Australian Government Media Releases

The Traditional Owners of Meanjin (Brisbane) and surrounds, the Turrbal and Jagera People, will welcome the replica of Captain James Cook's HM Bark Endeavour to Brisbane on Thursday 28 August. Gifts will then be exchanged with the Captain of the Endeavour , Captain Ross Mattson.. The Welcome will take place on Hamilton No 2 Wharf, Hamilton, beside the ship.

(Last updated: 27 August 2008). UAE Ministry of Health. UAE Ministry of Health.

MEDIA RELEASE The Hon Peter Garrett MP Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PG /126 27 August 2008 MINISTER ANNOUNCES PRIORITY ASSESSMENT LIST The Tasmanian devil has been included in a list of 27 animals, plants and important habitat areas to be assessed as a priority for their conservation status under the Australian Government environmental legislation. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has today announced this year's finalised priority assessment list, following advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

MEDIA RELEASE The Hon Peter Garrett MP Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PG /125 27 August 2008 APPOINTMENTS TO AUSTRALIA COUNCIL ARTFORM BOARDS The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, today announced appointments to the Australia Council's Theatre, Literature and Dance Boards. The Australia Council has seven boards that administer funding to Australia's arts sector, and provide advice to the Council on the development of arts initiatives and grant programs.

The Rudd Government today launched the next chapter in its Education Revolution to help build a stronger economy for Australia's future. Reporting on performance will be a requirement of any new school funding agreement. Under this new reform partnership school authorities will be encouraged to reward our highest performing classroom teachers and provide incentives for them to teach in our most challenging schools.

: Julia Gillard, good morning. You may have a view on this. : You also have to find a cooperative state government.

Federal Minister for Ageing Mrs Justine Elliot today announced home and community care services for the elderly and people with disabilities in Western Australia had received an additional $1.4 million. Through the HACC program, more than 200 service providers across Western Australia help support older people, younger people with a disability, and their carers by providing community care assistance ranging from centre-based day-care and respite care services to home modifications and help with transport. Over the next four years, the Australian Government will provide a record $40billion nationally to residential and home and community care of which $11.4 billion goes to home and community care.

The Minister for Ageing, Mrs Justine Elliot today paid tribute to the 80,000 volunteers and workers who deliver about 15 million meals a year from 750 kitchens to frail aged and people with disabilities across Australia. Mrs Elliot made the comments on National Meals on Wheels Day. This 11 million provides in NSW 3.048 million meals a year 2.99 million in Victoria 2.067 million in Queensland 1.048 million in Western Australia 1.06 million in South Australia 335,000 in Tasmania 277,000 in Northern Territory and in the Australian Capital Territory 118,000.

Minister for Ageing, Mrs Justine Elliot today in Federal Parliament detailed the Australian Government's unannounced visits program for the nation's nursing homes, saying they protected frail and aged Australians. As of July 1, the Accreditation Agency began a program of 7,000 visits including 3,000 unannounced visits and 1,500 site audits. Mrs Elliot said unannounced visits are commonplace in Australia across a range of sectors.

The Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs (MCCA) has released its mid-term report on the implementation of the National Indigenous Consumer Strategy (NICS) Action Plan 2005 - 2010. Mr Bowen noted that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are strongly committed to the needs of Indigenous consumers through effective partnerships with organisations such as the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN). The guide provides best practice principles for all Australian consumer protection agencies on how to strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities and better identify address issues facing Indigenous consumers.'.

The Social Security and Veterans' Entitlements Legislation Amendment (Schooling Requirements) Bill 2008 amends the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 , the ANew Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 , the Student Assistance Act 1973 and the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 The Bill gives effect to measures announced in the 2008-09 Budget under a package of Welfare Payments Reform initiatives, with this Bill enabling implementation of the Improving School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure. The Bill acknowledges that some children, particularly young adults, do not have satisfactory school attendance despite concerted actions by parents to encourage regular school participation. For those few parents who persistently refuse to enrol their children in school or support their children to attend school, the Bill provides Centrelink with the ability to suspend income support payments until parents meet their requirements.

