Month: April 2022

An Albanese Labor Government will create the Advanced Strategic Research Agency (ASRA).

ASRA will bring Australia into line with our AUKUS partners by creating a new research and development agency established within Defence to fund pivotal research in breakthrough technologies for national security.

ASRA will boost Australia’s involvement in technology sharing and research and development, through the new AUKUS partnership. 

It will work closely with its counterparts, the ground-breaking US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the newly created UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA).

It will be a premier avenue for linking Australian industry (including SMEs) and universities with our AUKUS partners.

After almost a decade of neglect under the current Liberal Government, there has been a lack of strategic defence and national security-focused sovereign research, funding and projects. This is leaving Australia vulnerable to strategic technological surprises.

R&D spending continues to fall under Scott Morrison’s watch, with Australia’s overall spending as a percentage of GDP falling  ramatically from 2.11 per cent in 2011-12 to 1.79 per cent in 2019-20.

Further, the current Government tried to cut over $2 billion from the Research and Development Tax Incentive.

Australia needs to rapidly establish a strategic research agency modelled on the highly successful DARPA in the United States. 

ASRA would ensure cutting-edge research from public sources, such as universities and industry, and classified research from industry and other government agencies (such as CSIRO), are supported and co-ordinated. 

ASRA will also aim to leverage private investment into its research priorities. It will ensure the development of sovereign research capabilities for Australia, especially in getting prototypes to delivered technology.

DARPA’s recent work includes unmanned anti-submarine vessels, sixth generation jet fighter technologies, atmospheric water extraction, reusable robotic spacecraft, hypersonics and media forensics (identifying deepfakes).

Famous commercialised projects from DARPA include the internet, the computer mouse, GPS, and Siri.

The UK has just created its version, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA).

The Morrison Government is backing the future clean hydrogen industry in the Hunter in New South Wales, which will utilise the region’s strong resources and export capabilities to produce clean hydrogen for use both here at home and across the world, and create highly skilled jobs.

Due to the region’s significant clean hydrogen potential, the Government is backing two hub projects in the Hunter with $82 million in support for projects valued at over $363 million.

Through the Morrison Government’s Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs program, the Government is supporting the following hubs:

• Up to $41 million for the Port of Newcastle’s Hydrogen Hub, with a total project value of $163 million.
• Up to $41 million for Origin Energy Future Fuels Pty Ltd’s Hunter Valley H2 Hub Implementation Project, with a total project value of over $200 million.

This funding is complemented by the $100 million committed in the 2022-23 Budget to support pre-Final Investment Decision activities and early works to make the Port of Newcastle’s infrastructure ‘hydrogen ready’.

The Hunter hydrogen projects are estimated to create over 2,300 jobs when operational, with even more local construction jobs possible through the port upgrades.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Coalition’s economic plan was delivering for the Hunter, with this investment unlocking jobs for generations to come.

“Australia will be a world-leader in hydrogen development and exports, and the Hunter region is critical to realising our nation’s potential,” the Prime Minister said.

“The Hunter has been an essential part of Australia’s energy security for decades, and our investment today locks in the Hunter’s clean energy future.

“The Coalition’s economic plan is securing new opportunities for the local, highly skilled workforce in the Hunter, creating a strong economy and stronger future.

“Ensuring affordable and reliable energy, while meeting our emissions reductions targets, is key to the Coalition’s national economic plan.”

Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the Hunter region provides great potential for both hydrogen production and export opportunities, with Newcastle being the biggest port on the east coast.

“Both of these hub projects are backed by significant private sector funding and have strong industry partners here and overseas. These multi-million-dollar commitments show the faith both industry and government have in the Hunter,” Minister Taylor said.

“With existing supply chains to key consuming countries, such as Japan, and high future local hydrogen demand for uses such as electricity generation, gas blending and transport, the Hunter is a highly competitive location for a clean hydrogen hub.”

Clean hydrogen exports could directly support 16,000 jobs by 2050, plus an additional 13,000 jobs in renewable energy infrastructure construction. Clean hydrogen production for both export and domestic use could generate more than $50 billion in additional GDP by 2050.

