Category: Australian News

The Federal Government’s decision to fast-track COVID-related domestic and family violence matters and parenting disputes in the family court must be backed in with extra funding to ensure the system works and can be continued beyond the current crisis, according to Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson on Women, Larissa Waters.
“The Greens have consistently called for extra resources for the family court system and a triage approach to cases involving domestic or family violence. The significant rise in these cases during the COVID-19 crisis highlights the need for quick access to justice,” she said today.
“The proposal to hear COVID-related cases within 72 hours is a significant step forward. However, quick, fair, and child-safety focussed outcomes will only be achieved if additional funding is given to courts and community legal services to implement the new system.
“It is also critical that the triage list becomes a permanent feature of the Family Court, and that more is done to assist at-risk women and children who have not yet reached the court system.
“The government should urgently introduce a support package that includes:

• additional funding for the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court to implement the triage system;
• additional funding for frontline domestic and family violence services, particularly legal services; and
• more support for Safe at Home programs, including safe technology services.

“The Greens will ask the Joint Select Committee into Australia’s Family Law System to monitor the operation of the COVID-19 list, and will call for a permanent triage system to keep women and children safe,” Senator Waters said.

The Morrison Government has taken decisive and unprecedented action to protect Australians and the economy from the effects of the coronavirus, with Government support for the economy totalling $320 billion or 16.4 per cent of GDP.
With the coronavirus pandemic having a major health and economic impact globally Australia has made important gains in containing the spread of the virus. The near-term outlook depends critically on this ongoing success and our ability to gradually ease restrictions so people can return to work.
It is reasonable to expect that the pace and scope of any easing in containment measures will become more clear in the period ahead while economic data on the current state of the economy will become more readily available.
Given the high degree of uncertainty around the economic impact of the coronavirus on the domestic and international economies, last month the Government took a decision to release the 2020-21 Budget on 6 October 2020.
In the interim, the Government has continued to provide updates on the fiscal position through the release of the Australian Government General Government Sector Monthly Financial Statements. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is also releasing additional and more frequent information to enhance understanding of the social and economic impacts of the coronavirus.
Building on these updates, the Treasurer will provide a Ministerial Statement to the House of Representatives and the Minister for Finance to the Senate on 12 May 2020. The statement will outline the impact of the coronavirus on the economy and the Government’s actions to date.
The Government will also provide an economic update on the economic and fiscal outlook in June, following the release of the March quarter National Accounts.
Australia entered the coronavirus crisis from a position of economic strength. The Government returned the Budget to balance for the first time in 11 years, while government debt to GDP was about a quarter of what it is in the United States or United Kingdom, and about one seventh of what it was in Japan.
The measures we have implemented are temporary, targeted and proportionate to the challenge we face and will ensure Australia bounces back stronger on the other side, without undermining the structural integrity of the budget and maintaining our commitment to medium term fiscal sustainability.

The Morison Government will provide an additional $27 million in grants of up to $10,000 to child care services to ensure they can continue providing care to the children of essential workers.
The new child care system was implemented to ensure children of essential workers have continued access to child care, and the planned review of the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package will prioritise ensuring those children do have access to care.
The Morrison Government introduced the Relief Package in response to a dramatic fall in attendance that threatened the viability of the sector. If nothing was done, we were told in no uncertain terms by the sector that operators would go out of business, workers would lose their jobs, and families would lose their child care service altogether.
Thousands of workers – including essential workers – would have lost the child care services they rely on.
The new system, introduced on April 6, guarantees revenue for operators. The guaranteed weekly income from the Relief Package was designed to be used in conjunction with the JobKeeper Payment to ensure that services can continue to provide care during the COVID-19 pandemic and emerge on the other side.
JobKeeper is a key element of the Government’s Relief Package because approximately 60 per cent of a child care services’ costs relate to staff wages. JobKeeper will cover a large proportion of those costs. The Government is covering most of a services’ staffing costs, on top of paying half of the revenue they would have received under normal circumstances.
The Federal Government is providing substantial support for services that has given them certainty to plan appropriately to get through the pandemic.
Services that accept payment through the package are required to remain open and prioritise the children of essential service workers, vulnerable children and families with an existing relationship with the service.
The Government listened to the sector and acted on their advice, and it relies on services providing care to as many children as they can with the staff and resources they have.
While services may not have the usual incentives to take on children during this time, they need to consider the staff and resources they have available to provide and maximise the care for families that need it during this national emergency.
Every Australian has a role to play to help us get through the COVID-19 pandemic, from child care services, to frontline health workers, to the teachers providing continuity of education to our students and the workers ensuring the supermarket shelves are stocked with essential items. We are grateful to everyone who is making a contribution to get Australia to the other side of this crisis.
Where services have increased demand and feel they cannot afford to meet it based on current levels of support, exceptional circumstances funding is available. This means if a service has more children attending now than it had during the reference period it can apply to receive a higher payment from the Morrison Government.
This funding is also available to services which are not eligible for JobKeeper Payments. Services not eligible for JobKeeper can apply for a supplementary payment under the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package and the JobKeeper package.
The Government is working with providers and the sector to ensure that demand for services is met, particularly where it relates to the children of essential workers and vulnerable children.
Part of the package is a planned review after the Government has collected four weeks of data. This review will prioritise ensuring services that have capacity based on our relief package are providing care to the children of essential workers and vulnerable children.
The Government is monitoring data for evidence of services that are artificially keeping attendance below capacity while receiving the Government’s support payment, which is in contravention of the conditions of the package. Information about such practices can be directed to the Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s tip off line 1800 664 231 or emailing tipoffline@dese.gov.au.
The Government has also launched a helpline that will provide families with advice on services available in their local area, including centre-based day care, family day care, outside school hours care and vacation care. The helpline number is 1800 291 041.

