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A national system for businesses to pay just one fee to register a company name will come into effect after legislation passed the Senate.

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:56:02 +0000

The Business Names Registration Bill 2011 will replace the individual state and territory registration schemes with a single national system.
The national scheme resulted after the Council of Australian Governments agreed to it in 2009.
Coalition senator David Bushby said on Thursday the principle behind the bills was excellent and in many cases would reduce the costs for businesses.
But the government had failed to listen to the consultation it had undertaken, which would require another bill to fix up a resulting error, he said.
Businesses will have to pay $70 to register a business name for three years under the new scheme.
The Business Names Registration Bill 2011 and two other related bills now await royal assent.
All States need to pass legislation before the national business names register can start.
Tasmania and NSW have already passed their referral legislation and a referral bill is before the Queensland Parliament.
Depending on the passage of legislation through other State parliaments, the national business names register will be operational by mid-2012, Small Business Minister Nick Sherry said.
Source: AAP NewsWire

Resources giant Rio Tinto has shrugged off worries about a new financial crisis to set a quarterly record for sales of iron ore.

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:54:51 +0000

The sales result was slightly above analysts’ expectations.
It produced 50 million tonnes of attributable iron ore during the quarter, up five per cent on the same quarter in 2010.
The company said its iron ore division was operating at full capacity.
“Whilst we are mindful of current market volatility, the fundamentals are holding up well, particularly for bulk-traded commodities,” Rio chief executive Tom Albanese said on Thursday.
“We are operating at full capacity, selling all we produce and our growth programme is on track, supported by the strength of our balance sheet.”
Rio is spending at least $US20 billion ($A19.7 billion) to boost its iron ore production capacity to 333 million tonnes a year by 2015. The company plans to boost production further to 433 million tonnes.
Australia’s other major iron ore producers are also planning multi-billion dollar expansions, with BHP Billiton planning to move to 350 million tonnes a year by 2020 and Fortescue Metals aiming for 255 million tonnes in five years.
UBS said Rio had been accelerating production to meet a 240 million tonne target this year, after first-half production of only 115 million tonnes.
The result came despite mining being suspended for two days in August at two of its mines, following the death of a worker.
Iron ore represents more than 70 per cent of group earnings.
The company’s shares shot up 2.79 per cent, or $1.88, to $69.34, the highest in three weeks.
Among the company’s other commodities, coal production from the Queensland and NSW mines rebounded from the severe rains in the first half of the year, the company said.
Australian hard coking coal production set a new quarterly record at 2.77 million tonnes and was 14 per cent higher than the third quarter of 2010 and 55 per cent higher than the second quarter.
However it is eight per cent lower over the first nine months for this year compared to last year.
Other production from the Australian coal operations favoured semi-soft coal which was 57 per cent higher than the third quarter of 2010 with thermal coal three per cent lower.
The company said mined copper was hit by lower grades at Escondida and Kennecott Utah Copper and was down 32 per cent on the third quarter of 2010.
Bauxite production was up seven per cent on the prior corresponding period, with aluminium up two per cent but alumina down five per cent.
Source: AAP NewsWire

It’s becoming a familiar refrain, but according to a new report on Australia’s skills shortage, engineers need better training to fill the rapid demand for engineering professionals.

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:01:13 +0000

According to Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) Chris Walton, the Skills Shortages Australia report released recently found 59 per cent of engineering vacancies were unfilled - the highest of any profession.
The report shows it is hardest to fill engineering positions that required a high level of experience or specialist skills, demonstrating the need to give more engineers more training and experience.
“Australia is not giving engineers the skills they need to get to the next level,” Walton said.
“The Federal Government has the opportunity to fix this. They should ensure that training plans are in place before they hand out billions of dollars of infrastructure money to the states.
“This would ensure that the engineering graduates have a chance to develop the skills they need to become the kind of engineers that are in desperately short supply.”
Walton said while the Federal Government’s recent $558 million skills boost would go a small way to fixing the problem in engineering state governments could go much further in helping to skill up young engineering graduates.
The report states: “Graduate positions were relatively easy to fill but there was difficulty filling positions that required applicants to have significant years of experience.”
“It is not good enough to just create more university places or to throw our hands up and recruit more engineers from overseas,” Walton said.
“If we could ensure the states have plans in place to train graduates and have them working on the large infrastructure projects we would be saving billions of dollars of taxpayers money.
“But at the moment state governments are contracting the work out to employers who have little long term commitment to training engineers.”
The report also found that overall employers continue to experience difficulty recruiting in most professional engineering specialisations, with the proportion of engineering vacancies filled in 2010-11 the lowest of any occupation assessed by the government.
The tightest labour markets were for civil engineers, structural engineers, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers with less than 40 per cent of surveyed vacancies being filled for these occupations.
Employers in WA and the NT faced the greatest difficulty recruiting engineers, filling less than 30 per cent of surveyed vacancies; and the majority of employers surveyed were seeking to recruit staff who had at least five to ten years’ experience.
Walton said APESMA had worked hard to raise the issue of the dramatic skills shortage in engineering over the past few years, including helping to create ANET which brings industry, professional associations and union leaders together to discuss the problem with the Government.
He said if Australia didn’t have enough engineers the nation would fail to capitalise on the mining boom, face increasing problems such as traffic snarls, and research has shown that without sufficient engineers it would lead to a 20 per cent blowout in major infrastructure projects.
“If we are looking at 20 per cent infrastructure blowouts now, imagine the financial damage if this skills crisis gets any worse,” Walton said.
“Unless we fix the skills crisis soon taxpayers will have to fork out for projects going over budget.”
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Australia appears set for iron ore production capacity oversupply by 2016/17, but major miners like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will simply put the brakes on output to keep prices high, an analyst says.