The Cairns Marine Precinct will secure its place as Northern Australia’s premier maritime precinct with a $24 million commitment from the Morrison Government.

A re-elected Morrison Government will invest a further $24 million into Stage Two of the upgrade of the Cairns Marine Maintenance Precinct, taking our total investment in the upgrades to $48 million following completion of Stage One works.

This brings our total investment in Cairns’ maritime precinct and industry to over $300 million, including $155 million investment in facilities at HMAS Cairns to support the new Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessels that will be based in Cairns, $70 million for NORSTA Maritime to deliver the Royal Australian Navy’s Regional Maintenance Centre and $36 million for TAFE Queensland in Cairns to deliver maritime training as part of the Pacific Maritime Security Program.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new investment in the Cairns Marine Precinct would boost jobs, support the tourism industry and strengthen Australia’s border security.

“The Cairns Marine Precinct is the place to go for maritime services and this investment will ensure it can meet the growing tourism, marine industry, and naval demand,” the Prime Minister said.

“This will create hundreds of jobs during construction, and hundreds more highly-skilled jobs once it is fully operational, creating enormous and continued economic benefits for the region.

“This builds on the region’s proud history of supporting the Australian Navy and Border Force, and will ensure we can continue supporting naval and other shipping in northern Australia and the entire Pacific region.

“With the Great Barrier Reef a boat ride away, this will also make Cairns an even more attractive launch pad for private and charter boats, yachts and superyachts keen to explore the region.

“Our economic plan is delivering this key strategic investment, securing a strong economy and a stronger future for Queensland.”

Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch said the Morrison Government had worked with local operators to design the wharf, and ensure it is fit for purpose for demands today, and into the future.

“The approach we have taken, in partnership with the three slipway operators, towards the Cairns Marine Precinct has always been staged and planned,” Mr Entsch said.

“I worked extremely closely with the three slipway operators – Tropical Reef Shipyard, Norship and Austal – to fund and deliver Stage One. Now we are funding and delivering Stage Two.

“This investment will create local jobs and further enhance our reputation as a leading marine maintenance and sustainability hub.”

The Stage Two works will include critical upgrades and enabling infrastructure on the current port leasehold in the precinct, including: additional naval certified hardstand areas, all-weather vessel servicing capabilities, additional docking facilities, longer wharfage to meet in-water maintenance support requirements, improved workshop facilities, plus offices, parking and other amenities.

The Australian Workers’ Union is today warmly welcoming the new Horticulture Award which introduces an hourly minimum rate for fruit pickers, who will now enjoy the same baseline conditions as all other Australian workers. 

In November 2021, the AWU secured an historic industrial win for fruit pickers by successfully arguing the Horticulture Award should be altered to ensure every worker is entitled to take home the minimum casual rate of pay, currently $25.41. The new Award will allow piece rates to continue, but also provide a baseline safety net. 

Despite aggressive opposition from the National Farmers Federation and the Agriculture Minister the AWU was able to persuade the Fair Work Commission that it was unfair to allow fruit pickers to be bamboozled and underpaid by the piece work system without a safety net. 

“Fruit picking is tough, important work and at the very least those workers deserve to earn the Australian minimum wage. It’s truly amazing that the NFF and David Littleproud can look themselves in mirror after arguing the opposite,” said AWU National Secretary Daniel Walton. 

“It’s unfortunate the NFF have decided they want to operate as a mouthpiece for bad farmers instead of representing the good farmers who have been undercut by dodgy exploitation and underpayment practices. 

“Of course we’re going to see more scaremongering about consumers prices, despite the fact fruit prices have actually been relatively stable over the past two years when Covid put unprecedented pressure on the labour force. 

“But even if we accept the dubious point that prices will go up slightly on average, what’s the argument? That we should encourage an underclass of workers in Australia on third world wages so our supermarket berries cost one per cent less? 

