Infrastructure Partnerships Australia says Infrastructure Australia's 2013 annual report, released this week, sees only a few major projects recommended for national funding support, highlighting the need for "a major focus on infrastructure" in the lead up to the national election.

"Australia's major cities are hampered by congestion and hamstrung by inefficient freight networks, but this is not reflected in projects moving quickly through Infrastructure Australia’s priority list, or in increased national investment," said IPA Chief Executive, Brendan Lyon.

"This year, Infrastructure Australia has prioritised Brisbane's Cross River Rail project and the duplication of the Pacific Highway as ready to proceed, with other priority projects like Melbourne’s East West Link and Sydney's WestConnex stuck in earlier stages of assessment.

"Infrastructure Australia is fundamental, but nationally-significant projects will only progress if it motivates a new level of cooperation with State and Territory governments, together with increased federal funding.

"We need to see a return to an ambitious, optimistic and positive policy debate about the processes and reforms that will increase the pace of assessment by Infrastructure Australia and particularly, increase the level of funding available to progress projects to delivery.

"There is a strong case to use uncommitted funds from the Building Australia Fund to develop robust business cases to help progress some of these major projects along the pipeline.

"While the Global Financial Crisis, changing domestic policy priorities and ongoing macro-economic factors have brought real challenges, we cannot let immediate considerations swamp the need for long-term investments.

"This election, we need to see real dollar commitments toward projects, but more importantly, we need to see real commitments about the mechanism and approach that will be used to materially increase the level of infrastructure investment."

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has engaged the University of Technology Sydney: Centre for Local Government, to develop Guidelines to enable local governments to plan better for the future child care needs of their community.

These Best Practice Guidelines will be an important tool for local governments trying to expand child care services in their communities.  The Guidelines will provide real examples of successful approaches which could be adopted by other local governments.

Families, councils, developers and child care providers will have the opportunity to shape the development of the Best Practice Guidelines by sharing their experiences through a targeted interviews and an open survey. The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete and responses will inform the final analysis and shape the content of the Guidelines. 

In addition to the survey and interviews, research is being carried out to address:

• Prioritisation of child care within land use planning;
• Allocation and use of land and infrastructure;
• Development approvals processes, including streamlining of processes for child care developments;
• Size, location and type of services and places offered;
• Role of state and territory legislation in supporting development of child care services;
• The inclusion and prioritisation of children's rights and interests in the planning process; and
• Data required by state and local governments to support effective planning processes for child care.

More information about the Best Practice Guidelines for the planning of child care facilities is available at deewr.gov.au.

For more information on the project please contact:

From 1 June 2013, new penalties can apply where a person or business employs, refers or contracts a non-citizen who is not allowed to work in Australia.  These complement existing criminal offences and higher penalties that have been in place since 2007.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenships' focus is to effectively respond to the few businesses that wilfully take part in illegal work, not to penalise businesses which act in good faith. Now is the time for businesses to put good employment practices in place and make sure they are not employing or contracting illegal workers.

To assist this, the government provides a free 24 hour service - Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO).  VEVO can confirm if a non-citizen is allowed to work or if there are any work limitations associated with their visa.

VEVO now lets visa holders send their visa details directly to an employer from VEVO. Alternatively, employers can still choose to register to use VEVO, for example if they have a business where there is a regular need to confirm if people are allowed to work.

More information about hiring legal workers and VEVO can be found at www.immi.gov.au/legalworkers

Minister for Employment, Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor has welcomed comments made by WorleyParsons chairman, John Grill, that Australian businesses should train people locally rather than rely too heavily on temporary visas.

Mr Grill said the number of people entering Australia on temporary skilled worker visas could be cut if better training was available to the domestic workforce.

"The Federal Labor Government will always support local workers and training for our young people over bringing in overseas workers to plug skill shortages," Mr O'Connor said.

"It is important for Australian businesses to recognise that training local people is not just about being good corporate citizens - it can be cost effective and beneficial for business.

"We want locals to get the skills they need to get the jobs we have, but equally we want Australian businesses to thrive and prosper.

"The comments by Mr Grill today highlight that this can be achieved."

Mr O'Connor also commended Mr Grill's $20 million donation to the Sydney University to establish a project leadership centre to offer courses targeted at midcareer project managers and board directors responsible for decisions related to large scale projects.

"I thank Mr Grill for his commitment to training Australians and for his vision for our resource sector," Mr O'Connor said.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has committed $50 million to support businesses looking to improve their energy productivity.

The CEFC commitment, which is matched by Commonwealth Bank will make Energy Efficiency Loans (EEL) available to the market, significantly scaling up the agreement which the Bank previously had with Low Carbon Australia to co-finance energy efficiency and small scale renewable projects.

CEFC CEO Oliver Yates said the leading edge funding relationship with the nation’s largest bank would make over $100 million in new funding for mid-range businesses seeking to reduce their energy costs.

"This agreement with Commonwealth Bank offers clean energy finance opportunities to manufacturers and other sectors at a scale that simply hasn't existed until now," he said.

"These loans are designed to help businesses upgrade equipment for improved energy efficiency and can be used to finance up to 100 per cent of the project cost, enabling businesses to preserve their working capital."

The EEL can be used to fund a wide spectrum of equipment including energy efficient lighting, industrial refrigeration, methane capture, heat exchangers, energy efficient motors, pumps and fans, solar panels, compressed air and variable speed drives, cogeneration and trigeneration plants.

