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Category: Australia

  • MIL-OSI: Nokia and blackned to create next-generation deployable tactical networks for the defense sector

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Press Release
    Nokia and blackned to create next-generation deployable tactical networks for the defense sector

    • Companies sign agreement to provide advanced, deployable mobile communication systems for military battlefield operation.
    • Tailored for Germany’s defense requirements, with adaptability for international use.
    • Leverages Nokia’s cutting-edge 5G technology and blackned’s expertise in defense digitalization to enable high performance, scalability and strategic advantage.

    28 May 2025
    Espoo, Finland – Nokia and blackned GmbH, in which the Düsseldorf-based technology group Rheinmetall holds a 51% stake, have entered into a memorandum of understanding to create advanced deployable tactical networks for the defense sector, the companies announced today. The partnership brings together Nokia’s 5G technology and blackned’s expertise in defense digitalization to develop high-performance, next-generation tactical communications solutions that provide secure and reliable connectivity for military operations in the field.

    Under the agreement, the companies will integrate their respective product and solution portfolios to design a unique, deployable communication system tailored to Germany’s defense needs and adaptable for use in other countries. This collaboration will leverage Nokia’s 5G tactical communications technology and blackned’s software-based defense solutions, creating an ideally integrated platform for the Rheinmetall Battlesuite.

    Deployable tactical networks are cutting-edge, mobile solutions designed for quick deployment and extended reach. Built for various battlefield environments, these systems provide reliable, uninterrupted connectivity and high data rates for military teams supporting the Software Defined Defense paradigm. These deployable tactical networks enhance situational awareness, speed up decision making and improve asset co-ordination.

    “blackned is dedicated to advancing innovation in defense digitalization, and our agreement with Nokia represents an important milestone in that mission. Together, we will provide powerful, flexible and future-ready tactical network solutions built for the realities of modern defense, said” Timo Zaiser, CTO at blackned GmbH.

    “In a rapidly evolving tactical environment, speed, mobility and adaptability are paramount. Through the partnership with blackned, our 5G technology will empower defense forces to deploy robust communication capabilities swiftly and share intelligence more effectively, providing our customers with a decisive advantage on the battlefield,” added Giuseppe Targia, Head of Space and Defense at Nokia.

    Multimedia, technical information, and related news
    Web Page: Nokia Defense
    Web Page: Nokia 5G
    Product Page: AirScale Radio Access
    Web Page: Rheinmetall Digitalization
    Web Page: Rheinmetall Connectivity

    About Nokia
    At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together.

    As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, which is celebrating 100 years of innovation.

    With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future.

    About blackned
    Since its foundation in 2009, blackned GmbH has specialised in the development of software-based defence solutions. With the tactical middleware RIDUX and the management system XONITOR, the company forms the core of an advanced architecture for the digitalisation of land forces. As the technical foundation of the Rheinmetall Battelsuite, the TACTICAL CORE digital ecosystem provides a future-proof and open framework for implementing digitalisation projects within NATO armed forces.

    blackned GmbH has been developing and realising customised, mission-critical communications solutions in the field of highly mobile, deployable networks for 15 years. With now six locations and over 200 employees worldwide, blackned is a leader in the industry. Since 2025, the Düsseldorf-based technology group Rheinmetall has been the majority shareholder of the company. The company’s expertise and commitment enable the development of innovative solutions that meet the requirements of modern armed forces and drive digital transformation.

    Media inquiries
    Nokia Press Office
    Email: Press.Services@nokia.com

    Rheinmetall Head of Public Relations
    Oliver Hoffmann
    E-mail: oliver.hoffmann@rheinmetall.com 

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Media release: Australia’s oil and gas industry welcomes Sussan Ley’s new Shadow Cabinet – Australian Energy Producers

    Source: Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association

    Headline: Media release: Australia’s oil and gas industry welcomes Sussan Ley’s new Shadow Cabinet – Australian Energy Producers

    Australia’s oil and gas industry congratulates Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s new Shadow Ministry and looks forward to working with the Coalition on policies that deliver more gas supply and investment for Australia’s energy security and economic growth.

    Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch welcomed the re-appointment of Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Susan McDonald.

    “Senator McDonald has been a strong advocate for the resources sector and regional Australia, and brings deep understanding of the critical role of gas in supporting jobs and energy security,” Ms McCulloch said.

    “Her work as Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia has highlighted the importance of a stable and competitive investment environment to unlock Australia’s resource potential and drive future economic growth.”

    Ms McCulloch also welcomed the appointments of Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Dan Tehan, Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien, Shadow Minister for Environment Angie Bell and Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation Alex Hawke.

    “Dan Tehan’s experience in senior ministerial roles brings a valuable perspective to national energy policy, and we look forward to working with him as he takes on this important portfolio. His electorate of Wannon runs on natural gas, providing energy to critical local industries like dairy and manufacturing.”

    Industry stands ready to work with both major parties to implement bipartisan policies that will:

    • Boost Australian gas supply to ease cost of living pressures
    • Restore Australia’s global competitiveness for investment
    • Deliver real emissions reductions with gas and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)
    • Remain a reliable energy partner in our region

    “The next term of Parliament presents an opportunity for industry to work with the Government and Opposition to deliver enduring reforms to boost productivity and investment, to ensure reliable and affordable energy for Australians,” Ms McCulloch said.

    Media contact: 0434 631 511

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt is ‘scared’ about Australia’s research capacity – this is why

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Lecturer (Law), Southern Cross University

    On Wednesday, Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt and economics professor Richard Holden gave a joint address to the National Press Club in Canberra. Their key message? Australia isn’t spending enough money on university research.

