 tourism added $14.9 billion to the economy’s gross State product in both direct and indirect contributions - $1.1 billion more than in 2003/04.
Youth are winners
The winners of the Department of Communities’ inaugural Youth Week online competition Shout. Share. Live. Unite have been announced.
Taking out the top prizes were Helensvale’s Meaghan White, 20, St Lucia’s Azam Idris, 25, Gordonvale’s Taicee Pearson, 13, and Nambour’s Lauren Edmonds, 14.
The four youngsters will be rewarded with $8000 in prizes for their creativity and raising awareness of social issues online.
The online competition invited young people, aged 12-25, across Queensland to use art as a platform to air their opinions, while helping to shape future youth policies and programs of government.
Community heroes named
Two central-western Queensland residents have been recognised as community heroes with Blueprint for the Bush Community Hero Awards.
Longreach’s Ian Merritt’s tireless dedication to serving his local community over many years has been recognised as was his significant involvement with Rotary, as president, secretary and treasurer, and his commitment to volunteer charity collecting.
Barcaldine’s Brett Walsh was also honoured as a highly respected member of the local community who devoted many hours to help make Barcaldine a better place to live, work and play.
Mr Walsh had shown a passion for supporting many important initiatives and was heavily involved with the local hospital board, Parents and Citizens Association, Arts Council, aged care and sporting clubs.
18 September, 2008
Tourism shake-up for smooth future
A series of major reforms to the management of tourism in the State have been announced by Tourism Minister Desley Boyle who said they would shape a bright new future for the vital industry.
Ms Boyle said the reforms would divide the State into seven tourism zones with new senior officer positions created for each including seven Tourism Queensland regional directors and seven high-level Department of Tourism officers to work with the private sector on infrastructure and new development.
She said the seven zones would be The Outback; The Tropics; The Whitsundays and Islands of the Great Barrier Reef; The Coral Coast; The Sunshine and Fraser Coasts; Brisbane and SEQ Country; and The Gold Coast and Hinterland.
“These officers will ensure a smooth passage for projects through the plethora of Government Agencies that can be involved in licensing and approvals,” Ms Boyle said.
“Essentially the tourism industry will have their own one stop shop for getting tourism projects off the ground.”
Ms Boyle said the officers would live and work in the zone they were responsible for.
“The Tourism Queensland regional directors will be redeployed to the zones and focus on selling Queensland with the development of major national and international marketing campaigns. Tourism Queensland will be responsible for soft product development and quality of tourism experiences.”
For the first time each tourism zone would be running their own agenda.
“Who else is better informed to tell us how to market Indigenous tourism than those living in the Cape? Who better to decide how to market the Outback, than those living and breathing there?” Ms Boyle said.
“We have such diverse product in Queensland. From the ruggedness of the Cape and the Gulf to the glitz and glamour of the Gold Coast – it makes sense to have individual regions making the big decisions about tourism marketing and development.”
Ms Boyle said the new regions would be better resourced, have stronger and more diverse networks, increased private sector investment in tourism product, partnerships with local industry , and a refocusing of Tourism Queensland on national and international marketing.
She said there would be no cuts to the funding of Queensland’s 14 Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) but rather an additional pool of $3 million for the development of new and innovative projects and for building stronger industry networks.
“The new funding of $3 million will be available on a contestable basis to encourage regional tourism organisations to come up with new projects and fresh ideas,” Ms Boyle said.
“RTOs will continue to receive at least the same level of funding, however this will be for specific projects rather than for administration or overheads.
“All in all they’ll be eligible to receive more money than ever before,” she said.
18 September, 2008
Councils in pink over women’s plan
The Local Government sector has launched a push for more women in senior management by announcing that 2010 had been designated the Year of Women in Local Government.
The announcement followed a national forum of Local, State and Commonwealth Governments, Local Government Associations and peak professional bodies held recently in Canberra and officially opened by the Federal Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek.
The year-long campaign would celebrate and promote the advancement of women into senior management positions.
National President of Local Government Managers Australia Ray Pincombe said the Year of Women in Local Government would be a powerful method of raising awareness and educating the Local Government sector on the value and capacity of women as senior managers.
“The topic of women in Local Government has been around for a long time,” Mr Pincombe said.
“All levels of Government are acutely aware of the barriers facing women in management, yet nationally only a handful of Councils are addressing the issue.
He said current figures showed women in senior management roles represented only 20 per cent of Local Government employees, with only five per cent at the Chief Executive or General Manager level.
18 September, 2008
Book blows whistle on whistleblowers
A report published by the Australian Research Council that explores whistleblowing in the Public Service was launched in Canberra recently by the Federal Cabinet Secretary, Senator John Faulkner.
The result of a three-year national research project that surveyed more than 7,600 Public Servants from 118 Departments and Agencies in the NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and Commonwealth Public Services, the new report was welcomed by Senator Faulkner as the most substantial research in the area in Australia to date.
Senator Faulkner said the report was prepared from outside Government looking in, and would be carefully considered by governments before they decided how to respond.
He said however PS whistleblowers traditionally paid a high price for doing the right thing.
“The decision to stand up and say ‘enough’ is rarely easy and too often carries heavy costs,” Senator Faulkner said.
“We depend very much on whistleblowers to alert us to misconduct and malfeasance.”
He said people inside organisations were often the first ones to know something was wrong and their actions in raising the alarm could stop a problem before it became a crisis.
He said whistleblowers should not have to risk their careers and their mental and physical health to act in the public interest.
Senator Faulkner said less than three-quarters of Australia’s Government employees were protected by rules and regulations protecting whistleblowers.
Senator Faulkner said the Commonwealth Government, for one, was committed to broadening and strengthening public interest disclosure measures through a pro-disclosure system across the Government sector.
“Public interest disclosure protections are an important part of transparency and accountability, which are in turn critical to both effective and responsible public administration,” he said.
“Good policies to protect those who make public interest disclosures, and to make sure that the issues they raise are dealt with appropriately, support public accountability and good government.”
He said a House of Representatives Standing Committee was conducting an inquiry into whistleblowing protections within the Public Sector with a view to improving their protection.
He said current protection measures should be expanded to include other categories of employees such as consultants and contractors.
18 September, 2008
QSuper members cash in on advice
A survey of QSuper members has found they were more financially literate than the general public when it came to understanding general financial matters.
Conducted as a partnership between QSuper and the Queensland University of Technology, the survey of more than 2,000 members found a majority scored highly on finance-related questions on topics such as compound interest, the differences between credit card and home loan interest rates, and the need to diversify investments.
According to a statement from QSuper, the members returned better scores than a national survey that tested financial knowledge generally.
“Survey respondents who use QSuper sources of information, such as seminars, newsletters, and the QSuper website, were also more financially knowledgeable, rating higher in both basic and advanced financial literacy than those who do not use information provided by QSuper,” the statement said.
“Additionally, members who actively engaged with their superannuation by choosing their QSuper investment option also had a stronger understanding of investment matters.”
On the downside, the survey showed about half the respondents couldn’t identify the level of risk of QSuper’s investment options, although they were better at rating the expected returns.
“In comparing the financial literacy test results with respondents’ self-rating of their financial knowledge, some were found to overestimate their understanding of advanced financial matters,” it said.
“This overconfidence may hinder some members seeking timely advice from a financial advisor and can result in inappropriate investment decisions, impacting on the total super available in retirement.”
QSuper said it would use the survey results to target its education programs to help members meet their retirement goals.
18 September, 2008
Management unit manages Awards
The Department of Public Works’ in-house project management agency, Project Services, has taken out three coveted titles at the Australian Institute of Project Management Achievement Awards.
The unit was congratulated by Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten who said the honours demonstrated Project Services’ ability to work efficiently on a range of diverse projects, and cemented its position as the industry leader in quality project management.
“It goes to show that the skills of the people we have working at Project Services are highly valued in the challenging field of project management,” Mr Schwarten said.
Project Services won a Regional Development Award and two Individual Achievment Awards.
The Regional Development Award was in recognition of it role in the construction of Skilled Park at Robina, the home of the Gold Coast Titans NRL team.
“The 27,000 seat stadium is considered the best regional stadium in Australia and boasts an international reputation as a ‘value-for-money’ arena based on its seating capacity, consumer amenities and corporate facilities,” Mr Schwarten said.
“A new benchmark was set for ‘relationship’ project management during the construction of Skilled Park and through this professional approach the project exceeded many expectations.”
An Individual Achievement Award was presented to Senior Project Manager Billy Betts for his work on the construction of the Strand Police Beat in Townsville.
According to Mr Schwarten, Mr Betts played a significant role in the team responsible for successfully transforming a left-over portion of a road reserve in the city centre’s recreational hub, into a recognisable and prominent Police Beat facility.
Another Individual Achievement Award was taken out be Martin Miles for his role as the Director responsible for the construction and on-time delivery of the new preparatory school building facilities in 467 primary schools throughout Queensland.
The AIPM awards were held annually to recognise, honour and promote outstanding achievements in project management.
18 September, 2008
Extra school year passes the test
The importance of introducing the Prep Year to Queensland schools has been borne out by the results of the national tests for literacy and numeracy, according to the Minister for Education and Training, Rod Welford.
Mr Welford said the results from the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 which were released by the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs recently showed Queensland’s results for reading in the early years could have been better.
“The Queensland results show more than eight out of 10 students attained the national minimum standard in all areas and, in many areas, nine out of 10 students were achieving the national standard,” Mr Welford said.
“In numeracy and reading, more than 90 per cent of Queensland students achieved the national standard in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and Years 7 and 9 respectively.”
He said however that in the early years, reading results were not as high: “influenced by the fact that our students are up to nine months younger and have had almost a year’s less formal schooling at the time of testing compared to other States.
“I expect this anomaly in the early years will dissipate over time, as we start to see the benefits of an extra year of schooling – the newly-introduced Prep year,” he said.
Mr Welford said the Government’s plan of expanding early childhood education services so the children were ready for school would also help give the youngest students the best start to their education and bring them more into line with other States.
He said only 29 per cent of Queensland students attended kindergarten or an early childhood education program compared to over 85 per cent and up to 96 per cent in other States.
“The results show that despite demographic and age differences, Queensland students begin to catch up with many of their interstate peers in a number of areas by the time they reach Year 9,” he said.
Mr Welford said the State Government was working with the Federal Government on a national curriculum which would provide greater consistency between what students learned at different stages of their education.
18 September, 2008
Officers pinned for long service medals
Thirty-five officers of the Queensland Ambulance Service have been honoured with long-service medals and Diplomas of Paramedical Science at the Southeast Region’s “Star Care Awards”.
Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said four officers with 30 years experience were among those presented with medals at the ceremony at Beenleigh Community Centre.
