funding – Michmutters

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Australia

North-west Brisbane traffic and transport study draws heated debate between Labor state, LNP local governments

Line of cars stuck in traffic on suburban road

Queensland’s Transport Minister has described Brisbane City Council’s latest vision for a new toll road to relieve congestion in the city’s north-west as a “feeble fantasy” and a “farce”.

The six-lane tunnel, which would run between Bald Hills and connect with the Airport Link at Kedron, was part of the outcome of a $10 million federally-funded study undertaken over two years by the council.

It found northern Brisbane’s annual congestion and public transport crowding was costing $312 million per year.

That would rise to $538.5m by 2031 and $859m by 2041.

The study found significant community opposition towards any surface road or rail development through the North West Transport Corridor, which had been reserved by the state government since the 1980s.

Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey speaks to the media at a press conference on the Gold Coast on April 10, 2018.
Mr Bailey says the council had to cancel big projects yet released a study which recommended multi-billion-dollar road network infrastructure builds.(ABC News: Ashleigh Stevenson)

But Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the major toll road had been costed with “no funding, no consultation with other levels of government, and no idea how to fix congestion.”

He also criticized the council’s decision to cut projects in its June budget, citing the cost of rebuilding from February’s floods, yet unveil billions of dollars in new road infrastructure via the north-west transport study.

“Only a month ago, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner was saying the council was broke and had to cut a lot of projects citywide and now they have a plan to spend $25 billion on new tollways and motorways,” Mr Bailey said.

“It is very clear this tired 20-year-old council is out of touch and out of ideas.

Man with light blonde hair stands at reading with microphones
Cr Schrinner has defended the study saying it offered solutions to a growing problem.(ABC News: Alicia Nally)

“Recently, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner cut the North Brisbane Bikeway, cut upgrades to Mowbray Park, and refused to pay a fair share for the Cooper Plains level crossing removal because they are so broke, and yet here he is spending like a drunken sailor with his ridiculous $14 billion toll road plan.

“The state government had no input into the study that was funded by the former Morrison Government despite the state government owning the corridor which shows what a farce this announcement is.

“The immediate focus should be on upgrading services on Gympie Road, which we are already doing through the $72 million Northern Transitway project which we are fully funded.

“The study entirely ignores that project.

“Tell the Lord Mayor he is dreaming.”

‘Doing nothing not an option’

Yet, Cr Schrinner said the council had “done some planning work to assist” in reducing congestion in a burgeoning part of the city.

He also hit back at the state for setting aside land and not using it to improve transport networks.

artist impression of Gympie Rd transport upgrade
An artist’s impression shows a Gympie Rd precinct as part of north-west transport corridor improvement.(Supplied: Brisbane City Council)

“We’re concerned about what we see as a black hole for investment for infrastructure from the state government for the north-west suburbs,” Cr Schrinner said.

“That land was intended to be a transport corridor yet it has disappeared from any infrastructure plans and residents are asking what is going to happen in the north-western suburbs. The area is growing and there are no plans from the state government coming out.

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Australia

Locum doctor fee rises lead charity to withdraw financial support in five NSW towns

Man in white doctor's coat speaking to woman whose face can't be seen.

A year or two ago it used to cost just over $1,000 a day for a locum GP to cover while a town’s permanent doctor was on leave. That has now tripled to close to $4,000.

It is this “eye watering” increase that is being blamed on a medical charity withdrawing its financial support to pay for fly-in fly-out doctors in five New South Wales towns.

“It’s a dramatic change, we’re moving from GP locum rates of $1,200 a day up to anywhere between $2,500, $3,500, $3,750 a day,” Rural and Remote Medical Services (RARMS) CEO Mark Burdack said.

“We’re looking in some instances, in some towns, locum rates more than tripling in the last year.”

RARMS has announced that since September 30 it will no longer help pay for locums in Gilgandra, Warren, Bingara, Tenterfield and Braidwood.

The practices in these towns will remain open, but the charity’s decision means they will be saddled with the locum bills.

“We can’t afford to pay locum costs moving forward.

“That means each of the towns, if they lose a general practitioner, if they decide to go, they will potentially be up for anywhere between $2,500 and $3,500 a day to get a locum in.”

