THE Northern Australia Committee has commenced an inquiry into the destruction of the Indigenous heritage sites at Juukan Gorge, WA.

The inquiry will examine how the destruction of the caves came about; the processes that failed to protect the site; the impacts on Traditional Owners; and the legislative changes required to prevent such incidents from recurring.

Committee Chair, Warren Entsch, said it was inconceivable that such a valuable heritage site could be destroyed in complete accordance with the law and without any means for Traditional Owners or their representatives to effectively intervene.

"The Committee wants to find out how this was allowed to happen and how we will prevent such occurrences in the future. The States and Territories and the Commonwealth have an absolute obligation to preserve our Indigenous heritage for the benefit of all Australians," Mr Entsch said.

The Committee welcomes submissions from all interested parties. The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2020.

The Committee is due to report on September 30, 2020.

The detailed Terms of Reference can be found on the Committee’s website.

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THE Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a statutory review into the ‘declared area’ provisions, listed in sections 119.2 and 119.3 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.

The provisions were introduced as part of the Foreign Fighters Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendments in 2014, and make it an offence for a person to enter, or remain in, declared areas of a foreign country, historically on the basis of regional terrorism activity.

Under a sunset clause, the provisions are due to expire on September 7, 2021. The Committee will review and make recommendations on whether they should be extended.

The Committee requests submissions to the inquiry by Friday August 28, 2020.

Prospective submitters are advised that any submission to the Committee’s inquiry must be prepared solely for the inquiry and should not be published prior to being accepted by the Committee.

Further information about making a submission to a committee inquiry can be found at the following link.

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

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THE Electoral Matters Committee has commenced a review into the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Ensuring Fair Representation of the Northern Territory) Bill 2020.

The bill, introduced to the Senate by Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Senator the Hon Don Farrell, would amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act to provide for a minimum of two divisions for the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives.

Analysis from the Parliamentary Library has projected the possibility of the Northern Territory losing one of its two House of Representatives seats before the next federal election, caused by its population falling below the entitlement quota for the second seat.

The Committee invites written submissions addressing any or all aspects of the bill.

Prospective submitters are advised that any submission to the Committee’s inquiry must be prepared solely for the inquiry and should not be published prior to being accepted by the Committee.

Submissions are requested by 10 July 2020. Further information about making a submission to a committee inquiry can be found at the following link.

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

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THE Queensland Government is being urged to intervene following revelations that Cairns-based shipping provider Sea Swift — purchased last year for $300 million by the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) — was slashing jobs and outsourcing maintenance work to Indonesia.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said it was unacceptable that a major local employer indirectly owned by the Queensland public through QIC was using the current COVID-19 health crisis to make skilled workers forcibly redundant while sending their work overseas.

The union highlighted the case of a Sea Swift vessel which was docked in Batam, Indonesia, last December to undergo a refit. When Australian seafarers arrived to sail it back to Queensland, they refused to depart port, describing it as being uninhabitable and not safe to go to sea.

MUA Queensland assistant branch secretary Paul Gallagher said workers at the company were demanding action from the Queensland Government and QIC.

“The hands-off approach by the Queensland Government and QIC while their wholly-owned business is slashing jobs and outsourcing work to third world countries is simply unacceptable,” Mr Gallagher said.

“We need urgent leadership from QIC and the State Government to ensure this business owned by Queensland taxpayers acts in an ethical and socially responsible manner.

“The fact is that just months after QIC bought Sea Swift, the company sent a vessel to Indonesia to undergo a refit — work that should have been done locally at the Tropical Reef Shipyard in Cairns.

“Now, under the cover of the COVID-19 health crisis, Sea Swift has slashed 15 percent of the skilled workers in their Cairns engineering department.”

Mr Gallagher said Sea Swift executives had led an anti-union and anti-worker culture at the business, which was linked to the recent outsourcing and job cuts.

“Sea Swift’s anti-union and anti-worker culture has been clearly demonstrated by their refusal for five years to allow officials their basic legal right to board vessels and speak to union members,” he said.

“The company has also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees tying up their industrial agreement in a complicated legal stalemate in the Fair Work Commission. The result is that they continue to operate under what is known as a ‘zombie’ enterprise agreement: one that is basically dead, has very little chance of getting legitimised, but still lives on.

“Five years ago, when the MUA fought for and won the right to have the agreement measured by the Seagoing Industry Award 2010, the company agreed to negotiate a new agreement, but since then they have refused to finalise it.

“Their aim throughout these years of dispute has been to achieve an outcome where they can pay local workers below the seagoing award," Mr Gallagher said.

“Sea Swift also refused to support a union initiative to create secure jobs for First Nations people in the far north through the inclusion of an Indigenous employment clause.

“With Queensland taxpayers investing millions into this business through the QIC, they would rightly expect this business to support local jobs and treat workers with respect, which is why QIC and the State Government must take immediate action.”

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