Australia

FEDERAL Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese last week released the 2012 edition of the State of Australian Cities, the third annual snapshot and 'report card' on the progress and performance of the nation's eighteen major cities with populations above 100,000 people.

According to the report, while Australia's major cities remain among the world's most liveable and are increasingly powered by the knowledge industries of the future, they are also being affected by extreme weather events and struggling to house the continuing influx of new residents.

AFTER two consecutive months of gains, the number of dwellings approved fell 7.6 per cent in October 2012, in seasonally adjusted terms, according to the latest data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Dwelling approvals decreased in October in Victoria (-14.2 per cent), Queensland (-7.0 per cent) and South Australia (-0.1 per cent) but increased Tasmania (11.0 per cent), New South Wales (3.2 per cent) and Western Australia (0.1 per cent), in seasonally adjusted terms.

A NEW report launched this month by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) to measure the standard of community roads and infrastructure estimates that 12 per cent of local government transport assets are in poor or very poor condition.

The National State of the Assets Report 2012, unveiled at the National Local Roads and Transport Congress in Hobart, is the first of its kind, according to the ALGA.

THE number of air passenger movements through Australian capital and non-capital city airports is predicted to double to 279 million within the next two decades, according to the latest research report from the latest Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE).

The report, 'Air passenger movements through capital and non-capital city airports to 2030–31', was released by Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese at the Australian Airports Association National Convention in Melbourne last week.

FEDERAL Environment Minister Tony Burke this week visited Great Keppel Island to inspect the site of the proposed $600 million Great Keppel Island Marina and Tourism development.

The proposal includes a new hotel with 250 suites at Fisherman's Beach, 750 villas and 300 apartments across 53 hectares, a golf club and 18 hole golf course and a new marina at Putney Beach.

A PLANNING and design tool that encourages the consideration of dogs in public open spaces has won the inaugural 2012 Pet Friendly Planning Award, an initiative by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) and the Petcare Information Advisory Service (PIAS) to recognise planning projects that best consider the needs of pets.

The 'Matrix of Like Design Considerations', a tool that can be used to demonstrate synergies between guidelines that influence design in the built environment, was entered by the National Heart Foundation of Australia (SA Division).

PRESIDENT of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), Felicity-ann Lewis, has welcomed Federal Parliament's decision to establish a Parliamentary Committee as the next step towards a referendum on the constitutional recognition of local government.

A motion to establish a 12 member Joint Select Committee to consider constitutional recognition of local government was carried in the House of Representatives last week.

FEDERAL Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese last week released 'Walking, Riding and Access to Public Transport', a discussion paper setting out proposals to reverse rising costs of urban congestion and encourage more Australians to use active transport.

The draft report explores how the Australian Government can work with other governments, business and the community to encourage and support walking and riding as part of the transport systems in Australia's cities and towns.

INFRASTRUCTURE investment will play a key role in harnessing the opportunities and addressing the challenges of the Asian century, according to Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese.

Infrastructure forms a core pillar of the plan for boosting productivity growth and incomes contained in the Federal Government's recently released 'Australia in the Asian Century White Paper'.

THE construction industry's peak consultative body, the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF), has released the updated ACIF Forecasts, outlining a fragmented outlook for the industry.

The forecasts show improving prospects for one sector and a bleak time ahead for another, while a third sector is set to peak soon before softening over the next decade.

THE number of dwellings approved has risen for two consecutive months, increasing by 7.8 per cent in September 2012, in seasonally adjusted terms, according to the latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Dwelling approvals increased in September in New South Wales (22.8 per cent), Victoria (5.2 per cent) and Queensland (2.6 per cent) but decreased in Tasmania (-9.6 per cent), Western Australia (-2.4 per cent) and South Australia (-1.3 per cent), in seasonally adjusted terms.

INFRASTRUCTURE Australia this month called on governments to examine the sale of commercially viable, publicly owned assets to the private sector, in order to fund critical, new infrastructure.

The approach is outlined in a new report, 'Australia's Public Infrastructure - Part of the Answer to Removing Infrastructure Deficit', which aims to respond to the significant infrastructure deficit and associated funding task that the nation is facing.