The contribution of GMH Elizabeth operations to the South Australian economy and the potential impacts of closure

Description: This paper presents the results of an analysis of the contribution that the GMH manufacturing facility in Elizabeth makes to South Australia. It updates a previous analysis of the contribution in 2011 undertaken for the Department of Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy – to reflect the reduction in employment at the facility that has occurred over the last two years. Note that this report does not consider the issues around what is required to underpin the longer term sustainability of the operations at GMH. Nor does it consider the benefits that would arise from alternative uses of the funds that have and might be applied to GMH support

The energy to engage: wind farm development and community engagement in Australia

This report reviews what is known about community engagement in wind energy industry and identify what we still need to understand. After briefly presenting the relationship between wind farms and society as a significant one, we will recapitulate what strains that relationship and how community engagement can address it. We will point out that divergent models of community engagement are currently available to analysts and practitioners; that companies around the world are increasingly shifting towards more collaborative forms of engagement; that Australian business in the wind energy industry and planning authorities have some catching-up to do if they are to align themselves with such a global trend; and that the gap between declarations of principle advocating tighter collaboration betweenwind farm developers and communities and the actual practice on the ground has left some critics wondering whether those declarations are just rhetorical stratagems geared to placate public opinion

The workforce retention dividend - valuing knowledge and skills in the public sector workforce

This report demonstrates the hidden costs of public sector job losses.  Key findings: Rapid loss of public sector workers, especially those with more experience and skill, will result in the loss of corporate knowledge and hinder the transfer of skills within the South Australian public service. This loss represents a considerable value which needs to be taken into account in public sector workforce planning. Over the next five years an accelerating retirement rate of public servants will coincide with the significant expansion of the resources sector. Combined these forces will result in tightening of the South Australian labour market. In this environment it will be more difficult to attract and retain experienced workers in the public sector. Loss of knowledge and skill in this context is particularly problematic. It may harm the ability of the State Government to deliver its programs effectively and efficiently. It is possible to estimate the approximate average value (investment) of a public service worker over his or her tenure in order to understand the implications of the State Governments public sector workforce employment reductions strategy (1600 FTEs or approximately 1913 persons on an FTE to person ratio). The total cost of hiring 1913 persons is approximately $38,259,200. The average total expenditure on training for them during their tenure is$25,308,460. Therefore, the total recruitment and training expenditure on average for the 1600 FTE public sector workforce reductions is around $63,567,660. The State Government needs to develop a better understanding of the implications of staff losses for the knowledge and skill base of the public service as a central element of public sector workforce planning. The central challenge to be faced by policymakers is the potential loss of a large number of experienced and skilled public sector workers over a relatively short period of time and the growing difficulty of sourcing suitable replacements in a tighter labour market. There is an urgent need to develop a multi-faceted approach to attraction and retention that addresses a range of drivers and barriers. Some progress is being made in this respect. The Treasurers announcement, in the 2011-12 State Budget of the introduction a new Retention Provision represents a constructive contribution to this and should be implemented universally across the public sector. There will be particular challenges associated with attraction and retention of public servants in regional South Australia where employment demand generated by mining projects has the potential to starve the public sector of various occupational skills. Related identifier: ISBN: 978-0-9871950-4-

Paying it forward: cost benefit analysis of the Wyatt Trust funded financial counselling services

Seeking to gain a better understanding of the benefits associated with financial counselling service provision and its net impact on the lives of people assisted, The Wyatt Trust commissioned The Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre (WISeR) at The University of Adelaide to undertake a cost benefit analysis of financial counselling services. The report shows that $1 invested in financial counselling services generates$5 of benefits for recipients

The Geopolitics of the Brazil’s Amazonian Border

The days of national security concerns being bound by geographic locality are long gone, replaced by intervention minded multi-lateral organizations, NGOs with influence surpassing some countries and aggressive military force projection strategies. Along with traditional nation states, these institutions must all navigate the complex global dialogue attempting to address global economic and environmental issues. The degradation of the Amazon and its effect on the global environment is a primary subject of this dialogue and Brazil has taken notice. Challenges to the geopolitical control of the Brazilian Amazon by these multi-level actors have only served to increase Brazilian assertion of its own influence in the region. Efforts to establish control over the Amazon by Brazil date back the Monarchy of 1621(Ryan 1993) and have continued on to today. This long standing effort of establishing regional control has developed into a geopolitical way of national thinking, still promulgated in today’s Brazilian geopolitics. Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone

'Building Jobs’: Renewal SA’s Works Program at Playford Alive

YesThis report provides a detailed overview of Renewal SA’s Works Program implemented as part of Playford Alive, a large scale urban renewal project representing a partnership between Renewal SA, the City of Playford, the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI), Housing SA and the local community. It documents evidence generated by semi‐structured interviews with project staff and participants of the program. Renewal SA’s Works Program at Playford Alive requires private contractors and service providers to deliver either work experience and longer term placements or training to a number of local unemployed people as a condition of being awarded the contract

Closing the motor vehicle industry - the impact on Australia

The Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre (WISeR) commissioned a study by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIEIR) to assess the impact of the closure of the motor vehicle industry in Australia following announcements by General Motors Holden (GMH), Ford and Toyota that they will be ceasing production in the country. &nbsp

Equity works - achieving the target of 2% Aboriginal employment in the South Australian public sector

Since 2003 there has been significant effort by the South Australian government to enhance Aboriginal peoples\u27 employment outcomes in the public sector. Objective 6 of the South Australian Strategic Plan has an accompanying target to increase the employment of Aboriginal employees in the public sector from 1.2 per cent to 2 per cent by 2009. Commissioned by the Don Dunstan Foundation, this report identifies the factors which are assisting and impeding progress towards the achievement of the 2 per cent target. Dunstan Paper No. 1/2008 Related identifier: ISSN 1833-361