“I’d like to congratulate these QAS paramedics, staff and volunteers for their longstanding and continuing work to provide world-class care and dedicated service for Queenslanders in the South East,” Mr Roberts said.
The medals were presented during Ambulance Week, a celebration of the dedication and professionalism of QAS paramedics, staff and volunteers.
Mr Roberts said a National Satisfaction Survey of ambulance services showed that the QAS had earned a satisfaction rating of 99 per cent.
He said the Service responded to more than 879,000 demands for service during the 2007-08 year – an increase of more than 60,000 over the previous 12 months. In the South Eastern Region alone, the QAS provided around 180,000 total responses.
Mr Roberts said the Government was committed to providing a first-class ambulance service.
“A record budget of $455 million, an increase of more than $53 million on 2007-08, includes funding for 250 additional ambulance officers and 145 new ambulances,” he said.
“That’s on top of the 255 extra officers and 140 new vehicles funded in 2007-08.”
Award recipients were:
Natasha Bennett - OIC Helensvale - 10 Year QAS Service Award;
Donald Coleman - ACP Beenleigh - 10 Year QAS Service Award;
Andrew Crane - ACP (Casual Officer) - 10 Year QAS Service Award;
Peter Doyle - ACP Springwood - 10 Year QAS Service Award;
Wayne Kirk - CSO Ipswich Area - 10 Year QAS Service Award;
Neil Robinson - PTO Logan West - 10 Year QAS Service Award;
Nigel Stamp - ACP Nerang - 10 Year QAS Service Award;
Colin Allen - CCS SECOMM - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Paul Hardie - ACP Laidley - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Stephen Kidd - ACP Nerang - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Steven Kliese - ACP Ipswich - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
James Newman - Honorary Rathdowney - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Ian Richter - Honorary Rathdowney- 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Lynnette Richter - Honorary Rathdowney - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Margaret Salisbury - Honorary Rathdowney - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Wayne Tester - ACP Southport - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Anthony Ward - Honorary Rathdowney - 20 Year QAS Service Award;
Ross Breckenridge - ACP Laidley - 30 Year QAS Service Award;
Mark McDonald - RAE RSDU - 30 Year QAS Service Award;
John Tesoriero - Area Director Gold Coast - 30 Year QAS Service Award;
Peter Tesoriero - ACP Beaudesert - 30 Year QAS Service Award;
Mark Crossett - ACP Logan West - National Medal;
Wayne Thurston - ACP Runaway Bay - National Medal;
Gary Fuller - OIC Logan West - 1st Clasp to National Medal;
Shane Sypher - OIC Toogoolawah - 1st Clasp to National Medal;
Tony Wain - Regional Manager RSDU - 1st Clasp to National Medal;
Allan Windsor - ACP Coral Gardens - 1st Clasp to National Medal;
Thomas McGee - Logan West LAC - 10 Year LAC Service Award;
Donna Alward - ACP Coral Gardens - Diploma of Paramedical Science;
Helen Barndon - ACP Raceview - Diploma of Paramedical Science;
Debra Cain - ACP Beaudesert - Diploma of Paramedical Science;
Paul Gray - ACP Southport - Diploma of Paramedical Science;
Briony McLoughlan - ACP Beenleigh - Diploma of Paramedical Science;
Susan Neale - ACP Springwood - Diploma of Paramedical Science; and
Peter Thorley - ACP Woodridge - Diploma of Paramedical Science.
18 September, 2008
Christmas contest is on the cards
The Minister for Child Safety, Margaret Keech, has announced the inaugural Minister's Christmas Card competition for children in care.
Ms Keech said the competition would be a new way of bringing a little more Christmas joy to the children in care.
“I'm pleased to partner with Foster Care Queensland in this competition designed to encourage our children in care to showcase their talents,” Ms Keech said.
“The best piece of artwork will form the basis of the official 2008 Child Safety Minister's Christmas Card that will be sent out to hundreds of child safety stakeholders, including foster carers.”
She said she knew children in care had many talents and hoped the competition would give them a chance to enjoy being creative and express themselves.
The competition winners would be chosen from children 10-years and under and the over 10s with the winners receiving a $250 voucher and an overall winner a $500 voucher.
Ms Keech said the winners' and finalists' artwork would also be published in the Department of Child Safety's magazine Brighter Futures.
The competition would close on 3 October and more information was available from www.childsafety.qld.gov.au
18 September, 2008
Emergency number dials up campaign
An awareness campaign to encourage the correct use of the Triple Zero emergency telephone number for ambulance services has been launched at the Ambulance and Fire Communication Centre (AFcom) at Spring Hill.
Minister for Emergency Services, Neil Roberts said the campaign came about as a result of recommendations in last year’s Ambulance Audit.
“As well as identifying $12 million in savings from non-essential areas, the Ambulance Audit recommended the introduction of a range of demand management initiatives,” Mr Roberts said.
“A central part of that is a new awareness campaign addressing concerns that highly-trained, well-resourced paramedics were being sent to cases that didn’t warrant their level of expertise – taking away from their vital role of attending life-threatening medical emergencies.”
He said too many people were requesting ambulances for what turned out to be minor conditions such as ear-aches, tooth-aches and stubbed toes, diverting ambulances away from real emergencies.
Mr Roberts said as demand rose, it was important the public was encouraged to call Triple Zero only for serious, life threatening or critical conditions.
“In 2007-08, the QAS provided around 880,000 responses to incidents,” he said. “On average, that’s one every 35 seconds.”
He said those figures included 57,000 more urgent, life-threatening calls than occurred in 2006-07.
“In the same way that the community is now aware that hosing driveways is a wasteful use of water, the Triple Zero campaign highlights that calling an ambulance for a minor condition is overkill.”
QAS Commissioner David Melville said anyone facing an emergency should still call Triple Zero.
“This is not about discouraging people to utilise Triple Zero,” Mr Melville said. “It’s about creating awareness and encouraging people to know when it’s appropriate to call Triple Zero for an ambulance.
“For minor injuries or ailments the public can utilise the 13HEALTH service, their local GP or pharmacist.”
Mr Roberts said the Queensland Ambulance Service was also introducing other demand management initiatives including more clinical oversight of calls and a secondary triage system in its communication centres.
“Already in Brisbane, we have seen the ratio of 1.4 ambulance responses to every incident in July 2007 drop to just 1.14 in July 2008,” he said.
Mr Roberts said the Ambulance Audit had initiated a number of changes including the recruitment this financial year of an additional 250 ambulance officers 100 of which were funded by savings from the Audit.
The old adage of “using a steamroller to crack a nut” was one of three examples being used by the QAS on posters and as part of the Tripe Zero radio and TV campaign.
The campaign will run through to mid-November.
18 September, 2008
Joint crackdown to send graffiti to wall
Queensland Police and the Brisbane City Council have joined forces to crack down on graffiti in the Brisbane area.
The two bodies have formed a Graffiti Task Force to give their efforts a targeted approach and inject dedicated resources to make a significant impact on the practice.
Police Minister Judy Spence and Lord Mayor Campbell Newman launched the Task Force, each confident there would be results.
“The Queensland Government is committed to stamping out graffiti that is a scourge on our communities,” Ms Spence said.
“The new Graffiti Task Force will be an effective tool in the fight against this unsightly mess that is tarnishing our streets, parks and public spaces.”
Ms Spence said five police officers would be on the Task Force, focussing solely on investigating, identifying and arresting graffiti offenders, based at police headquarters and comprising a Detective Sergeant, intelligence analyst and three uniformed officers.
She said targeted operations conducted by police have already proved successful.
“In June this year, police in Brisbane West District conducted Operation Vandal which identified and arrested three offenders responsible for committing 855 offences,” Ms Spence said.
“The establishment of a dedicated Task Force means police can build on these excellent results to crack down on graffiti and vandalism in our community.”
She said the Government had already introduced a number of measures to tackle graffiti across the State including a ban on sales of spray-paint cans to people under the age of 18 and shops needing to see proof of age before selling spray paint.
She said from July to December 2006 there were 9,202 reported graffiti offences with a clear-up rate of 35 per cent. After the introduction of the sale ban, the offences dropped to 5,546 and the clear up rate rose to 44 per cent.
Ms Spence said Queensland Police would continue to work with different levels of Government and members of the community to ensure the fight against graffiti was effective.
18 September, 2008
Teachers bubble in wine awards
Two high school teachers have been honoured in the inaugural Queensland Wine Tourism Gateway Schools Awards.
Ann Richardson from Stanthorpe State high School and Alex Van Dorsellaer, from Centenary Heights State High School will each receive $1,500 to further their prize-winning initiatives.
Ms Richardson won for a resource kit on the responsible consumption of alcohol and Mr Van Dorsellaer for a unit of work introducing Year 10 students to the wine tourism industry.
The Awards program was developed through the Wine Tourism Gateway Schools Project with support from Government, industry and the tertiary sector. The Awards recognise excellence in teaching and support students who show a keen interest in their vocational education and training studies to remain in the industry.
Minister for Education and Training, Rod Welford said the Project created career pathways into the burgeoning industry.
“By working closely, with industry, students are developing skills which will enable them to work in both the wine and tourism industries,” he said.
“These students and their teachers are being recognised for their enthusiasm, innovation and dedication to pursuing careers in the wine tourism industry.”
The awards included the 2008 Premier of Queensland Award for Wine Tourism, which gave two students $1500 each to undertake vocational education and training in wine tourism.
Robert Cragg and Rohan Parker, both former Stanthorpe State High School students, were completing the Certificate III in Food Processing (Wine) at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism, Mr Cragg gaining industry experience at Rumbalara Wine and Mr Parker completing a full-time traineeship with Gold Grove Estate.
Amanda Vidler, a University of Southern Queensland Bachelor of Wine Science Degree student, won the Ballandean Estate Award for Wine Science and would receive $1,000 per year for three years to support her study at USQ. Ms Vidler was a student at Laidley State High School.
The Young Winemakers program label design competition was won by Dominique Maher of Kingaroy State High School. who will now spend a day of work placement with Mr Labels design and production team and receive a framed set of labels.
18 September, 2008
Interpreters to walk the talk
The first Indigenous interpreters to graduate from a pilot training program conducted by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General in association with the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters have been congratulated by the Department’s Minister, Kerry Shine.
Mr Shine said the three Aurukun community members would now go on and help reduce the over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.
He said the Aurukun women -Dorothy Pootchemunka, Vera Koomeeta and Phyllis Yunkaporta - had been accredited at the paraprofessional level in a project that was the first of its kind in Queensland.
He said the scheme would allow other Indigenous interpreters to be accredited to the same level.
“In the past Indigenous interpreters have not received accreditation to the level generally considered appropriate for Court interpreters,” Mr Shine said.
