Category: Australian News

Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young will drive a plan to manufacture electric vehicles in her home state and encourage a national incentive scheme to accelerate the uptake of EVs, as the party’s new portfolio holder.
Senator Hanson-Young said:
“I’m committed to taking up the fight for EVs in Australia. Today’s electric cars are smart, comfortable and better for the environment – and I can’t lie, the acceleration is awesome.
“Australia is lagging behind the rest of world on both climate action and the take up of electric vehicles, held back by the obstructionist policies of the Morrison Government.  It’s time for us to pick up the pace. Australia needs a nation-wide electric car plan to drive us forward.
“Rather than taxes on EVs we need incentives for drivers to switch form polluting vehicles to green transport options.
“With a national plan for EVs we can not only incentivise their uptake, reduce emissions and help our planet, we can create jobs by making the cars of the future right here.
“What better place to revitalise our car manufacturing than in South Australia which continues to feel the impacts of the closure of Holden on the Coalition Government’s watch.
“Investing in local manufacturing would create thousands of jobs and not just any jobs but clean, green sustainable jobs.
“If we are going to reach net zero emissions by 2035 – which we must if we are to have any chance of staying below 1.5 degrees of warming, then we urgently need to increase the uptake of EVs. With national incentives we can drive down the cost of EVs and in turn, drive down emissions.
“We just need the political will, not naysayer, climate deniers like those in the Morrison Government. Prime Minister Morrison was wrong when he declared electric cars would ‘end the weekend’ – he was wrong, out-of-touch and globally embarrassing. I challenge the Prime Minister to come for a spin in an EV.  He might just find the right gear and steer Australia in the right direction when it comes electrifying our transport systems.”

The Morrison Government welcomes the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Economic Survey of Australia, which commends the Government’s “strong economic response to the pandemic”.
In its first Survey since December 2018, the OECD’s latest survey focuses on the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of the financial sector both during the pandemic and into the future in supporting the recovery.
Policy response to COVID-19
The OECD survey highlights the Government’s “well-coordinated” response since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, acknowledging that “macroeconomic policy support was delivered swiftly and with appropriate force at the onset of the pandemic” and “played a particularly important role in stabilising the economy and the living standards of the population”. The “core component” of the fiscal response was JobKeeper, which the OECD acknowledges “saved at least 700,000 jobs”.
The Government’s fiscal response was enabled by Australia having “entered the pandemic in a strong fiscal position” as “the federal Budget had returned to balance in Financial Year 2018/19”.
The Survey also acknowledges the large number of temporary regulatory measures put in place by the Government, including insolvency protections and supporting loan deferrals, to effectively “buffer against the economic shock”.
The strong economic management of the pandemic has meant that Australia’s “downturn in 2020 was less significant than in the majority of other OECD countries” and ensured “the economy bounced back rapidly”.
Encouragingly, the Survey notes a “substantial quickening in the pace of the vaccine rollout” and that “once the economy reopens, household consumption could also pick up surprisingly rapidly given a high stock of excess savings”.
The OECD anticipates that the economy will see solid growth of 4 per cent in 2021 and 3.3 per cent in 2022, highlighting the resilience of the Australian economy despite the current headwinds posed by the delta variant and ongoing lockdowns.
With more than 43 per cent of Australians fully vaccinated, progress towards our nationally agreed targets of 70 to 80 per cent is accelerating. As the Survey notes, once we reach these targets, “the reopening of international borders will support the economic recovery through enabling foreign student arrivals, bilateral tourism and population growth stemming from net immigration”.
Progress on Survey recommendations
The Morrison Government has made strong progress on the OECD’s key Survey recommendations.
Specifically, fiscal policy continues to be responsive to developments in economic conditions. More than $6.6 billion in COVID-19 Disaster Payments has been provided to 2 million Australians and significant business support continues to be provided in partnership with the States and Territories.
The Survey also recognises the significant tax relief provided to low and middle income earners through the Morrison Government’s Personal Income Tax Plan.
The report also notes that bracket creep, if unaddressed, will result in increasing average taxes over time. This further underlines the importance of the structural reform implemented through the Government’s Stage 3 tax cuts which will remove an entire tax bracket and ensure that 95 per cent of taxpayers face a marginal tax rate of no more than 30 cents in the dollar.
The OECD commends the Government for its significant progress on previous OECD recommendations such as better targeting of the Research and Development Tax Incentive and introducing a ‘Patent Box’ to drive innovation and productivity.
The OECD also recognises the importance of the Government’s legislated automatic mutual recognition reforms and encourages remaining jurisdictions to follow the Commonwealth’s lead to support Australian workers and boost productivity growth.
With respect to climate change, the Government remains committed to its approach of technology, not taxes, in reaching net zero emissions as soon as we possibly can, preferably by 2050. The Survey acknowledges that “strong institutions are already in place to support these aims”.
Role of the financial sector
The Survey also noted that as a result of key reforms introduced by the Government over several years, “the strength of the Australian financial system allowed it to support the economy during the crisis”.
Importantly, as highlighted by the OECD, to further support the recovery the Government will continue to pursue reforms to ensure small and emerging businesses have access to a range of funding sources, including streamlining lending laws, expanding ‘Open Banking’ and via the Australian Business Growth Fund.
The latest OECD Economic Survey confirms the Government’s economic plan is working and that the fundamentals of the Australian economy remain strong.
The Morrison Government will continue to support the recovery so that the Australian economy can bounce back once COVID-19 related restrictions are eased.

