Category: Australian News

National Cabinet met today to discuss Australia’s COVID-19 response and the new Omicron strain.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly provided an update on the current COVID-19 situation and health response across Australia.
The World Health Organization has declared the B.1.1.529 strain, now known as the Omicron strain and first detected in Southern Africa on 24 November 2021, to be a variant of concern, one of five existing variants of concern including Delta. Six cases of the Omicron strain have been detected in Australia. All cases have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, and are in quarantine.
Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 210,239 confirmed cases in Australia and sadly 2,006 people have died. More than 47.8 million tests have been undertaken, with over 1 million tests reported in the past 7 days.
Globally there have been over 262 million cases and sadly over 5.2 million deaths, with 650,462 new cases and 7,391 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge in many countries around the world.
Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine roll out continues to expand. To date over 39.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Australia, including 95,247 in the previous 24 hours. In the previous 7 days, more than 604,000 vaccines have been administered in Australia.
More than 92.4 per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and over have now had a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including over 97.4 per cent of over 50 year olds and more than 99.9 per cent of over 70 year olds.
More than 87 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over are now fully vaccinated including more than 93.7 per cent of over 50 year olds and more than 97.3 per cent of Australians over 70 years of age.
National Cabinet noted Australia has sufficient supplies of booster shots available, with contracts in place for 85 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 15 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 51 million doses of the Novavax vaccine.
National Cabinet further noted that the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation are in late stage consideration regarding when Pfizer can be rolled out to 5 to 11 year olds.
National Cabinet and the National Federation Reform Council will next meet as scheduled on Friday 10 December.
Omicron Variant
National Cabinet received an update from Professor Paul Kelly on the Omicron variant and governments responses.
The Chief Medical Officer provided advice that Australia is in the early stages of understanding the Omicron variant.
At this stage it is known that the Omicron strain has a high number of mutations particularly within its spike protein. Early data indicates Omicron may be more transmissible when compared with previous variants of the virus which causes COVID-19. At this stage there is insufficient evidence that vaccines and treatments are less effective against Omicron than other variants, and no evidence at this stage that Omicron is a more severe disease.
The Commonwealth and states and territories have already acted on medical advice to implement travel restrictions and revised quarantine and home isolation requirements.
The Commonwealth has implemented restrictions for travellers into Australia who have been in countries of concern in the past 14 days to slow the entry of the Omicron variant into Australia. The Commonwealth has implemented a temporary ban on non-citizens from Southern Africa entering Australia. Australians who have returned from Southern Africa countries are required to undertake 14 days quarantine under state and territory public health requirements.
The Commonwealth has updated the Australian Traveller Declaration (ATD) to specifically require travellers to comply with PCR testing requirements mandated by states and territories. These changes are in addition to the steps the Commonwealth has taken since 1 November to provide states and territories with detailed advice on incoming passengers, including by sharing data sets which link travellers’ ATD data to the flight on which they are arriving, and the enhancements to the ATD.
The Commonwealth National Security Committee has further taken the decision to push back the reopening to international skilled and student visa cohorts, as well as humanitarian visa holders, from 1 December until 15 December. Reopening to Japan and the Republic of Korea will also be paused to 15 December.
These are temporary precautions pending more information on the Omicron strain becoming available worldwide.
Existing arrangements will continue for Australians, permanent residents, immediate family (including parents), and other exempt visa holders including travellers through the New Zealand and Singapore safe travel zones and Pacific Labour Scheme participants.
States and territories have initiated new quarantine and home isolation requirements under public health measures. The Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria will continue to require 72 hours home isolation for all international arrivals, with 14 days quarantine in place for travellers returning from Southern African countries.
National Cabinet noted that on the basis of advice provided by the Chief Medical Officer, there was no immediate need to change current settings.
National Cabinet agreed that the Commonwealth and state and territory governments will continue to pursue a suppression strategy, noting the objective is to limit the rate of Omicron incursions into Australia, rather than eliminate it at the border.

Australian Greens Anti-racism spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said the findings of the latest Mapping Social Cohesion report, which highlight a substantial increase in Australians’ concerns about racism, should drive government action. 60% of people now say racism is a big problem, up from 40% just last year.
Senator Faruqi said:
“People are more and more worried about rising racism in the community.
“Increasing community awareness has aligned with the continued growth of far-right, racist movements. The impacts of racist hatred on minority communities can no longer be denied.
“Meanwhile, the Morrison government’s head is firmly planted in the sand. The government hasn’t funded a national anti-racism strategy since 2015.
“Just because a conservative government full of white men doesn’t feel the brunt of racism doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
“ASIO is now saying up to 50 per cent of its domestic counter-terrorism caseload is taken up by ideologically-motivated extremism, which has been driven by a rise in right-wing extremism.
“We urgently need federal government investment in a national anti-racism strategy and a coordinated plan to tackle the far-right.”