“Even though the primary goal of the project is to have more Court interpreters, it will also enable members of the Aurukun community without sufficient proficiency in spoken English to communicate reliably with all authorities and Agencies, whether this is within criminal justice, legal services, health or education.”
He said the assistance with interpreting would benefit all Government Agencies as the initiative had been introduced to be supported across whole-of-Government, as part of the Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland commitment to a fair and equal future.
“I encourage other Queensland Government Agencies to consider making use of these professional interpreters and to consider the long term advantages of supporting such a program,” Mr Shine said.
18 September, 2008
Parkland walks walk in Award
The Roma Street Parkland has won a Disability Action Week Award for its range of specialised walks for people with limited vision and hearing difficulties.
Public Works Minister, Robert Schwarten said the Parkland was one of the most beautiful places in Brisbane and it was important that anyone with a disability could access and experience its joys.
He said the Parkland had two specialised walks: a Sensory Walk for people with limited vision and an Auslan Interpreter Walk for people with impaired hearing.
“The Sensory Walk, designed to stimulate the senses, memory and mood, is aimed at people who have a brain injury or are vision-impaired,” Mr Schwarten said.
“This walk is ‘mobility friendly’ for people who need assistance with dogs, walking apparatus, canes or wheel-chairs.”
The Minister said the Parkland’s volunteer guides had realised that people would have varying level of needs and tailored different routes to cater for individual requirements. The Sensory Walk was trialled with consultants from Vision Australia and Enhance Care to ensure it met the needs of visitors with a disability.
Mr Schwarten said the Auslan Interpreter Walk, designed for people with impaired hearing, included an Auslan interpreter alongside the volunteer guide.
The Auslan interpreters could also be arranged for the “Out and About with Bubs” guided walks to meet the needs of playgroups and schools within the deaf community.
Mr Schwarten said apart from the traditional guided walks, Roma Street Parkland also offered other free walks to the public including the Curator’s Walk, Heritage Walk and the Art Walk.
18 September, 2008
Wage setters count cost of decisions
The Australian Fair Pay Commission has published a report on the impact of its wage-setting decisions between January and June.
Commission Chairman, Professor Ian Harper, said the Economic and Social
Indicators – Monitoring Report for the period January - June 2008 monitored the impact of the Commission’s wage-setting decisions.
Professor Harper said the labour market had been adjusting to the slowing economy over the past six months and industries that relied on pay scales had experienced higher than average growth, while others had lower than average growth.
“Trends in employment for population groups containing many low-skilled workers have been similar to those of the general population,” Professor Harper said.
“There have been no significant changes in employment rates for these workers closely following the Commission’s first and second wage-setting decisions.”
Professor Harper said the employment of labourers and related workers increased significantly over the six months to May.
“For individuals in a broad range of circumstances, there continues to be significant financial incentives to take up low-paid employment,” he said.
“However, some groups face weaker financial incentives, for example, people contemplating a return to part-time work whose partners are already in low-paid full-time work.”
He said the report compared the cost of living for low-paid households with that of average households as some organisations had expressed concern that the costs in low-paid households were increasing at a greater rate than other households.
He said a cost-of-living index compiled by the Secretariat found only minor differences in average expenditure patterns between low-paid households and the rest of the community.
He said living costs for low-income employees had increased 5.8 per cent for the year to June, while other households had increased 5.7 per cent.
“Wages for the lowest-paid employees have been growing more slowly than for the labour force as a whole,” he said.
“Our modelling also shows that, for Pay Scale reliant employees in a variety of household types earning up to at least $750 per week, the wage rises granted by the Commission and relevant changes to the tax and social security systems have resulted in sustained real increases in disposable income.”
Copies of the report could be found at www.fairpay.gov.au
18 September, 2008
ACMA spreads web on internet
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has launched a new program
to keep the internet safe for children.
ACMA’s Cybersmart Detectives was launched in Queensland with over a thousand students from 26 schools taking part across the country.
According to ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman, internet education was vital to ensure children enjoyed safe internet experiences, and knew how to protect themselves from risks.
Mr Chapman said the event was held as part of National Child Protection Week, an initiative of the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN).
“Making Cybersmart Detectives available to Queensland schools means up to 350 Queensland children a week will have the opportunity to take part in the activity, and think about the cybersafety messages,” Mr Chapman said.
He said the Queensland Police Service supported the launch and had set up a task force responsible for indentifying online predators, known as Task Force Argos.
He said the involvement of the Police underscored the importance of partnerships between Agencies who shared the goal of promoting online safety for young people.
Mr Chapman said that in Cybersmart Detectives, children worked in real time liaising with community professionals to solve an internet-themed problem.
At the launch, the children who took part played the roles of a school deputy principal concerned for the welfare of a new student who was deceived by someone they had met in an internet chat room.
Mr Chapman said the key messages of Cybersmart Detectives were to withhold personal information when chatting online; take a parent when meeting someone face-to-face for the first time; and be aware that people may not be who they said they were in the online environment.
He said Cybersmart Detectives would also run weekly in schools in Western Australian and Victoria and was available for all schools.
He said since its launch, the program has been run in over 191 schools nationally reaching more than 5,500 primary school children aged between 10 and 13.
He said ACMA would make the program available to other States in 2008–09.
18 September, 2008
Public to comment on weather report
Community comment has been invited on an issues paper dealing with the State’s ability to respond and adapt to climate change.
The paper, entitled Review of the Queensland Government climate change strategy, was launched this week and welcomed as a critical proactive step in preserving Queensland from the likely impacts of climate change.
According to the Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change, Andrew McNamara, Australia was entering a new phase in responding to the challenge of climate change.
“The ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and the commitment by the Commonwealth Government to introduce an emissions trading scheme by 2010 provides an opportunity for Queensland to be part of a proactive national response,” ,” Mr McNamara said.
He said the Queensland Government was committed to the long-term prosperity and “futureproofing” of the State against climate change.
“This review is a strong opportunity for the Queensland Government to build on the suite of greenhouse gas reduction measures contained in the original ClimateSmart 2050 and to contribute towards achieving the national target of a 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below Australia’s 2000 levels by 2050.
“It is also an opportunity to build upon the ClimateSmart Adaptation 2007-12 action plan, which provides the foundation for building Queensland’s resilience to climate change.”
He said the Issues Paper was a key step in the review process and sought to identify relevant issues in each of the major sectors, such as energy, industry, community, planning and building, primary industries, transport, government leadership and ecosystems.
“The review process will provide the Queensland Government with input and ideas on further programs and policy to support reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.”
Minister McNamara said that Office of Climate Change in the Environmental Protection Agency would consider all submissions made on the Issues Paper during the development of a revised Queensland ClimateSmart Strategy.
“I call on all members of the community, business and industry to read this important document and provide feedback on its content - in particular, on the effectiveness of existing measures, the issues relevant to our major sectors and possible measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change,” Mr McNamara said.
“All feedback will be considered in the preparation of the revised Queensland ClimateSmart Strategy, due for release in late 2008. I encourage you to provide your thoughts and ideas on these important issues.”
The closing date for submissions is 5pm 27 October 2008. For submission details and information go to www.climatechange.qld.gov.au
18 September, 2008
Justice reformed
Reforms to the justice system that allow Judge only trials and majority verdicts for juries have passed through State Parliament.
The two new measures bring Queensland into line with other Australian jurisdictions.
Smart kids called
School students have been encouraged to enter the Office of Fair Trading’s 2008 Buy Smart competition to be in the running for cash prizes.
The aim of the competition is to teach students consumer skills to help them avoid financial problems with debt, both now and later in life.
Last year’s entries included videos, board games, posters, a song, storybooks and the first ever MySpace page entry. For more information on how to enter, visit www.fairtrading.qld.gov.au
Water giveaway
The Queensland Government plans to gift 10.6 billion litres of water from the Queensland-Murray Darling catchment to the Commonwealth.
The water will come from across the Queensland section of the Murray Darling basin and include allocations from the Nebine, Moonie, Warrego and Border Rivers.
Prison crackdown
Tough new security measures including maximum lifetime bans on people trying to bring contraband into Queensland jails have been endorsed by the Government.
The Corrective Services (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill would permit the biometric identification of visitors, limits on prisoner trust accounts, abolition of reintegration and resettlement leave and close a loophole on prisoners profiting from artwork sales.
Premier Anna Bligh said the amendments would further enhance safety and security at Queensland prisons.
Exports made SAFE
The ability of Queensland’s export companies to efficiently develop and enter markets in Latin America is to increase significantly with the opening of a new SAFE Initiative facility in Santiago, Chile.
The SAFE Initiative was itself a Queensland export venture and would provide other Queensland exporters security and peace of mind when they begin exporting to Chile.
New plan for female offenders
Queensland Corrective Services has completed a review of its Action Plan for addressing the needs of female offenders.
The Agency has acknowledged that imprisonment of women could have profound effects on children and families and it was committed to a correctional system that was responsive to the issues relevant to women offenders.
The new plan could be accessed on the website www.correctiveservices.qld.gov.au
Grant to grow on trees
ForestThe Queensland Government is to invest $44.6 million over seven years to help its commercial plantation forest grower, Forestry Plantations Queensland (FPQ), establish 8200 hectares of new native hardwood sawlog plantations in south east Queensland.
The commitment has delivered on a key component of the Queensland Government’s Western Hardwoods Plan to secure a sustainable hardwood plantation-based resource.
Customs at Cairns
Nineteen new Customs Officers have started work at Cairns International Airport after graduating from the Customs Trainee Program.
Customs’ National Manager of Airport Operations North, Gayle Brown, said the group would begin their careers processing international passengers entering and leaving Australia.
Ms Brown said Cairns was the only regional centre that conducted entry level training employed the largest number of Customs officers outside the capital cities.
She said more than 60 Customs Officers had been successfully trained in the past three years.
11 September, 2008
New workplace for Safety Authority
A new national Authority to improve workplace health and safety has been established.
The Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard has set up Safe Work Australia saying its task would be to lead improvements in OHS and workers’ compensation across Australia.
Ms Gillard said the new body would be independent and comprise representatives of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments as well as employers and unions.
The Commonwealth would fund 50 per cent of the Authority’s $17 million budget with the States and Territories picking up the rest, according to their population.
Ms Gillard said one of the Authority’s key responsibilities would be to develop model OHS legislation to ensure consistent safety standards across the country.
She said an Intergovernmental Agreement for Operational Reform in Occupational Health and Safety had been signed by the Council of Australian Governments in July and the new Authority stemmed from that agreement.
She said all jurisdictions were committed to a process for the adoption of model OHS laws, and to the development of uniform, equitable and effective safety standards and protections.
Ms Gillard said Safe Work Australia would develop the OHS legislation and harmonised laws would lead to safer workplaces across the nation by ensuring a consistent approach to OHS.
