Progress has been made with National Water Initiative but more needs to be done

The progress and success of the National Water Initiative (NWI) was a topic of discussion at 7th Annual Australian Water Summit held last month.

According to the National Water Commission, the NWI is “Australia’s enduring blueprint for water reform…[and] represents a shared commitment by governments to increase the efficiency of Australia’s water use, leading to greater certainty for investment and productivity, for rural and urban communities, and for the environment.”

The agreement was signed in 2004 by the Australian government and all the state and territory governments.

Chairman and CEO of the National Water Commission, Ken Matthews said Australia’s water supply would be in a more adverse state without the NWI.

“It has initiated a whole lot of things that just would not be happening otherwise,” he said. “A whole lot of reforms processes, management improvements that were overdue and actually have started and in some cases, are finished.”

Demonstrable progress has been made in areas such as groundwater, water accounting, water trading, and urban water security.

However, Mr Matthews admitted there had been delays in implementation in almost every area of water reform which was affecting the progress of other reforms.

A number of urgent problems had also arisen including over-allocation, environmental degradation, the 4 per cent and 10 per cent rule in Victoria, cost recovery commitments by the Government, suspension of water plans and rural adjustment pressures.

“There have been developments since 2004 which are not being properly accommodated and the best example is climate change,” he said. “It now needs to be built more effectively into reforms.”

The NWI also had “forgotten areas” such as risks assignment & compliance and enforcement which had not been developed at all.

Mr Matthews said there were new risks emerging, particularly rural adjustment pressures which was the biggest risk to continuing water reform.

Other issues that needed to be addressed were the mining industry, adjustment arrangements and urban water institutional reforms.

Mr Matthews said there were grounds for reform optimism: the NCI had a plan, unprecedented resources being devoted to water, high levels of political attention and the loyalty of stakeholders.

“It could be different. We could be in a position where governments and important stakeholder groups were resigning from the NWI and we wouldn’t have a plan,” he said. “There are still big opportunities for further reform and big opportunities for improving water management.”

Water shortages, lack of water security, environmental degradation, the increasing impacts on communities and the lack of government agreements were still issues of concern.

Mr Matthew said he was very worried as a citizen that water reform in Australia was not happening fast enough.

“I worry that if it slows down even more, it will grind to a halt altogether,” he said. “[However], I think it’s important to communicate to people that there has been progress. Had there not been a NWC, a lot of things which are happening wouldn’t be happening.”
Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water and Chairman of WaterAid Australia, Tony Kelly said the National Water Commission needed to focus more on rural areas and the way water is managed in those areas.

He said the National Water Commission had been successful in its performance reporting in urban water as there were now national comparisons which act as a stimulus for further improvements.

“In the next three or four years, I think most of the capital cities in Australia will be in a much more secure position after investing 50 billion dollars in new sources.”

However, Mr Kelly said the imbalance between rural and urban areas needed to be addressed.

“On the national level… urban [areas] are only using 10 per cent of Australia’s fresh water and a majority of the balance is used in rural areas,” he said. “The emphasis now needs to be on rural areas and particularly on irrigation usage.”

Older irrigation systems needed to be upgraded as they could not longer meet the needs of modern farming.

Mr Kelly said the biggest national water issue in the next year and a half was the way water was managed in rural areas.

“Improving the efficiency of rural irrigation systems has been a major element in Victoria’s Reform Agenda but much less so in other states,” he said. “What’s happened down here in Victoria is that we have had the urban water users funding improvement in irrigation infrastructure in exchange for a share of the water savings.

The Victorian experience would provide cheap water for urban areas, increased security for farmers and benefit the environment as savings would go back into stress rivers.

In his address, Mr Kelly spoke about the progress of water reform in Victoria and the establishment of a state wide water grid which would link various regions together.

”These linkages really do need to be managed if we are going to exploit the potential of this grid,” he said. “Allying that with the introduction of more competition and third party access in the whole sale end of the system in particular holds great promise for further improvements in Victoria.

The water grid would allow Victoria to optimise their supplies across the state for the benefit of farmers, urban consumers and the environment. In the past this has been compromised by a lack of coordination across utility boundaries and a lack of a state wide perspective experiencing the same water restrictions, he said.

“We will be able to even out the pain a little bit but also when things return back to normal hopefully we will have access to cheaper whole-sale water. That’s got to be good for urban users and farmers because it’s going to keep pressure off the prices.”

