Author: admin

As we return to many of the freedoms we took for granted before COVID-19, it is important to acknowledge the service of all those who have been involved in the heath response to the pandemic.
The National Incident Centre (NIC) has been in continual operation for more than two years, frequently operating around the clock to help coordinate Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the Department of Health’s emergency operations centre, the NIC has performed many roles and has adopted new ones in its response to the pandemic. The officials in the NIC have done, and continue to do, an incredible job in helping protect the lives and health of Australians.
NIC staff have continued to provide additional support to states and territories, including through contact tracing and case interviews. Their support through contact tracing has resulted in more than 15,000 notifications to various authorities on the movement across borders of people with COVID-19 to date.
Building on the pandemic experience of 2020, the NIC has continued to distribute millions of masks and other PPE from the National Medical Stockpile (NMS), to states and territories, aged care facilities, disability service providers and Primary Health Networks. The NMS has recently been extended to include rapid antigen testing for residential aged care facilities, as well as additional COVID-19 treatments for Australians in hospital.
The NIC has been crucial in the use of a range of powers under the Biosecurity Act 2015, many of which have been used for the first time in preventing COVID-19 from entering Australia through international borders.
In recent months the focus has shifted to supporting the staged reopening of Australia to international travel. The NIC and the Office of Health Protection and Response have worked across government to safely repatriate hundreds of thousands of Australians.
The NIC has supported more than 450 COVID-19 meetings by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), which provides advice to National Cabinet on health protection matters and national priorities. This includes working with the states and territories to develop nationally consistent public health advice through the Communicable Diseases Network Australia and the Public Health Laboratory Network.
The NIC is also the primary means of communication with the World Health Organization for public health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NIC also helps to coordinate Australia’s health emergency response to national and international incidents, including deploying Australia’s national specialist emergency health response capability, the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT).
During the pandemic, AUSMAT was deployed to assist in Wuhan, China, as well as to support our close neighbours Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Timor-Leste. In Australia, AUSMAT has deployed to Howard Springs and Christmas Island; Burnie hospital and international arrivals quarantine in Tasmania; Victoria, in response to outbreaks in 75 residential aged care homes; and to remote communities in Western and Far West NSW.
Created in 2019, the NIC commenced operations as the National Incident Room in November 2019, in response to a measles outbreak in Samoa. It then led the health response to the Black Summer Bushfires, followed by the White Island volcanic eruption in New Zealand in early 2020.
Staffed by a core of dedicated and skilled officers within the Department of Health, the NIC consisted at its peak of 200 officers, drawing on agencies including the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Australian Border Force.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those officials who work or have worked in the NIC over the past two years, and the teams supporting them from across the Australian Public Service.  Their service continues to be critical to the effectiveness of Australia’s response to COID-19.

Three leading members of the Australian Sports Foundation have been reappointed as the agency continues to champion sport funding and philanthropy across the sector.
Olympic rowing gold, silver and bronze medallist Kim Brennan AM, Olympic water polo gold medallist Gail Miller OAM and dual Olympian and Commonwealth Games swimming champion Andrew Baildon have been re-endorsed as their important work with the foundation continues.
The ASF has been helping athletes, sporting clubs and organisations fundraise for more than 30 years. It is chaired by prominent business identity Grant O’Brien.
Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck, said the re-appointments provide leadership continuity for the ASF board, as Australian sport at every level continues to recover from the global pandemic.
“The past 18 months has been incredibly challenging for sport in Australia, and a recent survey by the ASF found the pandemic continues to cause financial instability, reduced participation and volunteering across the sport sector,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Ms Brennan, Ms Miller and Mr Baildon have all served a three-year term on the board already, so they bring a steady hand to the Foundation at this time.
“It’s at times like this that having strong leadership and stability at the ASF becomes critically important, as we grow the philanthropic funding support for Australia’s sporting sector’s recovery and into the future.”
Ms Brennan is a management consultant specialising in technology and high performance, and has held roles with sporting bodies including the Australian Institute of Sport Ethics Committee and the AOC Athletes’ Commission.
Ms Miller is an experienced professional in the property industry, has a degree in property economics and is a director on the board of the Queensland Olympic Council.
Mr Baildon is a businessman in the sports sector, an Australian Swimming board member and had an instrumental role bringing the 2018 Commonwealth Games to the Gold Coast.
Minister Colbeck thanked departing board member Josh Liberman.
“We are incredibly grateful for the contribution made by Josh Liberman on the ASF Board, having served two terms,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Since joining the ASF in 2015, the Foundation has raised record amounts of funding, rising to an annual total of more than $50 million before the pandemic took hold, which is an incredible legacy.”
The ASF’s “Back to Sport fund” is seeking donations to support community sport’s recovery from COVID-19.

