Category: Australian News

The Australian Government’s $23.9 million public information campaign to encourage Australians to get a COVID-19 vaccine begins today.
The campaign will keep Australians fully informed and up to date about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines as they become available, including when, how and where to get the jab.
This follows Australia’s first COVID-19 vaccine approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration – for the Pfizer vaccine.
From the start of the pandemic, the COVID-19 campaign has been a trusted source of information for the community. The new vaccine campaign will build on this, providing timely, transparent and credible information to all Australians.
The new campaign will be in three phases:

• Reaffirm that COVID-19 vaccines have been put through our world-leading independent approvals process, ensuring both the safety and efficacy of our vaccine candidates
• Provide information on how the vaccine will be rolled out, particularly to priority groups, and dosage requirements.
• Inform people about how and where to get vaccinated, dosage requirements, and support vaccine uptake.

The roll-out will begin by providing protection to those who need it most – the elderly and disabled, and frontline workers who are tirelessly working to save lives and protect lives.
The information in this campaign, based on expert, and independent, medical advice, will help answer the questions people may have.
The campaign will run across a variety of mediums, including television, radio, press, digital, social, mobile, search and out of home.
To ensure the campaign reaches all Australians, special committees representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with a disability and the multicultural community are informing the communication approach, ensuring communications are appropriate and disseminated through the best communication channels to these communities.
Australia is a vaccination nation – we have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Australians understand that vaccines work. They save lives. They improve lives. They protect lives.
I am confident, given Australia’s high vaccination coverage rates that Australians will take up a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in equally high numbers.
This campaign will help every Australian to understand how the vaccine works and how it will keep them and their family safe.

A major upgrade to the Reinhold Batschi Men’s National Training Centre (RBMNTC) for men’s rowing was today officially opened by the Australian Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.
The $1.7 million development, funded by the Australian Government, through Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), provides the elite rowing facility with improved changing rooms, new laundry, consultation rooms and enhanced disabled access.
“The long-awaited facility upgrade is an enormous boost for Australia’s rowers who are an integral part of our nation’s high- performance sports environment,” Minister Colbeck said.
“The rowing centre was originally built in the early 1980s as part of the AIS Rowing Facility and this significant investment represents the biggest upgrade to the elite training facility in 35 years.
“Importantly, the redevelopment now allows the centre to host not only the full-time male athletes when they are on site, but also visiting athletes from the Hancock Prospecting Women’s National Training Centre (based in Penrith), Australia’s elite Para-rowing Program and the Pathway Training Camp groups.”
Rowing Australia CEO, Ian Robson extended his thanks to the Australian Government, through Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport, for the ongoing support of rowing and its athletes.
“The upgrades to the Reinhold Batschi Men’s National Training Centre brings the facility to the same standard as our dedicated female rowing centre, the Hancock Prospecting Women’s National Training Centre, which was opened in Penrith in 2017,” Mr Robson said.
“The athletes have had a disrupted year, with the postponement of the Olympic Games, but have continued to train diligently, even when their facility was in the midst of renovation. I would specifically like to thank Canberra Grammar School, who generously allowed our Men’s National Training Centre athletes to train out of their sheds, for part of 2020, while the building works were underway.
“I know our athletes are all extremely grateful and excited to be utilising the new spaces and continuing their pursuit of Olympic glory for Australia while based at the centre. We delighted to now have a facility that is fit-for-purpose for all our elite athletes to use when required and that would not have been possible without the funding and support of the Australian Government and Sport Australia.”
Snapshot of upgrades:

• Sport Australia and the AIS granted Rowing Australia $1.7 million to upgrade the changing rooms and consultation rooms at the centre.
• The facility was established in 1986, with expansions including the gym, ergometer room, treatment areas and changing rooms.
• This is the first upgrade to the changing rooms since they were added in the late 1980s.

