quality JOBs — australia`s Future

quality JOBs — australia’s Future
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Changing the way we do business
Transforming the old
Building the new
Creative and resilient
Boeing factory at Fishermans Bend in Victoria
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Researchers in the front line
Work in progress
Re-tool and re-skill
Back yourself
Changing the way
Born in a Backyard
In 1969, two brothers from Germany set up
a small toolmaking shop in a backyard in
Perth. They thought there was a future in
gears. They were right.
Today, Hofmann Engineering is
one of the biggest gear-making
operations in the Southern
Hemisphere. It operates
from five cities and employs
over 500 Australian workers.
The current manager, Erich
Hofmann, says he’s never seen
a bad year — and he’s been in
the business since he was
four-years-old.
He puts Hofmann’s success
down to the simple principle
he learned from his father and
uncle: you can always get better
at what you do. That’s not just
a challenge for Hofmann’s
engineers and managers.
Every worker has good ideas
and every idea deserves to
be heard. From the people
who answer the phones to the
people who deliver the orders,
every Hofmann employee is in
the business of innovation.
Erich’s team sees great
potential in the clean
technology market. The
company has already
developed wind turbine gears
for clients in Germany. Now
Australia is gearing up for a
clean energy future the same
opportunities are opening
here at home. Hofmann is
building better components
Federal
Patent Office
established.
First Australian
patent
granted—
Westinghouse
and like train
brakes
for the local wind power
industry with the support of
a $5 million grant from the
Federal Government. The
‘Hofwind’ project will produce
an additional 900 megawatts of
green power, enough to supply
more than 200,000 homes.
Hofmann’s story is the story
of our nation.
Its two founders couldn’t
know the mining boom was
coming to Western Australia.
They certainly didn’t predict
the clean technology boom.
Australians did different jobs,
for a different era.
In 1969, more than 14 million
phonograph records were
made in Australia.
Australians took home, on
average, $52 for a full week’s
work. The average woman’s
weekly wage was $38.
Few Australians had seen
a computer, let alone had
one installed in their
workplace. In the early
1960s, computers cost about
$US5 million — and rented
for $US17,000 a month.
More than 120 million words
were sent out from Australia
via the international telegraph
service.
Then and now: Hofmann’s engineering in the 1960s and today
“Everyone here does R&D”
Hofmann engineering Managing Director erich Hofmann
But companies born in
strength. Our children have
Australia’s workers as the
the backyard in the 1960s
lifeblood of the new economy.
still prosper today. Two
opportunities our parents
couldn’t imagine.
generations of Australians
Erich Hofmann is optimistic
always change — but their
have gone from strength to
about that future. He sees
ingenuity continues to be vital.
Their tools and skills will
australian
Improved
shearing
handpiece
(now
featured
on the
$50 note)
Anthrax
vaccine
Heart
pacemaker
Penicillin
Hills Hoist
Aerosol Mortein
Cane
chopper
harvester
Synthetic
wine
skin in a
cardboard
box
Super
sopper
1904 1906 1909 1915 1918 1922 1926 1933 1940 1941 1945 1952 1953 1954 1958 1961 1965 1971 1974
Stump jump
disc plough
Periscope
rifle
Vegemite
launched
Ute
Owen gun
Victa
lawnmower
Precursor
of Black
Box flight
recorder
Ultrasound
scanner
Orbital
engine
To see all Australian patent records dating back to 1904
2
we do business
Our people are our strength
Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr
Australia is a creative
and resilient country.
We face up to problems and we
find opportunities that others
can’t see. That is the spirit
that has kept our economy
strong through generations of
sweeping change. The jobs we
do today are not the jobs most
of our parents were trained to
do. We can only guess what the
working day will bring for our
children. That does not mean
we are hostage to fate. In every
generation, we choose what we
make of the world we confront.
Our country is now facing
change on a scale we have not
seen in 50 years, driven by the
biggest resources boom in our
history. The boom is welcome,
but it will not endure for all
time. It poses major challenges
today for industries that pay
the wages for millions of
Australians, like manufacturing
and tourism.
This is the moment to decide
who we are, what we value and
what we want this nation to be
in 10, 50, 100 years’ time. We
can stand aside and let global
market forces sweep jobs and
opportunities away. Or we can
work together to re-tool our
firms and re-train our people
for the jobs of tomorrow. They
will be jobs in clean technology.
They will be jobs in advanced
manufacturing, sustainable
farming and the digital economy.
They will be jobs built on the
great strength of this nation —
Model of the SKA­­radio telescope — Senator Kim Carr with Canberra primary school students outside Parliament House
our people. Knowledge, skills
and ideas are the key to the
industries of the future.
and firms working together to
face the real pressures on the
factory and office floor.
Australia’s scientists belong
in the front-line of that
transformation. But this is not
a future that will be built in the
laboratory alone. It will be built
by governments, researchers
We can transform our economy
firm by firm and region by
region, to claim the future this
nation deserves.
Innovation is not about shiny
gadgets. It’s about looking at a
problem and seeing an opportunity.
That’s the spirit that built Australia
Senator Kim Carr
For more information visit
www.innovation.gov.au
ingenuity
Solar
powered
telephones
and digital
radio
concentrator
system
Race-cam
camera
installed
in a car at
Bathurst
1000
Funnel web
spider
antivenene
Safe-NSound baby
capsules
WiFi
technology
SolarScan
skin
cancer
detection
device
‘Cone-head’,
a shockabsorbing
liner for
motorcycle
helmets
‘EVestG’, a
diagnostic
technique to
detect mental
and neurological
illnesses
1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 1991 1993 2001 2002 2005 2007 2009 2010 2011
‘Triton’
workbench
Cochlear
implant
Dual flush
cistern
Winged keel
Cervical
cancer
vaccine
Optim
wool fibre
processor
Portable
retinal
camera
Bionic eye
Rockdrill
lodge a patent
application for
an improved
rock drill
visit the AusPat search system at www.ipaustralia.gov.au/auspat
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Transforming the old
ideas that feed the world
Australia is the driest
inhabited continent on earth.
We’re still one of the world’s
great food-producing nations.
them every year, but it’s still
People at home and overseas
look to this country for
nutritious products, catering to
real-world needs and produced
in a sustainable manner.
with a new ready-to-eat
That’s something Arnold May
of Popina Food Services knows
well. Twenty-eight years ago, he
purchased a tiny muesli-making
operation with one customer
and two or three part-time
employees. It used to focus on
contract manufacturing for the
big supermarket brands. Then
Arnold heard about the CSIRO’s
BARLEYmax, a low-GI natural
wholegrain with twice the
dietary fibre and four times the
resistant starch.
“Our initial aim with
BARLEYmax was to enhance
the nutritional qualities of
standard barley,” the CSIRO’s
Dr Bruce Lee says. “Once
this was achieved it was
important to make the improved
grain available via the food
industry so all Australians
could benefit.”
The result was Goodness
Superfoods, and eight nutritious
ready-to-eat cereals made
by Popina are now on the
a struggle to find one that’s ripe
at the right time. Pressure
Fresh is tackling that problem
avocado product in tubes and
tubs. The packaging process
keeps the avocado fresh for
four weeks from the day it
leaves the packing house.
