Category: Australian News

A new $1.6 billion economic accelerator will turn Australia’s leading research into world-beating businesses as part of the Morrison Government’s focus on building the country’s resilience.
Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) features as part of a $2.2 billion package to focus the commercialisation of the six national manufacturing priority areas – resources and critical minerals, food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence and space – bringing the country’s brightest business and academic minds together.
Together with a new $150 million expansion of CSIRO’s Main Sequence Ventures, the AEA will reshape research funding to emphasise projects with high potential for commercialisation that are directed at National Manufacturing Priorities and industry engagement.
The Prime Minister said the AEA would invest in projects as they progressed through the stages of their development.
“Stronger commercialisation of research and ideas will mean a stronger economy and a stronger future for Australia,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is about funding projects to bridge the ‘valley of death’ where early-stage research is often not progressed due to higher levels of risk and uncertainty.
“The AEA will drive our universities and businesses to work hand-in-glove through the stages to prove projects’ viability and potential.
“Expanding the CSIRO’s Main Sequence Ventures program then takes this further, incentivising the additional venture capital investment support needed to progress innovative new products and technologies through to market to become the new businesses and employers of the future.”
Acting Minister for Education and Youth Stuart Robert said the AEA would boost investment in two critical stages of experimental development: proof of concept and proof of scale.
“The AEA will become a critical source of competitive funding support for innovating new projects with high commercial potential, and will take a lot of the risk and uncertainty for universities out of the equation,” Minister Robert said.
“We will start with a big range of contenders – a contest of ideas.
“But as we progress to stage two, the number of applicants will diminish and the value of the funding to each will increase.
“For example, stage one will involve nearly 100 grants a year of up to $500,000. Recipients will be required to engage industry through in-kind support or even co-location.
“In order to be one of the 36 recipients attracting up to $5 million in funding as part of ‘stage two’ projects, industry will need to put more skin in the game with a 50 per cent co-investment.
“At stage three, up to 50 companies will be supported through the Main Sequence Venture, where we are providing $150 million in two successive co-investment funds.
“This investment is about new jobs, increased wages, and creating products that make life easier, more efficient or even more interesting,” Minister Robert said.
Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the grants were an investment in Australia’s future industries and smart manufacturing within the Morrison Government’s National Manufacturing Priorities.
“By working with industry and researchers, the government is helping to ensure our economy benefits from our world-class research, both now and well into the future,” Minister Taylor said.
Minister for Science and Technology Melissa Price said the $150 million expansion of the CSIRO Main Sequence Ventures program would back start-up companies and help create commercial opportunities from Australian research.
“The Morrison Government is prioritising investment in research and action to turn Australia’s best ideas into new industries and strengthen our future prosperity,” Minister Price said.
“The expansion of the Main Sequence Ventures will further support the development of spin-off and start-up companies with high commercial potential arising from local research.
“Over the past four years, Main Sequence Ventures has invested in 39 companies that are commercialising deep tech opportunities that have created more than 1,200 technology-related jobs.
“Our new investment in this program will ensure it can play a bigger role in our economy and help develop the next generation of great Aussie companies and products.”
Minister Robert said the Morrison Government would also invest $296 million in industry focused PhDs and fellowships to support its research commercialisation goals and drive greater university-industry collaboration.
“This new scheme will generate 1,800 industry PhDs and over 800 industry fellows over 10 years to fundamentally reshape the workforce of Australia’s universities,” Minister Robert said.
“PhD students will benefit from the experience of undertaking research within industry settings, creating employment pathways beyond academic roles.
“Industry will benefit from the opportunities to host PhD students, bolstering their ability to harness ideas and concepts for innovation, as well as to open the pathway to the recruitment of high-calibre graduates. This will be further enhanced by a new suite of ARC Fellowships that will recognise and reward our academics who collaborate with industry, helping to drive the translation of their research, creating new pathways for their work.
“These initiatives will change the culture and the focus of research across Australia’s universities – building greater engagement with industry and ensuring that innovation is at the core of our economic future as a nation.”

