Parramatta. Council submits application

Parramatta City Council will submit an application for funding under Round 2 of the Federal Government Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program – Strategic Projects 2009-10, for installation of energy efficiency technology and renewable energy generators at a range of Council owned community facilities.

Parramatta. Assessment of special rates

Parramatta City Council has resolved, in part, that preliminary work be undertaken on assessing community views on the continuation of expiring special rates and other rating options, and that council review the effectiveness of the current economic development rate and prepare options for this rate to be used for the benefit of council. Department of Local government approval for the current special rates – CBD infrastructure, $1.7m; suburban infrastructure, $100,000; and economic development, $600,000 – expires at the end in the financial year. The revenue is levied predominantly on business ratepayers

Parramatta. $250,000 seed funding

Parramatta City Council’s social enterprise program commenced, in January 2007, becoming the first local government dedicated social enterprise support and development program in Australia. The Parramatta Region Social Enterprise Hub is a partnership between council, Social Ventures Australia and the Allco Foundation. The hub provides business and support services to accelerate the growth of social enterprises through networking opportunities and access to resources that would not otherwise be available or affordable. Social enterprise has become a growing movement in Western Sydney largely due to the efforts of Parramatta’s social enterprise program. Over the past three years council has awarded $250,000 to seed fund 13 social enterprises in the Parramatta local government area

Region. UWS professor in $42m project

A collaborative research team, Bionic Vision Australia, which includes Professor John Morley, from the University of Western Sydney's School of Medicine, has received $42 million from the Australian Research Council (ARC), to develop its bionic eye project. The team’s first goal is to deliver vision, which enables people to distinguish the outlines of large objects, for example buildings, cars or other obstacles. This will provide better mobility and improved quality of life. Professor Morley, chair, of Anatomy and Cell Biology, in the UWS School of Medicine, is a neuroscientist whose research is focused on understanding the ways in which images are processed by the eye and visual regions of the brain.

North Ryde. New head of reform commission

Professor Rosalind Croucher, former dean of law, at Macquarie Law School, has been appointed president of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC). Professor Croucher takes over the prestigious post from Emeritus Professor, David Weisbrot, who held the position for more than 10 years; he will take up an appointment in January 2010, as Professor of Law, at Macquarie Law School, in the university’s Concentration of Research Excellence in Legal Governance. The ALRC is the independent federal statutory body which conducts inquiries into areas of law reform at the request of the Attorney-General of Australia. Its focus is on federal laws and legal processes.

Ryde. Company sells its $98.5m stake

Mining services and construction company, AJ Lucas, at Ryde, has entered into an agreement to sell its 15 per cent stake in ATP651, an exploration tenement located in Queensland’s Surat Basin, for $98.5 million, to Japanese company, Toyota Tsusho, according to The Australian Financial Review