More power for Border Force
The Australian Border Force (ABF) is to acquire a new patrol vessel for waters off Fremantle, Western Australia.
The Port, Harbour and Coastal (PHC) vessel, named Rottnest Island, will be based at Fremantle but will also be deployed in the South-West and Mid-West regions.
It can manoeuvre at high speeds to intercept target vessels as well as conduct vessel boardings and patrols.
The vessel is one of 13 new PHC vessels being rolled out across Australia. Eight, including Rottnest Island, are being constructed in Yamba in northern NSW with the other five being built in Adelaide.
Decentralisation inquiry extended
Parliament’s Select Committee considering the decentralisation of Government services has extended its inquiry by a month.
The Committee is now required to issue its final report on or before 28 June.
Chair of the Committee, Damian Drum said it has received a large amount of evidence and heard from many witnesses and now needed to give careful consideration to this information.
More information about the committee and its progress can be accessed on the Parliament House website at this PS News link.
DFAT backs Ebola battle
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is to contribute $4 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to respond to infectious disease outbreaks in developing countries.
The funding will support the WHO Contingency Fund’s containment efforts in the recent outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
DFAT will also contribute $9.5 million to the World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, which supports the scaling-up of national and international responses to major outbreaks where initial containment efforts are unsuccessful.
