Australian News – Page 635

APRA releases new Enforcement Approach

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released details on the future role and use of enforcement activities in achieving its prudential objectives.

APRA’s new Enforcement Approach, published today, sets out how APRA will approach the use of its enforcement powers to prevent and address serious prudential risks, and to hold entities and individuals to account.
The new Enforcement Approach is founded on the results of its Enforcement Review, which has also been published today. The Review, conducted by APRA Deputy Chair John Lonsdale, made seven recommendations designed to help APRA better leverage its enforcement powers to achieve sound prudential outcomes.
The APRA Members formally commissioned the Enforcement Review last November in response to a range of developments, including the creation of the Banking Executive Accountability Regime, the Prudential Inquiry into Commonwealth Bank of Australia, evidence presented to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, and proposals to give APRA expanded enforcement powers, particularly in superannuation. Mr Lonsdale led the Review, supported by a secretariat within APRA. Mr Lonsdale also utilised an Independent Advisory Panel comprising Dr Robert Austin, ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court and Professor Dimity Kingsford Smith to provide external perspectives and advice.
While APRA’s appetite for taking enforcement action is closely linked to a number of other components of its supervisory approach, the Review was focused on enforcement activity and not APRA’s wider operations.
APRA Chair Wayne Byres said APRA would implement all the recommendations, including:

adopting a “constructively tough” appetite to enforcement and setting it out in a board-endorsed enforcement strategy document;
ensuring APRA supervisors are supported and empowered to hold institutions and individuals to account, and strengthening governance of enforcement-related decisions;
combining APRA’s enforcement, investigation and legal experts in one strengthened support team, and ensuring resources are available to support the pursuit of enforcement action where appropriate; and
strengthening cooperation on enforcement matters with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Mr Lonsdale said the Review found APRA had, on the whole, performed well in its primary role of protecting the soundness and stability of institutions. But he said APRA could achieve better outcomes in the future by taking stronger action earlier where entities were not cooperative or open, and by being more willing to set public examples.
“APRA’s strong focus on financial risk has ensured the ongoing stability of Australia’s financial system, even during periods of financial and market stress, and protected the interests of bank depositors, insurance policyholders and superannuation members. But to remain effective, we must continue to evolve and improve, especially in response to the ways in which non-financial risks, such as culture, can impact on prudential outcomes.
“The recommendations of the Review will still mean that APRA as a safety regulator remains focused on preventing harm with the use of non-formal supervisory tools. However, APRA will be more willing to use the full range of its formal powers – such as direction powers and licence conditions – to achieve prudential outcomes and deter unacceptable practices,” Mr Lonsdale said.
Mr Byres thanked Mr Lonsdale and the APRA Review team for delivering a valuable piece of work that would sharpen APRA’s ability to hold entities and their leaders to account. He said enforcement activity is not intended to be a separate or stand-alone function, but rather a set of tools that APRA supervisors would use more actively, particularly in the case of uncooperative institutions. (See Figure 1)
“Having joined APRA only last October, John brought a fresh set of eyes to the task of examining APRA’s historical approach to enforcement. The Review acknowledges that as a supervision-led prudential regulator, APRA’s primary focus will always be on resolving issues before they cause problems for depositors, insurance policyholders and superannuation members, rather than relying on backward-looking actions after harm has occurred. In most cases, we will continue to achieve this through non-formal tools.
“However, formal enforcement is an important weapon in our armoury when non-formal approaches are not delivering prudential outcomes. Particularly as our powers have recently been strengthened in a number of areas, the new Enforcement Approach will ensure we make use of those powers as the Parliament intended. That means that in future, APRA will be less patient with the time taken by uncooperative entities to remediate issues, more forceful in expressing specific expectations, and prepared to set examples using public enforcement to achieve general deterrence.
“With the release of APRA’s revised Enforcement Approach today, the new enforcement appetite comes into effect immediately,” Mr Byres said.
Mr Byres indicated support for the recommendations on legislative change, and that these would be referred to the Government for its consideration. He also welcomed the recent passage of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Improving Accountability and Member Outcomes in Superannuation Measures No 1) Bill 2019 as a useful complement to APRA’s renewed enforcement appetite.
The Panel, led by Graeme Samuel, currently undertaking a Capability Review of APRA will take into account APRA’s new Enforcement Approach in its work.
The Final Report of the Review and APRA’s Enforcement Approach are available on APRA’s website at: https://www.apra.gov.au/enforcement.

