Category: Australian News

As of this week around 87,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 or older are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in phase 1B of the national rollout strategy.
Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP today made time to attend Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service to receive his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We have done a remarkable job so far in the fight against the COVID-19 virus, we cannot now become complacent,” Minister Wyatt said. “Vaccines are an important tool in our strategy and I urge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to come forward and get vaccinated when they are able to. It will help protect themselves, their family and their community.”
There are 32 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services around the country who will begin providing COVID-19 vaccinations this week. The number of participating services and delivery sites will increase each week; building to around 100 services for around 300 sites in remote, rural and urban communities. People can also get their vaccination from general practices, commonwealth vaccination clinics (previously known as GP-led respiratory clinics). Pharmacies will begin vaccinations later in the rollout.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised the Australian Government to prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccination in Australia based on evidence on who would be most affected if they contracted COVID-19.
“Our people have a higher risk of getting and developing serious outcomes from communicable diseases due to a number of factors including having a high rate of underlying chronic health conditions and in some cases crowded-living conditions, which increases the risk of transmission,” Minister Wyatt said.
“It’s normal to have questions or concerns, and possibly feel hesitant about getting a vaccine. I encourage all of you to listen to your local community controlled health organisation as a trusted source” he added.
The Department of Health also provides evidence-based information about COVID-19 vaccines on health.gov.au/covid-19-vaccines-is-it-true.
One of the reasons Australia has been so successful in preventing COVID-19 in reaching remote and Indigenous communities and causing serious illness, like it has overseas, is the quick response and hard work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities, leaders and health services.
Every Australian will have the opportunity to be vaccinated over the coming months and we thank every Australian for their patience. There are more than six million Australians in phase 1B, and not everyone will be able to be vaccinated immediately. No-one will miss out, whether they live in a city or country town or a very remote area.
To see if you are eligible and find your local service to make an appointment, you can use the eligibility checker at covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/eligibility or you can also contact your health service or general practitioner directly.
The Australian Government continues working in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector and state and territory governments in all aspects of the National Response to COVID-19, including in the roll-out of the vaccine program to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout Australia.
For more: https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/getting-vaccinated-for-covid-19/information-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples-about-covid-19-vaccines

The Morrison Government is allowing corporations with massive conflicts of interest – including one run by former NDIA CEO Robert De Luca – to begin cashing in on planned Independent Assessment changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme before they’ve even been introduced.
Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said today we’ve discovered that on top of being dehumanising and unworkable for disabled people, proposed independent assessment changes were ripe for corruption.
“This is deeply problematic because the individual who assesses your support needs could be working for a company who is owned by the corporation that is providing you with those supports. It is a massive conflict of interest,” Steele-John said.
“It is unacceptable that planners and service providers have been allowed to create subsidiary companies and legal entities that can uniquely position themselves to exploit that government’s planned Independent Assessment changes.
“It is even more concerning that one of the biggest corporations that is cashing in is being run by former NDIA CEO Robert De Luca.
“It is clear from the report this morning that the lines are already blurring between these companies and their parent corporations.
“Job advertisements for independent assessors in subsidiary companies owned by the corporation Mr De Luca runs are popping up all over Australia, months ahead of when the proposed changes are due to be introduced. There has been no transparent and public tender process for these independent assessment contracts.
“The entire thing stinks and should be immediately halted until disabled people, our families, our advocates and peak representative organisations have been properly consulted.”

The Greens have strongly condemned the lifting of the temporary pause on new income support recipients going on to the Cashless Debit Card program, put in place in response to COVID-19.
“The Government has spent billions pushing this punitive scheme, and millions on flawed evaluations trying to prove that the card works and to justify their punitive approach.
“They have been unable to provide ANY compelling evidence that the card has had a positive outcome or achieved any of its supposed aims.
“From April 1, not only will millions be condemned to poverty, those in the so-called trial sites who are new to income support will be put on income management.
“Managing money is not the problem, it’s the $44 a day people are trying to survive on!
“The Government say they will implement a “staggered approach” to ensure income support recipients who are new to the Cashless Debit Card program can get the support they need during their transition.
“I’m frankly staggered they are even trying this on, this card makes life harder for people.
“While we are having a national conversation about violence against women, I am deeply concerned that this card may keep people in violent situations and the low rate of income supports severely limits the options for women and children leaving violent homes.
“This Government is flogging a dead horse. Give it up. The card doesn’t work. This cruel social experiment needs to end.”
 

