Category: Australian News

Australian Greens Animal Welfare spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has welcomed the Senate’s agreement to her motion acknowledging all Melbourne Cup horse deaths since 2013 and stating that no horse should die at a racetrack.
Senator Faruqi said:
“The Senate has sent a blunt message to the racing industry today: you have failed to protect the animals under your care. Enough is enough.
“Horse racing is inherently dangerous for these animals. No horse is safe at an Australian racetrack.
“With NSW trainers now urging Racing Australia to strip power from Victorian racing authorities over the carnage of the Cup, it’s clear the industry knows they’ve lost their social license and are panicking.
“Horses should not die at racetracks and they should not die at slaughterhouses when they are no longer profitable.
“We need to implement a proper national tracing system for all horses and an end to commercial horse racing,” she said.

The Australian Government is ensuring senior Australians get the services and assistance they need with a $2.5 million investment to extend and expand the Older Persons COVID-19 Support Line.
Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Richard Colbeck, said the support line will be extended until 30 June 2021.
“The Government will invest up to $2.5 million so senior Australians can continue to access information about the COVID-19 pandemic and get the support they need,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Many vulnerable senior Australians may not have easy access to the internet or be able to readily access information about COVID-19.
“The support line has proved to be a very beneficial service for senior Australians who continue to face particular risks because of COVID-19, including social isolation and loneliness.
“Being able to pick up the phone and call someone, or receive calls from expert service providers, is proving to be very effective.”
Between 22 April and 23 October 2020, the support line received more than 5000 inbound calls and provided more than 29,000 outbound calls.
The top five reasons for calls included:

• wellbeing checks
• information about COVID-19
• advice to vulnerable people
• travel restrictions
• access to new, or queries about existing, home care services.

The support service is a joint initiative of COTA Australia, Dementia Australia, National Seniors Australia and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. The expansion of the service will also include support from the Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care (PICAC) Alliance.
“We identified the need early on in the COVID-19 pandemic to provide targeted support for vulnerable senior Australians who are at greater risk of isolation, carer stress and elder abuse,” Minister Colbeck said.
“The extension of this valuable service will now include outbound calls to carers of people living with dementia, as well as more specific community supports for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) seniors.
“The Government’s investment in the Older Persons COVID-19 Support Line means people have multiple ways to communicate their questions and concerns with trusted community organisations working with senior Australians.”
“The additional services will be established as quickly as possible to ensure all senior Australians, no matter what their circumstances, can access the support they need, when they need it, in a way they prefer.”
Senior Australians who would like information and support are encouraged to contact the Older Persons COVID-19 Support Line on 1800 171 866, Monday to Friday between 8:30am to 6pm (except public holidays).

