THE Trade Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JASFADT) has tabled its report titled, ‘Are we there yet?’: From recovery to resilience – opportunities and challenges for Australia’s tourism sector, for its inquiry into Australia’s tourism and international education sectors.

The inquiry explored the issues and opportunities facing both sectors since the reopening of Australia’s borders following the COVID-19 pandemic. An interim report was released in October 2023 focusing on the international education sector, titled ‘Quality and Integrity – the Quest for Sustainable Growth’: Interim Report into International Education’.

Reflecting on the focus on tourism for the inquiry’s final report, the Chair of the Trade Subcommittee, Senator Deborah O’Neill said, "Tourism is one of Australia’s largest exports and is a key way for Australians to share our unique and wonderful cultures, environments and stories. But the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the sector to its limits.

"While we’re starting to see encouraging signs that the sector is recovering, it is clear the recovery has been patchy and that issues remain. This report makes a number of recommendations to strengthen the visitor economy and make it more resilient to future shocks.

The Senator said, "Throughout the inquiry we kept coming back to two key areas with enormous opportunity, if key barriers can be reduced: First Nations tourism and regional and tourism."

The report makes 28 recommendations aimed at strengthening the resilience of the tourism sector, particularly for regional Australia and for First Nations tourism businesses. It also makes various recommendations that would make the visitor economy more inclusive, more accessible, and more sustainable.

Some of the key recommendations include:

• The establishment of a national First Nations tourism body to represent the interests of First Nations businesses and communities in tourism.
• The establishment of a First Nations advisory panel to advise Tourism Australia on the appropriate representation of First Nations in marketing strategies and campaigns.
• The development of a Regional Dispersal Strategy to drive greater domestic and international visitation into more of Australia’s regions.
• That the Australian Government prioritises policies that will achieve more accessible and affordable regional air access.
• Improved role clarity, communication and coordination between local, state and Australian Government tourism organisations.
• For the Minister for Trade and Tourism to issue a new Statement of Expectations for Tourism Australia to provide greater clarity about its role.

During the inquiry, the committee heard from a range of stakeholders including international and regional tourism operators and providers, including First Nations tourism operators, local councils, government agencies, education and tourism peak bodies, international students and student associations, and education providers.

"Over the last two years we held 31 public hearings across Australia, primarily in regional towns. We wanted to hear from the people themselves and see firsthand their tourism offerings and challenges," Senator O’Neill said. "The impact of COVID-19 in the tourism sector and in Australia’s regions was unprecedented, and we heard stories of great adversity.

"But we also heard about innovation and collaboration, a shared ambition to continue to grow the sector, and the opportunities it provides for individuals, communities and Australia."

The report is now available on the JSCFADT website.

Further information is available on the Inquiry webpage.

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FISHERIES officers across NSW have begun industrial action over safety concerns after a number of violent incidents where they were shot at, threatened with knives and baseball bats and had cars driven at them.

The officers are demanding they’re issued with protective equipment such as stab-proof vests and capsicum spray.

Fisheries officers are now avoiding certain areas and individuals at the very time fears have emerged that crooks, poachers and organised criminals, like outlaw bikie gangs, have taken over the state’s rivers, oceans and estuaries and are now plundering valuable species like abalone and rock lobster.

Without direct police assistance on operations the officers are now refusing to complete inspections of commercial trawlers at nighttime.

The Department of Primary Industries, which employs fisheries officers, attempted to force them back into dangerous night work earlier this week by applying to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission but the Commission refused to make such an order.

The officers also want the same powers as fisheries officers in other states to check boat and car registrations, conduct surveillance, undertake investigations, and real time GPS tracking of the entire commercial fishing fleet.

They also want to see the introduction of a ‘fit and proper person’ test for commercial fishing licence holders and their crew within six months.

A fisheries officer is going to get killed if the NSW Government doesn’t take action, according to Troy Wright the assistant general secretary of The Public Service Association which represents fisheries officers.

“Fisheries officers are being shot at, run down, having fishing knives pulled on them, someone’s going to get killed,” Mr Wright said.

“Fisheries officers have no way of knowing if a boat or car we inspect is going to be filled with bikies from outlaw motorcycle gangs, they’re blind compared to fisheries officers in other states.

“People say they care about the marine environment but the 100 or so fisheries officers in this state are now saying publicly our oceans, rivers and estuaries are being plundered and there is nothing they can do.

“In other states, fisheries officers have access to car and boat licence records like Police, they can find out if people are violent offenders and avoid dangerous situations, they can see if someone has a history of crimes against the environment -- in NSW we can’t do that.

“It's harder to get a RSA certificate to pull schooners at the local pub than it is to get a commercial fishing licence, you can get one and start taking thousands of kilos of fish by filling out an online form with no 100 points of ID, with no background checks.

“In Victorian or Queensland to be a commercial fisher you need to to pass a fit and proper person test, so if you have a prior history of crimes against the environment, or violent crimes you won’t get a licence,” Mr Wright said.

“It’s an absolute joke, to flick a line in at the local wharf mums and dads have to pay for a licence and have it with them, but to run a commercial fishing operation you can have 15 people all pulling out hundreds of fish who have zilch paperwork.

“Fisheries officers have no powers of investigation, they can’t even use binoculars or a camera, in other states they can apply to a magistrate to put a tracking device on a boat, here they can’t do that, why?

