ONE in three single parent families with dependants were jobless in June 2015, according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recently.

Director of Labour Market Analytics at the ABS, Jennifer Humphrys said that in recent years the proportion of jobless families with dependants had remained stable at around 11 percent. 

“There were around 329,200 jobless families with dependants in June 2015,” Ms Humphrys said. "In those families, there were 662,100 dependents aged less than 25 years, 85 percent of whom were children under 15."

The ABS's Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families publication uses data from the ABS Labour Force survey to determine family relationships and the labour force status of the 6.6 million families living in Australia.

The survey also found 53 percent of couple families had both partners working,

The ABS's Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families (cat. no. 6224.0.55.001), is available for free download.

www.abs.gov.au

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AUSTRALIA joined more than 150 countries in signing the Paris Agreement, "securing a global agreement to combat climate change" according to Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt.

Mr Hunt signed the Paris Agreement in New York on April 23.

"We will begin our process to ratify the Agreement immediately, and will seek to ratify this year," Mr Hunt said. 

"The Paris Agreement is a turning point in the transition to a lower emissions global economy. The Agreement provides for five yearly reviews of national targets, underpinned by a rules based system that will assess whether countries are meeting their commitments."

Mr Hunt said Australia was playing its part to tackle climate change with effective policies to cut emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Australia is also a partner to the Mission Innovation initiative and will double investment in clean energy research and development over the next five years, he said.

"The Turnbull Government's new $1 billion Clean Energy Innovation Fund will support emerging technologies to make the leap from demonstration to deployment," Mr Hunt said.

"We are working with a broad range of partners through our $1 billion climate finance commitment, the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Partnership, our International Partnership for Blue Carbon and the Montreal Protocol.

"The latest estimate from the Department of the Environment confirms that Australia is on track to beat our 2020 target by 78 million tonnes of emissions. This is a 50 million tonne improvement on the last estimate in December last year."

The Federal Government also announced a further $11 million investment in new projects to improve the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef, "which will help the Reef to withstand pressures such as the El Nino exacerbated high sea surface temperatures that are causing the current coral bleaching event" Mr Hunt said.

The support includes:

• $3.3 million to enhance farm management practices by improving nutrient and chemical management among early adopter sugar cane growers.
• $3.2 million for improve grazing land management to reduce erosion losses to the Reef.
• $4.8 million to improve the quality of water entering the Great Barrier Reef by facilitating the adoption of best practice management in agriculture.

www.environment.gov.au

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THE FEDERAL Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda announcements have been largely welcomed by business, but are some of the program elements premature? Will it need to change in 2016 to adapt to the results of the government’s own Re:think Tax White Paper process?

BDO Research and Development partner Nicola Purser is concerned the government has gone too early on the announcement on December 7.

“The Australian Government is putting academic research ahead of critical industry insights by delivering its innovation statement prior to finalising its current survey of R&D Tax Incentive registrants,” Ms Purser said. 

She said the innovation statement came two weeks following the release of the ACOLA report Translating research for economic and social benefit - Country comparison, an  industry survey which forms as part of the broader Re:think Tax White Paper process.

Ms Purser said it was “disconcerting” that the Australian Government would move on any “revamp of the R&D Tax Incentive” prior to finalising the survey and gathering the insights from business.

The ACOLA report highlighted the need for greater collaboration between researchers, government and the business community.

“With innovation such a critical component of Australia’s economic future, jumping the gun on innovation policy without incorporating commercial insights is incredibly inept,” Ms Purser said.

“In terms of specific measures, I would urge the Australian Government to consider more carefully the critical factors of expediency and promptness in commercial R&D, factors often misunderstood by academia and the public sector. 

“For example, in my experience of working with Australian businesses from a wide variety of sectors, I fail to see how a move to grants and loans, which can be cumbersome, untimely and inflexible, could be seen as progressive,” Ms Purser said.

“Likewise, in response to Australia’s Chief Scientist Ian Chubb’s recent comments suggesting the public sector takes a role in picking winners, I would counter that not only have governments proven notoriously bad at picking winners, this is counterproductive to the spirit of innovation and exposing new ideas to the open market to determine which are successful.” 

A detailed business analysis of the Federal Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda features in the latest Business Acumen magazine, issue #83.

www.bdo.com.au

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EXTRA >> AUSTRALIAN Institute of Company Directors (AICD) scholarships have been won by 55 talented and ambitious Australian women as part of the Federal Ministry for Women’s Board Diversity Scholarship program.

This latest round of scholarships helps Indigenous women and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to reach leadership positions and ultimately boost female representation on boards. The scholarship program is jointly funded by the Australian Government and the AICD.

Minister for Women, Michaelia Cash said women from these groups tended to be under-represented in leadership positions and on boards. 

“We know that greater diversity on boards improves businesses decision-making and ultimately boosts the bottom line,” Senator Cash said. “Improving the number of women in leadership roles is good for women and their families, for government and for business.

“Initiatives such as the Board Diversity Scholarship program help promote women into senior leadership positions – if we are to see a sustained narrowing of the gender pay gap then we should continue to support such partnerships.”

 “It’s wonderful to see Australian organisations like AICD share our commitment to increasing the number of women in leadership positions, and working towards better gender balance on boards,” Senator Cash said.

Alumni of the prestigious program have gone on to achieve board appointments with a range of listed company boards.

“Our joint scholarship programme is crucial to our efforts to increase the diversity of Australian boards by giving exceptional females the opportunity to undertake education that will improve their credentials,” AICD chief executive officer John Brogden said.

“We recently called on all companies to increase the proportion of women on their boards to 30 percent and will continue to advocate for greater board diversity in gender, culture, thought and experience,” Mr Brogden said.

Sylvia Falzon was a scholarship recipient in 2010 and attended the company directors course.

According to Ms Falzon, undertaking the course improved her confidence as well as her knowledge of the role and responsibilities. Since graduating Ms Falzon has been appointed to Perpetual Limited, SAI Global and Regis Healthcare company boards.

The total Federal Government investment in the program is now over $1 million dollars and ensures the delivery of almost 200 scholarships to Australian women.

www.companydirectors.com.au

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