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:58:19 +0000

The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) has forecast that Australia’s iron ore exports will increase over the next six years by seven per cent per annum to 600 million tonnes (Mt), up from about 408Mt in the 12 months to June this year.
In anticipation of this projected export growth, major Australian miners are currently expanding existing mines and other companies such as China’s CITIC Pacific are planning new mines in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
But the nation could find itself in 2016/17 with far more iron ore mine capacity than major markets such as China will demand.
Iron ore export capacity is expected to be boosted by about 75 per cent to at least 815Mt by December 2016.
This will come from an estimated $37 billion worth of projects with secured funding, including expansions of mines operated by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group.
And that’s a conservative figure, Martin Place Securities head of research Greg Burns says.
At least $85 billion worth of iron ore mine expansions are planned Australia-wide, which could effectively double current capacity of 465Mt to one billion tonnes by December 2016.
“But I don’t believe that’s possible,” Burns told reporters.
“It’s hard to get money at the moment, either equity or debt, so I just don’t think all the projects that are planned will actually see light.”
The expected gap between production capacity and demand in 2016/17 was not a concern, however, because the big miners would simply pull back output when needed to keep supply tight and prices high.
“I’m not terribly worried that we’re going to have an overrun of capacity and even if we do, they’ll just reduce the rate to match demand and won’t let the price soften too much,” Burns said.
“They’ll speed it up or slow it down, depending on the market.”
He also said Australia’s large potential iron ore projects list indicates a large dose of posturing.
It does not hurt the major miners to talk up their expansions, because this can deter new market entrants, Burns said.
“Some of these expansions by the big boys are really waving the flag, saying `nick off’ to other people.”
Source: AAP NewsWire

The federal government is planning to release updated economic modelling of its planned carbon tax in a bid to counter criticism that Treasury estimates do not reflect the actual starting price.

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:56:58 +0000

But the opposition is demanding the modelling reflects that it is a “fantasy” that a US cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme will be up and running by 2016.
Labor’s carbon pricing scheme relies substantially on the purchase of overseas carbon credits to achieve pollution reduction targets by 2020.
The coalition says the government is not being honest by claiming its carbon tax will reduce Australia’s emissions.
It has written to Prime Minister Julia Gillard demanding the government abandon a $25 million advertising campaign promoting the carbon tax because it doesn’t tell Australians about the need to purchase overseas credits.
“They want to send money overseas,” opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt said, warning the overseas carbon credit market largely was “extremely undeveloped” and susceptible to fraud.
“Many of them are likely to be of dubious providence,” Hunt said.
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet dismissed any suggestion there was uncertainty about the future of the global carbon market.
“There will be carbon markets that we can link up with but there is some detailed work to be done,” Combet said, adding that schemes were earmarked for China and California during the next few years.
Hunt said the government’s most recent modelling assumed the US would have a “fully integrated and effective” cap-and-trade emissions trading system in place by 2016.
That was a fantasy, he said.
The government on Sunday released updated information showing the impact its carbon tax would have on household budgets.
Treasurer Wayne Swan insists the figures show that many prices, especially food, will be little affected by the tax when it comes into operation from July 1 next year.
But annual electricity and gas charges are estimated to increase by about $240 on average.
Overall, households will pay about $510 extra for a range of goods and services.
The impact on some low-income households and pensioners would be more than offset by government compensation, Swan said.
Households that improved their energy efficiency could end up coming out in front, he said.
The treasurer this week is planning to release updated modelling on the tax’s impact on the whole economy.
Initial modelling showed the economy would continue to grow strongly under a carbon price at the same time as carbon pollution was reduced.
The updated modelling, prepared by the Treasury in consultation with other departments, was expected to very closely match initial results, Swan said.
The government has been forced to counter criticism that its initial modelling was based on a $20-a-tonne price on carbon, against the actual starting price of $23 a tonne.
Source: AAP NewsWire

Resource giant BP is asking for trouble exploring the pristine Great Australian Bight in search of oil, environmentalists say.