The Australian Government is further boosting the vaccination program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across 30 priority areas to ensure all Australians can access a COVID-19 vaccine.
Since the start of the vaccination program the Government has been working closely with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), states and territories and other Indigenous organisations to ensure every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person has the opportunity to get vaccinated. Now with increased supplies and in response to current outbreak situations the Government is significantly boosting efforts to expedite vaccination uptake.
In partnership with NACCHO, states and territories, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) and other Indigenous stakeholders, the Australian Government will immediately accelerate the vaccination program in 30 priority areas including:

• Western Australia– Greater Geraldton, Swan, Gosnells, Derby – West Kimberley, Port Hedland – South Hedland, Kalgoorlie – Boulder, Goldfields Esperance Region.
• Queensland – Brisbane, Bundaberg, Cairns, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Mackay, Mareeba, Mission River, Moreton Bay, Normanton, Palm Island, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Townsville
• New South Wales– Central Coast and Wollongong areas
• Northern Territory – Greater Darwin, North-East Arnhem Land and Barkly
• South Australia– Port Lincoln

Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said this builds on work done to date in partnership with NACCHO, the ACCHS, and the Royal Flying Doctors Service to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a culturally safe and appropriate way.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been a priority for vaccination since the beginning stages of the national vaccination program, considerable effort has been taken to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are readily and widely available for communities,” Minister Hunt said.
“We are absolutely committed to seeing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vaccination rates meet, if not exceed, the national target.”
Minister Wyatt said there has been significant work done to date to work with communities to tackle their individual needs and concerns, including countering vaccine hesitancy, in order to boost vaccination uptake.
“It’s my hope that every Indigenous Australian gets vaccinated – local Indigenous leaders across the country are playing a pivotal role in helping us achieve high vaccination rates, combat misinformation, and dispel vaccine myths,” Minister Wyatt said.
The boost to the rollout for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will build on the work already underway in Western New South Wales regions where Indigenous vaccination rates for first doses increased from 44.2 per cent to 67.8 per cent and for second doses from 26.1 per cent to 39.7 per cent over the past four weeks.
The Government will immediately provide an additional $7.7 million to NACCHO to amplify efforts to reduce the vaccination gap by working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ACCHS and other organisations supporting the vaccination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This will include:

• Additional vaccine liaison officers employed to work directly with remote and very remote communities, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in discrete communities in other areas.
• Boosting work alongside vaccine providers to support community engagement activities and providing culturally safe messaging, address vaccine hesitancy, facilitate informed consent and conduct health promotion activities.

