Category: Australian News

The human biosecurity emergency period under the Biosecurity Act 2015 is set to be extended by an additional three months.
The human biosecurity emergency declaration ensures the Government has the powers to take any necessary measures to prevent and control COVID-19, and protect the health of all Australians. These powers have been used on a limited basis following expert medical advice.
The emergency period, which has been in place since 18 March 2020, is now set to cease on 17 March 2021.
The recommendation from Government to the Governor General to extend the emergency period was informed by specialist medical and epidemiological advice provided by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer.
The AHPPC has advised the international COVID-19 situation continues to pose an unacceptable public health risk. The extension of the emergency period for a further three months is an appropriate response to that risk.
The proposed extension will be considered and formalised by the Governor General this week.
The existing restrictions that sit under this emergency declaration would remain in place to minimise the risk of introducing and spreading COVID-19 in our community. These include:

• Limitations on the movement of cruise vessels.
• Limitations on outbound international travel.
• Restrictions on the operation of retail stores at international airports.

These restrictions are reviewed regularly and take into account the latest expert medical advice. They can be amended or removed at any time based on the expert medical advice.
The Australian Government is working closely with state and territory agencies and the cruise industry, to develop a framework for the staged resumption of cruise ships in a manner that is proportionate to the public health risk.

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, said the Greens will move a series of amendments to the government’s industrial relations reforms to outlaw insecure work, by introducing a legal presumption that all employment is permanent and ongoing unless there are compelling, exceptional business reasons to the contrary.
The amendments will also give effect to the Greens’ Fair Work Amendment (Making Australia More Equal) Bill 2018, which extends to gig economy workers the protections available to employees. Given Labor has also recently adopted a similar policy stance, the Greens’ amendments have a good chance of succeeding in the Senate.
“The Greens will move to outlaw insecure work,” Bandt said.
“Insecure work in Australia has got out of control.
“Casual, contract and gig economy workers are all getting a raw deal.
“The Greens will move to change the government’s bill so that every job is permanent and ongoing unless there are exceptional business reasons to the contrary.
“If our amendments pass, then insecure work will become a thing of the past, and casual, contract and gig economy workers could go to the Fair Work Commission to get their jobs converted to ongoing employment.”
“The government’s IR reforms will entrench the insecure work crisis, rather than address it, so the Greens will bring on amendments to ensure that every worker gets the rights they deserve.
“The recent deaths of five delivery riders has highlighted the lack of protections and entitlements for gig economy workers. The Greens’ will move amendments that will also give the Fair Work Commission the power to extend minimum wages, terms and conditions from the Fair Work Act 2009, modern awards or enterprise agreements to gig economy workers.”
“We’re also deeply concerned that the Attorney General, the highest law officer in the country, is undermining the Federal Court’s decision on casual workers and is working with big business to not only reverse the hard-fought win for casual workers rights, but is introducing legislation to prevent any future court ruling from providing full compensation to casual workers,” Bandt said.

The Australian Greens have warned that the government’s climate inaction is pouring fuel on fires incinerating our country’s iconic animals, landscapes, and flora, amid news that tens of thousands of koalas died during last season’s bushfires, and as an uncontrolled bushfire tears through an untouched world heritage rainforest.
Greens Environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young will this week move a ‘Save the Koala Bill’ to protect the habitat of Australia’s most iconic tree-hugger, in a bid to stave off extinction.
“Today Australia is watching one of our national treasures burn. The Fraser Island fire comes on the back of record-breaking temperatures and is a further harbinger of the climate emergency that we face,” Greens Leader, Adam Bandt said.
“Scott Morrison should be ashamed of the coal-fuelled destruction being wreaked on his watch. While the nation was burning last year he left for Hawaii, and now that it’s happening again, the best he can do is vow not to cheat on his climate commitments.
“In just five days Australia will have to front up to a UN hosted climate summit demanding greater ambition to reduce emissions. While other nations are doubling and tripling their ambition, all Scott Morrison is vowing is not to cook the books, and our nation’s precious wildlife is paying the price for his inaction.
“This constant cycle of destruction will become the norm unless Scott Morrison stops dragging his feet on climate action. If we don’t want to have billions of our animals burnt every summer, we need to rapidly transition off coal, oil and gas,” Bandt said.
Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“The Greens will this week move to introduce a Save the Koala Bill to prevent further decimation of precious habitat and to help ensure our wildlife have a place to call home.
“The Bill will legislate a moratorium on clearing of critical koala habitat which is absolutely vital to saving the species.
“After the devastation of the 2019-20 climate fires which burnt through 12 million hectares of primarily forest and woodland, the Morrison Government should not be approving any further land clearing.
“The WWF report released today confirms our worst fears about the incomprehensible number of wildlife killed in the 2019-20 climate fires.
“Included in the three billion native species impacted by the fires is more than 60,000 koalas, with some of the worst losses on Kangaroo Island in South Australia.
“In NSW where koalas will be extinct by 2050 without urgent action to save them, 8,000 of our iconic species were killed or injured.
“Fires are now already burning across the country, including on Fraser Island a World Heritage Site.
“We are facing another devastating summer for our environment and wildlife, yet the Environment Minister is nowhere to be seen.
“The Minister is missing in action. Where is she? What is the plan for protecting our wildlife this summer?”

