The Department of Infrastructure and Investment is currently seeking nominations for  Black Spot locations from State and Territory Governments, local councils, community groups and associations, road user groups, industry and individuals.

Changes have been made to the programme's eligibility criteria for 2015-16 and 2016-17 aimed at assisting local communities to compete for the additional funding available over the next two years.

Under the new criteria, the minimum Benefit Cost Ratio for proposals has been reduced from 2:1 to 1:1. In addition, the minimum crash history of sites has been reduced from 3 to 2 casualty crashes over five years or 0.13 casualty crashes per kilometre per year over 5 years.

In NSW, limits that restrict the number of Black Spot project in each local government area have also been removed.

In recent years local councils across New South Wales have been restricted to a limit of five active projects and ten proposals for Black Spot Programme projects.

Lifting this restriction for the next two years will give councils more opportunity to access funding to eliminate dangerous road locations and improve the safety and productivity performance of their road networks.

In NSW, to be considered for project funding in 2015-16 site nominations need to be submitted to the Black Spot Consultative Panel by 29 August 2014.

Nomination forms for the Australian Government Black Spot Programme are available here.

Switching to LED street lighting could save Australia's local councils up to $87 million and prevent 720,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere each year.

A new Practice Note Towards More Sustainable Street Lighting released this week by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) and supported by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) calculates that street lighting in Australia costs at least $400M per year. But, whilst local councils are legally responsible for providing street lighting in Australia - and paying for street lighting - the lights are mostly owned and maintained by the electricity distribution utilities.

In addition to the huge cost and emission savings, the Practice Note also highlights improved safety outcomes for drivers and pedestrians where LED lighting is in use.

IPWEA Sustainability Director, Dr Stephen Lees  said IPWEA believed that this was a direct action strategy with measurable benefits, which could help Australia reach its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets while saving ratepayer dollars and improving safety outcomes.

The authors of the Practice Note will be conducting a series of workshops around Australia in October on the new Practice Note, and the issues it raises.

View the Practice Note and workshop details here.

On 19 August 2014 the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and the University of Melbourne are launching the book Stemming the tide of alcohol: Liquor licensing and the public interest.

Stemming the tide of alcohol: Liquor licensing and the public interest, examines legislation on how alcohol is sold, promoted and consumed, and the implementation and enforcement of the regulations, from the perspective of reducing alcohol harm.

The book provides local governments, policy makers, public health advocates, researchers, community groups and members of the general public with comprehensive information about the regulation of Australian alcohol markets and tools and interventions that have the potential to reduce alcohol harm.

The launch will be held between 11am and 12 noon in Seminar Room 515, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Level 5, 207 Bouverie Street, Carlton, Victoria.

RSVP to 2014 to glenis.thomas@fare.org.au or phone 02 6122 8600 by Friday 15 August.

The book can be pre-ordered at www.fare.org.au

This a conference for Local Government transport and land use planners, recreation and leisure staff, community development, ageing and disability officers.

The NSW Government in partnership with the City of Sydney is hosting the 2014 Walk 21 event, the world's leading conference on walking which will be held from 21 to 23 October, 2014.

If you would like to learn the latest about cost effective planning and design, together with ground breaking research and walking leadership models, come to Walk21 Sydney and talk to the world's leading experts. The detailed program for the conference has just gone live and includes pre and post conference workshops and events.  There are also sponsorship opportunities available for councils.

Walking is one of the most cost effective modes of transport for short, local trips. In a resource limited environment, we need to fund infrastructure in LGAs that caters for current needs and neighbourhoods that will be sustainable well into the future.

Promoting walking on existing infrastructure as a travel choice at peak times is also crucial. Behaviour change programs such as travel demand management, workplace travel planning, campaigns and community engagement can create significant mode shift.

At the conference, councils will also be able find out about how NSW Government will be implementing Sydney's Walking Future  and provide feedback on the draft Walking Strategy and Action Plan from the City of Sydney.

For more information click here.

More than 2000 Australians have had their say in the Triple Zero review online survey and it is clear most Australians want the Triple Zero service to embrace new technology.

It is also clear that most Australians want to share personal information quickly and easily with the operator when they are in an emergency.

Of those who have responded, 96 per cent said they would like the Triple Zero operator to be automatically provided with details of their precise location - using GPS or similar technology.

Over 80 per cent would like the operator to receive information about their surroundings in an emergency, possibly through live video from a smartphone app.

