Appliance energy ratings get the standard treatment

Image source :ACT government

Parliamentary debates on the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS) Bill have been deferred. The Bill was originally scheduled for discussion on Thursday 28 June, with the portfolio Shadow Minister to outline the Coalition’s position. Although the scheme started out as a Labor election promise in 2007, it evolved into a commitment under COAG’s National Strategy on Energy Efficiency to ‘establish national legislation for Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and labelling, and over time move to add Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS)’. This Bill implements that COAG commitment.

New Place Based Income Management to commence 1 July

Image: Bankstown Railway Station (Wikimedia Commons)

A new form of income management being introduced next week will extend welfare quarantining to selected disadvantaged areas across Australia, targeting people involved in child protection matters and deemed vulnerable to financial hardship.

From 1 July, the Government will introduce a new form of income management to communities in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
 
So, how will the new Place Based Income Management operate and how does it differ from existing forms? Why base it in particular areas? What do we know about whether or not it is likely to be successful?

Update on statistics for boat arrivals

The Parliamentary Library produces a number of publications about asylum seekers and immigration. The publication, Boat arrivals in Australia since 1976 provides a brief overview of the historical and political context surrounding boat arrivals in Australia. An update of the statistical appendix on boat arrival figures is provided below. Please note that the publication has not yet been formally updated.

Trafficking in Persons - Special Rapporteur's Report to the Human Rights Council

On 22 June, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons especially women and children, presented her annual  report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, including reports of her missions to Thailand and Australia.

Special Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (formerly the Commission on Human Rights) to investigate, monitor, and advise on human rights violations – world wide or in specific countries. In carrying out her mandate, the Special Rapporteur undertakes country visits to study the situation on the ground and, develop recommendations to better prevent or combat trafficking and protect the human rights of its victims; and takes action on complaints about human rights violations against trafficked persons.

Australia's tertiary students - the latest snapshot

Almost twice as many higher education graduates enrol in vocational education and training courses than the other way round.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has just released Tertiary Education and Training 2010, an annual publication that compares vocational education and training (VET) and higher education on a range of key measures.

It draws on data from the National VET Provider Collection and the Higher Education Statistics Collection.

How's it going? Australia's Health 2012



Source: AIHW

 The thirteenth report on Australia's health was released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on 21 June 2012. The AIHW describes Australia's Health 2012 as 'the most comprehensive and authoritative source of national information on health in Australia', and many would not disagree. Produced biennially since 1988, the report has grown both in size and stature as a reliable report card on the status of the country's health and the services and resources that deliver and support it. A companion In brief publication was also released.

Is $325 million enough for Tasmania's health care system?



Image source: www.yourhealth.gov.au

 Last week, after much speculation, the Federal Government announced that it would provide an extra $325 million over four years to Tasmania’s health care system. Previously the Tasmanian Government had announced cuts of up to $500 million over four years to the health care system, commencing from 1 July 2011. Many of these cuts were directed to elective surgery, reduced services and the closure of hospital beds. The most recent Tasmanian budget (May 2012) announced a reduction of the savings target by $120 million.

2011 Census release

Image Source: http://www.abs.gov.au/

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the first data from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing. Australia’s population has risen to over 21.5 million, with more people born overseas. There has also been an increase in the proportion of Australians identifying as Indigenous, and fewer people now identify a religious affiliation.

Australia’s migrant population is growing and changing

In the decade to 2011, the proportion of the population who were born overseas increased from 27.4% to 30.2%.

Over the same period, the proportion of Australians with at least one parent born overseas increased from 42.7% to 46.3%

There was a shift away from Europe and towards Asia.

• The number born in India more than trebled, from 95 452 in 2001 to 295 362 in 2011.
• The number born in China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) more than doubled from 142 780 to 318 969.

Income management: some answers to key questions

Image: BasicsCard kiosk, (Centrelink)

From 1 July 2012, income management will be extended to five new disadvantaged communities across Australia: Bankstown (New South Wales), Logan (Queensland), Rockhampton (Queensland), Playford (South Australia) and Greater Shepparton (Victoria).

While the policy of income management of welfare payments has been highly controversial, the specific details of its various forms are not generally well understood.

The Parliamentary Library has released a Background Note seeking to address this lack of understanding. It provides a brief overview of the history of income management and responses to a number of key questions about the policy.

New marine reserve proposals

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The Commonwealth is proposing the proclamation of 44 new marine reserves covering a total of 2.34 million square kilometres by the end of the year. The move has drawn criticism from fisheries bodies for excluding fishing in substantial areas of the ocean; at the other end of the spectrum, some conservation bodies were disappointed that the government had not banned oil and gas exploration in areas adjacent to existing marine parks.

Hearing impairment—the silent barrier to Closing the Gap

Image source: Northern Territory Government

On May 15 students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across Australia commenced the annual tests for the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing. No doubt when the 2012 results are released they will continue to show a substantial gap between the achievement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. For example, the 2011 Year 3 reading results report that 21.3 per cent of Indigenous children were below the national minimum standard compared to just 3.3 per cent of non-Indigenous children.