The Morrison Government has today released the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Home Loan Price Inquiry interim report.
In October 2019, the ACCC was directed by the Government to undertake an inquiry into the pricing of residential mortgage products to ensure the pricing practices of Australia’s financial institutions are better understood and made more transparent.
The interim report has also examined the factors influencing interest rate setting decisions and the pricing of mortgages.
With respect to the factors influencing interest rate setting decisions, the ACCC found that a wide range of factors including bank profitability, the implications for deposit rates, community expectations and overall competitive position were considered.
In relation to standard variable interest rates (“SVR”) offered by the major banks, the ACCC found an overall lack of price transparency, particularly for new loans, making it difficult for customers to compare home loans.
Specifically, the ACCC found that the SVR is not an accurate indicator of the actual prices paid by major bank customers, with the overwhelming majority (around 90 per cent) receiving an average 128 basis point (1.28%) discount off the SVR. For the average mortgage holder, this discount represents a saving of nearly $5000 in the first year alone.
The ACCC also found that new customers are paying on average 26 basis points (0.26%) less than existing customers on owner occupied loans. This difference is even more significant for older loans, with customers who have had their loan for more than five years paying 40 basis points (0.40%) above the price on newer loans.
The report also makes clear that banks do not proactively reduce the SVR when their overall cost of funds come down. Instead, banks typically only announce a reduction in the SVR when the RBA announces a reduction in the cash rate – notwithstanding that the cash rate only represents a part of their overall funding costs. The ACCC also found that the time taken to pass on the announced reduction in SVR to customers varies across the banks with additional revenue being a motivator for increasing the delay in some circumstances.
These findings underline the importance of greater transparency and competition in the sector and need for customers to remain highly engaged and shop around to get access to the best deal – including from their existing financial institution.
The findings also underscore the Government’s continued commitment to a number of major reforms to increase competition across the banking industry, including implementation of the Consumer Data Right which will empower consumers to more easily compare and switch between home loan products and lenders.
At the same time, the Government has been focussed on ensuring that its actions in responding to the Coronavirus pandemic support competition, including through:

• the $15 billion in funding provided to the AOFM to invest in wholesale funding markets used by small ADIs and non-ADI lenders; and
• enabling a broad cross-section of lenders to participate in the Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme, with 39 lenders now approved to participate in the Scheme.

The ACCC’s Home Loan Price Inquiry final report will examine the impediments consumers face when switching lenders and will provide recommendations focused on driving further competition in the home loan market.
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Government will extend the timeframe for the Inquiry’s final report until 30 November 2020.

The Government’s shameful disregard for privacy continues with the release of its COVID-19 app.
“If the Government wants people to use this app, they need to put protections in law beforehand,” Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP said.
“People have very legitimate concerns about how the data will be used and where it will be stored.”
“The reported storage of the data by a US company raises real concerns. When it comes to privacy, if there’s one person I trust less than Peter Dutton, it’s Donald Trump.”
“We all want the lockdown to end, but something like this needs to be done properly because the stakes are too high. Once it’s out, the genie can’t be put back in the bottle.”
Greens Digital Rights spokesperson Nick McKim said the Government had a long and terrible track record of undermining privacy and IT blunders.
“This government has repeatedly failed to ensure the security of data it has collected, and has made an art form of deliberately releasing people’s sensitive personal information to media outlets for political gain,” Senator McKim said.
“They should immediately release the source code and relevant legislation before rolling this out to the public.”
“Peter Dutton has been dreaming of a surveillance state in Australia for years, and this app, without protections, takes him one step closer.”

