UNIVERSITY staff will launch a week of action as a new report lays bare the devastation of COVID in tertiary education, with close to one in five staff losing their jobs in 2021.

The Centre for Future Work analysis, An Avoidable Catastrophe: Pandemic Job Losses in Higher Education and their Consequences, shows universities and the broader tertiary sector have lost more jobs in the last 12 months than any other non-agricultural sector in the economy.

In that period, over 40,000 tertiary education workers lost their jobs across the country. Over 60 percent of the jobs lost were held by women.

University job losses have been much worse this year than in the first year of the pandemic. An estimated 35,000 job losses were lost at public universities. More jobs disappeared  at TAFEs and other public vocational education institutions.

“This report details the wholesale job destruction at our nation’s universities and the future consequences of the Federal Government just letting this sector drift,” NTEU national president, Alison Barnes said.

“It is now incumbent on vice chancellors to step up and secure jobs and careers. The pandemic must not be an excuse for further casualisation and wage theft.

“The Federal Government must also finally play its part. A $3.75 billion support package would allow universities to recover those lost jobs. Compared to other Commonwealth expenses during the pandemic (including the $70 billion JobKeeper program, which arbitrarily excluded universities), this is a modest and necessary investment," Dr Barnes said.

“Every day I talk to early career academics in their 20s who rely on marking and tutoring work to supplement their PhD stipends so they can become the medical and engineering researchers of tomorrow. We are losing a generation of researchers and teachers. It’s an incredible brain drain.

“But worst of all, future students will miss out on a gold standard education system in which to thrive. That’s despite politicians telling us again and again that high-quality education and research is the most important human resource we have in this country.

‘How can Australian Universities drive a national economic recovery if they are being drained of expertise and talent?

“This report finds job losses are getting worse, not better, as we go further into the epidemic," Dr Barnes said.

“People forget universities were deliberately excluded from last year’s JobKeeper package – so this year’s layoffs are like getting kicked when you’re down."

Around the country tertiary education staff will be meeting and organising their response to the national crisis in education. Find out more here.

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QUEENSLAND and NSW are the major beneficiaries of $1.9 billion of land sector emissions reduction contracted by the Federal Government as the carbon farming industry seeks to play a greater role in growing jobs and investment while assisting the transition to net-zero emissions, said the Carbon Market Institute (CMI) today.

There are signs corporate demand to purchase emissions reduction may be increasing to fund compliance and carbon offsetting needs. But since the repeal of the carbon pricing mechanism in 2014, the Commonwealth has been the dominant purchaser through the Emission Reduction Fund (ERF).

CMI has analysed Clean Energy Regulator data of the ERF’s contracted abatement in the land sector, otherwise known as carbon farming. It found there are 392 single-state carbon farming projects across Australia* contracted to generate at least $1.9 billion over 16 years.

Projects include activities protecting or regenerating native forests, managing bushfires in Australia’s savanna to avoid late season high intensity burns, capturing and destroying the methane from effluent waste at piggeries and building soil carbon through changed farming practices.

Queensland is leading the charge with 129 projects worth $794.9 million, and NSW is right behind with 159 projects worth $728.7 million.

The findings come as Australia’s carbon farming industry prepares to discuss plans to urgently scale-up jobs and investment, while maintaining integrity, at the CMI's 5th annual Carbon Farming Industry Forum today September 10 and next Friday September 17.

CMI CEO John Connor said, “Carbon farming is a vital new agricultural opportunity to help Australia achieve net-zero emissions before 2050, it is adding extra commodity revenue streams for farmers and assisting international market access for agricultural and other export industries.

“Since the repeal of the carbon pricing mechanism, the ERF has ensured the survival of this fledgling industry with Queensland and NSW being the major beneficiaries followed by Western Australia. Other states are moving to develop carbon farming sectors. 

“While the ERF has been the major driver of carbon farming in the last half decade, the 2020s will likely see the expansion of voluntary and compliance corporate activity. Carbon farming needs to grow alongside decarbonisation initiatives to achieve urgent emission reductions and it needs to do so with high integrity and transparency.