The main street of a small town
Bingara in north-west NSW is one of five towns affected by RARMS’s withdrawal.(Supplied: Lisa Herbert)

‘Not in a position to subsidise’

Mr Burdack said the organization had managed to weather the costs for the past few years because of the federal government’s JobKeeper payments.

He said a request for this to be extended was knocked back.

“Unfortunately that’s not something that has been taken up and as a result without that JobKeeper money we’re simply not in a position to subsidize locum coverage in those communities when there’s not a permanent doctor,” he said.

a man looking ahead
RARMS CEO Mark Burdack says negotiations are taking place to help fill the gap left by the charity.(Supplied)

RARMS said permanent doctors in Tenterfield and Braidwood have agreed to take over the full management of those practices.

Mr Burdack said at Bingara, north-west of Tamworth, the local council had stepped in.

decision no surprise

But Gwydir Shire Council Mayor John Coulton said the council was not taking over the Bingara health service and the decision of RARMS came as no surprise.

“We were very suspicious of this happening,” he said.

“We spoke to Mark Burdack in May, he couldn’t give any guarantees they could stay open under the present set-up.

“This is not a function of local government, we are going to do everything we can to facilitate another arrangement.

“We’ve been speaking to different sources that we may be able to use at this stage we have nothing.”

“We had a hook-up yesterday with Gilgandra and Warren, two other councils in the same position, and we’ve been bouncing off each other.”

RARMS says it is negotiating with the Western NSW Local Health District and Western Primary Health Network on future arrangements at Gilgandra and Warren.

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Australia

SA Labor to return $125k donation from CFMEU after alleged vandalism of cars

A man in a suit speaking with a round light shining above his head.

The South Australian Labor Party will return a $125,000 donation from the construction union, a decision that was prompted by the alleged vandalism of vehicles belonging to staff from the Master Builders Association.

The Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) made the donation in the lead-up to the March election in South Australia.

For several weeks, Premier Peter Malinauskas has been resisting calls for the donation to be returned or given to charity, despite going into the election with a promise to ban donations to political parties for future elections.

SA Labor state secretary Aemon Bourke confirmed on Monday the donation would be returned to the Victorian CFMEU.

Opposition spokeswoman for women Michelle Lensink last week called on Mr Malinauskas to donate the money to a domestic violence charity after Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka formally took control of the union’s South Australian branch.

John Setka speaks into the microphone
Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka has now formally taken charge of the SA branch. (AAP: Penny Stephens)

Mr Setka’s ex-wife Emma Walters also called for the money to be passed on to a domestic violence charity and has previously voiced concerns over the donation to the Labor Party.

In 2019, Mr Setka was convicted of harassing Ms Walters via text messages while they were still together.

“What I’d actually rather see is that he [Mr Malinauskas] actually go to domestic violence shelters and actually put together care packages for women who have had the courage and courage to escape domestic violence situations,” Ms Walters told ABC Radio Adelaide.

Mr Malinauskas this morning said he was prompted to return the money after speaking with Master Builders Association chief executive Will Frogley at an event on Sunday.

“Will explained to me the events that had occurred, reportedly, on Friday afternoon in terms of CFMEU stickers being put on Master Builders Association cars and also the damage to a car as well,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“Just as I foreshadowed whenever I’ve been asked about this over the past couple of weeks, I said that if there was any evidence that would suggest that inappropriate behavior on behalf of the CFMEU was coming across the border from Victoria, if there’s examples of that or evidence of that occurring here in South Australia then I will act and that’s exactly what I did yesterday afternoon upon hearing that news.”

Mr Malinauskas said he had resisted calls by Ms Lensink to donate the money to a domestic violence charity based on Mr Setka’s previous conviction because the money came from the CFMEU and not Mr Setka personally.

A man in a dark polo shirt with a man in a business attire in the background
Master Builders chief executive Will Frogley spoke with Mr Malinauskas about the alleged vandalism.

Mr Frogley confirmed to ABC Radio Adelaide that cars had been damaged on Friday evening but would not go into details regarding CFMEU stickers allegedly being placed on the vehicles.