An Albanese Labor Government will work with community groups to fix up our local waterways – restoring precious habitat and creating valuable recreational spaces for local communities.
The Urban Rivers and Catchments Program will provide grants for community groups, local and state government to fund projects which deliver improvements to water quality and the local environment, create improved open spaces for kids and families to enjoy and create local jobs.
Many of our rivers in urban and peri-urban areas have been treated more like stormwater drains over the years, but there are local community groups right across the country who are working to turn that around.
Our parks and reserves provide a place for people to get together for picnics and children’s birthday parties, they’re where we teach our kids to ride their bikes and walk the dog – and recently they became even more precious during times of lockdown.
Fixing up our waterways and the catchment areas around them will give people access to a better quality of living.
Importantly, nearly half of all nationally listed threatened animals and one quarter of our threatened plants are in urban areas. Taking steps to repair and restore our waterways and catchments helps protect these species and create great recreational areas for local communities.
Labor’s plan for Urban Rivers and Catchments will help protect species like the Regent Honeyeater, the Curlew Sandpiper, the Koala, several frog species and the loggerhead turtle.
There are hundreds of community groups across the country taking action to clean up their local waterways for everyone to enjoy.
Labor’s $200 million program will help fund that work to make an even bigger impact, including by:

• Creating wetlands to slow water flow and filter stormwater before it reaches our rivers
• Citizen science and education projects for pre-schoolers and school age children
• Removing cement walls and returning them to natural riverbanks
• Revegetation and tree planting

It is expected the fund would provide grants for as many as 100 projects, depending on project size, with smaller community group projects likely to be less than $1m and larger projects involving state and local governments eligible for up to $10m.

The Greens say that the government’s proposed integrity body would be incapable of investigating new revelations that Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar knew that his office was using public funds to boost the power of his Liberal Party faction, and have called on the PM to bring on the Greens’ gold standard National Integrity Commission Bill for a vote.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“The Greens call on the Prime Minister to thoroughly investigate whether Mr Sukkar has breached Ministerial Standards, to stand down the Assistant Treasurer while that investigation takes place, and to commit to the public release of the Finance Department report.
“The Finance Department investigation into Mr Sukkar last year, which found insufficient evidence to implicate him, remains secret despite FOI applications. With new leaks to the media raising serious questions about what Mr Sukkar knew, the Finance Department must release their report immediately.
“We shouldn’t have to rely on the media to do the work of public institutions. We need a strong and effective anti-corruption body that can hold public hearings, look at past conduct, act on tip-offs and protect whistleblowers. The Greens’ National Integrity Commission, the gold standard model that passed the Senate two years ago, does all those things.
“The PM’s proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission, ranked as the weakest corruption model in the country by the Centre for Public Integrity (CPI), would be unable to investigate the claims against Mr Sukkar.
“We’ve seen state corruption bodies investigate branch stacking, and consequences flow for MPs implicated – but still nothing federally exists to stop this dodgy conduct.
“The PM should end this farce and bring on the Greens’ National Integrity Commission Bill for debate in the House during the final parliamentary sitting of the year.”

Former Health Department secretary, Glenys Beauchamp PSM, has been confirmed as chairperson of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).
Ms Beauchamp brings a thorough understanding of the significance of the role of FSANZ to the Australian and New Zealand public and food industry.
She has been acting chair of FSANZ since 1 September 2021.
Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services and Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck, who has portfolio responsibility for food regulation, welcomed the appointment saying Ms Beauchamp’s significant record of public service means FSANZ is in good hands.
“As a trans-Tasman agency, FSANZ has an important role ensuring the safety and quality of food stuffs available here and in New Zealand, and as such it requires effective and strong leadership,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Glenys Beauchamp has an outstanding record of more than 35 years of public service, including leading the Australian Government Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, and more recently as Secretary of the Department of Health.
“Ms Beauchamp’s diverse experience across organisations, both government and non-government sectors, along with her extensive board experience will be a valuable addition to the FSANZ Board.”
FSANZ is an independent statutory authority that develops food standards for Australia and New Zealand, under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.
The code regulates the use of ingredients, additives, colours, processing aids, vitamins and minerals, including labelling requirements for packaged and unpackaged food, and mandating of some warning or advisory labels which appear on some food products.
“I would like to thank Steve McCutcheon for his service as acting chair prior to Ms Beauchamp’s appointment” he said.
“As a former chief executive officer of FSANZ, Mr McCutcheon has helped ensure Australians and New Zealanders have maintained confidence in their food products and food supply, particularly during the pandemic.”