Category: Australian News

The preservation of Australia’s historically significant sites and landmarks will be strengthened through a $6 million investment from the Morrison Government, ensuring Australians can continue to experience and learn about their nation’s unique heritage.
Thirty projects across Australia will share $6.2 million to build recognition, management, conservation and public engagement of Australia’s iconic National Heritage List places.
The National Heritage List protects more than 100 of Australia’s outstanding natural, historic and Indigenous heritage places, including ancient rock art sites, outstanding colonial buildings, beaches, and parks.
These landmarks and places are an integral part of our identity, telling stories of the moments that made our unique history. They remind us of how Australian life was in the past and prompt us to reflect on how we hope to live in the future.
For the first time, this funding round includes recognition of Indigenous and natural heritage places as well as all sites with historic heritage values.
This is the first round delivered under the Australian Heritage Grants Program, announced in the 2018 budget. Up to $21.4 million is being made available from 2018-19 to 2021-22, with $5.7 million per annum provided from 2022-23 onwards.
This funding replaces the previous Protecting National Heritage Sites Program and the National Trusts Partnership Program, and builds on the Government’s commitment to preserving Australia’s history.
Over the last seven years, $36 million has been invested to support the work of owners and managers of historic places and sites on the National Heritage List.
In last month’s Budget, the Government committed $21.4 million for infrastructure upgrades at key defence heritage sites around Sydney Harbour enabling community, educational and recreational use.
The Government is also investing up to $216 million to upgrade the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park and support the township of Jabiru.
http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/grants-and-…

The Coalition Government is delivering $4.62 million in rebates for drought-hit livestock farmers to put in new water infrastructure.
Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud said the rebate helps WA’s drought-hit farmers to put in new water infrastructure that improves drought resilience.
“Smart water use and drought resilience go hand-in-hand,” Minister Littleproud said
“Under the scheme eligible WA farmers can claim up to a quarter the cost of buying and installing new on-farm infrastructure.
“It’s important we keep supporting drought-affected farmers and help them prepare for future droughts too.
“The rebate will help farmers be more productive by installing new water infrastructure, while improving drought resilience and addressing livestock welfare needs.”
“The rebate can be used for putting in new pipes, water tanks, pumps, distilling dams, and power plants that drive the new water equipment.
“A 25 per cent rebate of up to $25,000 can be claimed on eligible water projects to enhance drought resilience for farmers.
The Western Australian rebates are part of the $50 million On-Farm Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate scheme.
The program will be delivered through the WA Department of Agriculture and Food.
For more information visit agriculture.gov.au/water/national/on-farm-infrastructure-rebate.

The Coalition’s Child Care Subsidy is leaving more money in the pockets of parents.
Out-of-pocket child care costs have reduced by 8.9 per cent since the Coalition introduced the Child Care Subsidy on 2 July 2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ consumer price index (CPI) released today.
Minister for Education Dan Tehan said the Coalition provided around $8 billion for the Child Care Subsidy in this year’s Budget to support parents with the cost of child care while they’re working, training, studying or volunteering.
“Nearly one million families are benefitting from the Coalition’s child care reforms,” Mr Tehan said.
“We have removed the annual rebate cap for most families, increased the subsidies for low and middle income families and provided a generous safety net to support children and families who need extra help.
“We can afford to provide a generous child care subsidy that means families are keeping more of their money in their pockets because we can manage the economy.
“Labor can’t be trusted to run the economy and if they can’t run the economy they can’t guarantee they’ll pay for the child care subsidy that is supporting hard-working families.
“That’s why Labor is the Bill Australia can’t afford.”

A re-elected Morrison Government will invest up to $2 million for Multicultural Community Amenities Grants in the Northern Territory to help with greater social and economic participation.
Multicultural Community associations play a key role connecting Territorians with new cultures and promoting inclusion. These grants will assist existing Northern Territory multicultural service or community groups to fully participate in social, economic and sporting life in the NT.
Grant applications up to a maximum of $50,000 with matched funding for up to 12 months will be available.
The objectives of the Multicultural Community Amenities Grants are to more effectively facilitate integration and diversity activities that encourage diverse communities to come together around a shared opportunity or challenge, and in turn help build understanding and trust.
These grants will support the Government’s commitment to keeping Australians together by building stronger and more connected communities.