“The driver behind AvoFresh
was ultimately the need to
make avocados convenient for
consumers, our innovative
high-pressure processing
technology has allowed us to
achieve that,” Pressure Fresh
Managing Director
Trent De Paoli says. “It is
Future Food: researchers producing BARLEYmaxTM
still early days, but the
consumer response has been
shelves of nearly all Australian
supermarkets.
The company now employs
more than 100 staff, and has
just turned over $8 million from
the BARLEYmax range. Arnold
is working with the CSIRO to
expand into the global market.
At the other end of the research
cycle, the Australian Institute
of Marine Science (AIMS) is
looking to the booming lobster
market in Asia. Managed wild
fisheries have reached their
sustainable limits and cannot
cater to the new demand.
A commercial lobster farm
industry in Australia could
be the answer — if AIMS can
crack the challenge of breeding
lobsters in captivity. As lobsters
normally develop in oceanic
nurseries far from the coast
any land-based aquaculture
requires careful attention to
water quality and special diets
to reduce mortality rates.
In a major research
breakthrough a female rock
lobster born and reared in
AIMS’ Townsville headquarters
has now successfully hatched
eggs. The production of a
second generation animal
proves that lobsters can be fully
domesticated and opens the
way to selective breeding.
With every step, jobs in a
very positive.”
Pressure Fresh received
a grant of $346,000 from
Commercialisation Australia
to perfect the technology at its
Bundaberg facility.
commercial lobster industry
“The grant enabled us to really
become more viable.
get going,” Trent says. “We had
Science can also help
Australians get the products
they want, in a form they
can use.
the idea for some time and the
primary research had been
completed. But without the
support of Commercialisation
Australia it would still be
Take avocados. Australia
a researched idea, not a
produces about 50,000 tonnes of
supermarket product.”
Steel — key to Australia’s manufacturing future
By 2020, world steel industry
CO2 emissions will be close to
four billion tonnes annually.
A new integrated steelmaking
process from the CSIRO could
halve these emissions in
countries, including Australia,
where biomass can be readily
produced.
Steel is the industrial backbone
of the world. There is no
economic growth without it
and no substitute for it.
Manufacturing industries
world-wide rely on the
continuing availability of steel
at reasonable prices.
Steel is part of both the climate
change problem and the climate
change solution. Its production
accounts for 3 to 4 per cent
of global CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions, but it also plays a
critical role in the construction
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of alternative/renewable power
technologies.
50 per cent less carbon dioxide
for every tonne produced.
Working with BlueScope Steel
and OneSteel, the CSIRO
has developed an Integrated
Steelmaking Process with the
potential to make more than a
50 per cent reduction of CO2 in
steel industry emissions without
compromising production.
On a life cycle basis, biochar
is almost greenhouse gas
neutral and can be derived
from plantation forests and
products such as residues from
harvesting and processing
biomass and other agricultural
wastes. It can also be derived
from sources such as
dedicated plantations.
There are two major
components to the Integrated
Steelmaking Process, namely;
Designer Bio-char and Dry Slag
Granulation (DSG).
Ironmaking uses large
amounts of coal and coke,
which is produced from coal.
Judiciously using biochar
produced from biomass instead
of coal or coke can achieve
dramatic reductions in the
environmental impact of iron
and steel production — over
The CSIRO has developed
a novel process to convert
biomass into ‘designer’
charcoal. This technology
maximises the charcoal yield
and allows the capture of
valuable by-products such as
bio-oil and other hydrocarbons
which could be used to
generate green electricity.
The process is capable of
producing charcoals with
designed properties for specific
applications in iron and
steel making.
The use of the designer charcoal
as partial or full replacement for
fossil carbon has already been
piloted in Australia. The next
phase of the R&D program is
to demonstrate the technology
through full-scale plant trials.
DSG uses a patented technology
to atomise melts such as slag
and capture a large quantity
of heat through contacting
the droplets and granules
with air. The high-grade
heat in the air could then be
recycled to the furnaces or
used for desalination of water,
generation of electricity and
the like. DSG also produces a
highly ‘glassy’ product which
can be used as replacement for
Portland cement. Apart from
significant savings in energy
and CO2 emissions, DSG could
also result in considerable
reductions in fresh water usage
and sulphur emissions to the
atmosphere while converting
hundreds of millions of tonnes
of by-product/waste into
saleable cement.
The CSIRO’s Integrated
Steelmaking Process is one of
the few known technologies that
can deliver a substantial cut in
carbon emissions at minimal
cost to smelters. There is no
competing technology that will
be market-worthy before 2040.
The estimated value of that
knowledge over the next
20 years is $42 billion,
assuming just 10 per cent
global market penetration.
For more information visit
www.csiro.au
Building the new
message from the Prime Minister
Today, more Australians are
working than ever before, at a
time when many countries are
still struggling with the fall-out
from the global financial crisis.
Over the last four years we
have created nearly
three-quarters of a million jobs
and our unemployment rate is
the envy of the world.
But we want to build on our
already strong foundations and
take hold of the opportunities
that lie ahead.
from today’s levels by around
$9,000 per person by 2020 and
more than $30,000 per person
by 2050.
more Australian businesses to
become more competitive, with
greater capacity to employ more
What are the building blocks of
the jobs of the future?
Record investments in our
Technology is changing. Our
National Broadband Network
will link every part of Australia to
every part of the world, opening
up business opportunities that
weren’t even conceivable five or
10 years ago.
massive new employment
Employment is projected to
grow strongly with a carbon
price. About 1.6 million jobs
will be created by 2020, with a
further 4.4 million by 2050.
Our education investments
now mean all Australians,
regardless of their background,
can get the skills and the
knowledge they need to secure
the high-skilled, high-paid jobs
of the future.
The gross national income per
person is expected to increase
Our tax reforms are lowering
company tax and enabling
Building on the building
blocks of life
Twenty-five years ago the
biotechnology industry did
not exist.
Today, Australian biotechnology
companies have a combined
market capitalisation in excess
of $25 billion. About 13,000
people work in this diverse
industry, ranging from biomedical companies to those
involved in clean and green
industrial processing and
agriculture. They are part of
a new industrial revolution
that is changing every part
of our lives, with the aid of
biotechnology…
…the Australian Centre for
Plant Functional Genomics
has produced rice with up to
four times the amount of iron
and double the amount of zinc.
This development will help
improve the lives of the two
billion people suffering iron
deficiency worldwide. Field
trials are now underway.
…Vaxxas Pty Ltd is developing
a pain-free way to administer
vaccines. The Nanopatch is
smaller than a postage stamp,
with thousands of small
projections that overcome the
need for needles.
…Licella is producing biocrude oil which can be refined
for use in regular engines from
readily available and renewable
sources, including woody waste
residues and grasses.
…Acrux has entered a $US335
million deal with a global
pharmaceutical company for
Axiron, the first testosterone
replacement product that
can be applied to the armpit
like roll-on deodorant. It is
estimated that the annual
market for testosterone
replacement therapy is valued
at $US1 billion and growing at
20 per cent each year.
And there’s plenty more — all
happening in Australia today.