    Schmidt wants to ensure Australia can undertake research vital to our national interests.

    “I look around and I am scared,” Schmidt said. “The Australian government investment in its sovereign research capability was 50% higher 15 years ago as a fraction of GDP.”

    In his remarks, Holden warned, “we’ve become addicted to funding […] research capability through international student income”.

    If this sounds familiar, both Schmidt and Holden have made similar calls before. And their press club presentation follows constant and repeated repeated calls from the university sector for more funds.

    How much is Australia spending on research and how does this compare to other countries?

    How does Australia compare?

    When we look around the world, Australia is lagging when it comes to research spending. Australia spends roughly 1.7% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on all forms of research and development.

    Our research expenditure has also decreased every year since 2008, according to the Australian Academy of Science.

    Meanwhile, based on World Bank data, the United States spends about 3.59% of their GDP on research. China might only spend 2.56% of its GDP, but that’s 2.56% of around US$18.7 trillion (A$29 trillion) – meaning China spends about US$500 billion ($778 billion) on research annually.

    The OECD average (across 38 member countries) is 2.7%, a full percentage point higher than Australia. We’re also underspending compared to other nations smaller than us, including:

    – Finland has a population roughly one-fifth of Australia and spends 2.96% of its GDP on research

    – Sweden has a population of about 10 million and spends 3.41%.

    Australia’s top research universities (the Group of Eight), argue Australia needs to work towards a target of 3% GDP to “underwrite national prosperity”.

    The funding we have is unstable

    Australia’s university research funding also lacks stability.

    Government only funds part of university research – so universities have to come up with the rest. This adds a layer of vulnerability to our research system.

    One of the key sources of university-generated funding is international student fees.

    This means if there are cuts to overseas students – as we saw during COVID and as we see now due to federal government policy changes – there is a flow-on impact on research funding.

    Repeated calls for more funds have been ignored

    Universities have been asking for more money for years and these requests have been ignored by both sides of politics.

    But while the requests may not change, the global security context is shifting. As Schmidt told the press club,

    We can expect new technologies based around small-scale automated machines, hypersonic missiles and computer warfare to feature prominently if we are to have future conflicts between advanced economies.

    In such a case the research capability of a country will be incredibly important at influencing the overall winners and losers, because once the conflict starts, you ‘have what you got’.

    If we don’t properly fund universities to do cutting-edge research, such as quantum science, robotics and cybersecurity, researchers will go elsewhere to do their work. And some funders might not have Australian interests at heart.

    China, Russia and the European Union have leapt on US President Donald Trump’s recent decisions to defund or halt research programs, creating funds worth billions of dollars to woo scientists and scholars from the US to their own countries.

    What options do we have?

    The Albanese government has commissioned a strategic review of Australia’s research and development sector (led by Tesla chair Robyn Denholm), which is due to report by the end of the year. Part of its remit is to look at “mechanisms to improve coordination and impact of [research and development] funding and programs […].”

    In an ideal world, this will prompt the federal government up its funding of research, to match other countries. But previous unheard calls suggests this is unlikely.

    But we can also be more creative. Perhaps industry can fill the gap with an Australian “Silicon Valley” where emerging industries can be clustered with universities in research partnerships. This is what some authors have called “innovation precincts”.

    We could also look at prioritising industry-based PhDs, so postdoctoral students have a research job when they graduate. Or we could consider reallocating government funds going to other sources, such as defence, on topics of military or intelligence importance.

    This could see university funding pools become broader and deeper, more diversified and better suited to our national interests.

    Brendan Walker-Munro has completed paid consultancies for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Independent National Security Legislation Monitor. He receives funding from the Australian Government under the Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technologies Partnership.

    – ref. Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt is ‘scared’ about Australia’s research capacity – this is why – https://theconversation.com/nobel-laureate-brian-schmidt-is-scared-about-australias-research-capacity-this-is-why-257717

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Green light for gas: North West Shelf gas plant cleared to run until 2070

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Hepburn, Professor, Deakin Law School, Deakin University

    Franklin64/Shutterstock

    In a decision surprising very few people, Australia’s new environment minister Murray Watt has signed off on an extension for the gas plant at Karratha, part of the enormous North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project.

    The decision had been deferred until after the federal election, given significant environmental concerns around the project.

    This approval means the gas plant at Karratha can now keep running until 2070. The Woodside-operated project has helped to shape Australia’s reputation as one of the biggest suppliers of LNG in the world.

    Watt did not have to consider climate impacts, but rather what damage the extension might do to ancient rock art as well as economic and social matters. His approval is “subject to strict conditions”, which largely focus on air emissions from the project. Critics claim the extension will threaten irreplaceable 50,000 year old rock carvings and petroglyphs.

    The decision will enrage environmentalists. If the project continues to operate, it has been estimated to generate four billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over 50 years.

    Australia has committed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. But the majority of the gas extracted from the North West Shelf will be exported, meaning the huge emissions generated from its extraction, liquefaction, transportation and burning will not be counted domestically.

    But while the Karratha plant now has a lifeline, there’s still an open question about where the gas will come from. For decades, the plant has processed gas from the North Rankin, Perseus and Goodwyn gasfields offshore. These are now running out.

    The main purpose of extending the Karratha plant’s lifespan would be to process gas extracted from giant new gasfields lying underneath the pristine Scott Reef. Approval to open these gasfields has not yet been given because of the significant concerns extraction will damage the reefs.

    What is the North West Shelf Project?

    The North West Shelf development has been operational since the 1980s. Gas is extracted from huge basins located off the Pilbara coast and processed at the Karratha plant on the Burrup Peninsula.

