Month: April 2022

An Albanese Labor Government will stop the rorting of Home Care fees, by placing a cap on how much users can be charged in administration and management fees, and will require monthly reporting directly to users on where their money is going.

This will mean home care users can be confident their money is going directly to care – not not management bonuses, new office fit outs or glossy marketing schemes. 

This is another part of Labor’s plan to improve aged care and boost transparency and accountability in the sector. It follows Labor’s announcement of a crackdown on dodgy residential aged care providers, implementing tough penalties for systematic abuse and neglect.

Labor knows Home Care is an important part of the aged care ecosystem. It is also not without its problems.

According to the Grattan Institute, about 25 per cent of home care fees are taken up by administration and management costs. In evidence to the Aged Care Royal Commission, this has been reported as being as high as 50 per cent. 

Too many Australians are not getting value for money in their home care fees. Their money should be going to care – pure and simple. 

These unacceptably high fees lead to older Australians missing out on the care they need to help them stay living at home. 

Labor will restore confidence in the system by requiring monthly reporting by providers directly to users and their families, showing a breakdown of where their fees are going. It’s time to put the power back in the hands of the users of the home care system, who currently do not have enough information about where their money is going.

We will work with older Australians, families, providers and experts to set caps that protect the quality of residents and the quality of care.

There are many good quality operators doing the right thing. This will protect the reputation of the sector.

Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Australian Labor Party said:

“Labor will restore integrity and transparency to our aged care system. Whether you are in residential care or home care, Australians should have confidence the money they are paying is going where it should – towards their care.

“Labor is calling time on aged care providers who rip off vulnerable Australians. We know home care is a vital part of the aged care system – that’s why we want to make sure it is operating as it should, in the best interests of Australians.”

Clare O’Neil, Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services said:

“It’s time users of home care packages got better value for money. Fees should be paying for high quality care – not office work. Labor will ensure the whole aged care system – residential and home care – improves on our watch.

“Better accountability, better care, greater confidence. No matter which pathway Australians choose for their care, Labor will be there for them.”

The Morrison Government today approved a $1.25 billion loan through the Critical Minerals Facility to Australian company Iluka Resources, to develop Australia’s first integrated rare earths refinery in Western Australia.

The refinery will produce separated rare earth oxide products (Praseodymium, Dysprosium, Neodymium and Terbium), which are used in permanent magnets in a wide range of technologies, including electric vehicles, clean energy generation and defence.

The Eneabba Refinery Project strongly aligns with the objectives of the Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy. It will capture more value on-shore from our critical minerals, strengthen Australia’s position as a trusted supplier of critical minerals, and create regional jobs crucial for the new energy economy.

This loan builds on our Government’s support for the critical minerals sector to help realise our vision of becoming a global critical minerals powerhouse by 2030.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the announcement represented a decisive step forward in rare earths production and processing in Australia.

“Australia has the best resource industry in the world and we have an unrivalled competitive-edge when it comes to being a reliable, sustainable provider of critical minerals and rare earths,” the Prime Minister said.

“Our support for this project will capitalise on our advantages, helping to strengthen Australia’s critical minerals supply chain while also creating huge job and economic opportunities for Australians for generations to come.

“Australia’s critical minerals are in demand because they are the key input for everything from mobile phones to fighter jets, not to mention the technologies of the future that haven’t even been realised yet.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the project would help secure Australia’s manufacturing capability, unlocking a new generation of high-wage, high-skill, high tech jobs.

“Building a modern manufacturing sector and securing our sovereign capability is a key part of our plans for a stronger economy and a stronger future for Australia,” the Treasurer said.

“Australia’s critical minerals sector and the job-creating industries that rely on it are being supercharged under the Morrison Government’s $2.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy.”

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan said the project would promote Australia as a reliable and trusted supplier of oxides.

“The Morrison Government is advancing Australia’s position as a world leader in the critical minerals sector,” Minister Tehan said.

“Our Government is supporting businesses to invest in projects in regional Australia, create jobs and meet the global appetite for critical minerals.

“We are working with our trading partners to help facilitate partnerships between Australian critical mineral project proponents and potential sources of offtake and investment.”

Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt said the project would help Australia increase its sovereign critical minerals processing capacity, potentially underpinning new industries and applications.

“The facility could supply up to nine per cent of the global rare earth oxide market when it comes online. It will initially use the Eneabba Stockpile – one of the highest-grade sources of rare earth elements in the world,” Minister Pitt said.