BMX rider/cyclist receives sanction

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) today acknowledged the decision of BMX Australia and Cycling Australia to impose a four-year ban on athlete Matthew Juster for the presence and use of prohibited substances.
Mr Juster returned an Adverse Analytical Finding from an Out-of-Competition Doping Control Test on 18 September 2017.
His sample was analysed at the Australian Sports Drug Testing Laboratory, part of the National Measurement Institute, which detected the presence of Exogenous Testosterone, Androsterone, Etiocholanolone and 5β-androstane-3α,17β-diol.
Mr Juster used a Prohibited Substance, namely Testosterone, on and/or before 18 September 2017.
Under category S1 of the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List 2017, Exogenous Testosterone, Androsterone, Etiocholanolone, and 5β-androstane-3α,17β-diol are anabolic agents prohibited both in-and out-of-competition.
Anabolic agents pose many threats to an athlete’s health and some side effects may include an increase in blood pressure and cholesterol levels which can lead to heart disease. Liver disease and infertility can also result from the use of these agents.
Mr Juster is ineligible to participate in any sports that have adopted a World Anti-Doping Code compliant anti-doping policy until 21 December 2021. He is also not permitted to compete in a non-Signatory professional league or Event organised by a non-Signatory event organisation.
ASADA is committed to protecting the rights of clean athletes to fair competition. If you are aware of any suspicious doping activity, you can report it anonymously via the ASADA website: www.asada.gov.au/report-doping or call us on 13 000 27232.
ASADA recommends you check all your substances before you take them on the ASADA Clean Sport app. For more information visit: ASADA tech.

LABOR $125 MILLION CANCER RESEARCH BOOST

A Shorten Labor Government will invest $125 million in a fund to fight cancer – giving our world-class researchers additional resources in their search for a cure.
One in two Australians will be diagnosed with cancer– that’s 150,000 who will be given the news that they will have to fight cancer, every year.
That’s why Labor will provide more investment in critical funding for our researchers – an additional $125 million towards the fight for a cure, over and above existing resources such as the MRFF and NHMRC.
As a part of this commitment, Labor will invest $20 million towards pancreatic cancer research.
Pancreatic cancer will be Australia’s second biggest cancer killer in five years – killing almost as many people each year as breast cancer.
Sadly, the five year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is less than ten per cent.
There are no clear symptoms and no early detection tests, and pancreatic cancer is resistant to conventional treatment including chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Labor’s funding injection will mean the Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation can implement a comprehensive Pancreatic Cancer Medical Research Strategy to develop ways of detecting pancreatic cancer earlier and understand why the cancer is resistant to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
This funding will also allow researchers to look at new treatments for pancreatic cancer to improve the survival rate and unravel the tragic mysteries of this cancer.
This investment is a part of Labor’s Medicare Cancer Plan – our plan to support Australians battling cancer and cut their out-of-pocket costs. Every Australian deserves quality health care when and where they need it – your bank balance or your postcode should not be barriers to whether you get access to the best health care. Unfortunately under the Liberals’ savage cuts to Medicare, out-of-pocket costs have increased across the board for GP consultations, specialist consultations and critical cancer procedures.
Scott Morrison has cut $3 billion from the pockets of patients with his Medicare freeze and $715 million from public hospitals – locking in further cuts until 2025. Labor will reverse the Liberals’ cuts to health, address rising out-of-pocket costs, fund the best cancer care and provide more support for our world-class researchers to step up the fight against cancer.

