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Volume 4, Thursday April 26, 2007
ROXBY MAKE OVER T
Written by Les Rochester
he face of Roxby Downs is about to dramatically change.
In a pre-emptive strike to the Master Plan being developed as part of BHP Billiton’s Environmental Impact Statement, the state government has issued a Plan Amendment Report detailing its vision on how the town will look by 2013. It includes such things as a new school, new retail and commercial centre, motel complex, a new town oval, civic centre and other facilities. The Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Paul Holloway said because of the significant growth in mining and outback tourism, Roxby Downs is currently experiencing significant development pressure, independent of the proposed major expansion of the Olympic Dam mining operations. “If the expansion at Olympic Dam goes ahead the population will grow to more than 10,000 people in a very short time,” he said. “This anticipated growth will place considerable speculative development pressures on the existing township. “Community consultation has shown there is a current need for additional and improved civic, retail, commercial and entertainment facilities independent of the proposed Olympic
Dam expansion,” he said. The planning changes basically mean deleting the whole of the Community and District Business Zones and include them in a new Zone called the Town Centre Zone. This new zone will cover an area from Pioneer Drive south to Stuart Road, west to Olympic Way and east to Arcoona street. In preparation of an overall draft Master Plan for Roxby Downs as part of BHP Billiton’s EIS, consultation has taken place with the community and key stakeholder groups. Mr. Holloway said considerable discussion has also occurred with the Roxby Downs Council culminating in the council requesting the Plan Amendment. In effect, under the PAR, any new development applications put before council from last Thursday will be subject to this Draft Town Plan. It is to stop development applications being put in by speculators. The PAR will amend the current Roxby Downs (Municipality) Development Plan. Once it goes through the public consultation phase with any amendments adopted by the D e v el o p m e nt Po l i c y Advisory Committee, the Minister will consider it for approval, (with or without the amendments) or refusal. For a more detailed breakdown of the draft Town Plan see Pages 4 - 5.
Phone: 08 8671 2450 Fax: 08 8671 0850
Above: Inside Woomera’s Detention Centre.
An exclusive look inside Woomera’s former Detention Centre. Photo’s Page 9.
Inside today: Pages 4 & 5 Roxby’s planned makeover in detail
Aussies still want their ‘sickies’
Although Australians have more mandatory annual leave than most other places in the world, 43% of Aussies say they have chucked a sickie rather than take annual leave. The phenomenon of taking sick leave rather than annual leave is set to increase with the abolition of compulsory days off for public holidays according to a survey of 1,694 respondents.
The minimum four weeks annual leave that is mandatory in Australia is amongst the highest in the world, yet 40% of Aussies say they do not think the four weeks paid-holiday is sufficient according to a survey by Talent2, Australia’s leading human resources and recruitment firm. Ms Laura Mabikafola says that Australians are some of the hardest working people in the world. The 60-hour-working-week is not uncommon, and many people are tied
to their jobs 24 hours a day, thanks to the advent of the mobile phone and the blackberry. “Australians are happy to work hard and have an excellent work ethic, however they have a reasonable expectation that they should be rewarded for their hard work with some extra rest and relaxation,” she said. In Canada, workers receive only 10 paid days off a year, in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan it’s only seven days.
Australians get more paid-holidays than most countries in the Asia-Pacific region, however 40% say they should be paid to take more holidays according to the survey. “Four weeks paid holiday is the average across the western world, particularly with it being the standard for the European Union,” Ms. Mabikafola said. “Australians need a decent opportunity to relax and recharge in order to do their jobs properly.
“Employers need to be flexible with the way they treat employees when it comes to taking time off work, however. “Many workplaces are introducing the option for employees to take a set number of “bed days”, for example, where an employee can call in and take the day off, no questions asked. “Sometimes we just need to recharge our batteries, even when we haven’t got a holiday planned,” she said.