Month: March 2021

The Morrison Government is putting the mental health of small business owners first with the with the launch of a coaching and support program.
NewAccess for Small Business Owners will provide free, confidential and tailored mental health coaching to small business owners.
The program is part of the Government’s $7 million BusinessBalance initiative, announced in the 2020-21 Budget. BusinessBalance provides immediate, short-term support of mental and financial wellbeing for small business as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, said Australia’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and yet small business owners suffer more from depression and anxiety than the general population.
“Despite collectively employing more Australians, small business owners have the fewest resources to deal with their own needs, including their mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this, putting our small business owners under even more financial and emotional pressure,” Minister Cash said.
“That’s why it is crucial to our economy that small business owners get the support they need towards recovery from COVID-19 and beyond.”
Developed by Beyond Blue, in partnership with the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, NewAccess for Small Business Owners is designed to help small business owners who are feeling overwhelmed about everyday life issues, which may be caused by business challenges, staffing, relationships, health or loneliness. Coaches will have a small business background.
BusinessBalance also includes the Counting on U program, delivered through Deakin University, which is a free and professional development program that builds the mental health knowledge of trusted business advisers.
The advisers are trained in mental health first aid and relationship-building skills so they can recognise signs of mental and financial stress in small business owners and connect them to specialised services.
For more information about NewAccess for Small Business Owners, visit beyondblue.org.au/get-support/newaccess
For information on Counting on U and business advisor registration for upcoming training starting late April 2021, visit blogs.deakin.edu.au/counting-on-u/

Australia is working with Papua New Guinea to support the Government’s response to a concerning spike in COVID-19 cases to help save lives and support our closest Pacific neighbour’s health system.
By helping Papua New Guinea, we are not only helping our Pacific family, we are keeping our nation and our people safe.
The Australian Government has agreed to a request for assistance and will partner with Papua New Guinea on a comprehensive support package to help it respond to the crisis.
This includes the earliest possible supply of 8,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from Australia’s stock. It will enable vaccination of the country’s essential health workforce, with an initial rollout for the National Capital District. Future priorities will be determined with Papua New Guinea’s Government.
The Australian Government will also make a formal request to AstraZeneca and European Authorities for one million doses of Australia’s contracted supplies to gift to Papua New Guinea.
Our early vaccine assistance will be coordinated with the Papua New Guinean Government’s response, which has included their COVID-19 National Pandemic Response taskforce. We will also work with the WHO and UNICEF to ensure that it complements PNG’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan.
We are conscious of the close family and cultural connections of those people living in the Torres Strait Protected Zone. Both Governments are determined to protect our respective communities and avoid any cross-border COVID-19 transmission.
The roll out of vaccines in the Torres Strait Islands by the Queensland Government has already begun. The Australian Government will also work with the Papua New Guinea and Queensland Governments to address health security on both sides of the Torres Strait including support for making vaccines available in a timely way in Treaty Villages in the Protected Zone.
The COVID-19 outbreak in Papua New Guinea carries risks to the Australian people through incoming travellers. We are reviewing the adequacy of pre-departure COVID testing and on-arrival quarantine arrangements. We will be working with the Papua New Guinea Government over the coming weeks to investigate options for pre departure testing within 24 hours of departure.
In addition, we will suspend flights between Port Moresby and Cairns, and passenger capacity on flights between Port Moresby and Brisbane will be reduced by 25 percent.
To maintain emergency supplies and other essential services, freight flights will continue.
Charter flights from Papua New Guinea into Australia will also be suspended, with limited exceptions for medivac, humanitarian and other critical flights.
Australian Border Force will continue to enhance its presence in the Torres Strait.
As another element of our partnership, Australia is also deploying a forward team of three AUSMAT health specialists to Port Moresby. The specialists will work with Papua New Guinea’s health authorities on infection control, triage and emergency management and public health measures.
They will also advise on further Australian assistance and deployment of clinical care teams.
Australia is also providing the following new targeted support:

• Supply of PPE and other equipment for Port Moresby General Hospital and other facilities, as well as 200,000 facemasks;
• Working with the WHO on expanding warehouse capacity to increase storage for PPE and streamline its distribution;
• Supply of hospital tent facilities outside Port Moresby General Hospital for safe triaging and referral and transfer of patients;
• Supporting St John’s PNG and National Capital District Provincial Health Authority to establish Taurama Aquatic Centre as an isolation facility for mild to moderate cases with up to 120 bed capacity.
• Funding support for the re-opening of the Rita Flynn Testing and Isolation Facility to relieve pressure on the Port Moresby General Hospital;
• Funding St John’s Ambulance’s COVID-19 operations in Port Moresby, including patient transport, COVID-19 testing and PPE distribution to clinics;
• Supporting the COVID-19 National Control Centre with information management, risk communications, quarantine management and health financing; and
• Scaling up surveillance, testing and clinical care capacity in Port Moresby and provinces with known outbreaks, and testing of samples in Australia.

