Australia's Infrastructure for Our Future
The Engineers Australia Southern Highlands and Tablelands Regional Group 2011 Seminars on "Australia's Infrastructure for Our Future".
The Seminar presentations by the expert Guest Speakers are posted here in PDF format - click the Seminar title/left image to download the PDF file and open it in your Adobe Reader.
Seminar Listing - Click to view
|
|
||
|
Presentation
|
|
THE NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK INITIATIVE31 March 2011 In April 2009 the Australian Government announced the establishment of a new company, NBN Co, to build and operate a new super fast national broadband network in Australia. The new national broadband network will connect 93% of all Australian premises with broadband services with speeds up to 100 Mb/s; and connect all other premises in Australia with next generation wireless and satellite technologies that will deliver broadband speeds up to 12 Mb/s.
|
|
|
||
|
Presentation
Size: 6.77MB |
THE MURRAY DARLING BASIN IRRIGATION/ENVIRONMENTAL VIABILITY28 April 2011 In 1915 the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Commonwealth entered into an historic Agreement to share the waters of the River Murray system. In doing so they committed to the creation and shared ownership of water storage and delivery assets on the River Murray that enabled the objectives of the Agreement to be delivered. This presentation gives an overview of the fundamental water sharing rules underpinning the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement, describes the MDBA Assets, gives a brief description of the constraints and challenges for the operators of the system, and finishes with a description some of the interesting major projects currently underway covering dam safety upgrades, salt interception schemes and infrastructure to deliver water recovered for the environment into environmental icon sites. Tony Morse, General Manager Assets, MDBA, graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the University of Tasmania in 1971, and has post graduate qualifications in Management and Theology. He has almost 40 years experience in hydro-power and dams engineering, including project management, investigation, design, feasibility studies, safety assessments, risk analyses and construction. He has worked on a wide variety of dams, ranging in height from 5m to 180m, and "green fields" design through to assessment and remediation of 140 year old structures. While with Hydro Tasmania Consulting, Tony worked extensively in Australia, as well as in South East Asia. After 33 years with Hydro Tasmania (at that stage as Managing Consultant Civil Engineering), Tony joined the MDBC (now MDBA) as General Manager Assets in March 2005 overseeing the construction or upgrade, operation and maintenance of the MDBA dams, locks and weirs, salt interception schemes and the assets created under the Living Murray Initiative for large scale rehabilitation of environmental icon sites along the Murray.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Presentation
Size: 6.58MB |
HIGH SPEED TRAINS LINKING THE SPATIAL ECONOMY26 May 2011 The research and commercial deployment of high-speed rail (HSR) technologies worldwide over the past 35 years has grown rapidly, and this presentation firstly gives an overview of the present status of HSR worldwide paying particular attention to the competing technologies, existing and planned networks, commercial speeds, and economic aspects (capital and operating costs and patronage). Secondly, it considers the role HSR plays in the spatial economy - its national impacts, the inter-regional impacts (competition with complementary air transport), and the local impacts (station and station precinct land-use development and its integration into other urban transport sub-systems). Thirdly, it discusses the relevance of VFTs in Australia, including a comprehensive analyses of the issues arising from the Sydney-Melbourne VFT proposal of the 1980s. It presents original research results from a comparison of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for HSR and air transport between Sydney and Melbourne. Finally, it makes some speculations on the impacts of a VFT service to the Southern Highlands of NSW. Professor John Black was Foundation Professor of Transport Engineering (1983-1999), a former Head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, and is an Emeritus Professor since 1999 and an Adjunct Professor, Planning Research Centre, Sydney University from 2006. He has 35 years professional experience in Australia and overseas working on the feasibility of a wide range of transport infrastructure projects involving airports and high-speed rail, including: the role of high-speed rail technologies to access a distant airport outside of the Sydney basin (1985); commissioned research on Very Fast Trains (HSR and Maglev) for Members of NSW Parliament; land use impacts of HSR in Japan around stations and the regional economy; pre-feasibility study of maglev and wheel on rail technologies for the New South Wales Government; designed the first professional development course on airport planning management and ground access for the newly created Federal Airports Corporation; international benchmarking study for Sydney Airport Corporation on environmental management and stakeholder consultation; and supervising doctoral research on the energy sector and high-speed rail.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Presentation
|
NUCLEAR POWER FOR ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY30 June 2011 Fossil fuels supply about 80% of modern society's primary energy. Given the imperatives of climate change, pollution, energy security and dwindling coal supplies, coupled with the enormous technical, logistical and economic challenges of scaling up coal or gas power plants with carbon capture/storage to sequester all the carbon, we are faced with the necessity of a nearly complete transformation of the world's energy systems. Nuclear power can provide the carbon-free energy required, although a massive deployment raises questions of uranium shortages, safety, increased energy, environmental and socio-political impacts from mining, fuel enrichment and so on. Fast neutron reactors coupled with full fuel recycling can overcome these roadblocks. The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) can economically supply all the world's clean energy without further mining or enrichment of uranium. This talk covers the IFR and other "Generation IV" designs under development in China, India, Russia and elsewhere, and considers realistic timetables for the large-scale deployment/critical synergies with current reactor technologies. The recent Fukushima crisis in Japan and the safety of the nuclear power alternative is also discussed. |
|
|
|
||
|
Presentation
|