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:31:22 +0000

Starting in November and continuing through the summer, BP will undertake seismic studies in the Bight, located off southern Australia, after receiving regulatory approval on Thursday.
The tests involve a ship firing soundwaves or popping sounds, according to BP, deep into the ocean, but which Greenpeace says is deafening for whale and sharks.
Climate and energy campaigner Julien Vincent said approval should never have been granted.
“It is almost beyond belief that a company that caused one of the most catastrophic oil spills in history gets their hands on pockets of the Great Australian Bight,” he told reporters.
“Oil accidents happen constantly.
“They’re absolutely asking for trouble if they’re going into that area.”
Vincent said the approval comes just a day after the US government condemned BP for negligence in causing the Gulf of Mexico spill last year.
He believes the bight, which is twice as deep as the Gulf spill, should be out of bounds for oil explorers, and urged intervention by the newly-established single national petroleum regulator.
BP media manager Jamie Jardine told reporters the application for seismic studies addressed all environmental issues.
Under the conditions of the approval, two marine observers are required on board the testing vessel at all times to ensure there are no whales in close proximity.
Pending the results of the seismic tests, BP hopes to establish four wells in the Bight, starting in 2013.
Source: AAP NewsWire

Rio Tinto will spend $US833 million ($A813.0 million) on power and fuel infrastructure under plans to increase iron ore production in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:30:15 +0000

The investment is part of a five-year program started in 2010 to increase the mining giant’s production capacity in the region by 50 per cent to 333 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) by the first half of 2015.
Rio Tinto said $US520 million of the investment announced on Thursday would be spent on upgrading the miner’s integrated power and gas network, while $US313 million was earmarked for fuel infrastructure facilities.
Both the power and fuel projects are needed to support annual production capacity of 283 Mtpa, a level Rio Tinto expects to meet in towards the end of 2013.
The fuel project will also help support the planned expansion to 333 Mtpa, from 225 Mtpa currently.
“This investment marks yet another significant step towards the expansion of iron ore production by 50 per cent in the five years to 2015, a timeline we recently brought forward by six months,” chief executive iron ore and Australia Sam Walsh said in a statement.
“These projects provide certainty in meeting our power and fuel supply requirements, both now and into the future.”
Fellow mining giant BHP Billiton is also expanding its Pilbara iron ore production capacity to 240Mtpa by 2013.
The miner’s shipments rose to to an annualised rate of 155Mtpa in the June quarter under the expansion project.
Source: AAP NewsWire

A Perth firm plans to produce potash from its West Australian landholdings in what would be a first for the nation.

admin — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:29:03 +0000

Potash, a group of water-soluble potassium salts mainly used in fertiliser production, is not currently produced in Australia.
Perth-based Potash West hopes to break into this tightly held market, which is dominated by about 10 mainly Canadian companies and a marketing OPEC-like “cartel”, Canpotex.
Demand for the fertiliser input is set to rise as the world strives to meet food needs amid expanding populations.
Newly listed Potash West is exploring one of the world’s largest potassium-rich glauconite deposits in WA’s Perth Basin, near the potash consuming Wheatbelt region, and hopes to complete a scoping study by December next year.
Managing director Patrick McManus said global population was projected to hit nine billion by 2050 but the amount of arable land per person was set to fall, meaning farmers needed to make the most of their crops through the use of fertilisers.
However, WA farmers he had spoken with were on average using half of their potash needs due to its high cost.
McManus told a recent media briefing in Perth that crops weren’t affected immediately when a farmer stopped or reduced the use of potash.
“It (productivity) will just slowly taper off,” McManus he said.
“But they do need to replenish the soil.”
Chinese and Indian consumption drove the potash price from $US100 a tonne in 2004 to almost $US900 a tonne in 2008/09.
The price slumped to about $US350 a tonne when the global financial crisis hit and is currently about $US500 a tonne.
“Demand has picked up again now,” McManus said.
“The potash market is very strong and growing, and the investment community is also looking at new opportunities in that business.”
Assuming its project is viable, Potash West will in the short term target the Australian market, which consumes about 500,000 tonnes of potash a year, 80 per cent of which is used in WA and Queensland.
In the long term, it hopes to secure Indian and Chinese customers.
Potash West seeks to define a resource of 50 to 70 million tonnes on its landholdings, compared to global annual consumption of about 60 million tonnes.
Source: AAP NewsWire

Biodiesel is still very much in the experimental stage according to a group of Queensland scientists, who say time is needed to make the fuel substitute a widespread and effective solution.