Today’s quarterly emissions data reveals that emissions have risen by almost 2% this quarter and that the temporary decrease in carbon pollution during COVID-19 is wearing off.
Even more concerningly, June quarter emissions were 128 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, the highest number since December 2019 and the beginning of the pandemic.
Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP said this proves the only way to take genuine action on climate change is to kick the Liberals out, and put the Greens into balance of power.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:
“We’re in a climate emergency, but emissions are increasing.
“Our pollution needs to be rapidly falling but instead it’s increasing.
“Emissions are at their highest level since December 2019.
“A pandemic is not a climate plan.
“Scott Morrison has been relying on lockdowns to deliver his measly emissions cuts, but across Australia, Labor and Liberal Federal, State and Territory governments are opening more coal and gas projects, and now we’re starting to see the effect of it.
“We need to get out of fossil fuels, but Liberal and Labor are opening up more coal and gas, and now our emissions are rising instead of falling.
“What part of ‘no more coal and gas’ don’t Liberal and Labor understand? This week’s approval of $50 million to frack the Beetaloo Basin will increase Australia’s emission even further.
“We need to take genuine climate action, and we can’t take another three years of the Liberals’ lies and fudged figures. We need to kick the Liberals out and put the Greens into balance of power, where we’ll push the next government to phase out coal and gas and reduce emissions 75% by 2030.”

The Morrison Government is investing more than $37 million for Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) diagnostic services to increase access and reduce waiting times, as well as launching a new National Awareness Campaign for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Women.
FASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol. It is a preventable disorder which can have a terrible, lifelong impact on mothers, their babies and families.
FASD babies suffer increased risk of premature birth, as well as permanent damage to their brain and other critical organs. More than 2 per cent of Australian babies may be born with some form of FASD.
From November 30, in an Australian first, a new awareness campaign to increase awareness of the risks associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The campaign aims to support and inform women to make healthy choices while planning and during a pregnancy to reduce the risk and the incidence of FASD.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said the Morrison Government was providing $27.4 million to the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), who will deliver the campaign.
“The campaign will feature messages for the general public, priority groups such as women at higher risk of alcohol exposed pregnancies, health professionals, and Indigenous populations,” Minister Hunt said.
“It also builds on our ongoing commitment to support women and families to stop drinking when trying for a baby and during their pregnancy, to prevent babies from being born with FASD, and help babies born with this condition.”
The Morrison Government is also supporting children with FASD and their families by investing $9 million to expand diagnostic services in New South Wales (including regional locations), regional Victoria and Southern and Central Queensland.
Minister for Regional Health, Dr David Gillespie, said it’s important that all families and children that need these support services can access them when and where they need them, regardless of where they live.
“The University of Sydney will receive more than $4 million to boost FASD services through the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network in multiple rural and regional communities in NSW, as well as Sydney,” Minister Gillespie said.
“The funding will also support Patches Assessment Services (NSW), the University of Queensland and the Victorian Foetal Alcohol Service (Monash Health) to deliver new services and treatment to Australians who need it.”
This funding brings total Government investment in the fight against FASD to more than
$78 million since 2014.
The funding to expand FASD diagnostic services was announced in the 2020–21 Budget as part of FASD diagnostic and support services to support the National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Strategic Action Plan 2018–2028.
For more information visit the Department of Health website for the National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Strategic Action Plan 2018–2028.
 