The new upgraded facilities include:

The workers we rely on to plan, run and secure our Australia Day celebrations could lose hundreds of dollars form their pay packets under Scott Morrison’s nasty industrial relations changes.
Mr Morrison wants this Australia Day to be the last that workers are guaranteed public holiday penalty rates.
If Mr Morrison successfully scraps the Better Off Overall Test a typical employee on the Local Government Industry Award could be hit with a $273 Australia Day pay cut, according to the government’s own fair pay calculator. Instead of earning $455 over an 8-hour day they would earn just $182.
A level 4 club employee could earn $272 less next Australia Day than they do this Australia Day. A more senior level 9 club employee could lose $321. And a level 3 security officer could lose $280 over a standard 8-hour shift.
Australia Day is also a huge day for many hospitality workers, particularly in bars and pubs. They could also lose hundreds of dollars under Mr Morrison’s scheme.
These workers, like all workers, deserve extra compensation for working on a public holiday.
This pay cut is Scott Morrison’s thanks to the people who got us through the pandemic – the frontline and essential workers who put themselves at risk by showing up to work and steering Australia through the crisis.
If you abolish something called the Better Off Overall Test, guess what will happen:  workers will be worse off.
Scott Morrison’s earlier penalty rate cuts for retail, fast food, pharmacy and hospitality workers failed to deliver a single extra job. But now they want us to believe that cutting more penalty rates, cutting overtime, cutting shift loading, cutting allowances will create jobs?
Pay cuts are bad for workers and bad for the economy. For Australia to recover from the recession we need people with the money and confidence to spend.
The Government says the economy is doing well enough that businesses no longer need JobKeeper. But then they say the economy is doing so badly they need to cut the pay of workers. They can’t have it both ways.
 

Australian families have clearly demonstrated that we are a vaccination nation, with childhood immunisation rates reaching record levels in December 2020.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, parents followed expert health advice and continued to take their children to receive their shots, pushing five-year old vaccination rates beyond the aspirational target of 95 per cent coverage.
Australia’s immunisation rates are world leading. In fact the December Quarter of 2020 took Australia’s coverage rate for five year old children to 95.09 per cent which exceeds the estimated World Health Organisation international average immunisation coverage rate of 86 per cent.
Reaching our target of 95% supports herd immunity to stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases.
These figures show Australians have both the capacity and the will to lead the world in taking up COVID-19 vaccines, as they recognise how important vaccination is, and how it protects and saves lives.
It also shows the faith that Australians have in our independent medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, to provide expert advice and ensure the safety and efficacy of all vaccines provided to the community.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at five-years old have the highest rates of immunisation in the country at 97.25 per cent. This is an incredible result and shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families are taking their children to have their shots on time and keeping up to date with the recommended vaccination schedule.
The Australian Government invests more than $400 million each year in the National Immunisation Program.
The national immunisation coverage rate for all one-year olds has grown to 94.85 per cent and among two-year olds is 92.55 per cent.
While not as high as the five-year old rate, the results for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander two-year olds and one-year olds continue to climb, reaching 91.43 per cent and 93.79 per cent respectively.
The importance of vaccination is not lost on Australians, the vast majority of families ensure their children are fully immunised against a range of dangerous, but preventable diseases.
Immunisation providers have maintained their routine immunisation services throughout the pandemic and are ensuring on-time vaccination according to the recommended schedules.
Australia’s seasonal influenza vaccination program continues to provide increasing numbers of vaccines to Australians of all ages, in 2020 the Therapeutic Goods Administration released more than 17.6 million doses of seasonal influenza vaccines for the Australian market – this includes those for the National Immunisation Program and the private market.

