Renewable Energy Target. Enhancing the Renewable Energy Target
Source: Australia. Department of Climate Change and and Energy Efficiency.
"On 26 February 2010, the Government announced changes to be made to the RET scheme to provide greater certainty for households, large-scale renewable energy projects and installers of small-scale renewable energy systems like solar panels and solar water heaters. The Government has released a discussion paper on the new RET design and seeking feedback on the implementation aspects."

$1 Million Boost to Help Communities Live Sustainably
Source: Victoria. Minister for Environment & Climate Change. Media Release
"The Brumby Labor Government is providing $1 million to establish “EcoLiving” Centres across Victoria that will help the community learn how to live sustainably. Visiting Ballarat, Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings announced four new projects that will provide information, training programs, demonstrations and displays on sustainable living.
“The Brumby Labor Government is working in partnership with the community to help address climate change,” Mr Jennings said. “The EcoLiving Centres will be located in Ballarat, Wangaratta, Mildura and Melbourne’s South East and will see the development of EcoLiving Centres and hubs. “The centres will provide practical information and advice on how we can make our homes and workplaces greener so we can collectively take action on climate change.
There will be demonstrations on sustainable technologies including solar panels and solar hot water as well as training and information on subjects such as how to complete sustainable renovations.”

Metropolitan Strategy Review: Sydney Towards 2036
Source: New South Wales. Premier. Media Release.
"Premier Kristina Keneally announced the beginning of the formal public consultation on Sydney’s Metropolitan Strategy. The Sydney Towards 2036 discussion paper is the first stage in an extensive consultation process to review Sydney’s Metropolitan Strategy." Discussion Paper.

Regional Development Australia
Source: Australia. Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.
"Regional Development Australia (RDA) is a partnership between the Australian, state and territory and local governments to support the growth and development of Australia’s regions. RDA committees will build partnerships between governments, regional development organisations, local businesses, community groups and key regional stakeholders to provide strategic and targeted responses to economic, environmental and social issues affecting the regions of Australia. RDA is delivered through a national network of 55 committees."

SCHOOL’S IN FOR RECREATION AS PART OF GREEN SPACE PLAN
Source: Queensland. Premier. Media Release
"Queenslanders will get the chance to have their say on how school ovals and playing fields could be transformed into recreational green spaces in the lead up to the Queensland Growth Management Summit on March 30 and 31.
Premier Anna Bligh said the idea will be included in a series of documents that will be progressively released for consultation over the next four weeks.
Ms Bligh said an important area to be looked at for better growth management was the expansion of land for public recreation rather than conservation.
"We want to open up as much green space as possible, particularly in the South East Queensland corner, to ensure the amount of land for public recreation expands in line with a growing population," she said.
Some school ovals do open after hours on an ad hoc basis but what we are proposing is a structured scheme that can open up schools right across the State."

Sustainable new era for units begins
Source: Queensland. Minister for Infrastructure and Planning. Media Release
"All new units will be required to achieve a minimum five stars (out of 10) energy equivalence rating from today as part of Bligh Government’s move towards more sustainable housing.
The new law is part of the State Government’s sustainable housing policies to lift environmental standards for new homes, offices and government buildings in Queensland.
Infrastructure and Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the initiatives would help achieve a key Towards Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland goal by lowering electricity use and greenhouse gas emissions.
“Queensland is pioneering a range of sustainable policies in the built environment that will cut carbon dioxide levels and help develop new clean, green industry jobs,” Mr Hinchliffe said.
A five-star requirement was introduced for all new houses, townhouses and major renovations in March 2009, and from today this measure will apply for all new units and those undergoing major renovations."

Tropical design to be recognised and rewarded
Source: Queensland. Minister for Infrastructure and Planning. Media Release
"A Tropical Design Forum will be held in Cairns to celebrate the unique sustainable characteristics of Queensland homes. Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Stirling Hinchliffe said feedback from the forum would help shape national building guidelines to determine the energy efficiency of Australian homes. Mr Hinchliffe said under a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) initiative, announced in April 2009, all new residential buildings would have to meet 6-star or equivalent energy efficient requirements by May 2011. He said while the initiative was encouraging, not all Australian homes were the same. The Bligh Government is leading the charge to have Queensland’s unique tropical design features recognised and rewarded."

Metropolitan Transport Plan: Connecting the City of Cities
Source: NSW. Premier. Media Release.
"The Metropolitan Transport Plan: Connecting the City of Cities and the Metropolitan Strategy are complementary documents which will be used to create a single view on future land use and transport planning for Sydney. This is the first time that governance, accountability and management have been integrated into a single plan."

Infrastructure strategy launched
Source: Tasmania. The Premier
"The Premier said that in developing the Strategy, there had been extensive input from business, community leaders, local government, transport, telecommunications, water, energy and other key stakeholders.
He said that the key priority areas were coordinated infrastructure planning, effective governance and decision-making, viable and sustainable infrastructure, efficient infrastructure delivery and levering Tasmania’s natural advantages to build the Tasmania of the future."

$10million for low emissions technology development
Source: WA . Minister for Energy and Minster for the Environment
The State Government is offering up to $10million to help develop sustainable, low-emission technologies to reduce Western Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Energy Minister Peter Collier said funding was subject to successful applicants matching every $1 invested by the State Government with $3 from elsewhere.

