THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell has welcomed changes to the JobKeeper eligibility criteria that will support more Victorian small businesses impacted by tighter restrictions.

Under the new eligibility test, small businesses are only required to demonstrate a significant reduction in turnover in the September quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.

“The adjustments to the eligibility criteria will be a necessary lifeline, particularly to those small businesses in Victoria that were able to re-open when restrictions eased after the first wave, but are now impacted by tighter restrictions in response to the second wave,” Ms Carnell said.

“The changes also allow struggling small businesses to get JobKeeper payments for new staff who have been employed since 1 July.”

While the changes to JobKeeper apply nation-wide, Victorian small businesses are expected to take up 80% of the additional $15 billion allocated to the program.

“There’s no doubt the latest round of restrictions has been devastating for Victorian small businesses and the broader economy,” Ms Carnell said.

“The Federal Government’s commitment ‘to keep Australians in jobs and businesses in business’ will give small businesses a much-needed confidence boost at this very difficult time.

“Small businesses will be reassured by the government’s pledge to continue to back them so they can get to the other side of this crisis.

“In light of the restrictions imposed on small businesses in Melbourne and surrounds, the government should delay its plans to taper JobKeeper payments from the end of next month," she said.

“The reality is that these small businesses won’t be back on their feet by 28 September, when payments will be reduced and commercial rent deferrals are scheduled to expire.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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VICTORIA’s sole traders face dire circumstances due to current Stage 4 Lockdowns according to Fitness Australia CEO, Barrie Elvish, whose organiSation represents approximately 3,500 fitness industry sole traders across the state.

He is calling on the Victorian Government to provide more financial support and assistance to this business sector, saying not enough is being done with the current $534 million Business Support Package to ensure they can survive the current shutdowns.

“In Victoria, there are more than 604,000 small businesses, many of whom are sole traders and it appears to date the Government has provided no means of financial support to these hard-working Australians,” Mr Elvish said.

“The current $534 million Business Support Package extended by the Andrews Government earlier this month fails to recognise or support sole traders that have no employees; they have essentially been forgotten in the grant program. Those employed in the fitness sector have effectively been in some form of shut down since March.”

A recent survey conducted by Fitness Australia on the impact of COVID-19 closures on fitness businesses, sole traders and exercise professionals found:

In addition to advocating for more financial support for sole traders, Fitness Australia is also urging the Government to consider fitness and exercise programs conducted by qualified professionals an essential service.

“Exercise is imperative to our mental health and wellbeing – fitness and exercise needs to be considered an essential service to allow people to continue their regular physical activity; particularly when community anxiety is significantly heightened,” Mr Elvish said.

“This especially applies to Personal Trainers who often work with clients presenting with special needs and/or mental health issues. Protecting and managing mental health during this uncertain and concerning time is essential.

“With the strict hygiene, health and safety measures in place, exercise can be enjoyed in a COVID-safe environment. We have an industry willing to do whatever is required to reopen safety for the benefit of the whole community.”

Fitness Industry Impacts of COVID-19  and JobKeeper Report - Victorian Sole Trader Statistics

• 42.5% have lost more than 80% of clients
• A further 47.5% have lost between 40% - 80% of clients
• 18% state their revenue is down 100%
• A further 76% stated it is down between 40% - 99%
• 40% would last less than 4 weeks without government financial support.

www.fitness.org.au

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AS PART of a Federal Parliament inquiry into the destruction of the Indigenous heritage sites at Juukan Gorge, the Northern Australia Committee is tomorrow holding a public hearing by teleconference with key stakeholders including Rio Tinto, the Australian Government and the Government of Western Australia.

Committee Chair, Warren Entsch, said it was important to find out what happened at Juukan Gorge and find ways to prevent such incidents occurring again.

"We will be holding extensive consultations with Indigenous stakeholders during the course of the inquiry, and expect to visit the affected sites. To open the inquiry, however, we will be talking to the government and industry stakeholders most concerned with what happened at Juukan Gorge," Mr Entsch said.

