Category: Australian News

Senior Australians now have a strong, formal voice to government on ageing and aged care matters, with the 14 members of the new Council of Elders – a specific recommendation coming out of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety – announced today.
The Council of Elders will be led by inaugural Chair Ian Yates AM, who will also sit on the new National Aged Care Advisory Council.
Mr Yates will ensure the voice of senior Australians is heard and that advice is provided to the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, and the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, and the Department of Health.
The Council of Elders will engage widely on many aspects of aged care from the perspective of the quality and safety of care and the rights and dignity of older people.
Members include 2021 Senior Australian of the Year Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM, dementia advocate Gwenda Darling, writer and carer Danijela Hlis, Age Discrimination Commissioner Kay Patterson AO, and indigenous campaigner Professor Tom Calma AO.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt said Council members have strong expertise, diverse backgrounds and lived experience that would help ensure aged care meets the needs and expectations of senior Australians, their families and carers, and the Australian community.
“Council members, all appointed for two-year terms, will provide advice to government, coordinate feedback from senior Australians and their families and communities, and help to build community awareness of ageing and aged care matters,” Minister Hunt said.
Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck said over 130 high calibre senior Australians had nominated to be part of the council.
“We carefully reviewed every nomination, and each person would have made a positive difference as a council member,” Minister Colbeck said.
“I thank every person for their nomination and have invited them to contribute their diverse experience and expertise in other ways.”
Mr Yates, CEO of Council of the Ageing, said it was an honour and privilege to serve alongside such experienced members.
“This is an exciting initiative that we have not had before,” Mr Yates said.  “Having a voice of senior Australians direct to Government will be key to ensure the reforms from the royal commission continue to have the voice of those that experience the system at their centre.”
The first Council of Elders has an appropriately diverse range of experience, background, location and opinions and I look forward to working with the members of the Council to provide this important voice to Ministers and the National Aged Care Advisory Council.”
Minister Colbeck said the new National Aged Care Advisory Council and the Council of Elders were part of the government’s $18.3 billion reform package being delivered over the next five years.
“These reforms will help all Australians feel confident about accessing high quality aged care when they need it – offering greater choice and control, and helping people maintain independence as they age,” Minister Colbeck said.
“So far, thousands of people have engaged with us on the design of reforms such as quality standards and support at home, and over 13,000 people have participated in 8 webinars about the reforms.”
Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) Chief Executive Officer Craig Gear welcomed the appointment of the council.
“We are excited by the announcement of the inaugural members of Australia’s first Council of Elders,” Mr Gear said.  “Older people have been telling us for a long time that there should be ‘nothing about us without us’ and the Council of Elders is a good step along this journey which will help inform aged care reform from their perspective.
“Importantly, we are pleased with the inclusion of a number of older people with lived experience of aged care to guide the transformation of aged care for themselves and the people they care for”
Visit the Ageing and Aged Care Engagement Hub to read about the reforms and to participate in engagement activities, here.
For more information on the Council of Elders and its members see here.
Council of Elders members:

Australians who have completed their primary course of COVID-19 vaccination no less than four months ago, will now be able to receive a booster dose from 4 January 2022, providing further protection and peace of mind.
In making these changes to further bring forward eligibility, the Australian Government has acted on the expert medical advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
The move to reduce the interval between a person’s primary course of vaccination and their booster dose from five months to four months will see approximately 7.5 million Australians eligible for their booster dose as of 4 January.
The Government will also further bring forward, as of 31 January, the interval for eligibility to three months, which will mean that more than 16 million people will be eligible for their booster at this time. This decision is based on the expert medical advice from ATAGI and operational planning from the National COVID-19 Vaccines Taskforce.
Australia was one of the first countries in the world to commence a whole of population COVID-19 booster program, and so far approximately two million Australians have received a booster dose over recent weeks.
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.
Advice to the Government from ATAGI indicates that further bringing forward booster doses is likely to increase protection against infection with the Omicron variant based on international and Australian data observed over recent weeks.
Whilst early data suggests the risk of hospitalisation, ICU admission and death due to the Omicron variant is far less than Delta or other variants, bringing forward boosters doses and increased public health and social measures such as mask wearing indoors, social distancing where appropriate and ongoing hand hygiene will have an important effect on slowing the spread and impact of Omicron.
As was the case with rolling out doses for people’s primary course of vaccination, these changes continue to allow for a staged approach to the booster rollout going forward, with a clear focus on ensuring our most vulnerable cohorts continue to be prioritised.
