Category: Australian News

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) today released today which shows that over the last five years, employer action is improving workplace gender equality. The Agency’s Director, Libby Lyons, is launching the 2017-18 WGEA data at the National Press Club in Canberra today.
The WGEA data records a steady increase in the number of women in management roles and strong growth in employer action in areas such as overall gender equality policies and strategies, pay equity and flexible work.
The gender pay gap has declined every year and this year has seen the biggest single-year drop (down 1.1pp) in the average full-time total remuneration gender pay gap.
However, the data confirms that we still have a long way to go. There are pay gaps favouring men in every industry and occupation and women earn, on average, just 79% of men’s full-time total remuneration salaries.
The five-year data trends also show virtually no movement in gender segregation across Australian industries and little improvement in either access to paid parental leave or the representation of women at CEO level or on boards.
Ms Lyons said the Agency’s dataset shows that employer action has delivered real outcomes but that women still face considerable barriers in Australia’s workplaces.
“The five years of data collection demonstrates the value of measuring workplace gender equality. We have clear evidence that employer action delivers real results and we should recognise the great work many employers have done in addressing issues such as pay equity. As employers have taken action, the gender pay gap has declined and gender equality outcomes for women and men across Australia have improved.
“Another positive result is that women have increased their presence in management over the past five years. Women now comprise almost 40% of the managers in our dataset and almost a third of key management personnel, which is just under the CEO level, are now women.
“However, our data also highlights areas for improvement. Although the gender pay gap has narrowed every year, progress is too slow. Access to parental leave has not improved, with the provision of paid primary carer’s leave actually going backwards. The glass walls persist in industry segregation, which remains deeply entrenched in Australia. The glass ceiling is still a barrier for women at the CEO and board levels.
“The first five years of data shows where we are seeing positive change and where we need to make more effort. We now need even more employers to take action so that we can accelerate the momentum for gender equality in Australian workplaces,” said Ms Lyons.

A Shorten Labor Government will reverse Scott Morrison’s $323,000 cut to Foodbank.
Foodbank is a food relief organisation that puts food on the table for hundreds of thousands of Australians in need – many of them children.
The organisation provides 67 million meals a year to charities across the country, as well as more than 1,750 schools. They are Australia’s largest food provider to schools for breakfast programs.
Foodbank does an extraordinary job partnering with the food and grocery industry to recover excess or unsaleable products that can be delivered to Australians in need. They work hard to distribute food and groceries with a value of more than $200 million.
They do not need much support from government, nor do they ask for much.
However, they rely on a relatively small amount of funding from the federal government to ensure there are no gaps in their supply of essential food items each day.
The Liberals’ cut puts Foodbank’s Key Staples Program at risk, which helps provide more than $8 million worth of essential food items for Australians.
This cut comes just six weeks from Christmas, and will be delivered during the holiday period – a difficult time for many vulnerable families.
The Government’s cut will have a major impact on Foodbank’s supplies, and risks compromising their ability to distribute emergency food relief during natural disasters.
It could mean that charities have to cut the number of meals they provide each day, vulnerable families miss out on groceries they rely on, and kids miss out on breakfast at school.
This is all about priorities. The Liberals care more about a tax giveaway to the big banks than helping Australians in need.
Labor urges Scott Morrison to acknowledge his government has made a big mistake and reverse this decision. This is not an issue to be stubborn and arrogant about.
If Mr Morrison refuses to reverse his cut, a Shorten Labor Government will.
Labor will make sure our charities have the resources they need to support our fellow Australians, especially children.

More Paralympic athletes will be given the opportunity to train at Essendon Football Club’s world-class home base, The Hangar, with a Shorten Labor Government to invest $4 million to support the expansion of disability sport programs.
The Essendon Football Club has established a successful partnership with the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC), enabling Paralympic athletes to use the facilities throughout the year.
Labor’s investment will strengthen this partnership with the construction of wheelchair-accessible dormitory accommodation, improving access to facilities at The Hangar for athletes with disabilities, reducing APC program operating costs and providing new opportunities for disability sport participation, and talent identification activities.
The accommodation will support national wheelchair basketball, rugby and table tennis programs and also enable national camps for summer Paralympic sports including football, volleyball, boccia, goalball.
More than 160 additional para-sport athletes will be able to participate and the dormitories will also support multi-sport Para talent development and wheelchair Aussie rules camps.
This investment supports Essendon’s expansion of The Hangar, with new and enhanced facilities and a dedicated space for the APC Sport Hall of Fame to showcase the history of the Paralympic movement in Australia.
This builds on Labor’s record of supporting Paralympians and disability sport access.
In Government, Labor invested $6 million in the ground-breaking partnership between Essendon and the APC, which has seen the club provide the APC with administration, training and recovery facilities at no charge.
This partnership has enabled the APC and partner para-sports to deliver more funding directly to programs supporting Australia’s elite and aspiring athletes with disabilities.
Labor has today committed to invest in further strengthening that partnership, to improve and increase the resources available to Australia’s para-athletes.
Labor’s investment will mean current and future generations of para-sport athletes have access to the world-class facilities and support that matches their world-class talent.

