Category: Australian News

The Morrison Government is hosting the National Summit on Women’s Safety on 6 and 7 September which is the culmination of extensive consultations to develop the next National Plan to end violence against women and children.
The Summit will include keynote addresses, panel discussions and a series of roundtables focused on key issues affecting women’s safety including economic security and financial independence, perpetrator interventions, and responding to sexual violence.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women Marise Payne said the Summit was an opportunity for a diverse range of people with lived experience, advocates, services providers, academics and other stakeholders to come together to inform the next National Plan.
“The Summit is an important step towards a future free from family and domestic violence and sexual assault in Australia,” Minister Payne said.
“I encourage every Australian to take part in this important national conversation, so together we can create change.”
Minister for Women’s Safety Anne Ruston said the key themes, issues and recommendations discussed by Summit delegates would be captured in a Summit Statement which would be released at the end of the two days.
“The Summit will further elevate the important national discussion we are having about women’s safety and ensure that we bring all people along with us as we develop the next National Plan,” Minister Ruston said.
“We are pleased to have Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Age Discrimination Commissioner Dr Kay Patterson, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant and Our Watch ambassador Arman Abrahimzadeh among others joining us as speakers.”
All key panel discussions and presentations will be live streamed on 6 and 7 September via womenssafetysummit.com.au. Written submissions and feedback on the topics discussed at the Summit can be provided at engage.dss.gov.au/national-summit-on-womens-safety until 15 September 2021.

10 Head to Health pop up clinics will today open across Sydney and in the Central Coast and Illawarra providing additional mental health support for people living in New South Wales who have been substantially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Morrison Government has invested $10.6 million to rapidly establish the clinics in Lakemba, Hurstville, Tuggerah, Kingswood, Thornleigh, Shellharbour, Blacktown, Parramatta, Bankstown and Liverpool to support those living in areas most affected by the NSW lockdown.
The clinics will include teams of mental health support workers, including psychologists, mental health nurses, mental health occupational therapists, social workers, and peer workers. They will offer video and phone supported mental health and assessment services, as well as COVID-safe face-to-face support where recommended by a clinician.
The pop up clinics will be further supported by a state-wide intake and assessment phone service, which will be staffed by clinicians and will provide a single entry point for people living across NSW to access a range of mental health services.
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt MP said mental health is a key part of Australia’s pandemic response and the current restrictions across the country were taking a toll on the mental health and wellbeing of Australians.
“We know people, particularly our young, are doing it really tough and the current outbreak is putting incredible stress and mental health pressure on many Australians. That is why we are prioritising mental health support and increase the availability of mental health services in some of those harder hit areas,” Minister Hunt said.
“The current lockdown is also having a huge impact on students preparing for their HSC. The clinics will provide vital access for year 11 and 12 students who are facing their final years of schooling and may need additional mental health support.”
Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, David Coleman MP, said the Government was doing everything possible to support Australians whose mental wellbeing was under stress.
“We recognise that support for people’s emotional wellbeing is critical in these extraordinary times, with loss of freedom, lack of personal contact, and work-related issues causing major distress and despair,” Assistant Minister Coleman said.
“These pop up clinics, established in record time, will be readily accessible and free and I am confident they will make a real difference for people impacted by the pandemic.”
The pop up clinics are using the same model of care as the 15 Head to Help clinics that were established in Victoria during their extended lockdown in 2020. These clinics have helped thousands of people, with more than 11,000 phone calls from people seeking support and more than 5,000 referrals to a clinic.
While the immediate focus of the NSW pop up clinics is on people in extended lockdown in Greater Sydney, they complement the Government’s plan to establish a national network of mental health treatment centres for adults, youth and children through the Head to Health and headspace programs.
As part of the 2021-22 Budget, the Government provided $487.2 million to establish 8 new Head to Health adult mental health centres and 24 satellite centres and provide ongoing funding for 8 existing centres.
The Morrison Government has also provided funding, in partnership with the NSW Government, for the $17.35 million ‘Lockdown Lifeline’ package for NSW, which is assisting mental health services like Lifeline, Kids Helpline, headspace and the Butterfly Foundation to increase their support.
The Government continues to make mental health a national priority, investing a record $2.3 billion in the 2021-22 Budget for the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan to lead landmark reform of the mental health system. This includes a record $6.5 billion in mental health and suicide prevention services and supports in 2021-22, doubling since 2012-13.
The ‘Head to Health Pop Up’ clinics are located in existing primary care or community settings and will operate until 30 June 2022.
People seeking help will be able to call the dedicated number (1800 595 212), talk to a mental health professional and be triaged through this service and directed to the most appropriate care according to their individual needs.
More information on the NSW-wide phone service and clinic locations can be found at headtohealth.gov.au.
Australians looking for support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic can also access the Beyond Blue Coronavirus Wellbeing Support Service anytime via telephone at 1800 512 348 or online at coronavirus.beyondblue.org.au.
Anyone experiencing distress can seek immediate advice and support through Lifeline (13 11 14), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800), or the Government’s digital mental health gateway, Head to Health (www.headtohealth.gov.au).
If you are concerned about suicide, living with someone who is considering suicide, or bereaved by suicide, the Suicide Call Back Service is available at 1300 659 467 or www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au.

