Month: May 2022

A Coalition proposal to bust open superannuation could leave every worker tens of thousands worse off, even if they don’t access the scheme, new Industry Super Australia analysis shows.

Under the scheme, funds would be forced to carry more cash – a lower performing asset – this means every Australian with a super fund could have less at retirement.

A 30-year-old on the median wage with a $20,000 starting balance could be between $14,700-$29,100 worse off at retirement, regardless of whether they accessed the scheme or not (today’s dollars).

The increased liquidity requirements would lead to less investment in long-term growth-oriented assets.

ISA modelling shows the liquidity requirements mean annual returns across investment portfolios could fall 10-20 basis points, depending on the demographics of the fund and existing asset allocations.

The Prime Minister compared the Coalition’s scheme with New Zealand’s super system – that allows super for housing – but most New Zealanders gets 1% less per year than Australians.

KiwiSaver balanced option returns delivered around 1.0% per annum less than Australian balanced MySuper products over 5 and 10 years and held around 13.5% less in growth assets than Australian counterparts (see table 1 below).

The New Zealand Retirement Commission has confirmed part of the reason for KiwiSaver’s poor performance can ‘likely be linked to first home deposit withdrawals’. The KiwiSaver experience also confirms funds need to carry more liquidity partly to meet withdrawals for housing deposits, making returns unfavourable to the best Australian industry funds.

If take-up in Australia mirrored New Zealand, funds would have to process almost 250,000 applications for super withdrawals each year for first home buyers, and if average withdrawals were $37,500, total funds released would be equal to $9.4 billion per annum.

As first home buyers make up a third of all purchasers this flood of extra money can only jack up house prices – as government minister Jane Hume has admitted – making housing affordability worse.  

Price surges would quickly gobble up any extra money first home buyers could take out of super, as ISA analysis shows the nation’s five major capital city median property prices could jump by between 8-16%.

Industry Super Australia Chief Executive Bernie Dean said:

“Even those Australians that don’t use their super to buy a house will be left tens of thousands of dollars worse off because of the government’s scheme.”

“New Zealand might beat us at rugby, but Australia is better at growing workers’ retirement savings.”

“Not only will throwing super into the housing market jack up prices and make houses less affordable, but all Australian workers will also be worse off because of lower investment returns.”  

 “Super is meant to be for people’s retirement, not supercharging house prices and pushing the home ownership dream further away.” 

Table 1 – Australian MySuper vs New Zealand’s Kiwisaver (median) 

Years	MySuper	KiwiSaver	Difference
3	7.20	6.67	-0.53
5	7.44	6.36	-1.08
10	7.66	6.56	-1.10
Growth Asset %	68.5	55.0	-13.5

Source: Superratings March 2021 KiwiSaver crediting rate and MySuper crediting rate balanced options

  Methodology notes:

·       In the year to June 30 2021 NZ had  35,130 first home finance commitments coupled with 54,000 first home withdrawals from KiwiSaver accounts a ratio of 1.54 withdrawals for each FHB finance commitment. In Australia there were 162,579 FHB finance commitments in 2021and with the same take-up as NZ we could expect 249,907 super withdrawals. The range of total withdrawals would be in the range $6.25 to $12.5bn depending on whether each application was for $25,000 or the full $50,000 (midpoint $9.4bn).

After a successful motion put forward by Senator Lidia Thorpe, the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs is accepting submissions for an inquiry on the application of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Australia.

“The UNDRIP is a mechanism for First Nations people to enact our Sovereign rights, which have been denied since 1788”, said Senator Lidia Thorpe, a DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman and the Greens Senator for Victoria.

“This is about First Nations people self-determining our own destiny. It’s about legislating our right to free, prior and informed consent when it comes to our Country, our Culture and our People.”

“We need as many voices as possible in this inquiry, to ensure that this Country applies the UNDRIP into the domestic laws of this Country.” Said Thorpe.

To implement the UNDRIP in this country, the inquiry needs to consider:

1. Australian federal and state government’s adherence to the principles of the UNDRIP and the potential to enact the UNDRIP in Australia;
2. key Australian legislation affected by adherence to the principles of the UNDRIP;
3. legal issues relevant to ensure compliance with the UNDRIP, with or without enacting it;

They can be written submissions, visual representations, audio or video recordings. Submissions can be uploaded through the Committee website until June 2, 2022, at this link: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_an…

Eight projects across six universities will share in $10.7 million in funding to advance new fields of neurological research, thanks to the Morrison Government.

Funded through the landmark Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said these projects had the potential to revolutionise how medical professionals tackle these conditions.

“The grants I am announcing today will give researchers the support and certainty to conduct their vital work,” Minister Hunt said.

“I am confident they will break new ground in diagnosing, treating and – ultimately – finding cures for these chronic neurological conditions.”

Professor Peter Anderson at Monash University will lead research focussing on preterm births, (two months early) and the developmental delays and impairments associated with the occurrence.