This is in addition to $19 million provided to NACCHO to date, to support the crucial role of ACCHS in the pandemic response.
Chief Executive of NACCHO, Pat Turner AM, said working with communities was critical to ensuring a successful vaccine rollout for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and welcomes the Australian Government’s ongoing partnership with NACCHO and our sector.
“The recent outbreaks have demonstrated the need to accelerate the vaccine rollout for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. NACCHO continues to play a critical role in addressing hesitancy and ensuring timely and culturally appropriate information is provided to communities to encourage vaccinations,” Ms Turner said.
“This additional funding will further bolster our work in supporting all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to access a vaccine by the end of this year.”
Throughout the pandemic, the Government has worked in partnership with First Nations communication companies to develop editorial, social and advertising to reach the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audience.
To further boost these efforts, the Government will also fund First Nations Media Australia, the national peak body for the First Nations media and communications industry, to produce and distribute a package of culturally appropriate public relations content to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples about the vaccine rollout.

The partnership includes a range of activities that are planned to support the vaccine rollout, aiming to broaden the conversation around vaccinations, address misinformation and build positive sentiment and intention toward vaccination by using local and trusted voices and sharing positive stories.
The work will be undertaken by a number of local Indigenous media organisations across the country, with a particular emphasis on the areas that are included in the acceleration plan.
This builds on the Australian Government’s National Vaccination Communications Campaign, which continues to deliver tailored communication to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences as a priority.
The Australian Government will continue to work with state and territory governments, NACCHO, ACCHS, the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and other Indigenous stakeholders to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the opportunity to be vaccinated.
Data on the 30 priority areas will be updated weekly and will be available at Health.gov.au.

To further support Australia’s world-leading medical researchers, the Morrison Government will invest almost half a billion dollars in funding for health and medical research.
Funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), $471.9 million in funding will support hundreds of research leaders and teams around the country to undertake research that will ultimately save lives and make Australians healthier.
This investment includes:

• $399.7 million for 254 Investigator Grants, NHMRC’s largest scheme, which provides funding over five years for the highest performing researchers at all career stages.
• $44 million for 17 Centres of Research Excellence over five years, building collaborative teams and developing capacity to improve research translation into better health outcomes.
• $4.6 million in targeted funding to support four projects developing coordinated and best practice interventions for better care at the end of life.
• $1.5 million for collaborative research on osteoarthritis to be funded in partnership with the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health Research.
• $1.8 million to fund a clinical trial at Melbourne Health involving combination immune therapy for type 1 diabetes.

In addition, thanks to our Government’s ongoing collaboration with health providers and other sectors, $28.6 million has been committed by partners alongside $20.4 million from the Australian Government to fund 16 projects through the NHMRC Partnership Project scheme.
More than $12 million in funding is dedicated to research on SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and over $84 million for research in infectious diseases.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt MP, said the over $472 million committed would help Australian researchers continue to make life-changing and life-altering discoveries.
“Every day we acknowledge the extraordinary work of Australia’s health and medical researchers not only to confront the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to continue their outstanding research to find solutions to the ongoing health issues we face,” Minister Hunt said.
“The grants include support for the next generation of research leaders seeking to develop more effective vaccines for respiratory diseases, investigate the missing genetics of rare diseases and help make the revolution in genomic medicine accessible and useful to everyone.”
“Through decades of investment, the NHMRC has helped build the foundations of this critical sector based on competitive, peer-reviewed health and medical research of the highest quality and the highest standards of ethics and integrity.”
Through these funding rounds, NHMRC CEO Professor Anne Kelso said NHMRC also seeks to address the challenges currently facing the health and medical research sector by supporting additional early and mid-career researchers and women in the sector, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research and researchers.
“NHMRC funds investigator-led research where Australia’s highest-performing health and medical researchers set out to solve the health problems they see in their community, in their clinical practice and in their own lives.
“As have all sections of the community, the health and medical research sector has contended with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector has delivered against these odds, bringing Australia’s best science and scientists to the problem. The remarkable quality of projects funded in these schemes shows that Australia’s health and medical researchers are as passionate and skilled as ever to explore solutions for the range of health problems that concern us most.”
Details of all grants are available on NHMRC’s website.