$50K to Support Young Carers and Their Families

Today Minister for Families and Social Services, Paul Fletcher and the Liberal Candidate for Macnamara Kate Ashmor announced that the Liberal National Government would provide $50,000 to Little Dreamers, an organisation that supports young carers and their families.
The additional funding will help the organisation run the Little Dreamers School Holiday Program, which facilitates activities for Young Carers centred around science, arts and crafts, animal, mindfulness, games and socialisation over the holiday period.
Mr Fletcher said that the funding aims to build community cohesion.
“Spectrum Journeys is a vibrant community organisation that has received local and national recognition. The funding will assist the organisation to provide young carers in Victoria and NSW to come together and connect with other young people in similar situations,” Mr Fletcher said.
The Liberal Candidate for Macnamara, Kate Ashmor, said that the funding will support vulnerable youth who carry the extra-burden of being a Young Carer.
“This additional funding will help support close to 300 Young Carers across Victoria and NSW”, said Ms Ashmor.
“Over the past eight months alone, Little Dreamers has supported over 2000 Young Carers”
“The work of Little Dreamers is so important for Young Carers and it makes them feel acknowledged.”
Mr Fletcher said that Ms Ashmor was a terrific advocate on behalf of her community and had successfully made the case for funding to the Government.

Morrison Government Support for Port Phillip Men's Shed

Minister for Families and Social Services, Paul Fletcher and Liberal Candidate for Macnamara Kate Ashmor today announced that the Morrison Government would support Port Phillip Men’s Shed with a grant of $20,000 to promote social inclusion.
Mr Fletcher said that the grant would be vital for Port Phillip Men’s Shed to continue its programs and activities for local people to come together as a community, interact with each other, and give back to the community.
“The grant of $20,000 will be used for obtaining equipment such as saws and other materials to support delivery of the Men’s Shed activities and community projects, as well as for building an extra work space to increase the work capacity of the premises. In addition, it will be used to deliver a men’s health class to participants.
Men’s Sheds encourage and promote positive social interaction amongst members by providing cooperative and supportive workshop practices, meetings, get-togethers and other social activities. The Port Phillip Men’s Shed has 93 members, including 13 women, and membership is increasing by 3-4 people every month.
“This funding will go a long way towards assisting Port Phillip Men’s Shed with its goals of connecting and supporting disadvantaged people in a community environment — by using immersive activities to provide positive social interaction, increase a sense of belonging, and to strengthen shared identity,” said Mr Fletcher.
Liberal candidate for Macnamara Kate Ashmor said the Port Phillip Men’s Shed is a fantastic organisation that provides tools and space for local people to come together as a community to both socialise and build things that will benefit schools, NGOs and other organisations.
“It runs several workshops aimed at equipping disadvantaged members of the community with artisan skills to boost their chances of finding work,” said Ms Ashmor.