Right now, there is no system for monitoring the development of these children. In order to reduce the burden of developmental impairments in children born very preterm, research will help shape a follow-up program that is targeted to the individual needs of the child and family. Parents and health professionals with lived experience will have a significant role in designing the program.

A Griffith University team, led by Associate Professor Dawn Adams, will look at enhancing quality of life through early intervention co-developed with the autistic community. This project will focus less on skills and more on improving the child and family’s quality of life. Professor Adams’ team will partner with a number of organisations, including Reframing Autism, a health service, and others.

A University of Sydney team, led by Professor Clement Loy, will conduct a program entitled “We hear your voice!” This program, co-designed with consumers, will customise, evaluate and implement speech recognition technology, for people with chronic degenerative neurologic diseases. It will focus on older Australians with neurological disease.

The funding is provided under the MRFF 2021 Emerging Priorities and Consumer Driven Research Initiative. The Government has allocated a total of $613 million for the Initiative, which aims to support research that improves patient care and translation of new discoveries and encourage collaboration between consumers and researchers.

Funding from this Initiative will support the development of new diagnoses, treatments and cures, translate new discoveries into clinical practice, and continue to support research on addressing emerging priority health needs and areas of unmet need.

In addition, the Morrison Government has also announced $18 million for the 2022 Multiple Sclerosis Research Grant Opportunity across four streams of research with a focus on prevention, early intervention and/or treatment of Epstein-Barr virus and autoimmune conditions, including multiple sclerosis. This grant opportunity is currently open and further information can be found on Grant Connect.

The Government’s $20 billion MRFF is a long-term, sustainable investment in Australian health and medical research, helping to improve lives, build the economy and contribute to the sustainability of the health system.

Further information about the MRFF is available at www.health.gov.au/mrff

2021 Chronic Neurological Conditions Grant Opportunity recipients

Project	Recipient	Funding
Using technological innovations to provide equitable access to early identification of child developmental needs and integrated health and social care using a blended service delivery framework	University of New South Wales	$1,964,142.00
Earlier intervention for infants with auditory neuropathy for lifelong benefit	The Bionics Institute of Australia	$392,940.00
Early, novel and accessible intervention for children with developmental regression	Monash University	$1,995,974.54
Targeted surveillance of developmental delay and impairments for young children born very preterm	Monash University	$1,829,994.60
Enhancing Quality of Life through an earlyInTervention co-developed with the autisticcommunitY (E-QoL-ITY)	Griffith University	$579,747.48
Developmental Delay: Enabling early and accurate detection of speech impairment through a web-based assessment application	Curtin University	$312,583.90
Early Sleep Interventions to Improve Outcomes in Children with Neurodisability	The University ofQueensland	$1,614,882.40
We hear your voice! A consumer-codesigned program to customise, evaluate and implement speech recognition technology, for people with chronic degenerative neurologic diseases.	University of Sydney	$1,990,688.40
	Total	$10,680,953.32

The Australian Government has imposed new sanctions on Russian purveyors of propaganda and disinformation who have sought to legitimise Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, as well as political and security figures and entities who have supported the invasion.

The Russian Government is driving a widespread disinformation campaign both within Russia and internationally. President Putin has attacked freedom of speech and dissent in Russia to supress factual reporting on its war against Ukraine and its egregious war crimes, and to damage perceptions of Ukraine and its international supporters.

We have listed for sanctions 11 individuals and 12 entities for promoting Russian propaganda and disinformation, building on the measures already taken against 32 propagandists in March 2022. They include individuals in the Russian media industry who promote the Russian Government’s false narratives.

Australia is also imposing targeted financial sanctions against entities including “troll farms” that generate and spread disinformation online, many of which are linked to Russian intelligence services.

Among the three entities and four individuals being sanctioned for their roles in Russia’s invasion is the private military company “Wagner”, described as a defacto private army of Russian President Putin. Wagner’s mercenaries are supporting Russian-backed separatists in the so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in clear violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The other two entities are the Belarusian defence enterprises Industrial-Commercial Private Unitary Enterprise Minotor-Service and OJSC KB Radar-Managing Company of Radar Systems Holding. Both companies produce sophisticated equipment used by the Armed Forces of Belarus, who have in turn provided significant strategic support to Russian forces.

The four individuals being sanctioned for supporting the invasion are Aleksandr Chupriyan, acting Minister of Emergencies for the Russian Federation; Sergei Korolyov, First Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB); Nikolay Bogdanovsky, First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia; and Illia Kyva, a pro-Russian former member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

The Australian Government continues to inflict costs on Russia, in co-ordination with our partners, by targeting those who share responsibility for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or hold levers of influence. With these additional listings announced today, Australia has now sanctioned 827 individuals and 62 entities in response to Russia’s invasion.

Separately, we have listed for sanctions the Russian Imperial Movement, a Russian ultra-nationalist group that conducts paramilitary-style training through a course called Partizan. It is also known for its anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTIQ, and anti-Ukrainian views and has sent foreign fighters to join Russian separatists in Ukraine.

