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National
New roundtables to
debate climate change
18 October 2010
Two new roundtables on
climate change will be introduced by the
government as it pushes ahead with its bid to
put a price on carbon. The business roundtable,
which will be co-chaired by Treasurer Wayne Swan
and Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, will
include chief executives of some of Australia’s
leading manufacturing, mining and banking
companies including Rio Tinto, Woodside, Lend
Lease, Qantas, and the National Australia BankMore...
Australia joins other
countries in banning endosulfan
13 October 2010
A federal government agency has banned
pesticides that use the toxic chemical
endosulfan, reversing earlier rulings that said
it was safe if used correctly. The endosulfan
ban is expected to affect a wide range of
industries that still use the pesticides,
including many tropical fruit and vegetable
growers, nut farmers and cotton farmers.
Project defaults on
the rise
11 October 2010
Hardship from the global
financial crisis continues to plague the
commercial property sector and defaults are on
the rise in both the city and country. Debt
collectors, real estate agents and liquidators
all warn that more rises in interest rates could
push the number of defaults higher over coming
months More...
Gillard backpedals on
Murray
18 October 2010
The independent
Murray-Darling Basin Authority capitulated to
the demands of outraged irrigation farmers and
regional communities by ordering a new study
into the social and economic impacts of its
proposals to boost environmental flows in the
river system. Consultants will now conduct the
study to help the authority understand more
fully the potential impacts of the guide
proposals on basin communities More...
Government releases
energy efficient report
8 October 2010
The Government has released the Prime Minister’s
Task Group on Energy Efficiency report.The Report was commissioned
by the Government to provide advice on the
development of policy that will strengthen
Australia’s response to climate change and
reduce pressure on the energy costs of all
Australians. The report, which reinforces the
Government’s wider climate change strategy and
the need for a price on carbon More...
Funding agreement
signed for $100 million Smart Grid, Smart City
program
8 October 2010
The Prime Minister, Julia
Gillard, today announced the signing of the
Smart Grid, Smart City project funding
agreement. This agreement delivers on the
Australian Government’s commitment of up to $100
million in funding to develop, in partnership
with the energy sector, Australia’s first
commercial scale-smart grid. The Smart Grid,
Smart City project will help industry address
the challenges of growth in peak electricity
demand placing a strain on ageing assets More...
IMF sees risk in ‘mild
overvaluation’ of Aussie house prices
7 October 2010
The International Monetary
Fund cautioned that housing in Australia may be
overvalued and a reversal in prices could hurt
consumers in one of the few advanced economies
to skirt last year’s global recession More...
Pilot rating tool for
public buildings
7 October 2010
The Green Building Council
of Australia (GBCA) has released a new pilot
rating tool to support the sustainable planning,
design and construction of high-performance
public buildings. The PILOT rating tool will
provide the industry with access to best
practice benchmarks for public buildings, as
well as a system of independently-verified
certification to assist leading public buildings
demonstrate their sustainability credentialsMore...
Victoria
$750,000 to help
develop new windows for flame zones
13 October 2010
Planning Minister Justin
Madden today announced $750,000 in grants for
research and development of windows specifically
suited to houses in the highest category of
Bushfire Attack Level – the Flame Zone. Mr
Madden said the research and development grants
would be distributed to manufacturers via an
expression of interest process More...
160 more jobs the
focus of $110 million ICT action plan
13 October 2010
Victoria is set to
capitalise on securing the hub of the $43
billion National Broadband Network (NBN) and
create a new era of economic prosperity with a
$110 million Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) action plan to create jobs and
keep Victoria ahead of the pack More...
Victoria to host
Carbon Market Institute
13 October 2010
Victoria will become home
to the national Carbon Market Institute, an
independent, not for profit organisation
established in partnership with the Asia-Pacific
Emissions Trading Forum. It will be located in
VECCI’s East Melbourne headquarters. The new
Institute is expected to be operational by
January 2011, but is already taking expressions
of interest in memberships through the
Asia-Pacific Emissions Trading Forum, email
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More...
Up to $5 million to
help conserve Victorian private land
12 October 2010
The Brumby Labor
Government’s successful BushTender program –
which rewards landholders for managing and
protecting native vegetation on their own
properties – is being extended to another four
regions across Victoria. Environment and Climate
Change Minister Gavin Jennings said the latest
BushTender project targets part of Central
Victoria, North-East Victoria, sections of the
Murray River and an area stretching between the
Mallee and Wimmera regions More...
Planning laws to
fast-track rail link
13 October 2010
The Major Transport Projects Facilitation Act
gives Planning Minister Justin Madden the power
to fast-track transport projects declared
‘’major’’ by Premier John Brumby. Mr Madden
announced he would use the laws to push through
the Regional Rail Link, a new rail line through
the west that will separate V/Line trains from
Metro services. Mr Madden also ruled out an
environment effects statement for the project.
Council attacks land
rezoning rules
13 October 2010
The City of Greater Bendigo
says Victoria’s rules for rezoning land are
inefficient and inefffective. The council says
the rules restrict its ability to rezone some
land in response to population growth, climate
change and housing affordability More...
State rules against
environment study for $4.5b Regional Rail Link
project
12 October 2010
The State Government has
ruled there will be no need for an environment
study on the proposed Regional Rail Link
project. Planning Minister Justin Madden said
the proposed route was mostly an existing rail
corridor More...
Plan for hundreds of
kilometres of new freeways
11 October 2010
Hundreds of kilometres of
new freeways and expanded roads would be built
across Melbourne over the next 30 years, under
plans revealed in a highly detailed government
map marked Proposed 2040 Road Network
Development More...