Dissecting the growth of vocational education and training in Victoria

Image source: Victorian Government

The announcement of an Enterprise Migration Agreement providing for the recruitment of temporary overseas workers for the Roy Hill project in the Pilbara has fuelled debate about the supply of skilled workers for industry, and to what extent Australia needs to import skills rather than ‘grow our own’.

Amid this debate, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has released preliminary Students and Courses data for 2011. The full publication (due in July) provides data on the numbers of students, subject enrolments, hours of delivery and qualifications in Australia’s public vocational education and training (VET) system.

The preliminary data reveals some interesting results for one state in particular: Victoria.

The deeper worries about coal seam gas

Image source: WikiMedia Commons

One-third of Eastern Australia cooks its breakfast, warms its homes, and generates its power from natural gas, the main component of which is methane, supplied by coal seam gas (CSG) operations. Our need for natural gas has allowed CSG operations to grow, but critics contend that this has not always been accompanied by sufficient understanding of the social and environmental implications. Ground and surface water contamination, water consumption, and waste disposal are but a few issues fuelling the ongoing debate. However, reports of deeper risks are now surfacing.

People trafficking, forced marriage and slavery offences

The Crimes Legislation Amendments (Slavery, Slavery-like Conditions and People Trafficking) Bill 2012 was introduced into the House of Representatives on 30 May 2012. This Flagpost is a skeleton of a larger project.
If passed in its current form, this Bill will:

• expand the definition of slavery to include physical and psychological threats, coercion and deception
• expand the servitude and exploitation offences to not be limited to sexual servitude
• create new offences for aggravated slavery-like offences.
• create new offences for forced marriage
• create new offences for harbouring or receiving a trafficking or slavery victim
• increase the penalties for debt bondage offences

World Refugee Day

Image source: http://www.unhcr.org/

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in 2001, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution deciding that 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day in order to increase awareness about the world’s growing number of refugees, asylum seekers and forcibly displaced people.

Burma's economy—the long road ahead

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Following the Parliamentary by-elections in April, much of the commentary has now shifted focus from domestic political reforms and international responses to Burma’s economy and the challenge of achieving sustainable and inclusive growth. A brief discussion of these issues is important in the wake of the Australian Government’s decision to ‘normalise’ the bilateral economic relationship and last week’s visit to Burma by the Foreign Minister, Senator Bob Carr. During this visit, Senator Carr announced that Australia would suspend all remaining financial and travel restrictions against the Burmese Government. He also canvassed the potential for increased trade and investment in areas like mining and financial services as part of a new policy of engagement.

110th anniversary of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Tuesday 12 June 2012 marks the 110th anniversary of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, the law that granted most Australian women the right to vote, and therefore to stand, in Commonwealth elections. The Act stated that ‘all persons not under twenty-one years of age whether male or female married or unmarried’ would be entitled to vote in Commonwealth elections. It excluded Indigenous men and women, unless they were eligible to vote under state laws in accordance with Section 41 of the Australian Constitution. Across Australia, women voted for the first time in the second Commonwealth election held on 16 December 1903. Women in South Australia (who were granted voting rights in 1895) and Western Australia (1900) were eligible to vote in the first Commonwealth elections held in 1901, since these were conducted under state laws. Four women stood as candidates for election to the Commonwealth Parliament in 1903. They were the first women nominated for any national Parliament within what was then the British Empire, although none of the women were elected.

Astronomical events

Image source: WA Department of Commerce via myregion.gov.au

Some 242 years ago, Captain James Cook explored the eastern coast of Australia, after having been sent to the South Pacific Island of Tahiti to observe the transit of the planet Venus in 1769. He was sent there partly in order to help astronomers of the day estimate the size of the solar system. Australia’s long and distinguished association with astronomy had begun.

On 6th June 2012, just before 8:30 am along the east coast of Australia, the tiny dot of the planet Venus will again pass slowly across the face of the Sun, as seen from Earth. Such ‘Transits of Venus’ are infrequent events; the next transit does not occur until 2117 so this is one for us to savour. Many smaller observatories here will be trained on this solar event.

A labour market for the resources sector – what are Enterprise Migration Agreements?

Image source: Western Australia Department of Mines and Petroleum

The use of temporary overseas workers to fill skills gaps in the Australian labour market has been commonplace over the last two decades. The subclass 457 visa was introduced by the Howard Government in 1996 specifically in order to meet the needs of employers looking for timely and flexible access to labour where it could not be found locally. There were 90 400 subclass 457 primary visa holders in Australia at 30 April 2012.

The Immigration Minister’s recent announcement that an Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA), facilitating the recruitment of temporary overseas workers, had been granted to the Roy Hill project in the Pilbara appears to have taken many observers by surprise. It shouldn’t have.

New unit to lower health insurance premiums and improve competition

Image: Private Health Insurance Administration Council

The 2012–13 Budget included an announcement of funding for a new unit to advise the Government on private health insurance industry costs, insurance premiums and competition in the sector. Costing $2.3 million over four years—to be met by an increase in a levy imposed on private insurers—the unit will be established within the Private Health Insurance Administration Council (PHIAC), the independent regulator of the sector. One of the primary functions of the new unit will be to identify options to increase competition in the sector and put downward pressure on health insurance premiums (see Portfolio Budget Statement, p. 556).