An ambitious website showing an animation of the growth of web usage in Australia has today gone live.
The History of the Australian Web project, created by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association, allows users to view the rise and fall of websites across the last eight years based on pages views, audience or time spent.The display was developed by The Interaction Consortium using data supplied by Nielsen Online.
AIMIA CEO John Butterworth said: “This project has revealed some fascinating insights into Australian web usage and creates a much needed snapshot of the Australian Internet landscape and longer-term trends.”
AIMIA’s 5th Digital Summit 2009 will be held on the 12-13 October 2009 at the Sydney Harbour Marriott.
A vision of sustainability and an ambition to be 21st Century pioneers led to the successful rebuilding process in Greensburg.
The Kansas city was destroyed by a tornado in 2007 but it became an opportunity to rebuild it from scratch with “green” initiatives, Mayor Bob Dixson said.
“The decision to build back green was a decision that really came from our ancestors as being pioneers in the mid west of America,” he said. “We felt like we had the opportunity now to be the new pioneers of the 21st Century.”
Mayor Dixson will be an international keynote speaker at the Green Planning and Development conference in Melbourne on June 29 and 30. His address will deal with Greenburg’s experiences of sustainable development and how it can guide the rebuilding and recovery of Australian communities devastated by natural disasters.
One of the initial challenges faced by the city was gathering the large amounts of information available, Mayor Dixson said.
“There is just a myriad of information and we needed to gather as much as we could so we could present our citizens with solid information about how they could build back green and sustainable and as a community, we were able to utilise those resources and our government agencies were also very helpful in assembling those resources.”
Funding for the city’s restoration came from both the Federal and State of Kansas, private donations, corporate donations and insurance.
Mayor Dixson said the key to Greenburg’s successful rebuilding process was the fact the community worked together in creating a master plan for sustainable development.
“The next milestone was seeing things like the new water tower going up which not only offered fire protection, but was a beacon of hope sticking up in the air that ‘yes we are coming back’,” he said. “Seeing residents able to build their houses back was highly critical in that encouragement and hope for the future.”
Mayor Dixson said those affected by the Black Saturday bushfires needed to work together as a community to achieve a sustainable development.
“In the midst of a disaster when you lost everything, it matters not your socio-economic status. The only thing you have left when it’s all done is your relationship with each other and those are the relationships that we cultivate and those processes that lead us to the rebuilding.”
To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews at the Green Planning and Design Summit please contact:
John Wilson on 02 9080 4107 or john.wilson@informa.com.au
The merging of companies in the health insurance industry will continue, but its pace will be dependent on both economic factors and the appetite of companies for change, according to Mark Fitzgibbon, Chief Executive Officer of nib health funds.
Mr Fitzgibbon will be addressing the CEO Roundtable Discussion at the 8th Annual Health Insurance Summit on July 29 in Sydney.
nib recently formed a strategic alliance with National Australia Bank and Mr Fitzgibbon believes convergence of financial services products and maybe the companies themselves will become more prominent in the future.
“I think it will be something which will naturally evolve,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“We are moving in a direction of convergence, so I certainly foresee a time in a not too distant future whereby you procure all your financial services from a single provider.”
”It makes a lot of economic sense to have a common brand, distribution platform and service, and as technology develops, this is becoming easier. It also makes a lot of sense from the perspective of the customer experience.”
Mr Fitzgibbon added that with Governments currently funding 70 per cent of Australia’s health care expenditure they cannot afford to sustain this level of relative spending into the future.
“It is an inconvenient truth for some that the private sector and individuals have to play a greater role in our health care funding, particularly those individuals that can afford to do so. And obviously private health insurance is a mechanism for doing that,” Mr Fitzgibbon added.
In his presentation titled ‘Unlocking member value – the compelling case for demutualisation, Mr Fitzgibbon will deal with why from an organisational and member’s perspective there is no longer a need to maintain a mutual company structure.
“Conceptually, once a mutual starts to move beyond its original community customer base, it ceases to become mutual. It competes and becomes no different to competitors such as nib, while mutuals also seek a return on the funds invested in their companies just like we do.”
