| Optus launches WiFi
Australia’s second largest
telecommunications firm launched
a substantial wireless broadband
access service across the country
this month.
Known as WiFi, the wireless technology allows laptop
and PDA users to surf the web or download emails at
select locations without having to plug into a phone
service.
Optus plans to have 500 locations, mainly at coffee
shops and in airports, operating by the end of the
year and will be charging between five and 50 Australian
dollars depending on the number of hours subscribers
sign up for. Additional time will cost an average of
$10.00 per hour.
Optus also plans to install the technology into new
hotel complexes.
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Universities to get windfall
The Australian Federal Government is debating how to
use the $1.2 billion it pledged last May to improve
universities across the nation.
One idea is to give students living in rural and regional
areas a monetary incentive to attend university.
The Howard Government has also pledged another $200
million to improve teaching standards at Australian
universities – the standard of teaching has come
under fire as Australia’s best and brightest
move to overseas institutions for better postgraduate
opportunities.
The plan has also earmarked at least $700 million
for universities that comply with the stringent industrial
and governance conditions laid down by the government.
The government wants universities to forgo the traditional
collective approach to pay negotiations and introduce
individual job agreements.
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High Court unbalanced, critics claim
The Australian High Court is skewed toward men, New
South Wales critics argued this month after the recent
retirement of the only female High Court judge.
The retirement of High Court Justice Mary Gauron has
left the High Court without a woman in its ranks.
The president of Australian Women Lawyers, Dominique
Hogan-Doran, says that women are not represented throughout
the superior courts of Australia.
She says women make up only 15 per cent of the federal
and state high courts – about 38 of the 250 senior
judges.
The critics say the imbalance will remain as long
as the prime minister has the power to appoint judges
he considers sympathetic to his political views.
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Massive scientific research program launched
Australia began its biggest scientific research
program this week with the launching of its National
Flagships Initiative.
The aim of the initiative is to bring together science
and industry to tackle key challenges in fields such
as preventative healthcare, light metals, water, food,
oceans and energy. According to the Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), every
Flagship is a partnership of leading Australian scientists,
research institutions, commercial companies and selected
international partners.
Dr Geoff Garrett, the chief executive of CSIRO said
the program will use “frontier science to deliver
a real difference to the lives, health, jobs and environment
of Australians.”
In the healthcare initiative, for example, the goal
is to extend the productive and healthy lives of Australians
by 10 years through early diagnoses and prevention
of disease.
Other Flagship programs will devise ways to protect
Australia’s fragile water systems while maintaining
the agribusiness the country was built upon.
Flagships are based on a “Team Australia” philosophy
and it is hoped they will help build new industries
and broaden the skill base of the Australian workforce.
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Foster’s to sell brewery
.Australia’s best-known brewer is set to sell
one of its largest breweries in Sydney.
The brewery, part of the Carlton & United Brewery
(CUB) division of the Foster’s beverage conglomerate,
will be sold by February 2005, putting over 300 people
out of work in the heart of Sydney.
Foster’s will shift production to breweries
in Queensland and Western Australia (two markets it
claims are growing) in an attempt to further realize
the AUS $100 million in efficiency gains the brewery
hopes to gain over the next five years.
The excellence and popularity of Australian wines
has put a major dent in beer sales in Australia --
the image of a burly man with a cold can is more often
than not being replaced by a gourmet with a chardonnay.
CUB said it would focus on developing new products
to meet any gaps that arose in its product range as
tastes evolved.
“While no major product gap exist in CUB’s
current beer product portfolio, the current rate of
exchange in consumer habits combined with a customer
base that continues to rapidly evolve, means that product
gaps will emerge over time” states Foster’s.
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