11 September, 2008
Main Roads manager reaches destination
The manager who oversaw completion of a $543 million road link between the Gold Coast and New South Wales has been named Achiever of the Year at the 2008 Queensland Transport and Logistics Industry Awards.
Main Roads’ General Manager of Major Projects, Derek Skinner was honoured with the award for oversighting construction of the Tugun Bypass, described as the most challenging project ever in the Department of Main Roads’ history.
Mr Skinner was a driving force in getting the joint State and Federal funded project up and running. The project itself was judged “achievement of the year.”
According to Main Roads Minister,Warren Pitt, Mr Skinner exemplified the sense of innovation and conscientiousness that Main Roads thrived on.
He said the award-winning bypass project was completed partly due to Mr Skinner’s “persistence and ability to find a way”.
Mr Pitt said the Tugun Bypass had tied with Queensland Transport’s Industry Capability Initiative for the prestigious award, which was judged by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (Queensland Section).
“Since joining the Department in 1965 as a scholarship student, Derek has played a key role in delivering a great deal of projects – the Norman and Georgina river bridges, the Port of Brisbane Motorway and the Pacific Motorway,” Mr Pitt said.
“Derek has been a major contributor to the Department’s growing proficiency in a variety of alternative contracting methods, including alliancing and early contractor involvement.”
He said he was also “delighted” to see the project recognized with an award.
“More than three million vehicles have enjoyed travel time savings of 20 minutes or more since the Tugun Bypass opened to traffic in June,” Mr Pitt said.
He said constructing the Bypass was so challenging because sensitive environmental issues had to be considered and approval required by the Queensland, New South Wales and Australian Governments.
“To deliver this infrastructure six months ahead of schedule and within budget represented an enormous achievement,” Mr Pitt said.
In addition to the wins by the Tugun Bypass and Mr Skinner, Emerald-based communications officer Melanie Dunn was nominated for the young achiever of the year award.
Ms Dunn was at the forefront of Main Roads’ efforts to keep the community and stakeholders informed during January’s devastating flooding events.
11 September, 2008
Crime Commission gets out of jail
A move to clarify the powers of the Crime and Misconduct Commission would not result in it having any extra powers according to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Kerry Shine.
Mr Shine said a Bill to amend the CMC’s Act would simply clarify its existing powers which were recently questioned by the Supreme Court.
“There is nothing in the Bill that changes the CMC’s powers in relation to its ability to compel a witness to give evidence,” Mr Shine said.
He said the laws compelling witnesses to give evidence had been in place for many years.
“This is a power the CMC was intended to have to carry out its work.”
Mr Shine said the Government had moved quickly to amend the Act due to the serious implications the recent Supreme Court decision could have on a number of CMC investigations.
“There are a range of matters at various stages of the CMC’s investigative process that might be compromised if we do not clarify the laws,” he said.
“These are significant powers and they are not used lightly but are a very important part of the CMC’s fight against crime.”
He said clarifying the issue meant that the CMC could continue to be effective but added the Government had heard the concerns of media organisations.
“The Government is willing to talk with members of the media about these issues, however any further amendments would have to be carefully considered,” he said.
“The amendment at hand merely clarifies laws that have been in place for some time.”
11 September, 2008
Power workers come unplugged
The Minister for Mines and Energy, Geoff Wilson has thrown his weight behind the staff of Energex who were holding a Family Day at Sea World this weekend.
Mr Wilson said the families deserved to spend time together at this time of year because when the festive season came, the nature of their work was very likely to keep them apart.
Mr Wilson said Energex would be ramping up their roster system in a couple of weeks as more workers were required to be on call and ready to tackle whatever the weather threw at the electricity network.
“We should all spare a thought this Christmas for the Energex workers who, more often than not, will be out in that bad weather, restoring power so that we can enjoy Christmas dinner with our family and friends,” Mr Wilson said.
“Energex workers have families too. That’s what this weekend’s Family Day is all about.”
He said many of the workers’ families wouldn’t get to spend Christmas Day or other special days over the holiday season with their son, father, mother or daughter because he or she would be called out to repair power lines damaged by storms.
“This summer storm season, it’s not a matter of if storms strike but when, and when they do, Energex will be ready for action,” Mr Wilson said.
He said as an example, on 9 October last year repair crews worked through the early evening and into the night, restoring power to homes and businesses hit by thunderstorms and strong winds.
“More than 10,000 lightning strikes were recorded as the storm passed over the south east – over a region that includes more than 35,000 kilometres of overhead power lines,” he said.
“So if Energex wants to thank their staff with a Family Day outside of the summer storm season – good on them!” Mr Wilson said.
11 September, 2008
Post Office delivers on traineeships
The success of a trial of school-to-work traineeships for 30 Indigenous youngsters in Queensland, NSW and Victoria last year has prompted Australia post to extend the program nation-wide.
The corporation has announced it would now offer 100 of the traineeships over the next 12 months.
Claiming it was already one of the largest Indigenous employers in the country, Australia Post said the 100 new traineeships would provide young indigenous Australians with the chance to work with Australia Post one day a week during the final two years of school.
Managing director, Graeme John said during those two years the trainees would develop their skills at work and have the opportunity to join Australia Post on a permanent basis or continue studying while working part-time.
“We know there is a high risk of kids leaving school in Year 10,” Mr John said.
“Australia Post will offer 100 new traineeships across Australia, building on a successful trial which ran in Queensland, NSW and Victoria last year and involved 30 students.
He said the traineeships would enable Indigenous Australians to join the organisation in a range of entry-level positions and as part of their traineeship, undertake study in various certificate courses relative to their employment such as transport, warehouse distribution, retail management and postal management.
He said at the end of the traineeship, trainees would be ready to move into entry-level positions that aligned with their traineeship.
“Offering genuine and long-term job opportunities has a worthwhile impact on the Indigenous community,” Mr John said.
“The employment of Indigenous Australians is a tangible and practical expression of reconciliation.”
He said this year Australia Post welcomed the 4,000th Indigenous employee hired since 1990 when it launched its program of employing Indigenous Australians.
“There is nothing more Australian than the notion we all get a fair go,” Mr John said, “and I wanted to ensure this was reflected in the way we employ people.”
11 September, 2008
Finance sections can be counted on
International accounting firm Deloittes has found Australian Departments of Finance and other Agency finance sections to be among the best in the world for audit and compliance.
In a study entitled Mastering Finance in Government: Transforming the Government Enterprise through Better Financial Management, the company found that the Departments had responded well to change and had moved beyond their traditional role of support by becoming enablers of increasingly complex objectives.
Partner in Deloitte Consulting, Donal Graham said that like their counterparts in other countries, the demands placed on Australian Finance Departments and sections had changed, creating an opportunity to operate at a more strategic level and drive the change agenda.
“Excelling at back-office compliance activities used to be enough,” Mr Graham said, “but every Government Department is facing new challenges and finance has to respond.”
He said many Departments were finding the finance function held the key to unlocking performance improvement and delivering better outcomes.
He said the study found the demands being placed on the public sector included rising entitlement costs, an ageing society, a heightened focus on outcomes and demands for increased transparency.
“All of these initiatives require insight and support from a sophisticated finance function,” Mr Graham said.
He said the study found Canada to be the best performer when compared to the United Kingdom, United States of America and Australia.
He said 67 per cent of the respondents saw financial management as a stimulus for change and 52 per cent felt finance was the best-placed unit to move an organisation to a greater focus on value.
11 September, 2008
New explorers find double the permits
A doubling in the number of applications for explorer’s permits in the past year has been welcomed by the Premier and Minister for Mines and Energy as an indication of the level of business confidence in the State.
Premier Anna Bligh and Mines and Energy Minister, Geoff Wilson said there had been a flood of explorers keen to make their mark - and their millions - by mining in Queensland.
They said that in 2005-06 the Department of Mines and Energy received 650 applications but at the end of April this year, more than 1300 had been received.
“These applications are an indication of the confidence in Queensland and the interest companies have in coming here to do business,” Ms Bligh said.
“We are lucky to live in a vast State that is blessed with many natural resources and there is more to discover in Queensland.”
Mr Wilson said mining was booming and would continue to power ahead in Queensland.
“There is now more land under granted exploration tenure in Queensland than at any time in the past,” he said.
“And while mining’s going full steam ahead, we haven’t forgotten where it all begins, in exploration. Today’s exploration means tomorrow’s jobs.”
The Minister said 150,000 sq km had been opened up for petroleum exploration alone this year.
“Successful companies plan to spend around half a billion dollars in the first four years of their operations,” he said.
“We’re well on track to meet our target of doubling mining investment to $540 million by 2010.”
He said in the past year construction had begun on 11 new mining and petroleum projects with nine new coal mines starting up and six major mineral mines going into production.
11 September, 2008
New direction to fly economy
A blueprint for growing the Queensland economy over the next 10 years and beyond has been released by the Premier, Anna Bligh.
Ms Bligh said the plan - Towards Q2 Tomorrow's Queensland – set out the Government’s plans for the future which included meeting the challenges of climate change, disease, population growth, global competition and unhealthy lifestyles head on.
She said Towards Q2 was her plan to beat the challenges and seize the opportunities.
"Queensland has grown remarkably over the past 10 years but we must act now if we are to take the next leap forward," Ms Bligh said.
She said the plan identified 10 ten specific targets in the lead-up to 2020 and it developed them under five broad headings - strong, green, smart, healthy and fair.
She said her Government would roll out initiatives to help meet the targets.
"There is no doubt the targets we have set are ambitious and tough but if we can do it they will improve our day-to-day lives, our community, our environment and our economy," Ms Bligh said.
She said the 2020 targets were:
Strong…
- Creating a diverse economy powered by bright ideas
- Building Australia's strongest economy with infrastructure for growth
- Increasing R&D among Queensland businesses by 50%
Green…
- Protecting lifestyle and environment
- Cutting the State’s carbon footprint by a third and reducing car and power use
- Protecting 50% more land for nature conservation and public recreation
Smart…
- Delivering world class education and training
- Access for all children to quality early childhood education
- 75% of Queenslanders to hold trade, training or tertiary qualifications
Healthy…
- Making Queenslanders Australia's healthiest people
- Cutting obesity, smoking, heavy drinking and unsafe sun exposure by a third
- Reducing public hospital waiting lists to the shortest in Australia
Fair…
- Supporting caring communities
- Halving the number of children living in households without a working parent
- Increase community involvement by 50% Ms Bligh said these priorities would drive her Governments program of action over the next twelve months.
"We will hold 30 public forums on Q2 with the first one on the Gold Coast next week," she said.
"As a Government we cannot reach these targets alone.
"I want to consult with Queenslanders and get their views and ideas so they can play their part in shaping our future. “
11 September, 2008
Fire truck trackers right on the spot
Queensland Fire and Rescue Service vehicles in Brisbane and the South-East are to be fitted with Automatic Vehicle Locators to enable Communications officers to track them without using voice radio.
