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The Australian Government will provide further military support to Ukraine in response to Russia’s brutal, unrelenting and illegal invasion, at the request of the Ukrainian Government and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

To meet that request, in partnership with the Australian defence industry, we will provide an additional $25 million AUD of defensive military assistance for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

This will bring Australia’s total military assistance so far to $116 million.

On top of this support is Australia’s $65 million of humanitarian assistance, 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to meet Ukraine’s energy needs, as well as temporary protection visas and support for Ukrainian community groups in Australia.

The new $25 million package of additional defensive military assistance will include tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies.

The Australian Government will continue to identify opportunities for further military assistance where it is able to provide a required capability to the Ukraine Armed Forces expeditiously.

The Government will not disclose further specific details of the package or delivery arrangements at the direct request of Ukrainian officials and our other partners.

Australia stands with Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion.

We will continue to impose the maximum costs against Russia through targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, including President Putin and his circle of oligarchs and propagandists, military commanders and members of Parliament.

ViiV Healthcare Australia has welcomed the announcement that Cabenuva (cabotegravir prolonged-release suspension for injection and rilpivirine prolonged-release suspension for injection) has been listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) as the first long-acting treatment for Australians living with HIV.

It will be reimbursed for virologically suppressed adults living with HIV-1 who have no known or suspected resistance to either cabotegravir or rilpivirine to maintain viral suppression with six doses per year after initiation.1

This listing is an important development for the more than 29,000 Australians currently living with HIV2, many of whom currently take medications daily.

In recommending the reimbursement, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) commented that, “some people living with HIV in certain populations, such as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, those living in rural or remote settings, and individuals with complex living or social circumstances, had issues adhering to a daily oral regimen and would potentially have improved quality of life from a long-acting injectable option.”3

HIV is commonly treated with daily oral antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, people living with HIV often experience challenges related to the daily dosing of ART, including fear of unintentionally revealing their HIV status, anxiety over adhering to their daily medication and or the stress and painful memories from daily medication intake.4

Dr David Baker, leading GP in the treatment of people living with HIV from East Sydney Doctors, said the addition of Cabenuva on the PBS may help reduce the burden of the disease on people living with HIV.

“Over the last 20 years we’ve made great progress in developing effective treatments for HIV that can suppresses the virus in the body to undetectable levels, however until now it has required daily treatment. The introduction of a long-acting injectable treatment means that eligible people living with HIV will only need to be treated every two months, rather than every day. This approach has the potential to help lessen the burden of treatment and reduce the worry and stigma that comes with having to take treatments daily,” said Dr Baker.

Dr Matthew Shields, a sexual health physician at Taylor Square Private Clinic, commented that the new long-acting treatment is another option for people living with HIV that may provide increased control over their sexual health and well-being.

“We know that historically HIV treatments have played a significant role in reducing stigma, leading to improved sexual health and wellbeing for those living with HIV. The reimbursement of a long-acting injectable treatment will only help to further this progress, as it has the potential to improve quality of life for people living with HIV by reducing the daily reminder of their HIV status and also removing the anxiety around potentially forgetting the daily oral tablets,” said Dr Shields.

According to Scott Harlum, President of the National Association for People with HIV in Australia (NAPWHA), treatment innovations have the potential to improve quality of life for people living with HIV.

“The approval of long-lasting injectable anti-retroviral treatments are a welcome development for people with HIV. As an additional treatment option, long-lasting injectable treatments can reduce the burden of taking daily medication and further assist people with HIV adhere to their treatment regime. This, in turn, helps ensure people with HIV are able to maintain an undetectable viral load which is both good for their own health, but also eliminates any risk of transmission of HIV,” he said.

Dr Fraser Drummond, Medical Director at ViiV Healthcare Australia, said the reimbursement of Cabenuva represents a shift in the way HIV is treated by offering people living with HIV a new approach to care.

“Long-acting HIV treatments have the potential to reduce the fear of disclosure and the anxiety of having to remember to take a pill every day,” said Dr Drummond.

“ViiV Healthcare is dedicated to ensuring no one living with HIV is left behind. Adding this first-of-its-kind regimen to our portfolio of innovative medicines in Australia shows how committed we are to this mission,” he said.

13 YARN, Australia’s first – and only – national Indigenous-led crisis hotline is now up and running. Funded by the Australian Government (through the Department of Health), the new purpose- built, 24/7 national telephone helpline is codesigned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people specifically to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line has been developed in collaboration with Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia and is run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the support of Lifeline.

