Latest news with #MMRs
7NEWS
3 days ago
- Business
- 7NEWS
Government sidesteps mandatory employment rules designed to Close the Gap in two thirds contracts, audit finds
An audit of rules designed to Close the Gap for First Nations peoples has revealed poor compliance by government bodies. Indigenous employment requirements were sidestepped in two-thirds of the contracts issued by Commonwealth entities, including the Departments of Defence, Education, Workplace Relations, Infrastructure and Home Affairs, the audit report said. The mandatory minimum requirements (MMRs) are targets to ensure that at least three per cent of the workforce is made up of First Nations peoples. Government contracts over $7.5 million are also subject to these targets, which can alternatively be met through the engagement of Indigenous-owned businesses as suppliers. Tenderers are required to specify how they plan to achieve the MMRs. The targets were introduced to ensure First Nations peoples benefit from some of the larger projects outsourced by the Commonwealth, including those in remote areas. But since MMRs were made binding for contractors in 2016, 63 per cent of all recorded contracts have been exempted. The 1,475 exempted contracts are worth a total of nearly $70 billion. Of those exemptions, 34 per cent — valued at more than $30 billion — were filed with no explanation, with reporting officials simply ticking the 'other' category on the exemption form. The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), which is responsible for implementing the MMRs, said these requirements are just one component of the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), established in 2015. The NIAA told the audit office that contracts were exempted under the 'other' category because entities 'are in practice non-compliant with the Indigenous Procurement Policy'. 'Entities' use of the 'other' exemption category for non-compliant contracts obscures the degree of noncompliance with the MMRs and is not appropriate,' the report said. 'The NIAA does not provide complete guidance on the use of exemptions or assurance over the legitimacy of exemptions. The NIAA has not considered the strategic implications of exemption usage for the achievement of policy objectives.' This comes almost five years after a 2020 Auditor-General report found that the administration of well-designed MMRs 'had been undermined by ineffective implementation and monitoring by the policy owner and insufficient compliance by the selected entities.' Of the recommendations handed down after the 2020 audit, the latest report found that entities had only 'partly implemented' them. 'Systems have been set up to allow potentially invalid exemptions. There is a lack of guidance and assurance over the appropriate use of exemptions.' The latest audit also found that the NIAA has not been able to demonstrate that MMRs are improving Indigenous economic participation. However, the NIAA said that prior to the introduction of the policy, Indigenous businesses secured limited contracts through Commonwealth procurement. The policy has since significantly increased purchasing from Indigenous businesses. All entities contacted by the audit office, including the NIAA, responded by welcoming the audit findings and committed to strengthening the procurement and reporting processes required to meet the compulsory targets. The NIAA has pledged to continue supporting entities that are struggling to comply with the targets, but added: 'As with all other elements of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, it is the responsibility of each Commonwealth entity to meet the obligations of the IPP.'
Epoch Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
While Australia Debates, Fiji Bets on Nuclear Ships to Power Islands and Cut Emissions
Imagine a fleet of nuclear powered vessels patrolling the vast oceans around Fiji by day, and by night docking in a nearby town, plugging into the local electricity grid, and powering thousands of homes and facilities. That's the vision the Fijian government is embarking on in backing the Ocean of Peace vessel, which will carry its own mini-reactor and is estimated to save billions, while cutting down pollution from its diesel powered fleets. Fiji is the first to adopt micro modular nuclear reactor (MMR) technology to provide the country with electricity, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said. The technology will be sourced from Deployable Energy of Houston, Texas, and will initially be installed on the ship, Ocean of Peace, but can be rolled out across other vessels in future. Seatransport of Queensland and Lloyds Register are also involved in the project. The three companies recently signed a formal agreement to develop the 73-metre amphibious vessel, designed for emergency response and disaster relief duties in remote areas, with two to five MMRs of 1 megawatt (MW) capacity aboard. They are planned to be deployed throughout the Pacific. An artist's impression of a marine power station using a small modular reactor (SMR) manufactured by Prodigy Clean Energy. Courtesy Seatransport, Prodigy Clean Energy and Lloyd's Register. For Fiji, MMR will gradually replace the importation of petrols, which already costs Fiji over $1 billion a year, in addition to the expense of distributing power to remote parts of the country. Related Stories 4/10/2025 3/26/2025 Micro-reactors are 100 to 1,000 times smaller than conventional nuclear reactors and range in capacity from 1 to 20 MW. A 20 MW power source can potentially power around 16,500 average Western homes, though in Fiji, at least initially, the usage per household is likely to be lower, meaning more homes could benefit. In a statement, Rabuka said the time had come for the creative use of technology to make Fijian life cleaner and provide power at lower costs. 