THE Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee is marking 30 years of operation with the presentation if its Annual report of Committee activities for 2018-2019.

Committee chair Andrew Hastie said the importance of the committee has increased over the years, and that this is set to continue in future.

"The committee provides a collaborative, classified space for Members from both sides of politics to come together to examine draft national security legislation in a detailed manner," Mr Hastie said.

"Our oversight of the national intelligence community ensures that intelligence agencies remain accountable to the Australian Parliament and through the parliament, to the Australian public.

"Committee work is an important part of the Westminster tradition, and so the Committee regards its independence and oversight as essential to good democratic governance."

The report reflects on the evolution of the committee, the achievement of major milestones and looks forward to possible future developments.

The committee’s role and place within the national security architecture has changed considerably since the first Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation was appointed in 1988 to provide some oversight of ASIO.

Over the years, the committee’s oversight responsibilities have matured to encompass most of the national intelligence community, including the completion of annual reviews of the administration and expenditure of intelligence agencies.

The committee has also developed substantial responsibilities in refining national security legislation to build bipartisan consensus in Australia’s national interest.

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

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AFTER 60 years of the Antarctic Treaty, the future of the region is the focus of an international assembly to manage the issues affecting the global asset for the future.

The Chair of Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories, Keith Pitt MP, along with committee member, Warren Snowdon MP, are representing the committee at the first ever Antarctic Parliamentarians Assembly in London.

The event has brought together parliamentarians from across the 54 signatories to the Treaty.

Mr Pitt said the Assembly was an important opportunity for Parliamentarians to discuss how challenges facing Antarctica could be addressed.

“Some of the topics to be discussed include whether Antarctica can be future proofed, as well as tourism in Antarctica, and whether the presence of people can support environmental protection,” Mr Pitt said.

“Australia was one of the 12 original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty and just this week the Australian Government has announced a $58.8 million commitment to strengthen our scientific and environmental leadership in Antarctica.”

Parliamentarians from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and Ukraine attended the Assembly.

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LEADING advocates for financial industry reform, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers has welcomed ASIC’s announcement it will heed the recommendation of the Hayne Royal Commission to ban cold call telephone sales of life insurance and consumer credit insurance.

Maurice Blackburn principal, Josh Mennen said the Royal Commission revealed many people have been taken advantage of by unsolicited telephone calls from financial companies pushing unsuitable products.

“This is an important step by ASIC in faithfully implementing Commissioner Hayne’s recommendations and will help protect the vulnerable members of our community from unscrupulous product spruiking by banks and insurers eager to sell their own in-house products.

“However, the hawking prohibitions apply only to unsolicited telephone calls and meetings, and do not apply to other unsolicited communications,” Mr Mennen said.

“More work needs to be done to address digital-era communications, such as email spamming, brochures or digitally-targeted media advertisements.

“There is also a need for more robust requirements on financial institutions to report to customers and the regulator as to how they obtain and use personal information,” Mr Mennen said.

“Over the years, Maurice Blackburn has seen how banks and large wealth managers have systematically targeted existing customers through unsolicited approaches in an effort to cross-sell their insurance and other financial services.  

“As shown by the Royal Commission, this has too often resulted in consumers, including many of our clients, taking out inappropriate or unnecessary cover at significant personal cost,” Mr Mennen said.

“Ridding the industry of this type of underhanded practice will be a key step in stopping the exploitation of people’s understandable desire to protect their financial future.”

The ASIC ban on unsolicited insurance telephone sales will take effect from mid-January next year.

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AUSTRALIA'S ECONOMY expanded by just 0.4 percent during the September 2019 quarter with growth hit by continued delays in the activation of new infrastructure projects -- and that is a real concenr, according to Master Builders chief economist Shane Garrett. 

“The three parts of the economy which shrank during the quarter were engineering construction, residential building and private business investment. Slow conditions in construction are not helpful from the point of view of encouraging businesses to invest,” Mr Garrett said.

“Clearly, the pace at the construction of new infrastructure is being commenced is holding back not just construction activity but the entire economy.

“The key ABS data released today show that the annual pace of GDP growth was 1.7 percent over the year to September, well short of the economy’s 3 percent trend rate of growth,” Mr Garrett said. 

“At a time when infrastructure should be one of the economy’s highlights, the volume of engineering construction work done actually dipped to its lowest level since early 2008 - having shrunk by another 5.9 percent during the last quarter. 

“The weakness of construction activity is clearly hurting growth in other areas of the economy too.

“With household spending having stagnated, growth in our economy is now almost completely reliant on day-to-day government spending and demand for our exports from overseas,” Mr Garrett said. 

“Master Builders calls all levels of government to do more to accelerate the construction of infrastructure projects. While mega-projects take time to activate, there are many opportunities to fast track smaller projects outside Sydney and Melbourne, including in regional Australia. Many of these can be delivered by smaller and local construction contractors which helps to multiply the economic benefits,” he said. 

“Construction activity is unique in its visibility and its capacity to restore confidence amongst consumers and businesses. We need to seize this opportunity."

www.masterbuilders.com.au

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