While voice calls to Triple Zero continue to be the preferred method of contacting Triple Zero, the survey shows there is a strong interest in developing other ways of accessing the service. The top five alternative ways are:

1. Automated alert devices (89 per cent)
2. Smartphone applications (82 per cent)
3. Video calls (70 per cent)
4. SMS (69 per cent)
5. Instant messaging (50 per cent)

The public survey is open until 22 August so you still have time to have your say here.

You can also follow the conversation on Twitter using #TripleZeroReview.

Two local government projects were recognised at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) inaugural 2014 IPWEA Sustainable Solutions in Public Works Awards.

The awards were presented at the IPWEA Sustainability in Public Works Conference last week.

Orange City Council won the Sustainable Communities category award for its 50-year water supply strategy, which was developed in response to the severe water shortage during the last drought that threatened the local economy and many local jobs.The award judges liked the strategy’s strong efforts to gain community support and reduce water demand.

The winner of the Climate Change Resilience category award was the Climate Change Adaptation Best Practice Guidelines developed by City of Canada Bay Council in Sydney and the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government. This provides guidance on embedding climate risk considerations into council business through a step-by-step framework and 70 adaptation case studies from around Australia and overseas

Canberra's new water supply dam has won the Sustainable Infrastructure category and also the overall winner awards. 

Australia's top award for rural women is now open to applications.

The 2015 Rural Industries R&D Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women's Award identifies and rewards women's contribution to primary industries and rural communities by providing financial assistance, mentoring, resources and support via its nation-wide network of business and community leaders for selected state winners.

The Award is open to all women involved in primary industries. Rural women are encouraged to enter themselves or to nominate someone with a commitment and desire to making a real difference to their industry and community.

State and Territory winners receive a $10,000 financial bursary to implement their Award vision and will have the opportunity to participate in the Company Directors Course run by the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

A national winner and runner-up will be selected from the state winners with a further $10,000 bursary awarded to the winner and $5,000 to the runner-up to support their professional development and contribution to primary industries.

Applications close on 31 October 2014. Application forms can be downloaded from the RIRDC website.

International RiverFoundation has announced four finalists in the 2014 Australian Riverprize.

The finalists selected are Margaret River (WA), Bannister Creek (WA), Lake Eyre Basin (QLD, NT, NSW & SA) and Boorowa River (NSW).

The International RiverFoundation will announce the winner at the Riverprize Gala Dinner on Tuesday 16 September, at the National Convention Centre, Canberra, during the 17th International Riversymposium.

Dr Deborah Nias, Chair of the Australian Riverprize judging panel, said that these finalists showcase the excellent work being done across Australia in river and wetland management and protection.

"These finalists span the nation, from relatively small urban creeks through to vast outback basins, but all of them have passion and commitment, coupled with good science and strategic natural resource management."

The winner of the 2014 Australian Riverprize will automatically qualify as a shortlisted applicant in the prestigious Thiess International Riverprize in 2015 - where the best of the best in river management globally compete for the grand title.

Visit the International RiverFoundation website for further details on the finalists.

A new Rules Reduction Taskforce in New Zealand is to clear local Councils of red tape.

Mayors have welcomed the announcement that will spell the end of hundreds of "silly, nonsensical and downright irritating" Local Government regulations that the Local Government New Zealand organisation says make life harder for residents.

Minister for Local Government, Paula Bennett said the taskforce would work closely with Local Government and the public to "weed out pedantic and unnecessary rules that frustrate property owners and councils alike".

She said councils were dogged by unnecessary bureaucracy.

The taskforce is expected to be in operation by October, with six members in charge of making decisions about what should stay and what should go. 

Too many Australians are suffering and dying from chronic heart failure due to a disjointed national approach to managing the debilitating condition according to the National Heart Foundation of Australia, with the charity calling for more to be done to give heart failure patients a better quality of life.

The Heart Foundation is calling on governments, policy makers, clinical networks and clinicians to work together to improve the system of care following the release of their consensus statement in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday 4 August, which outlines a number of areas for action to improve the health system.

Some of the actions listed in the paper include:

• Develop and implement a national policy framework with agreement between states, territories and the federal government addressing the core principles and recommendations
• Given limited resources, a risk assessment tool that stratifies patients at higher risk of readmission could be used to ensure those most likely to benefit from a management program are targeted.
• GPs should be empowered to lead care for patients with CHF. This may be through the introduction of funding incentives or provision of nurse practitioners and practice nurses in primary care.

Around 300,000 Australians are living with heart failure, and every year around another 30,000 people are newly diagnosed with the debilitating condition.