“The upside for mutuals may be that they don’t pay tax, but I’m not sure how sustainable that position is. Instead why not unlock the wealth for the members as nib, MBF, ahm and Manchester unity have. In fact, given the overwhelming member support for the demutualisation of nib and the others, I can’t imagine how the management and Directors of the remaining mutuals can possibly deny their members the same opportunity to at least decide the question.”
To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews at the Health Insurance Summit please contact:
John Wilson on 02 9080 4107 or john.wilson@informa.com.au
PROFESSOR JUDY RAPER, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of Wollongong
The success of Queensland’s heavy industry is behind Brisbane winning the race to host a leading trade exhibition and two established international conferences at Brisbane’s Convention and Exhibition Centre on the 4-6 August 2009.
The tripartite event is the focal point for the bulk and powder handling community and comprises of trade exhibition BULKEX 2009; CHoPS (6th International Conference for Conveying and Handling of Particulate Solids) and ICBMH (10th International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling & Transportation). Bulk and powder handling are the terms given to handling items ranging from grain and coal through to food and chemicals.
“Brisbane was chosen as the location for this important event because of Queensland’s expertise in the mining industry and the associated industrial and technology companies that are based here and are working alongside the mining companies. Allied to the fact the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre was recently voted the third best such centre in the world” commented Harvey Stockbridge from event organisers, Informa.
He continues, “The choice to hold the event in Brisbane has been endorsed by the fact that we have secured international sponsorship from the likes of UK Trade & Investment as well as many Queensland and indeed interstate companies.The exhibition will not be just focusing on mining however and will display a huge range of technologies, from the mainstays and staples of the industry, right through to cutting-edge new technologies from around the world.”
According to Associate Professor Wypych, from the University of Wollongong, the overall aim of the combined BULKEX, CHoPS and ICBMH events is to integrate the scientific and industrial communities, with the uniting of the two groups set to throw off some exciting synergies.
“The networking and collaboration opportunities will be tremendous and unprecedented” said Professor Wypych, who is working closely with Informa to bring the three events together.
“I firmly believe that the combination of CHOPS, ICBMH and BULKEX will provide a unique opportunity to integrate scientific research and industry issues. Academic researchers will come to understand industry’s problems and needs, while the latter group will better grasp the capabilities of the universities and the opportunities presented by their R & D.”
Besides the two major conferences, a host of subsidiary activities – such as workshops, case study sessions; industry seminars and open forums – will foster academic/industry interactions and relationships.
Visitors to the exhibition will have access to a wide range of technical know-how through the free to attend BULKEX Academy Sessions. The exhibitors will also offer product demonstration and displays across the full range of bulk handling expertise. The three days of BULKEX are all about face-to-face interaction, learning, best-practice sharing and networking.
With the ageing population increasing, the Federal Government has promised to improve Australia’s health care, says Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot.
“When it comes to aged care, the Federal Government has committed record funds to our aged care sector,” she says.
The government will pay 41 billion dollars in subsidies over the next four years which will equate to an average of 43,000 dollars per resident year. Another 20,000 dollars is contributed by residents themselves.
Ms Elliot says that the government is committed to making sure that older Australians have access to the appropriate aged care services when they need it whether they are living in aged residential care or living in their own home.
“We certainly understand that even then many Australians want to remain in their own homes and remain as independent as possible.”
Last month, Ms Elliot announced that Australia had the longest life expectancy in the English speaking world and that the Rudd Government had provided more financial support to aged and community care than past governments.
Ms Elliot will be speaking at The 5th Annual Australia’s Ageing Population Summit on the 25th to 26th June 2009 at the Brisbane Marriott Hotel, Queensland.
To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews at The 5th Annual Australia’s Ageing Population Summit please contact:
John Wilson on 02 9080 4107 or john.wilson@informa.com.au
As the price of Australia’s two biggest exports, coal and iron ore, fall sharply, it seems logical that we protect ourselves the best way we can. Perhaps, the most effective way to do this is to focus our attention through policy and investment on building-up our knowledge economy to lift our economic productivity and the long-term sustainability of our society and culture.
Contrary to this possible strategic focus for Australia, the Bradley Review rejected the idea of directly funding “third stream” activities or knowledge engagement activities that would in turn have helped to build and strengthen our economy in a time when it is perhaps most needed.
