Phase one of an education campaign to accompany the Health Star Rating System was launched by Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash in Canberra on 6 December.  The Health Star Rating is a front-of-pack labelling system that rates the overall nutritional profile of packaged food and assigns it a rating from ½ a star to 5 stars. It provides a quick, easy, standard way to compare similar packaged foods. The more stars, the healthier the choice.

Assistant Minister Nash, said the system would enable parents to  more easily to make healthy food choices for their families. "The HSR system takes into account the four aspects of food - energy; saturated fat; total sugars; and sodium content. Products that are low in saturated fat, sugars, sodium and/or energy will generally have a higher star rating. The healthier the food, the higher the stars."

The Health Star Rating system is voluntary for industry to adopt over the next five years, as agreed by the Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation in June 2014.

The Health Star Rating website provides a range of information to help consumers understand how to use the health stars when they are shopping for groceries. It also includes detailed information for food manufacturers and industry about applying the HSR to their products.

More than 400 proposals from across Australia have been lodged for projects under the first round of the Australian Government’s new $1 billion National Stronger Regions Fund.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss welcomed 405 proposals from not-for-profit entities and local governments.

"Round One of the National Stronger Regions Fund will focus on projects that are well developed, with planning and approvals advanced so construction can start in the 2015-16 financial year," Minister Truss said.

Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Jamie Briggs said the Australian Government would make decisions on successful projects following assessment against the programme criteria by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

"Particularly in Australia's disadvantaged regions, the Australian Government is looking forward to working with state, territory and local governments on projects to support regional economic growth and sustainability.

The Australian Government has committed $1 billion over five years from 2015-16 to the National Stronger Regions Fund to help strengthen communities and drive new growth in Australia's regions.

Earlier this week the Government announced the start of the formal competitive selection process to determine the location of new mobile phone base stations in regional and remote Australia under the $100 million Mobile Blackspots Programme.  Programme guidelines will allow Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and other bidding parties to start to prepare their proposals, which must be lodged by March 2015. 

In their proposals, bidders will need to set out the locations where they intend to build new or upgraded base stations.  For each location, the bidder will need to specify the funding it seeks from the government; the amount it is putting in; and funding from any other sources.

The Programme is expected to fund between 250 and 300 new mobile phone base stations around Australia.  

Between December 2013 and 1 August 2014, approximately 6,000 individual regional  locations had been reported to the Department as having inadequate mobile phone coverage.   The Guidelines emphasise that "it will only be possible to address a portion of these reported locations through the Programme, and therefore it is very important that the areas of highest need are identified."  

To be eligible for consideration for funding under the Programme, a new or upgraded Proposed Base Station must deliver improved mobile coverage to an area identified in the Database of Reported Locations.

The Guidelines can be accessed here.

Earlybird Registration deadline ends 15 January 2015 for the Australian Local Government Women's Association  (ALGWA) biennial national conference Step Up & Top Up  to be held 25-28 March 2015 in Barossa Valley, South Australia.  

Registration is on  the national conference website.

The Conference will bring together people interested in issues pertaining to women in the Local Government sector . This includes ALGWA members, delegates, Local Government Mayors, Elected Members, Council professional staff and decision-makers from across Australia. 

The Conference Program features Annabel Crabb as a keynote speaker - one of Australia's most popular political commentators.

Top class presenters and leaders in their field will challenge delegates with topics ranging from environmental stewardship, global imperatives for gender diversity, personal professional branding, quality strategic  human governance to networking your way to success.

Last week the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) released its Communications Report  2013-14. The report  fulfils ACMA's statutory reporting requirements under section 105 of the Telecommunications Act 1997.

While the report finds that mobile services are now at saturation levels with 2013-14 seeing the first, albeit small (0.3%),  decline in the number of mobile services in operation to 31.01 million mobile services,  and a similar slow down in the growth of internet connections, there is a huge growth in the amount of data being downloaded by Australians - Australians are engaging more intensively online, downloading more data and making greater use of mobile handsets.

Some of the key findings in the report include:

• More people, particularly younger Australians 25-35 years old are relying on a mobile phone or device for their communications needs.
• There has been a huge growth in the volume of data being downloaded.   The volume of data downloaded via mobile handsets increased by 97% from the June quarter 2013 to the June quarter 2014.
• 68% of Australians use three or more different devices to access the internet. 

The full report is available here.

A delegation of Australian and New Zealand local government representatives has just returned from Japan where practical solutions for sustaining regions were discussed.