New Headspace for Katoomba

The Morrison Government will establish a new headspace in Katoomba to provide innovative mental health support for young Australians in the Blue Mountains.
One in four people aged 16 to 24 experiences some form of mental illness every year and three-quarters of all mental illness manifests in people under the age of 25.
Intervention at the earliest possible stage is important to reduce the duration and impact.
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said Katoomba was identified by headspace National and the local Primary Health Network (PHN), Nepean Blue Mountains as an area of particular need.
“The new $1.5 million headspace centre will provide vital services and deliver innovative support for young Australians in Macquarie,” Minister Hunt said.
“I want our young people to know they are not alone on their journey, and that headspace is there to deliver quality frontline services and coordinate the right interventions for people who are at risk,” Minister Hunt said.
Liberal Candidate for Macquarie, Sarah Richards said the headspace program aims to improve access for young people aged 12 to 25 years who have, or are at risk of, mental illness.
“I am thrilled that headspace will be offering early intervention services in Katoomba across four key areas—mental health, related physical health, social and vocational support, and alcohol and other drug use,” Ms Richards said.
“Services provide tailored and holistic mental health support, working closely with young people at a crucial time in their lives to help get them back on track and strengthen their ability to manage their mental health in the future.”
NSW Senator the Hon Marise Payne said the investment in Katoomba is part of the Morrison Government’s $501.3 million Youth and Indigenous Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan – the largest investment of its kind in the country’s history.
“The Morrison Government is absolutely committed to ensuring young Australians can get information, advice, counselling or treatment, when and where they need it,” Senator Payne said.
“These guaranteed new frontline services in Katoomba will help deliver that support.”
The new service in Katoomba is one of 30 new sites announced as part of the expansion of the headspace network from 115 to 145 sites nationally. It is expected that it will open by the middle of next year.
The investment will build on vital mental health services for young people in NSW facing mental health challenges.
The Liberal National Government is absolutely committed to ensuring young people have access to mental health services in their local areas. Since October 2018, the Government has provided over $200 million more funding to the headspace network. This is in addition to the more than $120 million per year provided for the 115 services nationally.
The Government is prioritising better mental health for all Australians with $736 million additional funding announced in the Budget and a record $4.8 billion expected to be spent on mental health this financial year alone.
The Government’s strong economic management ensures the continued record investment of funding into vital health initiatives including mental health, life-saving medicines, Medicare and hospitals.

More Congestion Busting Projects to Benefit Perth's East

Two more Morrison Government, congestion busting projects have been announced in Perth’s east under the $4 billion Urban Congestion Fund.
The two projects will enable significant upgrades at:

the intersection on Great Eastern Highway and Old Northam Road in Sawyers Valley;
the intersection on Great Eastern Highway and Old Northam Road in Wooroloo;

The Morrison Government has budgeted $3 million for the project.
The Urban Congestion Fund eliminates local hotspots and alleviates traffic headaches across the country.
Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge said the projects would help streamline traffic flow along the busy Great Eastern Highway.
“We want people to be doing what’s important to them, rather than sitting in traffic,” Mr Tudge said.
“The Liberal Nationals Government has boosted investment in congestion-busting works.
“These projects also strengthen our Government’s firm commitment to ensuring Western Australia gets its fair share of infrastructure funding, now and into the future.”
Member for Hasluck Ken Wyatt AM said: “These commitments are set to make life easier and safer for Hasluck families and businesses on one of the State’s most important transport routes.
“People will be able to get home sooner, to spend more quality time with their loved ones.
“The Morrison Government has listened to what our local communities are calling for – and this investment is part of our comprehensive plan to deliver for all Australians.”
The projects build on an additional $1.6 billion of our Liberal Nationals Government’s investment into critical road and rail infrastructure across Perth and regional Western Australia in the recent budget.
“This includes $20 million to construct the Lloyd Street extension and bridge in Midland, which will make a massive difference to traffic flow in one of our most important shopping, commercial and health precincts,” said Mr Wyatt.
About $13.6 billion has been invested by the Liberal-National Government in West Australian road and rail infrastructure since coming into Government, including $4.8 billion over the past two Budgets.
Funding for key WA infrastructure projects in the recent Budget also includes:
Level Crossing Removals

Oats Street/Welshpool Road/Mint Street Level Crossing Removal (Federal Government investment: $207.5 million)

Roads

Albany Ring Road (Federal Government investment: $140 million)
Fremantle Traffic Bridge (Swan River Crossing) (Federal Government investment: $115 million)
Tonkin Highway projects (Stage 3 extension; Great Eastern Highway to Collier Road; Kelvin Road, Hale Road and Welshpool Road East intersection upgrades) (Federal Government investment: $348.5 million of additional funding bringing our overall commitment to those three projects to $929 million)
Bunbury Outer Ring Road—Stages 2 and 3 (Federal Government investment: $122 million of additional funding taking our overall commitment to $682 million)