COAL SEAM GAS - OPPORTUNITIES & CONCERNS28 July 2011 Coal Seam Gas is a valuable resource that can be exploited with significant benefit if the process of extraction is carefully managed and selectively targeted. The ?dilute? nature of the CSG resource results in companies developing strategies that avoid land acquisition and instead involve the 'borrowing' of large areas of land surface for periods of up to 25 years. Conflict with landowners has become a major obstacle to the progress of the industry. This presentation looks at the potential economic benefits of CSG extraction set against the evolving community concerns on the protection of groundwater resources, the quality and skills of the workforce needed to support the projected growth rates of the industry and the impact of CSG extraction on land values. The current NSW legislation governing the CSG industry was not designed for this purpose and there is a need for a thorough review to protect community interests while allowing the resource to be safely exploited on a selective basis. Alan Lindsay retired as a full time employee of Chevron Corporation in November 2001, after a 31-year career in the oil industry. At the time of his retirement he was based in Singapore and held the position of General Manager, Corporate Planning for the Caltex operating area. In his time in the oil industry, Alan held positions in refining, marketing, corporate planning and general management. Prior to his transfer to the international Caltex organisation in November 1992, he was an Executive Director of Caltex Australia Limited, and Chief Executive Officer of the Bayswater Colliery Company, a Caltex subsidiary. He has served on numerous Government and Industry committees, in particular the Federal Government?s Ecologically Sustainable Development Task Force in 1990. Alan and his wife are currently cattle farmers and occasional horse breeders in the NSW Southern Highlands. He holds an honours degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of NSW." |
|
|
|
||
|
Presentation
|
GETTING SYDNEY MOVING - THE TRANSPORT CHALLENGE25 August 2011 Sydney is Australia's world city and its most congested urban area. After decades of car-oriented growth, it now faces a crossroad - how to shift to a more sustainable path whilst maintaining economic vitality and accommodating growth. This presentation highlights the transport challenges facing the city and the strategies which can address them. It shows that there has been a significant change in travel behaviour recently, and that governments are beginning to change their previous approaches of simply accommodating more and more cars. The City of Sydney has been at the forefront of this change, and the presentation highlights how it is implementing its "Sustainable Sydney 2030" strategy and what it means for the city in the future. Dr Garry Glazebrook has over 14 years experience in consulting and 15 years in government, and recently joined the City of Sydney as its Transport Policy Manager. Garry has a PhD and Masters' degrees in Urban Planning and Operations Research, and he has published widely in the fields of transport and planning, including a 30 year public transport plan for Sydney. He is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia, the International Union of Public Transport, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, and was a member of the Herald Public Inquiry into Public Transport for Sydney. He has a particular interest in how to make our cities more sustainable. |
|
|
|
||
|
Presentation
Size: 3.66MB |
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL - NOW AND IN THE FUTURE29 September 2011 Airservices' Air Traffic Management (ATM) automation platform has been in operation since 1998 with an expected effective life of 20 years. In order to maintain our high level of aviation safety in Australia, Airservices has embarked on a joint program with the Australian Defence Force to plan, develop and implement an ATM system solution which will continue to meet our national security requirements, and manage new challenges presented from advancements in aircraft capabilities and the significant growth in air traffic expected beyond 2030. Servicing 11% of the world's surface, Airservices' Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations manages air traffic for more than three million flights carrying 75 million passengers yearly. Providing services from two major centres, four Terminal Control Units and 29 Control Towers, the introduction of new concepts to improve airspace organisation and airport operations means implementation of a future system will be a significant milestone in Australian aviation. John Moore is the Manager Operations for Air Traffic Control Future Systems at Airservices. His team is identifying the operational requirements for Australia's future Air Traffic Management System, and is providing specialist planning and advice on its integration into the Airservices' operational ATC environment. John has more than 20 years of experience in ATC and operational support and management roles, coupled with extensive experience in project and change management of airspace, software and air-route projects.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Presentation
|
WINGECARRIBEE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR REGIONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT27 October 2011 Wingecarribee Shire is currently undergoing major regional growth and development, and this presentation will provide an overview of the Council's current assets and the projected difficulties in managing the Shire's $1B asset base to service a population of 46,000 people spread over some 2,700 square kilometres. The presentation will include a comprehensive discussion on how Council is enabling asset planning and service delivery through consultation and engagement with the community. These consultation and engagement activities are to be coordinated by a newly created position of Community Engagement Coordinator on a trial basis, and will also include a trial of the Talented Tiny Towns concept with the view to creating a long-term community plan (Wingecarribee 2031+) for the Shire. Jason Gordon is General Manager of Wingecarribee Shire Council, a position he has held for some two years. Prior to joining Wingecarribee Shire Council he was Director of City Services at Coffs Harbour City Council for 3 Years, Director of Engineering and Technical Services at Cabonne Council for 2 Years, CEO of the business arm of Tumut Council for 6 years. He started his career at Bourke Shire Council initially as a Cadet Engineer and progressed to Utilities Engineer. He was at Bourke Shire for 8 years. Jason has a degree in Civil Engineering with First Class Honours, a Masters Degree in Business Administration and Commercial Law. He is currently studying a Masters Degree in Planning. He is an accredited Mediator, Powder Monkey and former NSW Fire Brigades member. |
|
|
|
||