'At that point, the initial diesel engines would be replaced by an MMR, which would not require refuelling for 10 years,' he said. 'The MMR power could be deployed on the Ocean of Peace ship and other vessels and used for emergency response and long-term power supply to Fijian communities at far lower costs than the present diesel-powered electricity generation. 'All alternatives were being investigated, and the new, safe nuclear technologies of MMRs appeared to be within cost and emissions targets.' Rabuka is also revitalising the local shipbuilding industry to address skills shortages. A new shipyard in Lautoka will train steel and aluminium welders, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, draftsmen, technicians, and administrators. Small modular reactors (SMRs) and Micro Modular Reactors (MMRs) work by using nuclear fission to generate heat, which is then used to produce electricity through a steam turbine. The reactor core is surrounded by a thick shield to protect workers and the environment from radiation. The core also contains fuel rods made of uranium or other fissile materials. As the fuel undergoes fission, it releases energy in the form of heat, which is then transferred to a coolant that circulates through the reactor. The coolant is typically water or a liquid metal, such as sodium or lead, which absorbs the heat and transfers it to a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger then transfers the heat to a secondary coolant, which is used to generate steam and produce electricity. This image is a work of an employee of the Government Accountability Office, made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States. Float, Plug, and Play Stuart Ballantyne, executive chair of Seatransport, told The Epoch Times that MMR technology had applications right across the Pacific, and even in remote Australia. For island nations, he says, simply tying the ship up each night and plugging it into the grid will save around 5 million litres of diesel a year. Seatransport Executive Chairman Stuart Ballantyne (L) with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka (R). Courtesy Seatransport. 'It's technology that's already in use in West Africa, installed by Russia, he says. 'When the ship comes in and plugs in, the converter buildings are already attached to the local grid. And it makes a lot of sense. 'They had an old coal-fired power station that was at the end of its life; they replaced a couple of old things and just plugged in this floating nuclear power plant. And when that power plant dies, in about 30 or 40 years, they will just float another one in and plug it in. I mean, it's pretty simple.' No Light Bulb Moment for Australian Energy Discussion In comparison, Ballantyne was critical of the current discourse around energy in Australia. 'It's better to stick something on a truck like [an] MMR, and just have your own little system. [But] what they're making you do at the moment in Queensland ... you must pay $250 to $300 million for the the renewables transmission lines to come out [to the] mine.' That would make the mine unaffordable, he said. 'Such is the level of stupidity in Australia at the moment, because they're not even thinking about anything else now [other than renewables].' 'I think that there's over 32 countries that are now using nuclear and another 30 that are seriously looking at it, including PNG, so I think they're going to leave New Zealand and Australia behind, to be honest,' Ballantyne said, noting that calls for 'zero emissions' while ignoring the potential of nuclear was contradictory. He believes Australians would support the use of small and micro reactors, even if the Coalition's large-scale reactors prove unfeasible. 'The latest polls indicate that 82 percent of Australians want this technology,' Ballantyne claims. He said current moves to implement net zero was creating 'huge wealth for China [through] the purchase of millions of solar panels and millions of these wind turbines.' 'Then there's the massive tracts of land, 28,000 kilometres, for the transmission lines. They don't care about the environment. They're just bulldozing the whole lot. They don't care and seem to have given this exemption because they're so focused on [renewables].' New Safety Features Include Self Propelled Reactors And the presence of small reactors floating around in the Pacific shouldn't be cause for concern, Ballantyne says, because safety technology has significantly advanced since the days of Three Mile Island or even Fukushima. 'These new ones that you're talking about, even if it sank and the ship exploded, one of the MMR producers in the United States has got their MMR to come up to a depth of about 25 metres below this surface, and self-propel to a predetermined latitude and longitude.'
