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Post-pandemic vision for a 24-hour City of Sydney

THE CITY of Sydney is working with the NSW Government on a vision to create a 24-hour alfresco city that will support Sydney’s recovery from the economic impact of the pandemic.

Sydney’s community recovery plan focusses on the need to reactivate the city centre and local precincts with outdoor dining and bars, late night trading, live music, and cultural institutions staying open in the evening.

Together the City and the government will work to cut red tape and create a streamlined process that will make it easier than ever before for businesses to take up outdoor dining in reclaimed spaces and laneways.  Under the new plans, associated outdoor dining fees will also be waived until March 2021.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the City had been working towards the creation of a 24-hour alfresco city for more than 10 years.

“Over the last decade we have proposed the light rail and helped create a pleasant, people-friendly George Street, we have paved laneways and campaigned for small bars,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Now by removing fees and red tape and working with businesses to find as many outdoor dining opportunities as possible, we’re supporting Covid-recovery while realising our vision of an alfresco city.

“We need to allow and encourage businesses to operate outdoors, and we need to support our creative and cultural life to activate and draw people back to our city, safely. We want to ensure our city businesses survive, and create new opportunities to thrive in the long term.

“Having brunch with friends, a wine after work or grabbing a quick bite and watching the world go by are some of the best moments of urban life. Encouraging outdoor dining makes it easier for us to enjoy those things and support local businesses while maintaining a safe physical distance.

“The City is working with businesses along Sydney high streets, in laneways and in the CBD to identify parking spots, traffic lanes and footpaths for outdoor dining including Pitt, Barrack and Crown streets and Tankstream and Wilmot lanes.”

The 12-month outdoor dining pilot is set to begin in November and support measures for the small business, community and cultural sector will be extended to March 30, 2021.

Measures include:

  • waiving fees for Health and Building compliance activities;
  • reviewing rents in conjunction with tenants in City premises for those tenants that require support on a case-by-case basis;
  • waiving standard contractual terms and return venue booking and banner fees to people and organisations who have booked City of Sydney venues and banners and may then be unable to proceed with their bookings;
  • waiving footway dining, market permit and filming fees on the grounds of hardship;
  • providing additional rental support for our Accommodation Grant Program tenants and childcare services by waiving all rent;
  • and allowing recipients to vary their deliverables under existing grants to enable recipients to retain those funds to support the continuing viability of the City’s cultural and creative community.

The City’s community recovery plan was developed in consultation with the community and made a commitment to putting the cultural sector at the heart of economic recovery by enabling creatives to reactivate the CBD and precincts.

The City unveiled its community recovery plan in June with a key action to promote a city that is safe, clean and open for business, and encourages Sydneysiders to visit the CBD and shop local.  

The plan builds on the $72.5 million support package released by the City in April for small businesses, artists and others in the creative and community sectors left devastated by the loss of work due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Coles to source more than 90pc of Qld electricity needs from CleanCo

FROM JULY 2022, Coles will source more than 90 percent of its Queensland electricity requirements from CleanCo, after entering into a landmark 10-year agreement with the state-owned clean energy generator and retailer.

Coles will purchase 400 GWh of electricity annually through the agreement. The Western Downs Green Power Hub, set to be Australia’s largest solar farm once built, and the MacIntyre Wind Farm, one of the largest wind farms to be built in the southern hemisphere, will supply three quarters of the Coles’ electricity requirements, with the remainder supported by CleanCo’s low emissions portfolio.

The partnership will reduce Coles electricity carbon dioxide emissions nationally by an estimated 20 percent or 240,000 tonnes annually*, which is the annual equivalent of taking 100,000 vehicles off the road^. It also secures the development of both projects, which together with CleanCo’s Karara wind farm, will create 800 local jobs in Queensland’s Western and Southern Downs.

Last year, Coles became the first major Australian retailer to commit to buying renewable energy through a 10-year power purchase agreement with global renewable power generation company Metka EGN, purchasing more than 70 percent of the electricity generated by three solar power plants in regional NSW.