• In the lead up to World Cancer Day (4 February 2022), All.Can Australia is emphasising the need to shift to broader access for cancer care navigation to support more Australians
• New research and economic modelling reveal that there may be up to $46 million in savings to the health system per year by implementing a non-cancer specific, care navigation model to support Australians diagnosed with cancer1
• If adopted, the new cancer care navigation model could deliver incalculable benefits to over 150,000 Australians living with cancer2
1 February 2022, Sydney Australia: In the lead up to World Cancer Day, advocacy group All.Can Australia is encouraging a shift to broader cancer care navigation to ensure more Australians receive support as they navigate the health system following a diagnosis of cancer, regardless of their cancer type.
All.Can Australia has shared details from new research that highlights the potential benefits of establishing Australia’s first all-encompassing cancer care navigation model.
The proposed cancer care navigation model is designed to provide guidance to all cancer patients – regardless of cancer type, patient demographic or location – as they traverse the health system.
In partnership with research partner Healthcare Management Advisors (HMA), All.Can Australia has been focusing on cancer care navigation to find sustainable healthcare solutions and address common pain points experienced by patients. According to a survey of Australians with cancer undertaken by All.Can in 2018, patients experience significant confusion and distress when moving through the health system. 1 In contrast, patients with access to cancer navigation, were better able to overcome barriers to care.1
The much-needed focus on cancer care navigation aligns with the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) World Cancer Day theme, “Close the Care Gap”, which is about raising awareness of the equity gap that affects many people with cancer and is costing lives.
Research snapshot
HMA’s research on behalf of All.Can Australia concluded that a universal cancer care navigation model for all Australians may be able to deliver multiple patient, health system and economic benefits.
· Total service costs for the proposed single model were estimated at $56 million per year3
· The model4 estimated that the proposed cancer care navigation model would generate net annual economic savings of:
– $67 million to the health system, through reductions in inpatient care and emergency department presentations
– $5 million to workplace productivity by reducing employee absenteeism
– $3 million in reduced patient education expenses for not-for-profit organisations
– $7 million in reduced transport costs for patients.
The model could generate annualised savings of $46 million per year or $900 per patient.5
Represents a return on investment of 44% based on the overall service cost.
Professor John Zalcberg – Co-Chair of the All.Can Australia Steering Committee and Head of the Cancer Research Program, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine School of Public Health at Monash University – a more integrated approach to cancer care navigation would make it easier for those diagnosed with cancer to navigate through Australia’s complex health system.
“The efforts to investigate a single model that can benefit all Australians diagnosed with cancer has the potential to transform cancer care delivery. This report helps to take our work to the next step, as now we potentially have a solution to tackle this. While the economic analysis of our research shows strong return on investment, it is the ability to better utilise existing services and create better connectivity that will make a huge difference to patients,” said Professor Zalcberg.
Bill Petch – Chief Executive Officer of National Asthma Council Australia and Co-Chair of the All.Can Australia Steering Committee – said the establishment of a new cancer care navigation model can’t occur in isolation and needs to factor in existing services.
“Our model has been designed to drive equitable access to cancer services, but an important consideration of our approach has been to make the best use of existing resources to address a critical unmet need,” said Mr Petch.
“Patients have long shared their feelings of disempowerment within our current health system. The adoption of a patient-centric and technology-driven navigation model could help address the multitude of unmet needs Australians with cancer face, including inequitable access. Our focus and investments should really be aimed at a singular solution that has potential to meet the needs of all Australians now and in the future.”
All.Can Australia also views the model as an opportunity to utilise emerging technology to drive better connectivity and equitable access in the cancer space. The novel model has the potential to leverage telehealth, emerging artificial intelligence and experienced navigators (both allied and healthcare professionals) already working across the health system.
All.Can Australia plans to leverage the research findings to continue discussion with government and other likeminded organisation to explore piloting and further data collection.