“For too long the farmers’ lobby has seen fruit pickers as somehow beneath the usual standards offered to Australian workers. But the hard work of pickers deserves the same minimum wage dignity afforded to everyone else.

“Now at the end of each day every picker should be assured that their work netted at least $25.41 an hour. If not, their employer is stealing from them and breaking the law.

“This ruling is a huge advance for this industry and for all the farmers who are already doing the right thing.”

Can you tell your cats from your dingoes? Your wallabies from your wallaroos? Then Dingo? Bingo! is your chance to identify dingoes (and other wildlife) in photos and help scientists better understand and manage dingo populations in particular.

An online citizen science project Dingo? Bingo! requests the public’s help in detecting dingoes and other animals among images retrieved from a network of camera-traps. Cameras were installed in the Myall Lakes region of NSW, which is home to an important coastal population of dingoes and a long-term study into dingo ecology and management. The Myall Lakes dingo project, supported by the Hermon Slade Foundation and Taronga Conservation Society Australia, aims to develop and test non-lethal management techniques and add to our understanding of dingo behaviour and ecology along the way.

Dingoes are an iconic and valuable part of the Australian ecosystem, but where dingoes co-occur with humans – be it campgrounds, towns, or livestock areas – they can also cause issues, and these conflicts are conventionally managed by lethal means. The question is are there non-lethal alternatives for deterring dingoes from these places?

Researchers from UNSW Science and Taronga Conservation Society Australia are testing whether the dingoes’ own signals can be used to deter them and invasive predators from particular areas. Dingoes use howls and scent marks to communicate ownership of space, and so by simulating their presence in an area the team hope to be able to deter them from specific areas. 

As Dr Neil Jordan, lead researcher and Senior Lecturer at UNSW, explains, “In some circumstances, living alongside dingoes can be challenging. This project hopes to develop tools and strategies to limit the negative impacts that dingoes have in specific areas, while still allowing them to perform their ecological role as apex predator across the wider landscape”.  

Part of that ecological role may be suppressing invasive foxes, and as Taronga’s Behavioural Biologist and co-lead researcher Dr Ben Pitcher explains, this is also an important part of the team’s work. “There’s good evidence from a number of studies that animals retreat from the sound of their predators. As dingoes sometimes kill foxes and cats, we’re also testing the idea that these smaller carnivores may avoid areas where they believe dingoes are present – where they hear a dingo howl for example”. 

To test their idea, the team have set up 12 automated speaker systems, playing back dingo howls intermittently through the night. Over 60 remote camera-traps were also positioned around these sites along the dingoes’ main thoroughfares: trails and roads. And that’s where Dingo? Bingo! comes in.

Sifting through 50,000 images is a tall order for any researcher, and so the team decided to share the load and the joy of participating in this work. Nevertheless, as UNSW PhD student Brendan Alting explains, the team remain active participants themselves, “It’s always awesome seeing an unexpected quoll or koala pop up on an image, and so I wouldn’t say we’ve been 100% successful in passing this on entirely to citizen science– it’s quite addictive!”. 

Getting started on Dingo? Bingo!, users are notified of the various animal groups they might observe in the photos (bandicoot, horse, reptiles etc.), instructed how to submit their identification, and, finally, which details they might add. Is it a dingo? Bingo! 

To ensure they’re accurately classified, each photo is displayed to 20 users, and only if there is a high degree of agreement are they classified, with the research team reviewing any debated classifications.

As Dr Jordan explains, “You’ll probably see a number of fox, cat and dingo images on the platform, and this doesn’t necessarily mean that the experiment hasn’t worked. To properly test for any effect of the howls we are also playing back control sounds, including ambient noise, and we’ll compare these treatments using the data contributed through ‘Dingo? Bingo!’”. 

The entire collection of Dingo? Bingo! photos are now available and ready for public classification, so feel free to dive in immediately and help the research team discover just how effective their deterrents were.

Pending the success of this trial, the team behind Dingo? Bingo! and the Myall Lakes Dingo Project plans on furthering their work on non-lethal management and into dingo behaviour and ecology more broadly.