Month: March 2022

Mining company Cadia Holdings Pty Limited has been fined $15,000 by the NSW Environmen Authority (EPA) for failing to conduct continuous air quality monitoring in 2020 and again in 2021 at its central west NSW site.

The company’s licence requires continuous air monitoring while the company mines for minerals or carries out mineral processing at the Cadia Valley Operations site.

EPA Acting Executive Director Regulatory Operations Greg Sheehy said that while dust deposition monitoring was conducted appropriately at the site, the need for continual air monitoring should not be ignored.

“Continual air monitoring of dust allows the operator to understand and reduce any potential negative impacts related to air quality,” Mr Sheehy said.

“A constant measurement of air quality is not only a licence requirement, it also helps keep the community and surrounding environment safe.”

Cadia Holdings advised the EPA that power supply issues were responsible for the failure to continuously monitor dust.

Mr Sheehy said Cadia Holdings had committed to improve its continuous air quality monitoring network by the end of the past financial year, but the work was not yet complete.

The EPA will continue to assess air quality in the area around the mine and monitor the progress of improvements to the company’s air quality monitoring network.

The fine of $15,000 is the largest that the EPA can issue under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

Any concerns regarding air quality or dust emissions can be reported to the EPA on 131 555.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a review of the listing and re-listing of eight organisations as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).

The listing of these organisations, made by regulations tabled in Parliament this week, triggers the application of a number of offences under the Criminal Code relating to membership of, support for or associating with the organisations.

Hamas is listed for the first time in its entirety, replacing the previous listing of Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas). This follows a recommendation of the PJCIS to the Government to consider broadening the listing in October 2021.

The Government has determined that Hamas is an ideologically and religiously motivated violent extremist organisation, which supports a strategy of armed resistance in pursuit of its goals of establishing an independent Palestinian state, and destroying Israel as a political entity. Hamas’ leadership has stated that there is no neat separation between the organisations’ political and paramilitary components and implied that the Brigades’ activities, including the use of terrorism, are sanctioned by and carried out as part of the wider Hamas organisation. Public statements made by Hamas’ political leaders have supported and advocated terrorism-related activities.

National Socialist Order (NSO), formerly known as Atomwaffen Division, has been listed as a terrorist organisation for the first time. The Government has determined that NSO is a nationalist and racist violent extremist group, founded in the United States in 2015, which advocates the use of violence to initiate a race war and establish a white ethno-state.

Two organisations, Hay’at al Tahrir al-Sham and Hurras al-Din, are listed for the first time in place of the previously-listed organisation Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, on the basis that these two groups are successors to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, which is now defunct.

Four groups previously listed as terrorist organisations have been re-listed for a further three years by these regulations: Abu Sayyaf Group, Al Qa’ida, Al Qa’ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb and Jemaah Islamiyah.

Under section 102.1A of the Criminal Code, the Committee may review listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to each House of the Parliament within the 15 sitting day disallowance period for the relevant regulations.

Members of the public are invited to make submissions to this review, for likely consideration by the new PJCIS once formed in the next Parliament after the election. Submissions should be provided no later than Friday 13 May 2022.

Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

The Greens have slammed the Morrison Government for using the budget for cynical electioneering purposes, while simultaneously destroying what makes lutruwita/Tasmania unique. 

Greens Senator for lutruwita/Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson said:  

“This is an election Budget for the next 6 weeks, designed by the Morrison Government to buy and bribe its way back into office. There is no plan, no vision for Tasmania. 

“Sadly, the environment and climate are the big losers in this budget. 

“This Government has spent the last term of parliament trying to remove our federal environment laws and hand back powers to the states. Now it’s putting millions into deregulating and fast-tracking our environmental regulation process – in short, scrapping environmental laws by stealth.  

“Mark my words, this will be bad for Tasmania and will lead to more environmental conflict, destruction and exploitation of our wild and special places, which is the last thing our state needs. 

“There appears to be no critical funding for Tasmania’s Antarctic Gateway science programs, nor for protecting the Southern Ocean and the Great Southern Reef.

“The Great Barrier Reef again gets billions in Budget funding for “reef adaption” measures to combat climate change and invasive species, but Tasmania’s Great Southern Reef – which is critically important to our communities and fishing industry and faces equally critical threats – doesn’t get a cent.