Future Technologies in Manufacturing
Technologies such as nanotechnology and biotechnology
are predicted to have enormous impacts on the future of
manufacturing. Nanotechnology, which enables the engineering
of matter at near atomic or molecular scales, offers the
possibility of many new industrial applications across sectors,
including energy production, filtration, drug delivery and a
wide variety of new materials. Estimates are that products
incorporating nanotechnology may be generating revenue of
around $US2.5 trillion worldwide by 2015.
Australians.
natural resources are creating
opportunities across Australia.
And the Government’s move to
a clean energy future, which
includes putting a price on
carbon, will unlock new jobs
right across the nation.
Right now, around the globe,
governments and industries
are competing for the jobs
Prime Minister Julia Gillard talks with workers at the Kogan
Creek Power Solar Boost Project
They are cutting their costs and
Australia can be a leader of the
clean energy economy. We can
adapt and thrive where others
lack the courage to change.
boosting their productivity with
the aid of new technologies.
And we can cut dangerous
carbon pollution as we
and opportunities of a lowcarbon world.
capitalise on this new market.
By working together, we can
keep growing our economy. We
can keep growing jobs. We can
keep Australia on the high-road
to prosperity.
titans of Titanium
Australia has the largest
known titanium reserves in
the world.
It’s useful stuff. Titanium is
as strong as steel but about
half the weight. It’s also highly
resistant to corrosion, fatigue
and extreme temperatures.
Today, most of our titanium
ore is shipped overseas and
bought back after processing.
The processing costs are too
high to be commercially viable
in this country. We buy our
titanium back in everything
from ingots for industry to hip
replacements and cookware
for consumers. On the
current extraction rate,
Australia could keep that up
for 90 years before our
reserves are gone.
But John Barnes, a senior
research leader at the CSIRO,
has a better idea. If we
converted just 1 per cent of our
titanium ore reserves each year
to metal, and turned it into highvalue products, John estimates
we would achieve the same
annual earnings as we get now
from our raw ore exports.
That’s why the CSIRO is active
in research and development
in each stage of the titanium
production supply chain, from
material production to metal
machining. The processes
used worldwide today are
costly and inefficient, largely
because titanium is so
hard and resistant to heat.
Manufacturers pay through
the nose for the raw metal,
then have to machine away
90 per cent of it.
Melbourne’s Swinburne
The arrival of additive
manufacturing technologies,
which generate 3D shapes
directly, is changing the game.
Instead of machining a product
out of a block of metal,
additive manufacturing builds
up products layer by layer out
of powder or metal wire, using
energy from lasers or electron
beams to bind the metal into a
shape. It is faster, cheaper, and
cleaner — and the global race
to develop the technology is
heating up.
the 1920s, because no-one’s
“Australia is well-placed to get
ahead,” John says. “We already
have the high-skill workforce
needed for computer-aided
product design. With the
right titanium technology we
would gain a powerful edge
over mass-scale, low-wage
producers overseas. We can
get better, cheaper titanium
products into the global
market.”
materials and energy costs,
The winner of the CSIRO’s
inaugural Titanium Challenge,
Callaghan Forsyth from
to more — more jobs, more
University, is proving we can do
just that. He’s helping the auto
industry tackle a challenge as
old as the Model T Ford.
The radiators we use today
are basically the same as
the radiators we used back in
found a better alternative —
until now.
Callaghan has designed a
new radiator made entirely of
strong, light and corrosionresistant titanium. His
idea employs selective
laser melting, an additive
manufacturing technology that
uses a high-powered laser
to fuse fine metallic powders
together. It offers dramatic
savings in labour, time,
and major reductions
in the environmental impact
of traditional radiators —
which rely on lead coatings to
prevent corrosion.
There’s a long way to go before
Callaghan’s radiators end up on
the assembly line. But there’s
no doubt today that we’re
ready to take titanium from ore
efficiency and more export
earnings from our resources.
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Creative and resilient
“As a global
enterprise, we
remain firmly
committed
to Australia
because we
continue to find and create
significant value here.”
Ian Thomas, President, Boeing
Australia & South Pacific
“The ARC
works closely
with
universities to
facilitate
the strong
partnerships between
universities and industry that are
essential to Australia’s innovative
manufacturing future.”
Margaret Sheil, CEO, Australian
Research Council
“Manufacturing
is a source of
income, wealth
creation and
employment.”
Peter Burn, Director, Australian
Industry Group
“One thing
is clear, for
the future
prosperity of
Australia:
manufacturing matters.”
Jeff Lawrence, Secretary, ACTU
Matrix: A wa success story
Matrix Composites and
Engineering Ltd is a unique
Western Australian firm with
a global client base.
operations, downstream LNG,
It is a world leader in the
manufacture and supply of
subsea buoyancy systems for
the oil and gas industry, and
is one of a number of worldclass oil and gas equipment
manufacturers in Australasia.
systems — a market that
The company’s industrial
chemists, materials scientists
and composites engineers
have developed marketleading engineered products
using advanced composite and
polymer materials for
use in the oil, gas and
resources industries.
and gas well recovery rates.
Matrix products are used by
many of the world’s largest
oil and gas producers, drilling
contractors, installation
contractors and equipment
suppliers.
The company’s new 20,000m2
Matrix services key markets
including subsea umbilicals,
risers and flowlines, deepwater
drilling, marine risers,
well construction, marine
Megan Clark, CEO, the CSIRO
“Advanced
and precision
manufacturing
makes the
machines
that make the
products that make our lives
what they are today.”
Shane Infanti, CEO, Australian
Manufacturing Technology
Institute
6
casing and risers.
As well as subsea buoyancy
Matrix dominates on a
global scale — the firm also
engineers systems for offshore
oil and gas wells that reduce
drilling and completion times,
improve safety and increase oil
“Matrix invests heavily in
research and development.
A strong focus on R&D allows
us to manufacture products
that are superior in nature
and exceed client
expectations,” CEO Aaron
Begley says.
premises at the Australian
Marine Park at Henderson,
south of Perth, is the largest
and most technically advanced
composites syntactic plant in
the world. It has a pressure
testing facility that allows
Matrix to qualify and test
buoyancy systems to a
service depth of 17,500.
The company’s commitment
to commercial innovation and
its success on a global scale
was recognised when it won
the national 2010 Australian
Export Award for Advanced
Manufacturer, as well as the
2011 Subsea Energy Australian
Awards for the category of
‘Global Exports’.
Sales revenue increased
by 82 per cent in the 2011
financial year, when the
company’s composites
production facilities operated
at full capacity. When the new
Henderson plant reaches
full production, which is
expected in the first half of
the 2012 financial year, it will
have doubled the production
capacity of the company’s
existing facilities in Malaga,
Western Australia.
Matrix employs more than
400 staff and exports 90
per cent of its products and
services to clients in more
than 30 countries.
The Australian Government’s
Tradex scheme, which is
administered by AusIndustry
Matrix’s “Sea of Buoyancy”
(www.ausindustry.gov.au),
assists the company in keeping
pace with global industry
leaders. Tradex makes
Australian exporters more
competitive by providing upfront customs duty and GST
exemptions at the time of import.