Australia has more than enough supply of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to roll out booster doses to the newly eligible cohort from 4 January – through more than 10,000 vaccination sites including GPs, community pharmacies, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and state and territory clinics. There are currently over 20 million doses in Australia of which over five million have already been placed with States and Primary Care teams on the basis of their forward orders.
Where jurisdictions believe they have sufficient capacity to bring forward the commencement of delivery of booster doses sooner, without displacing people with higher priority eligibility in accordance with the ATAGI recommendations, they will have the flexibility to do so.
ATAGI has maintained its advice that booster doses only be given to people aged 18 years and over.
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.
People who have completed their primary course of vaccination against COVID-19 four or more months prior to 4 January are encouraged to contact their vaccine provider early in the new year to make a booking.
Australia is already one of the most vaccinated, and recently vaccinated, countries in the world.
Ninety-one per cent of Australians aged 16 and over have completed their primary course of vaccination. And more than 72 per cent of adolescents aged 12 to 15 have done so.
Arrangements are in place to start rolling out vaccines to children aged five to 11 years from 10 January 2022 with specialised children’s doses arriving in Australia over recent days and now undergoing batch testing by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
All Australians who are currently eligible for their primary course of vaccination, or for their booster dose, and who have not yet acted are urged to make a booking as soon as possible to get vaccinated.
The Australian Government has secured over 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.

The Morrison Government has further bolstered the high-calibre membership of the nation’s pre-eminent sports dispute resolution body, the National Sports Tribunal (NST).
Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck, has appointed 41 new members to the NST, recommended by an independent selection advisory committee.
They join the NST’s first 39 members who were appointed by the same committee in the first tranche of members, when the NST started in March last year.
The NST is the key element of the Government’s comprehensive sports integrity strategy.
It plays a central role in ensuring the effective provision of dispute resolution services for sports participants, support personnel and sporting organisations across Australia.
“The Morrison Government is profoundly committed to making sure sport is safe, fair and inclusive for all Australians,” Minister Colbeck said.
“The NST’s role is to hear and resolve national-level sporting disputes in Australia.”
Members are responsible for conducting arbitration, mediation, conciliation and case appraisal. They can compel witnesses to appear in person before the NST.
“As the caseload of the NST continues to grow, this second round of members – 21 men and 20 women – will broaden the skills and capability of the NST, factoring in gender, geographic coverage, experience in various dispute resolution methods, and subject matter expertise. Their appointment continues the high calibre of NST membership.”
CEO of the NST, Mr John Boultbee, said the new members had a broad range of experience from administrative and sports law, to sports medicine, to experience as an athlete or as a sports administrator.
“They include specialist mediators, anti-doping experts, restorative justice practitioners, and this enables independent and qualified arbitrators and mediators to be appointed to hear and mediate the broad range of matters which come to the NST,” he said.
“Athletes and sports can have confidence in the independence and quality of the members who will be allocated to their cases.”
The new members are:

High numbers of Australians continue to receive the medical care they need at no cost to themselves, with recent data showing almost 9 out of 10 visits to the GP in the last quarter were provided with no out-of-pocket cost for the patient.
GP bulk billing rates reached 89.6 per cent in the quarter from July to September 2021. This is an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the previous quarter (April to June 2021). It is also 7.9 percentage points higher than July to September 2012-13 (81.7%).
Across all Medicare services, the bulk billing rate reached 82.4%, an increase of 6.5 percentage points since 2012-13 (76.0%).
In the July to September 2021 period, a total of 108.8 million medical services were bulk billed to Medicare, 13.3 million more than in the same period last year.
Telehealth items, introduced to Medicare as part of the health response to the pandemic, contributed to high bulk billing rates. These items also helped to reduce the risk of spreading the disease in the community, saving and protecting lives.
From July to September 2021, Medicare paid benefits for 1.6 million COVID-19 video consultations and 12.7 million COVID-19 phone consultations which were provided by GPs, specialists and allied health professionals.
The telehealth items represented 22.9 per cent of GP consultations in the July to September 2021 period. COVID-19 vaccine services reached 9.5 million and represented 18.4% of all GP consultations.
With an investment of $106 million, telehealth will now become a permanent feature of primary health care in Australia. It has proved to be transformational to health care delivery and is a key element of the Government’s successful COVID-19 response.
Telehealth has ensured greater flexibility for patients and doctors to deliver health care and has played a critical role in ensuring continuity of care for millions of Australian patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New sport and physical activity programs encouraging Australians to run, play, skate, sail and ride are among those to receive funding through the second round of Sport Australia’s Participation Grant program.
Sharing in $10.3 million worth of grant funding, the 36 new programs will provide more opportunities for Australians to connect with sport and get physically active.
Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck said the Morrison Government was proud to invest in programs that bring communities together.
“Sport continues to face ongoing challenges as a result of COVID-19,” Minister Colbeck said.  “These grants will help increase participation in sport and physical activity by delivering free, inclusive and high-quality programs for everyone to enjoy.
“Through this grant program, we’re making communities stronger, more resilient and active.”
Successful recipients include AUSTSWIM, with their program to address a shortage of swimming and water safety teachers by re-engaging with swimming teachers who have left the industry.
AUSTSWIM CEO Simon Weatherill said the initiative aims to bring the number of swim teachers back to pre-COVID levels.
“While demand for swimming and water safety lessons has recovered quickly, the training and accreditation of teachers has not kept pace, leading to a shortage in swimming and water safety teachers.”
Funding received for the “Creating Jobs, Saving Lives” project will support 900 swim teachers by covering the costs associated with getting and maintaining their qualifications.
Skate Australia will establish come and try events nationwide to provide opportunities for skaters to join competitions, clubs and events.
It follows a successful Olympic debut for skateboarding at the Tokyo Games which included a men’s park gold for Keegan Palmer as well as a huge uptake in roller skating during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Skate Australia Executive Director Ariane de Rooy said: “We’re excited to increase awareness of skate sports like roller derby, speed skating, artistic skating and inline hockey as well as the increasing number of learn to skate options for all ages.
“One of skate’s core values is inclusion and we’re thrilled to provide more opportunities for people of all backgrounds and genders to give skating a try.
“In addition to the Paris and LA Olympics in the coming years, the World Skate Games will be held in Argentina in October 2022 and we’re always on the lookout for emerging talent.”
Deaf Sports Australia will also partner with the AFL to improve access for deaf and hard of hearing Australians who love playing football.
Deaf Sports Australia General Manager Phil Harper said the grant is an acknowledgement of the barriers that deaf and hard of hearing Australians face when participating in sport.
“More than 2000 children and adults across three states who are deaf or hard of hearing will benefit from this project to make AFL more inclusive, accessible and enjoyable,” Mr Harper said.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to create solutions to significantly raise participation levels in AFL.”
Indigenous Basketball Australia’s project will encourage young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to get involved in basketball as a player, coach or official.
Motorcycling Australia will deliver a national program for entry level riders to encourage young Australians and their families to ride, while Lacrosse Australia will partner with UniSports Australia to deliver social and modified Lacrosse programs to 18–25-year-olds.
Sport Australia Acting CEO Rob Dalton said the program will help more Australians enjoy the social, personal and health benefits of being physically active.
“It was great to receive such high quality applications. This diverse range of programs will encourage even more Australians of all ages and abilities to get involved in sport and physical activity,” he said.
“Through this grant program, we will support tens of thousands of Australians to get active and build a healthier and happier nation through sport.”
The list of successful applicants is available on Sport Australia’s grants and funding page.

The Morrison Government’s ongoing reforms to private health insurance have contributed to the lowest annual average premium change for consumers since 2001, which will be 2.70 percent in 2022.
The 2022 premium change is not only the lowest over two decades, but approximately half that of those when Labor was last in government.
Our Government has delivered on its commitment to improve the value and affordability of private health insurance, delivering the eighth successive decline in premiums changes since the Coalition was elected in 2013.
The Morrison Government understands the importance of the cost of living for Australian families and this record low premium change is less than the annual average premium change of 2.74% in 2021.
Importantly, under proposed arrangements, many consumers will not receive a premium change until later in 2022, as private health insurers work through the impacts of the pandemic by offering COVID related refunds, deferring their premium rate rise and other measures to support better care and to improve affordability.
We continue to implement significant reforms and investments to improve the value and affordability for the 14 million Australians who have private health insurance, and to support the private healthcare sector to deliver quality care.
The most recent private health insurance statistics released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show that these reforms are working with five consecutive quarters of hospital treatment coverage growth, which has not occurred in a decade, demonstrating the value many Australians have in holding private health insurance cover.
The most recent reform supports young Australians, by increasing the age that children can stay on their family policy up to the age of 31. In addition, we have removed the age limits for people with a disability to be included in a family policy, which will allow them more flexibility in choosing their private health insurance policy.
Further important reforms, including those that will lower the prices of medical devices and modernise and improve the Prosthesis List, are under way and we continue to work closely with the sector to implement these changes from the first half of 2022.