The Morrison and Marshall Governments are delivering the biggest ever job-creating infrastructure project in South Australia’s history – the long-awaited final section of the North-South Corridor.
The River Torrens to Darlington stretch will be transformed over the next decade with a combination of tunnelling and at-surface infrastructure to unlock Adelaide’s traffic network and create up to 4,000 jobs.
The final 10.5km section is the most complex part of the North-South Corridor to deliver and has required extensive analysis of a number of design options including one long tunnel, an at-surface motorway and a hybrid combination of both.
Comprehensive analysis of traffic, ground conditions, local environment, heritage assets and also community and stakeholder feedback has confirmed the hybrid+ option will deliver the greatest social and economic benefits for South Australia.
The project will be delivered in two stages. Stage One – approximately 6km of motorway including more than 4km of tunnel between Anzac Highway and Darlington and Stage Two – an at-surface motorway and a second northern tunnel, connecting the River Torrens to Anzac Highway.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the North-South Corridor would deliver thousands of jobs to support hard-working South Australian families and motorists would benefit for generations to come.
“The North-South Corridor is a game-changing piece of infrastructure that will change the way people move across Adelaide,” Mr Morrison said.
“This is the most significant and eagerly anticipated road infrastructure project ever delivered in South Australia.”
Premier Steven Marshall has predicted the North-South Corridor will be one of the most important infrastructure projects ever delivered for our state and will revolutionise the way we travel.
“This project is a generational game changer for South Australian motorists – and the largest delivered in more than a century,” said Premier Steven Marshall.
“The benefits of our decision will be felt for generations, with the project alone estimated to create up to 4,000 jobs, slash travel time by 24 minutes and connect the north and the south of our state with a 78km non-stop motorway.”
Federal Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure, Alan Tudge, said tunnelling will remove thousands of vehicles a day from South Road.
“This will slash up to 24 minutes in travel time from River Torrens to Darlington, that equates to more than eight days across a year that motorists will save,” Mr Tudge said.
“When the entire corridor is complete it will deliver a 78km non-stop, free-flowing motorway from Gawler to Old Noarlunga.”
South Australian Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Corey Wingard, said progressing the hybrid+ solution means we can maximise the project’s benefits, including a free-flowing north-south motorway.
“After the previous Labor government put this project and tunnels in the too-hard basket, we’ve rolled up our sleeves and done the work to get it back on track,” Minister Wingard said.
“The tunnelling solution we’ve come up with will minimise community impact, improve east-west travel, increase overall network capacity to reduce congestion, and deliver greater safety benefits.
“The other design options we assessed failed to meet the state’s transport needs while getting the balance right between easing congestion across the network and enhancing the liveability of local communities – key objectives for the project.
“With the hybrid+ solution we can protect iconic community and heritage assets including the Thebarton Theatre, Hindmarsh Cemetery, Hoffman Brick Kiln and Queen of Angels Church, to name a few.
“This solution requires far less property acquisition, will have reduced impact to business during construction and saves a number of heritage buildings from demolition.”
The motorway will be built in two stages, with Stage One focused on improving the most congested area of the network and delivering free-flowing travel between Anzac Highway and Darlington.
Most of this first stage will involve tunnel construction, meaning work can occur while minimising disruption to South Road traffic, businesses and the local community.
This stage will be built within the existing joint state and federal funding commitment of $5.4 billion, delivering a faster return on investment and early benefits to road users.
Current estimates put the total 10.5km project at $8.9 billion. The final cost estimate will be determined later next year after a detailed business case and consideration by Infrastructure SA and Infrastructure Australia.
The current estimate is around $1 billion less than the initial estimate for this tunnelling option following further project design and refinement, which has also resulted in 480 fewer property acquisitions than Labor’s open motorway option.
The project will now progress to the next stage of development including ongoing ground investigations, detailed design work and a comprehensive stakeholder engagement program to inform a reference design which is expected to be released late-2021.
Early works including ground investigations are already underway, with utility relocation works scheduled to start in 2021 and major construction expected to commence in late 2023. Construction is to be completed by 2030.

The Morrison Government will extend temporary support through the social security system, for those Australians seeking work, for a further three months as economic confidence and momentum builds.
Both existing and new JobSeekers will be paid the Coronavirus Supplement at a rate of $150 per fortnight from 1 January 2021 through to 31 March 2021 on top of their base rate of payment and other supplements they are eligible to receive.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said JobSeekers would continue to be able to earn up to $300 per fortnight without their social security payments being reduced.
“My number one priority is to get more Australians into work,” the Prime Minister said.
“As the country is safely reopening and businesses starting to return to full steam, we need to connect those seeking work with available jobs,” the Prime Minister said.
“When the global COVID-19 pandemic hit Australia, we acted decisively by boosting our health response and putting in place more than $257 billion of direct economic support measures to cushion the blow, and today that support continues for those Australians that need it.”
Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston said the Government was committed to supporting all Australians as the economy reopens and they return to work.
“We have temporarily put arrangements in place so that our social security safety net is not just for people who have lost their jobs but it is also supporting people who have had their hours or income reduced,” Minister Ruston said.
“As the jobs market improves we want to encourage people to re-engage with the workforce because we know that even a few hours of work a week while on payment can have a dramatic impact on the pathway off income support.”
Expanded criteria will continue to provide payment access for permanent employees who are stood down, sole traders and the self-employed until 31 March 2021. The relaxed partner income test will also continue meaning that a JobSeeker can still access payments where their partner earns about $80,000 annually.
The Ordinary Waiting Period, Newly Arrived Resident’s Waiting Period and the Seasonal Work Preclusion Period will continue to be waived until 31 March 2021.
The extension of temporary measures is estimated to cost an additional $3.2 billion.