“Tradex helps enormously
from a cash-flow perspective
because we do not have to worry
about a convoluted drawback
process,” Aaron says. “In effect,
we are paying world prices for
our raw materials. That puts us
on a level playing field.”
IBM — COMMITTED TO AUSTRALIA: Managing Director IBM Australia and New Zealand, Andrew Stevens
On the eve of the official
opening of IBM’s research and
development laboratory in
Australia, scheduled for
14 October, 2011, it’s exciting to
anticipate what the future will
“The CSIRO is
helping more
than 1,000
Australian
businesses
use innovation
to compete globally.”
offshore, and connectors,
hold for this facility.
Announced a year ago, the
lab will be IBM’s first lab that
combines R&D in a single
organisation focused on
accelerating progress towards
a smarter planet.
The lab will employ at least 150
people over the next five years
and the research initiatives they
will focus on will map directly
to some of Australia’s most
pressing challenges, including:
smarter natural resource
management; smarter natural
disaster management; and
healthcare and life sciences.
shared commitment between
government, academia, and
business towards the pursuit of
smarter solutions to the world’s
challenges and a confidence
in the enhanced role that
Australians can play in creating
a better world.
decade, Australia has
become an increasingly
important and growing
destination for IBM’s R&D
investment. Establishing the lab
is the ultimate recognition that
Australia has a key role to play in
IBM’s R&D future.
The establishment of an R&D
Lab in Australia reflects the
world-class research talent we
have in this country, and how
far Australia has come as a
provider of high-value technical
and research expertise. It
also demonstrates the deep,
Globally, IBM invests more
in R&D than any other like
company, $6 billion in 2010 —
and we spread those investment
dollars across the planet —
wherever we believe there are
the best skills, opportunities
and local support. Over the past
We are delighted that Australia
is playing an extremely
important part in the
Corporation’s future, and we are
confident that we will see many
ground-breaking discoveries
coming out of the IBM R&D lab in
the coming years.
Selling the Green and Gold Economy: Supplier Envoy, Steve Bracks
As one of
Australia’s
Supplier
Envoys, it’s my
job to show
major players
in the auto industry that it pays
to invest in Australian firms
and Australian jobs. There
are plenty of countries with
lower wages, lower standards
and a better exchange rate.
No-one’s going to do us any
special favours.
The truth is, we don’t need them.
The workers and researchers
in Australia can make quality,
high-value products that other
countries just aren’t matching.
Global investors value our
technology and skills. There’s
a lot of interest in the products
in the pipeline at the moment,
particularly our work in green
cars. People want cars that
are cheap to run, but they don’t
want cars that can’t perform.
Australian companies are finding
really smart ways to strike the
balance.
CFusion, which trades as Carbon
Revolution, is a great example.
It plans to start manufacturing
the world’s first carbon fibre
automobile wheels in 2012.
CFusion is commercialising
the wheel with help from the
Australian Government’s Green
Car Innovation Fund. Executive
Chairman Jake Dingle says the
company will employ 180-200
skilled workers in this new hightech manufacturing industry.
When you buy Australian, you
buy innovation.
Researchers in the front line
bionic eye in sight
People facing progressive
vision loss have high hopes
for a new technology being
developed by an Australian
group of researchers at Bionic
Vision Australia, part of a
Special Research Initiative
funded through the Australian
Research Council.
The team includes leading
researchers who helped to
develop the cochlear implant
(bionic ear), a hugely successful
Aussie innovation which has
brought the miracle of sound
to more than 200,000 people
worldwide.
Just a short time since the
$42 million funding commenced
in 2009, the project is already
showing encouraging results.
The bionic eye consists of a
camera attached to a pair of
glasses, which captures the
visual scene and transmits
radio frequency signals to a
microchip implanted in the
eye. Electrodes attached to
the chip convert these signals
into electrical impulses which
stimulate the retina, conveying
signals to the optic nerve. This
Partnerships
hope of a life with greater vision,
mobility and independence.
That would not be possible
without cutting-edge skills
across an incredible range of
fields, including ophthalmology,
biomedical engineering,
neuroscience, psychophysics
and surgical and clinical
practice. Researchers, doctors,
manufacturers and patients
need to work together to build
the best possible product.
Retinitis pigmentosa results in progressive vision loss.
Photo: Centre for Eye Research Australia.
is then interpreted by the visual
processing centres of the brain
as an image.
The images are getting clearer
as the team’s work accelerates.
The first prototype, called the
‘wide-view’ device, distinguishes
light from dark, to enable
patients to manoeuvre around
large objects. This requires
a retinal implant with around
100 electrodes. The second
prototype, called the ‘highacuity’ device, aims to help
patients to recognise
faces and read large print using
a retinal implant with over
1,000 electrodes.
First patient tests of the wideview device are expected by
2013, while the high-acuity
device should be ready for the
first patient tests in 2014. This
is welcome news indeed for
people racing the clock, and
those already living with vision
loss due to conditions such as
retinitis pigmentosa and agerelated macular degeneration.
This technology may not match
the incredible power of the
human eye, but it can offer real
The same principle of cooperation for a common
goal underpins all the grant
programs the Australian
Research Council administers.
The Linkage Projects scheme,
for example, aims to bring top
researchers together with
companies and end product
users, so they can match their
ideas to real-world needs.
Nearly 2,000 different partner
organisations are involved in
Linkage programs already
underway.
To learn more about the Bionic Eye,
visit www.bionicvision.org.au/
For more information on the ARC’s
programs, visit www.arc.gov.au
Australia to help address global nuclear medicine shortage
There are tens of millions
of nuclear medicine
procedures performed around
the world each year to ensure
quick, accurate diagnosis of
illnesses.
The thyroid, bones, heart, liver
and many other organs can be
easily imaged and disorders in
their function revealed.
Isotopes are manufactured at
Australia’s Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation, ANSTO.
As the only producer of this
nuclear medicine in Australia,
ANSTO supplies hospitals across
the country with 10,000 patient
doses each week.
And with the some of the world’s
major radioisotope-producing
reactors expected to stop
manufacturing by 2020, ANSTO
may soon provide doses to
hospitals around the globe.
Across the world, clinicians use
medical imaging to accurately
diagnose disease. These
procedures need Molybdenum-99
— a raw isotope used to produce
Technetium-99m, a radioactive
tracer that medical equipment
can detect in the body.
In 2009–10, ANSTO responded
to a global shortage of
Molybdenum-99 resulting from
the unplanned shut down of
two overseas isotope producing
reactors. ANSTO increased its
production of Molybdenum-99
and made its first exports to
North America.
The ANSTO isotopes ensured
thousands of Americans had
access to critical diagnostic
tests, avoiding potentially life
threatening delays to treatments.
Molybdenum-99 is manufactured
using Australia’s OPAL reactor,
which is one of only a few
research reactors that run
on Low-Enriched Uranium
producing commercial
quantities of medical
isotopes. LEU reactors are
favoured by customers such
as the United States because
this ensures that the fuel
can only be used for peaceful
applications.
Demand for nuclear medicine
procedures is now at an
all-time high, and the world
is increasingly turning to
Australia to fill the need.