“These will be the issues focused on today at the first day of the 5th Carbon Farming Industry Forum. Next Friday’s sessions will focus on carbon farming’s additional social and environmental benefits, as well as the importance to agriculture of carbon as a revenue stream and as a means of assisting to demonstrate the sustainability of agricultural products to export and domestic markets."    

GreenCollar chief commercial officer Dave Moore said, “Carbon farming projects not only have economic benefits, but also environmental and social impacts.

“We’ve got a really good opportunity in Australia given our landmass and our mature offset scheme, that we can drive quite significant investment into regional communities with job creation, training opportunities and farming infrastructure investment. 

“There’s also a good opportunity to bring Traditional Owners and local communities much more fairly into the centre of conversations around projects -- listening to them and taking on board what they want to see in these projects.”

Land-based project by State (excludes multi-state projects)

Value of land-based projects by State (excludes multi-state projects)

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THE Joint Select Committee on Road Safety will hold a public hearing for its Inquiry into Road Safety on September 13, 2021. As this will be the first hearing for the inquiry, the committee will hear from Commonwealth agencies and research organisations about key issues facing the road safety sector, as well as about current and proposed initiatives to improve road safety outcomes.

Part of the committee’s mandate is to build on the work of the previous Joint Select Committee on Road Safety. The committee will therefore use this first hearing as an opportunity to discuss the implementation status of the previous committee’s recommendations, and to examine the progress that has been made towards improving road safety outcomes since the previous committee tabled its report in October 2020.

New Committee Chair, Darren Chester MP, said, "While we are focused on working together towards zero deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads by 2050, this inquiry will consider in particular practical steps that can be taken in the short to medium term to reduce trauma and deaths on our roads.

"This hearing will be an important first reference point for the committee, and an opportunity to examine the state of play in the road safety sector by hearing from Commonwealth agencies and research organisations about key issues and potential solutions’.

Public hearing details

Date: Monday, 13 September 2021

Time: 10am to 5pm
Witnesses: 

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Cities

Office of Road Safety

Austroads

International Road Safety Assessment Programme (iRAP)

Centre for Automotive Safety Research, University of Adelaide

Australasian College of Road Safety

Accident Research Centre, Monash University

Transurban Road Safety Centre, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA).

Due to health and safety concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hearing will be held remotely via videoconference and will not be open for public attendance. However, interested members of the public will be able to view proceedings via the live webcast at aph.gov.au/live

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GOVERNMENT, industry and a think tank will appear before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities at a videoconference public hearing on Tuesday, September 14, 2021, to examine how to improve procurement practices for government-funded infrastructure.

Committee Chair John Alexander OAM MP said, "Given the Australian Government’s $110 billion commitment to the infrastructure pipeline as part of Australia’s Economic Recovery Plan, it is crucial that government ensures taxpayer money is used effectively.

"The diversity of witness groups at this, and upcoming hearings, reflects that for infrastructure procurement reform to be effective, it must be a collaboration between government, industry and key stakeholders,"Mr Alexander said.

The Australian National Audit Office, Department of Defence and New South Wales state-owned corporation Sydney Water will help illustrate challenges faced, and lessons on what has not worked and what is working well.

Consult Australia and the Australian Industry Group Limited (Ai Group) will provide a valuable industry perspective on challenges and opportunities in infrastructure procurement. The Grattan Institute think tank will share its findings on the effects of mega-projects and recommendations for government action.

"Sydney Water and the Centre for Defence Industry Capability have taken some innovative approaches to project delivery, technology and supporting industry development. The committee looks forward to hearing about their experiences and potential for wider application in the infrastructure sector," Mr Alexander said.

The terms of reference and submissions received are available on the committee’s website.

Public hearing details

Date: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Time: 9.15am to 3.30pm
Location: Videoconference

A program for the hearing is available on the committee’s website.

Due to health and safety concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, this hearing is not currently scheduled to be open for public attendance. Interested members of the public will be able to view proceedings via the live webcast at aph.gov.au/live.

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