Catholic Health Australia is calling on the Government to go beyond retention bonuses for aged care staff and use the upcoming Budget to slash training fees for would be workers and lift care subsidies to provide urgent relief in the Omicron-plagued sector.
“Although welcome, retention bonuses do not work in isolation,” CHA Chief Executive Officer Pat Garcia said. “Catholic Health Australia has sent the government a suite of reforms that not only target the current COVID-19 crisis but also address the broader systemic issues the industry faces.
“Catholic Health Australia is urgently calling for more affordable training pathways, as well as a meaningful lift in care subsidies that truly reflect rising COVID-19 prevention costs. In line with the Royal Commission, the Government should also join with providers and the unions to put in a wage claim to the Fair Work Commission to lift wages for workers.”
In its Budget submission CHA, whose members provide about around 15 per cent of the nation’s aged-care services, says the aged care sector is under considerable stress due to the costs of buying rapid antigen test kits and PPE on the open market and to replace furloughed staff, including more overtime payments and incentives to fill rosters. With 56 per cent of aged care homes already operating at a loss, these additional costs are pushing many operators to the brink.
CHA’s Budget submission makes a number of recommendations including:
Additional payments paid directly to aged-care workers, which would help retain and attract staff and compensate them for the stresses they are under.
An uplift in the rate of care subsidies to meet the additional COVID-related costs.
Bring forward the additional training places funded in the May 2021 Budget and offer incentives, such as fee waivers and bonuses, to attract trainees.
The Budget submission also proposes additional measures to address the causes of the underlying financial pressures facing residential aged care, including indexation which reflects the actual movement in costs.
Mr Garcia said: “A clear-eyed look at care subsidies is needed. The $10 per resident per day increase announced in the last Budget has effectively been swallowed by rising COVID related costs. In fact, residential aged care homes incurred an operating loss of $7.30 per bed day in September quarter of 2021, compared with an operating loss of $5.06 in the same period a year earlier.
“The Government should bring forward the additional training places funded in the May 2021 Budget. Slashing fees and providing other incentives to train and join this rewarding sector would also help with future workforce pressures.”

The Greens will stop big polluters corrupting democracy by banning donations from the fossil fuel sector to political parties, candidates, and associated entities.
Since 2012, the fossil fuel sector has donated over $9 million to the major parties. It’s no coincidence that successive governments have refused to take strong action on climate, while letting coal and gas corporations pollute our air and water, destroy farmland and culturally significant sites, and release billions of tons of carbon emissions.
The Greens’ plan will free our politics from the grip of the fossil fuel industry by banning all political donations from the sector, closing the revolving door between politics and the coal and gas industry, and establishing a strong, independent National Integrity Commission to crack down on corruption.
The Greens’ plan will:

• Ban all political donations from the mining and resources sector (and other dirty industries) and cap all other donations at $1000 per year
• Stop resource ministers and advisers from working for the fossil fuel industry within five years of leaving parliament
• Publish a register of meetings between ministers and mining lobbyists (including in-house lobbyists currently excluded from the Lobbying Code of Conduct)
• Deliver a strong, independent national corruption watchdog
• Deliver a Code of Conduct for all politicians and senior staff

This policy is a key component of the Greens’ comprehensive plan to clean up politics and revitalise our democracy. Our full democracy plan can be found here: Reform the whole system to end political corruption, and in addition to the above includes election spending caps, strengthening the Register of Interests and FOI laws, preventing disinformation from undermining public debate, and increasing the diversity of political representation so that parliament better reflects our community.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“Coal, gas and oil corporations don’t donate millions every year to the Liberals, Nationals and Labor because they’re huge fans of democracy – they do it because it gets results. Let’s call this what it is: legalised bribery.
“Big polluters should not be able to buy policy outcomes and corrupt democracy with legalised bribery. In balance of power after the next election the Greens will push to ban all political donations from the fossil fuel sector.
“Dirty donations from the fossil fuel sector plus post-politics job offers are why there are 114 coal and gas projects in the federal pipeline nationally despite being in the middle of a climate crisis, where the science clearly says we need rapid emissions reductions and a phase out of fossil fuels.
“In the past we’ve seen Big Mining spend $24 million on an ad campaign to topple a Prime Minister over a proposed super profits tax.
“We’ve seen the Morrison Government give $21 million of public money to a company chaired by a major Liberal Party donor to frack for gas in the NT’s Beetaloo Basin, in the middle of a climate crisis and against the wishes of Traditional Owners.
“The disproportionate influence of dirty donations on government decisions is why Australia has pathetic climate policies, weak environmental protections, and no action on social, economic and racial justice.
“Elected representatives should be working for the people, not the highest bidder. That’s why the Greens will ban all political donations from the mining and resources sector and all industries with a track record of seeking to influence political decisions, and prevent ministers and advisers from taking cushy post-politics industry gigs for five years.
“We’ll also shine a light on who’s meeting with who by publishing a register of ministers’ meetings, and we’ll hold politicians to account by introducing an enforceable Code of Conduct and a strong, independent national corruption watchdog.
“Federal politics stopped putting people first long ago, and sold our democracy to corporate donors. Fixing that begins with kicking the corporations out of Canberra and creating a system we can trust to work for all of us.
“Only the Greens have a clear plan to restore faith in our democracy, and in balance of power after the next election we’ll push the next government to make it happen.”

