THE House of Representatives Economics Committee will conduct its second and third public hearings for the inquiry into home ownership in Sydney on Thursday 6 August and Friday 7 August 2015. 

The Chair of the committee, John Alexander said that ‘we have now received more than 50 submissions to this very timely inquiry and a number of these contributors and other experts have been invited to provide further evidence to the Committee in Sydney. All Australians deserve a fair chance to own a home and we look forward to further discussing the challenges that many prospective buyers face in today’s very competitive housing market at these hearings.’

Public hearing details
Macquarie Room, NSW Parliament House, Sydney
Thursday 6 August 2015
9.15am     Reserve Bank of Australia
11.00am    Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
11.45am    Australian Bankers’ Association
12.30pm    Lunch
1.30pm     Curtis Associates
2.15pm     Law Society of NSW
3.00pm     Urban Taskforce Australia
3.45pm     Mr Saul Eslake
4.30pm     Close

Macquarie Room, NSW Parliament House, Sydney
Friday 7 August 2015
9.15am    Insurance Council of Australia and Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Ltd.
10.00am   Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals
10.45am   Mr Christopher Moore
11.15am   Mr John Symond
12.00pm   Lunch
1.00pm    LF Economics
1.45pm    Dr Judith Yates
2.15pm    Mr Andrew Skinner
2.45pm    Close

Members of the public are welcome to attend.
The proceedings will be audio webcast live on: www.aph.gov.au/live

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GROWING a small business in NSW is now easier following further cuts to red tape that has saved NSW business operators more than $815 million and provides the business confidence to build your own business without obstructive regulation.

Minister for Small Business John Barilaro and Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said the red tape reforms deliver a key election commitment that exceeded the original $750 million target by June 2015.

“This is a forward thinking, customer-focused approach by the NSW Government to provide a stronger foundation for small businesses to invest and grow in NSW,” Mr Barilaro said.

“Scaling back red tape allows the mum and dad business owners, who mortgage their homes and take the risks, to grow their businesses and create more jobs,” he said.

Mr Dominello said the focus of the NSW Government is on improved regulation rather than more regulation.

“By utilising technology, innovation and information sharing, there has been a substantial reduction in the amount of regulation in NSW, resulting in social and economic benefits for the community,” he said.

Key reforms include:

• Extending the validity of light vehicle safety inspection reports, or pink slips, from 42 days to six months generated $101 million in cost savings;
• The Opal Card integrated ticketing delivered $44 million in cost savings; and,
• Service NSW Digital Migration Project, e.g. driver licences delivered $39.8 million in cost savings for residents and businesses.

Last year over 93 reforms generated $326.4 million in cost saving measures.

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THE number of international visitors to Brisbane has reached one million for the first time with expenditure hitting record highs, according to new tourism research.

The latest International Visitor Survey from Tourism Research Australia revealed overseas visitors spent $1.7 billion in Brisbane in the year ended March 2015, up 10.8 per cent on the year before.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the survey revealed that total international visitor numbers increased by 7.2 per cent to one million while holiday visitors were up 10.3 per cent over the same period. 

“International visitor numbers and spending in Brisbane have reached record levels with expenditure more than doubling in ten years, from $802 million in 2005,” Cr Quirk said.

“Brisbane scored some impressive wins in our key international markets, with the number of visitors from China up 21.9 per cent in the year to March and the number of visiting New Zealanders increasing 6.3 per cent,” he said.

“We also saw impressive growth from India, with visitor numbers rising 50 per cent.”

Cr Quirk said Brisbane’s hosting of the G20 Leaders Summit would have contributed to the rise in the number of international visitors.

“Not only did the G20 attract thousands of delegates and media when it was staged, the world-wide exposure of Brisbane would have created more awareness of the city in international markets,” he said.

“Brisbane Marketing also works with Tourism and Events Queensland on rolling out marketing activities and trade missions to key markets such as New Zealand, Japan and China to attract potential holidaymakers.

“These promotional activities are driving home the point that our New World City is constantly evolving with outstanding new experiences, venues and hotels with a vibrant calendar of major sporting and cultural events.

“Major sporting fixtures such as the recent blockbuster football weekend featuring the Liverpool FC clash with Brisbane Roar and the Qantas Wallabies’ match with the Springboks attract thousands of visitors to Brisbane.”

Cr Quirk said the future of international tourism looked bright with recent aviation and infrastructure announcements ensuring Brisbane would become increasingly accessible and attractive to overseas visitors.

“Qantas will re-instate direct services between Tokyo and Brisbane on 1 August; Etihad Airways has upgraded its Abu Dhabi-Brisbane route to a direct service; and Air Canada will fly directly between Vancouver and Brisbane from June 2016,” he said.

“On the infrastructure front, we will see world-class dining, retail, resort and entertainment precincts come on line through the Howard Smith Wharves and Queen’s Wharf Brisbane projects.