The Australian Government today launches the new voluntary coronavirus app, COVIDSafe.
The app is an important public health initiative that will help keep you, your family, and your community safe from further spread of coronavirus through early notification of possible exposure.
“Australians are doing an extraordinary job to flatten the curve and contain the spread of the coronavirus, but we cannot be complacent,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“The Chief Medical Officer’s advice is we need the COVIDSafe app as part of the plan to save lives and save livelihoods. The more people who download this important public health app, the safer they and their family will be, the safer their community will be and the sooner we can safely lift restrictions and get back to business and do the things we love.”
The health initiative uses technology to automate and improve what state and territory health officials already do manually. COVIDSafe will speed up the process of identifying people who have been in close contact with someone diagnosed with coronavirus, quickly stopping further spread of the virus in the community.
Minister for Health, Greg Hunt thanked Australians for their actions during the pandemic, and said the app is part of the three key requirements for easing restrictions: Test, Trace and Respond.
“We thank Australians for their help in adhering to the difficult but life-saving social distancing measures,” Minister Hunt said.
“We are now calling on all Australians to download the COVIDSafe app to help protect you, your family and your community from further spread of COVID-19. This will be necessary if we are to start easing some of the difficult social distancing restrictions we have had to put in place” Minister Hunt said.
“It will be one of the critical tools we will use to help protect the health of the community by quickly alerting people who may be at risk of having contact with COVID-19. If you’d been exposed, you’d want to know, wouldn’t you?”
The app has received strong support from states and territories and the health sector, which recognise it is a valuable tool that will enhance the ability to respond rapidly to local outbreaks, and the confidence to know the virus is not silently spreading throughout communities.
A new determination issued by the Minister for Health under the Biosecurity Act will ensure information provided voluntarily through the App will only be accessible for use by authorised state and territory health officials. Any other access or use will be a criminal offence.
Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert described the App as being developed with one purpose: to stop the spread of coronavirus.
“Once installed and running, the COVIDSafe app uses Bluetooth to look for other phones that also have the app installed,” Minister Robert said.
“To be effective, users should have the app running in the background when they are coming into contact with others. Your phone does not need to be unlocked for the app to work.”
“It then securely makes a ‘digital handshake’, which notes the date and time, distance and duration of the contact. All information collected by the app is securely encrypted and stored in the app on the user’s phone. No one, not even the user, can access it.”
“Unless and until a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, no contact information collected in the app is disclosed or able to be accessed. Then, once the person agrees and uploads the data, only the relevant state or territory public health officials will have access to information. The only information they are allowed to access is that of close contacts – when a person has come within approximately 1.5 metres of another app user for 15 minutes or more – in their jurisdiction,” Minister Robert said.
Welcoming the announcement, Australian Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy said COVIDSafe is set to be a major tool in streamlining the process of identifying contacts after a person tests positive for coronavirus.
“Finding out quickly means you can quarantine yourself or be treated much faster, protecting your family and friends from possible infection, and slowing the spread of the virus,” Professor Murphy said.
“Without this technology, health officials have to rely on people being able to remember who they have been around, and being able to provide contact details for those people.”
“It is important to note that only state and territory health officials will be able to use the information.”
“COVIDSafe only keeps contact information for 21 days. This covers the maximum incubation period for the virus and the time it takes for someone to be tested for COVID-19,” Professor Murphy said.
“Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, and Australia no longer needs the app, the app and the information on it will be deleted permanently. No virus, no app,” Minister Hunt said.
Coronavirus is a serious and contagious respiratory disease with symptoms including fever, a dry cough, a sore throat and shortness of breath that has infected more than 2.8 million people globally and led to 200,000 deaths. In Australia around 6,700 people have contracted coronavirus and sadly 82 people have died.
The App can be downloaded from the App stores.

The Greens have today welcomed a call from former Labor Premier, Jay Weatherill, for a rethink of how childcare is run, which aligns with Greens calls for free childcare run on a not-for-profit basis.
While saying that his ideas required more discussion, and while not backing his call for the Commonwealth to vacate the field and hand childcare over to the states, Greens Leader Adam Bandt and Greens education spokesperson Dr Mehreen Faruqi said that it was time to start treating childcare as an essential public service.
“I’m glad that a Labor luminary is now joining the Green New Deal push for free childcare run on a not-for-profit basis,” said Greens Leader Adam Bandt.
“On my first day as Greens Leader I said that free childcare, run like schools on a not-for-profit basis, was core to a Green New Deal.
“We need to kickstart a national discussion about how we can give our kids the best start in life. Jay Weatherill’s idea is a good one and worthy of consideration.”
Senator Mehreen Faruqi said:
“Every child should have free learning and care, and every educator should have job security through the COVID-19 crisis.
“There’s no place for profit in education. Early learning and care is an essential public service. It must be funded and operated accordingly.
“The COVID-19 crisis has exposed some of the serious structural problems with childcare in Australia. Early childhood education and care needs a big rethink.”

