Category: Australian News

The Australian Government is ensuring the COVID-19 Vaccination Program meets the needs of everyone in Australia, including those from culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
To be successful, high uptake of COVID-19 vaccination will be required in Australia. Therefore it is critical that the vaccine program is designed and delivered in a manner which is accessible, inclusive and culturally safe.
This includes ensuring that communications are developed and targeted for CALD communities and that information and services are delivered in appropriate languages and formats and within appropriate facilities and locations.
The Government recognises that people from multicultural communities are a significant part of the health, aged care, childcare and disability workforce and will be among the first people in Australia to receive vaccinations.
A comprehensive vaccine implementation plan (the Plan) has been developed in partnership with multicultural specialist agencies – and with advice from the national CALD Communities COVID-19 Health Advisory Group – to reach people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
The Plan also ensures that the medical workforce administering vaccinations will be trained to work with people from culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse communities to ensure that services are delivered in a culturally appropriate and safe way, with the assistance of interpreters where needed.
The Plan is supported by the $31 million COVID-19 vaccination public information campaign which is now rolling out across the country, which included an additional $1.3 million to reach culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities through their peak multicultural organisations.
This Plan is available on the Department of Health website.
Vaccinations will be accessible on a rolling basis, depending on vaccine delivery schedules and prioritisation of groups for most urgent vaccination.

The Australian Government’s roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines across the country is moving closer, with the plans for the complex distribution process and safe and secure storage of the vaccines well in hand.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack and Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communities and Local Government Mark Coulton on Sunday inspected DHL Supply Chain’s large scale ultra-cold storage infrastructure.
DHL’s ultra-cold and secure storage facility will keep safe the supply of Australia’s Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which needs to be stored at between minus 60 and 80 degrees. Australia will receive 20 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses in 2021.
Mr McCormack said DHL is one of two world-class logistics and distribution companies contracted to ensure the COVID-19 vaccines are available to everyone in Australia, no matter where they live.
“I have been determined to ensure that regional and rural Australia gets the same access to the vaccine that our cities will and that’s what we are doing,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
“Australians have done the right thing throughout this pandemic and now the Australian Government is making sure everyone who wants to be vaccinated is, and is for free.
“We now have access to more than 150 million vaccine doses across the Pfizer-BioNTech, OxfordAstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines, ensuring we remain a world leader in the fight against the virus.
“It is important that these vaccines, which are in high-demand worldwide, are kept safe and secure which is what the Australian Government and our logistics partners are doing.
“This afternoon we were shown how the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines across Australia is moving closer, with the plans for the complex process and safe and secure distribution.
“DHL is capable of handling close to three million Pfizer vaccine doses, as part of the initial deliveries to Australia.”
Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communities and Local Government Mark Coulton said the Australian Government is partnering with world-leading logistics provider, DHL, to ensure vaccines will be available to all Australians, including those in rural and remote Australia.
“We all understand how vast Australia is and the challenges we face delivering these vaccines to everyone, with more than a third of our population living outside capital cities,” Minister Coulton said.
“The Government is committed to ensuring every Australian receives safe, effective vaccines, wherever they live.
“That’s why we are partnering with highly-experienced logistics professionals to ensure we have the capacity to deliver on our national vaccination plan.
“Every person living in regional, rural, and remote Australia can rest assured they will have access to safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines at the same time as their city cousins.
“Australians will soon begin to receive their two-shot vaccine regime, with priority populations starting at the end of February.”
DHL will also distribute the Astra Zeneca and Novavax vaccines – when approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) – to Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and external territories, such as Norfolk Island.
DHL will also support the distribution of the Pfizer vaccine in aged care residential facilities and disability residences across Australia.
Vaccination of Australians against COVID 19 will commence in late February to ensure an orderly roll out to priority groups which is safe, effective and explained properly to Australians.

More women will reach their leadership potential with the Australian Government investing an additional $3.4 million over four years for the highly regarded Women Leaders in Sport (WLIS) program.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, said more than 25,000 women across the country had benefited from the initiative since it started in 2002.
“WLIS is helping improve outcomes for Australian women in areas including job creation, workforce participation and leadership,” Minister Payne said.
“We are focused on ensuring women already working in our sport sector, and those interested in employment opportunities, have the professional development and dedicated support needed to reach their full leadership potential.”
“Our increased commitment to this important program will help support the success of women aspiring to leadership positions in Australian sport”.
The WLIS program is managed by Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), under a partnership with the Office for Women.
In February, Sport Australia opened grant applications for the WLIS Development Grants and Leadership Workshops, which will provide:

• Individuals with a grant up to the value of $10,000 to support their professional development,
• Organisations with a grant up to the value of $20,000 to provide professional development courses to employees, and
• Opportunities for individuals to undertake online WLIS Leadership Workshops.