Young people in Busselton and surrounds will now have easier access to mental health services with the opening of an expanded headspace satellite service this week.
As part of the Australian Government’s $111.3 million funding commitment to expanding the headspace network, additional ongoing funding has been provided to upgrade the service from an outpost to a permanent satellite service.
The new service is located at 7 Harris Road, Busselton.
Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, said young people have been affected significantly by the impacts of COVID-19, and access to mental health services and support was more important than ever.
“There are more pressures on young people today than ever before and the expansion of headspace will be vitally important in providing services in Busselton,” Minister Hunt said.
“I am committed to ensuring young Australians can get information, advice, counselling or treatment, when and where they need it.”
Member for Forrest, Nola Marino, welcomed the announcement, and said, “I want our young people in Busselton to know they are not alone on their journey.”
“headspace is here to deliver quality frontline support and ensure the best possible care for people who are at risk,” Mrs Marino said.
“We know intervention at the earliest possible stage is important to reduce the duration and impact of mental illness, so I encourage young people in our community to reach out for the help they need.”
The headspace program aims to improve access for young people aged 12 to 25 years who have, or are at risk of, mental illness.
One in four people aged 16 to 24 experiences some form of mental illness every year, and three-quarters of all mental illness manifests in people under the age of 25.
headspace offers early intervention services across four key areas – mental health, related physical health, social and vocational support, and alcohol and other drug use.
Services provide tailored and holistic mental health support, working closely with young people at a crucial time in their lives to help get them back on track and strengthen their ability to manage their mental health in the future.
Services are co-designed with young people to ensure they are relevant, accessible and highly effective.
The Government continues to demonstrate its firm commitment to the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians, providing a record investment in mental health services and support of an estimated $5.7 billion this year alone.
The headspace service has been commissioned by the Western Australia Primary Health Alliance and is designed to meet the needs of young people in Busselton.

Thousands of large Australian businesses have been invited to register early for the Morrison Government’s new Payment Times Reporting Scheme which requires large businesses with a total annual income of over $100 million to publicly report their payment terms and practices to their small business suppliers.
From 1 January 2021, large businesses must start reporting on how and when they pay their small business suppliers with the first payment times reports to be provided from 1 July 2021.
Around 4,200 of Australia’s largest businesses including foreign companies that operate a business in Australia are being invited to register their details.
The objective of the Scheme is to improve payment outcomes for Australia’s 3.5 million small businesses by creating transparency around the payment terms and practices of large businesses.
By providing access to information on large business payment performance, small businesses will be able to make more informed choices about their potential customers. Greater transparency will also incentivise large businesses to pay their small businesses on time.
Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash said that longer payment times hurt small business cash flow.
“The Government is acting decisively and responsibly to support small businesses to overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19. It is now even more important large businesses pay their small business suppliers the money that they are owed promptly” Minister Cash said.
“The Morrison Government has already got its house in order and is paying its bills faster. Commonwealth agencies are paying invoices for contracts under $1 million within 20 days and paying e-invoices within 5 days”
“Improving payment times for small businesses will help them to prosper, grow and employ more Australians”, Minister Cash said.
After an initial 12 month transition period, civil penalties will apply to reporting businesses that fail to report or give the Payment Times Reporting Regulator a false or misleading report.
For more information on the scheme, visit industry.gov.au/ptrs

In less than thirty days of mutual obligations being re-instated after they were suspended due to the covid pandemic 74,434 payments have been suspended by Centrelink.
Estimates has revealed that 12,137 First Nations peoples, 6,334 single parents, 13,169 disabled people 9,100 homeless people and 12,135 culturally and linguistically diverse people are among those that have had a payment suspended within the first month of mutual obligations returning.
“There are very clearly vulnerable people who are disproportionately impacted by the punitive mutual obligations system,” Senator Rachel Siewert said.
I’m at a loss to understand how suspending a homeless person’s payment in the midst of a recession will help them find work.
These are cohorts that the Government should be providing additional support for, not punishing them for being on income support.
Having a payment suspended is an incredibly stressful thing for someone to go through, particularly if you are living below the poverty line for a long period of time, not to mention in the midst of a pandemic and recession.
For those who say it may have only been for a couple of days, they miss the point. It is incredibly stressful to be trying to navigate this system to be dealing with Centrelink and in some cases intimidating Employment Providers.
In the best of times this system causes anxiety and poor mental health and this is only exacerbated in the midst of a recession when so many people are living with such uncertainty in their lives.
The Government itself has recognised the problems with the suspension process and in December introducing a 48 hour period to reconnect before suspension occurs, in the meantime all these people have been suspended.