Coles Group CEO Steven Cain said the significant increase in renewable energy is a major part of Coles’ commitment to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket.

“We have already made changes throughout our business to use energy more efficiently, which has enabled us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 36.5 percent since 2009, while growing our team member base and store network,” Mr Cain said.

Coles chief sustainability, property and export officer Thinus Keeve said Coles was committed to purchasing renewable energy across the country.

“Long-term agreements like this are a great example of how we are able to reduce our energy costs, support the community and make a meaningful impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Mr Keeve said.

“The CleanCo and Metka EGN agreements are great examples of how we can grow renewable energy generation capacity in Australia because they give the developers the certainty they need to invest and we look forward to growing our partnerships with renewable energy providers in the future.”

CleanCo CEO Maia Schweizer said providing competitively-priced clean energy to Coles allows CleanCo to create growth and jobs in south-west Queensland associated with its 2025 goal of 1000 MW of new renewable generation.

“We are proud to partner with Coles and provide renewables-backed power for its Queensland sites under one contract,” Dr Schweizer said.

 

About the Western Downs Green Power Hub

The Western Downs Green Power Hub is located 22km south-east of Chinchilla and will connect to the electricity grid via a new overhead line to publicly-owned Powerlink’s existing Western Downs substation. Generation is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. The project will generate enough energy to power about 235,000 Queensland homes.

About the MacIntyre Wind Farm

The MacIntyre Wind Farm is located about 50km west of Warwick and will connect to the electricity grid via a new overhead power line. Generation is scheduled for 2024. The project will generate enough energy to power about 700,000 Queensland homes.

 

* Estimated using market-based greenhouse gas emission accounting method with a residual mix factor of 1.08 TCO2e/MWh.

^ National Transport Commission, Carbon Dioxide Emissions Intensity for New Australian Light Vehicles 2019, June 2020 & 9208.0 - Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia, 12 months ended June 30, 2018.

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Hearings continue into food insecurity in remote Indigenous communities

THE inquiry into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities is holding a further public hearing on Wednesday September 23.

Among the organisations appearing before the committee will be the National Rural Health Alliance, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, and Metcash.

Julian Leeser MP, Chair of the House of Representatives Indigenous Affairs Committee, said each of the organisations would have unique perspectives on the issues surrounding food affordability and availability in remote Indigenous communities.

“We look forward to continuing discussions at this hearing about the supply chains and pricing arrangements that exist for remote Indigenous community stores and also about the health impacts of poor food security in these areas. The Committee is keen to hear the views of Metcash and the Australian Food and Grocery Council on the challenges posed by the business environment for food and groceries in remote Indigenous communities”, Mr Leeser said.

The witnesses and Members will all be appearing by videoconference or teleconference due to social distancing requirements relating to COVID-19. Full programs are available on the inquiry website.

Public hearing details

Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2020
Time: 10am to 3.20pm AEST
Location: Via video and teleconference

An audio broadcast will be accessible at aph.gov.au/live.

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Oracle and Walmart announce 'tentative' US Govt approval over TikTok

UNITED STATES President Donald Trump has announced that ByteDance has received tentative approval for an agreement with the US Government to resolve the outstanding issues, which will now include Oracle and Walmart together investing to acquire 20 percent of the newly formed TikTok Global business.

As a part of the deal, TikTok is creating a new company called TikTok Global that will be responsible for providing all TikTok services to users in the US and most of the users in the rest of the world. Today, the administration has conditionally approved a landmark deal where Oracle becomes TikTok's secure cloud provider.

TikTok Global will be majority owned by American investors, including Oracle and Walmart. TikTok Global will be an independent American company, headquartered in the US, with four Americans out of the five member board of directors.

All the TikTok technology will be in possession of TikTok Global, and comply with US laws and privacy regulations. Data privacy for 100 million American TikTok users will be quickly established by moving all American data to Oracle's Generation 2 Cloud data centers, the most secure cloud data centres in the world.