“The refinery is also designed to process concentrate from many other deposits across Australia, making it a natural hub and reducing the capital required to bring other projects online.”

This loan will be administered by Export Finance Australia and is the third project under the Government’s Critical Minerals Facility to be announced.

The Morrison Government today approved a $1.25 billion loan through the Critical Minerals Facility to Australian company Iluka Resources, to develop Australia’s first integrated rare earths refinery in Western Australia.

The refinery will produce separated rare earth oxide products (Praseodymium, Dysprosium, Neodymium and Terbium), which are used in permanent magnets in a wide range of technologies, including electric vehicles, clean energy generation and defence.

The Eneabba Refinery Project strongly aligns with the objectives of the Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy. It will capture more value on-shore from our critical minerals, strengthen Australia’s position as a trusted supplier of critical minerals, and create regional jobs crucial for the new energy economy.

This loan builds on our Government’s support for the critical minerals sector to help realise our vision of becoming a global critical minerals powerhouse by 2030.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the announcement represented a decisive step forward in rare earths production and processing in Australia.

“Australia has the best resource industry in the world and we have an unrivalled competitive-edge when it comes to being a reliable, sustainable provider of critical minerals and rare earths,” the Prime Minister said.

“Our support for this project will capitalise on our advantages, helping to strengthen Australia’s critical minerals supply chain while also creating huge job and economic opportunities for Australians for generations to come.

“Australia’s critical minerals are in demand because they are the key input for everything from mobile phones to fighter jets, not to mention the technologies of the future that haven’t even been realised yet.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the project would help secure Australia’s manufacturing capability, unlocking a new generation of high-wage, high-skill, high tech jobs.

“Building a modern manufacturing sector and securing our sovereign capability is a key part of our plans for a stronger economy and a stronger future for Australia,” the Treasurer said.

“Australia’s critical minerals sector and the job-creating industries that rely on it are being supercharged under the Morrison Government’s $2.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy.”

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan said the project would promote Australia as a reliable and trusted supplier of oxides.

“The Morrison Government is advancing Australia’s position as a world leader in the critical minerals sector,” Minister Tehan said.

“Our Government is supporting businesses to invest in projects in regional Australia, create jobs and meet the global appetite for critical minerals.

“We are working with our trading partners to help facilitate partnerships between Australian critical mineral project proponents and potential sources of offtake and investment.”

Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt said the project would help Australia increase its sovereign critical minerals processing capacity, potentially underpinning new industries and applications.

“The facility could supply up to nine per cent of the global rare earth oxide market when it comes online. It will initially use the Eneabba Stockpile – one of the highest-grade sources of rare earth elements in the world,” Minister Pitt said.

“The refinery is also designed to process concentrate from many other deposits across Australia, making it a natural hub and reducing the capital required to bring other projects online.”

This loan will be administered by Export Finance Australia and is the third project under the Government’s Critical Minerals Facility to be announced.

The Morrison Government is supporting new local jobs in Australia’s innovative medical sector and investing to secure local manufacturing of life-saving medicines.

Under the Collaboration Stream of the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, the Government has today announced $23 million support for the $71.2 million Australian Precision Medicine Enterprise.

Global Medical Solutions Australia will work with partners Monash University and Telix Pharmaceuticals for the production of precision medicines for the treatment of cancer, kidney disease and other illnesses here in Australia.

Currently Australia imports more than 90 per cent of its medicines. This project and its facility to be built in Clayton, Victoria will secure Australia’s sovereign capability, while its economic impact is expected to be $461.8 million over the next 15 years.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the investment demonstrated the Government’s commitment to building Australia’s medical manufacturing capability.

“Making medicines like these right here means more security from disruptions, more homegrown skills and more local jobs,” the Prime Minister said.

“Building up our ability to make products like these is key to our plan for a stronger future.

“The pandemic has shown us more than ever before we need access to what Australians need here at home and this project will help ensure we have critical precision medicines for our patients.

“The Australian Precision Medicine Enterprise will help cement precision medicine development here in Australia, also helping deliver a stronger economy by growing opportunities for our medical sector and the highly-skilled jobs it supports.”

The 2022-23 Budget demonstrated the ongoing commitment to manufacturing with an additional $1 billion for the Morrison Government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy, including an extra $750 million for the Modern Manufacturing Initiative.

Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said these projects will help onshore technology and expertise not currently in Australia, while securing new sovereign capability.

“This project will see the construction of a new facility that will house a high energy 30 mega-electron volt (MeV ) cyclotron, which will be a new domestic source of critical radioisotopes – which are currently imported into Australia – and will be used in the treatment of cancer, kidney disease and other illnesses,” Minister Taylor said.

“By combining research and development and the manufacture of precision medicines locally we are shoring up our supply chain resilience.

“These projects will also create highly-skilled jobs in the medical sector, such as radiochemists, radio pharmacists and engineers, while also reducing our reliance on overseas suppliers of vital medications.”

Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt said the project will see incredible collaboration with the Monash Biomedical Imaging Centre, National Synchrotron and the Victorian Heart Hospital.

“Not only will this facility and the precision medicines it will help lead to better patient outcomes, it will help bolster Australia’s entire medical ecosystem,” Minister Hunt said.

“This project will help realise the incredible potential of medicines that are customised to patients, all the way from clinical trials to their local manufacture right here at home.”

The facility will directly support 42 jobs with 105 additional along the supply chain.

The next Australian Government could help lift a million people out of poverty by implementing several simple and affordable changes to our tax and welfare system, according to modelling released by the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP).

These strategies, analysed in a new report A Fairer Tax and Welfare System, by the Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Social Research and Methods, would only marginally affect the most well off and have no net impact on the nation’s Budgetary position.

The report examines three options for helping families and individuals at risk of deep poverty and financial stress. Every day the Society’s members hear stories about housing and homelessness concerns, low incomes and job insecurity, and challenges faced by refugees and First Nations people. These issues are covered in the Society’s newly released election statement, A Fairer Australia.

All three options increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 50 per cent.

The ‘low’ option increases JobSeeker by $150 per fortnight. The ‘medium’ option increases JobSeeker, Disability Support and Carer Pensions by $200 per fortnight, and increases the Parenting Payment (Single) to a new JobSeeker rate for single parents ($886 per fortnight).

The ‘high’ option increases JobSeeker by $436 per fortnight, Disability Support and Carer Pensions by $200 per fortnight, Parenting Payment to the new JobSeeker rate and Family Tax Benefit Part A by 20 per cent ($40 per fortnight for children under 13 years).

‘The Society strongly supports the ‘high’ option identified in the ANU report,’ said Claire Victory, SVDP National President.

‘This would help to lift one million people out of poverty and restore their dignity, and in many cases help them move towards re‑entering the workforce.

‘Far too many Australians are struggling to put food on the table, pay the rent in often unsuitable housing, and ensure that their children get the start in life they deserve. Increasing social security improves health, wellbeing and social outcomes, and also benefits the economy – so it’s an all round win-win.

‘The recent $4.00 a day increase to JobSeeker will make no impact on poverty and the 2022 Federal Budget contained no long-term solution to the nation’s chronic poverty,’ Ms Victory added.

According to the report’s key author, Associate Professor Ben Phillips, the ANU modelling highlights strategies to reduce poverty without running up national debt or requiring anyone to make significant sacrifices.

‘Our modelling shows you could make a massive difference to the lives of the bottom 20 per cent of income earners while only making a minimal change to the earnings of the top 20 per cent,’ Assoc Prof Phillips said.

‘Under our proposed changes the highest income earners would still retire with very healthy superannuation savings and continue to benefit strongly from their other investments. But up to a million people would get their heads above the poverty line.’

St Vincent de Paul Society will present its suite of election policy papers to sitting MPs and the half Senate, as well as other candidates when they are announced.

‘We’ve put a lot of work into developing compassionate and practical policies that we hope will start the conversation about how a fairer Australia can be achieved,’ Ms Victory said.

The Offshore Alliance has condemned oil and gas contractor Legeneering over the shoddy treatment of two workers, one of whom contracted COVID on a Woodside floating production storage and offloading facility.

Two members of the Offshore Alliance who work for contractor Legeneering were recently removed from Woodside’s Ngujima Yin FPSO after one tested positive for COVID and the other was deemed a close contact. Both had tested negative prior to mobilising to the site.

The Offshore Alliance, a partnership between the AWU (Australian Workers’ Union) and the MUA (Maritime Union of Australia), covers all workers in the offshore oil and gas industry in Western Australia.

