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Democracy should not be a victim of the pandemic.
We need a health-first approach if we are to have any chance of effectively eliminating community transmission of this virus. The advice of health experts must be heeded.
For a long time now, the Prime Minister has been telling us that his suppression strategy will see repeated outbreaks in different parts of the country for months or years to come. But if this is the case, then his logic today – that Parliament can’t sit because one part of the country is experiencing an outbreak – could see the nation’s Parliament suspended for weeks and months to come.
Not only is it vital for democracy that Parliament keeps meeting, but it is essential to tackling this pandemic. For example, the pressure of Parliament has seen the government extend financial support to excluded communities. When Parliament doesn’t sit, more people get left behind.
Every other organisation has been asked to work out how to function with health-based restrictions and Parliament should be able to as well. It seems 2020 is the year of  online meetings and working remotely for everyone except Parliamentarians. It is not beyond our wit to work out how to meet in a manner that complies with health requirements. This should have been a key government priority for the last few months, but it appears they would rather cancel Parliament than work out how to have it sit.
If we continue with the Prime Minister’s current suppression strategy, Parliament may not sit again for months or years, as there may always be an outbreak in some part of the country. It is time to discuss what a strategy to eliminate the virus looks like, for the sake of both for our health and our democracy.
It is disappointing the ‘opposition’ has agreed to cancel Parliament. The Greens do not support this approach. It is time to work out how to keep democracy alive while fighting this virus.

Thousands of jobs are set to flow to carpenters, lighting technicians, local actors, set designers, extras, crews and special effects experts with a $400 million incentive to attract film and television productions to Australia, both now and over the next seven years.
Australia’s relative success in managing COVID-19, compared to so many other parts of the world, means we are now in a unique position to attract a longer term pipeline of major screen productions here in Australia.
To help achieve this we are extending our screen incentive over seven years, working together with the tax system, to ensure that studios can commit to multiple productions over multiple years, guaranteeing jobs both now and into the future.
The incentive adds to a strong pipeline of international screen production activity, jobs and investment by boosting the Location Incentive program over the next three years and extending it for four more years to 2026-27.
The additional $400 million will help Australia capitalise on a growing demand to produce films and television series in Australia, attracting an estimated $3 billion in foreign expenditure and creating 8,000 new employment opportunities for Australians each year. This complements projects already supported through the existing program.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the announcement would create thousands of extra jobs across the country and would help back the screen sector’s recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.
“This investment is key to our JobMaker plan to create jobs, boost local business activity, and provide training and skills,” the Prime Minister said.
“Behind these projects are thousands of workers that build and light the stages, that feed, house and cater for the huge cast and crew and that bring the productions to life. This is backing thousands of Australians who make their living working in front of the camera and behind the scenes in the creative economy.”
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts Paul Fletcher said the expanded Location Incentive program was designed to attract back-to-back productions and establish an ongoing pipeline of work for Australia’s screen sector, which will strengthen the local industry and provide certainty for businesses to invest in skills and development.
“The Location Incentive is an economic multiplier. It will sustain the vitality of Australian screen production and support jobs and local businesses,” Minister Fletcher said.
“Through this additional commitment, the Government is telling the world that Australia is a desirable destination for screen production – with great locations, skilled crews, world-class talent, post-production expertise and state of the art facilities.”
The Location Incentive is designed to complement the Morrison Government’s existing Location Offset, providing an effective increase in the tax offset rate from 16.5 per cent to 30 per cent for eligible large budget international productions that film in Australia and are successful through the application process.
To date, the Government has announced funding of $123 million for 10 productions through the existing Location Incentive including Thor: Love and Thunder and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in Sydney, Godzilla vs Kong on the Gold Coast, Shantaram and The Alchemyst in Melbourne. These 10 projects are estimated to generate spending of around $1 billion, support 8,500 local jobs over multiple years and engage more than 9,000 Australian businesses.
The expansion of the Location Incentive comes on top of $250 million over the next 12 months to help restart the creative economy, including $50 million for a Temporary Interruption Fund that will support local film and television producers to secure finance and recommence filming for productions that have largely been halted due to the challenges in accessing insurance coverage for COVID-19. It also builds on the Government’s investment of $749 million in the arts and cultural industry in 2019-20 – the largest amount ever provided to the sector.

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the government’s ‘JobTrainer’ scheme is heavy on spin and hugely hypocritical for a government that has overseen the marketisation and disintegration of public vocational education.
Senator Faruqi said:
“This is a government that has systematically gutted public TAFE over many years.
“We have seen the failures of government-subsidised, for-profit vocational education. We should not be going down the same path.
“We need targeted investment to rebuild our entire public TAFE system. The Liberals have overseen years of cuts and marketisation of vocational education to the detriment of staff, students and communities where these institutions played a vital role.
“In real terms, the Liberals have cut more than $2 billion in funding for student places in the last few years, watched training hours collapse, and apprenticeship numbers fall to historic lows.
“We must not allow ‘JobTrainer’ to end up just another windfall for the profit-making private providers at the expense of TAFE.
“Rather than a narrow scheme of selected subsidised short courses, what we need right now is an unprecedented investment to rebuild TAFE and make it genuinely fee-free. This is a time to set ourselves up for a strong and sustainable future for all,” she said.