As part of the continued expansion of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout program, businesses are now able to team up with vaccination providers to administer the jabs to staff at their workplace.
Vaccination providers will be able to seek accreditation to administer COVID-19 vaccines at workplaces – similar to the way flu vaccines are administered – through a Request for Tender program that will kick-start Stage 3 of the National COVID Shield Campaign Plan.
Operation COVID Shield has been constantly engaging with the business community throughout the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and this program is a result of that engagement process.
The program will also facilitate acceleration of a range of other vaccine delivery methods, including additional support to vaccinate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other priority groups.
Pfizer or Moderna will be the primary vaccinations administered through the workplace vaccination programs, however workplaces will be able to order AstraZeneca if required.
Millions of Australians have already heeded the call to get vaccinated to protect themselves, their loved ones and the community, and the opening of this tender process will add further momentum as we continue to ramp up our vaccination effort.
With the potential to reach Australians at places they already go to every day, this program – the COVID-19 Vaccine Administration Partners Program – will make it even easier for people to get vaccinated, while recognising the eagerness of businesses to help.
It will allow Australia to further increase the overall size of the COVID-19 vaccination workforce, and to use the many offers of assistance from vaccination administrators and Australia’s business community.
The Vaccine Administration Partners Program will establish a panel of accredited COVID-19 vaccination providers that can be accessed by government entities, businesses and other organisations to support vaccination priorities.
The Australian Government will pay accredited COVID-19 vaccination providers on the panel a fixed price per vaccine dose.
Businesses engaging COVID-19 immunisation providers from the panel will negotiate details of the arrangements directly with vaccination providers on the panel.
As with the broader vaccine rollout, businesses cannot seek any payment from patients for administration of the vaccine.
Full details are available on AusTender.

Staff accommodation will be built at Lady Barron on Flinders Island under a Morrison Government grant aimed at strengthening aged care services in remote communities.
Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, and Member for Bass, Bridget Archer, welcomed the investment under the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Flexible Aged Care (NATSIFAC) Program‘s infrastructure and equipment grants which will see $5.2 million allocated across services to improve the lives of older First Nations people.
The Flinders Island Aboriginal Association (FIAAI) will use $610,000 to build staff accommodation.
FIAAI provides a range of services on Flinders Island including primary health and aged care, housing, youth services and a state-wide “Tackling Smoking Project”.
Ms Archer said the latest investment for Bass would help support the vital work of the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association.
“This funding will not only provide improved accommodation options for staff, but it will also reinforce the important outcomes the association continues to deliver in an isolated region,” Ms Archer said.
Minister Colbeck said the funding underlines the Morrison Government’s commitment to ensure quality of care in remote regions exceeded expectation.
“Whether it is upgrading living spaces, providing quality furniture or installing equipment to fulfil clinical care or security requirements, these grants are an important investment for services in remote and very remote locations across the country,” Minister Colbeck said.
“It is significantly more difficult for these services to upgrade equipment and buildings and maintain accommodation for staff”
Twenty projects, mostly in remote areas of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania, will receive grants.
This funding is in addition to the annual investment of around $68 million for service delivery under the NATSIFAC Program and $105.7 million over 4 years from 2018-2019 to 2021-2022 for its expansion.
The NATSIFAC Program funds service providers to deliver flexible, culturally safe aged care to older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people close to home and community.

This advice is for people elligible for Medicare. If you aren’t – go here to get the best information and advice for you.

Step One:

Create a MyGov account. If you have one already. Log-in and go to step 2.

• To Create a MyGov
• To Login to MyGov 

Step Two:

Link your Medicare to your MyGov account. If you’ve done this already go to step three.
To do this you will need your Medicare card.
If you need help getting a new card, you can call Medicare on 132 011
Steps on how to link your Medicare and MyGov are here.
 

Step Three:

Once it’s all linked, you can check your immunisation history

1. Log into MyGov
2. Select Medicare under the “Your Services” header.
3. Click “view immunisation history” down the bottom of the page
4. If your certificate is available, the option to view it will appear at the bottom of the page. You can download this as a PDF or add it to your mobile wallet.

If you’re fully vaccinated but can’t see your certificate, you may need to ask for proof of your vaccination from your vaccination provider. Head over here to find more specific advice.
 