NB
Readers may also be interested in a follow-up conference being hosted by IIR Conferences:
Water Pricing & Trading Conference
24–26 August 2009 | Rendezvous Hotel, Melbourne
Analysing pricing mechanics of the Australian water market
www.iir.com.au/waterpricing

Not for the faint hearted

Workers on a Pilbara mine site were surprised to find a snake in the middle of a meal which took it five hours to consume. They managed to keep the serpent safe from traffic in the meantime.

You may be able to catch exciting sights like these if you’re at Pilbara for our 3rd Annual Mining the Pilbara conference happening on the 10-11 June 2009.  Click here to find out more about the conference!

These pics were taken by one of the the NRW crew at Cloudbreak this week.

National Water Reform needs to focus on rural areas

The National Water Commission needs to focus on rural areas and the way water is managed in those areas, says Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water and Chairman of WaterAid Australia, Tony Kelly.

Mr Kelly will be addressing the 7th Annual Australian Water Summit on June 4 and 5 in Brisbane.

He says the National Water Commission has been successful in its performance reporting in urban water as there are now national comparisons which assist with further improvements.

However, Mr Kelly says the imbalance between rural and urban areas needs to be addressed.

“On the national level… urban [areas] are only using 10 per cent of Australia’s fresh water and a majority of the balance is used in rural areas,” he said. “The emphasis now needs to be on rural areas and particularly on irrigation usage.”

Older irrigation systems needed to be upgraded as they could not longer meet the needs of modern farming.

Mr Kelly says the biggest national water issue in the next year and a half is the way water is managed in rural areas.

“Improving the efficiency of rural irrigation systems has been a major element in Victoria’s Reform Agenda but much less so in other states,” he says. “What’s happened in Victoria is that we have had the urban water users funding improvement in irrigation infrastructure in exchange for a share of the water savings.

The Victorian experience will provide cheap water for urban areas, increased security for farmers and will benefit the environment.

In his address, Mr Kelly will touch on the progress of water reform in Victoria and the establishment of a state wide water grid which will link various regions together.

This would allow Victoria to optimise their supplies across the state for the benefit of farmers, urban consumers and the environment. In the past this has been compromised by a lack of coordination across utility boundaries and a lack of a state wide perspective experiencing the same water restrictions, he said.

“When the Grid is fully operational, we’ll also have access to cheaper whole-sale water. That’s got to be good for urban users and farmers because it’s going to keep pressure off the prices.”

Other speakers attending the conference include Ken Matthews, Chairman and CEO of the National Water Commission; Joe Flynn, Chief Executive of Water Industry Alliance; Andrew Gregson, Chief Executive Officer of NSW Irrigator’s Council; Rob Freeman, CEO of the Murray Darling Basin Authority; and Elaine Prior, Director of Citi Investment Research.

Adviser relationship skills crucial in current economic climate

Consumers have very real concerns about the state of the global economy and specifically, the effect it is having on their portfolios and the realisation of their goals and objectives. Now more than ever, they need good financial advice to avoid making costly decisions, although the state of the markets, the well-publicised demise of Storm Financial, and ongoing public denouncement of financial advisers by Industry funds all combine to undermine the trust that advisers have with their existing clients, and create a poor framework for which to build trust with a new client.

Interpersonal communication skills and client relationship management are vital attributes of any good adviser, although there are very few training programs designed specifically for financial planners to develop and improve their skills in these areas. Sue Viskovic, Managing Director from Elixir Consulting will be presenting on these very issues at the upcoming Kaplan Professional Financial Adviser Roadshows.

“Advisers who have an ability to connect with their new and existing clients on more than just a superficial level – indeed, those who can create and develop real relationships based on trust, gain much greater mutual satisfaction from their client relationships. Their clients feel more secure with their financial affairs and advisers find they are able to deliver better quality advice because they are privy to a better knowledge of their client and they understand ALL of the issues they face. This of course leads to longer, often inter-generational relationships with their clients, and ultimately a better financial outcome for their clients”, says Sue.

“There are some very specific skills and techniques that are required by advisers to communicate what are often complex, and particularly in the current environment, disconcerting issues with their clients. This workshop will give advisers some skills and techniques that they can take back to their office and put into practice immediately.”

Sue’s presentation entitled “An effective and client-focused approach to sales, communication and relationship skills” is one of the sessions in the agenda for the Financial Adviser Roadshow appearing in Brisbane on the 16th and 17th of February and Melbourne on the 24th and 25th February.

Register at www.kaplanprofessional.edu.au/FAR or call 02 9080 4080 for more information.

Terrorism, natural disasters have similar national impacts

TONY PEARCE, Director-General of Emergency Management Australia

Natural disasters are as big an issue as terrorism in the national security context, says Tony Pearce, Director-General of Emergency Management Australia (EMA).