The delegation was organised by The Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR Sydney) and led by Melissa Gibbs, Deputy Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) based at the University of Technology, Sydney.

The group participated in the CLAIR Local Government International Exchange and Cooperation Seminar which this year focused on the theme “Making the best of regional characteristics”.

The CLAIR Seminar presents an opportunity for local and state government executives from around the world to come together with their Japanese counterparts to engage in discussions regarding the current conditions and challenges facing local governments.

ACELG is keen to share its research findings with CLAIR and Sakaide City, particularly in relation to the leadership role played by local government in developing regions, and research aimed at enhancing local government international alliances, to which CLAIR Sydney is contributing.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is urging councils, clubs, schools, businesses and other community organisations, if they use wireless microphones, to check their devices to see if they can continue to use them after New Year.

Changes to regulations mean wireless mics that currently use radio waves in the 694-820 megahertz (MHz) range will no longer be able to be operated from 1 January 2015.

From 1 January the 694-820MHz range will be used to deliver advanced 4G mobile broadband services.  Wireless mics that currently use radio waves in that range must be retuned (if retuning is possible) or urgraded to allow operation in a different band (if the device cannot be retuned).

The main ranges that can be used after 1 January 2015 are 520-694MHz and 1790-1800 MHz.

For more information head to www.wirelessmicrophones.gov.au or email freqplan@acma.gov.au

The Government  released a report by the Australian Government Actuary into home and contents insurance pricing in North Queensland on 5 December. This report examines the causes of home and contents insurance premium increases in North Queensland.

The report found that North Queensland premium rates increased by about 80 per cent from 2005-06 to 2012-13. In Sydney and Melbourne, the increase over the same period was around 12 per cent.

For insurance purposes, cyclones are the key risk in the region and the report found that premium increases in part, reflect insurance losses from weather events during the period.

The report also notes that competitive pricing pressure is largely missing in North Queensland and as a result, insurers have been able to increase rates largely unconstrained by competitive forces.

In October, the government announced a range of initiatives to tackle the high cost of insurance in North Queensland, including:

• Establishing a comparison website to help consumers to compare home building and home contents insurance.
• Clarifying that licensed brokers can sell policies from foreign insurers where they offer consumers a substantially better price.
• Developing a program of engineering assessments for strata properties in North Queensland, to improve information available on buildings’ susceptibility to storm damage and promote resilience.

The National Disability Service released the first NDS State of the Disability Sector Report  on 8 December.

The State of the Disability Sector report includes: a business confidence index for the disability sector, the first in-depth measurement of how disability service providers are faring during this period of major reform; an analysis of the challenges of implementing the NDIS around Australia; and a broad review of disability policy and trends.

Dr Ken Baker, NDS Chief Executive said: "The resilience of disability service providers is being tested. Ambitious reforms, a tight fiscal environment, rigid program rules and uncertainty about wage setting in supported employment make for a complex operating environment.

"The Business Confidence Survey indicates that the sector is rising to the challenge, but it’s not easy. While there is broad support for the direction of disability reforms, the map is unclear and the journey is daunting.

"2015 will be a critical year for the NDIS. We will all be looking to governments and the National Disability Insurance Agency to outline a clear plan of how the Scheme will escalate from trial sites to nationwide."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss has established the Aviation Industry Consultative Council - providing the aviation sector with a direct voice to the Minister and the Australian Government.

Chairing the first meeting in Canberra on 10 December, Mr Truss said the Council is dedicated to aviation matters and will be a valuable forum for discussion between the industry and Government.

"Aviation is central to the Australian economy - from domestic and international tourism, to business and work-related travel, family reunions and medical emergencies; so the Australian Government is committed to ensuring aviation’s many voices are heard," Mr Truss said.

The Council will act as an advisory body tackling high level strategic issues, but it is not a decision making entity.

The Council is made up of 18 members from across the aviation sector, providing a broad range of perspectives, including representatives from airlines, airports, manufacturing, maintenance and flight training sectors.  The Australian Mayoral Aviation Council is a member of the Council.

At the inaugural Council meeting, members highlighted issues of concern to the industry, notably opportunities to reduce regulatory burdens, challenges in regional aviation, the need to revitalise the General Aviation Industry Action Agenda, aviation workforce skills and implementation of the Government's response to the Aviation Safety Regulation Review Report.

 The Council will meet twice a year, or as required.