All Crisis Supporters will be of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and are provided with clinical and cultural support. As the line grows, helpline staff will be embedded in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities across Australia, with a virtual workforce and training model ensuring that information and expertise can be shared to every corner of the country.

National Program Manager Marjorie Anderson said every aspect of 13 YARN has been designed to be culturally appropriate – from the non-typical conversation approach to the welcome message and Aboriginal hold music.

“13 YARN offers a confidential one-on-one over the phone yarning opportunity for mob who are feeling overwhelmed or having difficulty coping. It’s a place where they can connect and receive help from a trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Crisis Supporter,” Ms Anderson said.

“We believe there is always hope at the end of a yarn, we know how to listen without judgement or shame, and we believe in the power of storytelling to heal.”

Anyone can access the line by calling 13 YARN [13 92 76] around the clock, where they will be assisted for their immediate situation and, if necessary, referred to culturally appropriate programs and services to make sure there is ongoing support.

Initial feedback has been encouraging, with one caller saying the service was completely unique.

“There’s never been a national service run by mob, that’ll let me spin a yarn, and will take the time to listen, anytime that I need it,” they said.

Other smaller existing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island crisis lines will be supported by 13 YARN, which will openly share resources and expertise to build on the network of resources and programs available for people in need.

Funding for an independent evaluation of the impact of 13YARN has been included to ensure the service stays on track and remains fit for purpose.

If you, or someone you know are feeling worried or no good, we encourage you to connect with 13 YARN [13 92 76] and talk with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Mining company Cadia Holdings Pty Limited has been fined $15,000 by the NSW Environmen Authority (EPA) for failing to conduct continuous air quality monitoring in 2020 and again in 2021 at its central west NSW site.

The company’s licence requires continuous air monitoring while the company mines for minerals or carries out mineral processing at the Cadia Valley Operations site.

EPA Acting Executive Director Regulatory Operations Greg Sheehy said that while dust deposition monitoring was conducted appropriately at the site, the need for continual air monitoring should not be ignored.

“Continual air monitoring of dust allows the operator to understand and reduce any potential negative impacts related to air quality,” Mr Sheehy said.

“A constant measurement of air quality is not only a licence requirement, it also helps keep the community and surrounding environment safe.”

Cadia Holdings advised the EPA that power supply issues were responsible for the failure to continuously monitor dust.

Mr Sheehy said Cadia Holdings had committed to improve its continuous air quality monitoring network by the end of the past financial year, but the work was not yet complete.

The EPA will continue to assess air quality in the area around the mine and monitor the progress of improvements to the company’s air quality monitoring network.

The fine of $15,000 is the largest that the EPA can issue under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

Any concerns regarding air quality or dust emissions can be reported to the EPA on 131 555.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a review of the listing and re-listing of eight organisations as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).

The listing of these organisations, made by regulations tabled in Parliament this week, triggers the application of a number of offences under the Criminal Code relating to membership of, support for or associating with the organisations.

Hamas is listed for the first time in its entirety, replacing the previous listing of Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas). This follows a recommendation of the PJCIS to the Government to consider broadening the listing in October 2021.

The Government has determined that Hamas is an ideologically and religiously motivated violent extremist organisation, which supports a strategy of armed resistance in pursuit of its goals of establishing an independent Palestinian state, and destroying Israel as a political entity. Hamas’ leadership has stated that there is no neat separation between the organisations’ political and paramilitary components and implied that the Brigades’ activities, including the use of terrorism, are sanctioned by and carried out as part of the wider Hamas organisation. Public statements made by Hamas’ political leaders have supported and advocated terrorism-related activities.

National Socialist Order (NSO), formerly known as Atomwaffen Division, has been listed as a terrorist organisation for the first time. The Government has determined that NSO is a nationalist and racist violent extremist group, founded in the United States in 2015, which advocates the use of violence to initiate a race war and establish a white ethno-state.

Two organisations, Hay’at al Tahrir al-Sham and Hurras al-Din, are listed for the first time in place of the previously-listed organisation Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, on the basis that these two groups are successors to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, which is now defunct.

Four groups previously listed as terrorist organisations have been re-listed for a further three years by these regulations: Abu Sayyaf Group, Al Qa’ida, Al Qa’ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb and Jemaah Islamiyah.

Under section 102.1A of the Criminal Code, the Committee may review listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to each House of the Parliament within the 15 sitting day disallowance period for the relevant regulations.

Members of the public are invited to make submissions to this review, for likely consideration by the new PJCIS once formed in the next Parliament after the election. Submissions should be provided no later than Friday 13 May 2022.

Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

The Greens have slammed the Morrison Government for using the budget for cynical electioneering purposes, while simultaneously destroying what makes lutruwita/Tasmania unique. 

Greens Senator for lutruwita/Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson said:  

“This is an election Budget for the next 6 weeks, designed by the Morrison Government to buy and bribe its way back into office. There is no plan, no vision for Tasmania. 

“Sadly, the environment and climate are the big losers in this budget. 

“This Government has spent the last term of parliament trying to remove our federal environment laws and hand back powers to the states. Now it’s putting millions into deregulating and fast-tracking our environmental regulation process – in short, scrapping environmental laws by stealth.  

“Mark my words, this will be bad for Tasmania and will lead to more environmental conflict, destruction and exploitation of our wild and special places, which is the last thing our state needs. 

“There appears to be no critical funding for Tasmania’s Antarctic Gateway science programs, nor for protecting the Southern Ocean and the Great Southern Reef.

“The Great Barrier Reef again gets billions in Budget funding for “reef adaption” measures to combat climate change and invasive species, but Tasmania’s Great Southern Reef – which is critically important to our communities and fishing industry and faces equally critical threats – doesn’t get a cent.

“Ultimately it’s a budget full of sugar hits and band-aid solutions – both of which are bad for the long-term health of Tasmania.

“Tasmanians being wooed by “big ticket” infrastructure measures would do well to remember it’s not budget benevolence that’s motivated the Government to spend big on Tasmanian infrastructure projects – it’s a track-record of budget blowouts.  

“Budget blowouts rip money away from other essential services, like getting dental and mental health into Medicare, ensuring everyone has a liveable income and roof over their head.

“What this Budget shows clearly is that we need to kick the Liberals out and get the Greens in balance of power to push the next Government to tackle the climate crisis and cost of living pressures by taxing the billionaires.”

The Greens say the Morrison Government has bungled its last chance to show it takes women’s safety and economic security seriously with an underwhelming budget of half-measures and spin.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said:

“With an election looming it’s little wonder that the Morrison Government is desperately trying to improve its standing with Australian women, who have been abandoning the Liberals in droves.

“But this ain’t it. While some announcements are a step in the right direction, and we particularly welcome the $25 million allocated to the Illawarra Trauma Recovery Centre that the Greens have championed, the budget is largely a grab bag of bare-minimum measures that fall well short of what we know is needed to make women safe and ensure their economic security.

“The funding to address gendered violence is well short of what women’s organisations say is needed.

“The Greens have committed to the sector’s call for $1 billion per annum for frontline services to meet existing demand, because it is unconscionable to underfund services which stop women being killed in this epidemic of domestic violence.

“Whilst awareness raising and training is crucial, it should be additional to rather than instead of the frontline and specialist services that the sector says are needed to meet the critical shortfall in support for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence.

“The government’s so-called ‘enhanced’ paid parental leave plan doesn’t increase PPL payments, doesn’t add superannuation contributions, and does nothing to actually incentivize shared care. In fact it may have the perverse effect of leading mothers to take all 20 weeks of parenting leave with fathers taking none. Under the Greens’ 26-week PPL plan payments would match salaries up to $100k, super would be added, and ‘use it or lose it’ incentives built in to encourage shared parenting.

“The $100 million promised for crisis, transition and affordable housing is pitifully small compared to the $7.6 billion investment the sector says is needed to provide emergency and permanent housing for women, particularly older women at risk of homelessness. The much-trumpeted expansion of the Family Home Guarantee is no help because it will simply increase house prices and encourage people to get into debts that they cannot service.

“The government has also shown a stunning lack of commitment to addressing violence against First Nations women. Instead of a dedicated, standalone National Plan to End Violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women, they’re saying there will be a First Nations ‘action plan’ sitting under the overarching National Plan. That is clearly not what First Nations groups have called for.

“They’ve also baked in real cuts to community controlled First Nations family violence services over the forward estimates, and delivered no funding at all for the sector’s peak body.

“This Budget will not close the gender pay gap. Childcare is still not free, care work is still undervalued, and the minimum wage and income support payments, which more women than men receive, are still too low. This Budget will not deliver economic security for women.

“We welcome the additional funds for the Human Rights Commission to monitor Respect at Work recommendations, but this is undermined by broader cuts to the Commission’s budget and the fact that there is still no commitment to the key recommendation: a positive duty on all employers to make workplaces safe.