“Natural disasters have very similar impacts, on the economy, the psychology of the nation, on the business sector and on communities generally,” he says in an interview.

Mr Pearce, who is to address the National Security Australia 2009 conference in Sydney in March, says EMA has two roles in managing risks to the community and environment.

“We have the pre-emergency phase where we work with communities, governments, schools and others on identifying risks and developing strategies, publications and education programs to assist in reducing community risk . This also includes coordinating and administering the Australian Government funded Natural Disaster Mitigation Program.

“In the event of an emergency where a state or a territory needs assistance above it’s own capacity, we coordinate the Australian Government response to the emergency and work with the aeffected jurisdiction.”

One objective of EMA is to develop ‘community resilience’, “trying to get the community to a situation where it’s able to bounce back from adversity”.

“It means communities working with government in partnership. It’s the government working with the private sector and non-government organisations in a collective sense to have people understand their risk, to be able to deal with the event and once the issue’s past, to be able to recover from it.”

Mr Pearce says that in his address he will look at the concept of ‘all hazards’ emergency management — the terrorism event as well as natural disasters and the similarities.

“I want to look at the potential consequences of the future risks we’re facing, such as climate change and adapting to climate change and how that’s going to impact on Emergency Management’s response.

“I’ll also look at some lessons we’ve identified from recent events and the community resilience issue.”

www.nationalsecurityaus.com

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews at the National Security Australia 2009 conference please contact: Nigel Dique
Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au

Adam Dunne of Aura Interactive talks mobile technology

ADAM DUNNE, CEO of AURA Interactive Pty Ltd, talks to us about the future of mobile phones, how businesses are utilising the value of mobile technology and the possibility of a trend to convergence or divergence of mobile phone and notebook computer technology.

He is a speaker at the Digital Media Leaders Forum in Sydney in March 2009.

For more information, go to www.iir.com.au/digital

Legal businesses at the crossroads

Many ‘traditional’ law firms need to change their business model if they’re to be at all competitive during the economic downturn, says consultant Ashley Balls, principal of Legal Best Practice.

Mr Balls makes the point that law is a business, lawyers, are not ‘different’ and need to ask repeatedly: what service aspects can be delivered more efficiently and for lower cost without compromising quality?

He says clients are now in the box seat and will demand more for less.

“Investment in IT is part of the solution, not a panacea. Email, the Internet, work-flow tools and automatic document assembly is not the end of the IT journey – it is the beginning.

“Failure to commoditise legal services wherever possible is an insult to clients who are already very familiar with computers and the Internet.”

Mr Balls says outsourcing is not innovation, it is a lifeline and questions the necessity of having expensive, grand offices when support personnel can be located remotely.

He says time and cost-based charging is finished – clients want fixed or annual fees and firms must change their billing practices to accommodate this need.

Mr Balls will elaborate on these issues in an address titled the Future of Law Firms at the 2nd Annual Legal IT Forum in Sydney on 1-2 April 2009.

International speakers include Neil Cameron, Principal of Neil Cameron Consulting (UK), who will discuss the use of technology to improve margins; Janet Day, CIO of Berwin Leighton Paisner (UK), who will give a UK focus on managing partners in lean times; and ILTA President Joy Heath-Rush, who is Enterprise End User Services Director for U.S.-based Sidley Austin LLP.

There will also be panel sessions featuring representatives of Blake Dawson, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Deloitte Digital and international firms.

www.iir.com.au/legalit

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews please contact:

Nigel Dique
Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au

Chronic pain management critical to retaining workers

Australian workers struggling to manage chronic pain need to regain control over their lives, says Coralie Wales, President of the Chronic Pain Association of Australia.

The good news is they can gain control with community help, she says in an interview.

CORALIE WALES, President of Chronic Pain Australia

One in five people suffer chronic pain – pain that’s experienced on a daily basis in excess of three to six months — and one in 10 will report that pain is interfering with their lives, which means it might be affecting their ability to work, says Ms Wales.

Also, research shows that the chemistry of stress can make the experience of pain from an injury worse, paving the way for the likelihood of chronic pain.

“We know that people stop going to work because of pain and are less effective at work,” she says.

Research shows that Australia loses five billion dollars every year in reduced work productivity due to chronic pain in workers — a big number given the ageing workforce and skills shortage

People aged between 35 and 55 years can have two or more chronic conditions. When they suffer an injury, the problem becomes complex.

“Managing that pain is really important and retaining those workers is critical because as a nation, we need those numbers in our work force.”

