BUILDING Information Modelling (BIM) is a powerful model-based tool that is revolutionising the design, construction and management of infrastructure. It allows for the creation of intelligent, three-dimensional models that can be shared in the design, construction and management phases of infrastructure development.

Tomorrow, the Infrastructure and Communications Committee will meet with representatives of Autodesk—an international leader in the development of BIM, and creator of the AutoCAD design programme—to discuss the role that BIM can play in improving the quality and efficiency of infrastructure projects.

According to Autodesk, "25 per cent of infrastructure project costs are tied to change orders, requests for information (RFIs), rework, and design clashes that are not found until construction begins."

“The AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry is showing progress in improving their productivity and reducing these project costs through the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM).”

Committee Chairman Jane Prentice MP (Ryan, Qld) said, “The current Inquiry into the role of Smart ICT in the design and planning of infrastructure has already uncovered a range of exciting and innovative technologies, which have the potential to make the procurement of infrastructure more efficient and long-term management more effective.”

Mrs Prentice believes that BIM is set to revolutionise the way governments and industry do business when it comes to investing in infrastructure.

“The new tools becoming available to government and industry have the power to transform the economic productivity of infrastructure development, making existing infrastructure more productive and new infrastructure more cost-effective.”

Details of the hearing are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Time: 8:00 am–9:00 am
Venue: Committee Room 1R3, Parliament House, Canberra

8:00am Autodesk (Submission 4)
The public hearing will be webcast live at http://www.aph.gov.au/live

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THE Australian Food and Grocery Council will discuss growing Australia’s nearly $3 billion trade in agri-food exports to the Middle East with federal parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade at a public hearing in Canberra tomorrow.

The Trade sub-committee’s inquiry into trade with the Middle East will hear from the Council representing Australia’s food, beverage and grocery manufacturing industry about the potential of Australia’s largest manufacturing sector to help feed a region with a population of more than 350 million.

The strong demand for imported food in the Middle East and North Africa will grow largely due to the region having scarce arable land and water for domestic food production alongside rising per capita incomes and consumer spending, proliferation of supermarkets, larger populations and a growing tourism hospitality sector.

While Australian agri-food exports to the Middle East have traditionally been focussed on bulk commodities such as grain and live animals, the growing tourism and related services sectors in Middle East economies has underpinned growing exports of processed food products from Australia according to the Council.

Australia’s food, beverage and grocery manufacturing industry has an annual turnover of approximately $111 billion, directly employs almost 300,000 people, with half of those in rural and regional areas, and generates $24 billion in exports.

Australia’s exports of processed food products to the Middle East averaged 23 per cent growth over the years 2009 to 2013, mostly due to strong demand in the United Arab Emirates. Australia’s exports of processed food to the UAE increased from $34 million in 2009 to $101 million in 2013 at an average annual growth of 32 per cent.

Public hearing

Date/Time                   Wednesday 9 September 2015, 11:05 am

Location                     Committee Room 1R3, Parliament House, Canberra

Organisation              Australian Food and Grocery Council

Live audio broadcast will be available at www.aph.gov.au/live

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THE Audit Office, Treasury and the Tax Office will appear together tomorrow at a public hearing into the Tax Expenditures Statement.

The Statement attempts to measure the billions of dollars of concessions in the tax law and its goal is to increase the transparency and scrutiny of tax exemptions.

The Audit Office released audit reports into the Statement in 2008 and 2013. The 2013 audit found that some of the recommendations from the first audit had not been fully implemented or had been discontinued. The topics covered were: better integrating tax expenditures in the Budget process; regular reviews of tax expenditures; and improving the quality of the estimates.

Bert van Manen MP, Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue, said the Audit Office does important work for the Parliament and Australia.

“The Audit Office has noted that recommendations on tax expenditures in the 1970s to 1990s were often not implemented. The same has occurred to the Audit Office recommendations of 2008. The Committee believes these issues are worth examining again.”

In its submission, the Audit Office has proposed the following priorities for Treasury:

• establishing a program of prioritised reviews to inform improvements in tax expenditure measures and to indicate whether tax expenditures are meeting their policy aims
• putting back in aggregate, trend and comparative reporting of tax expenditures to improve the visibility of their size and importance.

In its submission, Treasury has stated that, following further consideration, it believes the audit recommendations are no longer relevant or appropriate. Its concern is that the estimates are often misunderstood and their limitations are not taken into account.

Public hearing

Date:Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Time: 4.10 – 5.10 pm
Location: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

The committee is still accepting submissions to the inquiry, which can be lodged through the Committee’s website.

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THE Australian uranium mining industry is set to double in size if an agreement to sell uranium to India is ratified, Parliament’s Treaties Committee has found.

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has tabled its report into the Australia – India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, which could see Australian uranium in dozens of new Indian electricity generating nuclear reactors over the coming decades.

Committee Chair, Mr Wyatt Roy MP, said that the deal could increase export revenue by an estimated $1.75bn and double the number of Australians employed in the uranium mining industry.

The deal will be particularly important for rural and remote areas in states like South Australia and Western Australia, where uranium mining is expected to ramp up.

Queensland could also significantly benefit if the Queensland Government reverses its decision to stop uranium mining.

In India, Australian uranium could help bring low-carbon emission electricity to the 400 million people who do not have access to power at present.

While the Agreement is designed to ensure that Australian nuclear material is only used in safeguarded facilities and cannot be diverted for use in nuclear weapons, the Committee has made a number of recommendations to strengthen safeguards and improve non-proliferation outcomes.

“Critically, on the basis of assurances from the Director-General of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office, the Committee trusts that Australian nuclear material in India can be tracked and accounted for, ensuring that it is not used for anything other than peaceful purposes,” Mr Roy said.

The committee has recommended that the regulation of nuclear safety and security at Indian nuclear facilities be addressed before the sale of uranium takes place. 

Another recommendation is that Australia commit diplomatic resources to encourage India to make genuine disarmament advances, such as signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

“The Committee has successfully navigated a series of complicated issues to reach a point where, with certain qualifications, it supports a deal that will cement Australia’s relationship with an emerging world power,” Mr Roy said.

The full report is available on the committee’s website or by contacting the committee secretariat on (02) 6277 4002.  

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