    To date, only a third of the 33 trillion cubic feet of gas in this basin has been extracted.

    Woodside Petroleum is the project operator, holding a one-third shareholding along with Chevron and Shell in what is known as the North West Shelf Joint Venture.

    The project is the largest producer of domestic gas in Western Australia, providing almost two-thirds of the state’s consumption. In the 2023-2024 financial year, it produced gas worth about A$70 billion.

    Domestic consumers are paying much more for this gas than their international counterparts. For example, a $25 billion contract entered into with China in 2002 includes a guarantee prices will remain the same until 2031.

    With the rapid escalation of gas prices, this means China is paying a third of the price paid by domestic consumers. Other markets for the gas include Japan and South Korea, which lack domestic gas resources.

    The Karratha plant has been cleared to run until 2070.
    Hans Wismeijer/Shutterstock

    The ‘transition fuel’ worse than coal

    Gas has long been touted as a transition fuel in a decarbonising economy. But this is questionable on several fronts.

    Rather than replacing coal, LNG may actually be displacing renewables.

    Worse, a recent study showed emissions from LNG are 33% higher than coal over a 20 year period when extraction, piping to a processing facility, compression, shipping, decompression and burning for energy are considered. “Ending the use of LNG should be a global priority,” the report concludes.

    Turning methane-heavy natural gas into a liquid to allow it to be shipped overseas is energy intensive. Large leaks of methane from wells and pipes are common during extraction and transport. When the gas is finally burned to generate energy, it produces carbon dioxide.

    In China, coal’s share of electricity production has been eroded by renewables but not by LNG, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

    From a big picture point of view, climate commitments can’t be met if high-emitting infrastructure keeps being commissioned. Alongside stopping the expansion of fossil fuel projects, existing fossil fuel infrastructure must be retired or retrofitted with cleaner technology.

    Eroding ancient rock art

    The project’s processing plant is located on the Burrup Peninsula, also known as Murujaga. But this peninsula also has about 500,000 rock carvings by First Nations groups, the densest concentration in the world. In 2023, former environment minister Tanya Plibersek announced a bid to give this area World Heritage listing.

    In a new draft decision, the United Nations World Heritage Committee flagged concerns over the bid and referred it back to the Australian government to “ensure the total removal of degrading acidic emissions” and “prevent any further industrial development” near the petroglyphs.

    Gas production and ancient rock art are poorly matched. Research suggests processing plant gases such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ammonia have been gradually eroding the fragile petroglyphs for decades. Successive state and federal governments have failed to act to safeguard this area.

    Gas projects seem untouchable

    Approving the North West Shelf extension is a disaster for the environment, our climate commitments and the fragile and irreplaceable rock art in Murujuga.

    It would seem that despite well-founded concerns on many fronts, big gas projects in Australia are all but untouchable.

    Samantha Hepburn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Green light for gas: North West Shelf gas plant cleared to run until 2070 – https://theconversation.com/green-light-for-gas-north-west-shelf-gas-plant-cleared-to-run-until-2070-257008

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Longest period in band on record for monthly inflation

    Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry

    New figures from the ABS show that headline and underlying inflation remained in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target band in April.

    Today’s result is another demonstration of the substantial and sustained progress we have made on inflation.

    Headline inflation was 2.4 per cent through the year to April 2025, unchanged from March.

    Annual Trimmed Mean inflation was 2.8 per cent.

    Monthly headline inflation has been in the band for nine consecutive months and underlying inflation has been in the band for five consecutive months.

    We know that these monthly numbers are volatile and can bounce around but the direction of travel on inflation is clear.

    Another month of CPI in the band is a welcome and encouraging sign that inflation is moderating sustainably.

    This is the longest period that both headline and underlying inflation have been in the band since the monthly inflation series began in 2018.

    Under Labor, inflation is down substantially, real wages are up, unemployment is low, our economy is growing, debt is down and interest rates are falling.

    On the official quarterly numbers, the March quarter was the first time since records began that unemployment has been in the low 4s and headline and underlying inflation have both been in the target band.

    Today’s data is more evidence we are in better shape to face the uncertainty in the global economy than almost any other advanced economy with inflation rising recently in countries like the UK and Japan.

    Electricity prices fell 6.5 cent in the year to April but would have risen 1.5 per cent without the energy rebates for every household we are rolling out with the states.

    Rents rose 5.0 per cent in the year but would have increased 6.1 per cent without the recent increases to Commonwealth Rent Assistance.

    Even with this substantial progress and two interest rate cuts in three months, we know people are still under pressure and we face global economic headwinds.

    That’s why the Albanese Government’s economic strategy has been all about getting on top of inflation while maintaining the gains in the labour market and ensuring the economy continues to grow.

    All of the progress that Australians have made together means that we are well placed and well prepared for heightened uncertainty and volatility in the global economy.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: There’s a new COVID variant driving up infections. A virologist explains what to know about NB.1.8.1

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lara Herrero, Associate Professor and Research Leader in Virology and Infectious Disease, Griffith University

    VioletaStoimenova/Getty Images

    As we enter the colder months in Australia, COVID is making headlines again, this time due to the emergence of a new variant: NB.1.8.1.

    Last week, the World Health Organization designated NB.1.8.1 as a “variant under monitoring”, owing to its growing global spread and some notable characteristics which could set it apart from earlier variants.

    So what do you need to know about this new variant?

    The current COVID situation

    More than five years since COVID was initially declared a pandemic, we’re still experiencing regular waves of infections.

    It’s more difficult to track the occurrence of the virus nowadays, as fewer people are testing and reporting infections. But available data suggests in late May 2025, case numbers in Australia were ticking upwards.

