Archived News for Professionals in Federal Government - July, 2011
A new Climate Change Authority (CCA) is to be established to provide expert advice on the Federal Government’s carbon pricing mechanism. It will be chaired by the former Reserve Bank Governor and former Treasury Secretary Bernie Fraser.
The CCA is to be established by legislation as an independent body to provide expert advice on key aspects of the Federal Government’s carbon pricing mechanism.
Mr Fraser is currently Chairman of Members Equity Bank. Until recently, he was a director of two of Australia's largest superannuation funds, AustralianSuper and Cbus, positions he held for 15 years.
$43 billion generated by health care businesses
Health care businesses generated $43 billion in income, and spent over $32 billion on expenses, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Australia's private sector health care businesses operated from 101,725 locations providing medical and other health care to 22.3 million people.
These businesses employed or contracted 188,000 registered practitioners and other health care professionals, at the end of June 2010, with a further 145,000 other staff providing support for the same period.
Primary health care services (general practitioner, specialist and dental services) operated from 68,877 locations with the majority of these services (over 75%) located in capital cities and suburbs.
Primary health care services employed or contracted 111,000 registered practitioners and other health care professionals and saw 6 million patients in an average working week.
Further information is in Health Care Services, Australia 2009-10 (cat. no 8570.0).
Carbon tax could be legislated before end of year
The Federal Government is planning to push its proposed carbon tax through parliament and senate before the end of the year after it announced that a draft plan of the legislation is due for release within weeks.
New head of Australian Antarctic Division
Dr Tony Fleming has been appointed as the new Director of the Australian Antarctic Division.
Dr Fleming has held senior executive positions within both the Federal and New South Wales public service for more than 20 years and more recently in the not-for-profit sector.
He has been the Director of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Deputy Director-General of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change.
He worked with the Commonwealth to develop the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and was responsible for the Environment Department’s environmental science and reporting activities.
Most recently he was National Operations Manager with not-for-profit organisation the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, which manages over 2.5 million hectares of Australia for conservation purposes.
Dr Fleming holds a Bachelor of Science and a PhD in Forestry from the Australian National University.
Dr Fleming also has strong family connections with Antarctica. His grandfather Sir Raymond Priestley went south with both Shackleton (Nimrod expedition in 1907-09) and Scott (Terra Nova expedition 1910-1913).
Additionally his grandfather’s sisters married Thomas Griffith Taylor and Charles 'Silas' Wright, who were both members of Scott's Terra Nova expedition.
Dr Fleming will take up his position in August.
$1.3 billion support package for coal industry
A $1.3 billion package has been announced as part of the Federal Government's carbon price plan to support companies with high levels of fugutive emissions in the mining process.
Defence Materiel Organisation head quits
Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) head Dr Stephen Gumley has announced his resignation, effective immediately.
Inquiry into foreign investment in rural land
The Coalition and Greens have jointly initiated a Senate inquiry into foreign investment in Australia's agricultural land.
Intelligence Services amendment legislation passed
The Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 has been passed in Parliament, introducing a range of amendments to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, the Intelligence Services Act 2001 and the Criminal Code Act 1995 that will affect operations of security and intelligence agencies.
ATO taken to task on complaints
The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, chaired by Independent MP, Rob Oakeshott, has called for the Australian Taxation Office to report back in six months on action it has taken to improve complaint handing and to address the causes of complaints.
Infrastructure Australia calls for urgent action on infrastructure reform
In its annual report to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), Infrastructure Australia has warned that ‘frustratingly slow’ progress of reforms to infrastructure planning and delivery had caused a slowing of Australia’s productivity.
Members of Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation board announced
Appointments to the inaugural governing board of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) have been announced, effective from 1 July, 2011.