Latest Story
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Building a sustainable future
Tom Quinn | September 19, 2012Nations around the world will look at the role green buildings and communities play during this World Green Building Week. Tom Quinn says Australia is recognised as a global leader in the green building space.
This week is World Green Building Week, the annual celebration of how green buildings are driving sustainability improvements in our society and are helping combat climate change. Australia is at the forefront of this effort and is recognised a global leader in the green building space.
Historically buildings had a reputation as voracious consumers of resources that gave little back. As we constructed our cities, factories and homes, we also built significant environmental problems. The issues still emanating from the industry are huge: The building sector generates forty per cent of all waste sent to landfill while buildings consume 40 per cent of all electricity and 12 per cent of potable water.
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New organisation to redefine measurements of progress and wellbeing
Andrew Gale | September 19, 2012Traditional measurements of wellbeing and progress are losing their relevance in today's world. Following a taskforce on progress in society, Global Access Partners (GAP) has established the Australian Society for Progress and Wellbeing. Andrew Gale launched the Society on 13 September.
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In the shadow of the elephant and the dragon
Adaire Fox-Martin | September 18, 2012Doing business in Asia has always been important to Australian businesses with seemingly endless opportunity awaiting those who get it right. Adaire Fox-Martin addressed the GAP Productivity Summit about succeeding in the region.
From the start of the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain required 150 years to double its economic output. The United States took 50 years. A century later China and India did the same in just 12 and 16 years respectively.
The purchasing power of Asia has increased along with GDP, heralding prosperity locally and opportunity globally. In the past 20 years, emerging markets have swelled the ranks of the world’s consumer class from a little over 1 billion to 2.4 billion. By 2025 this figure will stand at more than 4 billion. In the same timeframe, annual consumption from emerging markets will grow from USD 12 trillion dollars to 30 trillion.
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UncategorisedAlcohol Awareness campaign reveals alarming results
editor | September 17, 2012
New research from The Salvation Army reveals 4.2 million Australians say they know families where they think children are not being properly cared for because of someone’s alcohol abuse.The Salvation Army says the research – released as part of its Alcohol Awareness Week – paints a deeply disturbing picture of what is happening in some Australian families.
Salvos Clinical Director of Recovery Services, Gerard Byrne, says the findings from the research are alarming and need to be addressed immediately.
“It is very clear there are large numbers of people out there who know families where children aren’t being cared for properly, according to them, because of alcohol,” he said.
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New government discussion paper outlines options for NSW strata
The Hon Anthony Roberts | September 16, 2012It is estimated that more than half of Sydney-siders will live in strata developments by 2030. Anthony Roberts says that statistic makes it essential that the State has an effective strata framework.
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The disruptive power of niche social networks
Darren Moffatt | September 14, 2012When social media was first created few people saw it as a marketing tool – that was until it was embraced by almost everyone with an internet connection. Darren Moffatt says niche social networks are the way of the future, even for traditional businesses.
Social media has changed the world, literally.
Every month billions of people now log in to various social media platforms to consume and post new content. This is a massive change in human activity, of global magnitude, with profound implications for business, government and academia. Like any rapid change in mass behaviour, it’s been driven by powerful viral feedback loops which have delivered exponential growth in user communities. Network memberships now dwarf those of even just five short years ago. One in every nine people on earth are now members of Facebook – a truly mind-blowing statistic.
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Welcome address: planning a productive future
The Hon Anthony Roberts | September 13, 2012The Hon. Anthony Roberts MP, NSW Fair Trading Minister, opened the 2012 Global Access Partners’ National Economic Review 2012: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit at a dinner on Thursday 13 September 2012. He outlines the focus of improving productivity and the role it plays in his vision of making NSW Number 1 again.
This is the third in the series of economic growth summits organised by Global Access Partners, or GAP as we fondly know them, and it’s the second at which I’ve had the pleasure of delivering the welcome address.
Once again, the GAP team – superbly led by the exceptional Peter Fritz – has done an outstanding job in gathering some of Australia’s best and brightest.
It’s wonderful to see a room full of people eager to propel our economy into the future. I am confident we will all gain a lot from being here and I thank you for taking the time to attend.
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Plenty of Australians speak Asian languages
Benjamin Herscovitch | September 13, 2012There are about two billion English speakers globally and English is spoken by about 800 million people in Asia. Benjamin Herscovitch says those statistics make him sceptical of calls to solve Australia’s Asia literacy non-problem.
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Energy and productivity
Craig Milne | September 12, 2012Australia's carbon tax has been controversial for many reasons and its impact on productivity has been one of them. Craig Milne says the most productive technologies should be chosen in the move to low CO2 emissions, but most renewables fail that test.
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UncategorisedReport warns of digital risks
editor | September 11, 2012
New digital innovations and applications continue to empower consumers and have a transformative impact on business, according to a new report by Deloitte Access Economics.The report, based on 2012 survey research contained in the Optus Future of Business report – Research and Findings provides analysis and insights into what changes in the digital world might mean for business.
According to the report, sectors accounting for a third of Australia’s annual economic output face serious risks to their bottom line. Major industries that could lose a portion of their revenue streams in the next three years include retail, tourism, finance, real estate and media.
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Educate against online racism
Jamie-Lee Dwyer | September 11, 2012When Facebook decided to deactivate a racist page which branded Aborigines as alcoholics the Australian Communications and Media Authority investigated. Jamie-Lee Dwyer looks at the controversial issue of online racism.
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UncategorisedDriving improvements in road safety
editor | September 10, 2012
The National Road Safety Partnership is calling for input into its draft strategy. The strategy is designed to drive innovation and productivity while helping to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads.The National Road Safety Council, individual states and territories, as well as local governments across Australia are working towards ambitious road safety targets. The United Nations General Assembly has also set the goal for the decade—‘to stabilise and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world’—and is working towards the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020.