Emergency Services Minister, Neil Roberts said the new technology was being introduced to complement the new Emergency Services Computer-Aided Dispatch (ESCAD) system. He said the AVLs would cost $868,000.
“Currently firefighters need to radio in their location when they attend an incident and return to station,” Mr Roberts said.
“The introduction of AVLs will allow Communications officers to see on their computer screens the locations of all vehicles and dispatch the appropriate resource.”
He described the new facility as a “monumental step forward” for the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, pointing out that ambulance vehicles already enjoyed the same technology.
“ESCAD integrates both the Fire Service and Queensland Ambulance Service communications systems,” Mr Roberts said.
He said despite its teething problems, ESCAD was a major investment in Emergency Services technology and had a 99.99% availability rating.
After visiting several Communications Centres, Mr Roberts was confident the AVLs would be a welcome addition.
“There is no doubt that the implementation of ESCAD has been a difficult process,” he said.
“I’d like to praise both QFRS and QAS Communications staff on their skill and professionalism.”
11 September, 2008
Health goes into bat against Hendra virus
Queensland Health is to involve interstate disease experts in a review of its response to recent Hendra virus outbreak.
Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young said the review was being led by the head of the Department’s Communicable Diseases Branch, Dr Christine Selvey and would focus on issues such as notification, disease surveillance, contact management and communication.
Dr Young said it was standard practice for the Communicable Diseases Branch and Population Health Units to review their response to significant disease incidents and identify issues that may impact on policies, procedures and protocols.
“As Hendra virus is such a rare disease, we have broadened the review to share our findings with our interstate counterparts, have them examine our processes and provide feedback,” Dr Young said.
“This review is covering response to the infections from a human health perspective, but not the clinical treatment or hospitalisation aspects.
“Apart from this internal review, we will provide any co-operation that may be requested by the Department of Primary Industries Hendra virus inquiry.”
Dr Young reiterated the fact that humans generally had little chance of contracting the Hendra virus.
“There is no evidence of bat to human, or human to human transmission, and that includes people who handle bats,” she said.
“Over 15 years there have been six confirmed human infections, with three deaths, caused by the Hendra virus, all in Queensland.
“All six had been in close contact with infected or dead horses.”
Dr Young said the natural host for Hendra virus was the fruit bat (flying fox) and it was not clear how horses become infected.
11 September, 2008
Insurers rejected by ACCC policy
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has rejected an insurance industry proposal to adopt a common definition of “inland flood” in its insurance policies, on the grounds that the proposal would not benefit consumers.
ACCC Chairman, Graeme Samuel said consumers had been caught out during severe floods in recent year by what the term ‘flood’ meant in insurance contracts. The Insurance Council of Australia had proposed a common definition and had sought the ACCC's authorisation
"The ACCC supports efforts to establish a common definition of flood that is widely understood by consumers and can be used as a benchmark for flood cover in insurance policies," Mr Samuel said.
"However, the definition proposed by the ICA is unlikely to achieve this aim.”
He said the ACCC consulted widely on the definition and noted significant concerns raised by consumer bodies.
He said the groups believed the ICA's definition would increase consumer confusion about the meaning and nature of flood cover, rather than improve consumer understanding.
"The ACCC recognises that this is a complex issue and encourages the ICA to work with consumer groups and other interested stakeholders to develop a common definition of flood that will make it easier for consumers to understand," Mr Samuel said.
He said the decision did not prevent the insurance industry from seeking authorisation for a revised proposal in the future.
11 September, 2008
EPA nails homeowner on building repairs
The Environmental Protection Agency has acted to protect a heritage-listed landmark at Indooroopilly which, it said, was falling into disrepair.
According to the Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation, Andrew McNamara, a maintenance notice had been served on the owner of Keating House under new laws that came into effect in April.
It was the first use of new powers which allow for owners to be fined up to $75,000 for letting heritage houses fall into disrepair.
Mr McNamara said the unoccupied house required urgent maintenance work.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has been aware of the property’s neglect since March yet the owner has done nothing, despite repeated requests,” Mr McNamara said.
“The Heritage Act makes it clear that maintenance work – such as keeping a building secure – is more than an owner’s responsibility, it’s a legislative duty.”
He said unsecured windows and doors had allowed vandals to enter and damage the interior. Damage had been further compounded by rain.
He said the owner had been ordered to remove or repair damaged guttering and downpipes, secure doors and windows, clear stormwater drains, install temporary secure fencing and mow the long grass.
Keating House was put on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1999. It was designed in the late 1890s home by prominent Brisbane architect Richard Gailey who was also responsible for Moorlands, within Wesley Hospital’s grounds.
“It’s a colourful piece of Queensland history,” Mr McNamara said.
“It was built for a businessman Louis Stamm, who is variously described as a newspaper proprietor, brewer and merchant. At one stage, he owned 42 acres of Indooroopilly he bought in 1873, two years before the train station came and opened up the suburb.”
His daughter, Mary Keating, inherited the house upon his death in 1903. The Keatings lived there until 1999.
11 September, 2008
Planners open fences on rural land plans
A draft strategy outlining Government support for South East Queensland’s rural communities has been released and the public have been invited to comment.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Paul Lucas released the draft Rural Futures Strategy for South East Queensland saying it identified the requirements and actions needed to sustain the rural nature of the area.
“Rural communities in South East Queensland are home to 300,000 people and the region’s 4,000 farms provide our cities with high-quality agricultural produce,” Mr Lucas said.
“Agricultural production accounts for 1.2 per cent of the gross regional economy, however the farm-dependent economy is worth around $8 billion, or 11.4 per cent of the region’s Gross Domestic Product.”
Mr Lucas said the tourism market in rural areas was also worth more than $50 million.
He said the draft strategy highlighted five requirements needed to sustain rural SEQ: economic development, healthy and productive rural landscapes, water resources, community development and future coordination.
It also promoted 50 actions including ongoing research and planning, protection of waterways and ecosystems, workforce initiatives, infrastructure provision, social support and promotion to enhance products and activities.
Mr Lucas said these included the removal of impediments to agriculture in planning policies; encouraging rural businesses to take part in carbon trading and climate change management plans and a one-stop shop for Government support programs.
He said more than $11 billion from the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program and other sources would be spent on rural areas and the western corridor by 2026 for road, rail, water and energy upgrades plus other facilities.
He said rural areas accounted for 84 per cent or 1.9 million hectares of South East Queensland’s land area, most of which was managed by farmers.
“We need rural industries to expand and diversify so regional communities can grow and prosper and continue to support urban centres,” Mr Lucas said.
He said the south east’s agricultural economy made up about 12 per cent of Queensland’s total and three per cent of Australia’s total.
However Mr Lucas said rural industries and communities were facing financial and social challenges including increasing global competition, access to water, demands for skilled labour and uncertainty around climate change and future oil supply.
He encouraged people to make submissions on how the economic prosperity, environmental wellbeing and outlook for rural SEQ could be improved.
The draft strategy was available at www.dip.qld.gov.au, by calling 1800 021 818 or emailing: ruralfutures@dip.qld.gov.au
11 September, 2008
Aides help themselves to talent awards
Professional development grants have been awarded to 30 of the State’s most talented Teacher Aides, recognised on Teacher Aide Day last week.
“Every day across the State, Teacher Aides are making a difference in our classrooms,” said Education and Training Minister Rod Welford.
“Some of our most outstanding Teacher Aides have been recognised with grants of up to $1,200 each to undertake professional development activities that will help develop the knowledge and skills they need to support our teachers and students.”
He said the grants would be used to further develop the Aides’ capabilities in a range of areas, including information and communication technology, art and literacy, as well as specific skills required to work with students with disabilities.
“The professional development activities Teacher Aides will undertake with these grants include digital media training to support students with disabilities, Certificate and Diploma courses in Education Support, interactive whiteboard and early literacy training, behaviour support training and Austswim courses,” he said.
“Five award recipients will use their award towards an education degree to enable them to move from the role of Teacher Aide to Teacher.”
Mr Welford said there were about 13,500 Teacher Aides in Queensland who worked alongside Teachers.
“Teacher Aides play an important role in our State schools,” he said.
“On behalf of all of our school communities, I thank Teacher Aides across the State for their outstanding commitment and dedication in working alongside our Teachers and supporting students to be the best they can be.”
Mr Welford said the 2008 grant recipients were: Sharlane Dorsa, Highfields State School; Joan Ford, Tara Shire State College; Shirley Watson, Harlaxton State School; Betsey Kocsis, Woree State School; Norijah Hardaker, Woree State High School; Leanne Hore, Rockhampton Special School; Kaylene Greenhalgh, Tieri State School; Irene Batley, Rockhampton Special School; Jeffrey Wildermuth, Redland District Special School; Gail Kember, Wynnum State High School; Loretta Lather, Cannon Hill State School; Alison Duffield, Seville Road State School; Lyla Bergman, Albany Creek State School; Sara Thuell, Royal Children’s Hospital School; Scott McLean, Proserpine State High School; Sharon Kitching, Ipswich Special School; Michael Winton, Redbank Plains State High School; Christina Taege, Bundamba State School; Lila Casey, Kelso State School; Faye Biga, Burrowes State School; Darrien Craigie, Loganlea State High School; Robyn Anstey, Coomera Springs State School; Sandy Gimm, Mudgeeraba Special School; Liia Davies, Pomona State School; Clarissa Cruz, Caboolture Special School; Elizabeth King, Deception Bay State High School; Julie March, Buddina State School; Leanne Whittaker, Granville State School; Belinda McGrath, Wide Bay North Centre for Learning Management; and Coral Ross, Kawungan State School.
11 September, 2008
Gov’t not playing on Kindergarten plans
A joint program between the State and Commonwealth Governments promises to provide resources for Queensland pre-schoolers to enjoy their own “education revolution”.
Premier Anna Bligh said the program would create an extra 240 kindergartens in Queensland by 2014 at the cost of $300 million.
“This represents the single largest investment in kindergarten education by any Queensland Government,’’ Ms Bligh said.
“I want Queensland to offer its children a truly world-class start in life and I believe education is the key that unlocks a child’s potential.”
She said there were more than 350 State Government funded community kindergartens in Queensland but demand significantly outstripped supply particularly in high growth areas.
She said there were currently about 53,000 “kindy-aged” children in Queensland but only 12,000 of them attended kindergarten where a qualified teacher delivered a recognised education program.
Another 29,000 children attended child care Centres but less than 10 per cent of those had access to an education program delivered by a qualified teacher.
“These 240 kindergartens will cater for the 12,000 children not currently accessing any early education or care services in Queensland,” Ms Bligh said.
She said the early childhood education initiative would build on the State Government’s successful introduction of the Prep year in 2007.
