THE IMPACT of COVID-19 on lives and livelihoods has been severe around the globe, including Australia. While Australian, State and Territory governments continue to lead the nation into a containment and recovery phase, the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade (JSCFADT) has voted to adopt Terms of Reference for an inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade policies.

Senator David Fawcett, Chair of the JSCFADT, emphasised the strategic shock that COVID-19 has delivered to long-held assumptions that have underpinned some of Australia’s policy frameworks in recent decades. Learning from the impacts of COVID-19, and understanding future risks and opportunities, will play a key role in considered decision-making as Australia charts a path into a changed world.

“Although the effects of the pandemic are still unfolding, Governments will be making decisions that are going to underpin Australia’s future international position” Senator Fawcett said. “The Committee’s inquiry will bring together a range of expert stakeholders to help inform and test the basis of those decisions”.

One of the core questions for the inquiry is how to balance the risks and opportunities presented by global connectivity in trade and security partnerships within the international rules-based order.

“The pandemic has reinforced the fact that the efficient and effective functioning of critical domestic systems such as health and transport are currently linked to – and reliant on – the integrity of supply chains which we do not control and may be subject to disruption” Senator Fawcett said. “Now is the time to analyse how Australia can take a systemic, risk based approach to ensuring supply chain integrity, even in the event of market failure due to unforeseen external factors such as pandemic, conflict or natural disaster."

The inquiry will consider policy and practical measures that could form an ongoing effective national framework to ensure the resilience required to underpin Australia’s economic and strategic objectives.

Full terms of reference for the inquiry are on the committee website. Submissions can be made until June 30, 2020.

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THE Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee will hear from the Institute for International Trade and then from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime at a public hearing tomorrow for its inquiry into Australia’s trade with Pacific island countries.

Chair of the committee’s Trade Sub-Committee, Dr John McVeigh MP, said the hearing would investigate the views of the Institute for International Trade on implementation of a new development-centred trade agreement, the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus), with 13 other members of Pacific Islands Forum.

The sub-committee wants to better understand how PACER Plus will encourage Pacific island countries to prosper in a regional trading system, overcome any loss of tariffs and tax revenue, benefit from Aid for Trade programs, and encourage more Australian and islander businesses to trade in goods and services.

While Australia is seeking to activate greater trade and investment opportunities with the Pacific region, the sub-committee also wants to hear the latest on combatting corruption from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the progress of its UN Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project.

Public hearing details:

Date: Thursday 14 May 2020
Time: 9:45am to 11:20am
Location: Committee Room 1R2, Parliament House, Canberra.

The hearing will be audio streamed live at aph.gov.au/live.

Further details about the about the inquiry, including terms of reference, details on how to contribute a submission and, when available, details of public hearings and roundtable discussions, can be obtained from the Committee’s website.

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SEATTLE -  In its first forecasts for COVID-19 deaths outside North America and Europe, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington is projecting nearly 90,000 deaths in Brazil through early August, as well as more than 5,000 deaths each in Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru.

In addition, Egypt's death toll may exceed 2,000 and the Philippines' may exceed 1,500. The new projections also include updated forecasts for European nations, as well as 147,000 projected US deaths, an increase of 10,000 since the previous forecast on May 10.

"IHME's new forecasts for a growing number of countries around the world demonstrate the wide range of responses policymakers and health officials have had to the pandemic," said IHME director Dr Christopher Murray. "We aim to inform their decisions on how best to manage and mobilize for COVID-19."

IHME's current forecasting lasts through August 4 and, as Murray noted, the Institute's projections will change as new data are acquired and analyzed. Fluctuations are to be expected.

In the US, several states' projections increased since IHME's previous forecast on May 10. Those include New York (increase of 2,448), North Carolina (increase of 3,222), Massachusetts (increase of 2,084), Pennsylvania (increase of 1,677) and Maryland (increase of 1,192).

Reasons for the some of the increases, Murray said, include increased mobility and the easing of distancing policies.

Other key findings from today's update include:

• Brazil: 88,305 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 30,302 to 193,786
• Mexico: 6,859 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 3,578 to 16,795
• Ecuador: 5,215 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 4,844 to 6,052
• Peru: 6,428 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 2,731 to 21,724
• Egypt: 2,047 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 805 to 6,059
• Philippines: 1,735 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 1,094 to 3,972
• South Korea: 346 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 262 to 755
• Sweden: 5,760 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 4,426 to 9,089
• Israel: 272 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 266 to 279
• UK: 43,479 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 40,110 to 50,128
• US: 147,040 deaths projected through August 4, with a range of 113,182 to 226,971

Today's findings follow requests from several nations' health leaders for estimates of deaths and other COVID-19-related concerns, such as hospital resources needed to help address the pandemic. 

"The IHME team has worked closely with our collaborator network, now totaling more than 5,000 people in over 150 countries," Dr Murray said. "Many of those in the network have been essential in identifying data sources and helping verify these new forecasts."

Starting today, the Institute's forecasts for all countries and regions included are based on a new hybrid model. The model IHME released on March 26 to estimate hospital resource demand is now combined with a disease transmission model.

The new model captures the impact of changes in social distancing mandates, changes in mobility, and the impact of testing and contact tracing. It enables predicting a resurgence if and when more social distancing mandates are relaxed.

"The hybrid model allows us to better track changes to social distancing mandates and other drivers such as testing, contact tracing, and temperature," Dr Murray said.

"As with all our forecasts, these will be routinely updated and new data added as it is available. As social distancing mandates are lifted, we will be better able to understand whether behaviors, such as mask-wearing, can counteract increased mobility and keep cases down to prevent a prolonged pandemic."  

The new death projections are available at https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections.    

IHME thanked  the Microsoft AI for Health program for supporting our hosting of COVID-19 data visualizations in the Azure cloud. 

About the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation 
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world's most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. IHME is committed to transparency and makes this information widely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions on allocating resources to improve population health.

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NEW SOUTH WALES cemented its reputation as the capital of regtech in the Asia-Pacific by sponsoring the RegTech Virtual Pitchfest.

The Pitchfest provides six early stage regtech companies a platform to promote their innovative ideas in front of investors and competition judges, with one winner each named for NSW and Victoria.

Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres said startups on display at this year’s Pitchfest demonstrated the depth of local talent on offer.

“New South Wales leads the region in regtech and this Government believes there is enormous potential for jobs generation and investment in this space,” Mr Ayres said.

“Regtech will increase capacity and productivity across the broader economy. Leading companies such as Sydney-based Checkbox.ai are building innovative solutions that remove roadblocks and allow enterprises to achieve greater efficiencies.”

InfoSecAssure was named NSW winner, while Frankie Financial took out the Victorian title. 

Regtech is the use of emerging technology to provide advanced solutions that solve increasingly complex regulatory and compliance demands.

Sydney is home to 64 percent of Australia’s regtech companies with global spending in the sector forecast to climb from $25 billion in 2019 to $127 billion by 2024.

The RegTech Virtual Pitchfest is organised by The RegTech Association (RTA) to recognise and promote the best regtech early stage startups in Australia.

Contestants have four minutes to pitch, followed by a two-minute Q&A from the judges, with winners announced at the end of the session.

The NSW Government has a partnership with The RegTech Association to support industry initiatives, including the Pitchfest.

The Minister said NSW was committed to supporting tech entrepreneurs in a number of ways, including through the development of landmark projects such as the Sydney Startup Hub and the Sydney Innovation and Technology Precinct.

The NSW Government also supports tech innovation through a range of other measures, including the Minimum Viable Product grant of up to $25,000 for startups.

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