THE Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee will hold a public hearing tomorrow as part of its Review of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (High Risk Terrorist Offenders) Bill 2020.

The Committee will hear from the Law Council of Australia, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Federal Police, the Attorney-General’s Department and the Department of Home Affairs.

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

Public Hearing Details

Date: Friday, 13 November 2020
Time: 10.30am – 3:30pm (AESDT)
Location: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

A program for the hearing can be found here.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 requirements, teleconference and video conference facilities will be used to connect witnesses to Committee Members. The hearings will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

ends

THE PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into remediation of per-and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) contamination on and around Defence bases will hear today from Professor Ravi Naidu, founding managing director and CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment— CRC CARE.

Senator Sam McMahon, chair of the PFAS Sub-committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, highlighted the CRC CARE’s innovative research work in partnership with the Department of Defence.

"CRC CARE conducts remediation of PFAS affected soil, surface water and groundwater at six different Defence sites. At RAAF Bases Edinburgh and Pearce the CRC’s matCARE technology has removed 99 percent of PFAS from nearly one million litres of contaminated waste water," Senator McMahon said.

The CRC’s matCARE technology uses modified clay in containerised mobile treatment plants for effective treatment in diverse locations. The CRC has also developed a suite of other matCARE products to immobilise PFAS and to address other environmental contaminants.

As well as funding from Defence to develop a solution for aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) contaminated waste water, the CRC has also successfully bid for extended funding under the government’s CRC program which supports excellence in research innovation.

Senator McMahon advised that the CRC engages with 29 other research participants, including several leading universities, the CSIRO and industry, on projects addressing PFAS and other co-contaminants associated with mining and other activities.

"With this work in progress PFAS affected communities can feel confident that results being achieved now will make a difference to their quality of life in future,"  Senator McMahon said.

CRC CARE’s submission (no. 19) to the PFAS inquiry into PFAS remediation is available on the inquiry site.

Public hearing details:

Date: Monday 9 November 2020
Time: ~3:40 m to 4:30pm
Location: Committee Room IR4, Parliament House, Canberra.
via teleconference

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

ends

THE House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training has today tabled the report of its inquiry into the education of students in remote and complex environments.

Committee Chair, Andrew Laming MP, said the "inquiry examined how education meets the learning needs of students in regional, rural and remote communities, and how barriers to education can be overcome".

Mr Laming said, "The committee was mindful that significant work is being undertaken to address the issues outlined in this report. While noting the government accepted the findings of both the Halsey (2018) and Napthine (2019) education reviews, the committee has recommended that implementation plans be provided to show how the government is progressing the recommendations and actions proposed by these reviews."

The committee made 14 recommendations in total, including measures to:

• Ensure all Australian students can access secondary school education, to a nationally-consistent minimum standard, regardless of their geographic location;
• Provide greater opportunities for families and communities to have more say in how schools apply the Australian Curriculum;
• Ensure that the education available to children and young people with disability in regional, rural and remote locations is inclusive;
• Improve access to mental health treatment and support in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• Improve access to quality early childhood education and care in regional, rural and remote communities;
• Provide up to 30 hours per week of subsidised early education and care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children;
• Support early learning programs provided through distance education, and provide greater flexibility and surety in funding for mobile early childhood education services, and wrap-around models of early intervention, family support, early childhood education and health care in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• Provide adult literacy campaigns in communities with low levels of adult English literacy;
• Improve access to English as an Additional Language or Dialect support and bilingual education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students;
• Support the development and professionalisation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education workforce;
• Establish trauma-informed, cultural induction and training programs for educators working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students; and
• Enhance the integration of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training and Higher Education sectors.

The report can be accessed through the inquiry website.

ends

THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the Queensland Investment Corporation’s (QIC) commitment to take a 9.9 percent stake in the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) near Mackay.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said Treasurer Cameron Dick had flagged the proposed investment in DBCT by QIC, the government’s investment arm, prior to the State Election.

“The QIC’s decision to invest in the DBCT is a clear vote of confidence by the State Government in the role of resources in Queensland’s COVID-19 recovery and economic growth for decades to come,” Mr Macfarlane said.

Mr Macfarlane said the QRC had previously sought and received a commitment from the government to provide regulatory certainty for DBCT and the Central Queensland Coal Network, with the independent Queensland Competition Authority to have oversight of both assets as regulated monopolies until 2030 and 2040 respectively.

“The QRC looks forward to continuing to work in partnership with the Palaszczuk Government to develop the resources sector, particularly through the preparation of a Queensland Resources Industry Development Plan that the Treasurer and I announced last month,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“The development of our resources sector is critical for Queensland’s COVID-19 recovery and its longer-term economic growth. 

“Resources is now supporting one in six jobs in Queensland, which equates to the jobs of more than 420,000 men and women, so our sector is critical to Queensland’s economic stability and success.

“The resources industry is also essential to the State continuing to develop its – and frankly the world’s – energy mix including coal, gas, renewables and hydrogen,” he said.

www.qrc.org.au

ends