Based on decades of experience securing the world's most sensitive data, Oracle's Generation 2 Cloud fully isolates running applications and responds to security threats autonomously. This unique technology eliminates the risk of foreign governments spying on American users or trying to influence them with disinformation.

In addition to its equity position, Walmart will bring its omni-channel retail capabilities including its Walmart.com assortment, eCommerce marketplace, fulfillment, payment and measurement-as-a-service advertising service.

TikTok Global will create more than 25,000 new jobs in the US and TikTok Global will pay more than $5 billion in new tax dollars to the US Treasury.

TikTok Global, together with Oracle, SIG, General Atlantic, Sequoia, Walmart and Coatue will create an educational initiative to develop and deliver an AI-driven online video curriculum to teach children from inner cities to the suburbs, a variety of courses from basic reading and math to science, history and computer engineering.

TikTok Global will have an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in less than 12 months and be listed on a US Exchange. After the IPO, US ownership of TikTok Global will increase and continue to grow over time.

With this agreement, TikTok Global will able to continue to provide a hundred million Americans with access to the social network they love, and spark much needed competition in the market for social networks.

About Oracle
The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for sales, service, marketing, human resources, finance, supply chain and manufacturing, plus highly automated and secure Generation 2 infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. Oracle (NYSE: ORCL).  www.oracle.com.

About Walmart
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, over 265 million customers and members visit approximately 11,500 stores under 56 banners in 27 countries and eCommerce websites. With fiscal year 2020 revenue of $524 billion, Walmart employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at twitter.com/walmart.

Trademarks
Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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ATEC aligns with WTTC Safe Travel protocols as part of its #TravelSafeAustralia strategy

THE Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has aligned with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) in becoming a lead agency with authority to issue Australian tourism businesses with the globally recognised ‘Safe Travel’ stamp.

The stamp has been developed by the global travel and tourism industry body to recognise businesses which adopt standardised health and hygiene protocols. ATEC has incorporated the Safe Travel branding - designed as a recognisable health and safety trademark for consumers globally - into its COVID Ready program.

“ATEC has developed the rigorous, sector specific ‘COVID Ready’ program which aligns with the standards defined by the WTTC,” ATEC managing director Peter Shelley said..

"The ATEC program enables tourism businesses to identify covid risk points within the customer journey and implement risk management solutions, all of which are captured in a COVID Ready plan aligned with state and national regulatory requirements.

“ATEC has incorporated the WTTC Safe Travels branding as part of our Tourism Trade Checklist which recognises businesses who have completed and uploaded a COVID Ready Plan. The WTTC Safe Travel global branding is another level of recognition which will assist Australian tourism businesses to stand out in the international marketplace.

“As an organisation with the authority to endorse tourism businesses, ATEC is able to connect Australian tourism businesses with global Safe Travel protocols which quickly verifies a business’s compliance.”

Over the past few months ATEC has been developing a comprehensive strategy to meet the needs of the industry and expectations of the global traveller once international borders open.  The strategy, titled #TravelSafeAustralia includes three components working together to ensure quality COVID Safe experiences, the components include:

  • COVID Ready suppliers – all suppliers servicing the international market have completed and uploaded a COVID Ready plan into ATEC Tourism Trade Checklist portal and have  received the WTTC Safe Travels stamp and ready for international visitors.
  • COVID Risk Reduction – an alignment with goPassport biometric risk management system, a comprehensive, real-time COVID-19 alert system for inbound international travellers. 
  • COVID Safe Managed Travel - Australian based inbound tour operators (ITOs) taking accountability for the COVID Safe travel of international visitors from arrival to departure.

"#TravelSafeAustralia is a world leading strategy to re-engage international travellers in a safe and structured way, delivering a strong and clear message around both our expectations and responsibilities in mitigating the risk of COVID in our community and for our visitors.
 
“We are pleased to be able to connect to the global Safe Travel program in supporting the WTTC in its work to ensure the safety of the global travel workforce and travellers as the sector shifts to a new normal.”

www.atec.net.au

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