The Australian Government has welcomed today’s decision by Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), to provisionally approve the use of the Moderna (Spikevax) COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 17 years.
The approval by the TGA to allow the 12 to 17-year-old age group to be vaccinated with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine follows the approval last month of its use in adults aged 18 years and older.
Australia has an advance purchase agreement with Moderna to secure 25 million doses of the vaccine – 10 million this year and 15 million of booster vaccines in 2022, with the first doses arriving later this month.
The Government will now await the advice of the independent Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) on how the approval of the Moderna vaccine for 12 to 17-year-olds should be incorporated into Australia’s vaccine rollout program. This advice is expected in the coming week.
The TGA’s approval of the Moderna vaccine for 12 to 17-year-olds was based on a detailed evaluation of available data to support its safety and efficacy – and is an important step in the Government’s program to vaccinate children.
It follows the Government accepting ATAGI’s advice that the Pfizer vaccine be administered in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years. Bookings for this age group open on 13 September.
Significant preparatory work has been undertaken by Operation COVID Shield on how the rollout will be expanded by including the Moderna vaccine and the first doses of the Moderna vaccine will be available through community pharmacies and workplace vaccination clinics.
Through increased supply and additional vaccination sites coming on board, we are setting vaccination records on an almost daily basis. Almost 2 million vaccines were administered last week and more than 20 million have now been administered across the country.
The Government is absolutely committed to vaccinating children as part of the rollout program – and it is expected everyone aged 12 to 18 years of age will have access to a vaccine during 2021.

The Greens have slammed the Morrison Government for politicising science in an attempt to deny the dangerous decline of the Great Barrier Reef.
Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws reveal the Morrison Government coerced an independent science agency to rush the release of a major scientific report.
The Government then leaked the report to selected media outlets to assist a lobbying trip to stop the Great Barrier Reef being declared in danger by UNESCO.
Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said: 
“Yesterday the Liberals teamed up with One Nation to block Senate scrutiny of their shameful campaign to deny the Great Barrier Reef from being declared in danger, and today we learn why.
“This Government will go to extraordinary lengths to deny climate change. Environment Minister Sussan Ley has proven to be content to gaslight us by interfering with scientific processes.
“How would you feel being a scientist who has had your life’s hard work bastardised by a Government intent on abusing it for political gain?
“This Government’s sorry crusade to protect its appalling reputation on climate change – and the interests of their fossil fuel donors – is the most shameful thing I’ve seen in my time in politics.
“This Government has spent years ignoring and attacking science, now they’re politicising it. This raises serious questions: what did Sussan Ley promise the UNESCO World Heritage voting nations in return for not listing the Reef as in danger? For what possible reason would the Government want to hide the truth, except to avoid embarrassment on climate inaction and to help their fossil fuel donors?
“The Greens will not stop fighting to expose the truth on this matter ahead of UNESCO’s review of the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status in February 2022.”
Greens deputy leader and Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said:
“If the government had as much enthusiasm for actually protecting the Great Barrier Reef as it did for hiding its failure to protect it there wouldn’t be a need to declare the Reef ‘in danger’!
“Pressuring an independent scientific agency to join its appalling propaganda campaign is, sadly, just the kind of dodgy behaviour I’d expect from a government that will pull every dirty trick in the book to dodge accountability.
“It’s astonishing that a government that purports to be all about jobs, job, jobs would be so willing to kill off 60,000 of them by doing nothing to prevent the decline of the Reef.”
 

