THE Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) board has announced the appointment of Ainslie van Onselen as chief executive officer of CA ANZ.

Ms van Onselen, who recently spent six years at the Westpac Group including as the managing director of RAMS, commences her role as CEO at CA ANZ on May 18. She succeeds Simon Hann who is interim CEO.

CA ANZ chair John Palermo FCA said the board conducted an extensive search process.

“Ainslie is a great match for the qualities we were looking for," Mr Palermo said. “She’s a nimble thinker with an eye to the future, has a strong record of strategic thinking alongside a proven ability to be agile and a visible advocate for change for a public benefit.

“Her membership body mindset, future focus and digital acumen will be invaluable to make a difference for the profession of Chartered Accountants across Australia and New Zealand.”

He thanked Simon Hann for ably steering CA ANZ through the adjustments required to support members and continue to operate effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based in Sydney, Ms van Onselen is an experienced executive with a background in financial services and as a non-executive director with various listed, government and not-for-profit organisations. She has practised as a litigation lawyer, including as a partner in a specialist corporate and commercial practice in WA.

About Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand is a professional body comprised of more than 125,000 diverse, talented and financially astute members who utilise their skills every day to make a difference for businesses the world over. Members are known for their professional integrity, principled judgment, financial discipline and a forward-looking approach to business which contributes to the prosperity of our nations. 

www.charteredaccountantsanz.com

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CFMEU’s INDUSTRY partner and redundancy fund, Incolink is utilising their health buses to test construction workers for COVID-19 under a new initiative supported by the Victorian Government.

Onsite testing commences tomorrow, Wednesday April 29, at Multiplex’s Melbourne Square, the site which had the second confirmed case of COVID-19 in the industry.  

To welcome the initiative, CFMEU Victoria and Tasmana secretary John Setka will be one of the first from the construction industry to receive a test via the new mobile health buses, with full details listed below.

Mr Setka stressed the importance of this momentous initiative in supporting the health of workers and the construction industry during this time.

“CFMEU Vic/Tas will continue to support any initiative that further protects the safety of construction workers whilst our industry continues to help rebuild the country’s economy," Mr Setka said.

"We are proud to support Incolink to extend the use of their health buses to test for COVID-19 and I encourage all members to utilise this great tool to ensure their safety.”

Incolink’s health bus is supported by a range of industry partners in addition to the CFMEU Vic/Tas, including the PPTEU, ETU, Cbus, MBV and CoINVEST.

Builders and workers can register to have the Incolink Bus visit their workplace at:  http://incolink.org.au/covid19-testing/

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AN INQUIRY into whether Australia should adopt Magnitsky-style laws to impose sanctions upon individuals who commit human rights abuses will hold two further public hearings this week, via teleconference.

Kevin Andrews MP, Chair of the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, said the inquiry is continuing, working around restrictions arising from the COVID-19, using teleconferences to connect witnesses and Sub-Committee Members. 

"A number of stakeholders have expressed support for the inquiry continuing, reflecting on the hardships their communities have been through in relation to human rights issues," Mr Andrews said.  

"These teleconference hearings will provide further evidence to inform a comprehensive report that the Human Rights Sub-committee is aiming to deliver later in the year."

The public hearings will provide an opportunity for the sub-committee to hear from human rights advocates and community groups.

Due to the current circumstances the sub-committee is continuing to take submissions via the Inquiry website until April 30 2020. For further information, contact the Secretariat on 02 6277 2312 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Public hearing details Via teleconference

Tuesday 28 April 2020
12.00pm – 12.45pm

Thursday 30 April 2020
9.30am – 10.30am

Audio of the hearings will be streamed at www.aph.gov.au/live

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THE Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has indicated its strong support for the Federal Government’s contact tracing app, designed to digitally alert Australians of nearby COVID-19 infections.

As the peak industry body for innovation technology in Australia, the AIIA was given an exclusive briefing on Monday by the Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert, Digital Transformation Agency CEO Randall Brugeaud, and head of Australian Cyber Security Centre, Abi Bradshaw and others, on the technology behind the tracing app and the cyber security protections built into it. 

Commenting on the detailed briefing of the app, AIIA CEO, Ron Gauci said, “AIIA thanks Minister Robert, Mr Brugeaud and Ms Bradshaw for their detailed briefings and assurances provided to members today.

“Cyber security and online personal privacy is of paramount importance to all Australians and so is the health and safety of its citizens. Based on this detailed briefing and understanding that the app does not track your geo-location and that personal data and cyber security concerns have been designed into the app and through government regulations, the AIIA therefore supports the government tracing app and strongly recommends that all Australians download it.

“By encouraging all Australians to engage with the app, we can support state health contact tracing teams to help identify community clusters and secondary spread of the COVID-19 now we have flattened the curve. This data will be able to give the government more confidence in considering relaxing of quarantine measures,” Mr Gauci said.

The government tracing app is available to download for free on the app stores.

Using Bluetooth, the app interacts with other app users within a certain distance, sending key codes anonymously. When users test positive for COVID-19, they update their status on the app - thereafter, the app will alert all users that the infectee had interacted with in the past 14 days to self-isolate and test for COVID-19.

Speaking of the digital advancement of medical containment, Deloitte Australia chief strategy and innovation officer, and chair of the AIIA Robert Hillard said,  “In the absence of a medical vaccine, you could think about contact tracing as a digital vaccine with our contact data being the virtual antibodies.”

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