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I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, double-storey brick homes with Greek columns that aspirational migrants built in the 1970s and half-crumbling, Federation-era mansions once occupied by people whose names still appear in history textbooks.
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The most recent upgrade to the NCC / BCA included requirements for houses and apartments to meet higher thermal comfort standards in NatHERS. NSW, ACT, Tassie and the NT brought it in last year. Queensland and Victoria only started yesterday (May 1) despite the latter promising it in 2022. SA and WA will adopt it sometime later (news travels slowly going west).
An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry policy announcement.
The dangerous impact of plastics goes way beyond landfills and the environment – it’s no longer just about billions of plastic items choking our waterways, littering our land and getting into our soil.
Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these “long unburnt” habitats can be eliminated by a single blaze.
In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared the museum is “not a university”, and will gut its research capabilities, starting this July.
We’ve long known Australia’s main environmental protection laws aren’t doing their job, and we know Australians want better laws. Labor was elected promising to fix them.
While the Federal and NSW State Government recently implemented an all new ‘cost of living’ package to take the burden off thousands struggling with their power bills, there is a large portion of Australian households who are ineligible and still looking for other ways to save.
Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range.
Quantity surveyors have a proud reputation and powerful skillset for understanding project costs, keeping track of budgets and expenditures, verifying claims, and adding value wherever possible. But our profession, like some other elements of the construction sector, hasn’t fully embraced the digital revolution.
Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their loved ones. Exposure to asbestos is a serious health risk – depending on its intensity, frequency and duration – as it may lead to chronic lung diseases.
We’re being urged to go all-electric. Saul Griffith in The Big Switch, and the website Rewiring Australia, argue that we need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels to address climate change and energy security.
