Month: May 2020

The tireless work of Australia’s nurses – particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic – have been recognised by the Federal Government as part of International Nurses Day.
Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, said the virus emergency had created challenges for many, none were tougher than for our world-class health professionals working on the frontline.
Today, 12 May, marks the day one of the founders of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, was born.
“Her pioneering work during the Crimean War focused on the importance of sanitation and hygiene including handwashing,” Minister Hunt said.
“These hygiene principles are now at the heart of Australia’s coronavirus response and we have seen it work.”
Minister Hunt said there are more than 390,000 nurses registered in Australia.
“Today is a day when all Australians should stand as one and applaud our amazing nurses,” he said.
Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Richard Colbeck, said more than 31,000 registered nurses and more than 18,000 enrolled nurses are working in aged care across Australia.
“Aged care nurses make up around 14 per cent of Australia’s total nursing workforce and care for more than 1.2 million senior Australians,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Nurses working in aged care lead multidisciplinary teams working in residential aged care facilities and the community.
“In particular, they are ensuring vital infection prevention and control processes are in place to better protect senior Australians in care from this virus.
“The nurses working across aged care are more important than ever.”
Minister for Regional Health, Mark Coulton, said more than 95,000 nurses work outside of Australia’s metropolitan areas — around 27 per cent of the total nursing workforce.
“Nurses are the lifeblood of small communities responding to increasingly complex health needs away from major hospitals,” Minister Coulton said.
“Rural nurses are highly skilled generalists that country communities rely on—often with reduced access to the clinical supports and assistance found in our cities.
“Whether in charge of a clinic or providing nursing care to outback patients, our nurses are valued and respected health professionals in rural, regional and remote communities.”
“Remote nursing organisation CRANAplus has provided important local insights throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the government’s health response meets the needs of regional communities.”
The Australian Government recently provided $4.1 million to fund up to 20,000 new online education places so Registered Nurses (RNs) can further assist in the delivery of care in intensive care and high dependency units across Australia.
Additionally, an online refresher course to allow 3000 RNs who are not currently in clinical practice to update their knowledge to re-join the health workforce is also available.
“Together, we thank and acknowledge Australia’s extraordinary nurses for their ongoing commitment and dedication to deliver exceptional frontline health care during this unprecedented time,” Minister Coulton said.

The Greens will today launch their proposal for an economic stimulus package targeted at engaging the hundreds of thousands of artists and creatives who have lost their jobs during Covid-19, and the thousands more workers who have lost their jobs due to the flow on impact on hospitality and tourism.
The plan comprises three main elements including ‘Creating Australia’s Future’ which would see artists in residence in every school and library across the country, the ‘Billion Stories Fund’ to kick start our local screen industry prioritising Australian stories and children’s content, and ‘Australia Live’ which would inject funding into Australia’s festival, music and live performance sector.
Greens Spokesperson for the Arts Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“The arts and entertainment industry was one of the first to be hit by social distancing restrictions, it has suffered enormously throughout the lockdown and will be one of the last to recover.
“Yet, it has also been an industry so integral to helping Australians get through this crisis. Despite the job losses, social isolation and mental health problems, this anti-arts government has failed to recognise helping the industry to survive helps us all.
“The arts and entertainment industry will be absolutely vital to our economic recovery. Not only are other industries like tourism, hospitality and accommodation all going to benefit from its revival, but the sector is primed for stimulus. The industry can go in early and hard and put money into the pockets of workers who are in great need of an income and are going to spend what they earn. Without action, we stand to lose a generation of artists.
“The Green’s Create Australia plan is jobs rich and a funding commitment of $2.3 billion makes up less than 1% of what the Government has already spent on the Covid-19 response ($320 billion).
“The Morrison Government has a golden opportunity to enhance Australia’s sovereignty and cultural identity. Artists in Residence throughout our schools and libraries will be of enormous educational benefit to students and entire communities.
“Our screen production is world class and with Hollywood all but shut down we should be seizing the opportunity to create more Australian shows and films than ever. The decision by the Federal Government to let broadcasters out of their local content requirements was a kick in the guts to an industry on its knees, the Arts Minister must make amends.
“There can be no denying our arts and entertainment industry has been there for us during times of crisis and even during COVID-19 when many artists don’t even have an income, they’ve still stepped up to keep creating and connecting with community. If we are going to restore our social fabric we need to bring people back together through live performance, when it’s safe to do so, and that is going to take funding support. But it will be worth it as the return on investment from this sector will be enormous and in more ways than one.”
BACKGROUND
Creating Australia’s Future – Artist in Residence Program
A $300million project that would see an Artist in Residence in every school and library in the country. This would enable young artists in particular, to engage their skills while helping to mentor Australia’s youth and students. This project is focused on job creation, community development and building an enhanced appreciation for creative industries. It could of course be used to create community art projects in local areas, whether that is street art, theatre or music productions and local exhibitions.
 A Billion Stories Fund
A $1billion Australian content fund to kick start Australia’s screen industry (film, TV and documentary). Productions are job rich, from the creatives, script writers, IT, lighting and sound engineers, crews, costumes, trades people, marketing, logistics (including on location travel, hospitality etc). In particular, Australian stories and children’s content would be prioritised, vital for our cultural identity, education and local jobs.
Australia Live
A $1billion grant fund to inject money into Australia’s festival, music and live performance sector which needs cash flow to restart. Investing in and creating incentives for the planning and delivery of events, live music and performance projects for both metropolitan and regional communities. These projects are job rich and the economic kickback is instant in the communities they occur. Local tourism, hospitality and retail also benefit greatly, of course, along with local construction jobs for those projects that require infrastructure. This fund would also be able to fund small-medium infrastructure projects for the construction and upgrade of local community concert, exhibition and studio spaces. Infrastructure that is purpose built for the creative industries, rather than just sport or conference facilities.

