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The Housing Industry Association said today that the housing shortage in Australia will increase at a rate of more than 400% by 2020. The Housing Industry Association released its report today.

In its report, HIA said that the country needs more than 466,000 new homes to be built by 2020. Currently the housing shortage in Australia is around 109,000.

HIA said it its report that the housing shortage situation is more serious in metropolitan cities such as Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Queensland Gas Company and the BOC group have signed a deal to develop a liquefied natural gas plant worth $A100 million at Chinchilla in Southern Queensland. This is reportedly the first plant in Australia to convert coal seam methane gas to liquefied natural gas.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced the deal today at Chinchilla. The new plant is completely for domestic consumption and will provide LNG to create fuel for trucks.

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled the fee dispute between Consolidated Minerals Ltd. and JPMorgan Morgan Chase & Co Ltd. in favor of Consolidated Minerals today. In its order, the Court has awarded JP Morgan just $A19.25 million while the investment bank had demanded $A50.8 million in fees.

A study by the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs stated that the women are the sufferers in case of smoking when compared to people with a history of alcohol abuse.

A survey which involved 287 men and women aged between 31- 60 concluded that ones with a past history of alcohol abuse ranked at par with the ones who had no past drinking problems on a test concerning to the cognitive function. Further to which it was seen that women who were smoking addicts are the ones who were affected the most and at the same time scored low on the cognitive tests as well.

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia anticipated that the double digit inflation would not stay for long. As per him, it would come down within two months.

However, he expressed his concerns over the food price rise. He suggested that the Reserve Bank of India must step forward to take control over the monetary policy. Ahluwalia was confident over the economic growth despite the inflation issue.

Oakajee Port & Rail Pty, a joint venture between Australian iron ore producer Murchison Metals Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan, said today that the company is planning to increase its proposed capacity by 29% in the first stage.

Oakajee is all set to develop a terminal project to export iron ore from Western Australia. The proposed project would cost Oakajee around $A4 billion. Oakajee took the decision to expand its capacity to meet the rising demand of from regional iron ore miners.