The Australian Government will also provide essential PPE supplies to the PNG Government including:

• Surgical Masks – 1 million
• P2/N95 respirator masks – 200,000
• Gowns – 100,000
• Goggles – 100,000
• Gloves – 100,000 pairs
• Hand sanitiser – 100,000 bottles
• Face Shields – 20,000
• Non-invasive ventilators (plus appropriate quantity of consumables) – 200

This new support is in addition to the $144.7 million support that Australia is providing to Papua New Guinea over 2020-21 to 2022-23 through our regional vaccine access initiative. This funding will support Papua New Guinea prepare for a COVID-19 vaccination campaign and assist with the procurement and delivery of doses.
It also builds on our $80 million contribution to the multilateral COVAX Facility’s Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for developing countries, which will support vaccine access for around 20 percent of populations at greatest risk in 92 developing countries. The COVAX facility has indicated that it will deliver 588,000 vaccines for Papua New Guinea by June.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia has already provided assistance of over $60 million dollars in assistance to help Papua New Guinea respond to the crisis.
At the inaugural Quad Leaders’ Summit last weekend the Prime Minister, Indian Prime Minister Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Suga and US President Biden agreed on a signature initiative to work together to boost vaccine production and distribution to countries in the Indo-Pacific.
We have reached out to our Quad partners to look at what more we can do together to support Papua New Guinea.

The Greens will vote against the Online Safety Bill because it is poorly drafted and could lead to widespread, unintended consequences.
“This Bill would make the eSafety Commissioner the sole arbiter of internet content in Australia ,” Greens Digital Rights spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.
“It creates extraordinary powers for any one person to hold, let alone an unelected bureaucrat.”
“It also fails to provide for timely reviews or appeals of decisions made by the eSafety Commissioner.”
“We are concerned that people opposed to sex work, pornography and sexual health for LGBTIQ+ people could abuse the complaints process to seek to have lawful online adult content removed.”
“Public interest news that involves violent imagery, such as footage of police violence, could also be taken down.”
“However, the Greens recognise the need to stamp out online abuse, violence, racism and far right extremism, so we call on the government to withdraw this Bill and redraft it.”

The Senate has today recognised that the climate crisis is the greatest threat to our health this century.
“The fact is, the climate crisis is a health emergency”, Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said.
“The Government acted on the science when it came to the COVID crisis and yet for decades they have refused to act on the science when it comes to the climate crisis.
“In Parliament today there are over 30 health leaders, including two former chief state health officers, calling for a National Strategy on Climate Change, Health and Wellbeing.
“We urgently need a National Strategy on Climate Change, Health and Well-being to protect our community and our future generations.”
The motion reads:
I give notice that on the next day of sitting I shall move that the Senate –

1. Notes that the World Health Organization has acknowledged climate change to be the greatest threat to health this century;
2. Recognises that acting on climate change is the greatest opportunity to improve health;
3. Also recognises the Australian Government, as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, has an obligation to consider health in its climate change response;
4. Applauds the growing calls from the health sector to act on climate to protect our health, including the 30 health leaders in Parliament today meeting with representatives to discuss climate change and health; and
5. Calls on the Government to urgently develop a ‘National Strategy on Climate Change, Health and Well-being’, which is supported by more than 50 health, social welfare and conservation groups.

Refugees that the Australian Government exiled to Papua New Guinea contracting COVID should prompt their immediate evacuation to Australia, Greens Immigration spokesperson Nick McKim says.
“For years, Labor and Liberal Governments have deliberately withheld adequate medical treatment from people in their care,” Senator McKim said.
“The refugees who have contracted COVID need to be medevacced to Australia, and all other refugees in PNG need to be brought to Australia to prevent them contracting the illness.”
“With COVID now out of control in Papua New Guinea, all remaining refugees must be brought to Australia.”
“Their immune systems have been damaged by eight years of brutality, and they are particularly susceptible to disease.”
“It is unconscionable for Peter Dutton to continue to try to wash his hands of responsibility for refugees who sought Australia’s protection and remain in his duty of care.”