Today Labor has launched the Child Care Calculator so Australian families can find out how much cheaper child care will be under an Albanese Labor Government.
This new website is a useful tool for the over one million families that will be better off under Labor’s Cheaper  Child Care for Working Families plan.
Under this plan, Labor will:

• Scrap the $10,560 child care subsidy cap which often sees women losing money from an extra day’s work;
• Lift the maximum child care subsidy rate to 90 per cent; and
• Increase child care subsidy rates and taper them for every family earning less than $530,000.

Labor’s plan will make child care more affordable for 97 per cent of families in the system, and remove financial barriers that disincentivise second income earners, predominantly women, to work full-time.
Importantly, Labor will keep working to fix Australia’s broken child care system, which currently locks out more than 100,000 families because they just can’t afford it.
The Productivity Commission will conduct a comprehensive review of the sector with the aim of implementing a universal 90 per cent subsidy for all families.
The ACCC will design a price regulation mechanism to shed light on costs and fees and drive them down for good. The ACCC will examine the relationship between funding, fees, profits and educators’ salaries.
The Coalition’s child care system has failed parents – particularly women. It has created a financial disincentive for many second wage earners to work full time, or even increase their hours.
On top of that, since this Government was elected in 2013, child care fees have skyrocketed by 35.9 per cent.
Labor has put forward a plan for cheaper child care that is win, win, win – it is good for parents, good for children, and good for the economy.

The Australian Government’s early action to rapidly increase the number of Registered Nurses (RN) who have the necessary skills to treat people infected with COVID-19, has significantly strengthened our ability to respond to the pandemic.
The Government provided $6.6 million for the delivery of two nurse training programs in response to COVID-19 – one to refresh clinical skills, and the other to provide training in critical and high dependency care in response to the pandemic.
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said more than 2,700 RNs completed the refresher training, and almost 16,500 completed critical care and/or high dependency care training to upskill to meet the forecasted need during the pandemic.
“The training programs ­– separately developed and delivered by the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) and Medcast – significantly built up the skills and knowledge of Australian nurses and gave them greater confidence to redeploy to roles in response to COVID-19,” Minister Hunt said.
“Training outcomes showed the online delivery mechanisms used were cost efficient, supported rapid access, and provided consistent education across multiple health networks and hospitals nationwide.
“As Australia and the world continue to navigate the COVID-19 health emergency, nurses remain at the forefront of our health care.
“I would like to thank every nurse who stepped up during this challenging time, working hard to aid the recovery of Australians sick with COVID-19. They have saved lives and protected lives.”
Minister for Regional Health Mark Coulton said nurses continued to play an essential role in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in regional, rural and remote communities.
“Our highly skilled nurses, along with our doctors and allied health workers, have been the true heroes of the pandemic,” Minister Coulton said.
“This Nurse Practitioner Week, I thank every nurse across Australia, and pass on my gratitude to those who completed their refresher training or upskilled in order to support the nation through such challenging times.
“Nurses are the lifeblood of rural communities, responding to complex health needs away from major hospitals, and this year has exemplified the vital and necessary role they play.”
The Ministers said it was fitting nurses received special recognition in 2020, the World Health Organisation’s International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, given their immense contribution.
The Australian Government has committed more than $16 billion to the emergency health response to the pandemic.
The ACN and Medcast evaluation reports on the outcomes of the COVID-19 nurse training are available from the Department of Health website at health.gov.au/resources/publications.

Young deaf and hearing-impaired Australians will benefit from a $300,000 investment to support their mental health and well-being announced today.
The Australian Government will fund Hear For You to deliver online mentoring, collaborate with mainstream youth mental health services providers, and produce a campaign to reduce stigma and encourage deaf and hearing impaired young people to seek help for mental health issues.
Announcing the funding during a visit to Hear For You’s headquarters at the Australian Hearing Hub in Sydney, Regional Health Minister – whose responsibilities include hearing services – Mark Coulton said Government is committed to ensuring Australians who are hard of hearing get the services they need.
“The Government is committed to improving the health of all Australians, particularly the most vulnerable among us,” Minister Coulton said.
“We understand that for Australians who are hard of hearing, their health needs are not defined purely by their hearing challenges and can – just like the rest of us – benefit from support for their mental wellbeing.
“Life’s not easy when you’re a teenager and if you’re deaf or hard of hearing, it can be even trickier.
“Hear For You delivers a modern service, tailored to support improved mental wellbeing for young Australians with hearing challenges, and I am pleased to announce our support for the work they do.”
Minister for Health, Greg Hunt said the Australian Government recognises the cumulative impact that COVID-19, bushfires, floods, and droughts had created for many Australians.
“This funding will address the additional mental health and communications challenges that deaf and hearing-impaired young people face, such as increased levels of social isolation, loneliness, anxiety, and depression,” Minister Hunt said.
“The Government is committed to supporting all young Australians with, or at risk of, poor mental health by improving access to early intervention services and preventative mental health support.”
This announcement follows $21.2 million invested in the recent Budget to deliver key initiatives from the Roadmap for Hearing Health and an additional $485 million for mental health services and supports.
For more information about Hear For You and their work, visit hearforyou.com.au.