Minister for Sport, Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck, said the WLIS grants will provide women in Australian sport with opportunities to gain new skills, knowledge and qualifications to progress their leadership journey.
“One of our key objectives with WLIS is to support as many women in sport as we can, from the start of their careers, right through to the boardroom,” Minister Colbeck said.
“This program is playing a key role in developing our next female leaders across the industry and ultimately what we want to see is a more balanced workforce that is more representative of our diverse sporting community”.
Eligibility criteria and information on how to apply for the WLIS Development Grants and Leadership Workshops can be found here. Applications close March 17.
The Program is funded under the Government’s Women’s Leadership and Development Program (WLDP).

Labor demands that Scott Morrison intervene to save thousands of jobs in Victoria following the announcement of the closure of ExxonMobil oil refinery at Altona.
This is devastating news for hundreds of local workers and for the future of Australia’s fuel security.
This decision will cost hundreds of direct jobs and impact thousands of workers in downstream industry. This is further proof that the Government has no plan for workers affected by these decisions.
Australia’s petrochemical manufacturers all rely on by-products produced from the ExxonMobil refinery. These manufacturers will likely need assistance, given the year they’ve had through COVID, to ensure they don’t close.
Following just months after the closure of the refinery at Kwinana in Western Australia, the Morrison Government has overseen the closure of half of our domestic refineries in the last six months.
The Government announced a $211 million so-called fuel security package in September last year to keep refineries on line.
Six months later another refinery will close its doors.
Morrison and Angus Taylor said their fuel security plan would ‘create 1,000 new jobs and protect workers in the fuel sector and in fuel-dependent industries’.
Instead, their ‘stewardship’ has seen the loss of 600 jobs at Kwinana, and the imminent loss of 350 direct jobs at Altona, and many thousands more if they continue to sit on their hands.
Another hollow headline and empty promise never delivered by Scott Morrison.
Labor warned then that the package was inadequate and failed to address Australia’s fuel security needs. Today’s announcement clearly shows this Government has no real plan.
Scott Morrison’s policy vacuum has left hundreds of workers without jobs and the nation without a sovereign supply of domestic fuel.

The Morrison Government will lift mutual obligation requirements for job seekers in Victoria from today 12 February 2021 to Monday 22 February 2021inclusive.
This follows an announcement by the Victorian Government that the state of Victoria is under a five-day lockdown as a short, sharp circuit breaker to curb a COVID-19 outbreak in the state.
No job seeker in the affected areas will face payment suspension or financial penalties for failing to meet their mutual obligation requirements such as not being able to attend appointments or activities.
Job seekers are still being encouraged to remain connected to employment services to ensure they are supported to access the full range of assistance including mental health services, if required.
These arrangements will apply to job seekers in jobactive, Online Employment Services, Disability Employment Services and participants in ParentsNext.
The Morrison Government will continue to closely monitor the situation in Victoria.
More information about mutual obligations requirements can be found at www.dese.gov.au/covid-19/job-seekers

The Prime Minister must take the water portfolio out of the hands of the climate-denying National Party, the Greens say, after a Productivity Commission report released today calls on governments to recognise the impact of the climate crisis on water security.
Greens Water Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“We’ve now got economists saying what scientists have been warning for years. The Federal Government needs to start preparing a water security plan that takes climate change seriously.
“The PM needs to start by getting the National Party out of the water portfolio.
“Australia’s water security will never be managed properly while the climate change deniers in the National Party hold the country’s water portfolio and are in charge of Australia’s water policy.
“The Nationals and Barnaby Joyce do not accept the science of climate change let alone the economics. They’re putting drinking water in our cities and our regional towns at risk, killing our river systems and putting the interests of miners ahead of small family farmers.
“Even the Productivity Commission can see miners are getting special treatment over farmers which is putting everyone’s water supply at risk.
“The PM cannot allow this PC report to be ignored. How many warnings does he need before he acts to protect all Australians not just the National Party’s mates.”