The latest scorecard from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows an alarming continuation of the gender pay gap that won’t be closed for decades, Greens spokesperson for women, Senator Larissa Waters said.
“We’ve still got a 16.2 per cent gap in what men and women get paid – it’s clearly still far better to be a bloke in this country when it comes to salary,” Senator Waters said.
“There has been a small, welcome decline overall, but the fact men still earn $25000 more every year on average than women is outrageous.
“There is no good reason for that and the only explanation for it is sexism.”
Senator Waters said the report shows while more employers are conducting pay gap analyses, more than 40 per cent are still not following them up with action.
“The WGEA needs to be given more teeth to force employers to plug the ‘action gap’ once they realise they have a pay gap,” Senator Waters said.
“The Greens’ bill to ban ‘pay gag clauses’ which are used to disguise the gender pay gap would also help, as would our plans to encourage more men to take parental leave, boost women’s financial security and make workplaces more family friendly.
“We need leadership on this issue but instead we have a PM who hasn’t said a word on gender quality, not even on the epidemic of domestic violence which is killing more than one woman a week.
“If Mr Morrison can’t stand up for 50 per cent of the population he has no place being Prime Minister. He should stop delaying his inevitable sacking by the Australian people and call an election.”
There is however a growing increasingly vocal argument that the so-called gender pay gap is simply an invention of those trying to advance their political careers making use of the women’s movement. Other spokes people point to the “lazy” choices that women make during their career and the failure of many women to achieve academically at the same level as men as the real cause of pay disparity. The people pushing this agenda would have women who have both not achieved at the same level paid the same automatically and those who choose family time over their career the same. Put simply women often get paid less because they often work less.
 

Funding cuts to Foodbank are cruel and will be a significant blow to Victoria’s regional communities doing it tough and suffering through drought, say the Greens.
“These cuts are unnecessary and cruel, and they will have a significant impact on people who are struggling in Victoria’s rural and regional communities,” said Senator Janet Rice, Australian Greens agriculture and rural affairs spokesperson.
“We have a government that is going around spruiking how much it’s doing for drought-affected farmers and communities, at the same time they’re slashing funding to Foodbank, which provides 67 million meals per year.”
“More than 1.5 million people living in remote and rural regions have experienced food insecurity in the last twelve months.”
“The reality of these cuts is that people will go hungry.”
“With 3 million Australians categorised as having very low food security, the government should be doing all it can to support programs like Foodbank, not cutting its much-needed funding.”
“It’s coming up to Christmas and families will be going hungry. Where is the Prime Minister’s Christmas spirit?”

