PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association congratulates Dhun Karai, Head of Group Financial Services & General Manager Woolworths Money, on her recent appointment to the Australian Payments Council.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the ARA has worked alongside Ms Karai for many years and looks forward to continuing their positive relationship.

“Ms Karai has been an active member of the Australian Merchant Payments System and has always taken a great interest in payments issues.

“She has always ensured that retailers across Australia are getting the best result possible by working with the sector to ensure outcomes that support retailers.

“On behalf of the ARA I would like to congratulate Ms Karai once more on her new role and I look forward to working alongside her in the future to support the retail industry,” Mr Zimmerman said.

Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $265 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE peak advocacy body for the resources sector in Queensland has welcomed a new Fitzroy River health report, which shows most reporting areas remained stable or improved over a 12 month period.

Chief Executive of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) Michael Roche says the Council is a proud member of the Fitzroy Partnership for River Health partnership, which assesses waterway health for the Nogoa, Isaac, Connors, Dawson and Mackenzie river systems, the Fitzroy River estuary and the Keppel Bay marine environment.

The partnership, including 25 organisations from industry, agriculture, mining, government and communities today released its second report card on the Fitzroy Basis, which gave the Basin a ‘C-fair’ grade for 2011-12, the same overall result as the previous year.

‘Using data from more than 945,000 sample results and the best available science, the second Report has again been a significant undertaking,’ said Mr Roche.

‘These results give the clearest picture of the health of rivers, creeks, the estuary and marine environment in the Basin, and we are committed to contributing to the best source of scientific information available on the health of the waterways help guide their management.

‘The partners have invested almost $600,000 to develop the second report card in which results were again scrutinised by an independent science panel, chaired by Professor Barry Hart.

‘With activist groups constantly publishing information of doubtful quality and rigour, it is important that such independent research is carried out so that we can receive a true picture of river health to ensure that we can carefully balance the needs of industry with maintaining a healthy environment.

‘We look forward to the release of the most up-to-date 2012-13 report card by the end of 2014.'

The full 2011-12 report card, reporting area overviews, detailed datasets, additional information, river stewardship and grading information are all available online at www.riverhealth.org.au.

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VICTORIA'S most influential employer organisation, VECCI, has called on both major parties to commit to expediting the Port of Hastings development as Victoria currently risks losing over 15,700 jobs and $1.8 billion in economic benefits due to lack of port capacity.

The Port of Melbourne is due to reach capacity in 2025 and a second deep water facility is needed to be in operation by that date to ensure Victoria retains its status as Australia’s freight and logistics capital.

Once the Port of Melbourne has reached capacity the additional shipping activity could be lost to Sydney and Brisbane.

VECCI chief executive Mark Stone said Victoria risks being left behind by competitor states positioning themselves to accommodate larger ships carrying more than 8,000 containers, which cannot currently be serviced at the Port of Melbourne. Brisbane is currently dredging its port to handle larger ships while the Port of Botany in Sydney recently underwent a major expansion of its container facilities.

Mr Stone said Victorian jobs, trade and investment were too important to lose out to interstate interests if Victoria failed to act in time.

VECCI is a strong supporter of expanding the Port of Hastings which will provide a major benefit to key manufacturing businesses in the south-east of Melbourne and important agribusinesses in Gippsland.

The fact that planning and environmental studies are well progressed also means that the Port of Hastings has a distinct time advantage over alternate sites. This is critically important, given the long lead times involved in delivering new port capacity and associated road and rail transport connections.

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) is the peak body for employers in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

vecci.org.au

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TRANSPACIFIC Industries and its subsidiary Transpacific Cleanaway has this morning announced that it has commenced the gradual resumption of waste management services across Australia and will be fully operational over the next week, following discussions with the regulator.

The resumption follows a decision by the company to ground its entire fleet nationally in response to Monday’s tragic accident in Glen Osmond in South Australia.

Transpacific CEO Robert Boucher said: “We have made a strong commitment to all our employees, customers, communities, and shareholders that we will operate our fleet safely and to the standards which we expect of ourselves.

“I would like to thank all our customers for their understanding and the positive way they responded when we took the decision to ground the entire fleet on Tuesday. We will work tirelessly to clear the back log.”

www.transpac.com.au

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