“Before the introduction of Prep school Queensland children missed out on a year’s education in comparison to other States,” she said.
“This year, 97 per cent of eligible children are enrolled in Prep across Queensland and they are reaping the benefits of that.”
Ms Bligh said the Government would extend its partnership with the Crèche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland and other providers to establish the extra kindergarten services across the State.
“Extra support will be given to help children and families most in need to access early education services,” she said.
“We will prioritise high population growth areas for the new kindergartens and will test mobile services for small rural and remote communities.”
She said the Government would also work with the Australian Government to ensure that all child care Centres received support to employ qualified early years teachers.
She said a new Office for Early Childhood Education and Care would be established to bring together responsibility for early education and child care services.
“This new office will take the lead responsibility for children’s early development and will manage the roll out of the new kindergarten services,” Ms Bligh said.
11 September, 2008
Showcase winners go to top of the class
The winners in the 2008 Showcase Awards for Excellence in Schools have been announced in Brisbane.
The Awards recognised the eight most outstanding State school programs and rewarded them with $20,000 in prize money each.
Minster for Education and Training, Rod Welford said the awards shone the spotlight on the great work that was enriching the lives of children and communities in classrooms across the State.
“This year’s range of entries was of an extremely high standard across eight diverse categories, covering the different stages of learning, academic excellence, inclusive and innovative practices, and partnerships with industry and the community,” Mr Welford said.
The winners were chosen from 24 finalists who were in turn chosen from the 79 regional winners.
“From Prep to Year 12, there are so many great initiatives across the State, and these awards are our chance to recognise and celebrate these achievements,” he said.
“The Showcase program is in its ninth year, and again they have shown how our talented teachers and school communities are ensuring young Queenslanders are getting the best possible start to their lives.”
Mr Welford said the winners were:
- Network Ten Showcase Award for Excellence in the Early Phase of Learning: Thornlands State School - Catch the Reading Bug;
- The Commonwealth Bank of Australia Showcase Award for Excellence in the Middle Phase of Learning: Sandgate District State High School - Dirty Mathematics;
- The RACQ Showcase Award for Excellence in the Senior Phase of Learning: Aspley Special School - Cans to Coffee - School-based Skills Training for Students with Disabilities;
- The Showcase Award for Excellence in Inclusive Education: Harlaxton State School (Darling Downs) - The Whole Child Turns Four;
- The Queensland University of Technology Showcase Award for Excellence in Leadership: Redbank Plains State High School - Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Students;
- The RemServ Showcase Award for Excellence in Innovation: Maroochydore State High School - The Biotechnology Revolution;
- The Showcase Award for Academic Excellence: Miles State High School - Travel the Crossroads to Success at Miles State High School;
- The TechnologyOne Showcase Award for Excellence in Community or Industry Partnerships: Dysart State High School - Creating Tomorrow’s Mining Workforce Today.
11 September, 2008
Welford to go
The Minister for Education and Training and Minister for the Arts, Rod Welford is to retire at the next election.
Mr Welford said he would not stand for re-election but was determined to complete a number of major projects including implementing the next phase of the State Schools of Tomorrow program, formulating a renewed vision for public education in Queensland, progressing the Federal Government’s Education Revolution and continuing to address the State’s skills shortage.
Mr Welford entered State Parliament in 1989 and has been Minister for Education and the Arts since July 2005.
JCU expands in Singapore
James Cook University has opened a new campus in Singapore, taking its student capacity there to 3500.
JCU Singapore first opened in 2003 with 50 students and today there were 1200.
The new campus has been specially designed with e-learning facilities, including an online e-library.
JCU Singapore was recently awarded the Singapore Quality Class for Private Education Organisations from the Singaporean Government which recognised excellence in Singapore’s private education sector. It was the first Australian university to receive such an honour.
Bromelton for development
A new State Development Area at Bromelton near Beaudesert has been declared to preserve land for future industry in a dedicated area separated from residential developments. Bromelton has been chosen as an ideal location for a road/rail freight terminal to alleviate pressure on the existing Acacia Ridge rail terminal, which was expected to reach capacity within 10 years.
Highfields station open
A new state-of-the art fire station has been completed at Highfields at a cost of almost $1.1 million.
The station is also fitted with the necessary technology to house an incident control centre in times of crisis and the grounds provide for operational training with a road crash rescue pad provided for drill practice.
Several long-serving firefighters were also honoured at the opening including Kevin Gesch, Garry Lobwein, David Woods and Gervase Pauli who marked 25 years service and Anthony Guse, Peter Robinson and Cameron Ashmore who marked 15.
Coast plan called in
A development application for the Sunshine Coast has been “called in” due to concerns about potential adverse impacts to environmental values, and pressure on local and regional infrastructure.
Three State Government Agencies also directed the Development Application be refused.
The Department of Natural Resources and Water voiced concerns over potential loss of vegetation while the Environmental Protection Agency highlighted the loss of crucial habitat for koala populations. The application would now be reassessed before a final, binding decision was handed down.
Resource for Indigenous awareness
A new online resource has been released to raise awareness of Indigenous cultural protocols relating to media coverage of the deaths of Indigenous people.
Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, said Aboriginal cultural protocols prohibited the use of names or images of recently deceased Indigenous people but a lack of general awareness of the protocols meant that media reports of deaths sometimes included names or images.
Police centre at Surfers
A new $4 million police station has opened in the heart of Surfers Paradise.
The new station is to become the centre of policing operations in Surfers Paradise and would operate mobile, all-terrain vehicles and push bike patrols, traffic operations and foot patrols in the Division.
Police would operate out of the station 24 hours a day, with front counter service available around the clock.
Councils win contracts
Four central western Queensland Councils have been awarded contracts totalling more than $4 million to reseal local roads.
The contracts have been awarded to the Barcoo, Boulia and Diamantina shire councils and the Barcaldine Regional Council.
The projects involve the resealing of sections of the Diamantina Development Road and the Muttaburra-Aramac Road and funding has also been provided for other roads in the area including the Eyre Developmental Road (Bedourie-Birdsville) and the Kennedy Development Road (Winton–Boulia).
Plant training for FNQ
Trade training in far-north Queensland has received a boost with plans for a $2.3 million horticulture training centre at North Queensland TAFE’s Cairns campus.
The new horticulture centre will support the training of more than 200 students.
It will include modern facilities and resources including an all-weather landscape training area, classroom, propagation and shade houses, and sustainability initiatives such as underground water storage and a reed bed for recycling water.
Ms Macklin said the new protocols would protect communities while they are grieving.
Peace awards open
Nominations for the United N Association of Australia Media Peace Awards are open.
In their 30th year this year, the awards aim to recognise those in the media whose work highlights and champions humanitarian and social justice issues.
The main categories for awards include best print, best television, best radio, best photojournalism and best online.
More information could be found at www.unaavictoria.org.au
4 September, 2008
Directives direct new allowances
The Public Service Commissioner has issued three new Directives relating to travel and transfer expenses which came into effect on 1 September.
The Directives were gazetted on 29 August.
The Directives - Domestic Travelling and Relieving Expenses; International Travelling, Relieving and Living Expenses; and Transfer and Appointment Expenses - replace 2007 Directives on the same topics.
According to the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations, they have each been amended to update allowances and expense amounts in keeping with rulings from the Australian Taxation Office or movements in the Consumer Price Index. They are adjusted each year from 1 September when new Directives are issued.
According to the Department’s Public Sector Industrial and Employee Relations area, allowances for domestic travelling and relieving expenses were increased in accordance with a Determination of the Tax Office with the Special Allowance increased from $31.60 to $33.00 in line with CPI.
The Directive on international travelling, relieving and living expenses lifted equipment allowances from $253 to $264 and $190 to $199 in step with CPI increases but the Daily Personal Allowance was not changed.
The Directive relating to transfer and appointment expenses increases a number of allowances in line with the CPI.
“The Directive relating to ‘Motor Vehicle Allowances’ will not be re-issued this year because the rates per kilometre published on the Australian Taxation Office website on 30 June 2008 did not increase from those published in 2007,” the Department’s PSIER News said.
“Therefore the motor vehicle allowances in Directive 6/07 will continue to apply.”
The new Directives were on the PSIER website at www.psier.qld.gov.au/direct/
4 September, 2008
WHS Regulation is re-regulated
The Regulation governing workplace health and safety has been updated for 2008 and took effect on 1 September
According to the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations, the new Regulation remakes the provisions of the old one, continues the process of removing certain rural industry exemptions and changes the numbering.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland would now undertake a review of forms and documents on the Department’s website to ensure consistency with the new Regulation and has published a ‘comparison table’ for people to use when applying the new Regulation until the review was complete.
“Explanatory notes have been developed to accompany the new Regulation to help clients understand and interpret the provisions,” the Department said on its website.
It said the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008 and the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 provided a framework for managing health and safety risks in Queensland workplaces.
“The Regulation sets out the legal requirements to prevent or control certain hazards which might cause injury or death in the workplace,” it said.
“It prohibits exposure to a risk. It prescribes ways of preventing or minimising exposure to a risk (and) it deals with administrative matters.
“If a regulation exists for specific risks at your workplace in order to meet your obligations under the Act you must do what the Regulation says to prevent or minimise the impact.”
The Department listed a large number of matters covered by the Regulation including how to apply for certificates; restrictions on ‘prescribed activities’; training requirements;
what to do if there was a workplace health or safety incident; and ways to make workplaces safer.
It says the Codes of Practice also provided practical advice on how to manage exposure to risk, and like the Regulation, must be followed.
More information about the Regulation and the Codes could be obtained from the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations website: www.deir.qld.gov.au
4 September, 2008
Police to tap into new phone powers
Queensland law enforcement agencies are to be empowered to use telephone tapping powers in their attempts to crackdown on a range of serious crimes.
The Minister for Police, Judy Spence, said State Government officials would meet with their Federal counterparts soon to work through the complexities of the relevant legislation.
“Once legislation has been amended, telephone intercept powers will be able to be used for investigations into a range of serious crimes including homicides, armed hold-ups, bikie gangs and drug crimes,” Ms Spence said.
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland confirmed the Commonwealth had agreed to provide Queensland law enforcement agencies with the power to use telecommunications interception but Premier Anna Bligh said the powers would be subject to the involvement of the Public Interest Monitor – an independent barrister who represented the public interest.
Ms Bligh said the Government was conscious the new powers needed to respect ordinary citizen’s right to privacy.
“There is no doubt phone tapping is a highly effective law-enforcement power,” she said. “However, it is also highly intrusive and needs appropriate safeguards for people’s privacy.
“We would not allow telephone tapping powers without the proper checks and balances,” she said.
Ms Bligh said the Queensland PIM would appear before Judges when law enforcement agencies applied for surveillance device warrants or covert search warrants.