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said the Education Minister must rule out the reintroduction of childcare fees in his current review of the COVID-19 childcare package.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Free and universal childcare has been a huge step forward for access to childcare. It should be made permanent.
“The Minister should be looking at how to ensure ongoing access to free childcare, and options for expanded public operation of childcare.
“The government has finally recognised childcare and early learning for what it is: an essential service that we all rely on and everyone can access, not only those who can afford to pay.
“Childcare cannot be seen as a way to turn a profit, but as a way to make our society more equitable.
“We are now at a really important turning point for early childhood education and care. Let’s not waste it. Free childcare should be here to stay,” she said.

Local economic recovery plans will help towns and regions hit by bushfires get back on their feet as part of a new $650 million package of support from the Morrison Government.
As part of the Regional Bushfire Recovery and Development Program, bushfire affected communities will share in $448.5 million from the Morrison Government to support the delivery of local recovery plans with priority given to the most severely impacted regions, drawing on local voices and local governments in close partnership and as part of cost-sharing arrangements with states.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the National Bushfire Recovery Agency (NBRA) would lead work to drive a strong economic recovery so the more than 18,600 families and businesses in bushfire-affected areas could get back on their feet.
“The same communities that were hurting most from the bushfires are hurting from the impacts of COVID-19. The impacts have been devastating,” the Prime Minister said.
“This funding injection comes as the damage from the bushfires has made itself clear in the weeks and months after they passed and regions have been finalising the sorts of projects they want to get underway to build back better.
“Every community is different and every community is at a different point in their recovery. That’s why the projects that these funds will support are not one-size-fits-all – they will reflect community needs.
“This is about locals leading the recovery with the NBRA and our state and local partners ensuring our support gets to where it’s needed most.”
“I urge local communities to work with their state governments and to provide the National Bushfire Recovery Agency with their priority projects as soon as possible.
The support will back local projects and recovery plans, in specific areas, as well as initiatives that benefit all bushfire-affected communities. The projects could include those that build community capability and wellbeing, including through workshops and events, projects that focus on the landscape and water, replacing produce and stock, supporting local jobs and building future resilience.
Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud said I’ve always wanted a locally led recovery not a Canberra led recovery. This is the mechanism to deliver that and to build it back better.
“We’re working side-by-side with families, small businesses, primary producers and the tourism sector to deliver a well thought-out economic recovery as quickly as possible,” Minister Littleproud said.
“We know and have seen firsthand just how severe the impact from the bushfires and now COVID-19 has been. The past six months have been incredibly tough for so many Australians.
“To date, the efforts of every level of government have been focused on emergency relief, the restoration of basic services, clean-up operations and the immediate wellbeing needs of people in the most severely impacted communities.
“While we recognise not all communities are at the same point of recovery, some communities are starting to consider longer-term planning. We’re here to support them with opportunities to rebuild.”
Minister Littleproud said the Government’s assistance came on top of more than $1.33 billion dollars rolling into bushfire affected communities which includes around half a billion dollars of grants and loans that has already flowed to families and businesses, as well as $214.9 million in disaster recovery payments and $240 million in Community Recovery Packages.
“We’re also stepping in to help regenerate Australia’s wildlife and habitats, better prepare our telco network for future emergencies, boost mental health support and help our forestry industry salvage their products,” Minister Littleproud said.
“These bushfires affected Australia in many ways and we’ll be dealing with the aftermath for a long time to come, but communities should know that our government will be with them every step of the way.”
The new support also includes:

• Forestry Transport Assistance ($15 million): To assist the forestry industry with the increased costs of transporting burned salvaged logs over longer distances to surviving timber mills or storage sites in bushfire affected areas in Victoria and New South Wales.
• Community Wellbeing and Participation ($13.5 million) – backing Primary Health Networks with additional funding to provide critical, localised emotional and mental health support for bushfire affected individuals.
• Bushfire Recovery for Species and Landscapes ($149.7 million) – supporting efforts that go beyond the immediate devastation on species and natural assets through habitat regeneration, waterway and catchment restoration including erosion control, weed and pest management.
• Telecommunications Emergency Resilience ($27.1 million as well as $10 million from the mobile blackspots program) – strengthening telecommunications capabilities prior to future natural disasters, including the deployment of approximately 2000 satellite dishes to provide a link if other connections are damaged, plus batteries and solar panels, to rural fire depots and evacuation centres.

The $2 billion Bushfire Recovery Fund has been committed to programs and initiatives to support bushfire recovery in affected communities. This is in addition to those funds already available through existing disaster recovery measures.

• Over 16,700 applications for the $10,000 small business support grant have been approved – worth $167 million.
• More than 1300 applications for the $50,000 small business grant have been approved – worth $37 million.
• 1700 applications for the Primary Producer Grant have been approved to date, with a total of $106 million provided to primary producers to date.

To access support and to find further details, visit the National Bushfire Recovery Agency website at www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au