Permanent Native Forest Estate Policy
Source: Tasmania. Dept of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources
"Broad scale clearing and conversion of native forest on private land in Tasmania will be progressively phased out by 2015. An annual limit of up to 40 hectares of conversion per property will be imposed until 2015, after which only small-scale clearing of 20 hectares over any five-year period will be allowed. The new measures by the State Government are part of an updated policy for maintaining a permanent native forest estate. A limit of 40 hectares of conversion each year on any property has been introduced to ensure the remaining area available for conversion is managed equitably for the benefit of all landowners. The government says the revision will provide the landowners with certainty that they will have a continuing opportunity to undertake small-scale clearing to develop their farms for some years to come. The policy does not restrict the sustainable use of native forest, only the conversion to other land uses."

DIRECT ACTION ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Source: Australia. Federal Opposition. Policy
"A Coalition Government will take direct action to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by five percent by 2020. The Coalition’s climate action policy provides incentives for Australian families and businesses to reduce their carbon emissions and focuses on meaningful, effective and direct action to improve Australia’s environment."

THE COALITION'S DIRECT ACTION PLAN - POLICY
Source: Australia. Opposition Leader. Policy
"A Coalition Government will implement a climate change strategy based on direct action to reduce emissions and improve the environment. Direct action on soil carbons will be the major plank of our strategy, supported by other direct action measures that will reduce CO2 emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 based on 1990 levels and deliver significant environmental outcomes – without the need for a great big new tax."

Caring for our Country
Australia. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Joint Media Release

"Reducing the impact of pest animals, improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef and protecting Australia's coastline from the effects of climate change are among the key priorities for investment in the second annual business plan for the Australian Government's $2 billion Caring for our Country initiative. Announcing the launch of the 2010-11 Caring for our Country business plan today, Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, and Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister, Tony Burke, said more than $300 million would be invested in environmental protection and sustainable resource management. ...Mr Garrett and Mr Burke said the 2010-11 business plan sets out clear targets for investment which would contribute to the achievement of the five year outcomes for Caring for our Country. "

Wave energy project powers up
Source: Western Australia. Energy, Environment
"Energy Minister Peter Collier and Environment Minister Donna Faragher have announced the next stage in the development of a 5MW demonstration wave power station near Garden Island.
Carnegie Wave Energy Limited today celebrated the installation of a mooring off Garden Island for a prototype CETO (wave energy converter) unit, which coincides with the official launch of the wave energy project.
CETO technology is capable of converting wave energy into zero-emission electricity and also powering the desalination of water.
The State Government has provided $12.5million to the project through the Low Emissions Energy Development fund, which was established to support new, low emissions technology."

Draft sustainable energy policy released for public comment
Source: ACT. Minister for Energy
"Human-induced global warming is the greatest and most urgent threat confronting humanity. Combating climate change means a drastic reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases. In response, the ACT Government has adopted a Territory-wide target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2060. The draft Sustainable Energy Policy 2010–2020 presents a range of policies that the ACT Government will consider in its move towards zero net emissions. The specific targets in the draft policy will be subject to further review to take into account research that has been commissioned by the ACT Government as well as comments from the public consultation."

$11.6 M TO HELP 30 OFFICE BUILDINGS GO GREEN
Source: Australia. Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. Media release
"A North Sydney office building will install five vertical wind turbines as part of an upgrade supported by the Australian Government’s Green Building Fund that will reduce the building’s environmental impact by generating energy in-house.
The owners of the Pacific Highway-Miller Street corner building are among 30 applicants Australia-wide who have been offered a total of $11.6 million from the Green Building Fund’s fourth round."

MAJOR LEGISLATION PROPOSES NEW TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE CHARTERS FOR VICTORIA’S TRANSPORT AGENCIES
Source: Victoria. Minister for Public Transport. Media Release
"New legislation was introduced in the Victorian Parliament to align all state transport agencies in the biggest reform of the transport portfolio since 1983. Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the Transport Integration Bill unifies the transport portfolio, including ports and marine, under the one central statute for the first time in Victoria’s history.“This Bill marks the most important change to transport legislation in a generation, replacing the outdated Transport Act 1983 as Victoria’s primary transport statute,” Ms Kosky said.Under the Bill:• All transport agencies – including the Director of Public Transport, VicRoads, VicTrack, V/Line and the Linking Melbourne Authority – will be required to work together towards the common goal of an integrated and sustainable transport system; and• Land use agencies – including the Department of Planning and Community Development, municipal Councils, the Growth Areas Authority and Parks Victoria – will be obliged to have regard to the legislation when making decisions that impact on the transport system.

HIGH-LEVEL TEAM TO HELP QLD STAY AHEAD OF GROWTH
Source: Queensland. Premier. Media Release
"Premier Anna Bligh announced a high-level advisory team to help Queensland tackle the challenges of population growth. The announcement comes ahead of the Council of Australian Government meeting where population growth, and planning for it, will be a key issue.
“Growth is real and I’m determined to tackle it head on and protect Queensland’s unique lifestyle,” Ms Bligh said. “SEQ is the fastest growing region in the country with 2000 additional people calling Queensland home every week. We have to seize this opportunity and get this right.
Next year, we’ll have a growth summit which is a great opportunity to bring together people from across Queensland to help us lead the nation into the next period of prosperity and continue to enjoy the best lifestyle in Australia."

Flexible new laws simplify Queensland planning and development
Source: Queensland. Minister for Infrastructure and Planning. Media Release
"On December 18 a new era of simple, smart and flexible planning gets underway under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009. Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Stirling Hinchliffe last week released information on public notification, compliance assessment and the default standard conditions for deemed approvals to councils and other stakeholders.
As promised, councils are receiving this information early to enable them to be ready for the 18 December start date. “There are benefits for all Queenslanders from this new planning and development system,” Mr Hinchliffe said. The new public notification signs for impact assessable developments are just one example of the many changes set to make a big difference to the state’s planning system."