“The Public Interest Monitor is an independent barrister whose role in these applications is to represent the public interest by testing applications against the statutory criteria, cross-examining witnesses where necessary, and making submissions to the judge,” she said.
4 September, 2008
Workplace injuries suffer deep cut
An interim target to cut workplace injuries across Australia by 10 per cent had been reached according to a report issued by the Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard.
The tenth in a series on Occupational Health and Safety, the Comparative Performance Monitoring Report showed that the National OHS Strategy 2002-2012 was ahead of schedule with the incidence of compensated fatalities from injury and disorders between the base period (2000-01 to 2002-03) and 2006-07, exceeding its interim goal.
Ms Gillard said the reduction in incidents was in fact 16 per cent, which was well in excess of the target set.
She praised the States and Territories for working together to improve workplace safety across the nation.
The report showed that while some areas had been successful, others needed to be improved.
It said there were 236 compensated deaths in Australia during 2006-07, with 177 resulting from injury and musculoskeletal disorders and 59 from other diseases.
The greatest proportion of claims (42 per cent) arose from “body stressing”, while the manufacturing industry recorded the highest claim rates per 1,000 employees at 27.5, followed by transport and storage (25.9), agriculture, forestry and fishing (25.3), and construction (22.1).
The report found all rates were down from 2005-06.
Seventy-seven per cent of injured workers returned to work within eight to 10 months of sustaining their injury
The CPM report was complemented by the Compendium of Workers’ Compensation Statistics, which provided a more detailed analysis of national workers’ compensation data.
Ms Gillard said the report series could be found at www.workplace.gov.au
The CPM report was launched at the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council meeting in Sydney.
4 September, 2008
Payrise petition is signature tactic
The Queensland Public Sector Union has launched a petition to the Treasurer calling for the Government’s PS pay offer of 3.25% to be reviewed.
The petition is the latest move in an ongoing campaign to achieve a payrise the QPSU said needed to keep pace with the cost of living.
General Secretary of the union, Alex Scott said the lower-than inflation offer was effectively a pay cut.
He said unless the offer was improved, the Government could expect industrial action in hospitals, schools and other areas.
“At a time of rising prices, a 3.25% increase won’t be enough to stop the rot in Queensland’s hospitals,” Mr Scott said.
“Unless the Government comes to its senses, it will have to deal with serious industrial action”, he said.
He called on Public Servants to sign the online petition which was one sign of how QPSU members were seeking community support for their claim.
“In addition to the petition, and the paid TV and radio ads, our campaign has included meetings between our members and Government backbenchers”, Mr Scott said.
“Across the State, our members are angry and are getting ready for a long fight”, he said.
Mr Scott said the petition could be accessed at www.qpsu.org.au/wages
4 September, 2008
Disabled blot on PS document standards
Government Departments and Agencies have been called on to improve access to information for people with disabilities.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, urged Public Service organisations across Australia to lift their game and adhere more closely to Government standards and legislation.
Commissioner Innes said Government Agencies had to ensure people were not discriminated against on the basis of their disability when information was released to the public.
He said he was willing to “name and shame” Government publishers if improvements were not made.
“Of all organisations, Government Departments and Agencies know they should be making documents and information accessible to everyone,” he said.
“I’m also telling them that, if this doesn’t begin to improve, we will start to name and shame.”
Commissioner Innes said the repeated lack of consideration for the accessibility of information by Government Departments was worrying.
“We've seen several important reports and papers published recently, all of them initially inaccessible to many people with disability,” he said.
“The Green Paper on Carbon Emissions Trading and the Grocery Watch website are two prominent examples.”
Commissioner Innes said the Green Paper, which was over 500 pages long, could not be read by synthetic speech software.
“Making information as socially important and highly publicised as the Grocery Watch website and the Green Paper on Carbon Emissions Trading inaccessible to a significant sector of the population is, put bluntly, a disgrace,” he said.
Commissioner Innes said he was concerned by the length of time it took to make documents available to people, even when they were requested.
He said the process could take weeks.
“That's not good enough,” he said, “people with disability have an equal right to participate in public debates about important issues, but they need to be able to get access to information when it’s published, not after the debate has moved on for everyone else.”
Commissioner Innes said PDF documents on the internet often resulted in inadequate or zero access for people with disabilities.
“You can use HTML, Microsoft Word, or RTF formats,” he said.
“It’s particularly depressing to see documents created in word-processor formats, which provide very good access, being converted into PDF, which doesn’t, then only being posted in PDF.”
Commissioner Innes said all Government Agencies had policies to ensure compliance with publishing information rules that included the requirements of the Federal Disability Discrimination Act.
“I'm not telling Government publishers that they can't use PDF, but I am telling them that they must provide the same content in other accessible formats alongside the PDFs on their websites,” he said.
4 September, 2008
DG and staff in tour of duty
The Director-General and officers of the Department of Natural Resources and Water have joined their Minister in a tour of North Queensland to meet and consult with community members.
The Minister for Natural Resources and Water, Craig Wallace said that he, the Director-General, Scott Spencer and the Departmental officials were to spend the week focusing on NRW issues affecting the North Queensland region.
“This presents a great opportunity for me, my Director-General and officers from the Department’s Executive Management Group to talk directly with local community groups, stakeholders and Departmental officers about natural resource and water issues in North Queensland,” Mr Wallace said.
He said they were visiting local farms, meeting with researchers to discuss advancing NRW innovations, and meeting with industry representatives to discuss local NRW issues including land availability.
The major event was the annual Natural Resources Conference in Townsville.
Mr Wallace said Townsville was the first regional centre to host the third annual conference in recognition of the north’s vital role in the economic and environmental health of Queensland.
The theme of the conference was ‘Perish or prosper: balanced management of North Queensland’s natural resources.’ and it focused on how Queensland could manage its natural resources sustainably to ensure a prosperous future for North Queensland.
He said conference topics included farming without harming; carbon offset trading; environmentally sustainable tourism; the challenges of Indigenous land tenure; and water recycling from wastewater, stormwater and seawater.
4 September, 2008
Women ring bell on after school care
A survey of working women has found that a shortage of out-of-school hours care was preventing women from re-entering the workforce or staying there.
Conducted for the community group WIRE – Women’s Information, the survey of 466 women Australia-wide found the biggest problem was with care for secondary students.
Chief Executive of WIRE, Samiro Douglas, said some parents were unwilling to leave their secondary students home alone before and after school and on holidays.
“A number of women said they would have to reduce their working hours, look for a new job, or stop work altogether when their children entered high school for this reason,” she said.
“This in turn means they are not contributing enough into their superannuation. Add this to the gender pay-gap, with women currently earning just 84 cents in the male dollar, and you have the situation where after a lifetime of working and raising children, women face the very real fear of an old-age lived in poverty.”
WIRE’s survey found mothers were three times more likely to take children to and from out of hours care than fathers.
It found grandmothers were also more than twice as likely to take children to work or take time off work to care for them.
“We would really like to see fathers share more of this responsibility and become more involved in the child care debate,” Ms Douglas said.
The survey identified other major problems with out of school care, including high costs, availability of places, lack of flexibility and Centre opening hours.
One respondent said their child care costs had increased 46 per cent in the past six years to $190 per day.
WIRE’s findings were consistent with a Newspoll survey revealing one-third of children aged five to 15 spent the holidays alone, and 15% were home alone while their parents worked.
Ms Douglas called for “urgent action” to address the problem.
She said WIRE had teamed up with the National Foundation for Australian Women and the Australian Federation of University Women to make a submission to the ‘Inquiry into pay equity and other causes of disadvantage for female work-force participation’ being conducted by the Federal House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment and Work-Place Relations.
She said further information could be found at www.wire.org.au and www.nfaw.org and the submission was at www.aph.gov.au
4 September, 2008
Good behaviour law found to be bad Act
A review of the Peace and Good Behaviour Act 1982 by the Queensland Law Reform Commission has revealed it as a law that was not working properly.
In its final report into the Act which allows Magistrates to order a person to ‘keep the peace and be of good behaviour,’ the QLRC found it was not providing the community with an “appropriate, easily accessible and effective mechanism for protection.”
The Commission recommended that the Act be replaced with a new law.
According to the Chair of the QLRC, Justice Roslyn Atkinson, the new legislation would be known as the Personal Protection Bill and allow the Court to protect a person from injury, harassment or intimidation or damage to their property.
It would also provide for protection in a workplace.
Justice Atkinson said it was “vitally important” that ordinary Queenslanders had an effective and accessible remedy to obtain protection from violent or threatening conduct.
“The Bill, which has been developed by the Commission following wide and inclusive consultation with the Magistrates Court, community legal services and other key stakeholders, forms a comprehensive framework for the protection of people in the community,” Justice Atkinson said.
“These reforms will ensure that Queensland leads the way in promoting safe and secure communities”.
She said aspects of the proposed new law not dealt with under the current Act included:
- Clarifying that children may be parties to protection orders;
- Simplifying the process for making an application to the Court;
- Removing the filing fee for applications;
- Using mediation and preliminary conferences;
- Making interim orders and consent orders;
- Specifying conditions a Court may impose;
- Allowing people to apply to the Court to vary or set aside an order;
- Allowing similar orders made in other jurisdictions to be registered; and
- Removing the need for persons protected by an order to prosecute breaches on their own.
She said people in domestic relationships would continue to be covered under the domestic violence legislation.
Copies of the Commission’s Report could be accessed at www.qlrc.qld.gov.au
4 September, 2008
Smart Service is clever idea
Smart Service Queensland has won the ‘Best Government Contact Centre Award’ at an industry competition covering all Government Agencies and Departments across the Asia-Pacific region.
Communities Minister, Lindy Nelson-Carr said the award, hosted by the International Quality and Productivity Centre, highlighted the strong commitment by public sector staff to deliver quality customer service to Queenslanders.
She said Smart Service’s handling of enquiries and its outcomes for customers had put it in the running for the international award.
“Handling over 2.5 million customer contacts in 2007-08, Smart Service Queensland is a multi-pronged service providing Queenslanders with simple and convenient phone access to hundreds of Government services,” she said.
The award was announced in Canberra at the Government Contact Centre Awards and judges benchmarked Smart Services Queensland against best practice and assessed its performance.
Previous winners and finalists of the awards included Austrade, Workcover Information Centre, and the Brisbane and Adelaide City Councils.
Ms Nelson-Carr said Smart Service Queensland was the streamlined “front door to the Queensland Government”, where customers were able to conduct a range of transactions or get information through the one service provider.
4 September, 2008
Service medals pin down QFRS staff
Over 100 long-serving Queensland Fire and Rescue Service personnel have been rewarded for their work in a ceremony at the Emergency Services Complex at Kedron.