General practices will play a key role in the Australian Government’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, in what will be one of the greatest logistical exercises, public health or otherwise, in Australian history.
Providing access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for everyone in Australia is a key priority for our Government.
General practices will help deliver the vaccine initially to priority groups, starting with people over 70, adults with underlying medical conditions and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in phase 1b. Three more phases will follow until the whole country has been offered the vaccine.
The Government will also work closely with Primary Health Networks to determine general practice distribution points for the vaccine. Over time, there will be more than 1,000 distribution points across Australia.
Applications open 9am tomorrow, at www.health.gov.au.
Australian GPs have considerable experience administering vaccines, with the Australian Government’s highly successful childhood immunisation program and the influenza vaccines both exceeding expectations with record engagement. General practices are key players in Australia having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.
General practices are the core of our health system and those involved in supporting the vaccine rollout will include GPs and primary health care nurses, as well as their support staff, including practice managers, receptionists, cleaners, and IT support.
The vaccine rollout in Commonwealth-funded GP-led Respiratory Clinics and Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health Services will be administered through separate processes. They are not required to complete an expression of interest to take part in the rollout.
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is a new frontier. It will bring new challenges, and I am very confident that our health care workforce is well placed for this immense task.
An expression of interest for pharmacies will be released next week.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has marked a key milestone, celebrating its 40^th anniversary this week.
Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck said the AIS remains a lynchpin in Australia’s sporting success and its enhanced focus on athlete wellbeing, athlete pathways, coach development, innovation and collaboration all remain legacies of the AIS today.
“The AIS revolutionised Australian sport 40 years ago and today it remains an important and iconic symbol of Australia’s commitment to sport and the power of sport to inspire and unite our communities,” Minister Colbeck said.
“We celebrate this milestone with the AIS and pay tribute to those who have positively contributed to building Australian sport capability over many years.”
Some of the biggest names in Australian sport are among the 8,858 athletes who have been AIS scholarship holders over its successful history.
“In an Olympic and Paralympic year, we also acknowledge the integral role the AIS is playing to support our athletes in their preparation for the Tokyo Olympics,” Minister Colbeck said.
The AIS was launched by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser in Canberra on 26 January 1981, comprising approximately 150 scholarship athletes across eight different sports to become Australia’s first and only official sporting institute.
AIS CEO Peter Conde said it has evolved to help lead the National Institute Network to positively influence more Australian athletes than ever before.
“As we should expect, the AIS does things differently now. Races aren’t won by standing still. But the intent of the AIS remains the same – to help Australian athletes realise their full potential in both sport and life.
“The AIS directly invests more than $145 million a year into 38 high performance sporting organisations and their athletes, including $14 million a year in athlete grants across Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games sports.
We have progressed the support for Paralympics athletes, with funding up 40 per cent in the past eight years,” he said.
“We are partnering with sports to develop emerging athletes and coaching pathways. We are at the forefront of innovation, including research into athlete health and performance. We are exploring new frontiers like artificial intelligence and data analysis.
“We naturally strive to win and we care about athletes. Our approach to athlete mental health, wellbeing and community engagement has been crucial, especially in terms of supporting athletes through the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Minister Colbeck said the next decade is exciting for Australian sport.
“There is a lot to look forward to. Australia will host the women’s world cup of basketball and football, we’ve invested in a bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup and, in the next two years, we are considering a bid for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The leadership of the AIS will continue to be pivotal.”