Australian science — great talent, great potential: Australia’s Chief Scientist, Prof Ian Chubb
It’s not hard
to be an
optimist in my
job. I am the
ambassador
for the tens of thousands of
scientists and researchers in
Australia. That means I deal
every day with some of the
most inspiring people you’re
likely to meet. Australia
represents about 0.3 per cent of
the world’s population, but we
still produce more than 3 per
cent of its new research.
Our strengths in areas like
tropical science, astronomy
and medicine are pretty well
known. If you look a bit deeper,
you’ll discover there are worldclass researchers here in
almost every modern field.
There are scientists at work
for Australia all across the
country, from the bottom of
the ocean to the heart of the
Pilbara.
industry to tackle. That doesn’t
It is not always easy to come
to terms with the evidence that
scientists put on the table.
Problems like climate change
and urban sprawl can seem too
complex for governments or
of the extraordinary power
Australia’s Cooperative
Research Centres (CRCs) are
partnerships between public
researchers and industry.
These partnerships have
developed new products
and processes which are
creating new jobs, attracting
international investment,
increasing our safety and
giving us technologically
advanced consumables.
GroundProbe Pty Ltd
CRC spinoff company
GroundProbe has deployed its
slope-stability radars (SSR™)
globally to measure the rock
walls of open-pit mines and
provide early-warning of
wall movement and potential
collapses. GroundProbe employs
150 people in Australia and
overseas.
MIGfast Pty Ltd
CRC spinoff MIGfast has
developed advanced welding
tips for aerospace, automotive
and metal and machining
companies. This new
technology enables Australian
companies to weld up to
50 per cent faster with
30 per cent less CO2 emissions.
Rubicon Systems Pty Ltd
Rubicon Systems, bolstered
by its collaboration with the
CRC for Sensor Signal and
Information Processing and
CRC partner the University of
Melbourne, has become a world
leader in the automation of
irrigation supply systems. It now
has 110 full-time employees in
Australia and 14 overseas.
Scanalyse Pty Ltd
Start-up company Scanalyse
has commercialised
MillMapper, a laser scanning
technology used on mine sites
around the world. MillMapper
scans the liners of grinding
mills for wear and tear and
reduces machine downtime
and operating costs. The
technology was developed by
the CRC for Spatial Information.
Scanalyse employs 20 people in
Australia and overseas.
mean we can afford to ignore
them. As our knowledge about
these problems expands, I
hope people won’t lose sight
of the human mind. We can
understand these issues,
and we can build the tools to
conquer them, with science,
research and clever people.
The CRC program is an Australian
Government Initiative
7
Work in progress
powering ideas
Type ‘NOJA Power’
into Google and
you’ll be bombarded
with hits on the
company’s worldclass switchgears.
It may not be the sexiest of
subjects, but the internet
and the name were part of a
deliberate marketing strategy
that has turned NOJA from an
idea to a company employing
more than 150 people — in less
than a decade.
As Neil O’Sullivan explains,
the four founding directors
used their initials to produce
a distinctive company name.
And, sitting in his home office,
the three engineers and MBA
graduate nutted out the plan
that has given that name a
profile in 75 countries
“We wanted to get to as many
clients as quickly as possible.
We took out second mortgages,
spent 12 months on research
and development and got a
$750,000 R&D Grant from the
federal government,” he says.
“We had to match it. But I
want to make it clear that
partnerships between
government and business are
critical. The return on that initial
investment is one-hundred-fold
in terms of exports and jobs.”
NOJA spent $100,000 of
that money testing its first
product — a high voltage circuit
breaker — in the Netherlands,
ensuring it met all international
standards. It was money that
would be lost if it failed to get
the tick.
“We got the certificates. Our
first sale was to China in 2002
and we delivered the first
products in 2003,” Neil says.
“It’s important that you own the
IP [intellectual property] and
manufacture the finished goods.”
Neil O’Sullivan, from NOJA Power
The NOJA circuit breaker is
similar to those installed in
homes across the country.
But theirs is used on overhead
high voltage power lines,
automatically restoring supply
by opening, allowing the
transient fault to clear and then
closing again in sub second
times. It allows for greater
reliability, and it could mean
the difference between a minor
inconvenience and sustained
power outages. The product is
also used to improve protection
in rural areas and help protect
against bushfires started by
power line faults.
“We sell to electricity utility
customers worldwide as well as
mining companies,” Neil says.
“And, now that the Victorian
Bushfire Commission has
mandated that electricity utilities
be updated, we have been asked
to customise our product.”
Neil says that NOJA has a
varied workforce made up of
engineers, tradesmen, semiskilled and unskilled workers.
“And there are two shifts.
The 6am to 2.30pm is really
attractive to working mums.
We’ve been overwhelmed by
women wanting to return to the
workforce. We train them. We
offer electrical apprenticeships,
business traineeships and
engineering internships,
and sponsor people to go to
university,” Neil says.
Australia and New
Zealand are laying
the groundwork to
host an international
mega-science
project—the
$2.5 billion Square
Kilometre Array
radio telescope.
Dr Lisa Harvey-Smith runs a
long race—literally. She’s an
ultra runner, competing in 100
km, 12 hour and 24 hour races.
That’s in her spare time. In her
working life she’s the CSIRO
Project Scientist for one of
the biggest, longest scientific
projects around: the Square
Kilometre Array (SKA) radio
telescope.
The SKA is an international
project involving hundreds of
scientists and engineers, from
more than 20 countries, that
have all been working to design
the world’s largest, most
sensitive, most sophisticated
radio telescope.
“It grew from the ground up,”
Lisa explains.
“Twenty years ago the SKA was
a twinkle in the eye of a few
astronomers, and now it’s this
mega-project.”
“We’re taking Australian
technology to the world and
R&D is the cornerstone of our
business. We work with the
University of Queensland and
QUT. We use their labs, take
student placements and pay
to use university facilities for
research.
“Our future is bright because
of our continuous investment
in R&D. We’re a 100 per cent
owned Australian company and
we’re proud of that.”
AusIndustry delivers a range of programs that support
businesses, facilitate the sustainable growth of venture
capital, and stimulate the conversion of research and
emerging new technologies.
For more information visit www.ausindustry.gov.au
Milspec’s Maurie Bush
8
Work in progress
EXAMINING THE UNIVERSE
the international SKA Program
Development Office.
The SKA will come to either
Australia-New Zealand or to
a consortium of countries in
southern Africa.
Both groups are poised to
learn in early 2012 who will get
the nod.
Australia’s bid for the SKA has
been led and co-ordinated by the
Commonwealth Government.
Lisa Harvey-Smith standing in front of an antenna of the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope at the Murchison
Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia.
Photo: Dragonfly Media
Participating countries will
jointly fund the $2.5 billion
telescope.
It’s a sophisticated technique,
needing enormous computing
power.
Lisa’s own research interests
The SKA will have thousands
of individual antennas,
spread over thousands of
kilometres of country, but
taking up a total area of just
one square kilometre.
“Astronomers have been
developing this technique for
50 years,” Lisa says. “Even
so, the SKA is way beyond any
telescope ever built before.”
exploded stars, the gas in space
The SKA will give astronomers
insight into the formation and
evolution of the first stars and
galaxies after the Big Bang, the
role of cosmic magnetism, the
nature of gravity, and possibly
life beyond Earth.