In its submission, Rio Tinto acknowledged that "the destruction of the Juukan rockshelters should not have occurred". Looking at the need for legislative change, the company observed:

"In considering possible changes that should be made to legislative frameworks, contractual agreements and new standards and ways of working, there is a critical and ongoing balance to be struck. On the one hand, it is essential to find more effective and flexible means to escalate and manage concerns regarding the preservation of the unique cultural heritage of Indigenous Australians. On the other, there needs to be a clear and predictable framework to enable long-term investment in, and the efficient operation of, mining projects that contribute so significantly to Australia. In meeting that challenge, governments, as well as the mining industry, Traditional Owners and the wider community all have a vital contribution to make."

The Government of Western Australia said, "The recent destruction of the rock shelters in the Juukan Gorge of the Pilbara region is devastating for all parties involved and was clearly avoidable."

Its submission focussed on the shortcomings of the current Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA) and the proposed reforms to that Act currently being developed.

"In order to achieve protection, conservation and management of Aboriginal cultural heritage in Western Australia, and to provide a clear framework that enables land users to manage Aboriginal heritage, a fundamental shift away from the current Act is required," The WA Government said.

Programs are available on the Committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Friday, 7 August 2020
Time: 9am to 2pm AEDT
Location: By teleconference 

The hearings will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

Further details of the inquiry, including terms of reference, can be found on the Committee’s website.

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AUSTRALIA’s peak workplace health and safety body is calling for immediate government action to stop the spread of COVID-19 among healthcare workers.

An examination of current health and safety standards in healthcare by the Australian Institute of Health and Safety has found they are inadequate for the current crisis.

This comes as over 1200 Victorian healthcare workers have now tested positive to coronavirus.

AIHS chairwoman Naomi Kemp said the failure to provide adequate workplace health and safety standards in hospitals and aged care centres has contributed to the state’s devastating second wave.

“The current infection rate is unacceptable,” she said.

“But more tragically, it is preventable.”

Ms Kemp said that current health and safety practice rebuked the assumption that hospitals were some of Australia’s safest workplaces.

“Workers on many building sites currently have better protection than our healthcare workers when it comes to personal protective equipment, protocols around common work and recreation areas and transmission management,” she said.

“Despite months of preparation, hospitals and aged care centres don’t have the health and safety practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amongst their frontline workers.

“The rate of infection of frontline workers is putting additional pressure on the sector to be able to deliver services.”

Australia’s National Guidance on personal protective equipment use in hospitals does not require staff to wear P2/N95’s masks in all activities with confirmed or potential COVID-19 patients, even though it is an airborne virus. Surgical masks are not designed to protect the wearer.

Ms Kemp said that urgently needed to change.

“We’re not saying that individual hospitals and aged care centres aren’t trying, but many are only implementing the minimum health and safety standards, and those requirements are dangerously inadequate for frontline workers,” she said.

The AIHS is calling on the federal and state governments to implement the following:

• · Immediately upgrade federal and state infection control guidelines and standards.
• · Hospitals and aged care centres to upgrade their health and safety management plans and practices to the appropriate standard. 
• · Immediate increased surveillance and enforcement by government workplace health and safety regulatory authorities in hospitals and aged care centres.
• · Mandate the use of approved P2/N95 masks for all tasks healthcare workers perform dealing with patients suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19
• · Provide training and fit-testing in the use of masks provided to staff.

Ms Kemp said unless these five areas were addressed as a matter of urgency, infection rates in hospitals and aged care centres would continue to escalate. 

“The Victorian experience will simply be repeated in other states unless we act urgently to introduce better protocols across Australia,” she said. “No worker should have to go to work and contract COVID-19.”

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AT A PUBLIC  hearing tomorrow, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works will scrutinise a proposal from the Department of Defence to commence Phase 1 of the AIR555 facilities project at RAAF Bases in Edinburgh, Darwin, and Townsville, as well as the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

The inquiry into the AIR 555 Phase 1 Airborne Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Electronic Warfare Capability Facilities Works  will examine the need for and cost effectiveness of the project, along with how the project will support the incoming Peregrine capability.