Brad Gandy, AWU WA branch secretary and Offshore Alliance spokesman, said Legeneering had taken both workers off shift at the start of a three-week pay cycle and ordered them into quarantine.

The close-contact worker was paid a single payment equivalent to 7.6 hours of work and sent to a company camp without subsequent pay. The worker who contracted COVID at work was paid nothing, put in a Woodside-owned house and told to live on a $50 a day allowance.

“This flies in the face of the idea of common decency for workers. This is a serious workplace health issue,” Mr Gandy said

“Legeneering claims its key core value is ‘integrity’, but what kind of integrity is shown by refusing to pay workers who have come into contact with COVID-19 at the workplace?

“To add insult to injury, Legeneering is paying a miserly $50 a day per diem for food while the employee is in isolation. That’s just not enough to live on, particularly without any income and in an expensive place such as Karatha.”

Mr Gandy said Legeneering employed over 100 workers but claimed it couldn’t afford to pay employees who become ill after contracting an illness at work.

“Our member wasn’t COVID positive when he mobilised on the chopper, but he has subsequently become positive once on the FPSO. In the circumstances it is untenable that Legeneering is refusing to pay his wages,” he said. “It’s wage theft.”

“Legeneering’s bosses say they are simply following the direction of their client, Woodside.

“If this is correct, Woodside management is out of control and massively out of touch with their oil and gas workforce – including the contractor crews helping generate Woodside’s super-profits during the global energy crisis.

“It’s time companies such as Legeneering stopped trying to convince workers and the union that their hands are tied when it comes to looking after their workers.”

Leading class action firm, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, has reached a $56.3 settlement on behalf of a hundred thousand super fund members with Colonial First State who had alleged that Colonial’s delays in transferring them to MySuper products left them languishing in high-fee accounts, bearing the cost of commissions to financial planners, and receiving lower investment returns.

The class action was filed in October 2019 in the Federal Court (Victoria), against Colonial First State Investments Limited, the trustee of the Colonial First State FirstChoice Superannuation Trust.  The lead applicant bringing the claim, Lesley Coatman, was a street sweeper driver who retired with less than $35,000 in superannuation.

This week, Colonial settled the class action for $56.3 million, inclusive of legal fees, subject to Court approval. A trial was due to start next week but it has now been vacated. The agreement means class action members should start receiving compensation proceeds into their superannuation accounts this year.  Colonial has not admitted wrongdoing in the case. It is the first superannuation class action to settle.

The class action alleged contraventions of superannuation law in Colonial’s slow implementation of the MySuper reforms for members of the FirstChoice Employer Super division, in particular that Colonial breached its duties to super members, because it failed to:

·                         exercise the degree of care, skill and diligence required of a prudent superannuation trustee;

·                         perform its duties and exercise its power in the best interest of beneficiaries; and

·                          give priority to the interests of beneficiaries where a conflict of interest arose.

Miranda Nagy, Principal Lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, said the case had alleged that Colonial failed to transition $3.2 billion of accrued default amounts (ADAs) over to the lower-cost, higher-performing MySuper product in a timely way and did not act in the best interests of superannuation fund members. 

“As the High Court has recognised, superannuation is often the greatest asset Australians have.  It is deferred pay and it is critical to a dignified retirement.  Fund members are entitled to expect that superannuation trustees put their interests first.

This is the very first settlement of a super class action since the Financial Services Royal Commission shone a light on the conduct of retail super fund trustees.  We are very pleased to have secured a settlement that will see fund members’ accounts augmented to the tune of millions, and their retirement incomes protected.

“The whole point of the MySuper reforms was to make sure that millions of everyday Australians who hadn’t made an active decision about their super, were not ‘getting charged for valet parking when they were taking the train’, as Minister Shorten said at the time.

“MySuper was introduced to protect the retirement outcomes of Australians by ensuring that consumers weren’t losing money on unnecessary fees and products, and Colonial had a legal obligation over and above a basic moral obligation to move default member balances into MySuper at the time that best met their members’ needs, not their own,” Ms Nagy said.

The conduct was the subject of a case study in the Financial Services Royal Commission.  Commissioner Hayne made the following reference with respect to Colonial: “the trustee’s covenant to act in the best interests of members. Absent reason to the contrary, and none was identified, trustees were bound to transfer ADAs promptly. CFSIL [Colonial] did not.”