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:20:32 +0000

It all seemed so easy in the Back to the Future movies, as a banana peel and other garbage was shoved into the DeLorean time machine to engage the flux capacitor.
In reality, scientists need a thorough experimental phase to work out how to turn plants into an effective biodiesel, and CQUniversity is establishing a research group drawing on plant scientists and engineers for this very purpose.
So far, they have identified seeds from the native Beauty Leaf tree as a likely source that does not divert yield from edible crops. While evaluating the best growing conditions for commercial crops of Beauty Leaf, they are also investigating the biodiesel production process.
The first challenge is to produce 500 litres of “beauty leaf seed” biodiesel. That’s not as easy as it sounds. Currently, engineering students from QUT are helping to test oil extraction machinery to design an effective upscaled version.
Once viable quantities of oil are produced and converted to biodiesel through a four-stage transesterification process, it can be assessed for quality parameters against industrial standards.
The next stage is to determine automotive engine performance via a multi-cyclinder engine test bed established in the thermo-fluid laboratory on Rockhampton Campus. Finally, the team will study engine components wear and operational issues that may arise in engines running with biodiesel.
CQUniversity’s “second generation biodiesel” effort is being led by Associate Professor Mohammad Rasul, Professor Masud Khan and Associate Professor Nanjappa Ashwath.
“Establishment of second generation biodiesel will reduce the dependence on crude oil imports and therefore increase the stability of Australia’s fuel market and improve balance of trade,” Dr Rasul said.
“The range of ecological benefits includes: massive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of sulphur dioxide which is one of the main causes of acid rain and reduction of other cancer causing emissions such as benzene.
“There will also be potential benefits for agricultural and rural development, including new jobs and income generation.
“Moreover, the move to biodiesel will create new industries and bring increased economic activity which would undoubtedly help meet the government development goals. It will also provide opportunities for carbon trading for the country.”
Dr Rasul says the success of the current study is expected to be a milestone to establish biodiesel research at CQUniversity.
“This will create specialists in this area among the CQUniversity’s researchers. It will also encourage new researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students to take innovative projects in this area,” he said.
“The project aligns with CQUniversity’s strategic research concentration and will showcase institutional practices that promote sustainability, productivity and safety of community through local renewable energy systems.
“This research will also enhance ecosystems, encourage environmental enquiry and industrial learning throughout the community. The success of this project will enable CQUniversity to demonstrate innovation in energy technology which will contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of Australian biodiesel industry.”
Dr Ashwath noted that this research shows the potential of using degraded and mined land for biodiesel production.
“This also opens up opportunities for mining companies and mining contractors to invest in Beauty Leaf Tree plantations which could serve not only as pilot projects but also attract tax subsidies,” he said.
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Mining companies will have to assess where workers want to live and the impacts on communities under new Queensland government policy.

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:19:10 +0000

Proponents of major projects will need to address seven principles in a new housing and accommodation strategy.
Among the considerations are whether new infrastructure is required and how the lifestyle in the town will be protected when a fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workforce is proposed.
Workers would also have a choice about where they live.
Miners would have to determine how much demand there is for local jobs before a project goes ahead, and justify its FIFO workforce.
Treasurer Andrew Fraser said Queensland had 38 projects in the pipeline over the next six years, including 23 coal mines and 12 coal seam gas projects, supporting 30,000 new workers.
He said FIFO arrangements were a reality for isolated mining towns and helped spread the wealth from the resource boom.
But workers should have a say on where they live from the start.
“It is important that the staff of these important projects … have the same level of choice as everyone else,” he told parliament on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the federal government announced this week a parliamentary inquiry into the impact of FIFO workforces.
Chair of the inquiry, Tony Windsor, said the practice may be the answer to high unemployment in some regions, but maintains the inquiry is a clean slate.
“Our inquiry is to look at the positive and negatives, and social and community implications of fly-in fly-out, drive-in drive-out,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
A number of regional Queensland towns say they miss out on jobs because of the use of FIFO workers.
At the same time they pay the social and infrastructure costs of hosting the transients, without garnering rates.
One such town is Moranbah, in central Queensland, where miner BMA wants approval from the state government for a 100 per cent FIFO workforce for the nearby Caval Ridge coal mine.
A decision is expected to be made within a month.
Mining community advocate Jim Pearce said the federal inquiry came too late for Moranbah, which would suffer if BMA got its way.
“If we lose that fight, our communities will be devastated and it would set a precedent for communities to be overrun with fly-in fly-out workers,” he told reporters.
The former Labor MP will seek Labor preselection in the seat of Mirani in the next election to push for a banning of 100 per cent FIFO workforces.
Mirani is currently held by Liberal National Party (LNP) MP Ted Malone.
The LNP does not support 100 per cent fly-in fly-out workforces.
Source: AAP NewsWire