Australian Greens International Aid and Development spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi and Foreign Affairs spokesperson Senator Janet Rice have today written to the Foreign Affairs Minister urging Australia to boost aid to Afghanistan as a matter of urgency.
Senator Faruqi said:
“There is a grave humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, with the country on the brink of famine and near-universal poverty, the scale of which has not been seen in recent times.
“This crisis is a direct result of the war waged on the people of Afghanistan by Western nations, including Australia. For decades the people of Afghanistan were caught between the violence of the Taliban on one hand and that of the allied forces on the other.
“The least we can do now is increase Australian aid to prevent millions of people from starvation and death.
“While Australia’s funding commitment last year was certainly welcome, we can and must do more. All of the funding committed should be immediately disbursed to aid organisations working on the ground in Afghanistan and who have strong connections with local communities and civil society.
“Australia should also commit significant additional aid funding to Afghanistan as a matter of urgency. This should be in the order of at least $100 million per year.”

From 1 February, thousands of Australians with a relapsed and/or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma will have access to a new treatment through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Lymphomas refer to types of cancer that begin in the lymphatic system and is the sixth most common cancer diagnosed in adults in Australia. In Australia, more than 6,000 people are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma each year.
Mantle cell lymphoma is an aggressive, relatively rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Calquence® blocks a protein in the body that helps cancer cells to grow, and may help reduce the number of cancer cells and slow the spread of the cancer.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said more than 350 Australians with MCL accessed a similar treatment through the PBS in 2020.
“The listing of Calquence® will provide Australians with an alternate treatment option for this condition,” Minister Hunt said.
“Without PBS subsidy, Australians could pay more than $8,200 per script, instead, they can access it for $42.50 per script or just $6.80 for people with a concession card.”
Since 2013, the Coalition Government had approved more than 2,800 new or amended listings on the PBS. This represents an average of around 30 listings or amendments per month – or one each day – at an overall investment by the Government of $14 billion.
The Morrison Government’s commitment to ensuring Australians can access affordable medicines, when they need them, remains rock solid.
This PBS listing has been recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

Regional Health Minister and Minister responsible for the Organ and Tissue Authority (OTA), Dr David Gillespie today announced $14.9 million for OrganMatch, a world-class software system helping to save the lives of more Australians waiting for an organ transplant.
“While Australia is a leader in successful donation and transplant outcomes, this funding boost allows for continued improvements and efficiencies to be made to the bespoke OrganMatch system over the next four years,” Dr Gillespie said.
“Our aim is to increase access for more people and deliver better outcomes for those 1,850 Australians on the waitlist in need of a life-saving transplant.”
OrganMatch is Australia’s organ waitlisting and matching system, providing real time access for clinicians to share time critical information across tissue-typing labs, DonateLife agencies and transplant units.
Dr Gillespie said OrganMatch has changed the way organs are allocated to donors, enabling clinicians to achieve the best possible matching outcomes and prioritising patients who are highly sensitised – and hard to match for medical reasons – as well as young recipients and people who urgently need a transplant.
“Since the system went live in 2019, 31 highly sensitised patients have received a kidney transplant who otherwise would have been unlikely to find a suitable match without OrganMatch,” Dr Gillespie said.
“One of these recipients had been waiting for a kidney transplant for 17 years, while 12 had been waiting more than five years, and it’s heart-warming to know they now have a better-quality life.
“The system has also matched 29 young transplant recipients with high quality donor kidneys, giving them more years of life with their transplant.”
Dr Gillespie said the ability to save more lives through OrganMatch wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of donors and their families.
“Donor families benefit from this streamlined system too, with reduced timeframes between time of their loved one’s death and organ retrieval surgery, meaning they spend less time waiting in a hospital, and more time with family and friends when they most need that support,” Dr Gillespie said.
Dr Gillespie said this funding boost builds on the 2015-16 Budget measure ‘Accelerating growth in organ and tissue donation for transplantation’ in which the Coalition Government invested one-off funding of $4 million for the development of an Australian organ matching system to replace the outdated National Organ Matching System established in 1999.
OrganMatch is delivered through contractual arrangements between the OTA and Australian Red Cross LifeBlood.
Show your support for organ and tissue donation by signing up to be a donor and telling your family you want to be a donor. Register at: donatelife.gov.au, or through your myGov account, or in the Express Plus Medicare app when downloading your COVID-19 digital certificate.