The Senate today supported a Greens motion condemning the government for abandoning the key recommendation of the Banking Royal Commission.
“The Senate has today cast doubt on whether the government has the numbers to tear up responsible lending obligations, which was one of its major budget announcements,” Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.
“The motion before the Senate highlighted that the government’s proposed changes to consumer credit laws are inconsistent with the first recommendation of the Royal Commission.”
“The government accepted this recommendation when it was handed down last year. Now they are abandoning it.”
“I thank the Senate for joining the Greens in condemning the government.”
“The Greens urge fellow Senators to abide by the Royal Commission’s recommendation and reject the Government’s Bill that would make it easier for the banks to trap people into unsustainable levels of debt.”
Text of Senate motion:

1. Notes that, in respect of responsible lending to consumers, and the provisions of the National Consumer Credit Protection (NCCP) Act 2009 in particular, the final report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry:
   a. noted that there was little or no debate about the terms of the NCCP Act;
   b. emphasised that the submission from Treasury stated that abidance by existing laws would likely enhance rather than detract from macroeconomic performance; and
   c. concluded simply that the law should be applied as it stands;
2. Notes that the Government, in February 2019:
   a. accepted Recommendation 1.1 of the Royal Commission that the NCCP Act not be amended to alter the obligation to assess unsuitability; and
   b. agreed to take action in relation to all 76 recommendations of the Royal Commission; and

1. Notes that the Government has reneged on its previous acceptance of Recommendation 1.1 of the Royal Commission; and
2. Condemns the Government for failing to honour its acceptance of Recommendation 1.1 of the Royal Commission.

The theme for this year’s NAIDOC Week is ‘Always Was. Always Will Be.’
This week, we acknowledge and celebrate the breadth and depth of First People’s knowledge, achievements, experiences and stories, and connection to country.
Australia is home to the oldest living civilisation on Earth – made up of hundreds of nations and cultures that spanned this continent.
This is rightfully a source of pride for all Australians – First Nations and non-Indigenous alike.
For tens of thousands of years, First Australians practised and accrued knowledge in a range of fields: from exploration and navigation; to farming and botany; science, engineering and astronomy; trade and diplomacy; to art and story-telling.
As the world contemplates the challenges of climate change – from severe bushfires; to catastrophic droughts; and rising sea levels – there is much to learn from First Australians, particularly in relation to land care and sustainability.
NAIDOC is about opening our minds, and to listen and learn.
We may not be celebrating NAIDOC Week the same way we usually do, but all of us can still get involved.
There are various ways we can all safely participate in activities in our local community.
For more information and to find out more about NAIDOC events happening near you, visit www.naidoc.org.au.

Renowned physicist Dr Cathy Foley AO has been appointed Australia’s next Chief Scientist.
Dr Foley, who has spent the last two years as the CSIRO’s Chief Scientist, will take over from Dr Alan Finkel AO whose tenure comes to an end in December 2020.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Dr Foley had the background needed to deliver during such a pivotal time in history.
“As we recover from COVID-19 and look to rebuild a brighter future, the role of the Chief Scientist has never been more important,” Prime Minister Morrison said.
“Dr Foley has a big task ahead to drive collaboration between industry and the science and research community, as we look to create jobs for the COVID-19 recovery and for the future.
“I would like to thank Dr Alan Finkel AO for his outstanding contribution as Chief Scientist over the past five years. He has been a valued and respected voice to Government, and I know he will continue to make a significant contribution to the Australian and international science communities.”
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews also thanked Dr Finkel for his service and said Dr Foley would bring a unique mix of experience to the role.
“Dr Foley is highly regarded in the scientific community, has extensive experience working with government, but most importantly understands how to drive collaboration between industry and researchers,” Minister Andrews said.
“We know science will play a crucial role in helping to create jobs at this critical time, and Dr Foley’s skills as a talented science communicator will help sell that important message.
“Like me, Dr Foley is also a strong advocate for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and her lived experience will make her an important role model for aspiring young scientists.”
Dr Foley is the second woman to be named Australia’s Chief Scientist, after Professor Penny Sackett, who held the role from 2008-2011.
Dr Foley is a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Science, and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. She is an accomplished scientist who has made significant contributions in the area of physics relating to superconductors.
Her appointment as Australia’s Chief Scientist is for three years, starting in January 2021.