“Australian women have spent nearly a decade trying to convince this government that their safety and economic security are issues that must be taken seriously. But in place of decisive and material action they’ve been served up talkfests, Cabinet reshuffles, flowery speeches and shiny baubles by a toxic and arrogant government that treats women as a PR problem to be managed.

“This was the PM’s last opportunity to stand up for Australian women. Once again he failed because he is a sexist dinosaur – it’s long past time to give him and his boys’ club the boot.”

The Australian Greens have slammed the government’s final budget for making housing more expensive, locking in tax cuts for the wealthy and funding more coal and gas projects rather than acting on the climate crisis.

The Liberals’ final budget contains more than $37.6 bn for coal, oil and gas, gives $13bn of public money to property investors, and has no new money to build affordable housing.

The Greens want government invest to build a million affordable homes.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP said:

“Scott Morrison’s Budget makes housing more expensive, locks in tax cuts for the wealthy and funds more coal and gas projects, all with Labor’s support. 

“This Budget of election bribes will not keep you safe from the climate crisis and it won’t put a secure roof over your head. It doesn’t have a cent of new money for building new affordable housing, but it gives hundreds of millions to new oil and gas projects.

“Even as floods again threaten the Northern Rivers for the second time in a month, Scott Morrison plans to give more than $38bn in handouts to coal, oil and gas corporations to fuel the climate crisis and Labor backs him in. 

“There is $1.6 billion for renewables, $2 billion for disaster recovery, and more than $38 billion in subsidies to coal, oil and gas. It’s an insult to every flood victim that the Prime Minister is spending more than 10 times more on coal, oil and gas as he is on protecting us from climate floods. 

“Scott Morrison’s Budget spends $13 billion on unfair tax breaks that will push up the cost of housing and lock people out of the housing market, handouts that Labor will wave through. 

“A temporary cut to fuel excise may not even make its way to people’s pockets. There’s every chance that world oil prices or profiteering from oil corporations will wipe out any gains to motorists overnight, at very substantial cost to the budget. 

“We need to permanently boost the pension by almost $250 a fortnight, not $250 an election.”

“To tackle cost of living pressures, the Budget should wipe student debt, get dental into Medicare and build 1 million affordable homes that people can rent for 25% of their income or buy for $300,000. That would be much fairer, better and cheaper than proceeding with Stage 3 tax cuts and temporarily cutting fuel excise.

“This Budget shows we need to kick the Liberals out and get the Greens in balance of power to push the next Government to tackle cost of living pressures by taxing the billionaires, getting dental into Medicare, wiping student debt and building affordable housing.” 

Australian Greens Treasury Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said:

“Yet again, this is a budget for the billionaires and big corporations – not people who are struggling,” Senator McKim said.

“Under this budget, cost of living will increase and wages won’t  catch up, and the structural holes in our economy will keep on widening the gap between rich and poor. A $420 payment won’t go far for a family that’s stuck spending half their income on housing and the $250 payment would lift a pensioner out of poverty for one pay-packet and then send them back the next.

“We need a budget that ensures the billionaires and the big corporations pay their fair share so we can invest in getting dental and mental health into Medicare, ensuring everyone has a liveable income; abolishing student debt, and starting to build a million homes.

“The Liberals will never deliver the budget the Australian people deserve, and without pressure, Labor’s not going to support the structural changes needed by everyone who’s struggling. With the Greens in balance of power, we’ll tax the billionaires and big corporations, so the 2023 Labor/Greens budget will be one that builds a more equal Australia.”

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that education has been smashed by a budget hostile to public schools, universities, TAFE, and early childhood education and care.

Senator Faruqi said:

“This is a government hostile to public education and its final budget proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“We are witnessing the shameful impacts of the government’s university fee hikes and funding cuts they pushed through parliament 18 months ago. The higher education funding decline continues with a 5 per cent cut over the next year alone. This government is an enemy of our public universities.

“TAFE has been sidelined yet again, when it must be put front and centre of any fresh investment in vocational education. TAFE must be fully-funded and made fee-free for all.

“Funding for public schools has been reduced by $559 million over the next three years while private schools are seeing an increase of more than $2 billion. This is just obscene.

“We have to fully-fund our public schools and invest in urgent capital works but this budget simply provides a pre-election gift for overfunded private schools.

“Early childhood education and care has been completely neglected in this budget with nothing to help parents with expensive fees and barely anything to support the sector.

“The Liberals have a shameless privatisation and cost-cutting agenda when it comes to public education, and the sooner we boot them out, the better. Bring on the election.”