The ACCC has instituted Federal Court proceedings against Productivity Partners Pty Ltd, trading as Captain Cook College, alleging systemic unconscionable conduct in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
The ACCC alleges that from 7 September 2015, Captain Cook College removed consumer safeguards from its enrolment and withdrawal processes for online courses to improve its financial performance.
“We allege that Captain Cook College engaged in systemic unconscionable conduct designed to maximise profit at the expense of their students,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said.
“We are very concerned by Captain Cook College’s decision to make process changes that we will submit removed consumer safeguards. We allege that this significantly reduced the College’s ability to detect misconduct by its sales agents and assess a consumer’s suitability or participation in the course they had been enrolled in.”
“We further allege that the removal of consumer safeguards increased the number of students that Captain Cook College enrolled and who remained enrolled, allowing the College to increase VET FEE-HELP payments from the Commonwealth,” Ms Court said.
Approximately 5,500 affected consumers whose enrolment was processed during the period from 7 September 2015 have VET FEE-HELP debt, totalling over $60 million. Around 98% of those 5,500 consumers failed to complete any part of the course they were enrolled in, and around 86% never even logged in to their online course.
In these proceedings, it is also alleged that Captain Cook College made false or misleading representations, engaged in unconscionable conduct and failed to provide unsolicited consumer agreement protections in its dealings with four individual consumers.
The ACCC has also alleged that Ian Cook (former Captain Cook College CEO), Site Group International Limited (Site, the parent company of Captain Cook College) and Blake Wills (former COO of Site) were knowingly concerned in Captain Cook College’s systemic unconscionable conduct.
“We will not hesitate to take appropriate action against businesses and executives who treat consumers unconscionably in breach of the Australian Consumer Law,” Ms Court said.
The ACCC is seeking pecuniary penalties, declarations, corrective notices, adverse publicity orders, finding of fact orders and orders requiring the implementation of a consumer law compliance program, as well as costs. The ACCC is also seeking orders disqualifying Ian Cook and Blake Wills from managing corporations.
Consumers with concerns about their VET provider can contact the VET Student Loans Ombudsman atwww.ombudsman.gov.au/vslo(link is external) and complete the online complaint form.

Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud has welcomed news Queensland Police have charged an alleged offender over planting needles in strawberries.​
The 50-year-old woman will face court in Brisbane today.
“I congratulate Queensland Police for working hard on this issue,” Minister Littleproud said.
“I think many had assumed no-one would ever be charged over these serious offences.
“Everyone has the right to the presumption of innocence and their day in court, and that process has to be allowed to run its course.
“But I’m glad police kept at it long after the media attention died down.
“The needles-in-strawberries scandal has cost our farmers millions during tough times.
“Summer and Christmas are important times of year for strawberry growers and I hope news of an alleged offender being charged also brings growers some mental relief.”

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) hosted Singaporean Senior Minister of State (Defence) Heng Chee How at RAAF Base Pearce today to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Republic of Singapore Air Force training at the base.
Australia and Singapore are close and longstanding partners, with shared interests in regional security and stability.
Senior Australian Defence Force Officer, RAAF Base Pearce, Wing Commander Brett Mitchell said Defence was pleased to be able to support the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s pilot training.
“The people-to-people and military linkages developed through this arrangement are invaluable.
Every current Republic of Singapore Air Force pilot has undertaken training at RAAF Base Pearce where the Singapore Flying Training Institute is located, which is testament to the close and enduring nature of our bilateral relationship,” Wing Commander Mitchell said.

The Federal Court today dismissed an application by Moses Obeid for leave to appeal the Court’s earlier refusal to grant a suppression order over part of its reasons in an alleged bid rigging case brought by the ACCC.
On 6 July 2018 the Federal Court dismissed proceedings brought by the ACCC against 11 respondents for alleged bid-rigging conduct. These proceedings related to the 2009 tender process conducted by the then NSW Department of Primary Industries for exploration licences over the Mount Penny and Glendon Brook coal tenements in the Bylong Valley.  One respondent, Loyal Coal Pty Ltd (Loyal), admitted liability before the trial took place.
The ACCC filed an appeal from that judgment on 3 August 2018. This appeal is yet to be to be heard.
On 6 July 2018 Moses Obeid also sought a suppression order over part of the Court’s reasons.
This application was refused by the Court but in the meantime part of the reasons have remained the subject of interim suppression orders pending resolution of an application by Moses Obeid for leave to appeal that decision.
The decision of the Court today means that the judgment of 6 July 2018 is no longer subject to any suppression order.
Background
The ACCC’s investigation followed the report by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in its Operation Jasper investigation concerning the same tender process.
The ACCC alleged that Cascade had entered into a contract, arrangement or understanding with Loyal, three of its affiliated companies and United Pastoral Group for Loyal to withdraw from the NSW Government’s tender process for the Mount Penny and Glendon Brook mines.
As part of the arrangement, Cascade would then grant one of the Loyal affiliated companies, Buffalo Resources, a 25 per cent interest in the Mount Penny coal release area and agree to buy the properties of some landowners, who were represented by Paul and Moses Obeid, at four times the land value, and to take over their mortgage obligations.
Loyal subsequently withdrew its bid, and Cascade won the tender for the Mount Penny and Glendon Brook coal release areas.
The ACCC also alleged that in 2010, Buffalo Resources transferred ownership of the 25 per cent interest to another company, Southeast Investment Group, which later sold the interest back to an entity affiliated with Cascade and controlled by Richard Poole.
As a result of the sale, Southeast Investments accepted $60 million in benefits, including approximately $30 million in cash payments, which was distributed to beneficiaries of the Obeid Family Trust No. 2, including Paul and Moses Obeid and their immediate families.
The ACCC instituted proceedings in May 2015 against 11 respondents as follows:

• Cascade Coal Pty Ltd (Cascade) and an associated company, Coal & Minerals Group (CMG), and the following individuals:
  • John McGuigan, director of Cascade;
  • Richard Poole, a former director of Cascade;
  • James McGuigan, a representative of Cascade;
• Moses and Paul Obeid;
• Companies associated with Moses and Paul Obeid, namely:
  • Loyal Coal Pty Ltd (Loyal);
  • Locaway Pty Ltd (Locaway);
  • Mincorp Investments Pty Ltd, formerly Voope Pty Ltd (Voope); and
  • Southeast Investment Group Pty Ltd (Southeast Investments).

In April 2016, Loyal admitted to bid rigging in breach of the cartel laws, and agreed to resolve the ACCC’s proceedings brought against it. That settlement has yet to be finalised by the Court.
The hearing took place from 4 April 2016 to 28 April 2016.  Judgment was delivered on 6 July 2018.

Over 700 Australians were diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2017—equating to 2 cases diagnosed per day—according to the latest data released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The report, Mesothelioma in Australia, is the first report on the subject since the AIHW took over management of the Australian Mesothelioma Registry (AMR) in 2017.
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer in the mesothelium—the protective lining on the inside of body cavities and the outside of internal organs, such as the lungs, heart and bowel. Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer, and its primary cause is exposure to asbestos.
‘Before being banned in Australia in 2004, asbestos was used in more than 3,000 products in the construction industry, in industrial plants and equipment, and in ships, trains and cars,’ said AIHW spokesperson Dr Lynelle Moon.
A large amount of asbestos still remains in buildings and other infrastructure, and thousands of different products containing asbestos are still in use today.
Dr Moon said that Australia has one of the highest incidence rates of mesothelioma in the world, with between 700 and 800 people diagnosed each year.
‘In 2017, 710 Australians were diagnosed with mesothelioma, with most cases—592—among men,’ she said.
‘This is largely due to the higher proportion of males working in industries where asbestos exposure may have occurred in the past, such as construction.’
Of the people with mesothelioma who provided details of their occupations and residence since the AMR was established in 2010, 93% were considered to have experienced some level of exposure to asbestos during their lives. For men, most exposure was considered to be occupational, while for most females it was non-occupational (such as exposure while living in a house where asbestos was present).
Among states and territories for which data was available, the rate of mesothelioma was highest in Western Australia, with 4.9 cases diagnosed for every 100,000 people. It was lowest in Tasmania, at 1.5 cases per 100,000 people.
While the AMR has only been in operation since July 2010, the AIHW has been able to bring together other data sources (such as national cancer incidence data) to give longer-term insights into this issue in Australia. These data shows a marked increase in the number of new cases of mesothelioma, rising from 157 cases in 1982. To date, the highest overall number of new cases was in 2014, with 770 cases reported.
‘This rise could be due to a number of factors such as increased awareness and improvements in diagnosis. Further, Australia used asbestos extensively until the mid-1970s, and mesothelioma has a delayed onset of 20-30 years from exposure,’
‘Sadly, mesothelioma has a very poor prognosis. It is often diagnosed once it has reached the advanced stages, as early symptoms can go unnoticed or be mistaken as symptoms for other, less serious conditions,’ Dr Moon said.
Mesothelioma survival rates are very low and this has not changed over time.
‘Since the mid-1980s, the 5-year relative survival rate for mesothelioma has averaged 5.4%. For comparison, the 5-year relative survival rate for all cancers combined was 69% in 2010-2014,’ Dr Moon said.
The average time between diagnosis and death is around 11 months according to analysis of all mesothelioma diagnoses and deaths recorded in the Australian Mesothelioma Registry (AMR).
The report was produced in collaboration with the Monash University Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health and an expert advisory group, including representatives from the Bernie Banton Foundation. The Australian Mesothelioma Registry is funded by Safe Work Australia.