    Genomic sequencing has confirmed NB.1.8.1 is among the circulating strains in Australia, and generally increasing. Of cases sequenced up to May 6 across Australia, NB.1.8.1 ranged from less than 10% in South Australia to more than 40% in Victoria.

    Wastewater surveillance in Western Australia has determined NB.1.8.1 is now the dominant variant in wastewater samples collected in Perth.

    Internationally NB.1.8.1 is also growing. By late April 2025, it comprised roughly 10.7% of all submitted sequences – up from just 2.5% four weeks prior. While the absolute number of cases sequenced was still modest, this consistent upward trend has prompted closer monitoring by international public health agencies.

    NB.1.8.1 has been spreading particularly in Asia – it was the dominant variant in Hong Kong and China at the end of April.


    Lara Herrero, created using BioRender

    Where does this variant come from?

    According to the WHO, NB.1.8.1 was first detected from samples collected in January 2025.

    It’s a sublineage of the Omicron variant, descending from the recombinant XDV lineage. “Recombinant” is where a new variant arises from the genetic mixing of two or more existing variants.

    The image to the right shows more specifically how NB.1.8.1 came about.

    What does the research say?

    Like its predecessors, NB.1.8.1 carries a suite of mutations in the spike protein. This is the protein on the surface of the virus that allows it to infect us – specifically via the ACE2 receptors, a “doorway” to our cells.

    The mutations include T22N, F59S, G184S, A435S, V445H, and T478I. It’s early days for this variant, so we don’t have much data on what these changes mean yet. But a recent preprint (a study that has not yet been peer reviewed) offers some clues about why NB.1.8.1 may be gathering traction.

    Using lab-based models, researchers found NB.1.8.1 had the strongest binding affinity to the human ACE2 receptor of several variants tested – suggesting it may infect cells more efficiently than earlier strains.

    The study also looked at how well antibodies from vaccinated or previously infected people could neutralise or “block” the variant. Results showed the neutralising response of antibodies was around 1.5 times lower to NB.1.8.1 compared to another recent variant, LP.8.1.1.

    This means it’s possible a person infected with NB.1.8.1 may be more likely to pass the virus on to someone else, compared to earlier variants.

    What are the symptoms?

    The evidence so far suggests NB.1.8.1 may spread more easily and may partially sidestep immunity from prior infections or vaccination. These factors could explain its rise in sequencing data.

    But importantly, the WHO has not yet observed any evidence it causes more severe disease compared to other variants.

    Reports suggest symptoms of NB.1.8.1 should align closely with other Omicron subvariants.

    Common symptoms include sore throat, fatigue, fever, mild cough, muscle aches and nasal congestion. Gastrointestinal symptoms may also occur in some cases.

    COVID is continuing to evolve.
    Joannii/Shutterstock

    How about the vaccine?

    There’s potential for this variant to play a significant role in Australia’s winter respiratory season. Public health responses remain focused on close monitoring, continued genomic sequencing, and promoting the uptake of updated COVID boosters.

    Even if neutralising antibody levels are modestly reduced against NB.1.8.1, the WHO has noted current COVID vaccines should still protect against severe disease with this variant.

    The most recent booster available in Australia and many other countries targets JN.1, from which NB.1.8.1 is descended. So it makes sense it should still offer good protection.

    Ahead of winter and with a new variant on the scene, now may be a good time to consider another COVID booster if you’re eligible. For some people, particularly those who are medically vulnerable, COVID can still be a serious disease.

    Lara Herrero receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

    – ref. There’s a new COVID variant driving up infections. A virologist explains what to know about NB.1.8.1 – https://theconversation.com/theres-a-new-covid-variant-driving-up-infections-a-virologist-explains-what-to-know-about-nb-1-8-1-257552

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Man charged with possessing child exploitation material

    Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

    Man charged with possessing child exploitation material

    Wednesday, 28 May 2025 – 4:50 pm.

    A 31-year-old man has been arrested and charged with possession of child exploitation material following the search of property at Kingston today.
    The arrest is the result of a Tasmania Police investigation that was launched after the recent detection of child exploitation material being downloaded.
    The Tasmanian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (JACET),comprising the High-Risk Child Exploitation Unit and the Australian Federal Police, conducted a search in Kingston today, (May 28) supported by the Community Protection Offender Reporting (CPOR) Team.
    During the search, police located and examined numerous digital devices, leading to charges being laid against a 31-year-old man. He has been bailed to appear in court at a later date.
    Online child abuse is a serious crime type. Tasmania Police, with the support of its partners, is committed to stopping these crimes and keeping children safe.
    If you have seen inappropriate behaviour online that you suspect is child abuse, call police on 131 444, but if the child is in immediate danger, call triple zero (000).
    You can also report concerns online to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) https://www.accce.gov.au/report

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival celebrates Gastronomy and the art of storytelling this August

    Source: New South Wales Ministerial News

    The City of Greater Bendigo is thrilled to unveil the program for the 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival, returning from Friday August 15 to Sunday August 17, with over 60 events and more than 80 writers and speakers.

    This year’s festival celebrates the fusion of gastronomy and storytelling with an exciting lineup of food-themed sessions and culinary stars. Among the highlights is Benjamin Cooper, Executive Chef of the iconic Southeast Asian restaurant Chin Chin, hosting a restaurant take-over at Ms Batterhams, Mackenzie Quarters. Guests will savour Chin Chin’s signature dishes and enjoy an intimate Q&A inspired by the restaurant’s latest cookbook, Still Hungry.