Over four million additional Australians are now eligible for their COVID-19 booster dose from today, with the Australian Government shortening the interval for when a person becomes eligible for their booster from four months to three months.
This follows the recommendation from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) to provide booster doses at a minimum of three months after a person has completed their two-dose primary course of vaccination.
This will allow 4.2 million more Australians to come forward and get a booster dose sooner, providing peace of mind and further protection against serious illness.
Australia is one of the world’s first countries to be rolling out a whole-of-population COVID-19 booster program.
Almost four in five Australians (16 million people) are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, and approximately 7.7 million Australians have received a booster in recent weeks.
The move in early January to shorten the interval from five months to four months resulted in an increase in uptake, with almost 5.3 million people having received their booster dose in the period since.
There are over 18 million vaccine doses currently in fridges ready to be used or in warehouses ready to be deployed across more than 10,000 vaccination sites including GPs, pharmacies, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and state and territory clinics.
ATAGI made its recommendation to reduce the interval after closely monitoring the epidemiology and characteristics of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant. It also considered the emerging data on the need, potential benefits, and optimal timing of a vaccine booster dose to prevent COVID-19 due to this variant.
Immunocompromised people who have received three primary doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be able to receive a booster dose in line with the timing for the general population. ATAGI has also highlighted the importance of boosters for pregnant women.
The Australian Government has secured more than 151 million booster doses for delivery over the coming year and is well placed to continue to achieve world leading vaccination rates against COVID-19.

Defence can confirm that HMAS Adelaide has experienced a power outage. Back-up power has been activated to restore essential systems. The situation is being closely monitored and the safety of the ship and the embarked personnel remains our highest priority.
Following a number of incorrect reports today regarding HMAS Adelaide, Defence can confirm the following:
1. Essential functions such as refrigeration and sanitation systems are up and running;
2. Food supplies have not been adversely affected as a result of the power outage;
3. HMAS Adelaide is not under tow, nor has it been under tow while in or near Tonga; and
4. Air conditioning is operational in most areas of the ship.
The power outage has not affected Australia’s ability to support requests from the Government of Tonga to assist their recovery efforts.
Civilian specialists are on route to conduct an assessment of the affected systems.

Critical medical supplies should be made in Australia – and the Australian Government should be buying Australian-made medical supplies.
A Labor Government will increase Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capacity in medical essentials, like testing equipment, masks, PPE and ventilators.
We will achieve this in two ways:

• We will give first priority to Australian made medical technology for Government purchases in consumables and equipment.
• We will instruct the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to make medical technology a top priority and work with the Future Made in Australia Office to develop a national investment plan for health care essentials, which will identify what needs to be made in Australia and how to make that happen.

The fact that we are three years into the pandemic and still face shortages on critical needs like Rapid Antigen Tests is an indictment of a government that has failed Australians.
At every stage of this pandemic, experts warned Mr Morrison of what was on the horizon, and every time he failed to listen and failed to act.
Mr Morrison makes the same mistakes over and over, but he is too arrogant to learn from them – and it’s Australians who wear the consequences.
His insistence on letting the market decide means Australians are forced to count on overseas producers and unreliable supply chains for basic medical equipment – and are still facing shortages as a result.
We need to re-build our medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in this country – but the government that drove out car manufacturing will never be a government that delivers on domestic medical supply manufacturing.
Labor’s approach will give homegrown industry the certainty to invest and grow, meaning more jobs, more exports, better health and greater self-reliance.
Australia has innovative businesses and some of the world’s best scientists. When government backs them and gives our workforce a chance to shine, we know they’ll deliver.
If we don’t invest in making things here, we will always rely on others in a crisis.
While this is about shoring up our long-term self-reliance, we also call on the Morrison-Joyce Government to act now to help Australian companies access the resources they need to gain approvals for Australian made tests.
It just doesn’t make sense that our manufacturers are exporting tests that have been approved in the United States, while we struggle to secure imports for ourselves.