Category: Australian News

This week is Homelessness Week in Australia.
It is an important reminder that more Australians are homeless than ever before and this economic crisis could make even more Australians homeless.
According to the last Census, more than 116,000 people are estimated to be homeless in Australia. This includes people sleeping rough, couch surfing, living in a car or other vehicle, or in a single dwelling of extreme overcrowding.
The coronavirus pandemic has made it clear just how important safe and affordable housing is.We have all been told to stay home to keep safe.  You can’t stay home though, if you don’t have one.
Over the last few months more than 7,000 people who sleep rough in our streets and parks with temporary accommodation in empty hotel and motel rooms.
State governments have done some important work here, but we also need national leadership.
The National Cabinet needs to make sure that the homeless Australians we have helped during this pandemic are not thrown back on the street in the next few months.
Labor has also been calling on the Morrison Government for months to fund the construction of more social housing.
This would be a win-win.  It would provide work for thousands of tradies and put a roof over the head of Australians who desperately need it.
In times of economic crisis, housing construction has often played a key role in economic recovery.
During the GFC the former Labor Governmentinvested $5.6 billion in the construction of nearly 20,000 new social housing dwellings and the renovation of a further 80,000 existing properties.
Labor is not the only one calling on the Morrison Government to fund the construction of more social housing to protect jobs and provide homes for Australians who desperately need it. Others include:

• Master Builders Association
• Equity Economics
• OECD Economic Outlook
• Grattan Institute
• CSR
• Cbus
• PowerHousing Australia
• Community Housing Industry of Australia (CHIA)
• National Shelter
• Homelessness Australia
• Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)

Senator Larissa Waters will call the Senate to vote on an inquiry into the Coalition’s rorting of government grants, which will include the Shine Energy’s controversially won federal funding to investigate a coal-fired power station at Collinsville, QLD.
Waters said the inquiry has never been so important, following reports today showing links between Shine Energy and multinational mining giant, Glencore.
“The Coalition is out of control. Another week, another article exposing their systematic and strategic misuse of public funds to buy election outcomes,” Senator Waters, Greens Leader in the Senate, said.
“That is why on the first sitting day back in parliament, we’ll urge the Senate to vote to set up the inquiry into the Coalition’s flagrant pork barrelling and use of funding programs as an election slush fund.
“The Greens have called for a Senate inquiry into rampant pork-barrelling of federal grant programs. The Supporting Reliable Energy Infrastructure program that awarded $3.3M to Shine Energy prior to any application should be investigated as part of that inquiry.
“This is Sports Rorts on a whole new level. Shine Energy had no relevant experience and no past projects. They have a clear connection to Glencore, a mining magnate that would directly benefit from the power station’s construction and has been lobbying the government to support the coal industry.
“We support calls for an auditor general investigation into how an inexperienced company secured $3.3M for a feasibility study, especially if supported by a wealthy multinational mining corporation.
“Propping up a project that was championed by the Nationals in North Queensland, but rejected by the existing UNGI program is yet another example of this government using public money to suit its own political interests.
“We’ve seen grants awarded with no criteria, grants that ignored the criteria but were in marginal seats, and now grants with criteria drafted specifically to suit a pre-selected project after the funding decision has been made.”
Senator Waters, who is the Greens spokesperson for Democracy, said today’s revelations vindicate the Greens’ ten years of calls for a federal corruption watchdog.
“It’s been almost a  year since the Senate passed my bill for a federal ICAC with teeth. But the Morrison government is refusing to call the bill to a vote in the House of Representatives.
“I ask the Coalition: why are you so afraid of public scrutiny?”

