A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s defence, trade and international relations will hear from the Department of Health.  

Senator David Fawcett, Chair of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, said the department had been at the forefront of Australia’s COVID-19 response.

Senator Fawcett said, “Australians can rightly be proud of the achievements of our health authorities in responding to and managing the COVID-19 pandemic, though of course there is still work to be done. The committee looks forward to hearing from the Department about recent developments in the fight against COVID-19 and the steps we might take as a nation to build our resilience as we emerge from the pandemic.”

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

Public hearing details

Date: Thursday 13 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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A LEGISLATED10-year hold on the rate of royalties applied by the State Government to Queensland's resource commodities will create more jobs and strengthen COVID-19 recovery efforts, according to the Queensland Resources Council.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said maintaining royalty rates – already Australia’s highest - at current levels for the next 10 years sends a clear message to investors around the globe that 'Queensland is open for business'.

"Before COVID-19 hit, the Queensland Government confirmed the royalty rates on coal and metals would remain stable until 2022, and for petroleum until 2025, which the resources industry welcomed," Mr Macfarlane said.

"Given the importance of the resources sector in leading the State in its economic recovery, the QRC welcomes today’s announcement by the LNP that it would legislate a 10-year freeze on royalty rates until 2030, because it’s exactly what Queensland needs right now.

“As the peak representative body for Queensland's explorers and producers of coal, metals and gas and supplier companies, the QRC calls on all members of State Parliament to support the LNP’s proposal to give the industry the confidence to play its part in Queensland’s COVID-19 recovery.”

Mr Macfarlane said the resources industry had been through a period of turmoil and upheaval with Queensland’s royalty regime, to the sector’s detriment.

"We know Queensland’s regulatory uncertainty has already impacted investment decisions for resource projects which operate for decades, and benefit our state economy for even longer,” he said.

“A decade of royalty certainty is the shot in the arm the Queensland economy needs as we unite and recover from COVID-19.”

Mr Macfarlane said as Queensland’s largest export industry, the resources sector was committed to paying its fair share of royalties, and the LNP proposal would lock in that definition of fair for a decade.

“Without new investment, jobs, exports and royalties the Queensland Government will simply not be in a position to finance a COVID-19 recovery,” he said.

“Before COVID-19, the Queensland resources sector employed more than 372,000 Queenslanders and generated $76 billion in economic activity across the State, creating more than $5 billion in government royalty revenue.

“Queensland needs to secure every job and every dollar, if we are to bounce back from COVID-19 as quickly and as strongly as possible,” Mr Macfarlane said.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE INQUIRY into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities will hold a public hearing tomorrow.

Julian Leeser MP, Chair of the House of Representatives Indigenous Affairs Committee, said the Committee would hear from stakeholders from Queensland, including the key industry players Community Enterprise Queensland and Sea Swift, and also from Indigenous peak bodies from the Northern Territory and New South Wales.

"The Committee looks forward to gaining further insights into the complexities of the food supply chains and store management in the top-end of Australia, and the experiences of Aboriginal organisations with food pricing and availability," Mr Leeser said.

The hearings will be conducted via telephone and video links due to social distancing requirements relating to COVID-19. Full programs are available at the inquiry website.

Public hearing details

Date: Wednesday 12 August
Time: 9am to 11am; 1pm to 4.40pm
Location: Via conference call

An audio broadcast will be accessible at aph.gov.au/live

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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell said a new report by the Grattan Institute makes a clear economic case for affordable childcare.

“Cheaper childcare: a practical plan to boost female workforce participation” estimates an overhaul of the childcare subsidy system would add $11 billion to GDP per year and increase hours works by 13 percent," Ms Carnell said.

In the report, the Grattan Institute recommends the Federal Government invest an extra $5 billion per year on childcare subsidies.

Ms Carnell says affordable childcare is critical to ensuring women can work, including women in small businesses.

“38 percent of small businesses are owned and operated by women and that number has been growing,” Ms Carnell said.

“Many of these women are mothers who rely on childcare as they work to get their businesses back up-and-running again.

“For those surviving on JobKeeper, childcare fees are unaffordable. That means one parent – mothers more often than not – need to spend more time at home. It’s bad for business and even worse for the economy.”

The report refers to the ‘workforce disincentive rate’ which leads many mothers to work three or four day weeks, because working an extra day would offer virtually no take-home pay.

“Now is the time for the government to be implementing innovative ways to increase the female participation rate,” Ms Carnell said.

“The report shows that under the current system, a family with two kids in childcare on $60k FTE - the primary carer gets $2 per hour for day four and nothing for day five.

“There’s no doubt that affordable childcare would allow more women to work on growing their businesses, which would deliver productivity gains," she said.

“While the Grattan Institute recommends an expanded subsidy scheme, the government could also make childcare more tax-effective.

“After all, getting people back into jobs is key to Australia’s economic recovery.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au