Step Four:

Add your certificate to your Mobile Wallet

1. Complete ‘Step Three’ from a mobile browser
2. An “add to Apple Wallet” or “Save to Phone” option will be available.

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that a new report by the Centre for Future Work estimating 40,000 job losses is a devastating exposure of the extent of the insecure work crisis in higher education.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Tens of thousands of job losses amount to nothing less than complete decimation of large parts of our tertiary education sector.
“Workers at our universities and TAFEs have been completely hung out to dry by an uncaring government and, more often than not, neoliberal management.
“Morale across tertiary education is at historic lows. This is in no small part due to casualisation and insecure work, which is rife in higher education and must be combatted.
“It’s hard to separate this devastation from the Liberals’ thinly-veiled contempt for tertiary education, and universities in particular.
“Not only were universities excluded from JobKeeper, they were targeted by the so-called ‘Job-ready Graduates’ fee hikes and funding cuts. The consequences of this are now being felt across the country.
“This is having devastating impacts for university staff, students and education now, and the reverberations will be felt for decades to come unless the government provides the investment needed to support and advance the sector. ”

The Morrison Government has secured an additional one million Moderna doses from European Union member states to further bolster Australia’s vaccination programme.
The extra doses, along with the first shipment of the already contracted doses, will arrive within the next week and go directly to local community pharmacies across the country and into the arms of Australians.
This comes at the same time that the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is now also recommending Moderna for everyone 12 years and older. In line with approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), everyone aged 12-59, including families, can access these doses from their community pharmacy.
The doses have been sourced by the Government from surplus vaccines destined for Spain, Czech Republic, Portugal and Bulgaria and will further bolster the community pharmacy vaccine rollout.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the extra supplies of Modena represented a family sized dose of hope.
“Families will now be able to go along together to their pharmacy to get their vaccinations,” the Prime Minister said.
“This additional supply also enables us to direct urgent supplies where they are needed most, and make up the final ground for everyone in Australia to be offered a jab, originally set back in January for in October.
“In October we’re going to have enough vaccines in the country to have offered everyone a jab meaning we’ll be able to take the next steps in our plan to safely reopen Australia.
“First thing’s first to take the steps to safely reopening – get vaccinated. The next few weeks are going to be critical to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to get the vaccine.
“As all these extra doses arrive in Australia we’ll see queues for vaccines cut at the more than 9,000 places you can get vaccinated. Mum, dad and the kids will also be able to go to their local community pharmacist to get vaccinated as a family all at the same time.
“These are doses of hope for families in particular as we move to reopen Australia safely.
“These additional Moderna doses build on four million Pfizer doses sourced from the United Kingdom, one million from Poland and 500,000 from Singapore.
“I’d like to thank the European Commission and partnering countries for their cooperation, and Sweden and Norway for their assistance. I also thank Moderna with whom we have also worked closely to secure this arrangement.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Marise Payne said Australia’s network of diplomats had been working around the clock in securing agreements such as this.
“This agreement further demonstrates the important role our diplomats play and the strength of Australia’s bonds with European nations and the European Union,” Minister Payne said.
“Australia is committed to working with all partners across the world because our shared recovery from COVID-19 depends on it.”
The safety of the Australian people is the Government’s top priority and upon arrival the Moderna doses will undergo the same TGA batch release process as all other COVID-19 vaccines.
With the vaccine rollout program expanding throughout community pharmacies, Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt said local community pharmacies would begin to receive Moderna doses within a fortnight.
“These doses are adding additional capacity and will further ramp up the vaccination rate of young Australians,” Minister Hunt said.
“Australia’s vaccine rollout is continuing to hit record levels every day, with 22.4 million doses delivered nationally. Some 13.6 million people have had one dose, and over 41 per cent of the eligible population are now fully vaccinated.”
These doses plus Australia’s already contracted supply will be shared with over 3600 community pharmacies across Australia. Up to 1800 Pharmacies will begin to receive doses through the week of the 20th of September and the next 1800 pharmacies will follow shortly after.
Supplies will arrive later this week and go through standard clearing procedures with the TGA.
National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Trent Twomey said pharmacies across the country were ready to help even more Australians to be vaccinated.
“Community pharmacies have kept their doors open during bushfires, floods and a once in a generation global pandemic,” Mr Twomey said.
“Community pharmacies are now stepping up to vaccinate Australian families against COVID-19.
“I encourage all Australians to visit their local community pharmacy and roll up their sleeves to get vaccinated.”
Getting vaccinated at your local community pharmacy is easy and convenient.
So far approximately half a million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered through community pharmacies across the country.