The Australian manufacturing sector is in critical need of a comprehensive future plan from the Morrison Government to drive employment and boost GDP as Australia navigates the deep recession we are in.
Federal Labor welcomes the release today of the AMWU report A Fair Share for Australian Manufacturing, which outlines a detailed plan for the future of the industry, which is so critical for encouraging well paid, highly skilled secure jobs.
The AMWU report highlights the critical need for reform of high energy costs, and skills and training. It explores a plan to deliver, “400,000 new manufacturing jobs, a further 265,000 in supply chains – all of them working together to put that famous Australian Made label on an extra $180 billion worth of products every year.”
The report stands in stark contrast to the failure of the Morrison Government to outline a plan for manufacturing in last week’s Budget update.
COVID-19 has demonstrated just how vulnerable Australia is to global supply chain shocks. The Liberals’ lack of a economic plan is leaving Australia, and the manufacturing sector, dangerously exposed to turbulence in the global economy.
While some of our manufacturers have adapted to produce much needed Personal Protective Equipment and other essential suppliers during COVID-19, Australia needs a more sophisticated manufacturing plan than just responding to crises.
The only plan the Morrison Government currently has is to rip $1.8 billion from research and development. Research and Development is inextricably linked to a recovery led by advanced manufacturing, and the manufacturing sector is the second largest spender on R&D.
As we look to the future and how we best emerge from the health crisis and recession, the Morrison Government must do more to support the Australian manufacturing sector. A strong local manufacturing industry will create jobs and long term export and trading opportunities
They need to come up with a genuine plan to get the economy moving again.

The Morrison Government must help fund a universal paid pandemic leave scheme to ensure every Australian worker who needs to stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 can do so without financial penalty.
A paid pandemic leave scheme is a critical measure to protect both workers and public health by preventing further COVID-19 outbreaks. It should have been introduced months ago.
Workers cannot be forced to choose between paying their bills and protecting their colleagues, customers and patients. Whenever we force that choice on people the community is put at risk.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has said “about 80 per cent” of the state’s new infections since mid-May have been ” driven by transmission in workplaces.”
A universal paid pandemic leave scheme could have prevented some of this terrible toll.
Unless we get a universal scheme we will have more community transmission, leading to more outbreaks and economy-smashing lockdowns. We cannot afford not to do this.
Some employers have established their own schemes and Labor welcomes that. The Fair Work Commission has also granted paid pandemic leave to some aged care workers, and the Victorian Labor Government has also introduced some payments.
But it must go further. The Government must step in and help fund a scheme to reach all workers.
Labor believes the scheme should be available to any worker, regardless of industry or employment status, who needs to be away from work to: undergo a COVID test; isolate while awaiting a result; isolate if a test is positive; or isolate if directed to do so by a public health officer.
An estimated 3.7 million Australians don’t have any access to paid sick leave or the other protections of permanent employment, including casuals, contractors, freelancers, sole traders and gig economy workers. And many permanent workers have exhausted their sick leave entitlements.
Without pandemic leave, many will continue to turn up to work when they’re sick or should be isolating.
Labor first called for paid pandemic leave on March 10 – 142 days ago.
But Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter dismissed our call at the time, saying the Government would not “jump to a solution in anticipation of a problem”.
The Government says it is now considering the idea.
There is no excuse for any further delay. The Government must act immediately.

The Morrison Government is continuing to provide certainty to businesses about how they can meet their legal obligations by extending temporary regulatory relief in respect of online meetings and electronic document execution for a further six months.
The changes allow companies to convene annual general meetings, and other meetings prescribed under the Corporations Act, entirely online rather than face-to-face. The changes also give businesses certainty that when company officers sign a document electronically, the document has been validly executed.
These changes will be made under the instrument-making power that has been inserted into the Corporations Act 2001 as part of our response to the Coronavirus crisis.
The feedback that the Government has received from industry is that these temporary changes have provided certainty to business and helped them continue to operate through the coronavirus crisis. Under the social distancing measures that are currently in place, and the ongoing challenges in Victoria, it is difficult for shareholders to physically gather and for companies to execute documents in person.
Under the extension of the temporary relief measures, companies will continue to:

• provide notice of annual general meetings to shareholders using email;
• achieve a quorum with shareholders attending online; and
• hold annual general meetings online.

Meetings must continue to provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to participate. Shareholders will continue to be able to put questions to board members and vote online.
To execute documents, company officers will continue to be able to sign documents electronically, so for the duration of the extended relief, signatories will not be required to sign the same physical document. This will ensure that documents can continue to be properly executed at a time when ordinary business operations have been disrupted.
The current arrangements will be extended for another 6 months so that they expire on 21 March 2021.
The Morrison Government will continue to provide the necessary flexibility for businesses to deal with the challenges that have been presented by the coronavirus crisis and help facilitate the recovery on the other side.