Emergency Services Minister, Neil Roberts, presented the Brisbane-based officers with Diligent and Ethical Services Medals in recognition of their contributions.
Mr Roberts paid tribute to the officers who had collectively contributed over 3,000 years to the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service.
“We have current firefighters, former firefighters, auxiliary officers and Building Approval staff here today,” Mr Roberts said. “All officers provide an invaluable service that is critical to the people of Queensland.
“I believe it’s important to acknowledge the dedication and achievements of our Emergency Services personnel, and I wish all today’s award recipients continued safety and success.”
He said the award recipients ranged from winners of 40 years service medals to those celebrating 10 years service and everywhere in between.
“Experience is something that you can’t teach, and these officers have it in spades,” Mr Roberts said.
“These officers have dedicated large portions of their lives to helping protect the people and property of Queensland.”
4 September, 2008
Arts Centre to get all dressed up
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre at South Bank in Brisbane is to get new seating, lighting, acoustics and a glass lift as part of a $34-million upgrade.
Arts Minister Rod Welford Announced the improvements saying the refurbishment was more than a face-lift and that the Lyric Theatre and Concert Hall would be closed for four months from November so the work could be carried out.
“While the theatres are closed we have this vital opportunity to upgrade the lighting and acoustics and install a modular stage for the Lyric Theatre, ” he said.
“These upgrades will cement QPAC’s reputation as one of Australia’s best venues for the performing arts.”
He said the Centre would be accessible to all people, including those with disabilities, once the works were complete.
“The QPAC refurbishment will provide significant and equitable access to arts and cultural activities for all visitors,” Mr Welford said.
“When QPAC was built, disability access standards were only being developed and the building was constructed with multiple staircases and fixed seating.
“The refurbishment, addressing equitable seating and convenient location of public amenities, requires complex engineering solutions.”
He said the improvements would include more seating choices and easier access in the Lyric Theatre and Concert Hall for patrons with disabilities and their guests.
“A new central lift will make access easier for all visitors, taking patrons from ground floor entrance to balcony level,” he said..
“The box office and cloak room will also be revamped.”
4 September, 2008
Up switch in Ipswich as growth stats unveiled
Ipswich was expected to become the State’s fastest growing Local Government Area over the next 25 years according to population projections released by Deputy Premier Paul Lucas.
Mr Lucas said the figures showed an estimated average annual growth rate of 4.6% for Ipswich with Queensland’s population expected to reach almost 6.3 million by 2031.
He said however, the growth rate was set to decline.
“In the five years to June 2006, Queensland’s average annual population growth was 2.4%,” Mr Lucas said.
“But population projections for the 25 year period to 2031 show a lower average annual growth rate of 1.7%.
“By 2012 we expect to have reached the peak of the cycle with projections showing an easing of the growth rate back to 2% by 2013 and then to 1.5% in 2021.”
He said Brisbane City growth was expected to be only 1% per annum, with growth on the Sunshine Coast and Redcliffe also likely to decline.
“The slow-down in the Sunshine Coast’s growth rate is even more pronounced,” Mr Lucas said.
“The Sunshine Coast is expected to grow around 2.1% each year between 2006 to 2031 compared to a 3.4% annual growth rate in the 10 years to June 2006.”
He said the figures showed the Government’s strategy of directing most of the State’s growth to the western corridor was working.
4 September, 2008
Touring artists put regions in picture
Arts Queensland was “one step closer” to finalising a performing arts touring strategy that would introduce a broad range of arts experiences to Queenslanders across the State.
According to Arts Minister, Rod Welford, his Department had spent the past five months talking to the arts industry gathering feedback and advice on how to work together to develop the best strategy for Queensland performing arts touring.
“We live in the most decentralised state in Australia,” Mr Welford said, “and it is vital we get this strategy right.”
He said more than 66 individuals and organisations contributed to the Department’s discussions and the strong messages coming from them included participation in decision-making; a touring model that could support the diverse needs of different communities; and the ability of communities across Queensland to participate in the creative process.
He said the Government was committed to supporting regional Queensland and the right for anyone, anywhere in the State to experience quality arts.
“These discussions are ongoing with a final strategy to be completed before the end of 2009 with a new way forward for performing arts touring taking effect in 2010,” Mr Welford said.
“I urge you to read the Touring Strategy Consultation Report which is on the Arts Queensland website (www.artsqld.gov.au) and to make further contributions to this critical discussion.”
MP for Mackay Tim Mulherin said a regional touring strategy for the performing arts would be of “huge benefit” to the Mackay area because it would improve the diversity of cultural experiences for the locals.
He said in fact that the Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre and the Mackay Festival of the Arts had contributed to the consultation paper.
“I thank these local organisations for providing input into this important consultation process,” Mr Mulherin said.
4 September, 2008
Plan takes students from school to skills
A new program to assist young people make the transition from school to work or further education has been launched by the Minister for Education and Training, Rod Welford.
The Queensland Skills Plan 2008, aimed at addressing the State’s skills shortages, comes in response to the State’s strengthening economy and changing labour market.
Mr Welford said the plan would target industries suffering most from the skills shortage and address demographic groups that had traditionally struggled to find work.
“New programs will help people in areas of disadvantage, skilled migrants, Indigenous people and 18 to 24-year-olds, and will promote careers in nursing, engineering and ICT,” Mr Welford said.
“We’ll fund 450 training places for engineering associate professionals, 30 scholarships and 30 fellowships for vocational health educators, and a new Nursing Clinical Education Best Practice program, and bring together schools, vocational education and training providers, the higher education sector and industry to promote a more positive image of ICT.”
Mr Welford said the Plan would encourage workers with an advanced skill set gained from on-the-job training to seek a formal qualification.
“There are a lot of people in our workforce, particularly in older age groups, that have a lot of practical experience in their industry, but not necessarily the piece of paper that proves they have those skills,” he said.
“Through the assessment process, these workers can have their ‘prior learning’ recognised to get their formal qualifications, which may then lead to them being able to take on other roles that help fill the skills gap.”
He said TAFE funding would be accelerated as part of the plan, with an investment of $280 million over the next four years. The four SkillsTEch Australia campuses will be upgraded, at a cost of $54.7million this year.
Mr Welford said the Plan would aim at helping young people in the transition from school to work through vocational training opportunities, as well as Indigenous people.
“To help young people make decisions about jobs, courses and career paths, a new electronic resource, the Youth Career Information Framework, will carry information about school-based apprenticeships and traineeships (SATs) and vocational education and training (VET) options,” he said.
“The plan includes a dedicated Indigenous Employment and Training Strategy to boost the state’s employment and training of Indigenous people. Assistance for young people will include paid work placements, expansion of the Get Set for Work program and a new electronic resource, the Youth Career Information Framework.
4 September, 2008
SMS messages flood in for irrigators
Farmers who relied on irrigation to grow their produce are to put the wonders of text messaging to work with the Minister for Natural Resources and Water, Craig Wallace launching a new mobile phone messaging system that would advise them on how much water their crops needed each day.
Mr Wallace said the new messaging service was developed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures (CRC IF) and used weather station data to calculate how much irrigation was needed by plants on individual farms.
He said the system, irriGATEWAY:SMS, then sent subscribers a text message each morning outlining an irrigation plan for the day.
"This is an invaluable piece of technology that invests in the State Government's vision of a sustainable future for Queensland," Mr Wallace said.
"It will let irrigators know exactly how much and how long to irrigate their crops, and they can access the information quickly and easily, even while they are in the field.”
He said the recommendations took into account data including recent rainfall levels, evaporation, temperature and sunshine, plus basic information about crop types.
"At a time when we're all concerned with best practice, maximum efficiency and sustainable water use, this system is a real breakthrough," Mr Wallace said.
He said the CRC IF was formed in 2003 to deliver research, education and training for growers, industry, Government Agencies and community groups.
"The Queensland Government is a proud CRC IF partner,” he said.
"I am delighted that we have been able to assist in the development of tools that will help irrigators make the best decisions about water use."
Mr Wallace said the CRC IF toolkit also included a dam evaporation calculator to enable irrigators to decide when to use evaporation mitigation technologies and an on-line indicator that determines the amount of moisture loss from soil and plants.
"This last tool can predict past and current water vapour loss generated from automatic weather station observations to a five kilometre square grid," he said.
"When combined with the new SMS technology, irrigators can build a clear, effective irrigation plan for their property and update their information at the touch of a keypad."
4 September, 2008
New Centre to help food shortage
The opening of a $33 million Centre for Advanced Animal Science at Gatton was expected to strengthen Queensland’s role in finding solutions to the global food shortage.
CAAS was a joint commitment by the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, the University of Queensland and the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry.
It would house some of the nation’s leading scientists, whose work would also directly impact on the State’s ability to increase food production while ensuring the production footprint remained properly focused.
Volunteer call for turtle project
The Government is calling for volunteers to lend a hand at the Mon Repos Conservation Park near Bundaberg to cover “night shift” during the upcoming marine turtle nesting season.
Volunteers need to make a firm commitment to the program which would run from November to late March, donating one evening a week from 6:45pm to 11pm.
Anyone interested in volunteering should contact the Mon Repos Rangers on (07) 4159 1652.
Police honoured with medals
Five police officers from the Mackay district have received Queensland Police Medals for 10 years’ service.
The medal recipients have performed long and diligent duties in a range of areas with the QPS, including: General Duties, Communications, Crime Prevention, Child Protection, Domestic Violence, Prosecutions and the Education and Training Unit.
Medal recipients were Senior Sergeant Noela Dickinson, Sergeant Neville Cox, Senior Constable Karen Johnstone, Senior Constable Melinda Steele and Craig Pinkstone.
Fire truck unpacked
North Mackay fire station has taken delivery of a new fire appliance worth over $500,000.
Emergency Services Minister, Neil Roberts said the new Mercedes Atego would replace the old truck which was still operational and would be used as a spare for the entire area.
He said the appliance’s delivery coincided with the Joint Emergency Services Facility’s $350,000 facelift which included a new training facility, shed to house vehicles, and updated site access.
ACMA burns Ramsay
The Australian Communication and Media Authority has found coarse language in the television program Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares breached the industry’s code of practice for an M-rated program.
ACMA found the program contained both aggressive and unjustified coarse language after receiving a complaint from a member of the public.
Whilst it found the program was incorrectly classified as M, it was aired in the MA time zone.
Tassie reshuffle
The Tasmanian Government is believed to be planning a major shake-up at the top of its public service.
Experts believe the Head of the Infrastructure Department, Mark Addis is to be replaced by Norm Macilfatrick from the Economic Development Department who in turn would be replaced by the former chief of staff to ex-Premier Paul Lennon, Daniel Leesong.
Current Premier, David Bartlett has not denied the suggestions but said any appointments would be merit-based and follow open selection processes.
