WAYS to maximise the commercial potential of innovations in science will be discussed at an upcoming public hearing by the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee.  

The committee will speak to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) this Thursday as part of its inquiry into the Australian aquaculture sector. Witnesses will appear via videoconference.

Committee Chair, Rick Wilson MP, noted that both organisations are engaged in pioneering research which aims to boost the overall efficiency, sustainability, and profitability of domestic aquaculture enterprises.

"CSIRO research into marine microbes led to the development of a natural supplement which has helped Australian farmers to rear bigger, healthier prawns," Mr Wilson said. "Similarly, ANSTO has used nuclear techniques to maximise seafood growth by identifying optimal feed ingredients and percentages.

"The committee looks forward to discussing these and other emerging scientific innovations, as well as their potential commercial applications in the expansion of the aquaculture sector," Mr Wilson said.

For further information, please visit the inquiry website.

ends

VOLUNTEERING Queensland has launched the National Student Volunteer Week (NSVW) website and social media campaign, as the Small Grants Program.

Grants of up to $500 will be available in Queensland only and are for activities held during 2021 NSVW that celebrate the contribution of and enable the participation of young people through volunteering.

The grants are open to Queensland universities, TAFEs, colleges, schools, and not-for-profit organisations that have volunteering programs for students and young people aged up to 25 years of age. 

National Student Volunteer Week (NSVW2021), August 9 – 15, exemplifies the outstanding contribution student volunteers make across Australian communities. Education providers, volunteer organisations and students across the country are invited to participate in National Student Volunteer Week by getting involved at their local community level to celebrate and promote volunteering, hosting events, awards and training sessions, as well as taking part in volunteering activities.

With the decrease in volunteering participation in the last 12 months, and an increase in the needs of vulnerable community members due to COVID-19, now it is more important than ever for students and young people to come together and acknowledge the important role they play in the sector and the wider community.

National Student Volunteer Week gives students the opportunity to lead others in connecting to their community by offering support and kindness. Students are provided with the chance to explore the personal and professional benefits of volunteering, which include valuable work experience, enhanced feelings of self worth, refinement of values, increased understanding of people, local and global issues, and reduced social isolation.

NSVW also recognises the significant skills, ideas, enthusiasm, creativity, and time that young people contribute through volunteering. A suite of resources has been developed and is available for all participants to assist with planning and executing volunteering activities as well as volunteer promoting events and campaigns.

National Student Volunteer Week has been coordinated and delivered nationally by Volunteering Queensland since 2013 and supported by Volunteering Australia and all State and Territory Peak volunteering bodies, 

The 2021 NSVW grant applications opened at 10am on Friday June 11 and close at 5pm on July 9, 2021.

The initiative has been made possible through the support of the Queensland Government through the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy. 

For more information about the week as well as the grants program, visit The National Student Volunteer Week website at https://nationalstudentvolunteerweek.org.au/

ends

THIRTEEN waterfront workers have been forced into 14-day mandatory quarantine following a COVID safety breach at the Port of Darwin involving a container ship that arrived from Singapore on Thursday.

Workers at the Linx terminal at East Arm Wharf who boarded the Tacoma Trader to unload containers have been forced into quarantine, with Northern Territory police collecting six from the wharf, along with an additional seven who worked the previous night shift. All have been transported to the Howard Springs quarantine facility.

The Tacoma Trader had been allowed to dock well inside the 14 day quarantine period after NT Health boarded the vessel to undertake health checks of the foreign crew, which involved temperature checks and a declaration from the ship’s master that there was no illness onboard.

Once NT health cleared the vessel of any COVID cases, waterfront workers were permitted to board the vessel to commence unloading the cargo.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has been campaigning for foreign crew to be tested for COVID prior to Australian workers boarding vessels, but NT and Federal Governments refuse to implement that common sense approach to keep waterfront workers and the community safe.

MUA assistant national secretary Adrian Evans said health authorities had forced workers into quarantine, with workers told by police that it was because of an administrative failure by the vessel’s agent in declaring the number of days since its last port of Singapore, which is not a declared hotspot. This failure was out of the workers’ hands.

"This has been an extremely traumatic experience for our members, who were marched off the wharf by police and bussed straight into quarantine, including some who needed to get home to care for their children,” Mr Evans said.

“The Tacoma Trader, like most vessels arriving in Darwin, had not been at sea for 14 days, leaving waterfront workers dependent on government health checks of the ship’s crew to keep them safe. 

“Those biosecurity measures have clearly broken down, resulting in extreme hardship for nearly half the workforce at the Linx terminal who were simply doing their job, but are now stuck in quarantine.

“Given there are no COVID cases onboard the Tacoma Trader, we question why workers are in lock-up? This is clearly a bureaucratic overreaction.

“Dragging people out of their workplace and locking them up without a valid reason is clearly unacceptable. No one should go to work, then be forcibly detained in Howard Springs for two weeks.

“To make matters worse, these workers have been denied a change of clothes and are still in the same work gear they’ve had on since 6am yesterday.

“Our members worked all through the height of the pandemic, they have faced the risk of COVID infection to keep the economy going, and now they find themselves being locked up just for doing their jobs.

“We demand the immediate release of our members and a commitment from the NT Government that this will not happen again.”

The Tacoma Trader has now been diverted to Port Hedland, which will significantly impact delivery of cargo into the Territory. The union also warned that the quarantining of a large part of the workforce will impact the ability to load and unload other vessels at the Port of Darwin.

Mr Evans said the incident highlighted the union’s repeated warnings that Australia’s COVID biosecurity measures — which vary between states and territories — are fundamentally flawed.

“The MUA has written to National Cabinet on a number of occasions, highlighting flaws in Australia’s biosecurity measures, and urging an immediate overhaul to create a nationally-consistent regime for addressing the very real threat of COVID arriving on international commercial vessels,” Mr Evans said.

“This issue is particularly important for the NT, because the territory’s close proximity to Asia means most vessels are arriving less than 14 days after departing foreign ports.

“What we need is the rapid testing of all seafarers arriving in Australian ports, ensuring COVID outbreaks onboard are immediately identified, appropriate health support is provided, and Australian workers are protected from the risk of infection.

“This case highlights the precariousness of the current system, and the very real risk of COVID entering the Australian community through maritime supply chains.

“There is no question that this COVID safety breach is a failure of government; it shows the current approach isn’t working and highlights the urgent need for a nationally consistent approach to address the issue.”

ends

THE Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee will hold the first of a number of public hearings tomorrow as part of its Review of the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 and Statutory Review of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018.

The Committee will hear from the Law Council of Australia, Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Commonwealth Ombudsman, Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Signals Directorate.

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

Public hearing details

Friday, 11 June 2021
9.30am – 3:30pm (AEST)
Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

A program for the hearing can be found here and the hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

ends