A Shorten Labor Government will get historically low wages moving again by acting on job security.
Labor will legislate to allow workers the right to request permanent part-time or full-time employment after 12 months with the same employer.
Too many Australians are employed as casuals with no clear prospect of a permanent position and endless job insecurity.
Too often, long-term casual work is used as a mechanism to pay workers less, deprive them of leave, and make them easier to sack.
In Australia, 2.6 million workers are considered casual – that’s one in four workers who are not entitled to paid leave. More than half of them have been with their employer for more than 12 months (59 per cent) and 192,000 workers have been with their current employer for more than 10 years.
While some people like the flexibility that casual work provides, for others it has become a constant worry: never knowing what it’s like to have a paid sick day or paid holiday.
For these workers it’s tough to pay the rent or the mortgage and the bills, let alone make longer-term decisions like taking out a car loan or buying their own home.
That is why we will give long-term casuals the right to request permanent part-time or full-time employment after 12 months.
Labor will also provide workers with a right to challenge an employer who unreasonably refuses such a request.
Currently, there is no obligation for an employer to convert a worker to a permanent arrangement, and the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has failed to act, denying there is a problem.
Labor’s policy builds on a recent decision of the Fair Work Commission, which provides a right for casual employees on modern awards to request to convert to part-time or full-time employment if they have worked a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis in the previous 12 months.
Labor has previously committed to clearly define “casual” work – so employers and workers know with certainty whether a worker is really a “casual”.
Labor’s policy on casuals will help to get wages moving again, together with Labor’s plans to:

• Reverse the cuts to penalty rates.
• Protect Australians from unfair labour hire.
• Raise the floor on wages.

This is in stark contrast to Scott Morrison and the Liberals and Nationals, who will say and do anything to try and win votes, including claiming they support workers.
Matt Canavan and George Christensen, both Queensland Nationals, have posted false claims on Facebook that the Government has sought to legislate to provide casual workers with a right to convert to permanent employment. Neither claim is true.
For over five years, this government has denied there is a problem with casualisation and precarious work. Their only plan is to cut penalty rates and keep wages low. The Finance Minister recently claimed keeping wages low is a “deliberate design feature”.
This election is a choice between Labor’s plans to get wages moving again, and the Liberals’ plans to cut penalty rates and deliver bigger tax loopholes for the top end of town.
After six years of Liberal cuts and chaos, our united Labor team is ready to deliver a fair go for all Australians.

A Shorten Labor Government will invest in 56,000 new apprenticeships and TAFE places with no upfront fees for Queenslanders as part of our Queensland Skills Guarantee.
The LNP has made massive cuts to TAFE and skills training so they can give bigger tax handouts to the top end of town. Labor will stop the LNP cuts.
Skills shortages should not last a day longer than it takes to train a local – and Labor will make sure Queenslanders can get the skills they need to secure local jobs.
The equation is simple. If Queenslanders can’t access the right training, they will miss out on local jobs.
Under the LNP, Australian apprenticeships have plummeted by 34 per cent in Queensland – with over 29,000 apprenticeships and traineeships lost since 2013.
TAFE enrolments have also dropped by 25 per cent nationally.
This is despite the fact that nine in 10 jobs will need a TAFE or university qualification in the coming years.
A Shorten Labor Government will turn this around by investing more than $1 billion in TAFE and apprenticeships. This will mean more opportunities for Queenslanders, including:

• 20,000 TAFE places with no up-front fees – so Queenslanders can get skills in growing industries.
• Additional Apprentice Incentives for an extra 30,000 apprentices in areas of skills shortage – helping to reverse the decline that has occurred under the LNP.
• 2,000 pre-apprenticeship places for young Queenslanders – to give young Queenslanders at risk of unemployment the support they need to get into a trade.
• 4,000 Advanced Entry Adult Apprenticeships – to support Queenslanders to get their skills recognised and complete an apprenticeship when the economy changes.

A Shorten Labor Government will also guarantee at least two in three public vocational education dollars goes to TAFE. And we will require one in 10 jobs on major Commonwealth and Defence projects to be an apprentice.
We will also work with the State Labor Government to re-build and renew TAFE facilities across the state as part of our $200 million Building TAFE for the Future Fund.
This election is a choice between Labor’s plan for better TAFE and more apprenticeships or bigger tax loopholes for the top end of town under the LNP – paid for by bigger cuts to the services families rely on.
After six years of LNP cuts and chaos, our united Labor team is ready to deliver a fair go for all Australians, not just the top end of town.

