SQGCRLI

An Australian Bureau of Statistics study of motor vehicle usage has found 13 per cent of households are now driving diesel-powered vehicles, up from 9 per cent just three years earlier.

"For the first time the number of Australian households that opted to use diesel to power their main motor vehicle has hit the one million mark," said Andrew Cadogan-Cowper the director of the ABS Centre of Environment Statistics.

Unleaded petrol remains the most popular fuel for households, with 83 per cent using petrol-engined cars.

However, within petrol-powered vehicles, there has been a distinct shift away from basic unleaded to premium fuels, with 14 per cent of households now using premium, up from just 8 per cent in 2009.

According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum the national average price of diesel for the week ending October 21, was 152.7 cents-per-litre.

The decision, supported by Tour organisers, was widely expected given that so many riders finishing behind Armstrong, who was stripped of his titles and banned from the sport for life, have also been associated with doping offences.

The sport's governing body also called on the American and other disgraced riders to return prize money they had received and said it would set up a "fully independent external commission" to investigate allegations made against it over the Armstrong affair.

Armstrong was formally stripped of his seven titles on Tuesday (AEDT) when the UCI ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's decision to ban the 41-year-old Texan for life and nullify his results from August 1998 onward.

"The management committee decided not to award victories to any other rider or upgrade other placings in any of the affected events," the UCI said in a statement following a meeting at a Geneva hotel.

"The committee also called on Armstrong and all other affected riders to return the prize money they had received," the statement added.

Administrators Cor Cordis Chartered Accountants announced the move at a news conference in Sydney today.

It follows Tuesday's demonstrations by the CFMEU construction union over unpaid wages at one of the company's sites in Sydney.

Southern Cross had warded off insolvency earlier this year, and formed a new entity with a Victorian company called Icon.

Southern Cross has more than $230 million worth of building projects in New South Wales, including a Bunnings warehouse at Balgowlah, and an $80 million housing development at Hurstville.

Topics: building-and-construction, business-economics-and-finance, nsw

It is the first coloured coin produced by the Australian Mint and only 500,000 being made.

The red poppy coin is being distributed by the RSL for a donation of about $10.

There will also be a non-coloured version and both are legal tender.

Brisbane soldier Lance Corporal Owen Perry, who has lost 16 mates in Afghanistan over the last two years, says it is important Australians support the 2012 Poppy Appeal.

Lance Corporal Perry spoke at the Appeal launch in Brisbane's Anzac Square today where crosses were placed in the Field of Remembrance.