“Ultimately it’s a budget full of sugar hits and band-aid solutions – both of which are bad for the long-term health of Tasmania.

“Tasmanians being wooed by “big ticket” infrastructure measures would do well to remember it’s not budget benevolence that’s motivated the Government to spend big on Tasmanian infrastructure projects – it’s a track-record of budget blowouts.  

“Budget blowouts rip money away from other essential services, like getting dental and mental health into Medicare, ensuring everyone has a liveable income and roof over their head.

“What this Budget shows clearly is that we need to kick the Liberals out and get the Greens in balance of power to push the next Government to tackle the climate crisis and cost of living pressures by taxing the billionaires.”

The Greens say the Morrison Government has bungled its last chance to show it takes women’s safety and economic security seriously with an underwhelming budget of half-measures and spin.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said:

“With an election looming it’s little wonder that the Morrison Government is desperately trying to improve its standing with Australian women, who have been abandoning the Liberals in droves.

“But this ain’t it. While some announcements are a step in the right direction, and we particularly welcome the $25 million allocated to the Illawarra Trauma Recovery Centre that the Greens have championed, the budget is largely a grab bag of bare-minimum measures that fall well short of what we know is needed to make women safe and ensure their economic security.

“The funding to address gendered violence is well short of what women’s organisations say is needed.

“The Greens have committed to the sector’s call for $1 billion per annum for frontline services to meet existing demand, because it is unconscionable to underfund services which stop women being killed in this epidemic of domestic violence.

“Whilst awareness raising and training is crucial, it should be additional to rather than instead of the frontline and specialist services that the sector says are needed to meet the critical shortfall in support for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence.

“The government’s so-called ‘enhanced’ paid parental leave plan doesn’t increase PPL payments, doesn’t add superannuation contributions, and does nothing to actually incentivize shared care. In fact it may have the perverse effect of leading mothers to take all 20 weeks of parenting leave with fathers taking none. Under the Greens’ 26-week PPL plan payments would match salaries up to $100k, super would be added, and ‘use it or lose it’ incentives built in to encourage shared parenting.

“The $100 million promised for crisis, transition and affordable housing is pitifully small compared to the $7.6 billion investment the sector says is needed to provide emergency and permanent housing for women, particularly older women at risk of homelessness. The much-trumpeted expansion of the Family Home Guarantee is no help because it will simply increase house prices and encourage people to get into debts that they cannot service.

“The government has also shown a stunning lack of commitment to addressing violence against First Nations women. Instead of a dedicated, standalone National Plan to End Violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women, they’re saying there will be a First Nations ‘action plan’ sitting under the overarching National Plan. That is clearly not what First Nations groups have called for.

“They’ve also baked in real cuts to community controlled First Nations family violence services over the forward estimates, and delivered no funding at all for the sector’s peak body.

“This Budget will not close the gender pay gap. Childcare is still not free, care work is still undervalued, and the minimum wage and income support payments, which more women than men receive, are still too low. This Budget will not deliver economic security for women.

“We welcome the additional funds for the Human Rights Commission to monitor Respect at Work recommendations, but this is undermined by broader cuts to the Commission’s budget and the fact that there is still no commitment to the key recommendation: a positive duty on all employers to make workplaces safe.

“Australian women have spent nearly a decade trying to convince this government that their safety and economic security are issues that must be taken seriously. But in place of decisive and material action they’ve been served up talkfests, Cabinet reshuffles, flowery speeches and shiny baubles by a toxic and arrogant government that treats women as a PR problem to be managed.

“This was the PM’s last opportunity to stand up for Australian women. Once again he failed because he is a sexist dinosaur – it’s long past time to give him and his boys’ club the boot.”

The Australian Greens have slammed the government’s final budget for making housing more expensive, locking in tax cuts for the wealthy and funding more coal and gas projects rather than acting on the climate crisis.

The Liberals’ final budget contains more than $37.6 bn for coal, oil and gas, gives $13bn of public money to property investors, and has no new money to build affordable housing.

The Greens want government invest to build a million affordable homes.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP said:

“Scott Morrison’s Budget makes housing more expensive, locks in tax cuts for the wealthy and funds more coal and gas projects, all with Labor’s support. 