The new National Agreement on Closing the Gap has today come into effect, upon signature by the First Ministers of all Australian Governments, the Lead convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, and the President of the Australian Local Government Association.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new Closing the Gap agreement is an historic achievement.
“Today finally marks a new chapter in our efforts to close the gap – one built on mutual trust, shared responsibility, dignity and respect,” Prime Minister Morrison said.
“The gaps we are now seeking to close are the gaps that have now been defined by the representatives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is as it should be. This creates a shared commitment and a shared responsibility.”
“This is the first time a National Agreement designed to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has been negotiated directly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives.”
“By focusing our efforts on these more specific, practical and shared objectives we can expect to make much greater progress.”
Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP, said the National Agreement demonstrates the Government’s commitment to work in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“The way all levels of government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives have come together to negotiate this National Agreement and collectively determine how we strive to close the gap demonstrates our commitment to working together through meaningful partnerships,” Minister Wyatt said.
“We know that the best out comes are achieved when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are equal partners with governments, and when they have a direct say in how we are going to be successful in driving the desired outcomes.”
The Lead convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, Ms Pat Turner AM, said “for the first time, First Nations people will share decision-making with governments on Closing the Gap. The National Agreement makes this a reality, not just for the Coalition of Peaks, but for all First Nations people that want to have a say on how things should be working in their communities.”
“If the Priority Reforms are implemented in full by governments and through shared decision making with First Nations people, we should see changes over time to the lives and experiences of our people.”
At the centre of the National Agreement are four priority reforms that commit governments to change the way they work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
These reforms will embed joint-decision making; build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled service sector; transform mainstream government services; and improve data to support informed decision-making.
The new National Agreement builds on the draft targets endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments in 2018. It establishes 16 targets in areas such as education, employment, health and wellbeing, justice, safety, housing, land and waters, and languages.
For the first time, all governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations share responsibility for achieving targets and significantly more reporting will increase accountability for all parties This acknowledges that all parties have a role to play in improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
Each jurisdiction will report annually on their progress and contribution towards Closing the Gap, and the Productivity Commission will make more data publicly available and conduct an independent review of progress every three years.
Parties to the National Agreement – the Commonwealth Government, State and Territory governments, the Coalition of Peaks, and the Australian Local Government Association – will now develop plans that set out how they will implement the priority reforms and contribute towards achieving the targets.
The National Agreement is available on the National Indigenous Australians Agency website, https://closingthegap.niaa.gov.au/

The Coalition and One Nation have cemented their position as science denialists, having spent Monday badgering some of Australia’s peak scientific bodies over the validity of Great Barrier Reef health findings during a Liberal-called Senate inquiry, the Greens said.
Co-Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, Queensland Senator Larissa Waters, said the inquiry is nothing more than a political ploy to attempt to advance the Coalition’s position ahead of the Queensland state election, and further its culture war against science.
“The Reef is being used as a pawn for flagrant state electioneering. This inquiry is about state regulations, but these regulations are being probed at a federal level,” she said.
“It’s been a futile exercise. We listened to One Nation ask one witness ‘what is science?’ in an attempt to discredit the findings from peak scientific bodies. We listened to a Coalition Senator also rebuke these findings as ‘concocted science’ and ‘false evidence’.”
“Peer-reviewed science should not be debated by non-scientifically trained politicians trying to suit the agenda of big donors and dinosaur backbenchers.”
“We need strong laws to set the standards and give our Reef the best shot, and farmers should be financially assisted to meet these strong requirements,” she said.
“The science is clear, we must act now for our best chance to protect the Reef and the more than 64,000 jobs that rely on it.
“We need urgent climate action, a transition off coal to renewable energy, and strong action on water quality to save what’s left of our Reef,” she said.