The CEFC and Commonwealth Bank agreement will provide finance that enables businesses to take immediate advantage of energy and operating cost savings from new equipment, positioning them to be more competitive," Mr Yates said.

This financing helped Labelmakers install new printing presses that cut energy costs by 14 per cent and saved them more than $4 million a year in operational costs, while an upgrade funded for apple and pear supplier Radevski Coolstores in Victoria, reduced its refrigeration energy use by about a quarter and reduced costs by about $140,000 a year.

South Australia has been recognised as a national leader in climate change.

The State Government and the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGASA) has topped a highly competitive field to share the government category in the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility's Climate Adaptation Champion Awards.

And Eyre Peninsula farmer Brian Foster has been named the winner of the individual category of the Climate Adaptation Champions awards.

Sustainability, Environment and Conservation Minister Ian Hunter says the awards acknowledge the state’s efforts in tackling climate change.

"We have been rewarded for our unique regional approach in the Climate Change Adaptation Framework for South Australia, which enables local leaders to prosper in a changing climate," he says.

"Climate change will affect all of us, so it's vital that people from all industries and sectors are involved in planning to deal with it. Collaborative leadership between the State Government and the LGASA has been one of the keys to our success, recognised by this Champions Award.

"The individual award recognises Mr Foster - a member of the Premier's Climate Change Council and co-chair of the Drought Response Taskforce - as a leader in rural and regional adaptation to climate change," says the Minister.

Visit www.nccarf.edu.au for more information on the Climate Adaptation Champions Awards.

Governments and other stakeholders must act urgently on the opportunity presented by the increased number of Australian medical graduates to secure a pipeline of rural generalist doctors for country communities, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) has warned.
 
RDAA has this week lodged its submission responding to Health Workforce Australia’s consultation on a draft national rural medical generalist (RMG) framework for bolstering the number of rural generalists trained to provide general practice and acute care services in rural settings.

"The RMG framework put forward by Health Workforce Australia is a step in the right direction, but there is still work to be done to achieve the right policy settings to deliver larger numbers of rural generalists to communities across Australia" RDAA President, Dr Sheilagh Cronin, said.
 
RDAA's submission on the draft RMG framework welcomes recommendations for early entry into RMG programs, an integrated intern year, prioritised advanced skills training for RMG trainees, separate allocation of general practice training places for those trainees, and recognition of rural generalist credentials.

However, some critical questions surrounding how the framework will be supported remain unanswered.

"For example, we do not know what funding support will be provided at the local, state and federal level to ensure the training program is properly resourced, and that hospitals and rural practices have the capacity to take on trainees" Dr Cronin said.

RDAA has emphasised in its submission that workforce policy and planning for other rural health professionals-and planning for rural health infrastructure-should accompany the implementation of the RMG framework.

RDAA's submission to the Health Workforce Australia consultation is available here or at www.rdaa.com.au (go to Submissions 2013).

The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced audits of up to 1000 cleaning contractors throughout Australia as part of a national campaign.

Fair Work Inspectors will check cleaning contractors are paying employees their minimum lawful entitlements, including minimum hourly rates and penalty rates.

As part of the campaign, the Fair Work Ombudsman is also scrutinizing the processes for tendering and procuring cleaning services at a selection of major shopping centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has also written to 22,000 cleaning industry operators to highlight the free resources at www.fairwork.gov.au/cleaning (www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/audits-and-campaigns/pages/national-cleaning-followup- campaign.aspx) that can help them understand workplace laws and comply with their obligations.

Fair Work Inspectors will audit cleaning contractors located in areas including:

NSW/ACT: Sydney, Canberra, Albury, Armidale, Ballina, Cessnock, Coffs Harbour, Corowa, Deniliquin,

Goulburn, Grafton, Griffith, Maitland, Newcastle, Orange, Punchbowl, Tamworth, Taree and Wollongong.

VIC: Melbourne, Ballarat, Colac, Geelong, Hamilton, Maryborough, Mildura, Sale, Shepparton, Torquay, Traralgon and Wonthaggi.

QLD: Brisbane, Cairns, Gatton, Gladstone, Gold Coast, Gympie, Mackay, Mount Isa, Roma, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Townsville.

WA: Perth, Broome, Bunbury, Collie, Derby, Mandurah and Port Hedland.

SA: Adelaide, Millicent, Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge and Whyalla.

Tas: Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie.

NT: Darwin and Alice Springs.

Employers and employees seeking assistance should visit www.fairwork.gov.au or contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.  A free interpreter service is available by calling 13 14 50.

Following the Victorian Government signing up to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and the agreement that Home and Community Care (HACC) for over sixty-fives will be transferred to the Commonwealth, the Department of Health has been working on a position paper, as the basis for negotiating how "the Commonwealth and Victoria will work together to retain the benefits of Victoria's current Home and Community Care service system."

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) has provided input to this paper and invited Jane Herington, Director Ageing and Aged Care to speak about the Department’s position at the MAV on Friday 19 July from 2-3.30 pm.

All councils are encouraged to attend to ensure they are informed and have the opportunity to comment and provide input. To register your attendance contact events@mav.asn.au.

Next week marks  NAIDOC Week across Australia.  This celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples takes place every July.  It is an opportunity for all Australians to participate in numerous activities being run by councils, community groups, schools, cultural institutions and state and federal government departments.

NAIDOC Week serves to showcase the achievements of communities and foster greater understanding and communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Activities are running from 8-14 July and details on events in your local area are available here.