The Australian Government’s Hearing Services Program (the Program) is highly valued by people with hearing loss and those who support them.
I recently received the Report of the Independent Review of the Hearing Services Program from the Expert Panel of Professor Michael Woods and Dr Zena Burgess, supported by the Hearing Services Review Taskforce. I would like to thank the Expert Panel and the Taskforce for their work over the past 12 months.
Since its inception in 1997, hearing services delivered through the Program have remained largely unchanged. The completion of this review of the current arrangements has proved timely.
I understand the Expert Panel has engaged with the community in drafting this comprehensive Report, including through several rounds of public consultation and associated stakeholder meetings with the hearing care industry; consumer advocate groups and clients; professional associations; and academics.
I extend my gratitude to all stakeholders for their contributions and am confident the Expert Panel has considered their feedback in finalising the Report.
The Report will be published on the Hearing Services Program website shortly and I will be considering it in detail over the coming weeks and months. The Department of Health will continue to engage with the hearing sector on the Report’s recommendations.
The Report indicates that over half of all eligible people with hearing loss are not taking active advantage of services available through the Program. It highlights a need to modernise key components of the Program in the context of shifting consumer expectations, market changes and technological developments.
The Expert Panel, through its recommendations, has aimed to optimise hearing outcomes for clients including through improving the equity, effectiveness, governance and sustainability of the Program.
I note some recommendations are complex and would have significant impacts for consumers, the professional workforce and industry. These will require further consultation. Given other recommendations would have significant financial impacts or require legislative changes, it might take longer for the Government to consider and formally respond to these recommendations.
I encourage all stakeholders to remain engaged with the Review and look forward to continuing to work with the sector on its implementation. In the meantime, I would ask that any comments or queries about the report or the Government’s response are directed to the Department’s Hearing Services Program Review Team via: hearing-review@health.gov.au.

Our Government will ensure Australia’s Paralympic athletes receive payments for winning medals at the Tokyo Games in line with the payments to our Tokyo Olympic medallists.
The decision ensures Paralympics Australia can recognise our champion Paralympic athletes in line with payments made by the Australian Olympic Committee to medal-winning athletes in Tokyo.
Australia’s para-athletes have represented our nation with great distinction and pride in Tokyo, delivering performances that have buoyed millions during what is a difficult time for the nation.
Australia is eighth on the overall medal tally with 60 medals and four days of competition still to come.
Like their Olympic counterparts, Paralympians often have to make major sacrifices in their lives foregoing family and work to train and compete nationally and internationally.
The Morrison Government is committed to working with Paralympics Australia and other national sporting bodies to grow corporate sponsorship for para-sports.
This additional commercial revenue could ensure Paralympics Australia can sustainably make medal bonus payments to athletes at future Paralympics.
The Morrison Government is proud to support our athletes in achieving their Paralympic dreams and was already delivering record levels of Government support for our Paralympic high-performance athletes.
The Government is the major funding source for para-sports and in the five years leading up to the Tokyo Paralympics, the Government has provided $88.8 million for para-athlete high performance programs.
Commonwealth Government Paralympic high performance funding has in fact increased by 40 per cent since 2012.
The Government has also provided significant funding for para-sport infrastructure and in the 2021/22 Budget we provided Paralympics Australia with $3.5 million to cover extra Paralympic travel costs associated with the Tokyo Games caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The Morrison Government has taken important action to strengthen and simplify national laws to better protect Australians against sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Bill 2021, which passed Parliament today, implements the Australian Government’s response to a number of recommendations in the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect@Work Report.
“This legislation is a critical step forward and will enhance protections against sexual harassment and other forms of sex discrimination in Australian workplaces,” said the Attorney-General, Michaelia Cash.
“My first act as the Attorney-General was to release the Government’s response to this report, today I am pleased to see this legislation passing through the Parliament.”
On 8 April 2021, the Government released the ‘Roadmap for Respect: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces’ (the Roadmap) in response to the Respect@Work Report. In the Roadmap for Respect, the government agreed, agreed in principle or in part to 46 recommendations, and work is underway to implement them. The remaining nine recommendations were noted for further consideration.
This legislation implements the Morrison Government’s commitments in response to recommendations 16, 20, 21, 22, 29 and 30 of the Respect@Work Report by:

• creating a new object clause to make it clear that the Sex Discrimination Act aims to achieve, so far as practicable, equality of opportunity between men and women
• clarifying that harassing a person on the basis of sex is prohibited under the Sex Discrimination Act
• protecting more workers from sexual harassment, particularly vulnerable workers, by broadening the scope of people covered by the Sex Discrimination Act clarifying that members of parliament and judges (and their staff) are covered by the Sex Discrimination Act
• clarifying that a complaint of victimisation can be considered as either a civil or criminal matter
• extending the timeframe for which a complaint can be made to the Australian Human Rights Commission to reduce procedural barriers for complainants under the Sex Discrimination Act
• clarifying that the Fair Work Commission may make orders to stop sexual harassment in the workplace
• clarifying that sexual harassment can be a valid reason for dismissal under the Fair Work Act

The legislation also amends the Fair Work Act to enable an employee to take compassionate leave if they, or their spouse or de facto partner, has a miscarriage. This measure will reduce discrimination against pregnancy and overall enhance women’s economic security.
The legislation is also complemented by amendments to the Fair Work Regulations which implement recommendation 31 of the Respect@Work Report.
“Every Australian is entitled to feel safe at work, so this legislation is just one of the ways we are taking action to build a safe and respectful culture in Australian workplaces,” said the Attorney-General.
Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General, Assistant Minister for Women and Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations Senator Amanda Stoker said the legislation is a crucial step forward.
“Equality of opportunity is a fundamental Liberal value,” said the Assistant Attorney-General.
“By implementing the Roadmap for Respect, the Morrison Government is delivering the safety at work that is essential to women’s financial advancement and leadership.”
The Government committed $2.1 million in the 2020-21 Budget to implement key recommendations, including establishing the Respect@Work Council, chaired by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins.
More than $64 million was committed in the 2021-22 Budget to support the implementation of the Roadmap, including for work on recommendations requiring joint action through intergovernmental meetings, for additional legal assistance for specialist lawyers with workplace and discrimination law expertise, and for working women’s centres to continue the delivery of support for women on work related matters, including workplace sexual harassment.
“We are progressing a range of initiatives to provide greater safety and economic security for women across our society,” said the Attorney-General. “However, our work continues and we remain committed to this goal.”
If you need immediate assistance or support you can contact 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732.

The Greens have called on Environment Minister Sussan Ley to protect Tasmanian devils from becoming mining-industry roadkill by rejecting Venture Minerals’ application to vary the EPBC approval for its Riley Creek mine in the takayna/Tarkine region.
The EDO Tasmania has launched legal action on behalf of conservationists to stop Venture Minerals from trucking ore at night along the 112kms stretch of critical Tasmanian devil habitat.
Greens Senator for Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson said:
“With the stroke of a pen Sussan Ley could do the right thing and reject this application, and in doing so gain some credibility as our nation’s Environment Minister, while putting an end to a timely and costly court case.
“The takayna/Tarkine area provides critical habitat for Tasmanian devils that are free from the infectious cancer that has decimated their population in other parts of the state – this is the key reason restrictions were placed on the Venture Minerals mine in this area nearly a decade ago.
“This area also provides habitat for other nationally-listed species vulnerable to extinction, including quolls, giant wedge-tailed eagles and masked owls.
“Independent expert reports have recommended National and World Heritage listings for parts of the takayna/Tarkine rainforest for decades.
“It should be a no-brainer: as Federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley should step up to protect endangered species from becoming extinct by protecting takayna/Tarkine as a National Park.
“Minister Ley must show leadership and resist the toxic politics that thrives in the marginal seat of Braddon, pitting those who care about nature against the interests of those who seek to exploit takayna/Tarkine for a few bucks.
“The Greens will never stop advocating for stronger federal environmental laws including a zero extinction target, stronger environmental protections and an independent watchdog to hold governments, miners and developers to account.”