“This Budget of election bribes will not keep you safe from the climate crisis and it won’t put a secure roof over your head. It doesn’t have a cent of new money for building new affordable housing, but it gives hundreds of millions to new oil and gas projects.

“Even as floods again threaten the Northern Rivers for the second time in a month, Scott Morrison plans to give more than $38bn in handouts to coal, oil and gas corporations to fuel the climate crisis and Labor backs him in. 

“There is $1.6 billion for renewables, $2 billion for disaster recovery, and more than $38 billion in subsidies to coal, oil and gas. It’s an insult to every flood victim that the Prime Minister is spending more than 10 times more on coal, oil and gas as he is on protecting us from climate floods. 

“Scott Morrison’s Budget spends $13 billion on unfair tax breaks that will push up the cost of housing and lock people out of the housing market, handouts that Labor will wave through. 

“A temporary cut to fuel excise may not even make its way to people’s pockets. There’s every chance that world oil prices or profiteering from oil corporations will wipe out any gains to motorists overnight, at very substantial cost to the budget. 

“We need to permanently boost the pension by almost $250 a fortnight, not $250 an election.”

“To tackle cost of living pressures, the Budget should wipe student debt, get dental into Medicare and build 1 million affordable homes that people can rent for 25% of their income or buy for $300,000. That would be much fairer, better and cheaper than proceeding with Stage 3 tax cuts and temporarily cutting fuel excise.

“This Budget shows we need to kick the Liberals out and get the Greens in balance of power to push the next Government to tackle cost of living pressures by taxing the billionaires, getting dental into Medicare, wiping student debt and building affordable housing.” 

Australian Greens Treasury Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said:

“Yet again, this is a budget for the billionaires and big corporations – not people who are struggling,” Senator McKim said.

“Under this budget, cost of living will increase and wages won’t  catch up, and the structural holes in our economy will keep on widening the gap between rich and poor. A $420 payment won’t go far for a family that’s stuck spending half their income on housing and the $250 payment would lift a pensioner out of poverty for one pay-packet and then send them back the next.

“We need a budget that ensures the billionaires and the big corporations pay their fair share so we can invest in getting dental and mental health into Medicare, ensuring everyone has a liveable income; abolishing student debt, and starting to build a million homes.

“The Liberals will never deliver the budget the Australian people deserve, and without pressure, Labor’s not going to support the structural changes needed by everyone who’s struggling. With the Greens in balance of power, we’ll tax the billionaires and big corporations, so the 2023 Labor/Greens budget will be one that builds a more equal Australia.”

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that education has been smashed by a budget hostile to public schools, universities, TAFE, and early childhood education and care.

Senator Faruqi said:

“This is a government hostile to public education and its final budget proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“We are witnessing the shameful impacts of the government’s university fee hikes and funding cuts they pushed through parliament 18 months ago. The higher education funding decline continues with a 5 per cent cut over the next year alone. This government is an enemy of our public universities.

“TAFE has been sidelined yet again, when it must be put front and centre of any fresh investment in vocational education. TAFE must be fully-funded and made fee-free for all.

“Funding for public schools has been reduced by $559 million over the next three years while private schools are seeing an increase of more than $2 billion. This is just obscene.

“We have to fully-fund our public schools and invest in urgent capital works but this budget simply provides a pre-election gift for overfunded private schools.

“Early childhood education and care has been completely neglected in this budget with nothing to help parents with expensive fees and barely anything to support the sector.

“The Liberals have a shameless privatisation and cost-cutting agenda when it comes to public education, and the sooner we boot them out, the better. Bring on the election.”

The Morrison Government has selected six organisations to drive its plan to grow the nation’s home care workforce by 13,000 over the next two years, and support more senior Australians to access Home Care Packages and remain independent at home.

More than $91 million under the Home Care Workforce Support Program has been allocated to organisations in each state and territory, and to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, said all home care providers can work with these organisations to grow and upskill their workforce.

“The Home Care Workforce Support Program will help senior Australians to remain at home by growing the personal care workforce. This will allow people to access home care services where and when they need them,” Minister Hunt said.

“Senior Australians need a skilled, diverse, compassionate and valued workforce who will provide safe and high-quality care – and this program will increase the number and skills of people providing aged care in the home.”

