THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy is commencing public hearings for its inquiry into vegetation and land management relating to bushfires.

Its first hearing will be held in Canberra on Wednesday February 12, 2020, with representatives from CSIRO, to discuss the science and research behind bushfire behaviour, and activities such as hazard reduction burning, clearing and land rehabilitation.

The Committee continues to welcome public submissions to the inquiry, due by March 31, 2020.

Public hearing details

Date: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Time: 10:15am to 11am
Location: Committee Room 2R2, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

The Committee intends to hold public hearings at various locations, which will be announced in due course on the inquiry website. Further information about the inquiry can also be found on the website.

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RECOVERY EFFORTS following recent extreme weather have been hampered by a severe shortage of distribution power workers, with the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) claiming lengthy delays to the restoration of electricity to tens of thousands of homes is the direct result of massive job cuts.

More than 60,000 homes remain without power across Sydney, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains — with many to be without electricity until the end of the week — as overstretched crews work around the clock in trying conditions to replace damaged sections of the poles and wires network.

In addition to crews being brought in from around the state, distribution company Ausgrid has reportedly requested assistance from Queensland power companies to cover the chronic shortage of staff.

ETU secretary Justin Page said the large-scale blackouts — which come just months after a previous storm left parts of Sydney’s north shore without power for more than a week — highlighted the impact of 5,000 job losses since 2015 at electrical distributors Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, and Essential Energy.

“Our members have been working around the clock in recent days, desperately attempting to restore power to homes and businesses, but the fact is that with 5,000 fewer workers there simply aren’t as many highly-skilled people available to do the work,” Mr Page said.

“Despite the network growing in size, and the risks posed by extreme weather and climate change increasing, staffing levels in the NSW electricity network have never been as low as they currently are.

“Power workers have been doing emergency restoration work for months straight, including throughout the recent bushfire crisis, repairing unprecedented amounts of damage to vital electricity infrastructure.

“But the NSW Government’s privatisation agenda, and imposed cuts from the Federal Government’s Australian Energy Regulator, have combined to drive the loss of 40 per cent of the jobs at the state’s three electricity distributors," he said.

“While the bushfires may have been unprecedented, scientists have long warned that climate change would cause more frequent and extreme weather events, yet rather than increase resources to make our power network more resilient we continue to see the loss of specialist distribution workers.

“Our union has repeatedly warned that the unsustainable slashing of jobs would impact recovery efforts following fires, floods, storms and other natural disasters, yet rather than act on those warnings we have seen the cuts continue, with another 1,300 jobs at risk at NSW electricity distributors in the next three years.

“We need the NSW and Federal governments to learn from the current situation and deliver an immediate boost to the resources available to repair the electricity poles and wires in a timely way following natural disasters.

“Extreme weather events such as storms and bushfires are becoming more common with climate change, so the prudent way to make the power network more resilient is to immediately stop planned cuts and begin rebuilding job numbers to take action on these risks.”

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DECEMBER 2019 saw the volume of First Home Buyer home loans surge to their highest level since late 2009 according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, according to Master Builders Australia chief economist Shane Garrett.

During December, the volume of home loans to first home buyers increased by 6.2 percent in seasonally-adjusted terms to record a monthly total of 9,606. The last time a higher monthly total was recorded was exactly 10 years ago back in December 2009.

“The good news is that first home buyer activity has stepped up even further since the start of this year," Mr Garrett said. "The new First Home Loan Deposit Scheme is already a big success and the official data will show more big gains for first home buyers once they are released.

“Apart from first home buyers, today’s figures show that other areas of the housing market are also recovering well. Housing investor loans expanded for the third consecutive month and hit a 14-month high during December,” he said.

“There is a great opportunity for people to buy or build their first home at the moment. Apart from the assistance offered by the new First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, interest rates are at their lowest in many decades and house prices have stabilised after dropping back from the highs reached in recent years,” Mr Garrett said.

During December 2019, the first home buyer share of the owner occupier market was highest in Western Australia (43.2%) followed by Victoria (40.9%), the Northern Territory (38.4%) and the ACT (32.6%).

The first home buyer market share was lowest in South Australia (25.7%), followed by Tasmania (27.6%) and New South Wales (30.5%). In Queensland, First Home Buyers account for 31.4 percent of the market. 

www.masterbuilders.com.au

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AUSTRALASIA'S largest online auction company and Australia’s largest marina and marine services company have partnered to create a new boat sales platform.

For the first time, boat owners will be able to access a mass market digital sales platform to sell via auction or private treaty, while still having the involvement of an experienced brokerage service. 

The marketplace is set to change the secondhand boat sales industry by giving boat sellers more certainty around the timeliness of the sale of their vessel.  At the same time, confidence around the sales result will be made possible by the power of the platform.  Buyers and sellers will also be able to benefit from d’Albora’s wide range of marine services including berthing, boatyard and repair and maintenance services. 

GraysOnline chief operating officer, Jeff McLean said, “Australian boat owners take on average between 6-12 months to sell their boat. This marketplace will enable a 7 day auction process whilst maintaining d’albora’s brokerage expertise; a transformational leap for private boat owners.”

Matt Walford, d’Albora Marine Boat Sales CEO said, “We’re excited to be aligning with such a highly regarded market leader in Grays and pleased to be adding such a powerful platform to our existing offering”.

About d'Albora Marine

Part of Australia’s leading marina services group, D’Albora Marine provides specialist boat sales services from ten locations spread throughout New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. D’Albora is also the exclusive Australian distributor for Azimut (Azimut Benetti Group).  

https://www.dalboramarine.com.au/

About GraysOnline

GraysOnline is the largest industrial, auto and commercial online auction business in Australasia, offering a huge range of industrial, auto, consumer and commercial goods, direct from manufacturers and distributors. GraysOnline is revolutionizing how assets are being sourced, sold and purchased throughout the world. A best in class e-commerce platform and commitment to customer service, makes buying and selling with GraysOnline easy, efficient, fair and transparent.

https://www.graysonline.com

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