 

 

Australian health practitioners will be better able to care for patients and their children experiencing violence and abuse under new guidelines being released today.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has released the 5th edition of The White Book, which contains updated, evidence-based guidelines designed to help health practitioners identify and respond in clinical practice to patients impacted by family and domestic violence and abuse.
To ensure the continued release of The White Book, the Morrison Government invested $300,000 over two years through the Improving Health System Response to Family and Domestic Violence – National Training for Primary Care Workforce initiative.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said the initiative supports the Fourth Action Plan (2019-2022) of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (2021-2022).
“We know family violence and abuse is sadly part of the lives of many Australians across the country. We also know victims and survivors often turn to their GP for support, and that their GPs response can make all the difference,” Minister Hunt said.
“The update of this key resource for GPs will ensure our nation’s doctors have best practice guidance on how to recognise and respond to people experiencing family and domestic violence.”
Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston said the impacts of violence in the community cannot be ignored and often present in a health context.
“GPs are highly respected and trusted members of the community which means they are often the first person to which a victim-survivor will make a disclosure,” Minister Ruston said.
“This is an important update to The White Book which will equip GPs and other health practitioners with the latest evidence-based knowledge and make a real difference for patients who have made the courageous decision to disclose details of violence, assault or abuse.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey 2016, an estimated 1 in 6 (17%, or 1.6 million) women and 1 in 16 (6.1%, or 0.5 million) men had experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or previous cohabiting partner since the age of 15.
The White Book will be published on the RACGP website.

The Greens have slammed the Morrison Government’s 2021 national gas infrastructure plan as exposing its Net Zero 2050 pledge as a short term ruse to fool the US and UK in Glasgow.
Despite the IEA’s repeated calls for no new coal mines or gas fields to meet net zero by 2050, the plan is hoping to open three new gas basins (Beetaloo,  Gunnedah and North Bowen-Galilee basins) and build up to eleven new gas transmission pipelines spanning thousands of kilometres across the country.
The government’s gas plan doesn’t even look at the alternative to new supply, which is switching  homes and businesses away from gas, which will be far cheaper than building new pipelines, but create more jobs, save everyone money, reduce childhood asthma and help reverse the climate crisis
The plan makes no reference to net zero by 2050, demonstrating that the government isn’t even pretending to meet their own globally pledged aspirations.
The Greens’ policy is for net zero by 2035 as net zero by 2050 is too late for a developed country like Australia, but this new gas plan shows the government isn’t even committed to its own  weak target.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:
“The Morrison Government lied to the international community as well as the Australian public. Australia has no pathway to net zero, even by too-late 2050, and this plan is the proof.
“The rest of the world wants to cut methane, but Liberal and Labor want more gas.
“The International Energy Agency says no new oil, coal, or gas if we want to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. This plan for massive gas expansion locks in devastating global heating and it means climate catastrophe within our lifetimes.
“Labor and Liberal have both proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are captured by the gas corporations.
“If Labor are serious about climate action, they’ll join the Greens next week in the Senate to block fracking the NT at Beetaloo and Santos’ rorting of carbon capture and storage.
“With the Government in chaos, Labor should join with the Greens and strike while the iron is hot. Climate action could start in parliament next week; we don’t need to wait for an election.”
Senator Dorinda Cox, Greens spokesperson for Mining and Resources said:
“The government has put fracking in the NT at the centre of their gas plan. The Greens will support Traditional Owners to make sure these destructive gas plans never see the light of day.
“For over a decade, Traditional Owners have been clear: they don’t want fracking on their Country. Consent matters – and that has not been given by the First Nations communities that span the land earmarked for fracking.
“Public money should be spent on the services that make communities in the NT stronger, not funnelled to gas corporations to pollute their land and water. This plan will line the pockets of gas corporations instead of supporting Traditional Owners’ ability to live safely on land and On Country.
“This addiction to gas has infected the minds of decision makers in my home State of WA with the State Government there now showing signs of supporting the expansion of the destructive Scarborough project.
“Their blatant disregard for cultural heritage will not only pollute the planet but will permanently destroy the ancient Murajuga rock art.”

Australian Greens International Development spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the emergence of the Omicron variant has put further pressure on Australia to co-sponsor an intellectual property waiver on Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
At its upcoming ministerial meetings, the WTO will consider the intellectual property waiver first proposed by India and South Africa more than one year ago.
Senator Faruqi said:
“The global Covid crisis continues to evolve but Australia is missing in action. Omicron has put further pressure on wealthy countries like Australia to step up and support vaccination across the world.
“It’s absolutely critical that Australia comes out in strong support of the intellectual property waiver as proposed by India and South Africa.
“By refusing to co-sponsor the waiver, Australia has taken the side of big pharmaceutical companies over the health and wellbeing of millions of people.
“In addition, Australia should substantially boost funding to the COVAX vaccine facility to ramp up vaccination in low-income countries. Our per capita contributions, to this point, have been miserly.”