The Morrison Government has declared war with the environment with its announcement it plans to cut ‘green tape’ even before the 10-year review of environmental laws is completed, the Greens say.
Greens Spokesperson for the Environment Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“Using the cover of COVID19 as an excuse to scrap environmental protections is an act of bastardry, and everyday Australians will be appalled.
“This anti-environment government has always had cuts to environmental protections in favour of its big business mates on its agenda.
“They seem to think Australians are distracted enough by the COVID-19 pandemic they won’t notice this latest attack. But I’ve got news for the Environment Minister, Australians care about the environment now more than ever and won’t take this lying down.
“Trying to cut environmental protections to give big business, who donate to major political parties, easy access to cut down, dig up and trample the environment in the name of economic stimulus after a global pandemic is shameful.
“We need stronger environmental laws, not weaker ones. The EPBC Act is already failing in its purpose of protection conservation and biodiversity with flora and fauna continuing to become threatened species and even going extinct.
“Fast-tracking applications will do even more damage. As it is, only about 2 per cent of applications under the EPBC Act get knocked back.
“The Greens will fight this very hard, we’ve seen enough devastation with bushfires, logging of native forests and polluting mines, we won’t allow the environment to be trashed even further.”

The Morrison Government’s historic $130 billion JobKeeper payment will support millions of Australian jobs and help cushion the blow from the severe economic impact from the coronavirus.
The $1,500 per fortnight JobKeeper payment is the equivalent of about 70 per cent of the median wage and represents about 100 per cent of the median wage in some of the most heavily affected sectors, such as retail, hospitality and tourism.
Around 900,000 businesses expressed interest in the JobKeeper scheme prior to enrolment.
Enrolments opened at the start of the week and so far more than 400,000 businesses have enrolled covering around 2.4 million employees.
To ensure the integrity and the efficient operation of the JobKeeper payment the Government is clarifying the operation of the rules:

• Employees employed through a special purpose entity, rather than an operating entity: Changes will address the circumstances where business structures use a special purpose entity to employ staff rather than staff being directly employed by an operating entity. The Government will provide an alternate decline in turnover test for the eligibility of special purpose service entities that provide employee labour to group members and that have not met the basic test for decline in turnover. This alternate test will apply where an entity provides the services of its employees to one or more related entities, where those related entities carry on a business deriving revenue from unrelated third parties. The alternate test will be by reference to the combined GST turnovers of the related entities using the services of the employer entity.
• Charities and the treatment of government revenue: Changes will allow charities (other than schools and universities) to elect to exclude government revenue from the JobKeeper turnover test. This will allow employing charities receiving revenue from government to use either their total turnover, or their turnover excluding government revenue, for the purposes of assessing eligibility for the JobKeeper Payment. This will help to ensure that the eligibility of charities is not adversely affected where they are delivering significant services that are funded by government.
• Religious practitioners: Changes will allow JobKeeper Payments to be made to religious institutions in respect of religious practitioners (with the exception of those that are students only), recognising that many religious practitioners are not ‘employees’ of their religious institutions.
• ‘One in, all in’ principle: Once an employer decides to participate in the JobKeeper scheme and their eligible employees have agreed to be nominated by the employer, the employer must ensure that all of these eligible employees are covered by their participation in the scheme. This includes all eligible employees who are undertaking work for the employer or have been stood down. The employer cannot select which eligible employees will participate in the scheme. As noted in the explanatory statement to the existing rules, this ‘one in, all in’ principle is already a key feature of the scheme and will be made clearer in the rules.
• Full time students aged 16 and 17 years old: As noted in the explanatory statement to the existing rules, the benefit of the JobKeeper payment to workers over the age of 16 is justified for those who are financially independent and who require the security provided by participation in the JobKeeper scheme and the maintenance of the working relationship that it affords. The rules will provide that full time students who are 17 years old and younger, and who are not financially independent, are not eligible for the JobKeeper Payment. This clarification will apply prospectively, which would mean an eligible employer that has already met the wage condition of paying such an employee $1,500 for a fortnight could be entitled to a JobKeeper Payment in arrears for that fortnight.
• International Aid Organisations: Changes will allow entities that are endorsed under the Overseas Aid Gift Deductibility Scheme or for developed country relief to meet the requirement that not-for-profits pursue their objectives principally in Australia. The current requirement that employees must be Australian residents to be eligible under the JobKeeper program would remain in place.
• Universities: Changes will clarify that the core Commonwealth Government financial assistance provided to universities will be included in the JobKeeper turnover tests.

The banks have also agreed to setup special hotlines to help businesses who need finance to bridge the gap until the first JobKeeper payments are made. The banks have also agreed to bring JobKeeper-related applications to the front of the queue and work with the ATO to accelerate the finance assessment process.