Workplace safety heroes sought
Safe Work Australia is encouraging workers throughout the nation to nominate their “Safety Heroes” in the 2018 National Safety Awards of Excellence.
The Agency is a sponsor of the National Safety Council of Australia’s National Safety Awards of Excellence (Best Health and Wellbeing Program).
Winners of all the awards will be revealed on 11 October and nominations can be made at this PS News link.
Nominations close on 29 June.
Senate support for Legal Aid
The Senate has passed a motion calling for the reversal of a downward trend in legal aid funding, which it says has reached its lowest level in more than 20 years.
The motion was timed to highlight National Pro Bono Day on Tuesday (15 May).
The move followed the drop in Government funding from 55 per cent in 1996–97 to 32 per cent in 2017–18, and lower in 2019–20.
Proponents of the motion said thousands of people were now unrepresented in Court because only a few were now eligible for legal aid, well below the 14 per cent living below the poverty line.
High-speed NBN accelerates
The ninth quarterly market report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed that more consumers were receiving higher-speed National Broadband Network (NBN) plans.
The ACCC said the 50Mbps plan now made up 26 per cent of all NBN plans — up from just 4.6 per cent in December 2017.
The report found the number of 50Mbps services being acquired from NBN Co. increased from 158,959 to 989,360 in the quarter to 31 March 2018.
It noted that NBN Co. was now supplying a total of 3,813,994 wholesale broadband access services (up from 3,467,306 services in the December quarter).
High Court empties seats
The High Court of Australia has declared that ACT Senator Katy Gallagher was ineligible to be elected at the 2016 Federal Election as she held dual citizenship in Great Britain at the close of nominations.
Four Members of the House of Representatives in similar circumstances have also been found to be ineligible and, along with former Senator Gallagher, have left the Parliament.
They are Susan Lamb (MP for Longman), Justine Keay (Braddon), Josh Wilson (Fremantle) and Rebekah Sharkie (Mayo).
By-elections will now be held in their seats.
SAS upgrades digs
The new headquarters and operations centre of the Australian Army’s Special Air Service Regiment has been opened at Campbell Barracks in Perth.
Campbell Barracks has been the home of the Army’s Special Air Service since its inception in 1957, and the upgrades are the first major redevelopment of the base since it opened six decades ago.
Phase Two of the redevelopment is under way and includes new and refurbished facilities for Operational Support Squadron, 152 Signal Squadron, the Quartermaster Store, and a new security entry point for the base.