Public hearing details

Date: Friday, 7 August 2020
Time: 2.15pm to 3.15pm (AEST)
Location: via teleconference

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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THIS WEEK the House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs will hear from representatives from Tasmania, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory as part of its inquiry into homelessness in Australia.

Chair of the Committee, Andrew Wallace MP, said the Committee was looking forward to hearing more from state and territory governments as they have primary responsibility for housing and homelessness.

"Throughout the inquiry, the Committee has heard evidence about the central role of state and territory governments in supporting those in our community who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Last week we heard from the Northern Territory government, and this week’s hearing will be an opportunity to hear from other states and territories about their strategies to address homelessness, and how they are working with the Commonwealth under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement," Mr Wallace said.

"The Committee will also be interested to hear more about measures implemented by state and territory governments to assist the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic."

The Committee will also hear from community organisations including the Sacred Heart Mission and the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency.

In order to ensure public safety during the COVID-19 situation, witnesses will participate in the hearing remotely, via teleconference. Interested members of the public are invited to listen to the live broadcast, available at aph.gov.au/live.

Further information, including hearing programs and submissions to the inquiry, is available on the Committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Friday, 7 August 2020
Time: 8.45am to 3pm
Location: Via teleconference

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PEAK industry body, the Accommodation Association said yesterday the decision to close the Queensland border to NSW and ACT is "disappointing given there has only been a total of 21 cases in the past four weeks".

Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long said, “The Accommodation Sector agrees that health considerations must be at the forefront of decision making however this decision comes with absolutely no warning and will now mean an acceleration of job losses in Queensland’s tourism sector.

“The closing of Queensland’s border to the whole of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory when there have been just 21 cases in total over the past month, less than one case a day, is extremely disappointing," he said.

“It is absolutely critical that we get the balance right between protecting lives and protecting jobs. The flow-on ramifications of slamming shut borders are huge.

"This decision not only costs Queensland lost revenue from tourism but the reverse applies back into New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. This is a decision which has very real, very damaging consequences for hotels, motels and serviced apartment providers, for all those tourism and tourism-related businesses and communities and for the economies of those impacted states and territories," Mr Long said.

The Queensland Premier’s decisions impact more than just Queensland and we need a more collaborative and constructive approach.

“The Queensland Government and Chief Medical Officer must release the details of the rationale they are basing their decisions on in expanding hot spots so that businesses can understand and prepare. Decisions such as the one taken today destroy the confidence of businesses and tourism reliant communities.”

Mr Long said accommodation contributes $17 billion to the Australian economy and is essential to the Australian tourism sector’s recovery. NSW visitors contribute $4.4 billion to Queensland’s economy each year and ACT $243 million each year, according to Tourism Research Australia and Queensland visitors contribute $3.34 billion to NSW’s economy and $225 million to the ACT’s economy.

About The Accommodation Association

The Accommodation Association represents close to 3,500 hotels, over 150,000 rooms and nearly 100,000 employees across Australia. The Accommodation Association represents over 80 percent of all known accommodation providers from small regional parks, caravan parks, serviced apartments and resorts through to the largest hotel groups in the world including Accor, Hilton, Wyndam Destinations and IHG.
(https://www.aaoa.com.au/About-Us/The-Association).

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A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s defence, trade and international relations will hear from the Department of Home Affairs at its next public hearing on Thursday.

Senator David Fawcett, Chair of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, said Home Affairs had played a central role in the Australian Government’s response the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senator Fawcett said, “Home Affairs has a wide-reaching portfolio and the committee looks forward to hearing about its management of the pandemic and the contributions it plans to make to Australia’s recovery and future resilience, especially through the management of Australia’s critical infrastructure.”

Witnesses from Home Affairs will give evidence on the Department’s work coordinating Australia’s pandemic response as well as its functions in immigration and border security.

Full terms of reference for the inquiry are on the Committee website.

Public hearing details

Date: Thursday 6 August
Time: 3pm – 4.30pm AEST 
Location: By teleconference

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

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