Her role as Project Scientist
“The data from all these
antennas is fed together and
processed together, and the
whole set-up mimics one
enormous dish with an area of
a square kilometre,” Lisa says.
are similarly broad: cosmic
magnetism, remains of
between the stars, how massive
stars form and ‘astrophysical
masers’ (regions in space that
shine brightly in radio waves).
involves further developing the
SKA’s science case, keeping
engineering developments
aligned with science goals, and
liaising between scientists in
Australia and New Zealand and
A key part of the Australian
preparations has been
building the Australian SKA
Pathfinder, a smaller but also
groundbreaking telescope of
36 antennas, at Australia’s
candidate site for the core
of the SKA, the Murchison
Radio-astronomy Observatory,
300 kilometres north-east of
Geraldton in WA.
Murchison Shire is the size
of the Netherlands, but has a
population of less than 160.
“The site is accessible but the
low population density means
it’s extremely radio-quiet—there
are very low levels of radio
signals—which is what we must
have for a telescope as sensitive
as the SKA,” Lisa explains.
There are currently 85 people
employed in the CSIRO to work
on ASKAP and $50 million
worth of contracts have been
paid to Australian companies in
the course of the construction,
including 20 Australian
companies with which the
CSIRO has contracts worth
over $100,000.
And, as part of an Indigenous
Land Use Agreement, the
CSIRO will provide up to
70 cadetships to the local
Wajarri Yamatji people over the
next 30 years.
“If the SKA comes here we
expect there’ll be about 330
jobs during the construction
phase, which will last seven to
10 years and up to 360 jobs in
ongoing operations,” Lisa says.
The number of SKA-related
contracts for Australian
companies will continue to
grow as ancillary projects,
such as the Pawsey Computing
Centre in Perth, and a project
to supply the SKA with
sustainable energy, expand.
Big science facilities last a
long time.
“We expect the SKA to operate
for at least 50 years,” Lisa says.
“So, yes, we are in it for the
long haul.”
Her ultra-marathon experience
will be coming in handy.
To find out more about Australia
and New Zealand’s bid, visit
www.ska.gov.au
One thousand steps to success
When Maurie Bush
was told he had
to sign up for
a Certificate IV
in Competitive
Manufacturing,
he was reluctant.
“I was 61- years-old. I was
concerned I had nothing to gain
out of doing the training,” he says.
Maurie was one of four men in
the mechanical assembly team
at Milspec Manufacturing Pty
Ltd, a precision engineering
business based in Albury, NSW.
All four were over 40, and some
hadn’t undertaken any training
since leaving school. They’d given
decades of service. They were
looking forward to retirement.
But Milspec’s owners, Wendy
and David Cooper, had other
plans. In 2006 Milspec expanded
its operations by purchasing
a local sheetmetal fabrication
business. This threw the
company into turmoil. Morale
was low, and staff turnover was
high. Wendy and David set out
to turn that around. Their goal
was simple: find and make 1,000
workplace improvements to
keep Milspec strong.
No desk was left unturned, and
no employee was left behind.
All 55 workers in the company
at the time — permanent,
casual and trainee staff — were
signed up for Competitive
Manufacturing training.
Less than two years on, Milspec
has already ticked off the 1,000
improvement milestone — and
they aren’t stopping there.
“We’ve made some huge
changes requiring considerable
flexibility and resourcefulness
from our staff — including
consolidating all our operations
under one roof — which
has boosted morale and
productivity,” Wendy says.
“Our welding team improved
the workflow in the welding
bays to accommodate additional
work from the railway industry.
Our machine shop team
completed a business and
installation plan for a new
$25,000 tool-setting machine,
which has significantly reduced
set-up times; and our paint
shop team built a new in-house
spray booth with improved fume
reduction technology. Even the
office support areas were redesigned for improved space
and workflow.”
And Maurie’s team is leading the
way. It’s one of the most active in
the factory.
“I finally agreed to participate
and I have got a lot out of it.
It has made us more aware of
what we are doing and how we
are contributing to the whole
team,” Maurie says.
“The training has helped us to
work smarter, and find better,
easier and safer ways of doing
things. It makes it more
enjoyable for everyone. We’re
now thinking along the same
lines — it has brought the team
closer together.”
Meanwhile, 60-year-old team
supervisor Frank Hicks is
rethinking his retirement plans.
“I am not in a hurry to leave now,
I feel like we can still make a
contribution,” he says. “We can
now take the skills we’ve built
up over 40 years and update,
adapt and share them with
other workers.”
Wendy puts the company’s
success down to the
commitment of its people.
“We’re a small company based
in regional Australia and we
compete globally for business.
Our continued success is no
small achievement and very
much due to our combined
effort,” Wendy says.
“It’s fantastic to see what can
be achieved when we all work
together as a team.”
Milspec recently received a
Business Review from Enterprise
Connect, for further information
contact the Enterprise Connect
hotline on 131 791 or visit
www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au
9
Re-tool and re-skill
THE RESILIENCE OF AUSTRALIAN FIRMS
You don’t come to
manufacturing for a quiet life.
That is something Rex and
Susan Manderson know well.
Two decades ago, they founded
Chaotech Pty Ltd, focusing
on steel, copper, brass and
aluminium components
for electrical switchgear
manufacturers. Business was
booming — until the factory
in Rocklea, Queensland, was
submerged beneath three
metres of muddy water in the
January floods.
Power was shut down for two
weeks. All the machinery had
to be dismantled, cleaned,
rewired, and recommissioned.
Some of the plant is still out of
action today.
It couldn’t have happened
at a worse moment for
Chaotech. With the support of
the Australian Government’s
Climate Ready program,
Chaotech was building a
pyrolysis plant to turn sawdust
waste into biochar for farmers.
It’s a biomass-derived charcoal
that can improve harvest
yields, soil structure and
water retention, and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and
nutrient leaching. Chaotech’s
pyrolysis plant would also
generate 500 kilowatts for local
power consumption. But the
pilot plant, along with the rest
of the business, had to be put
on hold.
Rex and Susan had to deal
with a $1 million damage bill,
a major pilot project and a
fast-growing order book at
the same time. They did what
Australian manufacturers
have done for generations.
They faced the problems, they
looked to the long-term, and
they made the adjustments
to get the business back on
track. By subcontracting work
to other machine shops and
borrowing and purchasing
machines, they managed to
maintain production. The
business has now achieved
a milestone of having all
production back on site,
with no further need for
subcontracting.
The owners believe the
business is close to a return
to profitability. It now employs
more than 20 staff in two full
shifts daily and, in response
to increasing demand, has
invested in new sophisticated
computer-numerical-control
machines. Chaotech is now
looking to take on more
skilled workers, and get the
pilot plant back on track.
That is a testament to the
phenomenal resilience of
Australian manufacturing.
Many Australian firms are
facing hard times today —
hard times that few could
have foreseen when their
businesses were
established. Our dollar
has shot up significantly
in the space of two years,
putting serious pressure
on companies exposed to
the global market. We’re
dealing, at the same time,
with sweeping changes in the
way the world does business
— from our relationship with
China to our approach to
carbon pollution.