Labor will replace the failed Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) with a new fund that will help build nationally important infrastructure projects like gas pipelines across Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Four years after the $5 billion NAIF was first announced by the Abbott Government, not a single cent has yet been spent in Queensland.
In four years, only $15 million has been spent by the NAIF on infrastructure projects in Northern Australia. It has spent the same on salaries of staff and board members.
It has also been revealed that half of the board members are donors to the LNP.
The NAIF has been an abject failure.
Labor’s Northern Australia Development Fund will provide a financing facility and work with infrastructure Australia to identify and support projects of national economic significance – such as gas pipelines – in Australia’s north.
As part of these changes, up to $1.5 billion will be set aside to unlock gas supply in Queensland’s Galilee and Bowen basins and connecting the Beetaloo to Darwin and the east coast. This project would support Darwin as a manufacturing and gas export powerhouse as well as increasing supply to Queensland and the eastern seaboard to put downward pressure on prices for gas users. Opening up the Beetaloo alone could provide enough gas to supply the domestic market for up to 400 years.
Two weeks ago, the Auditor-General handed down a scathing report on the failed NAIF.
Labor will take into account all of the Auditor-General’s recommendations in the design of the new fund.
As part of these reforms we will also:

• Allocate $1 billion from the Northern Australia Development Fund to tourism projects in the north.
• Appoint First Nations people to the new board of the Northern Australia Development Fund.
• Publicly release the First Nations job and procurement plans of all funded projects.
• Establish an MOU with Indigenous Business Australia to provide additional financial support to First Nations-led business in the north.
• Establish an MOU with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Energy Security Modernisation Fund (ESMF) to avoid end duplication and support cooperation between the funds.
• Labor will also honour existing projects and keep the funding allocation to the existing NAIF of $5 billion.

Australian Greens Senator for WA Jordon Steele-John is in even greater danger of losing his seat to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, after today’s ballot draw placed the far-right party in first position on the Senate ballot paper.

Senator Steele-John said in the face of so much hate and division from the ever-increasing number of far-right parties, it had never been more important to ensure the Greens maintained a strong Senate presence.
“Our seat here in WA is under threat from the politics of fear, hate and division at a time when we need compassion, and urgent action on the issues facing all of us: climate change, growing economic inequality and corporate influence in our democracy!
“We have a comprehensive, fully-costed plan to address these issues and ensure that we all have what we need to live a good life, but to do that we have to hold onto our Senate seat here in WA.”
The Greens (WA) are putting their focus squarely on young people this election, fielding ten candidates who are under the age of 35, lead by 24 year old Senator Jordon Steele-John.
More than 40 per cent of the Australian population is made up of people under the age of 35, yet there are only 2 elected members of Parliament currently in that age group out of 227 seats across both houses – or less than 1 per cent.
There are also 5 candidate in Greens (WA) 2019 team who identify as members of the LGBTQI+ community, and 3 candidates from culturaly and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Senator Steele-john said he was excited to be part of a team that reflected the diversity of backgrounds and experiences seen across Western Australia’s diverse communities, and proud to be leading a team of young candidates in what is shaping up to be a climate change election.

“We are the people who live with the consequences of the decisions made by this government – the inaction on climate change, the dismantling of our progressive taxation system and the cutting of our services – it only makes sense that we should be better represented in the Federal Patrliament.

“Our movement is committed to strong action on climate change, free tertiary education and world class services so that we all have what we need to live a good life. We want to clean up politics by getting rid of corporate money and influence from our democratic system.

“Our Green movement is fighting for a future for all of us, not just the wealthy few, which is why I am so proud to be your Lead Senate candidate for WA this Federal Election.”

The Greens (WA) were 4th on the ballot draw out of 23 groups and 5 individuals.