Roads of Strategic Importance Initiative

Western Australian section of the Newman to Katherine Corridor (Federal Government investment: $70 million)
Western Australian section of the Alice Springs to Halls Creek Corridor (Federal Government investment: $75 million)
Karratha to Tom Price Corridor (Federal Government investment: $248 million)
Wheatbelt Secondary Freight Network (Federal Government investment: $70 million)
Western Australian section of the Port Augusta to Perth (Federal Government investment: $50 million)
Pinjarra Heavy Haulage Deviation—Stage 1 (Federal Government investment: $22 million)

Urban congestion fund

Thomas Road and Nicholson Road in Oakford (Federal Government investment: $10 million)
Transforming Freeways—widening and introduction of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) (Kwinana and Mitchell Freeways) (Federal Government investment: $50 million)
Lloyd Street Extension (Federal Government investment: $20 million)
Abernethy Road Upgrade (Federal Government investment: $13.25 million)
Lakelands Station (Federal Government investment: $10 million)
Shorehaven Boulevard / Marmion Avenue Intersection Upgrade (Federal Government investment: $2.5 million)
More Parking Bays at Mandurah Station (Federal Government investment: $16 million)

Major Project Business Case Fund

Future Road and Rail Connections for Perth (Federal Government investment: $25 million)—to investigate future road and rail links to support the growth of the transport network in Perth
Westport project (Federal Government investment: $10 million)—development of business cases and corridor preservation to support the Westport: Port and Environs Strategy, which is currently being developed by the WA Government.

The Blue Economy and Renewables Combine in New $70M Cooperative Research Centre

Australian energy, seafood and marine environment industries are set to benefit from a $70 million grant from the Morrison Government.
The funding is to set up a new Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre to bring together national and international expertise in aquaculture, marine renewable energy and marine engineering as part of a collaborative effort between industry, researchers and the community.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said that the Blue Economy CRC, which will be headquartered at the University of Tasmania in Launceston, would develop innovative and sustainable offshore industries to increase Australian seafood and offshore renewable energy production.
“The Liberal National Government has undertaken to double the current value of our aquaculture industry to $2 billion a year by 2027 through the National Aquaculture Strategy.
“The activities and outcomes of the CRC will directly address a number of key priority areas identified in the strategy – our aim is to improve the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of Australian industries.
“The CRC Program is a proven model of industry and research cooperation that produces impressive commercial results.
The Blue Economy CRC will focus on five key areas identified by industry: Offshore Engineering and Technology, Seafood and Marine Products, Offshore Renewable Energy Systems, the Environment and Ecosystems and Sustainable Offshore Developments.
It will provide for 50 Postdoctoral fellowships and 50 PhDs across the five research areas to train cross-discipline specialist scientist and engineers unique to the aquaculture, offshore renewable energy and engineering sectors.
Liberal Senator for Tasmania Richard Colbeck said the Blue Economy CRC would leverage one of Tasmania’s key competitive advantages.
“As an island state with strong research capacity, we are globally competitive when it comes to marine-based industries and this new initiative supports jobs across Tasmania.
“The CRC will create 100 high-level research, science and engineering jobs in the state and is already set to attract an additional $258 million of investment in Tasmania’s economy from world-class companies and institutions.”
The CRC, which has national and international partners, has generated more than $258 million in cash and in-kind contributions from participants to add to the $70 million grant, which will be paid over 10 years.
Around $747.9 million in funding has been committed CRCs since the Liberal National Government came into office in 2013 and this latest funding further builds on our commitment to strengthening Australian industry, strengthening our economic growth and helping to create 1.25 million jobs in the next five years.
Marine-based industries, widely referred to as the ‘Blue Economy’, service a sector that provides over 390,000 jobs.
The Coalition Government continues to make significant investments in science, research and innovation – smart, strategic investments that will deliver stable support for our researchers and entrepreneurs across the coming decade.
The CRC Program is competitive and merit-based. For more information visit www.business.gov.au/crc

Bill Shorten Delivering Another Cruel Hoax as He Ramps Up Mediscare Again

Bill Shorten is delivering another cruel hoax to patients to justify another Mediscare campaign in an attempt to make himself Prime Minister.
Bill Shorten’s attempt to scare people about pathology ignores the facts:

99 per cent of people seeking a pathology test from their GP are covered by Medicare and bulk billed
Pathology funding has increased by more than $572 million since the Coalition was first elected.
It will grow to over $3.4 billion in 2021-22
The Government invested $2.95 billion in Medicare benefits for approximately 145 million pathology services last year alone, an 8.5 per cent increase.
These funding boosts mean patients will pay less for pathology services.