The Australian Government is continuing to improve Australia’s world leading vaccination program through the Australian Immunisation Register Amendment (Reporting) Bill 2020, which enters parliament today.
This Bill supports and builds upon the longstanding action of the successive Governments to ensure that Australians have access to safe and effective vaccines and that we maintain world leading immunisation rates.
Currently, not all vaccine providers make a record in the Australian Immunisation Register (the AIR) when a vaccine is administered, which means that individuals or health professionals may not have access to vaccination history. This information could be vital in an emergency, when undertaking medical treatment and in managing an individual’s health and wellbeing.
The effect of the amendments in the Bill is to ensure all vaccination providers report vaccines given, including any COVID-19 vaccine, to the AIR.
These changes will ensure that every Australian can access their vaccine history through this safe and secure register and support the administration of COVID-19 vaccines and other lifesaving vaccines, including those against the flu and meningococcal.
While the Government strongly supports immunisation, it is not mandatory. Vaccination will remain voluntary and individuals will retain the fundamental choice to choose not to vaccinate.
The Australian Government is a strong supporter of immunisation in that it is a safe and effective way to prevent the spread of many diseases in the community that can cause hospitalisation, serious ongoing health conditions, or even death.
The Australian Government has acted decisively to secure production and supply agreements to secure early access to 134 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to Australians in 2021-21 and 2021-22 through an investment so far of $3.3 billion.
In addition to the significant investment in COVID-19 Vaccines, the Australian Government invests over $400 million each year though the National Immunisation Program (NIP) to protect Australians against 17 vaccine preventable diseases.
The NIP provides free vaccines to eligible people, including children, adolescents, the elderly, pregnant women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people against conditions such as pneumococcal, meningococcal, measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, shingles, human papillomavirus (HPV) and influenza amongst others.
The need for the Australian Immunisation Register Amendment (Reporting) Bill 2020 arose from the need to provide more Australians with information about their immunisation history, to support the roll out of a COVID-19 vaccine and the ongoing administration of the NIP.
Australia continues to have a high level of vaccination reporting and the AIR data entered is sufficiently reliable for the administration of childhood immunisations due to a number of policy and program settings which encourage reporting.
For example, Australia’s immunisation coverage rates for children continue to be at a record high, compared to the rest of the world. As at September 2020: 94.90 per cent of all Australian children aged five years and 97.03 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged five years were fully vaccinated.
However, reporting of adolescent and other adult vaccines is lower and less reliable. For example, the reporting of vaccinations against Herpes Zoster and Pneumococcal for older Australians is around 40 per cent and reporting for seasonal influenza is around 50 per cent.
The AIR provides Australians with an Immunisation History Statement (IHS) which displays all immunisations that an individual has had that are recorded on the AIR. The IHS is can be viewed and printed via Medicare Online, myGov, the Express Plus Medicare mobile app, or My Health Record. Vaccination providers can print an IHS on behalf of their patient.
Public consultation on the proposed changes indicated a high level of community support for these improvements and it is pleasing to note that key stakeholders, including health peak bodies have indicated their public support.

