1. This week 10 years ago, in a submission to the Federal Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration Detention Network, the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Catherine Branson QC said the scheme of mandatory, prolonged and indefinite detention should be reformed so it was only used as a last resort and for the shortest possible time.
The submission made 31 recommendations addressing concerns that the system breached Australia’s international human rights obligations.
“We’ve visited detention facilities and have seen firsthand a marked deterioration in people’s mental health and wellbeing as a result of being detained for a long period with no end date,” Ms Branson said. “The system … is damaging men, women and children.”
2. This week back then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard appointed career diplomat Penny Williams as Australia’s first Global Ambassador for Women and Girls, saying it would ensure the needs of women and girls were properly represented in Australia’s overseas development program and foreign policy more generally.
“Women and girls make up two-thirds of the one billion people in the world who lack basic literacy skills, with almost 35 million girls worldwide not getting even basic primary-level education,” Ms Gillard said.
She said improving access to education and health services for women and girls would help lift families and communities out of poverty.
3. The Chair of the National Water Commission, Chloe Munro called on Governments across Australia to show renewed leadership on water management and to “stay the distance” on their reform commitments.
Ms Munro said a progress report on water reforms showed that actions under the National Water Initiative had made water use more efficient, sustainable and secure, but governments were yet to meet their commitments to give rivers and wetlands a fair share of water.
“This means the goal of sustainable water management has not been reached,” Ms Munro said.
4. Prime Minister, Julia Gillard announced that Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu had been invited to join Australia’s Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme, which would provide the Pacific communities with an economic boost and offer Australian producers the chance to source more workers when seasonal demands outstripped the local labour supply.
“Under the pilot scheme, Pacific workers come to Australia for four to six months to work for horticultural enterprises who demonstrate that they cannot find enough local labour to meet their seasonal harvest needs,” Ms Gillard said.
She said the workers sent some of their money back home, benefiting their families and broader communities, and the scheme also benefited Australia through the productivity gains for the horticulture industry.
5. Also this week a decade ago, Queensland Rail became the first public rail transport company in the world to be certified to the International Customer Service Standard (ICSS).
Minister for Transport, Annastacia Palaszczuk said the achievement set a benchmark for customer service in public transport. She said it recognised an organisation that worked to deliver a great service through its day-to-day operations, innovation and the ability to listen to its customers.
“This takes into account more than day-to-day service delivery,” Chief Executive of Queensland Rail, Paul Scurrah said. “It places a strong focus on the company’s innovations, and ability to capture and use customer feedback to deliver enhanced service.”
6. And finally, the Federal and Queensland Governments announced $23 million in new funding to protect the environmental and cultural values of Cape York Peninsula.
The respective Ministers for the Environment, Tony Burke and Vicky Darling said the funds would allow the purchase of high conservation value land for inclusion in the national reserve system and support consultation with Indigenous communities towards a future World Heritage nomination.
Ms Darling said the move would also support greater engagement and participation of Indigenous communities in sustainable agricultural and natural resource management activities. Mr Burke said Cape York Peninsula was a special place of world-class natural and cultural value.