A major push to improve the health of the Indigenous community has been launched this week by the Australian Government, with a focus on increasing annual health checks.
Backed by a new radio advertising campaign delivered in five Aboriginal languages: Kriol, Yolngu Matha, Warlpiri, Arrente and Burarra, the Government is encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to see their GP and have a 715 health check.
The health check, listed as item 715 on the Medicare Benefits Schedule, is tailored specifically to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages. It is free and available every nine to twelve months.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt said the health checks are an opportunity for early intervention, prevention and chronic disease management for all age groups.
“In-person 715 health checks decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic and the new radio advertising campaign, along with the availability of the 715 health check via telehealth, will help to increase awareness and uptake,” Minister Hunt said.
“The three-month radio advertising campaign is part of our ‘Your Health is in Your Hands’ communications project, delivered in partnership with Aboriginal-owned company 33 creative, who have created print, audio and online content to promote the health checks.”
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, said the Government was committed to increasing the rates of the 715 health check by 10 per cent, as part of the Long Term National Health Plan.
“These health checks provide important information for both Indigenous people and health professionals, ensuring they can have their physical, psychological and social health comprehensively assessed,” Minister Wyatt said.
“While rates have been trending upwards in most locations and age groups, increasing from 11 per cent in 2010-11 to 29 per cent in 2017-18, we encourage all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to visit your local GP and have your health checked.”
Collectively, it is estimated that there are approximately 13,000 speakers of the five Aboriginal languages which will be aired across the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
The English language ads will be launched in the urban areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart as well as nationally in remote and very remote areas of Australia.
The campaign began on 21 March 2021 and will run for three months.

From today, Australia’s best and brightest researches can apply for the fourth and final round of the $45 million BioMedTech Horizons (BMTH) program, which has been successful in bringing cutting edge medical devices to market.
The Australian Government, through the BMTH program, offers $3.2 million in partnership projects to help get innovative new medical devices to the next steps of starting human trials and early stage manufacturing.
The funding is available for up to four well-developed projects that can be completed within a year, and will see devices take the final steps towards commercialisation.
The BMTH program has already achieved great results, with recent funding recipient WearOptimo announcing a deal to manufacture its next generation Microwearable™ sensor health technology.
The wearable device gives patients, and their doctors, early warning of heart attacks, heat stroke and other life-threatening events. The device will be manufactured in Brisbane and distributed worldwide.
The Government supported WearOptimo’s research through the BMTH program, to develop the Microwearable technology itself and then its application in monitoring dehydration and cardiac health.
Our researchers are world-class innovators and we are committed to ensuring their research can lead to new treatments, drugs and devices which address our biggest health challenges.
The BMTH program is improving health outcomes for Australians, while also bolstering the biomedical and medical technology sector, boosting employment and growing business.
The Government funds the program through the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). The MRFF is a long-term, sustainable investment in Australian health and medical research helping to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to the sustainability of the health system.
MTPConnect, a not-for-profit organisation driving innovation, collaboration and commercialisation in the medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, delivers the BMTH program.
Details on how to apply for funding under the program are available at www.mtpconnect.org.au

The Disability Royal Commission confirmed yesterday in Senate Estimates that the Morrison government has yet to formally respond to their request for a 17 month extension, acknowledging they need more time to enable them to fulfil the Terms of Reference.
Australian Greens Disability Rights spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said it was clear that the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of privacy protection for witnesses had had a significant impact on the ability of the Royal Commission to effectively do its job.
“This is not a question of budget constraints, it is simply a question of having enough time to properly do their job,” Steele-John said.
“Our Royal Commission has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Public hearings were stopped for 6 months, as was outreach and engagement into the community. When public hearings resumed they were, and still are, closed to the general public.
“Important community engagement in WA, SA, NT and Tasmania hasn’t resumed and in remote and regional parts of Australia, it never even began.
“Representatives of the Royal Commission confirmed last night that the Commission has a desire to go to all states and territories, including remote and regional areas of Northern and Central Australia ‘subject to COVID-19’.
“The Royal Commission also acknowledged that an extension ‘certainly would allow us to have more hearings, do more engagement, receive more submissions, undertake more private sessions and ultimately means that we would fulfil our terms of reference’.
“It’s now been six months since the Royal Commission requested a 17 month extension and the Morrison government still have not even provided a formal response. They must grant an extension now!”

Following the announcement by the EU, UK, US and Canada of targeted sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for gross human rights abuses in Xinjiang province, the Australian Greens have called on the Australian Government to take urgent action.
Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said:
“The Chinese Government is committing cultural genocide against the Uighur people. Xinjiang is under mass surveillance and more than one million people have been captured and put in internment camps.
“The Australian Greens echo Marise Payne in welcoming the measures announced by our allies overnight, and share the deep concern for the mass internment of Uighur people in Xinjiang province by the Chinese Government.
“It’s time that the Australian Government turned concern into action. The Australian Government should join countries around the world and impose targeted sanctions, such as travel bans, against senior Chinese Government officials and any other entities credibly alleged to be involved with or responsible for these human rights abuses.
“If the Chinese Government’s denial that genocide is occurring is to have any credibility then they must immediately allow access for international and UN observers.”