GLEN BARTHOLOMEW: Back home the Federal Government is under pressure on education funding, with claims that funding for public schools is going backwards under Labor. The last Budget was a Budget in which education was a centrepiece. JULIA GILLARD: All of our Education Revolution is about making schools better off and we've already started.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland today tabled the Rudd Government's response to the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report into the harmonisation of legal systems within Australia and between Australia and New Zealand. 'The Rudd Government has a far reaching legal reform agenda, which will reduce the costs of regulation and enhance productivity in areas of shared Commonwealth and State responsibility' Mr McClelland said. This direct engagement with legal professionals, academics, law reform bodies and business will assist in shaping legal harmonisation for the future.'.

CSIRO scientists with the Minerals Down Under National Research Flagship are working closely with industry and government to develop vastly improved navigation technology for remote areas. New food processing technologies and how they can be used to develop a more sustainable, secure, safe and profitable food industry will be discussed in Brisbane from 17-18 September during the 4th Innovative Foods Centre Conference FIESTA2008. The latest issue of ECOS provides expert analysis of the draft report of the independent Garnaut Review on emissions trading and the Federal Government's Green Paper, which outlines the differing proposals for a carbon pollution reduction' scheme.

Businesses, NGOs and government agencies featured among the winners of the inaugural Australian Privacy Awards and the Australian Privacy Medal at a gala dinner held in Sydney tonight. Highly Commended: Australian Privacy Foundation. Justice Kirby wins inaugural Australian Privacy Medal.

High Court Judge, Michael Kirby, was tonight announced as the recipient of the inaugural Australian Privacy Medal. Justice Kirby has made an invaluable contribution over many years to enhancing not only Australians privacy rights, but also those of citizens across the globe, said Karen Curtis, the Australian Privacy Commissioner. In his capacity as chair of the Australian Law Reform Commission, Justice Kirby produced two reports on privacy, which, with the OECD Guidelines, were critical to the development of the Australian Privacy Act.

Medicare Australia was named tonight as the winner of the Grand Award in the inaugural Australian Privacy Awards program. Medicare Australias nomination was outstanding, showing how the agency has integrated good privacy practices into all areas of its operations, said Karen Curtis, the Australian Privacy Commissioner. Medicare's privacy initiatives are underpinned by a Chief Executive Instruction about privacy obligations.

Telstra Corporation was named tonight as the winner of the Large Business Award category in the inaugural Australian Privacy Awards program. Telstra requires all suppliers and business partners to comply with privacy law, and has established a dedicated privacy call centre. A recent privacy assessment by Ernst and Young reported: Privacy has been an integral part of Telstra's business for over 20 years and Telstra has a mature approach to managing its privacy risks.

Data Solutions Australia, a small business providing mailing and telemarketing data for direct marketing, was named tonight as the winner of the Microsoft Small-Medium Business Award category in the inaugural Australian Privacy Awards program. Data Solutions Australias Privacy Plus program regularly washes its marketing data against the Do Not Call Register and ADMAs Do Not Contact Registry. Other winners of the Australian Privacy Awards included: Medicare (Grand Award), Telstra (Large Business Award), Australian Dental Association NSW Branch (Community & NGO Award), and the Child Support Agency (Symantec Government Award).

The Australian Dental Association, NSW Branch, was named tonight as the winner of the Community and NGO Award category in the inaugural Australian Privacy Awards program. 'The Australian Dental Association has performed an invaluable public service by assisting dentists to meet their obligations in this area.'. The Australian Dental Associations Privacy Legislation Information Kit is tailored to NSW and ACT members.

The Child Support Agency was named tonight as the winner of the Symantec Government Award category in the inaugural Australian Privacy Awards program. Few of the Child Support Agencys processes lend themselves to being automated, meaning the Child Support Agency has needed to develop staff-centric privacy processes. The Child Support Agency conducts privacy audits every two years.

AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith and the Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, announced today that Brazil's Minister for External Relations, Ambassador Celso Amorim, will visit Australia from Tuesday 26 to Thursday 28 August 2008. Mr Crean will meet with Minister Amorim and Mr Smith will host a dinner for Minister Amorim on Tuesday night.

AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. As a first step, the Ministers will develop a Plan of Action to raise the bilateral relationship to an Enhanced Partnership for consideration by their Prime Minister and President respectively. Mr Amorim invited both Mr Smith and Mr Crean to visit Brazil.

Minister Crean and Minister Amorim met today in Canberra and released the following statement:. In addition to discussing a range of bilateral issues Ministers Crean and Amorim emphasised the importance of the WTO Doha Round for the global economy and reaffirmed their commitment to conclude the negotiating phase of the Round this year. Minister Crean and Minister Amorim also both agreed to engage their colleagues to generate the necessary political will and high level political engagement to conclude the Doha negotiations.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith and the Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, announced today that Brazil's Minister for External Relations, Ambassador Celso Amorim, will visit Australia from Tuesday 26 to Thursday 28 August 2008. Both Mr Smith and Mr Crean warmly welcomed Mr Amorim's visit, the first visit to Australia by a Brazilian Minister since the election of the Rudd Labor Government. Mr Crean will meet with Minister Amorim and Mr Smith will host a dinner for Minister Amorim on Tuesday night.

The Australian government through its trade promotion arm Austrade is working with the AFL to use Aussie Rules to do business with India. Austrade and the AFL promoted a footy match in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, which brought Australian and local companies together in a business networking function. Business Club Australia is a proven success story of how sport and business can mix to deliver trade and investment results for Australian business.

Tax Commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo today issued a taxpayer alert warning people that he intends to closely scrutinise GST refund requests that could result in windfall gains not intended by the law. This could lead to a windfall gain if a refund was paid. Taxpayers should be aware that although the Commissioner has a discretion to pay a refund for overpaid GST in exceptional circumstances, in business to business transactions the law does not require the Tax Office to pay a refund.

In 2003, almost 115,000 students with severe disability attended mainstream schools rather than special schools, up from around 26,700 students in 1981, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The overall rate of unemployment among people with disability has halved, but the fall in unemployment was even greater for people without disability. The report notes a trend towards people with severe disability living in the community.

A media conference discussing the progress of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the mid-air single fatality accident on 27 August 2008 will be held tomorrow, Thursday 28 August 2008. Mr Mike Watson, Investigator in Charge (IIC) will discuss factual information known to the investigation team at this time and will outline the investigation process. After this briefing, all media enquiries must be directed to the media contact listed below.

It has been a pleasure for ADF personnel to see a soldier as Governor-General of our nation. You are reliable and you are devoted.

The Australian Government is committed to the Millennium Development Goals to making poverty history and to increasing the profile of multilateral institutions like the United Nations in that task. Education is a great enabler. Violence against women is both a symptom and a cause of gender inequality and discrimination.

Direct flights between Australia and Bangladesh are a step closer following the signing of an inaugural air services Memorandum of Understanding. With a population of more than 150 million people, Bangladeshis a potentially important emerging market and the new arrangements will provide for the development of bilateral air services. The new arrangements also pave the way for the development of the cargo market between Australia and Bangladesh, with capacity for up to seven all-cargo services with any aircraft type to be operated each week.

Tasmania's farming and forestry industries are encouraged to attend a Launceston forum to have their say on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke said the Launceston forum was part of the Rudd Government's consultation with regional areas across Australia. The Government's consultations on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper will run until 10 September.

As part of Hearing Awareness Week, Australias Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, has called for cinemas to do their share for Australians who are deaf and hearing impaired. Mr Innesrecently congratulated the Government for providing some assistance to 12 independent cinemas to purchase the necessary equipment butcalled on the major cinema chains to use this week, Hearing Awareness Week, to announce a major increase in the availability of captions.