On 24 January 2021, the New Zealand Government announced a case of COVID-19 detected in the community. This morning, New Zealand authorities advised that the case detected is a variant of concern. The case and subsequent exposure to the community are still under investigation.
As a result, the Australian Government, based on advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), has suspended green zone travel arrangements with New Zealand for a minimum of 72 hours whilst more is learnt about the transmission. This change comes into effect immediately (as of 1400 AEDT, 25 January 2021).
The decision has been taken out of an abundance of caution to reduce the risk of this variant, which has been shown to spread more readily between individuals, entering the Australian community.
All green safe travel zone passengers from New Zealand currently en route to Australia, or with planned travel to Australia in the next 72 hours will be required to enter mandatory hotel quarantine for up to 14 days on arrival or take other action based on the requirements of the relevant State and Territory Governments.
It is recommended all passengers from New Zealand with a green safe travel zone flight scheduled in the next 72 hours, reconsider their need to travel.
The Federal Government has advised all State and Territory governments and the New Zealand Government of these changes.
Anyone who has arrived into Australia on a flight from New Zealand on or since January 14 is asked to isolate and arrange to get tested, and to remain in isolation until you have received a negative test.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has today provisionally approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in Australia.
The Pfizer vaccine has met strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy.
The TGA provisional approval is for individuals 16 years of age and older. Two doses will be required – at least 21 days apart.
A priority group of Australians are expected to now receive their first dose of the vaccine as soon as it can be received from Pfizer and the necessary checks are undertaken by the TGA, prior to its distribution.
The latest advice given to the Government from Pfizer is that shipping and the first vaccinations are expected to be in late February.
If there are delays in shipping or production, the possibility remains that commencement could be in early March, however guidance remains for late February.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the TGA approval was an important step in the fight against COVID-19.
“I welcome the TGA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine, with our own Australian experts finding it is safe, effective and of a high standard,” the Prime Minister said.
“Australians should take confidence in the thorough and careful approach taken by our world-class safety regulator.
“Our priority has always been to keep Australians safe and protect lives and livelihoods. Today’s approval is another big step forward for our community, particularly in the protection of our most vulnerable people.”
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the-world class regulators at the TGA have been working tirelessly to introduce a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in Australia.
“The TGA’s processes are I believe the best in the world and we have ensured that they are thorough.” Minister Hunt said.
“The TGA has placed safety above all else.”
“Australia’s high bar has been met; the vaccine has been approved as effective in stopping severe disease. I thank all those involved in the development and assessment of this COVID-19 vaccine, including the researchers, Pfizer, BioNTech and the medical experts at the TGA who have worked around the clock and over Christmas.”
“This approval and the upcoming roll out of the vaccine will play an important part in our ability to manage the pandemic in 2021.”
“Australia’s vaccination program has been based on the medical advice from the medical expert panel led by Professor Brendan Murphy. As a result we are in the fortunate position of having secured 140 million doses of vaccine, one of the highest per capita rates in the world. We will continue to review the medical advice and monitor and adapt to developments around the world,” Minister Hunt said.
The Government continues to work with Pfizer on the final date of delivery of vaccines, noting that Pfizer has experienced some temporary production delays from its European manufacturing plant as it ramps up production to meet extraordinary global demand.
The Government’s latest advice remains that the first doses of Pfizer are expected to arrive and be rolled out in late February. Final dates will be confirmed by Pfizer shortly and are subject to shipping and distribution.
In Australia the vaccine will be rolled out in five phases over the coming months and, over time, will involve more than 1,000 vaccination administration sites.
Head of the TGA, Adjunct Professor John Skerritt said the TGA has been working non-stop to get the Pfizer vaccine assessed, while maintaining the most rigorous standards of safety, quality and efficacy.
“I would like to thank our clinical and medical officers, scientists, pharmacists and experts in statistics, laboratory analysis and manufacturing assessment who have worked tirelessly on assessing this vaccine,” Adjunct Professor Skerritt said.
“We’re thrilled to have this product pass the rigorous regulatory process and receive provisional approval.”
“Our job is by no means done. In fact the monitoring of vaccine safety post-approval is an important part of the regulatory review of vaccines.
“We now check the individual batches of vaccines that are destined for Australians while closely monitoring the safety and efficacy of the vaccine as it is rolled out.
“We will also continue our work on the regulatory review for potential approval of other vaccines, notably the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines, as well as vaccines delivered through the COVAX facility.”
As the rollout begins across 30 – 50 hospital sites, people who need protection the most will get the vaccine first. This includes aged care and disability care residents and workers, frontline health care workers, and quarantine and border workers.
The priority groups have been determined based on the advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) which oversees Australia’s highly successful immunisation program.
“There is intense ongoing work which will continue over the coming month, including batch testing of newly arrived doses, establishing cold storage facilities for the vaccine, training health providers to administer it, finalising distribution sites with states and territories, checking sites and protective equipment for safety, and scaling up systems for ongoing safety monitoring,” Minister Hunt said.
The Australia Government, states and territories, regulators and the health and medical sectors are working together to finalise arrangements under the Australian Vaccination Strategy and detailed roll out plans. Further information about the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine National Roll-out Strategy can be found here.