The Morrison Government is providing $2.6 million to researchers at the University of Melbourne to use the latest information technology to improve the lives of people who have survived brain cancer.
Funded by the Morrison Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Australian Brain Cancer Mission ­– 2020 Brain Cancer Survivorship Grant Opportunity, the three-year grant opportunity will allow researchers to develop and demonstrate the impact of an online survivorship platform to better connect patients – and their families and carers – with the health care teams providing treatment.
The platform will also allow patients to connect with other survivors to share experiences and support each other.
New cases of brain cancer are increasing each year. In 2020, 2,000 Australians were diagnosed with brain cancer. Less than a quarter (22 per cent) will be alive in five years.
While brain cancer accounts for just 1.4 per cent of all cancers in Australia, it has high rates of morbidity and mortality. Young people are disproportionately affected – brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths for people under 25.
The researchers will look at how information technologies can help ensure survivors are not alone on their brain cancer journey, and tailor a survivorship approach that suits individual needs.
After brain cancer treatment, people often have debilitating conditions, with physical, cognitive and psychosocial symptoms. They may be financially distressed and have to cope alone.
Mostly, post-cancer treatment care is only available when patients attend hospital. We need to better connect them, their families and carers with health professionals, and with other brain cancer survivors.
There are no known prevention measures for brain cancer and for some there are no effective treatments. It is widely recognised that the key to improvements in this area is investment in research.
The Australian Brain Cancer Mission is providing $133 million over 10 years from the MRFF and significant donations from funding partners.
The Mission aims to double the survival rates and improve the quality of life of people living with brain cancer over the decade to 2027, with the longer term aim of defeating brain cancer.

The Australian Government has published the Final Progress Report for Australia’s First National Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2015–2019 detailing our efforts to limit the incidence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Australia.
AMR is recognised as one of the most serious health problems facing the world. As bacteria, viruses and fungi continue to develop resistance to existing medications, this presents a greater risk of serious health impacts, as well as affecting food production, and the livelihoods and security of producers.
In 2020, the Australian Government released the National Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy – 2020 & Beyond and announced more than $22.5 million over four years in the 2020­–21 Budget to implement it.
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, David Littleproud, said that globally the use of antibiotics in livestock had been recognised as a potential source for antimicrobial resistance.
“Australia is a world leader in minimising the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals which means that there is a low risk of developing antimicrobial resistance from animals in this country,” Minister Littleproud said.
“We have introduced regulatory and industry changes to ensure that registered animal antimicrobials that are medically important for human health no longer claim to promote growth in animals.”
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said the report identified important AMR initiatives and the collaborative efforts by government and private sector organisations across the One Health sectors of human and animal health, food and the environment.
“These combined efforts aim to minimise the emergence and spread of drug-resistant organisms in Australia and the region will ensure antimicrobial medicines continue to be effective and available to treat infections into the future,” Minister Hunt said.
“We have seen antibiotic dispensing rates for Australians steadily decrease, down approximately 13 per cent since a peak in 2015, equating to around two million fewer prescriptions dispensed, which is a really positive development.
“This and other initiatives show there is increasing understanding and awareness among doctors and the community of the importance of only using antibiotics when absolutely necessary.”
Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley, said Australian research is adding to our understanding of how antimicrobials enter our environment and accumulate over time.
“It’s not just limited to hospital floors, drug-resistant bacteria, viruses and fungi can evolve in any environment,” Minister Ley said.
“Our new national AMR strategy will be supported with initiatives including developing a ‘One Health’ surveillance system, a national antimicrobial resistance research and development agenda and a national monitoring and evaluation framework.”
Minister Ley is a member of the One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance.
For more information, please refer to www.amr.gov.au

Scott Morrison needs to listen to veterans, advocates and the will of the Parliament and establish a Royal Commission into veteran suicide immediately.
The motion to establish the Royal Commission was put and passed the House of Representatives late yesterday.
As the motion notes, Australian Defence Force personnel have a suicide rate nearly twice that of the wider Australian community. More veterans have died by suicide than in war in the past 20 years.
This is a black mark against us as a nation that we have allowed so many people who have served their country to needlessly die.
These are the people who put on our uniform, in our name, to protect our nation.
We owe it to those that have gone, but it is essential for those who remain.
Labor has called for a Royal Commission into veteran suicides since December 2019, and we are pleased this is something the Parliament now wants too.
Labor co-signed the motion that passed the Senate unopposed last week along with the Greens and crossbench Senators. And now the same motion has just been passed unopposed in the House.
It is now up to the Prime Minister to follow the will of the Parliament and of the people and establish a Royal Commission into veteran suicides.
You only had to see the number of people rallying outside Parliament today in the rain to understand there is overwhelming support for a Royal Commission.
It’s what veterans and families want, it’s what the experts want, and it’s what thousands of Australians want.
Now we know it’s what the Parliament wants too.
Scott Morrison needs to do the right thing and give the grieving families of veterans the proper investigation they deserve.
The Prime Minister needs to act now.