Under new arrangements announced in the 2021-22 Budget, the Government is investing
$22 million over four years to reduce the cost of medical devices used in the private health
sector by better aligning prices in the private system to prices in the public system and to streamline access to new medical devices, which will ensure access to new technology and treatments and improve the affordability and value of private health insurance
for Australians.
In 2020–21, Australians received a record $22 billion in benefits for medical services through the private health insurance sector.
Each year the Australian Government continues to invest around $6.7 billion through the private health insurance rebate.
Under the lowest premium changes in 21 year, from 1 April 2022, on average a single person will pay an extra $1.12 per week, and a family $2.42 extra a week.
For information on each private health insurer’s average premium price change – see Average annual increases in private health insurance premiums page.

National Cabinet met today to discuss a range of significant national issues, including our response to COVID-19, the vaccine rollout and booster programme and the Omicron strain.
Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 264,909 confirmed cases in Australia and, sadly, 2,162 people have died. More than 52.5 million tests have been undertaken. Testing has increased nationally over recent days with 1,910,354 million tests reported in the past 7 days.
Globally there have been over 276.1 million cases and sadly over 5.3 million deaths, with 762,213 new cases and 7,797 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge in many countries around the world.
Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine roll out continues to expand. To date 41.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Australia, including 207,329 in the previous 24 hours.
In the previous 7 days, more than 1.16 million vaccines have been administered in Australia. More than 94 per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and over have now had a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including over 98 per cent of over 50 year olds and more than 99 per cent of over 70 year olds.
More than 90.7 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over are now fully vaccinated including more than 96.2 per cent of over 50 year olds and more than 99 per cent of Australians over 70 years of age.
Over 1.6 million booster doses have been administered. Australia has sufficient supplies of boosters, with over 20 million mRNA vaccines in stock in Australia. Yesterday over 156,000 boosters were administered across Australia. Over 50 per cent of those eligible for boosters have had a booster and almost 20 per cent of Australians aged 70 years of age and over have had a booster in the last 6 weeks since the booster program commenced.
National Cabinet noted that 5-11 year old vaccinations are on track to commence on 10 January 2021.
National Cabinet will meet again on 7 January 2022.
Omicron
National Cabinet received a detailed briefing from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Professor Paul Kelly on the Omicron strain which was first detected in Australia less than four weeks ago.
Australia has faced many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and Australians have always been up to the challenge. The Omicron strain is the next challenge facing Australia.
Living with COVID-19 means living with COVID- variants. Evidence about the characteristics of Omicron is still emerging, but early trends seen both internationally and within Australia suggest Omicron has a current estimated doubling time of 2-3 days and case numbers are expected to increase significantly within a short time period.
While Omicron shows an extremely rapid growth rate, it is uncertain if this is due to inherently higher transmissibility than the Delta variant, or if this is primarily driven by immune escape.
However, early indications around hospitalisation, ICU admission and death show that Omicron could be far less severe than Delta and other variants. Importantly, after almost four weeks of Omicron in Australia, there has been only one confirmed Omicron case in ICU and no deaths. States and territories have confirmed that hospitals and health systems remain in a strong position despite rising cases – with all states and territory health systems working within capacity.
National Cabinet agreed that no jurisdiction wants to return to lockdowns.
Omicron – public health social measures responses
Public Health and Social Measures have continued to help moderate the pace COVID-19 spread throughout the pandemic, and will continue to do so with Omicron.
In response to the Omicron variant, National Cabinet has noted new AHPPC advice on public health response options and that individual jurisdictions would be making responses as appropriate.
There is a strong recommendation for indoor mask wearing. While states and territories make decisions on requirements for mask use, all Australians are encouraged to take personal responsibility for wearing a mask.
Mask wearing in indoor areas will be in addition to existing measures including strong personal hygiene and social distancing.
Boosters
National Cabinet received a detailed update on the Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program from Lieutenant General John Frewen, Coordinator General of Operation COVID Shield
Australians are stepping forward to get booster shots in record numbers.
National Cabinet noted that the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommended that booster vaccines be administered to all people 18 years and over five-months after the completion of a primary vaccine course. Booster vaccines are a key pillar in our response to COVID-19 and play a central role in curtailing the developing Omicron outbreak.
National Cabinet agreed that decisions on changing booster intervals is a decision for ATAGI. National Cabinet has sought further advice from ATAGI on which groups should be prioritised for booster shots as this will be important to reducing Omicron transmission in the community.
To fast track boosters, National Cabinet agreed to significantly increase distribution capacity, with the aim of reaching Australia’s previous high daily vaccination levels.
States and territories committed to increasing capacity at state clinics to previous peak levels during the vaccination program.