Ms Wales will be speaking at the Annual National Workers Compensation Conference on 23-26 February 2009 in Melbourne.

She will talk about how minor soft tissue injuries can lead to chronic pain and how clinicians and workers will benefit from an understanding of the physiology of chronic pain and how to deal with it.

She will also discuss the need to improve the level of control workers with chronic pain have over their lives.

“That means bringing them into the process and not excluding them from the process of planning in rehabilitation,” Ms Wales says.

“I’ll be touching on the fact that we can produce a circle around injured workers which makes them the leader, rather than the follower…and when we do that it really works, reducing a lot of the game playing that goes on in rehabilitation.”

Ms Wales says research shows the community can play a key role in workers getting back to a position of trusting after possibly years of feeling they haven’t had control because they haven’t trusted what has been going on in their lives in trying to manage pain.

The importance of community is the reason why Chronic Pain Australia exists.

“We’ve developed an organisation which is made up of volunteer consumers of pain management services, just ordinary people who have been through the experience and who have now become a model for other people, and it helps people trust the process of learning how to manage their pain,” she says.

Other speakers attending the conference include Martin Dolan, Chief Executive Officer for Comcare; Jarrod Moran, Workers Compensation Officer for Australian Council of Trade Unions; Dr Peter Tuchin, Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University; Craig Bosworth, Public & Industry Affairs Manager for Medibank Private; and Dr Angelica Vecchio-Sadus, HSE & Site Operations Manager at CSIRO Minerals.

www.nationalworkerscomp.com.au

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews please contact:

Nigel Dique
Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au

Records highlight Isa link with Port of Townsville

Mt Isa’s synergistic relationship with the Port of Townsville is underscored by three trade records broken in 2007-08.

They are among six individual import and four export trade records broken in the period, listed in the Port’s latest annual report.

In one record 582,378 tonnes of cement was imported from Gladstone. Used in stope filling and mine remediation, cement is distributed from Townsville by road and rail to the greater North Queensland area, including all points west to Mount Isa.

Sulphur, of which a record 124,398 tonnes was imported, is used at Incitec Pivot’s Phosphate Hill Mine south of Mt Isa. Bulk sulphur is containerised at the Port and railed to Phosphate Hill where it is converted to sulphuric acid for the production of DAP (diammonium phosphate) and MAP (monoammonium) high analysis fertilizer.

Record exports included 187,480 tonnes of lead ingots produced by Xstrata Mount Isa Mine and Lead Smelter. Lead is railed to the Port of Townsville for export to the UK.

The Port of Townsville is a Supporting Sponsor at the 3rd Annual Mining the Isa Conference at the Mount Isa Civic Centre on 17-18 November.

The conference will feature presentations from Mt Isa mining industry leaders. They include Joe Gutnick, CEO of Legend International Holdings, who will speak on the world’s new appetite for phosphate; Steve de Kruijff, Chief Operating Officer, Xstrata Copper who will give an update on operations; and Mark Lynch, Managing Director of Citgold Corporation, who will report on the Charters Towers goldfield development.

http://www.iir.com.au/isa

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews please contact:
Nigel Dique – Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au

How to secure the benefits of a return to work program

Programs to get employees back to work after injury or illness are not always simple, but the benefits are significant for employers, employees and insurers.

They include fewer employers’ liability claims, less staff absence and reduced or contained employer liability costs, and employees are less likely to feel aggrieved.

A British insurers’ report reveals the benefit to cost ratio can be as high as 12:1.

In Australia, savings of close to $4 million from rehabilitation services costing $82,000 were recorded by the Queensland Department of Education in just one region, the Wide Bay region.

The Return to Work Forum 2008 at the Hilton on the Park, Melbourne on 17-19 November will take a practical and comprehensive look at the entire return to work process.

The aim is to provide organisations with an understanding of the issues of getting back to work from long term and short term injuries.

The conference will focus on legislation, policy and procedures, cost issues, injury management, psychological issues, wellness programs and the management of returned workers.

Speakers include experts with long experience in occupational health and safety, injury management and rehabilitation.

Tracey Browne, Manager of National OHS Policy and Membership Services, for the Ai Group, will lead the sessions with an industry perspective on return to work policies and practices, followed by Steven Champion, OH&S and Injury Management Coordinator, Anglican Retirement Villages, who will speak on the value of return to work programs.

Other speakers will discuss the design of return to work programs, injury management, early intervention, the legislative framework, measuring outcomes, mental health and prevention.

http://www.iir.com.au/rtw

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews please contact: Nigel Dique
Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au