Pathology bulk billing rates for out of hospital services have increased from 97.7 per cent under the Coalition to 99.3 per cent last financial year and continue to grow, up to 99.4 per cent in the first half of this year.
This is perhaps his silliest scare campaign yet.
He’s pretending an increase to over 99% is a crisis when in fact it is an extraordinary outcome.
Not only is it a ridiculous campaign given an increasing bulk billing rate at over 99 per cent, it doesn’t offer patients any extra money. But it will give large corporates more money.
And in another admission of failure, Labor has now conceded it’s much promised funding for a new state health agreement won’t occur until at least 2025 – not until after the next agreement.
The Morrison Government is delivering an additional $31 billion, with six of the states and territories already signed on to our new agreement.
Overall health funding is growing, with $24 billion over the forward estimates to treat cancer plus $1 billion for cancer research, with a proton beam therapy centre being established at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Centre to deliver the most advanced treatment.
But people should remember Bill Shorten’s track record.
As Assistant Treasurer he failed to manage the budget, and as a result, he stopped making medicines available on the PBS.
If you can’t manage the economy, you can’t manage health.
The Morrison Government is delivering a strong economy to fund the essential health services, including more than $10.6 billion in new medicine listings.

Labor Deletes Negative Gearing Policy

Chris Bowen and the Labor Party were caught out last week relying on dodgy assumptions as the basis for their Housing Tax that will send house values down and the cost of rent up.
Today it has been revealed that these assumptions were deleted from the official Labor policy document on the ALP website overnight.
Labor’s Housing Tax would reduce the value of your home, push up rents and harm the economy.
Not only has Chris Bowen has been exposed for using inaccurate figures to justify his Housing Tax, he has now been caught out trying to cover his tracks.
He didn’t even have the decency to front up to the Australian people and explain the error at the heart of one of Labor’s key policies – instead choosing to delete it under the cover of darkness.
The error that Labor has deleted from the document relates to a significant underestimation of the extent of investment in newly-built housing and therefore an overstatement of the revenue that might be raised by its plan to end negative gearing on established housing.
An archived version of Labor’s original policy reveals the dodgy assumptions that were deleted:
“The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that 93 per cent of new investment loans go to people purchasing existing housing stock. This means that the vast bulk of investment does not increase supply or boost jobs. All it does is increase demand and the price of the existing homes, allowing investors to use tax subsidies to outbid owner occupiers and first home buyers from existing properties.”
This was rebuffed by the ABS which said: “If you wanted to have those numbers you wouldn’t be able to get them from our statistics -because we don’t collect them.”
Despite around 1.3 million Australian investors who use negative gearing being hit by Labor’s policy, Bill Shorten has dodged questions on why the bulk of the policy has been deleted from Labor’s website:
QUESTION: Can I ask on those 90 excluded pages about our capital gains and negative gearing changes, you say there’s new assumptions so they need updating, how did the assumptions change the costings on those two programs, and assuming they’re not affected, would you release the 90 pages so we can have a look?
BILL SHORTEN: Listen, I think the original question comes from a story I read in the Financial Review, and it was followed up by a question here. We said and I went and checked when I saw the story, how come this page is down? They said they’re updating it. I can’t add any more at this point.
It is simply unacceptable to the 58,000 teachers, 42,000 nurses and 19,000 police and emergency service personnel who negatively gear that Bill Shorten has no answers for them on his so called signature policy. Every Australian that owns a home or rents a home deserves an answer.