The Greens call on the Queensland and federal governments to reject Arrow Energy’s massive expansion proposal to drill hundreds of new coal seam gas wells at Hopeland in the Western Downs Region and lay 440km of pipelines in fertile farm land.
Arrow Energy has applied to increase its number of coal seam gas wells at the Hopeland site from six to 286. The state government previously declared the area off-limits for future coal seam gas projects after land and groundwater was contaminated by the Linc Energy underground coal gasification disaster.
Greens Leader in the Senate and spokesperson for mining and resources, Senator Larissa Waters, said:
“The Linc Energy project was one of Queensland’s worst environmental scandals. The Queensland Government recognised the extent of damage when it set a no-go zone in the area for future coal seam gas projects and I call upon them to now reject Arrow’s expansion proposal outright.
“I also call on the federal government to reject Arrow’s application as ‘clearly unacceptable’, given the obvious threats the project poses to the region’s groundwater.
“The Greens will always stand up for our communities, our farmland, our water, and our climate in the face of corporate interests and mining magnates.
“Governments need to stop sacrificing our farmland to the highest bidder. We must protect our precious food-producing land, respect the rights of farmers and traditional owners, and stop our water from being contaminated and the climate crisis turbo-charged by leaking gas (fugitive emissions).
“That’s why for the last 10 years I’ve had a private members bill before the Senate to give landholders the legal right to say no to coal seam gas and to ban fracking, but the big parties who take donations from the fossil fuel industry keep voting against it.
“Noting the Prime Minister’s obsession with the misnomer of a gas-led recovery, I will be asking in parliament about the treatment of Arrow’s huge expansion proposals and what it will take for the government to start protecting rural communities from the massive risk to water, the climate and farm land.”
“I also encourage all farmers to lodge an objection to Arrow Energy’s expansion application to the Queensland government by 15 February.
“It’s time state and federal governments listened to scientists, farmers and First Nations Peoples about the risks to land, water and climate. You can’t eat coal or drink gas,” concluded Senator Waters.

The Australian Government is preparing for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout by securing an additional vaccine workforce and working to deliver essential training to everyone who will administer the vaccinations.
Australia’s vaccine roll out will be carried out through hospitals, General practices, state and Commonwealth vaccination clinics, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and Pharmacies.
This additional vaccination workforce will help support and supplement these existing services and assist in outreach in areas such as aged care and remote and indigenous communities working with existing providers.
Through our plan, a panel of four providers have been appointed who will be called upon to provide a vaccine workforce to supplement the existing immunisation workforce for specific populations.
The providers are Aspen Medical, Healthcare Australia, International SOS, and Sonic Clinical Services.
These providers have established their capability and capacity to provide a skilled workforce, particularly for some of the most vulnerable groups throughout each state and territory.
The Australian Government has been closely monitoring the immunisation programs operating overseas, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, and one of the critical requirements has been the availability of a ready and capable immunisation workforce.
Our vaccination strategy requires the highest levels of operational readiness. As vaccines are approved for use in Australia and our vaccination program commences, we are ensuring the workforce is there to administer the vaccines in an efficient manner, particularly to our priority groups including residential aged care, residential disability, and carers.
This vaccine workforce will support the jurisdictions for their part in the vaccine rollout. We anticipate they will also partner with peak organisations and other providers to assist in administering the vaccine for harder-to-reach populations, such as remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Work is also under way to prepare the necessary and compulsory training which will be required for each and every healthcare professional administering COVID-19 vaccines.
The Australian College of Nursing is leading the preparation of the training materials which will cover the handling and administration of COVID-19 vaccines.
The nature of the COVID-19 vaccines requires immunisers receive information on a range of issues, such as the use of multi-use vials and handling practices for the Pfizer vaccine which requires very low temperatures for storage.
Healthcare professionals and the vaccine workforce will not be able to administer any COVID-19 vaccines without having first completed the training modules.
Australia is in the incredibly fortunate position to be able to look and learn from the vaccine rollouts taking place around the world and to ensure our workforce is ready and trained to do a world class job delivering the vaccine to all Australians who chose to be vaccinated in 2021.
This is a position which we have all worked hard to achieve, by following the health advice and suppressing the spread of the virus in our community.
As reported by the Medical Journal of Australia, the Australian response to COVID-19 may have saved over 16 000 lives according to modelling that used the UK response as a template.
The World Health Organisation has identified Australia as one of the most well prepared health systems in the world, according to a 2018 evaluation report on Australian disaster preparedness.
Our next stage is to issue expressions of interest requests for General Practices and Pharmacists, with that expected to be issued this week as foreshadowed.