    The City of Greater Bendigo is proud to continue its partnership with La Trobe University, with acclaimed historian and Professor of Public Engagement Clare Wright returning to the curatorial team. The festival also welcomes new collaborations and programming streams for festival fans to enjoy.

    Bendigo Venues & Events Manager Julie Amos said the festival offers something for everyone.

    “Over one action-packed weekend in August, the festival brings together diverse voices through discussions that spark ideas, conversation, and inspiration,” Ms Amos said.

    “With a strong focus on literacy, lifelong learning, and cultural diversity, the Bendigo Writers Festival is a must-attend event for book lovers and curious minds from Bendigo, Victoria, and beyond.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: MEDIA RELEASE: North West Shelf approval in the national interest

    Source:

    Statement by AREEA Chief Executive Officer Steve Knott AM 

    Commonwealth approval of Woodside Energy’s North West Shelf Extension is a decision clearly made in the national interest.

    This follows more than six years of rigorous reviews and approval processes.

    Industry will view the green light for the North West Shelf Extension as a welcome and long overdue step towards sensibly dealing with red and green tape regulation and appropriate community consultations.

    Such processes are critical in the face of environmental lawfare that is stalling and frustrating other significant oil and gas and mining projects.

    Certainty and stability must be returned to the sector after a discernible decline in investor conditions and confidence.

    Today’s decision sends a positive signal for global investment and national prosperity – ensuring thousands of direct and indirect jobs, billions of dollars in taxes and royalties and cheaper and more secure gas for Australians on the path to a balanced energy transition.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: 150 years strong at Rochester Fire Brigade

    Source:

    Rochester Captain Luke Warren leading the torchlight ceremony

    Rochester Fire Brigade marked their sesquicentennial of service over the weekend with a torchlight procession, followed by a community barbecue and fireworks to conclude the evening.

    In the brigade’s humble beginnings 150 years ago, there were no water points within the town so volunteers would respond to incidents using wet hessian bags, branches, blankets, water in buckets and sheer determination. 

    Today, the town has a reticulated water supply and the brigade has an engine bay filled with a modern fleet of vehicles, including two tankers, a pumper, a field command vehicle and a rehab unit.  

    Captain Luke Warren, who has served with the brigade for 25 years and is in his tenth year of captaincy, said the support from the community and surrounding brigades who marched and celebrated with us was overwhelming to see and is a true representation of the spirit of CFA.  

    “We are really excited about reaching this milestone and it’s a privilege to lead such a dedicated and resilient bunch of people through it,” Luke said.  

    “From fighting fires with buckets to deploying modern vehicles, the change is massive, but the dedication of our people has stayed the same.”  

    “Milestones like this stir a real sense of pride and emotion, not just for those serving today, but for those who built the foundation we stand on.”   

    The brigade has been at the frontline of many major emergencies, including the Murray Goulburn fire, Criterion Hotel fire, code red day at Strathallan and most recently the 2022 Rochester flood events.  

    “Many of our members faced personal loss during the floods but continued to selflessly serve our community with sandbagging, cleanup and rescue efforts.”   

    Reflecting on the evolution of the brigade, Luke noted the growing diversity of its operational members as a major point of pride. Today the Rochester brigade comprises of 59.4% male and 40.6% female.  

    “We’ve seen a fantastic increase in the number of operational female firefighters over the years,” Luke said. 

    “It’s been very rewarding to work alongside so many capable women on the fireground, including my partner who joined 15 years ago.”  

    Looking to the next 50 years, the brigade has much to look forward to with the announcement of a new fire station, a thriving junior development program and the delivery of a new state of the art pumper in the near future.   

    “We have built strong momentum here at Rochester and we hope to keep it rolling.”   

    “I hope when I’m 75 and need a fire truck, a well-trained and well-equipped crew will roll out the door, just like we always have.”    

    • Torchlight ceremony
    • Belgravia (Early Rochester) fire station
    • Rochester tankers, 1979
    • Murray Goulburn Fire, January 1984
    Submitted by CFA Media

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Proposed Differential Rates for 2025/26

    Source: South Australia Police

    The City of Wanneroo’s Proposed Differential Rates for 2025-2026 are now available for public comment.

    In accordance with Section 6.36 of the Local Government Act 1995, the City of Wanneroo hereby gives notice of its intention to adopt the following rates in the dollar for each differential rating category in the 2025-26 Financial Year which is a 3.50% overall rate increase,

    To achieve overall 3.5% rate increase, it is proposed to increase Residential, Rural and Mining rates categories by 3.0%, whereas Commercial/Industrial rates categories are proposed to increase by 5.5%: –

    Rate category Minimum rate GRV rate in $ (cents) UV rate in $ (cents)
    Residential Improved
    With lesser minimum for Strata Titled Caravan Parks

    $1,138

    $166

    7.0902

    0.3761
    Residential Vacant $949 14.1803 0.5692
    Commercial/ Industrial Improved
         		 $1,588 8.4541 0.3085
    Commercial/ Industrial Vacant
         		 $1,588 8.2585 0.3425
    Rural & Mining Improved $1,131 – 0.3710
    Rural & Mining Vacant $1,069 – 0.4855

    Information relating to the Objectives and Reasons for each proposed Differential Rates is available is available below.

    Submissions in respect of the proposed Differential Rates and any related matters are invited from Electors or Ratepayers. 

    Views can be submitted by:

    • using the online form 
    • or by mail to the Chief Executive Officer at City of Wanneroo, Locked Bag 1, Wanneroo WA 6946.

    Comments must be received before 5pm on Thursday 19 June 2025.

