THE Indigenous Affairs Committee will hear from different Indigenous-owned consulting firms on Thursday as part of its inquiry into pathways and participation opportunities for Indigenous Australians in employment and business.

Committee chair Julian Leeser MP said there is now is a huge variety of businesses that are owned and operated by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

"This hearing is an opportunity for the committee to listen to Indigenous business owners and understand more about what they are seeing in the sector, what opportunities exist and also identify the barriers preventing more Indigenous people obtaining jobs and starting their own businesses," Mr Lesser said.

The committee will hear from Indigenous-owned enterprises that provide professional IT and other business services.

"The perspectives of these businesses in the professional marketplace will be an important contribution to the inquiry," Mr Leeser said.

Public hearing details

Date: Thursday 27 February 2020
Time: 11.40am to 12.30pm
Location: Committee Room 1R3, Parliament House, Canberra

A full program will be available at the inquiry website.

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THE Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the Queensland Government’s announcement of prescribed project status for the planned $470 million Multicom Resources Limited Saint Elmo vanadium project near Julia Creek.

“The resources sector underpins the Queensland economy and supports more than 372,000 jobs. To ensure ongoing jobs for decades to come, it is essential that investments are made now in new projects and new mines,” QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said.

“This planned mine is in the North West Minerals Province which has been identified as one of the growth areas of the future including for new and emerging commodity markets.

“Queensland has a leading role to play in the development of the critical minerals industry. These new critical minerals projects will deliver new jobs in regional Queensland, and will play a strategic role for Australia in terms of defence industries, manufacturing, trade and regional development.

“Vanadium is just one of the critical minerals the Queensland resources industry can mine and process.

“Queensland has globally-significant reserves of copper, nickel, zinc, graphite, and molybdenum and major deposits of cobalt, rhenium, scandium, tantalum, niobium and lithium," Mr Macfarlane said.

“Investments in new critical minerals projects will add to the coal, gas and minerals industries which already underpin the Queensland economy.

“It’s important that Queensland has the right policies in place to attract the investment to translate our opportunities in critical minerals into a reality.”

The Saint Elmo vanadium project also received Major Project Status from the Australian Government in December last year.

Mr Macfarlane said clear timelines for assessments for both state and federal approvals were essential to attract new investments in the resources sector.

www.qrc.org.au

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The PFAS Sub-committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JSCFADT) will today ask the Department of Health about PFAS and its potential impacts on human health.

Chair of the PFAS Sub-committee the Hon Dr John McVeigh MP noted that the 2018 report of the JSCFADT had called on the Department to issue an updated health opinion, as research overseas progressed.

‘We learned last Parliament that communities affected by PFAS had concerns about the Expert Health Panel’s opinion that there was ‘no evidence’ of human health impacts from PFAS,’ Dr McVeigh said.

IN THE CURRENT review, the Australian National University’s PFAS Health Study reported progress in its research to clarify this health advice. The research is funded by the Department of Health with the results to be finalised at the end of this year.

At today’s hearing, the Office of Health Protection’s principal medical adviser Dr Gary Lum briefed the sub-committee about the department’s current thinking on PFAS and its health opinion, as the regulatory framework for PFAS evolves. 

"We will want to know how the Department of Health is capturing knowledge on PFAS impacts," sub-committee chair John McVeigh said.

"That includes by supporting research and whether this work is informing its engagement with the Department of Defence and people in affected communities."

The PFAS sub-committee’s program of review will continue over the course of the Parliament with a further report to be presented later this year.

Public hearing details:

Date: Monday 24 February 2020
Time: ~4:10pm to 5:00pm
Location: Committee Room IR4, Parliament House, Canberra.

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

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THE Australian Dental Association (ADA) is calling on the Federal Government to support calls by  Senator Stirling Griff to work with state governments to provide more Medicare-funded dental care for all children, pensioners and welfare recipients.

“The ADA applauds the senator for his motion due to be tabled today (Monday, February 24), seeking  to increase publicly-funded dental care and improve ‘shocking rates of preventable oral health disease and hospital admissions,’” ADA president Carmelo Bonanno said.

The motion adds to the growing chorus of voices urging Canberra to do more to ensure a higher number of Australians have access to dental services.

“Senator Griff has rightly identified that many Australians are desperate for dental care and are unable to access care even if they’re eligible for public dental services," Dr Bonanno said.

“It’s time that all levels of government and the dental profession work together on more sustainable funding models. Currently states are unsure whether there will be even Commonwealth funding for public dental waiting lists past June 2020.

“We need a commitment to extend the current National Partnership on public dental funding while other options are considered.”

Dr Bonanno said the idea that oral health should be funded differently to the rest of the body "is a nonsense".

“We have a successful model in the Child Dental Benefits Schedule, it’s now time to extend this model to other groups in the community such as the elderly and those on low incomes," Dr Bonanno said.

"The ADA has been asking successive federal governments for years to consider the Australian Dental Health Plan as a blueprint for action.

“Senator Griff’s motion is a welcome boost to our ongoing campaign we’ve been fighting on many fronts in order to bring about this change in thinking in Canberra. Targeted funding that supports those people that are often least likely to attend a dentist regularly is sorely needed if we’re to improve Australians’ oral health.”

The ADA’s Australian Dental Health Plan is available at www.ada.org.au/ADHP

ADA facts on the issue:

• The National Oral Health Plan 2015-24 identified that more than 90 percent of adults and 40 percent of young children have experienced tooth decay.
• Only four out of every 10 have a favourable visiting pattern (to a dentist) and there are many Australians who require specific strategies to improve access to treatment..
• Poor oral health is a significant contributor to poor overall health where patients who live with long- term pain suffer severe and often catastrophic consequences.
• More than 72,000 Australians are hospitalised annually due to preventable oral health conditions.  
• The cost to all Australians through preventable hospitalisation is significant however the cost to individuals is so much higher.
• More than three times as many Australians put off going to the dentist when compared with visiting the doctor.

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