NATIONAL PUSH ON GAS; COVID JOB HIT

Ministers step on the gas

Energy ministers from Federal, state and territory jurisdictions have agreed to strengthen regulations to increase energy supply across Australia. A meeting of relevant ministers resolved to extend the powers of the Australian Energy Market Operator to better manage supply risks to the East Coast gas market for the 2023 winter. Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the meeting also agreed to identify transmission projects of national significance, as well as add an emissions objective to the National Energy Objectives.

Payroll jobs numbers take a fall

After a period of strong job growth, Australia has recorded an 0.8 per cent fall in the number of payroll jobs in the month to mid-July. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the jobs reduction reflected the increasing employee absences through Covid-19 and other illnesses, especially those of people without paid leave entitlements. Northern Territory (1.2 per cent fall) and Victoria (down 1.1 per cent) recorded the highest reductions in payroll job numbers.

Jobs and Skills ideas poised for October Budget

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers says ideas that find “common ground” at the forthcoming Jobs and Skills Summit and that can be implemented quickly may be included in the October Budget. The Government has announced that an Employment White Paper would follow the summit through a 12-month process conducted by Treasury. But Dr Chalmers said the Budget would consider agreements and outcomes out of the summit that could be progressed relatively quickly.

Foreign residential sales leap during pandemic

Foreign buyers accounted for more than 5,300 of Australia’s residential real estate purchase transactions in 2020-21, at a total value of $4.2 billion, according to official figures. A report issued by the Foreign Investment Review Board also showed that in 2020-21, 3,100 sales ($2.7 billion) of residential real estate involved foreign buyers. While total sales by foreigners rose by more than 58 per cent on the previous year, total purchases by foreigners fell by 29 per cent. In 2020-21, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland accounted for more than 80 per cent of purchases by transaction number and value, and more than 96 per cent of total sales and by transaction value.

Supercomputing capability bolsters defence precinct

Defence Minister Richard Marles has formally launched an advanced supercomputer capability at the Edinburgh Defence Precinct in Adelaide, the first of its kind in Australia. Mr Marles said the high-performance computing capability was up to a million times faster than a standard computer, enabling Defence scientists to analyse large data sets and rapidly perform complex calculations. He said the enhanced capability would play a vital role in the design, development and analysis of modern weapon systems and national security systems.

Clare aims at university completion rates to fix teacher shortage

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has committed to lifting retention rates of teaching undergraduates at university, in a bid to solve the shortage of teachers in schools. Mr Clare told a media interview that only about 50 per cent of would-be teachers completed their teaching degree. By contrast, about 70 per cent of people who started a university degree generally finished that degree. He said that if the 50 per cent completion rate could be converted to 60 per cent, there would be a lot more teachers in schools. Mr Clare suggested that one idea might be to allocate more Federal Government funding to universities that “did exceptionally well” at training students to become teachers, through higher completion rates.