Governments can’t make
the decisions for firms. They
know their business and their
people best. But they’re not
alone. In good times and bad,
government and industry
are working together to find
the opportunities that come
with change.
never look back
Factories are the
heart of towns
across the country.
When factories
close, a community
suffers — and
a community
fights back.
For many South Australians,
that moment came in 2008 with
the shut-down of the Mitsubishi
plant at Tonsley Park. The
factory had stood proud for
more than 50 years, making
more than a million cars and
employing two generations
of local families. Hundreds of
jobs were lost in one blow, and
hundreds more would follow
as the impact rippled down
the supply chain. It was said
that local industry would
never recover.
South Australians didn’t agree.
They faced up to the problems,
they looked at their strengths,
10
Supporting the Illawarra
>In response to BlueScope
Steel’s planned
restructuring
and the significant loss
of jobs in the Illawarra,
the Commonwealth and
the NSW Governments
have announced a
$30 million Innovation
and Investment Fund.
and they thought they had a
future worth saving. They chose
to remake local industries and
rebuild local jobs.
Governments put in capital
— a $30 million Innovation
Investment Fund. Researchers
put in the ideas — for better
products, for cheaper
processes, for smarter ways
of doing business. Companies
stepped up to make those ideas
a reality, putting in about
$140 million in new investment.
Today that investment is paying
off in jobs and opportunities.
SMR Automotive is a prime
example. The company had
been making rear vision mirrors
at Lonsdale for decades.
Today, it is a global pioneer in
high-precision moulding and
optical engineering. The global
company, of which SMR is a
key part, supplies 30 per cent
of the world market. As the
Australian arm of a global
corporate empire you could
say it leads the world in
looking backwards.
Above: The resilient Mandersons
are getting back to business after
Queensland’s floods. Chaotech
mechanical engineer Daniel
Manderson, responsible for the
firm’s biomass pyrolysis plant, is
flanked by his parents, Chaotech
owners Rex and Susan.
Mirror image: University of South Australia’s Colin Hall was a lead
researcher on the SMR plastic automotive reflective mirror project.
But SMR thought it was capable
of much more. A $500,000
grant from the South Australia
Innovation Investment Fund
has allowed the company to
develop a new clean room
facility, allowing it to use its
world-class plastic injection
moulding machines in entirely
new ways. SMR will be able to
make precision components for
a range of high-tech products,
ranging from whitegoods to
medical devices. The project
will create about 37 high-wage,
high-skill jobs for the region,
and great opportunities for
other industry partners.
That was just one of 29
projects made possible by the
South Australian Innovation
Investment Fund. The new
industries it opened up show
the true depth and breadth
of skills in the local business
community. Bio-manufacturing
and sustainable fish farming
are a far cry from the car
factory that attracted people
in the past. The area has
re-tooled and re-skilled to help
secure its future.
For more information visit
www.ausindustry.gov.au
>It will be funded by
contributions from
the Commonwealth
Government ($20 million),
the New South Wales
Government ($5 million)
and BlueScope Steel
($5 million).
>The Fund will strengthen
the Illawarra region by
stimulating investment and
diversifying the economic
and employment base now
and into the future.
>More information on the
Fund will be available
through the AusIndustry
hotline, 13 28 46 or visit
www.ausindustry.gov.au
Re-tool and re-skill
spread your wings
It’s not easy to make a living
selling paintings.
It doesn’t help when your
gallery is so remote that
customers need a four-wheel
drive to visit.
Ross Franzi (pictured) is an
Australian artist based in
Bloomfield, on the edge of the
Daintree National Park. If his
Black Cockatoo Gallery had
to rely on passing visitors,
he’d rarely make a sale. The
business is 180 kilometres
north of Cairns, with many river
and creek crossings along the
way. In the wet season, access
can be cut off altogether.
Small Business Support Line
>A single point of contact to access information, advice and
referral services to assist small businesses, including
personal hardship counselling.
>In just over two years of operation, the SBSL has received
almost 40,000 calls.
>People taking calls have extensive personal small business
sector experience.
>Call 1800 777 725 or email:[email protected]
That hasn’t stopped Ross doing
what he does best — living with
the beauty and power of wild
Australia and sharing it with
the world through his art.
With the assistance of the Small
Business Online program,
Ross’s website is his shop
window, opening his unique
works to customers all over the
world. As an artist, maintaining
his exposure to leading art
curators and galleries overseas
is critical. Ross has already
used his web presence to
mount exhibitions in New York.
But www.blackcockatoogallery.
com.au hasn’t just given Ross
an international profile — it’s
convinced people all over the
world to come to Australia.
The gallery itself has seen
increased traffic and Ross
is active in promoting the
opportunities for artists in
Australia. He’s developing and
marketing Master Art classes
for an international audience
through the website.
Today, only two-fifths of
Australian firms have a web
presence, according to the
latest ABS data. The smaller
your firm, the less likely you
are to maintain a website.
But you don’t have to move to
the Daintree to see the benefits
of an online presence.
These days, international
students come to Australia
to study art — and that’s a
testament to the impact of
pioneers like Ross.
A helping hand to new skills and jobs
Employment training
and relocation
dependants may be eligible for
an additional $3,000.
Job Services Australia
operates in more than
2,000 locations around the
country, connecting job
seekers to government
initiatives that will help them
with skills and training for
a new job.
Employers who take on
relocating job seekers receive
a $2,500 wage subsidy in
recognition of the support and
assistance workers need in the
early stages of new jobs.
Job Services Australia
assesses job seekers’
circumstances, working with
them to develop a tailored
Employment Pathway Plan,
which can include training
assistance and job matching.
Job Services Australia can
provide funds to help workers
seeking employment. Job
seekers can get assistance
for relocation, personal
presentation, essential trade
tools and licences — even
driving lessons.
Connecting People with Jobs
provides practical assistance
to relocate job seekers.
Those who have found a job
or apprenticeship can receive
up to $6,000 in relocation
expenses. Families with
Local Employment
Co-ordinators are working in
20 Priority Employment Areas
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redundancies and coordinating
government, community and
business partnerships to
stimulate local economies and
generate new jobs.
Regional Education, Skills
and Jobs Coordinators
work in communities to
deliver education, skills and
jobs plans and to improve
regional participation and
productivity through early
childhood development, year 12
attainment and vocational and
higher education.
Mature age job seekers
Redundant workers over 50
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They may access free career
counselling through the
Experience+Career Advice
service, which helps them with
career decisions and achieving
their workforce goals, such as
identifying transferable skills,
exploring career options and
planning to find a new job.
Language Literacy and
Numeracy Program
Job Services Australia
and Centrelink can refer
retrenched workers over the
age of 25 to the program to
improve their reading, writing
or maths skills, helping them
participate more effectively in
training or at work.
Child care benefits and
managing finances
Redundant workers having
difficulty meeting child care
costs as a result of losing their
job may be eligible for the
Special Child Care Benefit.
Centrelink offers free advice
on redundancy packages
and government assistance.