    William Parker

    Chief Executive Officer

    Objects and Reasons for 2025-2026 Proposed Differential Rates

    The overall objective of the proposed rates in the 2025-2026 Budget is to provide for the net funding requirements of the City of Wanneroo’s various programs, services and facilities.

    The Objects and Reasons that have been proposed are:

    GRV & UV Residential Improved 

    The rate in the dollar and minimum rate have been set on the basis that ratepayers make a reasonable contribution to the cost of local government services and facilities available to residents that are not available to those in the Commercial/Industrial and Rural & Mining categories. 

    The lesser minimum for Strata Titled Caravan Parks is set recognising the unique purpose of these properties while still ensuring a reasonable contribution to the cost of local government services and facilities available to residents.

    GRV & UV Residential Vacant

    The rate in the dollar and minimum rate have been set in an effort to promote development of these properties thereby stimulating growth and development in the community. 

    GRV & UV Commercial/Industrial Improved

    The rate in the dollar and minimum rate for all Commercial/Industrial Improved property has been set to provide an acceptable standard of infrastructure and parking needs due to the greater volumes of people and vehicular traffic.

    GRV & UV Commercial/Industrial Vacant

    The rate in the dollar and minimum rate for all Commercial/Industrial Vacant land has been set in an effort to promote the development of these properties by attracting business and industry to the City thereby stimulating growth and development in the community.

    UV Rural & Mining Improved

    The rate in the dollar and the minimum rate have been set with an intention to foster and encourage farming and horticultural activities in the City of Wanneroo thereby stimulating growth and development in the community.  

    UV Rural & Mining Vacant

    The rate in the dollar and the minimum rate have been set with an intention to encourage the development of vacant land thereby stimulating growth and development in the community
     

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australia has elected its youngest senator. With Gen Z wielding more political power, is it a sign of things to come?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa Collin, Professor of Political Sociology, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

    James Dimas/Facebook

    It’s been 30 years since Natasha Stott Despoja became the youngest woman ever elected to the Australian Parliament. A 25-year-old Sarah Hanson-Young beat that record slightly in 2007.

    Just over a decade later, the Australian Electoral Commission has confirmed another record-breaking young woman will be entering parliament: 21-year-old Charlotte Walker, in sixth Senate spot for South Australia.

    Walker’s election is remarkable because she’s young and she’s female. Both these characteristics run against long-standing trends in Australian politics.

    It’s also a reminder of why young people’s representation, both inside and outside parliament, matters for the whole society.

    The result of a ‘youth quake’?

    In the 2025 election, Gen Z and Millennial voters outnumbered older generations.

    While we cannot treat the “youth vote” as a homogeneous bloc, expert analysis of the lower house votes shows young people contributed to the shift away from the Liberals and minor parties in specific seats.

    This groundswell helped create a landslide of support for Labor, despite a primary vote of less than 35%.

    Amid these changes, Walker joins a select few very young people ever elected to federal parliament.

    Wyatt Roy remains the youngest person to take up a federal political post. He was just 20 years old when he entered the lower house in 2010, representing the Queensland seat of Longman for the Liberals.

    In 2017, 23-year-old Jordan Steele-John became the youngest senator in Australia’s history, representing the Greens for Western Australia.

    According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, this track record puts Australia fifth among the top-ranked democracies for parliamentarians under 30 years old in the upper chamber.

    While this suggests Australia does well in having young people represented, only 20.1% of the upper house is under the age of 45. For comparison, the youngest parliament in the world is in Bhutan, with 70.8% of upper house members aged under 45.

    So, while they make up more than 30% of the electorate, Millennial and Gen Z Australians are far from proportionately represented.

    The growing power of women?

    Previous electoral study data indicates young people and women tend to be more progressive and more likely to vote for the Greens and progressive minor parties and candidates.

    This, in combination with preference flows, almost certainly contributed significantly to the Labor result in both houses.

    Another consequence is the 48th parliament will have more female representation than any other, with women making up more than half of the Senate and occupying a record 66 seats in the House of Representatives.

    For the first time in Australia’s history, there will be a female majority in the Cabinet.

    This is despite women still being less likely to join the major political parties or see themselves running for public office.

    But my research over two decades indicates there is a surge of girls and young women leading and participating in non-traditional volunteering, social enterprises and social movements.

    For example, in the leadership of the student climate movement in Australia, we see mostly young women taking charge of political organising and action. They express strong visions for a better, more equitable and viable world.

    To maintain this positive move in young, female representation, political parties and the networks supporting independents would be wise to start engaging seriously with them.

    Youth visibility matters

    Greater youth representation in formal institutions of government is urgently needed. Young people in Australia face unprecedented levels of economic difficulty and systemic inequality.

    The costs of tertiary education is higher than ever. Australia currently collects more in student loan repayments (A$4.9 billion) than it does from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax ($2.3 billion).

    It takes graduates, on average, five to 12 years to pay off current levels of student debt.

    With the high costs of living, many students are living in poverty. Some universities and their leaders are calling for urgent policy change to address these challenges.

    The youth unemployment rate (9%) is twice the national average of 4%.

    For those who can afford to buy a house, the average age of first home purchase is now 36 years – more than a decade older than in the early 2000s. People are taking on bigger loans for longer. They also dedicate a greater proportion of their income to repayments.

    It’s no wonder the mental health of young Australians is worse than ever.

    These pressures can be even more significant for First Nations young people, who receive less recognition and representation in Australian politics and policy-making. This is despite the fact they can show enormous leadership in researching, documenting and proposing policy recommendations for all levels of government.

    Such issues, along with systematic challenges – such as a grossly unequal tax system – mean Walker and her fellow parliamentarians have some big opportunities to drive change in areas that matter to all young people.