Ground-breaking research and world-leading facilities will be on show when the Federal Regional Health Minister visits the Australian Hearing Hub and Macquarie University in Sydney today.
Minister Mark Coulton, who suffers hearing loss due to industrial deafness, said he was thrilled to see first-hand the innovation that is achieving positive outcomes for Australians with hearing challenges.
“The Australian Hearing Hub is an awe-inspiring facility and work conducted here is actively improving the lives of people in each corner of Australia and right across the globe, and the Australian Government is proud to play a key role,” Minister Coulton said.
“Whether it is developing new teleaudiology standards to help tackle the peril of distance for rural and remote Australians or studying the feasibility of cochlear implants for seniors with profound hearing loss, the Federal Government is actively engaged with The Hub to identify future opportunities while delivering services to improve lives.”
Federal Member for Bennelong, John Alexander, whose electorate is home to The Hub, welcomed the Minister’s visit and congratulated the Hub on its work to improve the lives of deaf and hearing-impaired Australians.
“There is no denying the great work of the Australian Hearing Hub and I am particularly pleased to join the Minister to have a good look at Hearing Australia’s facilities here today. It is facilities like these that make Bennelong the Innovation Capital of Australia,” Mr Alexander said.
“I congratulate Macquarie University for their leadership in hosting the Hearing Hub and look forward to continuing to work with Hub Members to ensure this facility continues its world-leading research and education.”
The Hearing Hub unites many of the nation’s brightest researchers, educators, clinicians, and innovators with expertise in linguistics, audiology, speech pathology, cognitive and language sciences, psychology, nanofabrication, and engineering sciences
The 2020–21 Federal Budget invested $21.2 million to fund key initiatives from the sector-developed Roadmap for Hearing Health.
“This investment is delivering a national awareness campaign to prevent unnecessary hearing loss; a research grants programme; workforce initiatives in both the rural and aged care sectors; projects to reduce hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children; and forming telehealth standards to ensure consistent and high quality hearing services,” Minister Coulton said.
Nearly four million Australians are currently affected by some form of hearing impairment, with this number expected to increase to 7.8 million people by 2060.
“Delivering the Roadmap will help ensure Australians have access to quality services and support, which is vital to prevent further hearing loss,” Minister Coulton said.
“These measures will assist Australia to continue delivering innovative and efficient hearing services, and keep our country at the forefront of excellence for hearing support.”
Alongside the Roadmap, the Australian Government will also review and improve the Hearing Services Program, which provides hearing tests, assessments, and subsidised devices to vulnerable Australians including pensioners, veterans, indigenous Australians, those with complex needs, and people in rural and remote areas.
Background
The Australian Government continues to implement projects and strategies to improve hearing health, including:

• The national rollout of innovative hearing screening tools for primary health care clinics in remote areas, through a collaboration between Hearing Australia and the Royal Flying Doctors Service
• The development of nationally-consistent clinical standards for paediatric audiology and teleaudiology by the Ear Science Institute and Audiology Australia
• Roll-out of a free sign language interpreting service for senior Australians, being delivered by Auslan Connections
• Funding the National Acoustic Laboratory to examine the clinical and economic benefits of upgrading sound processors in clients aged over 65
• A review of the Minimum Hearing Loss Threshold used under the Hearing Services Program, also being undertaken by the National Acoustic Laboratory

The Liberals and Labor have combined forces to block a Climate Emergency declaration in Australia, on the day our closest neighbours have declared a climate emergency at their Labour Prime Minister’s request.
The Australian Greens put Climate Emergency Declaration motions before the House and Senate today, with the Government blocking the vote in the House, and Labor and the Government blocking in the Senate.
Meanwhile, across the Tasman, the New Zealand Parliament today joined the many nations to declare a Climate Emergency, following a long and successful campaign from the NZ Greens.
“The first step to dealing with a problem is admitting you’ve got one. Last summer’s disastrous season of bushfires has made it abundantly clear that we’re rapidly speeding towards a climate cliff,” Mr Bandt said.
“This was a chance for Australia to show it is serious about climate action ahead of next week’s international climate summit. Thanks to the Liberals and Labor, we have failed.
“We are running out of time to stop the climate emergency, and every day counts. When the Australian population is at threat, when there is a threat to the safety and the livelihoods of our people and our country, parliament should drop everything to deal with it. Instead, the government is refusing to accept the truth about our climate.
“Declaring a Climate Emergency forces Scott Morrison to tell the truth that our current targets and the world’s current targets are not enough.
“Current projections from the Bureau of Meteorology confirm that our attempts to limit global warming to just 2 degrees are failing. Australia’s on track for 4 degrees of heating unless we increase our ambition, and do it quickly.
“This government clearly has a problem with this truth and the Greens are trying to hold them to account, but the opposition doesn’t know where it stands on the defining issue of our time. “We’re running out of time to take action. I wish Labor would decide where they stand and join us in holding this government of climate criminals to account instead of siding with the Liberals to protect Scott Morrison.
“The Labor-Green government led by Jacinda Ardern knows where they stand on the climate emergency and we welcome New Zealand joining the declaration club.

Today’s national accounts figures show that government support for people who need it most must continue, Greens economic justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim says.
“These figures show it was government spending that propped up the rest of the economy,” Senator McKim said.
“And even then, we are still way behind where we were before the pandemic hit. Millions of Australians are unemployed or underemployed.”
“As the OECD has made clear, now is not the time for the government to cut spending.”
“Our economy being technically out of a recession means very little for the millions of Australians who are living below the poverty line because of decisions taken by this government.”
“Income support will not only save lives and save people from despair, it will help ensure a fairer, quicker economic recovery.”