Desal plant cost could
hit $24bn
8 October 2010
Victorian taxpayers and water users will pay up
to $24 billion over nearly three decades for the
Brumby government’s decision to drought-proof
Melbourne with Australia’s largest desalination
plant. An Auditor-General’s
report tabled shows that Victorians would pay on
average as much as $860 million a year for
desalination if the plant operated at full
capacity over the 28-year contract More...
Property developers
circle mining town sites
7 October 2010
Listed property groups
Mirvac, Stockland, Investa and Aspen are among
those circling thousands of land lots in
Australian mining towns. The groups are seeking
development opportunities as pressure mounts on
governments to release more land More...
Real Estate Institute
fights a state tax on taxes
7 October 2010
Victoria’s Real Estate
Institute wants to stop state government-imposed
stamp duty on the GST component of commercial
property deals, claiming stamp duty should only
be levied on the actual purchase price, and not
on the GST More...
Environment Victoria
welcomes plan
8 October 2010
Victoria’s peak
non-government environment group Environment
Victoria has welcomed the new Murray-Darling
Basin plan, calling it the only way to restore
balance to the river system. The Murray-Darling
Basin Authority announced a plan to return 27 to
37 per cent of water, or 3000 to 4000 gigalitres
of surface water, to the system More...
Big cuts for Murray
Darling Basin irrigators
8 October 2010
The MDBA’s guide to its
proposed basin plan confirmed cuts of between 27
and 37 per cent were proposed. The cuts to
Sustainable Diversion Limits would achieve
another 3000 – 4000 gigalitres of water for
environmental purposes. Industries which used
high volumes of water – rice, cotton and
broadacre cereals – will likely be hardest hit
and could lose upwards of 30 per cent of the
value of their production, according to the
guide More...
Planning all clear for
Ring Road Link to Surf Coast hwy
8 October 2010
The $76.9 million eastern
connection from the Geelong Ring Road to the
Surf Coast Highway at Grovedale is one step
closer, with planning approval given for the new
transport corridor, which also provides for the
future Armstrong Creek Railway Station. Roads
and Port Minister Tim Pallas welcomed the
amendments to Greater Geelong’s Planning Scheme,
which confirms the road reservation for the
important new road link, with major works
expected to commence in 2012 More...
Sky’s the limit for
$31 million Docklands development
8 October 2010
Construction of an
innovative development to boost affordable
housing for lower and medium income-earners is
taking shape in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct.
The new development is part of the $1.26 billion
Nation Building program which is bringing more
than 4,500 new affordable rental homes to
Victorians and is a partnership between the
Commonwealth and Victorian Governments, and the
registered housing association Housing Choices
Australia, which will manage the apartmentsMore...
New works contract for
Princes Hwy East duplication
8 October 2010
The next major contract in
the upgrade of the Princes Highway East has been
awarded, clearing the way for the duplication of
the western approach to Sale to begin this year.
Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister
Anthony Albanese and Victorian Roads and Ports
Minister Tim Pallas announced today the contract
to widen the Highway between Wurruk and Sale has
been awarded to BMD Constructions More...
Contract awarded for
$74.6 million Dingley Arterial
8 October 2010
Works on the $74.6 million
Dingley Arterial through Keysborough, connecting
Westall Road with the Dandenong Bypass, will
start next month, with the contract for
construction of the new road link awarded to
Fulton Hogan. This vital road link was
identified as a priority project in the
Victorian Transport Plan to improve east-west
transport connections More...
Councils Loose
Challenge on Clearways
7 October 2010
ABC News reports that
Stonnington and Yarra City Councils have lost
their bid to remove extended clearways imposed
by Vic Roads. Reportedly, the Supreme Court of
Victoria handed down its decision to dismiss the
application on the basis that the direction
provided by the Roads Minister to Vic Roads was
legal More...
Stop governments’ tax
rort, say real estate agents
6 October 2010
Real estate agents have
urged the Victorian and federal governments to
remove what they call ‘’the tax rort’’ of stamp
duty being levied on GST in commercial real
estate transactions. Real Estate Institute of
Victoria chief executive Enzo Raimondo said that
when the GST was introduced in 2000, an anomaly
was created. State property taxes - stamp duties
- were charged not just on the actual cost of
the property but also on the GST paid More...
New South Wales
Development controls
to build a sustainable Sydney
12 October 2010
Homeowners and developers
in the City of Sydney will have access to a
single set of development guidelines governing
everything from multi-storey apartments and
office towers to carports, fence heights and
home extensions. The City of Sydney’s draft
Development Control Plan (DCP), to be considered
by Council on October 18 for public exhibition,
amalgamates 62 planning policies into one
document More...
Queensland
Project defaults on
the rise
11 October 2010
Hardship from the global
financial crisis continues to plague the
commercial property sector and defaults are on
the rise in both the city and country. Debt
collectors, real estate agents and liquidators
all warn that more rises in interest rates could
push the number of defaults higher over coming
months More...
Queensland’s
heritage-listed buildings are in a disgraceful
state of disrepair, audit finds
14 October 2010
More than 100
heritage-listed homes and landmarks are rundown
or at high risk of deterioration, a statewide
audit reveals. Offending owners have been
slapped with maintenance orders and face yearly
inspections. They face $75,000 fines if they
fail to comply More...
New guide to asset
planning
14 October 2010
Local councils in
Queensland have received a new guide to help
mayors and councillors better understand their
responsibilities in managing billions of dollars
in community assets More...