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the government’s plan to hike up university fees should be scrapped, following confirmation in the Senate Covid-19 Committee this week that no government modelling had been done on the effect of changing course costs.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Not only are these fee hikes grossly unfair for students, there’s actually no evidence that they will do what the government intends them to: encourage more students to take up STEM and other ‘priority’ courses.
“The government’s package simply doesn’t stack up. We’ve heard from key stakeholders across the sector that all it will do is put students further into debt and cut more funding for essential teaching and learning on campuses.
“As our universities continue to suffer huge job losses, now is the time to invest heavily in higher education, not take the easy way out and transfer costs from the government onto students. No one wins from the Liberals’ cruel austerity package,” she said.

With a revised tally of killed or displaced wildlife from the summer’s bushfires coming in at three times initial estimates, it’s clear now is not the time to rush through legislation that will weaken environmental protections, the Greens say.
Greens Spokesperson for the Environment Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said with 3 billion native animals killed or displaced as a result of the catastrophic fires, and Australia already holding the dishonour of worst mammalian extinction rate in the world, our wildlife was in crisis and needed urgent protection.
“Off the back of one of the worst environmental disasters our country has seen, the Morrison Government is planning to fast-track legislation that puts our wildlife and environment at further risk.
“I urge the Prime Minister and the Environment Minister to respond to the finding of 3 billion dead or displaced animals and reconsider their environment-destroying plans.
“Our natural world cannot withstand more logging, land clearing and pollution for the sake of corporate profits. The PM needs to stand up for the environment instead of his mining and big developer mates.
“We need strong environmental laws and a cop on the beat to enforce them – anything less and we are going to lose koalas and more of our native animals for good.
“The 10-year independent review should be completed and properly considered before any legislative change that risks killing more of our wildlife and destroying even more of our environment.”
The Senate Inquiry into the Faunal Extinction Crisis, chaired by Senator Hanson-Young, is holding a hearing tomorrow from 12pm EST, to examine the interim report from the review of Australia’s environment laws (the EPBC Act). Witnesses include Independent Reviewer Professor Graeme Samuel and the ANAO. The full program can be found here.

I am pleased to announce today that the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission is moving into a new mode, shifting its focus to concentrate on creating jobs and stimulating our economy as we learn to live with this pandemic.
While the health response continues to be of the utmost importance in managing outbreaks as they arise, we have to continue our focus on recovery and reform.
The Government’s JobMaker Plan is built on enabling a business-led economic recovery. We are driving skills and training reform, bringing business and unions together to create the industrial relations conditions to get people into work, locking in affordable and reliable energy, expanding opportunities for small business in the digital economy, boosting our manufacturing capability, underpinning renewed housing construction, delivering a record infrastructure investment pipeline, deregulation and streamlining project approvals and federation reform. And there is more to do on issues such as taxation, research collaboration and ensuring regional Australia prospers in the years ahead.
I have asked the Commission to concentrate its efforts and business expertise on providing advice on what more could be done to create as many jobs as quickly as possible to accelerate Australia’s economic recovery.
When I announced the establishment of the Commission, I said its key task was to fix problems. It has certainly done that – from sourcing personal protective equipment and helping address supply chain challenges to ensuring businesses have the tools to stay open or to reopen safely.
Under the leadership of Nev Power as Chair, the Commission will continue to work closely with business leaders and key industry sectors, focusing on areas where we can make the most gains, most quickly.
Joining this effort as part of the new Commission Board will be Mike Hirst, Samantha Hogg, Su McCluskey, Bao Hoang, Laura Berry and Paul Howes. Together they bring valuable expertise in the sectors of finance, resources and infrastructure, regional Australia, small business and workforce issues. I look forward to their contribution to our economic recovery.
They join existing members Nev Power (Chair), Jane Halton, Paul Little and David Thodey. Catherine Tanna has advised me that once existing projects on utilities and energy are completed she intends to step down from the Commission. I thank her for the contribution she has made over recent months.
The group will now be called the National COVID-19 Commission (NCC) Advisory Board, to better reflect its role. I look forward to continuing to receive advice from the NCC on how Australia can best recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
New Board member biographies are attached – click here.