CEO of the Aboriginal Family Legal Service Southern Queensland and Manly West mum Tabatha Young has been endorsed to contest the seat of Bonner at the next Federal Election for the Australian Labor Party.
Working with women and families who are facing Domestic Violence and the Child Protection System, Tabatha knows the impact Scott Morrison’s inability to walk the talk has had for the community.
Tabatha will be a fierce advocate for Government action supporting survivors of Domestic and Family Violence and funding for essential services to Bonner such as health and aged care.
“Scott Morrison has not taken responsibility for the inadequate services here in Bonner, with Gunda Pa providing only limited health services since the LNP closed the Wynnum Hospital. Bonner is being left behind when it comes to health care and essential services under Scott Morrison.”
“After the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, we have seen too little action taken by Scott Morrison for a sector in crisis. Even in our own backyard, the Macleay Ward at the Redlands Hospital has been converted into a dementia ward when we know those patients should be in a specialised care facility, not a hospital bed.”
“The people of Bonner deserve a representative who listens to them and is on their side. It’s time for a change here in Bonner.”
Senator Murray Watt said “Scott Morrison has given the community of Bonner nothing but political spin since he took on the job of Prime Minister. Tabatha is an authentic member of the Bonner community and will be a strong advocate as part of the Labor team in Brisbane.”
Labor Leader Anthony Albanese also welcomed Tabatha to the Labor team.
“Labor has a plan to fix our health system and create secure, local jobs here in Queensland and I need strong advocates on my team like Tabatha to help deliver Labor’s plan for Queensland.”
“Tabatha’s advocacy and experience will make her a strong representative for Bonner.”

From 1 December 2021, Australians with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) will have access to a new treatment option on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
The Morrison Government is expanding the list of Venclexta^® (venetoclax) for the treatment of AML, for use in combination with azacitidine.
AML is a type of cancer that appears suddenly and grows quickly. AML occurs when immature white blood cells called blasts become cancerous. These abnormal blast cells are known as leukaemia cells.
Because the leukaemia cells are immature and abnormal, they don’t carry out the usual infection-fighting role of white blood cells. In AML, changes in these cells prevent them from turning into mature blood cells, resulting in too many of them and too few mature blood cells, platelets and other white blood cells in the blood.
Venclexta^® targets and blocks the action of a specific protein within leukaemia cells called BCL-2. Blocking this protein helps to kill and reduce the number of cancer cells, and may slow the spread of the disease.
In 2021, almost 5,000 Australians were diagnosed with leukaemia. In Australia, it is estimated that around 1,100 people are diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) each year. AML becomes more common with age and mostly occurs after 65.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said having access to Venclexta^®, which is already listed on the PBS for other conditions, will give AML sufferers more treatment options and better outcomes.
“Around 340 Australian patients a year will benefit from this expanded listing, who without the PBS subsidy would may more than $88,800 per course of treatment. From 1 December, they’ll pay $41.30 per script or $6.60 with a concession card,” Minister Hunt said.
“Since 2013, the Coalition Government had approved more than 2,800 new or amended listings on the PBS. This represents an average of around 30 listings or amendments per month – or one each day – at an overall investment by the Government of $14 billion.
“Our Government’s commitment to ensuring Australians can access affordable medicines, when they need them, remains rock solid.”
This PBS listing has been recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

Families in Armstrong Creek, Barwon Heads and all across the Bellarine will have quicker and safer commutes to work, school and weekend sport under an Albanese Labor Government, thanks to a $125 million commitment to help build stage 2 of the Barwon Heads Road duplication.
By 2031, Barwon Heads Road is projected to carry up to 44,000 cars and trucks every day and Armstrong Creek is one of Victoria’s fastest growing suburbs. It consists of 2,500 hectares of developable land, which makes it one of the largest growth fronts in the country.
This growth area will provide for 22,000 lots and a population of around 60,000 people.
If we don’t build for that growth now, locals will be trapped in ever-growing gridlock.
That’s why an Albanese Labor Government will partner with the Victorian Government to duplicate Barwon Heads Road from Reserve Road, past Armstrong Creek, to Lower Duneed Road.
This project will link up with stage 1 of the duplication, between Belmont and Reserve Road, which the Victorian Government is already busy constructing.
This project will future-proof infrastructure across this growing region, creating local jobs in the construction phase and ensuring that working families can spend less time in the car and more time at home.
And, unlike so many of the Morrison-Joyce Government’s commitments, an Albanese Labor Government will actually deliver it.