“These developments are set to transform Brisbane as a lifestyle capital and further enhance our reputation as an internationally-competitive tourism, major events and conventions destination.”

www.brisbanemarketing.com.au

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SCREEN Australia congratulates the producers and creative teams of Australian films The Dressmaker and The Daughter, which have both been selected overnight for the 40th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). 

The Dressmaker will have its world premiere in the red carpet Gala Presentations section, and The Daughter will have its North American premiere in the Special Presentations section. Other Australian talent including Wayne Blair, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts and Joel Edgerton will feature over various titles throughout the Gala and Special Presentations sections.

The Dressmaker.	The Daughter.

Richard Harris, Head of Business and Audience at Screen Australia, says: “2015 continues to be a banner year for Australian film on the international stage, where the hits just seem to keep coming. The Dressmaker and The Daughter are both such assured and yet distinctive films, and it is wonderful to see them get the profile they deserve at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival. We congratulate directors Jocelyn Moorhouse and Simon Stone, and their creative teams, on their selection into the festival and look forward to supporting their releases to Australian and international audiences in the months to come.”

Director of The Dressmaker, Jocelyn Moorhouse, says: “I am delighted The Dressmaker was officially selected for TIFF. This is a huge honour, and I can’t wait to show audiences the beautiful performances of Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Judy Davis and Hugo Weaving as well as our extraordinary ensemble cast.”

Producer Sue Maslin says “The invitation to hold the world premiere of The Dressmaker at a Gala screening of the Toronto International Film Festival is an enormous honour and hugely exciting. It is recognition of our extraordinary actors and crew who took their screen artistry to the highest level in this film. It also announces that, like Tilly Dunnage, Jocelyn Moorhouse is back!”

Producers of The Daughter, Jan Chapman and Nicole O’Donohue, say: “We are delighted to present The Daughter at the Toronto Film Festival as a Special Presentation and our North American premiere. Toronto is a vibrant festival well attended by local audiences and the international industry and is the home of our sales agent, Mongrel International. We look forward to sharing Simon Stone’s debut feature and the moving performances of our ensemble cast.”

OTHER AUSTRALIAN TALENT

Gala Presentations

Wayne Blair’s Septembers of Shiraz starring Salma Hayek and Adrien Brody and shot by Warwick Thornton, will have its world premiere in the Gala Presentations.

Naomi Watts will star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper in the Opening Night film Demolition from director Jean-Marc Vallée.

Special Presentations

Joel Edgerton will star alongside Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, Julianne Nicholson, Corey Stoll and Peter Sarsgaard in Black Mass from director Scott Cooper.

Nicole Kidman will star with Jason Bateman and Christopher Walken in The Family Fang directed by Bateman.

Mountains May Depart by Jia Zhang-ke was partially shot in Western Australia.

More announcements by TIFF will happen over the next month in the lead up to the festival, which runs 10–20 September 2015.

http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15

FILM DETAILS

THE DAUGHTER

Screening North American premiere / Special Presentations
Genre Drama
Production Company Jan Chapman Films & Wildflower Films
Writer/Director Simon Stone
Producers Jan Chapman, Nicole O’Donohue
Cast Geoffrey Rush, Ewen Leslie, Paul Schneider, Miranda Otto, Anna Torv, with Odessa Young and Sam Neill
Sales Mongrel International
Australian Distribution Roadshow Films
Media Enquiries This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. & This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Synopsis In the last days of a dying logging town Christian returns to his family home for his father Henry’s wedding to the much younger Anna. While home, Christian reconnects with his childhood friend Oliver, who has stayed in town working at Henry’s timber mill and is now out of a job. As Christian gets to know Oliver’s wife Charlotte, daughter Hedvig and father Walter, he discovers a secret that could tear Oliver’s family apart. As he tries to right the wrongs of the past, his actions threaten to shatter the lives of those he left behind years before.

THE DRESSMAKER
Screening World premiere / red carpet Gala Presentations
Genre Comedy/Drama
Production Company Film Art Media
Director Jocelyn Moorhouse
Writers Jocelyn Moorhouse, PJ Hogan
Producer Sue Maslin
Executive Producers Gavin Poolman, Michael Shyjka, Tim Haslam, Hugo Grumbar, Ian Kirk, Roger Savage, Karl Engeler, Fred Gaines, Greg Sitch, PJ Hogan, Daryl Dellora
Cast Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving
International Sales Embankment Films (co-represented in the US with CAA)
Australian Distributor Universal Pictures International (UPI)
Media Enquiries This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Synopsis Based on the best-selling novel by Rosalie Ham, The Dressmaker is a bittersweet, comedy-drama set in early 1950s Australia. Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet), a beautiful and talented misfit, after many years working as a dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses, returns home to the tiny middle-of-nowhere town of Dungatar to right the wrongs of the past. Not only does she reconcile with her ailing, eccentric mother Molly (Judy Davis) and unexpectedly fall in love with the pure-hearted Teddy (Liam Hemsworth), but armed with her sewing machine and incredible sense of style, she transforms the women of the town and in so doing gets sweet revenge on those who did her wrong. 

http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au

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