The Coalition Government will convert the records of Australia’s Second World War servicemen and women into digital files as part of a new program focused on recognising the service of our veterans.
The digital records will make them easier to access so Australians can discover the as yet untold stories of their relatives and how they defended our nation during times of war.
Around 80 per cent of our 1,062,000 WWII service records are yet to be digitised through the National Archives of Australia.
Next year marks the 75^th Anniversary of the end of WWII and we want to ensure Australians can remember and understand the service and sacrifice of those who came before us.
The digitised records will be freely available to all Australians wherever they live and will provide a comprehensive source of information for students, journalists, authors, academics, and families interested in knowing about the service of our Defence Forces.
This initiative will build on the Howard Government’s “Gift to the Nation”, which saw the full digitisation of the First World War service records.
The Morrison Government will also expand the well-known Saluting Their Service grants program by delivering an extra $10 million so local communities can honour the service and sacrifice of our veterans, with a particular focus on commemorating the Second World War and beyond. We will also increase the maximum amount available for community grants from $4,000 to $10,000 to ensure local communities can commemorate this important anniversary appropriately.
Remembering our veterans’ service doesn’t just happen in Australia so we will invest up to $10 million to work with the Government of Papua New Guinea and local landowners on projects to commemorate the bonds between Australia and PNG from the Second World War, particularly around the Kokoda Track.
We will rollout the second stage of the successful ANZAC 360 app with $154,000. It will focus on key Second World War battles and campaigns in South East Asia, using virtual reality and 360 degree drone technology and we will undertake scoping studies to develop a new interpretive facility near the Bomona Commonwealth War Cemetery in Port Moresby and to replace aging facilities at Sandakan Memorial Park in Malaysia.
Of those on active service in WWII, more than 27,000 were killed in action or died; over 23,000 were wounded and over 30,000 were taken prisoner of war. This is an important milestone for millions of Australians whose ancestors served their nation bravely during this conflict.
The Coalition will continue to put veterans and their families first.

The Coalition will boost support for veterans and their families as part of a $63.2 million suite of initiatives to create Veterans’ Wellbeing Centres across the country, deliver job opportunities and secure health and housing services for the future.
We will invest $30 million in a network of six new Veterans’ Wellbeing Centres that will bring together the key services for our veterans and their families.
The new Centres will integrate government and non-government support for Australians who have served in our Defence Forces with local health services community organisations, advocacy and wellbeing support. They will partner with ex-service organisations and state and territory governments across Australia.
Our government has a strong track record delivering services and support to our veterans and their families. We understand the role that ex-service organisations play in supporting veterans after their service has concluded.
In order to support them to deliver those services, we want to help more organisations find more veterans meaningful civilian jobs. That’s why we will also invest $16.2 million to support organisations including Soldier On, Team Rubicon and State Branches of the RSL. Along with other ex-service organisations, these groups will also be able to use the new Veterans’ Wellbeing Centres to deliver their services.
We know how important exercise physiology and physiotherapy are for Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI) veterans so we will deliver an extra $17 million to exempt them from the new ‘Treatment Cycle’ requirements that were due to commence on 1 July 2019, allowing TPI veterans to continue to access these important allied health services under existing arrangements.
A re-elected Morrison Government will also make it easier for veterans to access the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme. We will extend the time for eligible veterans to access the program from two to five years after they complete their ADF service. This will allow veterans and their families more time to settle their affairs and find a home once their service has been completed.
We will also extend eligibility to the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme to allow any current or former ADF member who has at least one day of service to access home building insurance through the Scheme. That means veterans can access more competitively priced home building insurance, particularly in disaster prone areas, which will lower the cost of living for veterans and their families, particularly in northern Australia.
The Coalition has introduced legislation to create an Australian Veterans’ Covenant, which, in partnership with the ex-service community, will formally recognise the unique nature of military service and acknowledge and honour the service and sacrifice of our service personnel.
We also understand it is important our veterans are appropriately recognised by the community and businesses, even when they’re not wearing their medals and uniforms. That’s why we’ve launched the Australian Veterans’ Card and Lapel Pin, so veterans can be appropriately recognised, including by businesses who want to offer special discounts and offers to veterans.
The Coalition’s plan to put our veterans and their families first builds on an extensive record of support for veterans:

• The record $11 billion we deliver to support 280,000 veterans and their families each year
• Extending access to the DVA Gold Card for civilian medical teams in the Vietnam War
• $500 million we’ve committed to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs to better meet the needs of veterans and their families
• $100 million we invested in the Sir John Monash Centre in France
• $498 million committed over the next nine years to redevelop the Australian War Memorial and allow the Memorial to display more of their collection and proudly tell the stories from recent years in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Solomon Islands and East Timor.
• Delivering our $1.4 billion in fairer indexation for military superannuants
• Supporting Kookaburra Kids to help the children of veterans affected by mental illness.
• Cutting waiting times for claims through the Department and streamlining the process through the new MyService system

Only the Coalition can be trusted to deliver for veterans and their families.