Archived News for Professionals in State Government - July, 2012

The Western Australian Education Minister Peter Collier has announced 48 more schools that have been selected to become Independent Public Schools to start in 2013, bringing the overall total in the reform of WA’s education system to 255 (one third of Western Australia’s public schools).

The Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson has accused the Liberal Premiers of colluding to take at least $1 billion from the Territory under a new GST carve up.

The Northern Territory Government has launched two new housing initiatives to help people renting accommodation to buy their own homes.

COAG has released two report cards on the implementation of its deregulation priorities and competition reforms under the National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy.

Queensland’s Ministerial Environmental Roundtable has met for a question and answer session with representatives from a range of interest groups including the Queensland Conservation Council, Sunshine Coast Environment Council, National Parks Association and the Environmental Defenders Office.

The Western Australian Government has partnered with Australian crowdfunding platform Pozible, to launch the ‘3 to 1’ initiative -  an incentivised fundraising program to make up to $250,000 available for WA digital projects.

Culture and Arts Minister John the ‘3 to1’ initiative will inspire digital creators to be entrepreneurial about how they raise capital for their production budget, as well as capture the interest of their audiences at the outset of their creative process.

“Creative teams will need to attract contributions online from individuals to secure the ScreenWest grant. This will in effect quadruple their production budget.”

Instead of the more traditional grant allocation, the ‘3 to 1’ initiative will see ScreenWest treble those funds raised by successful Western Australian creative teams.

This means for every dollar teams raise through online crowdfunding, ScreenWest will contribute a further three dollars to the budget, from a minimum of $15,000 to a maximum contribution of $150,000, (meaning creative teams must crowdfund between $5,000 and $50,000 respectively).

The program will support professional narrative-driven screen-content for digital platforms that is not reliant on a television broadcast or film distribution outcome.

Projects can be drama or documentary, traditional short form or challenge convention with interactivity and user generated content, but they must be delivered on at least one digital platform.

More information is at http://www.screenwest.wa.gov.au

NSW Minister for Mental Health Kevin Humphries has announced the appointment of John Feneley as the inaugural Commissioner of the NSW Mental Health Commission.

The Tasmanian Minister for Health, Michelle O'Byrne, has announced that a new lead clinicians group and a community advisory body would be formed to help ensure Tasmania's health system responded to the needs of the community.

Ms O'Byrne said with national reforms now underway and the Tasmanian Health Organisations in place, these bodies would play a vital role in health care delivery.

"There are significant reforms underway in how health is delivered, leading to greater local control and local decision making.

"Tasmanians now have more information, more involvement and more control over how health is delivered than ever before.

"We will engage directly with clinicians and consumers to ensure we are taking all perspectives into account as we deliver health services.

Ms O'Byrne said she had also discussed potential membership and scope of the Federal Commission into the Tasmanian Delivery of Health Services with the Federal Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, this week.

"The lead clinicians group will inform the work of the commission agreed to under the Federal Government's $325 million health funding package.

"The Tasmanian Health Plan has delivered much for our health system during the past five years, and these groups will engage with the review of the plan as we work together to respond to the changing nature of our health system under national reforms," Ms O'Byrne said.

The Tasmanian Premier, Lara Giddings, has put a positive spin on prospects for Tasmania outlined in the latest Access Economics Business Outlook and CommSec State and States reports.

The NSW government has cut 350 jobs from its Office of Environment and Heritage, and will close many programs in national parks, animal management and climate change research.

NSW Trade and Investment has signed a $14.5 million, three-year agreement with German business software company SAP to use its ByDesign software, hosted on a German server, to run finance, human resources and payroll functions for 16 member agencies.  The agreement will eventually see ByDesign taken up by up to 8500 users, and SAP says it is the largest roll-out of ByDesign world-wide.

The report by Richard Chesterman QC into a whistle blower’s allegations of medical malpractice within the Queensland health system has been tabled in the Queensland Parliament.

The Australian Government has tabled its response to the Senate Economics References Committee report The asset insurance arrangements of Australian state governments.

The Tasmanian Attorney-General, Brian Wightman, has announced the appointment of Diane Merryfull as the CEO of the Integrity Commission.

A new salary census for Tasmania's community sector workers will help gauge the implications of Fair Work Australia's landmark Equal Remuneration Order.

The June quarter Business outlook from Deloitte Access Economics released today tips the Territory economy to be the fastest growing in Australia over the next five years, with the strongest employment growth over the period.

CommSec's quarterly State of the States report, a detailed analysis of each state's economic performance based on eight key indicators, has found that Western Australia has given up some of its lead over other states, with population growth slowing, causing a knock-on effect in the housing sector.

A report by Deloitte Access Economics shows that Queensland is uniquely positioned to capitalise on its resources, tourism potential and a range of other products.

The Tasmanian Local Government Board has recommended a reduction of councillors at six of the state’s councils.