    Perhaps the election of Charlotte Walker is a sign of things to come: a parliament and Australian democracy more attuned, more representative and more responsive to the needs of this generation of young people and those to come.

    Philippa Collin receives funding from the Australian Research Council, batyr, Telstra Foundation, Google AU/NZ, Academy Of The Social Sciences In Australia and the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies.

    – ref. Australia has elected its youngest senator. With Gen Z wielding more political power, is it a sign of things to come? – https://theconversation.com/australia-has-elected-its-youngest-senator-with-gen-z-wielding-more-political-power-is-it-a-sign-of-things-to-come-257711

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI China: Djokovic makes winning start to French Open bid, Medvedev ousted

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    British underdog Cameron Norrie delivered the biggest upset of the 2025 French Open so far in a nail-biting five-set win over former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday.

    Ranked 81st in the world, Norrie knocked out 11th seed Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 after three hours and 53 minutes on court.

    “It was a crazy match,” said Norrie. “I was really happy with how I handled the match and how I had to fight literally every point to have a chance with him. It was just pure emotion at the end and pure instinct. It was a good throw.”

    The 29-year-old Briton, who won the 2021 Indian Wells title and reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2022, called it “one of [his] best wins.”

    “For me, outside of [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Jannik] Sinner and Novak [Djokovic], [this] would be probably the fourth-toughest draw for me in terms of matchups and players. Extremely good win, especially my record with [Medvedev] No. 11, in a Slam, beating him in five sets is impressive for me.”

    Novak Djokovic returns a shot during the men’s singles first round match between Mackenzie Mcdonald of the United States and Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros, Paris, France, May 27, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

    While Norrie stole the spotlight, other top seeds advanced with convincing wins. Novak Djokovic, fresh off securing his 100th career title, eased past American Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Third seed Alexander Zverev of Germany also cruised through with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win over American Learner Tien.

    Not all seeded players progressed. Bulgaria’s 16th seed Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire from his match against American qualifier Ethan Quinn. Dimitrov had taken a two-set lead (6-2, 6-3) before losing the third 2-6 and withdrawing due to injury.

    In the women’s draw, second seed Coco Gauff breezed past Australia’s Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-2. The American will next face 18-year-old Czech qualifier Tereza Valentova.

    Russia’s sixth-seeded Mirra Andreeva also advanced with a composed 6-4, 6-3 win over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.

    In women’s doubles, China’s Yuan Yue and New Zealand’s Lulu Sun earned a hard-fought first-round victory, defeating Anna Blinkova and Mayar Sherif 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 after more than two hours. 

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Raining one week, dusty the next – how did a dust storm make it all the way to rainy Sydney?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tegan Clark, PhD Candidate, College of Systems and Society, Australian National University

    A false-colour satellite showing dust as a pink cloud Himawari-9 satellite, CC BY-SA

    Much to the surprise of Sydney-siders, a dusty haze settled over the city on Tuesday morning after a week of heavy rain.

    Satellite images reveal the dust storm formed in the Mid-North region of South Australia, east of Spencer Gulf, at around 11am on Monday. It then travelled through western Victoria into New South Wales, reaching Sydney approximately 18 hours later.

    It’s an odd time of year for a dust storm, but South Australia is in drought. The soil is very dry, bare and loose. So when a cold front with strong winds moved through SA earlier this week, it picked up lots of dust.

    This demonstrates how everything is interconnected in Australia, despite the nation’s huge size. Extreme weather events such as drought in one part of the country can cause trouble for people “downwind”, hundreds of kilometres away. Climate change is likely to further raise the risk of dust storms in the future.

    Sydney’s air quality tumbled after the dust cloud settled on the city | 7NEWS.

    The dust bowl era

    In the 1930s, prolonged drought in the United States coupled with poor land management practices caused devastating dust storms. This eroded valuable agricultural soils and forced many families off the land. All this took place across the Central Plains, which became known as the American Dust Bowl – later immortalised in Steinbeck’s book The Grapes of Wrath.

    Australia experienced its own smaller dust bowl about a century after British settlers arrived. Overgrazing in the late 1800s removed native vegetation from large parts of western New South Wales. Dust storm activity picked up dramatically from the late 1800s onwards and hit a maximum in 1944-45 during the World War II drought.

    Fortunately, the dust storms and drought experienced during the 1940s soon prompted a change in both policy and attitude. The focus of land management shifted from “taming the land” to more sustainable use, such as moving livestock around from time to time – allowing paddocks to rest and recover. The government also provided more financial support to manage drought.

    Growing awareness and the desire to protect environmental assets also led to development of the NSW Soil Conservation Service.

    Australia has continued to experience heightened dust activity and major dust storms after 1945. In 2009, Sydney awoke to what looked like apocalyptic scenes straight out of the movie Mad Max when a dust storm engulfed the city.

    The last big dusty period was the Black Summer of 2019-20. Parts of NSW such as Wagga Wagga and Sydney were shrouded in smoke and dust for days. But there were significantly fewer “dust storm days” compared to 1944-45. This is partly due to improved land management practices that value sustainability, including the revegetation of denuded land.

    The movie Mad Max featured apocalyptic dust storm scenes.

    More dust storms as the climate changes

    Around the world, climate change is expected to make dust storms more common globally.

    Recent research suggests southern Australia may experience longer and more frequent droughts in the future. Grazing and cropping will put extra pressure on the land.

    In addition, the cold fronts that typically trigger large dust storms are expected to intensify with climate change. This means a growing chance of major dust storms such as the one this week.