The Morrison Government’s leaked environmental standards make a mockery of the yearlong review into environment laws by Professor Graeme Samuel and condemn Australia’s environment to more destruction, the Greens say.
Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“This leaked document shows the Morrison Government’s plan is for more pollution and destruction of our environment and a death sentence for Australia’s koalas and wildlife.
“The Morrison Government has shown nothing but contempt for the Samuel Review since the beginning. They drafted legislation to weaken laws before the interim report was complete, have failed to respond to the final report after more than 100 days, and now are going to put forward standards that maintain the status quo of the EPBC Act which is failing our environment and wildlife.
“Suggesting these standards will lift environmental protections is deceitful. The claims by the PM that the states and territories supported this government’s reforms is also clearly rubbish with the NSW Liberal Environment Minister reportedly calling for improved standards and an independent regulator again today.
“The Greens will be doing everything we can to ensure the Morrison Government does not further entrench the unsustainable environmental trajectory Professor Samuel has warned about.
“We need strong environmental standards that protect our iconic natural places and precious wildlife and an independent watchdog to hold governments and corporate interests to account.”

The Greens say that as Crown Resorts has been found to be unfit to operate in Sydney then there are questions around their operations in other states too.
“The culture and operation of Crown Resorts in Western Australia and Victoria were part of the NSW assessment process and need to be assessed, ” Greens spokesperson on Gambling Senator Rachel Siewert said.
“If there are sweeping cultural changes required in Sydney then there are questions around what is going on in this company across the country. Victorian and Western Australian regulators need to take this very seriously.
“This also goes to the heart of why we need a national independent regulator as so many states rely heavily on the income gambling generates.
“We need to know what’s going on in Perth and Melbourne.”

The Greens say that proper regulation of the gambling industry requires a ban on the industry donating to political parties.
“The gambling industry is just rife with conflicts of interest,” Australian Greens spokesperson on Gambling Senator Rachel Siewert said.
“We urgently need a national independent regulator, with gambling companies operating across the country we need a national body regulating them.
“States which rely heavily on the income gambling generates cannot be in charge of regulating the industry as there is a clear conflict of interest.
“A person owes Centrelink a few hundred dollars and the Government spends billions pursuing them and we are seeing next to zip from the Federal Government when it comes to the very serious findings of what is happening at Crown.
“There are some very serious findings in the NSW report on the conduct and operations of Crown relating to its Melbourne and Perth operations and we need to see action from the Federal Government and an independent investigation into what’s going on in all of Crown’s operations.
Western Australian Greens spokesperson on Gambling Alison Xamon said:
“Since 2012-13, more than half of all money donated by Crown to political parties in Australia has come to parties in WA.
“Crown has spent nearly $800,000 in WA alone, with WA Labor raking in $312,430 and the WA Liberals taking $437,509.
“And that’s just the money we can see. The weak political donations laws we have in Western Australia provide no real transparency or accountability around who is lining the pockets of those in power. We know that there is a lot of dark money donated to political parties that goes unaccounted for.
“The activities of Crown in Western Australia are a major part of the reason why Crown has been found unsuitable to operate in New South Wales.
“We need our politicians to be representing the interests of our communities, not their billionaire corporate donors. The WA Labor and WA Liberal parties must immediately commit to stop taking donations from gambling businesses including Crown.
“Gambling organisations should not be allowed to buy political influence.”

School children across six hundred of Australia’s rural and regional primary schools will have access to expanded mental health supports through the Morrison Government’s $2.5 million funding for the Smiling Mind evidence-based mindfulness social and emotional learning program.
Half of all mental health issues emerge before the age of 14 years and poor mental health affects learning. Our Government knows that prevention and early intervention – both early in life and in the development of a condition – will minimise the impact of mental illness across a lifetime.
Smiling Mind Regional and Rural Schools Program will benefit thousands of children a year. The online program runs over three school terms each year, involving both school staff training in mindfulness and resources to sustain the program and its benefits for the school.
It will also include assistance for schools to gauge the positive impact the program is having on each school community, as well as ongoing support from psychologists and mindfulness experts.
Australian school students and their families have faced many challenges over the past year as the nation responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Smiling Minds will ensure more children can access mental health supports, which will help keep their education on track.
Smiling Mind is a world leading program, building healthy minds, engaged classrooms and equipping a generation of children with skills they need to thrive in life.
The program will be available in government, Catholic and independent primary schools in rural or regional communities experiencing disadvantage.
Rural and regional schools in South Australia and Queensland joined the program in November 2020, which is now open across the entire country.
Further information on the program is available online at: www.smilingmind.com.au/regional-and-rural-schools-program
Mental health and suicide prevention remains one of our Government’s highest priorities. We have prioritised mental health and suicide prevention services, with record investment in mental health estimated to be $5.9 billion in 2020–21 alone.
Anyone worried about their mental health, loneliness, finances, family, or other circumstances can contact the Beyond Blue Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service for free advice and counselling on 1800 512 348 or online at beyondblue.org.au. Immediate advice and support is also available through Lifeline (13 11 14) or Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800).