AUISTRALIA must stabilise its population below 30 million to stop the growing impacts on climate and biodiversity, as well as preserve quality of life, according to the environment organisation Sustainable Population Australia (SPA).

SPA president, Jenny Goldie was commenting on the latest report from the Centre for Population, the Treasury office which advises the Federal Government on population. That report is due to be released on Friday, January 6.

“The slowing of Australia’s population growth due to the pandemic should have been wholeheartedly welcomed,” Ms Goldie said.

“It is madness for the government and its business backers to restart extreme population growth by going flat-out with even higher levels of Net Overseas Migration (NOM). It’s even higher than we saw before the pandemic when it averaged 226,000.”

Ms Goldie said, "like the October Budget" the new report demanded annual NOM of 235,000. The report expects Australia to grow from its current 26 million to 30 million people by 2032-33.

“The Treasurer, and his media acolytes, like to portray the 235,000 as ‘normal trend’ and ‘nothing to see here’.  It is three times Australia’s historic average. In fact, Canada is the only rich nation in the world with a more aggressive immigration program," Ms Goldie said.

“Even with the new Federal Labor Government policies for emissions reduction, an extra four million people will still add tens of millions of tonnes of extra emissions each year – possibly as much as 80 million tonnes.

“That is not trivial when we are facing a climate crisis. Most of that 80 million tonnes will be new emissions, not a redistribution of emissions around the planet.  That is because the average migrant who comes to Australia is coming from a country with one-quarter as much per capita emissions as Australia,” Ms Goldie said.

“Add to that the impact of population growth on habitat and species loss. The State of the Environment 2021 report released in July 2022 was quite explicit about population growth having ‘high impact’ on biodiversity. 

"For instance, the last remaining habitat of koalas in the Sydney Basin is currently threatened by housing development. Nationally, the Environment Minister is confronted by 140 development applications which, if approved, can only worsen the koala crisis.

“We have already returned to the pre-Covid levels of population growth, of which most Australians believed they had seen the end. The pre-election silence of both major parties on the topic of immigration made clear that each understood more population growth was not what most Australians wanted.

“The people are now entitled to ask why they have been ignored,” Ms Goldie said.

“Why are the impacts of population growth on the two gravest crises we face – climate and biodiversity – being ignored? The Treasurer’s radical population program can only be a negative for real wages and housing affordability. It will erase the Covid low-unemployment windfall.” 

www.population.org.au

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THIS WEEK, Senator Sue Lines, President of the Senate, and Milton Dick MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives, will welcome the attendees to the 26th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) at Australian Parliament House.

This biennial conference aims to strengthen parliamentary institutions by bringing together Speakers and Presiding Officers.

Held January 3-6, 2023, more than 120 delegates will attend the conference, including Presiding Officers, parliamentary staff, and observers from 32 Commonwealth Parliaments. The Presiding Officers represent the breadth of parliamentary systems in the Commonwealth and are from some of the smallest to the largest of nations.

The proceedings will begin with a procession of Speakers and Presiding Officers in their ceremonial robes, to be led by First Nations dancers and singers to the Great Hall.

“We are looking forward to welcoming our parliamentary colleagues from the Commonwealth to Australian Parliament House,” President Lines said. “As we emerge from the pandemic, we will look to strengthen our relationships and learn from each other to ensure that our debates and parliamentary processes continue to be robust.”

Delegates will attend workshops and plenaries on topics relating to their roles as Presiding Officers, including the pandemic, security, e-parliaments, and the central role Presiding Officers play in leading innovation. This will be the first CSPOC to be held in three years.

“The last few years have taught us that things can change very quickly, and the role of parliamentary institutions has been reinforced. It is so important for us to work together and learn from one another,” Speaker Milton Dick said.

The first CSPOC was held in Canada in 1969. The program for CSPOC 2023 is available on the website.

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SAFEWORK NSW is now reminding food delivery riders if they do not adhere to the new safety laws that begin today it could prove costly for them.

Acting head of SafeWork, John Tansey said from today all food delivery riders must wear high-visibility personal protective equipment (PPE) and carry their training verification record or risk being fined.

“We made a major step to improve safety for riders on 1 July last year, when it became law for food delivery booking providers to supply their riders with PPE,” Mr Tansey said.

“Today it becomes law for riders to wear the supplied PPE, which is a high visibility vest and food bag and carry a training verification record. Riders found to not be wearing their PPE will be hit with a $144 fine for each offence.

“We now have the strongest safety environment for food delivery platforms and riders anywhere in the world and will continue to work with industry to ensure a culture where people and safety comes first.”

Safework NSW advised that from today all riders:

• Will be legally required to use or wear the PPE that has been provided to them while delivering food or drink.
• Must produce their training record if requested by a SafeWork NSW Inspector or NSW police officer.
• Penalties and fines will apply to platforms and riders who cannot show they have met these requirements.

For further information visit the SafeWork NSW food delivery industry page: https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/your-industry/transport,-postal-and-warehousing/food-delivery-industry

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THE Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services is calling for submissions on key issues with Workforce Australia, as well as advice and proposals to improve employment services in the future. Submissions are requested by February 28, 2023.

The committee has published a Submissions Guide which identifies key issues, themes and insights arising from the committee’s preliminary investigations, provides an overview of the current system, and sets out questions that may assist in the framing of a submission.

Committee Chair, Julian Hill MP said, “This inquiry is a comprehensive, first-principles review of Workforce Australia hence nothing is off the table. We are actively questioning all assumptions about the design and implementation of employment services in Australia, as well as a range of other issues related to jobseekers’ and employers’ interactions with employment services. Fundamental aspects of the system require re‑examination.

“A well-known definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. Yet this is what Australia has done for decades now with the employment services system. This has led to a system which failed to effectively invest in Australian jobseekers and to support people into sustainable employment, and which has failed to engage and assist the vast majority of employers.

“The submission guide will make it easier for people to contribute as the employment services system is very complex and the inquiry is very broad.  The guide also invites expert submitters to assist the Committee by helping to answer a range of specific questions as clearly and concisely as possible.

“Please be honest, direct and bold in your submissions.”

The committee especially encourages people who have first-hand, lived experience with the system to share their views and recommendations for change.

Copies of the documents provided to the committee by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations at its first public hearing on November 3, 2022 are now online. These provide a range of details on Workforce Australia that may be useful for submitters.

All contributions to the inquiry are welcomed. Submitters may address as many or as few matters set out in the guidance material as they wish. Submissions may also highlight other issues, so long as they remain directly relevant to the Terms of Reference.

Further information about the inquiry, including future public hearings, published submissions and hearing transcripts, are available on the inquiry website.

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