Category Features

Towards Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Global Nuclear Disarmament

0 Comments read Features, Nuclear Disarmament

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.02.2023 (IDN – InDepthNews): Australia and Indonesia have committed to strengthening the global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime and cooperating in building practical nuclear safeguard capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, even as concerns remain over Australia’s push to acquire the nuclear-powered submarines.

An enhanced trilateral security pact, AUKUS, between Australia, the UK and the US signed in September 2021 will enable Australia to become the first non-nuclear country to have nuclear-powered submarines.

“These submarines set a terrible precedent, enabling transfer and/or acquisition of weapons grade highly enriched uranium by non-nuclear weapons states,” says Dr Margaret Beavis, Co-Chair of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Australia. “Safeguards are almost impossible to enforce on a stealth platform such as a submarine”.

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On the cusp – What’s holding back SDA?

0 Comments read Disability, Features, NDIS

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 07.07.2022 (The Urban Developer): Delays in funding approvals, rising vacancy rates and lack of clarity on demand for specialist disability accommodation (SDA) are among the challenges facing providers and investors in the sector. By 2027, the specialist disability accommodation asset class is projected to be valued at around $12 billion.

Seventy-eight percent of SDA providers said the time taken by the National Disability Insurance Agency to make SDA decisions was extremely challenging while 48 per cent said it took at least six months to fill a single vacancy. The recent findings, by the Summer Foundation and Housing Hub, surveyed providers representing about half the total current value of the SDA market—approximately $1.5 billion.

“Any providers mobilising new tenancies for SDA participants [people with disability qualifying for specialist housing paid for by the National Disability Insurance Scheme] over the past 18 months would have experienced significant vacancies, especially those providing single residency high physical support (HPS) apartments,” AccessAccom’s managing director Matthew Valenti says.

On the cusp – What’s holding back SDA

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

How Accessible Are Apartments and Do They Stack Up?

0 Comments read Disability, Environment & Development, Features

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 27.06.2022 (The Urban Developer): Accessibility in multi-residential apartment buildings has been wanting, but now developers and architects are incorporating features to make units more liveable for everyone. However, requirements of additional space and automation come at a cost.

“An additional 15 per cent floor area internally is required to fit all of the additional spatial requirements in a high physical support unit,” says Thirdi group’s general manager Ashleigh Button. “In a market where construction costs are rising, every square metre counts. So, spatial constraint is the biggest challenge to incorporate accessibility.”

Access needs in the residential market encompass a larger cohort—people with disabilities, older Australians and families. “We are seeing an overlap between general liveability and disability design in apartment buildings,” says Allen Jack Cottier Architects’ director Brian Mariotti.

How accessible are apartments and do they stack up?

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.