The PM continues to do all he can to duck transparency and accountability with new laws that would overturn a recent court decision by shielding all national cabinet deliberations from public scrutiny.
Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:
“The Morrison Government is the most secretive government in history. They eagerly relied on cabinet secrecy to hide information about Covid decisions, the ‘gas-led recovery’, the women’s safety taskforce.
“The Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled that the National Cabinet was not subject to cabinet secrecy provisions or exempted from freedom of information laws.
“Rather than accept that more transparency was required, the government has introduced the COAG Legislation Amendment Bill to overrule the court’s decision. This government wants to keep its deliberations secret and prevent proper scrutiny of its abysmal vaccination rollout, its shambles of a national quarantine program, and its pandering to fossil fuel donors.
“Australians need to have confidence in the institutions charged with charting our course out of the Covid crisis, for tackling women’s safety and economic security, for discussing climate and energy reforms. All decisions must be subject to proper scrutiny and robust, open debate.
“The PM’s war on transparency and accountability has to end.”
Greens leader Adam Bandt said:
“The Prime Minister is addicted to secrecy. Attempts to shut down decision-makers’ transparency set a worrying precedent.
“The pandemic is the biggest policy challenge that the government has taken on this decade. It should be possible to interrogate the decision-making process that has seen the government introduce unprecedented restrictions on our lives.
“People need to be able to know the justification behind these important restrictions.”

The Greens have slammed the Morrison Government for politicising science in an attempt to deny the dangerous decline of the Great Barrier Reef.
Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws reveal the Morrison Government coerced an independent science agency to rush the release of a major scientific report.
The Government then leaked the report to selected media outlets to assist a lobbying trip to stop the Great Barrier Reef being declared in danger by UNESCO.
Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said: 
“Yesterday the Liberals teamed up with One Nation to block Senate scrutiny of their shameful campaign to deny the Great Barrier Reef from being declared in danger, and today we learn why.
“This Government will go to extraordinary lengths to deny climate change. Environment Minister Sussan Ley has proven to be content to gaslight us by interfering with scientific processes.
“How would you feel being a scientist who has had your life’s hard work bastardised by a Government intent on abusing it for political gain?
“This Government’s sorry crusade to protect its appalling reputation on climate change – and the interests of their fossil fuel donors – is the most shameful thing I’ve seen in my time in politics.
“This Government has spent years ignoring and attacking science, now they’re politicising it. This raises serious questions: what did Sussan Ley promise the UNESCO World Heritage voting nations in return for not listing the Reef as in danger? For what possible reason would the Government want to hide the truth, except to avoid embarrassment on climate inaction and to help their fossil fuel donors?
“The Greens will not stop fighting to expose the truth on this matter ahead of UNESCO’s review of the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status in February 2022.”
Greens deputy leader and Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said:
“If the government had as much enthusiasm for actually protecting the Great Barrier Reef as it did for hiding its failure to protect it there wouldn’t be a need to declare the Reef ‘in danger’!
“Pressuring an independent scientific agency to join its appalling propaganda campaign is, sadly, just the kind of dodgy behaviour I’d expect from a government that will pull every dirty trick in the book to dodge accountability.
“It’s astonishing that a government that purports to be all about jobs, job, jobs would be so willing to kill off 60,000 of them by doing nothing to prevent the decline of the Reef.”