THE Joint Standing Committee on Treaties will hold a public hearing on Friday, February 10, 2023, into the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the Australia-Iceland Double Taxation Convention.

Committee Chair, Josh Wilson MP said, “Australia has a precious trove of underwater cultural heritage, from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander underwater cultural heritage in Australian waters, to the remains of Australian ships lost in wars across the globe.”

Mr Wilson said the convention would provide a legal basis for Australia to protect underwater cultural heritage in its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, as well as areas outside of Australia’s jurisdiction where it has an interest. The convention also represents a contemporary international standard for protecting underwater cultural heritage.

In addition, the convention would provide a framework for the Australian Government to negotiate uniform Commonwealth, state and territory rules for protecting underwater cultural heritage.

“Having taken a significant role in drafting the Convention, it is welcome that Australia is now moving to ratify it”, Mr Wilson said.

“Eminent Australians involved in underwater cultural heritage who have supported and called for this treaty action over several years, have been invited to discuss the convention with the committee.

"Their input will shed further light on contemporary challenges of protecting underwater cultural heritage, what final steps would be required by Australia for ratification, and the benefits it would bring in working with other nations who have a common interest in protecting these historic sites.”

Public hearing details

Date:        Friday, 10 February 2023
Time:       9am – 10.30am AEDT - Australia-Iceland Double Taxation Convention
                10.40am – 4.30 pm AEDT - Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention
Location: Main Committee Room (1R0), Parliament House

​The hearing can be accessed online and the programs for this hearing is available on the Committee website, along with further information about the inquiries.

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The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has recommended the Australian Government ratifies the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation (JI-SDR).

Committee Chair, Josh Wilson MP said, “The JI-SDR is a plurilateral agreement negotiated between 69 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that contains a range of rules that would potentially increase the transparency and predictability of the regulatory environment in Australia’s services export markets".

The JI-SDR establishes best practice requirements for the authorisation processes that enable service exports. Provisions in the JI-SDR relate to a range of areas including transparency in fees and procedures, efficient processing of applications, evaluation based on clear and objective criteria, reasonable access to examinations where required, and the acceptance of electronic documents.

The JI-SDR would provide simple, transparent, fair, and user-friendly global rules to facilitate trade in services.

Mr Wilson said, “It is notable that because Australia has been convinced of this logic for some time, our regulatory practice already complies with these new rules, but of course Australian companies stand to benefit by their wider adoption."

The committee agreed that notwithstanding some concern about the way such plurilateral agreements sit alongside the WTO, the JI-SDR was likely to reinforce the centrality of the World Trade Organization and create momentum in multilateral rule-making.

The report can be found on the Committee website, along with further information on the inquiry.

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THE HOUSE of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training is currently examining the perceptions and status of vocational education and training (VET).

Lisa Chesters MP, Committee Chair, reminded interested stakeholders that submissions to the inquiry remain open for another few weeks. Education and training choices of students, as well as employer views and practices are some among the matters being considered.

Ms Chesters said, “The committee recognises the importance of the VET sector and hopes that this inquiry will identify ways to improve perceptions and opportunities available to students.”

She said the committee was interested in hearing from anyone with a view to share, whether from potential students, employers, parents, career advisers, educators or industry bodies and unions.

Submissions to the inquiry close on March 1, 2023. Ms Chesters said comments would be welcomed on one or more of the terms of references.

More information on the inquiry, including the full terms of reference and details on making a submission, can be found on the committee website.

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Current talks around changes to industrial relations (IR) laws "should unequivocally exclude any changes to the right of Australian tradies to work as independent contractors" HIA policy and industry deputy managing director Jocelyn Martin said today.

Ms Martin’s call comes as Federal and State Governments and industry representatives meet in Canberra this week to discuss a broad range of changes to areas in the IR space.

“Independent contracting arrangements are a long-standing feature of the residential building industry. The industry relies on these work arrangements as a way of productively managing the needs of building businesses, especially smaller businesses,” Ms Martin said.

“HIA estimates that over 80 percent of the work completed in the sector is performed by independent contractors.

“For residential builders, it provides a flexible, workable and efficient model for engaging workers and managing the peaks and troughs of the home building cycle. Builders rely on access to good and reliable trade contractors to maintain competitiveness.

“Australians rely on independent contractors to build the houses that feed the desperate demand for affordable housing," Ms Martin said.

“Federal and State Governments have long held different views on what constitutes an independent contractor creating challenges for the industry but threatening the ability for a trades person to remain their own boss, by forcing them to be classified as an employee would be a backward step.

“HIA is well equipped to help all sides of politics come to a sensible based definition for independent contracting, that will not impede the right for trades people to work independently.

“HIA suggests there needs to be a single national objective test, based on the ATO’s approach, to distinguish employees from independent contractors," she said.

"The ATO considers whether a person works to produce a result, provides plant and equipment or tools of the trade (if required) and whether they are liable for rectification of any defective work to distinguish independent contractors from employees.

"The advantage of this approach is that instead of defining an ’employee’, the rules merely identify who is an independent contractor," Ms Martin said.

“The task of governments should be to preserve and enhance genuine independent contracting businesses, not force small business to become employees.

“Restricting the use of independent contracting in the residential building industry will only serve to undermine the contribution of the sector to overall economic growth and exacerbate the challenge of making housing more affordable,” Ms Martin said.

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