He said as a result of Friday’s incident, he had increased security at the Master Builders Association and would be installing additional surveillance cameras.

“Everyone in my team should be able to come into work feeling completely unintimidated and safe,” he said.

Mr Frogley said the incident had been reported to police.

He also said he backed Mr Malinauskas’s position on banning political donations.

“Rightly or wrongly, there is always going to be this perception that you’re buying political muscle by doing that,” he said.

“Does Master Builders try to influence government policy? You bet we do, but we don’t donate to any political party. Instead, we focus on putting forward a compelling case on facts based on evidence, based on data on why government policy should be a certain way.”

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Australia

Federation University’s decision to ax arts program draws criticism from critical thinkers

Signage for Federation University, Mt Helen Campus standing in green grass

Reducing access to humanities degrees will reduce critical thinking among the population and disadvantaged regional students, academics have warned, as Federation University prepares to ax its Bachelor of Arts (BA) program from 2023.

Making the decision less than two years after the former federal government doubled fees for humanities degrees, the university blamed the cut on declining enrollments from international and domestic students.

“Student commencements have failed from 87 in 2018 to just 27 in 2022,” acting vice-chancellor Professor Wendy Cross said.

“The Federation will continue to offer many of the courses that were part of the BA program … and we will redeploy staff where possible.”

A picture of Federation University's Ballarat campus.
The Federation operates two main campuses, in Churchill and Ballarat, as well as other smaller locations.(Supplied: Federation University)

A ‘short-sighted’ move

The move was labeled “short-sighted” by Ballarat-based professional historian Lucy Bracey.

“Cutting off access to this, not only does it limit future students — it particularly disadvantages regional students,” Ms Bracey said.

A woman in glasses smiles at the camera
Professional historian Lucy Bracey believes the fostering of critical thinking is at risk.(Supplied)

She said undertaking a degree in humanities taught young people critical thinking.

“You learn to evaluate sources, to learn to research,” Ms Bracey said.

“You learn to look at what you’re reading, [and] think about who created the source [and] why it was created.

“Critical thinking is allowing you to not just accept what you’re reading in the newspaper or told on the TV.”

Job-ready Graduates to be reviewed

The former federal government decided in 2020 to hike fees dramatically for humanities degrees under its Job-ready Graduates package, which simultaneously reduced the cost of science, engineering, nursing, health, teaching and maths degrees.

A federal Department of Education spokesperson said a “review” into the program would begin in the second half of this year.

“The government will appoint eminent Australians to conduct a universities accord, which will work with universities to consider things like affordability and accessibility,” the spokesperson said.

Student in library
The Job-ready Graduates package will be reviewed this year.(pexels.com)

Arts apart from the ‘ecosystem’

Queensland University of Technology Professor Sandra Gattenhof was the chief investigator for the Australian Research Council linkage project, The Role of the Creative Arts in Regional Australia: a Social Impact Model.

“From our research it shows that any kind of arts engagement, whether it be the small crafting groups, to big events, to things like courses at regional university … they’re all part of an ecosystem,” Professor Gattenhof said.

“And the minute you take one bit of the ecosystem out, it means… the connections that are within that community begin to fragment.”

She said arts and humanities played a vital role within regional areas to create greater social inclusion.

“Often when we talk about regional community, we often talk about statistics — regional trade and tourism statistics,” Professor Gattenhof said.

“But we forget that arts, culture, and creativity, in and of itself, is a wellbeing indicator.

“If you have that in your community, your community is what we call, ‘thriving’.”

University students walk through campus, some looking at their phones. The photo is blurry, making faces unidentifiable.
Federation University has blamed low enrollments for ending its Bachelor of Arts program.(ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

A disappointing anniversary

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Victoria’s Education Act, which made education free, secular, and compulsory for young students.

Ms Bracey said it was disappointing to see a reduction in student opportunities in 2022.

“There’s a current thinking in society that is, if you’re not doing something that has an immediate job outcome at the end of it… it’s not worth doing,” she said.

“And there’s so many things wrong with that.

“There are over 500 professional historians, working across Australia, who all have an arts degree background.”