This recommendation only adds salt to the wound for those who are strong advocates of heavy investment in the third stream as the former Minister for Education, the Hon. Julie Bishop MP, like-wise acknowledged the importance of the third stream, yet believed that activities, such as knowledge transfer and partnerships, should be funded indirectly.
Australia, perhaps, may lose out in optimising its global competitiveness as a knowledge economy as the British continue to fund its burgeoning knowledge economy directly and new competitors, such as India rise to fame in areas, such as biotechnology…
In your opinion, do you think that the Bradley Review should have paid more attention to the importance of the knowledge economy and to the third stream?
Do you think that the wider higher education sector and the populous have a clear idea of the meaning and the benefits of knowledge economy and third stream activities?
Should Federal and State governments be doing more to support the development of a national knowledge-based economy?
We invite you to submit a response to the above questions. All submissions will be published on this website.
Please send your responses to serena.chuan@informa.com.au
Professor Paul Thomas AM, Vice Chancellor of the University of the Sunshine Coast
Sustainability is the key challenge for future development and designing of university campuses, according to Professor Paul Thomas AM, Vice Chancellor of the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Professor Thomas will be speaking at the 2nd Annual University and Design Forum on June 24th this year in Brisbane.
He says environmental sustainability has become a critical issue in the way universities plan their campus infrastructure.
“I think with carbon trading becoming more of an issue for example it’s not only an ideal that we need to strive for, it’s becoming a financial necessity for us to examine how we deal with the use of energy and the way we responsibly develop the campus.”
Professor Thomas says sustainability is an international imperative concerning university staff and students and communities who want campuses developed so that they were sustainable into the future.
Professor Thomas will use his address to speak about the development and design of University of the Sunshine Coast and its role in the region.
“For a significant part of the conference presentation I will be looking at the development of the university across its first decade in particular and then highlight some of the things that are challenging us at this point in time which make leadership in the second decade of development a different proposition to that of the first decade.”
Other speakers attending the conference include Professor Ching Pak-chung, Pro Vice Chancellor and Co-chairman of the Steering Committee on Campus Master Planning, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Philip Marcus Clark AM, Chair of HEEF Advisory Board; Dennis Pieprz, Principal of Saski, USA; and Adrian Briggs, Managing Director, Macquarie University Property Investment Trust.
The rail industry needs to use climate change as an opportunity to promote itself as an environmentally-friendly alternative mode of transport, says Felix Laube, Head of Process and Methods of SBB, Switzerland. Mr Laube will touch on making technological developments customer-focused in his address at the 2nd Annual Rail Technology Workshop in Melbourne on August 13 and 14.
Mr Laube says rail’s key advantage over other modes of transport was its reliability and ability to control its own right of way.
“Rail should be the part of the day of everybody’s movement and every goods’ movement that is sure, that is foreseeable and that is predictable and not the part that makes hassles.”
Mr Laube says the technology road map in Switzerland is in a difficult state because it is moving into the European context where there are over 20 states with different rail histories.
“Standardising these sorts of things is a very, very long route and an arduous one and requires a lot of political guidance,” he said. “In different areas, different types of progress are being made.”
Mr Laube points to the successful operation of the European Train Control System in Switzerland and the technology’s introduction in international service lines.
He advises operators to focus on customer needs when investing in new rail technologies.
“If you start to understand the rail business process strictly from a customers’ point of view then you can have the right sort of guidance in investing technology,” Mr Laube said.
He believes operators are always in danger of favouring another party’s technology which may not serve a particular purpose.
The conference will bring together a number of international rail experts who will look at different case studies and discuss new advances in rail technology.
Keynote speakers include: Mike Roney, General Manager of Technical Standards, Canadian PacificRailway & Chair, and Railway Research Advisory Board (RRAB), Canada; Dr Terry Moon, Head NCW S&T Initiative, Defence Science and Technology Organisation; Michael Lawrey, Executive Director, Telstra Network & Technology; and Brett Baker, Manager Rollingstock & Signals Engineering, TransAdelaide
The serious impacts of climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels have increased the need for environmentally-friendly energy sources. One potential energy source that has come into prominence recently is geothermal energy. This will be examined at Informa’s 4th annual Hot Rock Energy Conference to be held on the 4-5 June at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne.