“We know drug traffickers have infiltrated the commercial industry, miles off the coast in the dead of night we need to board boats, yet unlike other states we don’t have a GPS vessel monitoring system for our commercial fishing fleet, one day fisheries officers will board a boat and they'll get killed.

“This is why the NSW fishing fleet is so appealing to drug traffickers to pick up cocaine shipments off the continental shelf,” Mr Wright said.

“In 2020 a fishing trawler called Coralynne was caught carrying 1.8 tonnes or $850 million worth of cocaine it had picked up from a larger ship in international waters. If fisheries officers had boarded this boat they might have been killed.

“Fisheries officers can’t even run a rego check on a boat they physically pull up alongside.

“In Queensland they track every boat via GPS, so they know where each boat is, who’s the skipper and what they’re doing.

“It’s not just miles off the coast, fisheries officers are intercepting poachers with thousands of dollars worth of abalone and rock lobster at all hours of the night, and these crooks won’t hesitate to hurt them if it means avoiding jail time,” Mr Wright said.

“Fisheries officers need more defensive protective equipment, stab proof vests, capsicum spray so if someone comes at them with a fishing knife they can put some distance between them and if they close that distance they can spray them so they can escape.

“Fisheries officers often can’t call police for backup as they are tracking poachers in the dead of night on remote beaches or miles offshore on trawlers. I’m telling you someone is going to get killed.

“They need cars with crimson flashing lights and a siren and power to effect vehicle stops,” Mr Wright said.

“There’s big money in poaching, every abalone is a $50 note, and all you need is a wetsuit and a knife and you can lever a couple of 100 off the rocks in a few hours, it's big money.

“Go for a bushwalk on the south coast and you’ll see where illegal fishers have removed the abalone shell and guts, but they keep the meat which attaches to the rock, they’re highly prized in asian cuisine.

“If you care about our state’s fish stocks, especially of endangered species like abalone and rock lobster, you need to hear this distress call from Fisheries Officer’s because if they’re ignored you might wake up to the news one day soon that these species are extinct,” Mr Wright said.

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THE Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society will hold further public hearings next week as part of its inquiry into the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society.

Building on previous hearings where the committee heard from social media platforms and media organisations, the committee will hear from a broad range of stakeholders with experience of the harm caused by social media. This includes representatives from women’s safety groups, parents, mental health practitioners, and government departments amongst others.

The committee will also take evidence from technical experts on the use of age verification measures to protect Australian children from social media harms, as well as the use of algorithms and recommender systems employed by the platforms.

Committee Chair Sharon Claydon MP said, "The government is focused on how Australians can be protected from the worst impacts of social media, and this inquiry is looking at what needs to change to ensure the online space is safe and secure for everyone."

In the coming weeks the committee will table its second interim report looking primarily at the role of social media companies in the online news media environment.

The inquiry’s final report is due to be tabled on or before November 18, 2024.

Further information about the inquiry, including published submissions and hearing transcripts, is available on the committee's webpage.

Public hearing details in Canberra
Date: Monday, 30 September 2024
Time: 9am – 5.30pm (AEST)
Location: Committee Room 2S1, Parliament House

Date: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Time: 9am – 5.30pm (AEST)
Location: Committee Room 2S3, Parliament House

The hearings will be broadcast live at:
www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen

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MORE THAN 1000 Victorian employers have been granted a licence to employ children under 15 since the new child employment licensing system came into place.

This milestone comes almost a year after stronger laws were introduced in Victoria to help keep kids safe in the workplace.

The new laws, administered by Wage Inspectorate Victoria and designed in consultation with stakeholders and the community, saw a licensing system replace a permit system, allowing businesses to employ multiple kids under one licence, instead of needing a permit for each child they employ.

Since the licensing system came into place, the Wage Inspectorate has granted 1000 licences for the employment of 8807 children. This represents a significant red tape reduction, as under the old system, businesses would have needed to apply for a permit for each of these 8807 children. 

Emily, who runs a media agency and employs more than 200 kids each year, said the change to the licensing system has helped her save sufficient time.

“Instead of applying for a permit for every child, we can simply add a child to our ongoing licence and the Wage Inspectorate knows the child is working in a safe environment”," Emily said.

“Not having to wait for each permit to be approved also makes it easier for us to substitute kids faster if someone is unable to work on a specific day.”

This system reduces the burden on businesses but hasn’t reduced the protection for kids. It has allowed the Wage Inspectorate to target its resources to the areas with the most risks.

Under the licence system, employers are subject to a ‘fit and proper person’ test which considers, among other things, an employer’s compliance with child employment and other relevant workplace laws.

The new laws also saw stronger powers for breaching child employment laws, with the maximum penalty for employing a child without a licence increased from $18,500 to more than $200,000.

In addition to obtaining a licence, there are other important rules employers must follow, like making sure kids are getting adequate rest breaks, finishing work by 9pm and not working during school hours.

Commissioner of Wage Inspectorate Victoria, Robert Hortle said, “The new licensing system has saved businesses from having to apply for almost 9000 individual permits. That’s time back in their day, and we know for businesses, time is money.

“The new system has reduced the burden for businesses but not protections for kids – It has enabled us to focus on monitoring areas of high-risk rather than assessing permit for compliant employers.

“Tougher penalties show that taking advantage of children in the workplace will not be tolerated. These are serious laws with serious consequences, and the Wage Inspectorate won’t hesitate to take serious offending to court.

“It’s great to give young workers a go, but it’s important to do so safely.”

More information about child employment can be found at wageinspectorate.vic.gov.au.

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