It’s untenable to leave the National Party in charge of water and a Royal Commission is needed more than ever, after today’s Auditor-General’s report into ‘Watergate’ found the government didn’t even try to achieve value for money of water entitlements and didn’t appropriately manage conflicts of interest, the Greens say.
Today’s report comes after Greens Water Spokesperson and Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young, and a number of other MPs, referred analysis conducted by The Australia Insititute, and reports alleging the Department of Agriculture and Resources, which manages the purchase of water, had significantly overpaid vendors for water in the Warrego catchment, Tandou and the Condamine-Balonne Valley to the Auditor General.
Subsequent analysis released in January 2020 by TAI showed the Federal Government paid exorbitant prices for water rights to a company linked to Minister Angus Taylor, while Barnaby Joyce was the Water Minister.
Senator Hanson-Young said:
“Taxpayers footed an $80m bill to a company linked to Energy Minister Angus Taylor, for water that’s never been seen. The deal stunk.
“Today’s report raises even more questions. There must be a Royal Commission to get to the bottom of these scandals and I again urge all sides of politics to back my bill to establish one.
“The Auditor-General’s report confirms the department’s approach to managing water procurements, overseen by Barnaby Joyce, was a shambles and stinks worse than fish rotting in Menindee Lakes in summer.
“At best, this report reveals incompetence, at worst it shows another taxpayer rort overseen by the National Party.
“The Auditor-General found the department didn’t use a value for money approach for procurement of strategic water entitlements. Put simply, taxpayers were ripped off by a government that claims to be good economic managers.
“The Auditor-General also recommended the department update arrangements for managing conflicts of interest.
“The Murray-Darling Basin has been riddled with dodgy accounting, mismanagement, and out-right water theft. The National Party and their corporate irrigator mates have used it as a slush fund while river communities, family farmers and the environment suffers.
“The stench around Morrison’s Energy Minister Angus Taylor is growing. How many more scandals before the PM shows him the door?”

The Morrison Government will invest $2 billion to give hundreds of thousands of Australians access to new skills by retraining and upskilling them into sectors with job opportunities, as the economy recovers from COVID-19.
The JobTrainer skills package will also guarantee support for thousands of apprentices in jobs across the country by subsidising their wages to keep them employed and their training secured.
The new $1 billion JobTrainer program will provide up to an additional 340,700 training places to help school leavers and job seekers access short and long courses to develop new skills in growth sectors and create a pathway to more qualifications.
Courses will be free or low cost in areas of identified need, with the Federal Government providing $500 million with matched contributions from state and territory governments.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the JobTrainer package was focused on getting people into jobs.
“JobTrainer will ensure more Australians have the chance to reskill or upskill to fill the jobs on the other side of this crisis,” the Prime Minister said.
“COVID-19 is unprecedented but I want Australians to be ready for the sorts of jobs that will come as we build back and recover.
“The jobs and skills we’ll need as we come out of the crisis are not likely to be the same as those that were lost.”
The package also includes an additional $1.5 billion to expand the wage incentive to help keep apprentices in work. It builds on the initial $1.3 billion package announced in March.
In addition to small businesses already covered, the wage subsidy will now be available to medium businesses with less than 200 employees for apprentices employed as at 1 July 2020. Around 180,000 apprentices and 90,000 small and medium businesses that employ them will now be supported, with the program extended by six months to March 2021.
The initiative covers 50 per cent of the wages paid to apprentices and trainees, up to $7,000 per quarter.
Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Michaelia Cash said the JobTrainer package would form a vital part of the national recovery efforts.
“Our nation has faced many challenges, and it is critical that we keep our apprentices in jobs and help those looking for work,” Minister Cash said.
“This package will be essential as the economy rebuilds so that people looking for work can reskill and upskill for in-demand jobs, provide school leavers with a pathway into their careers, and ensure businesses are able to get the skilled workers they need.”
Minister Cash said the National Skills Commission would play a critical role in identifying current and future skills needed in a challenging and changing labour market.
“We will work with States and Territories to develop a list of qualifications and skill sets that will provide job seekers with the skills that are in demand by employers and are critical to the economic recovery.”
Assistant Minister for Vocational Education, Training and Apprenticeships Steve Irons said the expanded waged subsidy would more than double the number of supported apprentices and trainees.
“The Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy will now help almost 90,000 businesses employing around 180,000 apprentices and trainees throughout Australia,” Assistant Minister Irons said.
“This will dramatically improve the viability of tens of thousands of apprenticeships and the businesses employing them right across the country.”
States and territories need to sign up to a new Heads of Agreement to access JobTrainer funding, with the agreement setting out immediate reforms to improve the vocational education and training sector, and providing the foundation for long term improvements as outlined by the Prime Minister in his recent speech to the National Press Club.