The Commonwealth outlined that it will introduce a time limited booster incentive payment of $10 for Primary Care providers, including General Practices, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, community pharmacies and Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics, for administration of COVID-19 booster vaccines delivered under the Commonwealth Vaccination Program. The booster incentive payment will be effective from 23 December 2021, and cease on 30 June 2022. The additional payment will support flexibility for primary care providers to run additional clinics and to engage more staff. The payment will be made to primary care providers through existing payment mechanisms.
Test, Trace, Isolate and Quarantine (TTIQ)
National Cabinet agreed there is a need for consistent definitions for close and casual contacts across Australia. Given increasing Omicron case numbers, current definitions and arrangements are becoming less useful for implementing effective TTIQ, may deter people from checking in and require too much of the workforce to be in isolation.
National Cabinet agreed that the Chief Medical Officer, consulting with AHPPC, will bring forward a consistent definition of close and casual contacts to the next meeting of National Cabinet including whether only limited close contacts are required to take PCR testing and home isolation. This will include specific advice on close contacts in health and aged care settings noting the impact on the workforce from furloughing a fully vaccinated staff; and advice on close contacts on domestic airlines, with home isolation of crews and passengers impacting operation and confidence in domestic travel.
National Cabinet noted that the role of QR systems would change in the context of high caseloads, with a greater focus on the use of QR systems to provide information to people of the COVID situation in places they have been.
National Cabinet further noted the significant impacts on TTIQ systems from testing for travel. Between one in four PCR tests in Victoria and one in five in New South Wales are tests for travel under state public health orders for travel to Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.
National Cabinet agreed that the Chief Medical Officer, consulting with AHPPC will be tasked with providing consistent advice on testing priorities, including considering removing requirements for test for travel and use of RAT for travel.
National Cabinet further noted that the Commonwealth Government will extend COVID-19 rapid antigen testing (RAT) kits to Residential Aged Care Facilities and short term restorative care (aged care services) in areas of high prevalence of COVID-19, as defined by the Communicable Disease Network of Australia (CDNA). RATs will be provided for screening of workers and to anyone who needs to enter a service including family members, when there is an outbreak to protect this vulnerable population.

The Morrison Government continues to back Australian high-performance sport with a $257.5 million investment for National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) to take them through to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.
Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck said funding allocations to NSOs provides certainty to athletes as they prepare for Paris 2024.
“Our athletes inspired Australians everywhere with their efforts at the delayed Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, and through the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) this funding provides the perfect platform to perform in Paris,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Through this commitment by the Federal Government and via a collaborative process with the AIS, sports are enabled to build their plans in advance for a full summer Games cycle, with funding right through until the end of 2024.”
“This will be the first time that sports have received funding certainty so far out from an Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we’re proud to have made that commitment to building sustainable success for our high performance athletes and their support teams.”
Sports will receive grants for the period 1 July 2022 through until December 2024, with Australia’s Matildas benefiting from $1.9 million dedicated specifically to Paris 2024, and a further $8.83m over two years to support to Matildas 2023 World Cup campaign and broader Matildas programs.
Increased commitments have also been made to a number of other sports, including Women’s Rugby 7s, Canoe (Para and Able), Rowing (Para and Able) Surfing, Skate, Combat, Equestrian and Para Table Tennis
Through an $82.2 million package dedicated to athletes of the future and athlete wellbeing, the Federal Government is also strongly committed to success at Brisbane 2032.
As a result of these most recent investment decisions, Performance Pathways funding has increased to sports that include softball, baseball, gymnastics, women’s hockey, men’s football and rugby 7s.

After two years of consultation with First Nations leaders, the federal Government has released the Final Report on a proposal for an Indigenous Voice to parliament.
Yamatji-Noongar Senator for WA, Dorinda Cox, acting Greens spokesperson for First Nations said:
“The Greens will closely scrutinise all legislation that the Government puts to the Parliament regarding a Voice. Like always we will work with grassroots First Nations people to make sure all proposals align with the wishes of First Nations people and their communities,” she said.
“Any proposal must uphold the principles outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“It’s unclear, at this stage, how creating the Voice to Parliament first will affect the process of national truth-telling and healing as we move our country towards a Treaty or Treaties with First Nations people. We haven’t seen the model they’re settling on, so we will be following this closely.
“We are concerned at the timing of this announcement, as it comes very late in the Morrison Governments’ term. There will be an election by May 2022, with a limited number of sitting days before this. It’s unclear how the election will affect this work.
“We would like to thank and congratulate the Voice senior advisory group for their work, particularly Professors Tom Calma and Marcia Langton.
“We look forward to working with the Parliament on this next year.”