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Australia

WA infrastructure advisory body floats per-kilometre charge to ease traffic pressure

WA infrastructure advisory body floats per-kilometre charge to ease traffic pressure

Infrastructure WA, the body charged with advising the Premier’s Department on the state’s medium and long-term infrastructure needs, has proposed overhauling road funding by eventually replacing the fuel excise with a road-user charge that also creates incentives to reduce congestion.

The wide-ranging 20-year plan, Foundations for a Stronger Tomorrow, was tabled in State Parliament on Wednesday.

One of the 93 recommendations involves planning for the eventual transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles and how road infrastructure will be funded with the decrease of the fuel excise.

Nicole Lockwood, chair of Infrastructure WA, told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth that while the switch to electric vehicles would be “fantastic for the environment and climate change,” it also posed challenges.

“It does mean that the revenue source that comes from our fuel at the moment, that goes towards paying for our roads, will diminish over time,” she said.

“SW [the recommendation] is trying to find a mechanism where the government still has the ability to fund that infrastructure in a way that doesn’t disincentivize people from moving towards electric vehicles.”

EV tax coming in 2027

While the state government has already announced it will introduce a 2.5 cent per kilometer charge for EV’s from mid-2027, Infrastructure WA’s recommendation 58 goes further, proposing that WA work with other states to develop a nationally consistent road user charge that could influence driver behaviour. .

“The scheme has the potential to include vehicle mass, distance, location and time-of-day pricing elements,” the recommendation says.

Such a scheme could potentially charge different rates for road usage in peak hours, or differential rates for different roads.

A mix of cars and trucks fill four lanes of peak hour traffic on the freeway.
Ms Lockwood says the report recommends looking at ways to influence congestion and road use.(ABC News: Andrew O’Connor)

“What we’ve said is, let’s design a mechanism that has flexibility, so that in time if we wanted to use those levers we could,” Ms Lockwood said.

“We saw it very starkly during COVID, when people were not using the roads during the day, at certain times suddenly we had huge amounts of capacity.

“In the future, when we can’t continue to build more lanes, we will need other mechanisms to be able to manage demand on the system.”

The proposal met with a mixed response from ABC Radio Perth listeners:

Mike: “Again lower socio-economic people who cannot afford to live close to work will pay the most, the system working to keep the gap between the haves and the have nots.”

Greg: “The state government is not incentivizing enough the use of electric vehicles. The proposed road tax is a major disincentive. The benefit to the environment is the major issue and there won’t be the gains there should be. We pay for our roads Mainly via our local government rates so EV drivers will be paying double if we get this bad policy.”

Cynthia: “Surely a toll on cars with only one occupant would make sense? Or a fast lane for cars with two occupants.”

An artist's impression of people walking on Hay Street Mall with light rail lines in the background and a train in the background.
While Max Light Rail was shelved in 2016, Infrastructure WA recommended future planning around light rail and rapid bus networks.(Supplied: PTA)

Planning for light rail mooted

The report also recommends the state government look again at the role of light rail and rapid bus transit in Perth’s public transport mix.

A previous plan to link Perth suburbs through the Max Light Rail network was shelved by the Barnett government in 2016, and the McGowan government has been focused on delivering its expansion of the heavy rail network, Metronet.

Ms Lockwood said a plan to link people across suburbs and between stations was still needed.

“We very much back the government’s commitments to Metronet and the heavy rail system, but what we see in the future is a need to look at the next tier of connection for the city,” she said.

“That mid-tier public transport system that links buses and other parts of the network into the Metronet network is really important.

“Part of that is about making sure that the [already identified transport] corridors are protected.

“We really have to think about the spaces we’ve got and how we use them… then the state government needs to then pull a plan together to map that out for the whole of the metro area,” she said.

The infrastructure report also recommended a new desalination plant at Alkimos, a whole-of-government emissions reduction target and a package to reform hospital emergency departments.

The WA Government has six months to respond to the report and is obliged by legislation to respond to each recommendation as well as provide an implementation plan for the ideas that it accepts.

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Australia

Mildura Airport says instrument landing system will be used only a handful of times per year

The outside of Mildura's Airport terminal

Mildura Airport bosses have revealed a new multi-million-dollar navigation system will only be used “a maximum of two or three times” per year outside of training purposes.