Geothermal technology involves producing power from underground heat beneath the Earth’s surface. With recent research by scientists showing an abundance of hot dry rock in Australia, it is hoped it will supply five per cent of the country’s energy requirements by 2020.
David Taylor, who will be presenting at the conference, is a geologist at Victoria Department of Primary Industries and says the advantage of geothermal technology is its reliability and ability to provide base load electricity with very little greenhouse gas emissions.
“As fossil fuels become depleted and more expensive, then the scope for geothermal energy to provide base load power will increase,” he says. “The massive scale of planet Earth basically means there is almost unlimited geothermal energy available for harvesting.”
The cost of geothermal technology is difficult to forecast because many renewable energy sources are still maturing.
However, Mr. Taylor says technological advances would reduce costs and the risks of exploiting geothermal resources and this would encourage its uptake.
“The ability to locally generate power from geothermal resources is another attractive factor beyond economics,” he says. “This local sourcing means that States and Nations can achieve energy security, rather than relying on a import supply chain that could be at risk of disruption or wild price gyrations “
In his presentation, he will be focusing on two main areas concerning geothermal exploration and research in Victoria.
“First, a regional summary of the various geothermal provinces, their geological characteristics and what this means for their geothermal potential. Second, a brief summary of the exploration activity and likely production pathways that are currently being undertaken by the various exploration companies that hold permits in Victoria.”
The Hot Rock conference will also cover the latest technological changes that are driving geothermal energy and inform attendees on how they can take advantage of the commercial opportunities.
Other speakers will include Joe Reichman, Managing Director of Clean Energy Australasia Pty Ltd; Mark Miller, Managing Director of Greenearth Energy Lt; Mark Schneider, Specialised Funds and Investments, Investec Bank; Dr Paul McShane, Chief Research Officer of Monash Sustainability Institute; and Stephen Biggins, Managing Director of Southern Gold Limited.
To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews at the Hot Rock Conference please contact:
John Wilson on 02 9080 4107 or john.wilson@informa.com.au
Studies show that binge drinking is becoming increasingly prevalent among young people with one in six people having more than 20 drinks in a month.
Binge drinking has damaging consequences including death from excessive alcohol consumption, permanent brain damage, alcohol poisoning and dangerous and violent behaviour.
These issues will be the main focus at the Binge Drinking Summit on March 30 2009 at the Vibe Savoy Hotel in Melbourne.
Conference manager Fasih Qureshi said: “With alcohol consumption considered a ‘rite of passage’ by some and an integral component of Australia’s identity by others, the issue of binge drinking and its impact on Australian society critically influences the formulation of effective alcohol policy.”
One of the key speakers at the conference is Chief Executive of DrinkWise Australia, Chris Watters.
“Cultural change is not achieved by short term ‘glib’ TV commercials,” he said. “DrinkWise Australia has adopted a systematic and long term approach to changing Australia’s drinking culture, including the design of a 10 year strategic plan.”
Mr Watters will also touch on promoting a more responsible drinking culture in Australia and delivering a message of moderation to the public.
“Using varying forms of media and tapping into grass-roots community projects from multiple entry points, DrinkWise evidence-based programs represent a collaborative, well researched and holistic approach to countering the rite of passage.”
Director of Cities for Safe and Healthy Communities and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability Oceania, Mark Boyd will explain how all levels of government can work together on good alcohol policy and help communities.
He said each tier of government had unique and specific roles and that national and state governments needed more engagement with local governments to deal with alcohol problems.
“I will also touch on the harms that can be addressed immediately through a better and through a stronger government role.”
Mr Boyd said binge drinking was a problem amongst young people because there was a lack of diversity in entertainment and venue options.
“I think we need to regulate our land use and urban planning to better encourage a diverse business mix so that there’s a range of entertainment and cultural options for young people and that will be the most effective way…to respond to generational drinking cultures.”
To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews at the Binge Drinking Summit please contact:
John Wilson on 02 9080 4107 or john.wilson@informa.com.au