Eligibility for income support
will depend on a job seeker’s
personal circumstances,
including income and assets;
however, support may not be
immediately available where a
worker has received leave or
redundancy payments.
Job seekers with
disability and mental
health conditions
People with disability or
mental health issues who need
special workplace support
may be eligible for Disability
Employment Services, where
they get specialist assistance
and ongoing support to help
them find and keep a job. Job
Services Australia providers can
work with job seekers to help
assess their eligibility if needed.
Clean 21:
Making Better
Managers
Every worker is only as good
as their managers allow them
to be. Strong leaders build
teams where talent thrives
and loyalty is rewarded.
Enterprise Connect’s Making
Better Managers program
invests in our future by investing
in our people.
Leadership 21 is a national
leadership development course
for CEOs, business owners
and senior management.
The course involves actionbased learning, coaching, and
working with peers to improve
performance.
The Design Integration Pilot
aims to help businesses
organise their internal
processes to enhance their
capacity to grow and change.
Enterprise Learning and
Mentoring assists firms to
take up opportunities for
growth identified by Enterprise
Connect’s Business Review.
The Continuous Improvement
Program boosts firm
performance by making
innovation ‘business as usual’
for every employee.
The Market Intelligence
Service provides tailored
assistance to businesses
looking for market
opportunities.
Workshops, Industry
Intelligence and Networking
offers grants to organisations
to deliver workshops, seminars,
and a range of other activities
for business on behalf of
Enterprise Connect.
For further information about the
Making Better Managers programs
and upcoming events in your region,
contact the Enterprise Connect
hotline on 131 791 or visit
www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au
Department of Education,
Employment and
Workplace Relations
Hotline: 1300 363 079
Website: www.deewr.gov.au
11
Back yourself
Mining the boom
Australia’s
R&D Tax
Incentive
The R&D Tax Incentive is a
major part of the Australian
Government’s commitment
to boost industry investment
in research and development
(R&D).
Investing in R&D not only
increases the opportunities to
grow your business, it provides
broader benefits to the
Australian economy.
The Incentive provides a:
>45 per cent refundable R&D
tax offset for companies with
turnover under $20 million;
or
Then and now: J. Smith & Sons through the years
The discovery of gold in the
region in 1867 had triggered a
massive influx of men from all
over Queensland, all desperate
for work in a colony gripped by
severe hardship. Gympie was
booming, and local lad John
‘Jack’ Smith saw his chance.
It wasn’t in gold — it would be
built on his knack for making
coaches and carts.
Gympie’s golden days have
passed, along with demand for
horse-drawn vehicles. But, three
generations on, J. Smith & Sons
is still mining the booms. These
days the company has carved
out a niche market in massive
mining dollies and trailers.
The business employs more
than 70 staff in the workshops
alone, with another four
Australian companies doing
contracted work.
“I am third generation and I
am proud to say that we only
use Australian made steel,”
the current managing director,
Kerren Smith, says. “Our
Department of Innovation, Industry,
Science and Research
Industry House
10 Binara Street
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Hotline: +61 2 6213 6000
Website: www.innovation.gov.au
AusIndustry
Hotline: 13 28 46
Email: [email protected]
Website: wwwausindustry.gov.au
vehicles are hauling the rich
Australian iron ore that’s used
to manufacture them.”
speed boosts efficiency, and
the narrow build decreases the
required road width.”
Competition for work in the
resources sector is fierce, but
J. Smith & Sons has learned to
make high-quality products for
Australian conditions. One of
their major success stories is
the Mk4 Hydrapede Dolly which
the company began developing
more than a decade ago. The
Hydrapede project was born
when the company realised
there wasn’t a vehicle on the
market that could adequately
service Australia’s fastincreasing satellite mines.
The company invested about
$7 million into the research and
development and has already
sold eight, for hauling coal and
iron ore in Australian mines.
That commitment to R&D
has taken the company from
butchers’ carts and carriages
— built on a footpath in the main
street of Gympie — to pieces
of equipment so massive they
wouldn’t be legally permitted on
that same street.
“Satellite mines need vehicles
that are capable of hauling
large payloads over long
distances,” the company’s
technical documentation officer,
Joel McEnery, says. “Up to now,
few alternatives to standard
rear dump mining trucks were
available. Mining companies
had to invest in expensive road
infrastructure and maintenance
regimes. They buy the Smith
Hydrapede because it cuts
those costs. The high payload
capacity and faster hauling
To date, J. Smith & Sons
has relied on the Australian
Government’s R&D Tax
Concession to help drive
“Despite the Global Financial
Crisis, R&D tax incentives have
allowed us to continue
improving our products to meet
industry demands and, most
importantly, maintain customer
expectations for high-quality,
industry-leading products,”
Kerren says.
“We are looking to continue
the expansion of our design
department to ensure that
we keep providing the quality,
innovative Australian transport
solutions that the industry has
come to expect.”
Businesses that innovate…
> Are twice as likely to boost their productivity
>Are 2.5 times more likely to increase their contribution to
their community
>Are 2.5 times more likely to put on staff
>Are 4 times more likely to increase the range of products or
services they offer
>40 per cent non-refundable
R&D tax offset for all other
companies.
The Incentive is powering
innovation through better
targeted R&D investment,
including extending access
to foreign companies with
offshore intellectual property.
As part of the commencement
of the R&D Tax Incentive,
AusIndustry and the Australian
Taxation Office (ATO) are
holding a series of public
information sessions.
AusIndustry State and Regional
Office’s will be hosting the
sessions across the country.
The free information sessions
provide attendees with an
opportunity to gain a better
understanding of the program.
To find out more contact the
AusIndustry Hotline on 13 28 46
or visit www.ausindustry.gov.au/
randdtaxincentive
>Are 5 times more likely to target the overseas market
>Earn 3.5 times more income from internet sales
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Selected Characteristics of Australian Business,
2009-10 (cat. no 8167.0)
business.gov.au
Hotline: 1800 77 7275
(Small Business Support Line)
Website: www.business.gov.au
Enterprise Connect
Hotline: 131 791
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au
IP Australia
Hotline: 1300 65 1010
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ipaustralia.gov.au
Commercialisation Australia
Hotline:13 22 56
Website: www.commercialisationaustralia.gov.au
12
research. The Concession has
now been replaced with a more
generous R&D Tax Incentive,
which will see the company into
another decade of growth.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Hotline: 1300 363 400
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.csiro.au
The Australian Research Council (ARC)
Hotline: + 61 2 6287 6600
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.arc.gov.au
Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program
Hotline: 02 6213 7177
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.crc.gov.au
Austrade (Australian Trade Commission)
Hotline: 13 28 78
Website: www.austrade.gov.au
Department of Climate Change and
Energy Efficiency
Hotline: 1800 057 590
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.climatechange.gov.au
Department of Education, Employment
and Workplace Relations
Hotline: 1300 363 079
Website: www.deewr.gov.au
Authorised by the Australian Government,
Capital Hill Canberra
Printed by Paragon Printers Australasia
PO Box 124 Fyshwick ACT 2609
October 2011
DIISR 11-145
In the final years of the
nineteenth century, a young
man born in Gympie started on
his path to a fortune.