Country Liberals Senator for the Northern Territory, Nigel Scullion and CLP Candidate for Solomon, Kathy Ganley, have announced Charles Darwin University will receive a $50,000 Australia-India Council (AIC) grant for their project Construction Waste Reduction: Australia-India collaborative workshops.
“Charles Darwin University are one of nine successful recipients of AIC 2018 grants programme to promote projects in Australia and India. The AIC supports projects that deepen our relationship with India by promoting mutual understanding and collaboration,” Senator Scullion said.
Mrs Ganley said building awareness and understanding between Australia and India not only promotes a much stronger connections between the two countries, it addressed a mutual wicked problem in a sustainable way whilst forging rapport.
“The grant will go towards CDU and the University of Melbourne collaborating with India’s Energy and Resource Institute to host workshops in Darwin and New Delhi on efficient construction waste management. These workshops will help both countries to improve our knowledge and share technology on dealing with construction and demolition waste as existing landfills become exhausted,” Mrs Ganley said.
Alice Springs based CDU Research Fellow Dr Deepika Mathur said she would facilitate workshops in New Delhi and Darwin next year that would focus on an issue critical to both nations.
“Construction and demolition waste can constitute up to 40 per cent of total waste generated, with landfills in India and Australia rapidly becoming exhausted,” Dr Mathur said.
“The key to conquering the ‘waste management mountain’ is to learn from each other’s experiences and through long-term knowledge and technology exchange partnerships between experts in Australia and India.
Senator Scullion said the AIC grants programme helped to shift perceptions, build new innovative linkages and provide sustainable solutions in areas of high importance to the Australia-India relationship.
For more information visit the Australia-India Council webpage.