The $4 million category 1 instrument landing system (ILS) began to be installed at the airport last year with a promise that it would reduce flight delays caused by fog and low visibility.

It was funded by the federal government, local council, and the airport, and is expected to be operational by early next year.

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Airport chief executive Trevor Willcock said the system was installed primarily for safety to help land planes when visibility is low, but he said this may only occur “a maximum two or three times per annum.”

“But there’s no price you can put on safety,” he said.

“We at all times want this to be the safest airport possible.”

foggy rationale

In July, a QantasLink plane arriving from Melbourne was forced to fly west of Mildura for 40 minutes before flying back to Tullamarine airport due to foggy conditions.

Passengers were stuck on the flight for more than three hours.

Mr Willcock said it was “very hard to say” if the system would have helped in that instance because fog changes quickly in depth and density.

“But that’s what the ILS is for, so we have to assume that they would have been able to land [if the ILS was operational],” he said.

“Most airports in the world have [an ILS] so they certainly do enhance the ability to land in poor weather conditions.”

Maintenance and testing of the ILS is also expected to cost the airport more than $100,000 per year.

Pilot says system won’t work

However, Mildura-based airline captain Andrew Carrigan, who has more than 20 years of experience flying regional airliners, said the ILS would not have made a difference in July.

“It really annoys me that they are putting it out there as a safety thing, it’s not really,” he said.

“It won’t allow us to land in fog.”

a tree and two houseboats on a river are visible in the foreground with the background shrouded in fog
Mildura is affected by foggy mornings during winter, such as on this occasion in July 2020.(ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Christopher Testa)

Mr Carrigan said to legally land an airplane with the assistance of an ILS in Mildura, visibility would need to be at least 1,500 meters.

“I was supposed to work that day so I was monitoring the automatic weather service,” he said.

“The fog was ranging from 300-900 meters for most of the day, with the occasional foray to around 1.2 kilometers or 1.3km.

“But they were very narrow windows. So the chances of plans getting in on that morning were minor.

“You would have to be extremely lucky to get a five or 10-minute window where the visibility would get close to a level where you could land.”

Mr Carrigan said in addition to a category 1 ILS larger airports like Sydney Airport also had high-intensity approach and runway lighting which allow pilots to land with a minimum visibility of 800 metres.

He said without the lighting the ILS would make minimal difference to passenger planes in Mildura.

“What I’m scared of is when [the ILS is] operational and we aren’t able to land in fog. People are going to ask, ‘Why not when we were told it would allow that?'”

Mr Carrigan said these were his personal views and not the view of his employer.

Nothing to do with flying school

Anne Webster, Simon Clemence and Michael McCormack smiling in a photo with Chinese pilots.
Anne Webster, Simon Clemence, Michael McCormack, and three pilots at Mildura Airport when the first funding announcement was made for the ILS in 2019. (Facebook: Dr Anne Webster MP)

Mr Willcock said a secondary reason the ILS was installed was to help flying school students train in Mildura.

To receive a commercial pilot’s license students are required to have experience using an ILS.

Mr Willcock said nine flying schools were within range of the airport and could use the ILS for training purposes, with a booking system and strict restrictions on what times it could be used.

A sign that reads "Mildura Welcomes You" along with a photo of a group of people smiling outside the Mildura Airport.
A plane flying in the air over Mildura Airport in 2020.(ABC News: Christopher Testa)

Chinese-owned company International Aviation Alliance also started training pilots at Mildura Airport in 2019 under a 10-year tenancy agreement.

However, Alliance CEO Simon Clemence said the ILS would be of minimal benefit to its flying school.

He said students were required to undertake “long navigation” flights which they would combine with ILS training at airports in Melbourne or Adelaide.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with the flying school,” he said.

Worth the funding, MP says

The ILS first received funding from the federal government in April 2019, 21 days before a federal election.

Mildura Rural City Council committed $1 million in June 2020 and the airport also contributed $1 million.

Nationals Mallee MP Anne Webster said Mildura Airport deserved the same safety standards as other airports and even if it was used only once a year the ILS was worth funding.

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