The program will raise awareness of career opportunities in the sector; skill and screen new workers; and better equip providers to attract, train and retain workers including through supporting access to JobTrainer aged care training places.

A key focus will be to address the greater challenges of recruiting workers in remote communities with specific funding and performance targets for these areas. This will be supported by greater flexibility for grant recipients to work with residential aged care and other care providers in these areas to promote access to home care services and develop a local care and support workforce. The Government recognises the increased costs and complexity involved, compared to urban Australia.

The funded organisations will be expected to help home care providers recruit personal care workers in line with the Government’s target of 3.43 per cent of the care workforce identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander by 2031.

The Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, said the program was part of the Government’s $18.8 billion, five-year response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

“More and more senior Australians are choosing to live independently in their homes for longer,” Minister Colbeck said.

“Our goal is for all Australians to feel confident about accessing high quality and safe aged care where and when they need it. Helping the aged care sector to grow its workforce, in both residential and in-home care, is a crucial part of this.”

The Home Care Workforce Support Program will complement activities undertaken by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment; for example, including Jobactive, Australian Apprenticeships, Job Trainer, Youth Jobs PaTH, and Launch into Work, to connect and guide workers through training and into employment.

Funding has been granted to:

• Settlement Services International in NSW and ACT
• Aged and Community Services, together with Mediashpere Holdings (Powerhouse Hub), Human Services Skills Organisation (HSSO), and MEGT in Victoria and Tasmania
• Council on the Ageing Queensland, together with Skills Hub Ltd, Partners4Health and Skills Generation, in Queensland
• Recruitment Solutions Group Australia in South Australia and Northern Territory
• North Metropolitan TAFE, together with South Metropolitan TAFE, Amana Living and Programmed Skilled Workforce in Western Australia

National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in rural and remote communities.

The Government’s plan for a stronger future is working.

The Australian economy has outperformed all major advanced economies, experiencing a stronger recovery in output and employment compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Economic growth forecasts have been revised upwards, driven by stronger-than-expected momentum in the labour market and consumer spending.

Real GDP is expected to grow by 4¼ per cent in 2021‑22, 3½ per cent in 2022-23 and 2½ per cent in 2023-24.

The unemployment rate is at 4 per cent and this Budget will see it go even lower delivering more jobs and higher wages.

The unemployment rate is forecast to reach 3¾ per cent in late 2022, nearly 3 percentage points below the Budget forecast from 2 years ago and the lowest rate in close to 50 years.

The strong labour market is expected to see wages growth accelerate to its fastest pace in almost a decade with wage growth forecast to increase from 2¾ per cent in 2021‑22 to 3¼ per cent in 2022-23.

The Budget demonstrates the fiscal dividend of a strong economy, with more Australians in work and fewer Australians on welfare, flowing through to a significantly improved fiscal outlook without increasing taxes.

Since MYEFO, the underlying cash balance has improved by a substantial $103.6 billion over the 5 years to 2025‑26.

The Budget shows the deficit more than halving to 1.6 per cent of GDP by 2025-26 before falling to 0.7 per cent of GDP by the end of the medium term.

This sees the fastest and largest improvement in the budget bottom line in more than 70 years.

Consistent with the Fiscal Strategy, the stronger economy and smaller deficits are expected to see gross debt as a share of the economy peak at 44.9 per cent of GDP at 30 June 2025, 5.4 percentage points lower and 4 years earlier than at MYEFO.

Gross debt is then projected to fall to 40.3 per cent of GDP by the end of the medium term, 9.6 percentage points or $236 billion lower than at the end of the medium term in the 2021-22 MYEFO.

This demonstrates the dividend of a clear Economic and Fiscal Strategy that has guided us through the pandemic and delivered a stronger economy and full employment.

It is also an important step in the longer-term task of steadily reducing debt and rebuilding fiscal buffers, which will ensure Australia remains well placed to respond to future shocks.

Despite having faced the largest economic shock since the Great Depression, our debt to GDP levels, even when they peak, are still low by international standards, below all major advanced economies and less than half that in the United States and Japan.

The Government’s economic plan is working with Australia one of only 9 countries to maintain a AAA credit rating from major ratings agencies.

The 2022‑23 Budget sets out the next stage of our plan for a stronger future.