Today Greens Spokesperson for Disability Jordon Steele-John and Greens Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters have given their support for a range of policy commitments set out by the Queensland Disability Network.

These commitments aim to ensure the safety of the disability community during the increasingly common effects of the climate emergency such as the recent flooding in Queensland and New South Wales. It will also see the centering of disabled voices in how the government prepares and enacts its disaster response plans. 

These commitments are:

• A commitment to refunding QDN $2 million over 2 years to continue to operate the Targeted Outreach project. QDN also supports the funding of the Queensland Government’s Assessment and Referral team to continue working alongside the project.
• Commitment to the development of a national plan and roadmap to deliver on disability-inclusive disaster preparedness, resilience, and recovery, and investment for multi-sector targeted responses underpinned by collaborative and inclusive research.

Senator Jordon Steele-John, Greens Spokesperson for Disability Rights and Services said:
“Too often we have to hear stories from disabled folks who were unable to access the support and services they needed during times of crisis. Stories of inaccessible emergency centres, lack of planning for those unable to evacuate and communication systems inaccessible to the deaf or vision impaired are far too common”

“Severe flooding and bushfires are becoming more and more common and it’s time the government stopped treating the disability community as an afterthought. We need services designed by and enacted by disabled folks that properly take into account lived experience during times of crisis.”

“The commitments outlined by QDN and supported by our party today are a valuable first step for a framework to disaster response that puts lived experience and Co-design at its core so we don’t continue to leave disabled people behind every time there is an emergency” 

“The Greens in the balance of power will prioritise the needs of disabled people, work with the community invaluable co-design and ensure everyone has what they need to live a happy and healthy life”

Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said:

“I recently met with members of the Queensland Disability Network and was shocked to hear some of the things Queenslanders with disabilities experienced during the floods. It simply isn’t good enough that so many people were left without support at a critical time.” 

“Targeted outreach is essential so Queenslanders with disabilities are not ignored, and aren’t put at greater risk during future disasters.”

“As climate events become more frequent, we need to fund organisations like QDN to be a voice for people with disabilities in disaster management planning.” 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says Australia must sign the Global Methane Pledge to phase out toxic methane gas, which is one of the fastest growing sources of Australia’s emissions due to oil and gas production.

Addressing the Greens national campaign launch on Monday night, Mr Bandt said he would push for a Labor government to sign the pledge before the next global climate conference in Cairo at the end of the year.

Mr Bandt will join a climate protest at the APPEA Oil and Gas conference in Brisbane on Tuesday. Liberal Resources Minister Keith Pitt and Labor Shadow Resources Minister Madeleine King will both give plenary addresses to the oil and gas giants at the conference this week.

The Global Methane Pledge was launched by President Biden at last year’s Glasgow climate summit and already has 112 participant countries, including the United States, Canada, UK and the European Union. The pledge commits countries to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030, similar to the Montreal Protocol’s CFC pledge that saved the ozone layer.

Methane is a major cause of global warming. It is 86 times worse for the climate than CO2, and methane gas projects are Australia’s fastest growing source of emissions. 

Australia emits 4.5 million tonnes of methane each year, which given its higher warming potential makes up approximately a quarter of all of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Government’s own emissions projections, methane pollution is expected to decline by less than 1% between 2019 and 2030 under current policies.

Labor has walked back from outright opposition to signing the pledge if elected and will consult with ‘international counterparts and local stakeholders’ before making a decision.

The annual APPEA conference and expo is sponsored by the oil and gas giants Woodside and ExxonMobil and is the largest Australian gathering of oil and gas corporations from around the world.

The Liberals and Nationals have accepted at least $6.8 million in donations from the fossil fuel sector since 2012. Labor has accepted $4.9 million in the same period.

The Greens warn that if the Liberals and Nationals capitulate to their coal and gas donors, it will put a handbrake on global ambition. 

Adam Bandt MP, Leader of the Australian Greens said:

“Gas is as dirty as coal and toxic methane is a climate bomb exploding in our backyard.”

“The United Kingdom, EU and the US are asking countries around the world to sign the Global Methane Pledge, but Liberal and Labor are giving them the middle finger.”

“Agricultural emissions are flatlining, but climate pollution from the gas industry is rising. Instead of sucking up to the oil and gas giants, Liberal and Labor should sign the Global Methane Pledge.”

“The Greens will push the next government to sign the methane pledge before the global climate summit in Cairo at the end of the year.”

“Australian voters want climate action, but instead Liberal and Labor are lighting the fuse on a giant climate bomb by fracking the Beetaloo basin in the Northern Territory and opening the giant Scarborough gas project, both against the wishes of First Nations people.

“The only way to get climate action is to kick the Liberals out and put the Greens in the balance of power, where we’ll push the next government to stop new coal and gas projects and sign the Global Methane Pledge.”