    Dust is a health hazard

    Dust consists of tiny particles, some smaller than the width of a single strand of hair. These particles may include sand, topsoil, pollen, microbes, iron and other minerals, lifted into the air.

    When these tiny particles enter the lungs, they can cause breathing difficulties and respiratory diseases such as asthma. Dust storms are also known to transport diseases such as Valley Fever.

    The 2009 dust storm in Sydney led to an increase in emergency hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses, especially asthma.

    During the latest dust storm, health authorities warned people with respiratory issues to stay indoors and monitor symptoms.

    Developing early warning systems

    The 2019-20 dusty period and the current SA drought shows Australia can still fall victim to these major dust storms. But there are things we can do to be better prepared and more resilient.

    The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification suggests better ways to reduce harm from dust. These include improving land management practices, implementing early warning systems and improving monitoring of dust events.

    On the ground, NSW is well equipped to monitor dust through the DustWatch network. The air quality monitoring network acts as an early warning system, particularly for people in Sydney living downwind of sources interstate. But usually no more than 12-24 hours notice is provided. This means the authorities might might start to prepare to issue a warning when they detect poor air quality in Western NSW.

    However, these systems pale in comparison to the predictive capacity available in South Korea and Japan. There, alerts of dust storms and poor air quality can be issued days in advance.

    Using our eyes in the sky

    My PhD research project involves using satellites to deepen our understanding of where dust storms are coming from and where they might travel to.

    For instance the Himawari-8/9 satellite scans Australia every ten minutes, allowing us to track the evolution of dust events from start to finish.

    We can pinpoint almost the exact moment a dust storm begins. These areas can then be targeted using satellites to understand the conditions of the land causing dust storms to form and monitor high-risk areas for erosion in the future.

    Putting technology to good use will get us part of the way to a more resilient Australia. There is also a clear need to adapt to the changing climate in our nation’s grazing and cropping systems.

    Tegan Clark receives support from the Australian Government Research Training Program to undertake her PhD. She also works for Connected Farms, an ag-tech company. She is a volunteer with IncludeHer, a non-for-profit focused on gender equity in STEM education.

    – ref. Raining one week, dusty the next – how did a dust storm make it all the way to rainy Sydney? – https://theconversation.com/raining-one-week-dusty-the-next-how-did-a-dust-storm-make-it-all-the-way-to-rainy-sydney-251600

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Interview – ABC Adelaide

    Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

    JULES SCHILLER: Well as you know, the Albanese government was overwhelmingly re-elected and Jason Clare has resumed his ministry. He is the Federal Education Minister. He joins us now. Jason Clare, welcome.

    JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: G’day, guys. Good to be here.

    SCHILLER: Congratulations on your re-election and becoming Federal Education Minister again. Of course, one of the big ticket promises of your Government was to reduce the debts of HECS students by 20 per cent. When will they see that extra money in their pockets?

    CLARE: This year there’s two things that we’ve got to do: one, we’ve got to pass a law through the Parliament to make this happen. And then the second thing is the Tax Office have to lop this off everyone’s debt. You’re right – one of the biggest promises we made in the campaign was to cut everyone’s student debt by 20 per cent, and that’s 3 million Aussies that might have a debt from uni or TAFE or somewhere else. And it will be the first bill that we introduce into the Parliament when Parliament sits for the first time in the last week of July.

    What that legislation will do is cut everyone’s debt by 20 per cent and backdate that cut to this coming Saturday. And that’s important because every 1st of June in every year HECS debts or student debts get indexed. That 20 per cent cut will come into effect before that indexation effectively happens this Saturday, to make sure that we honour the promise we made, and we cut everyone’s debt by 20 per cent. Legislation, once that’s passed, getting the Tax Office to cut everyone’s debt by 20 per cent.

    RORY McLAREN: What is the cost to the budget of this decision, Minister?

    CLARE: The cost to the budget over the forward estimates, or the next four years, is about $700 million dollars. The cost over the longer term is around about $16 billion. We’re reducing the debt that’s owed by Australians to the Commonwealth over the next few decades by about $16 billion dollars. Now, what it means –

    McLAREN: That’s not small. That’s not a small change to the federal budget at all.

    CLARE: No, it’s not small. It’s not small. But when you think about the 3 million Australians – many of them in their 20s and 30s, they’ve just finished uni, they’re just moving out of home, they’ve got their first job, they want to buy a home, and they’ve got this big HECS debt that they’ve got to pay off. I think everyone listening will know somebody in this situation and perhaps will know that HECS debts are bigger today than they were when I went to uni, when many of us went to university – that by cutting this debt by 20 per cent, it’s going to help a lot of people get a good start in life, make it easier to get out there and buy their first home. The average debt today is about $27,000 and so what this will mean for someone in that situation is that their debt will be cut by about $5,500.

    SONYA FELDHOFF: And while I’m sure they will be thrilled about that, they will then get it indexed again. And a lot of people question how fair the indexation side of things is. Is there any option to look at that?

    CLARE: We’ve done that. One of the things that we did last year, because of rampant inflation, when inflation was raging around the world. It hit Australia and it hit HECS debts here in Australia. We saw HECS debts go up by 7 per cent in 2023. That wasn’t fair. Everybody with a HECS debt told us that, and so we passed legislation last year that said that HECS debts or student debts can’t go up by either the lowest of either inflation or wages.

    So that change happened last year, and it meant that in December last year, everyone with a HECS debt would have seen their debts drop. We cut HECS debts by about $3 billion dollars last year because of that. So that’s an important change. Indexation is important because it means that when the Australian taxpayer lends you a dollar, you get that dollar back in real terms. But we’ve changed the formula to make it fairer.

    SCHILLER: Jason Clare, can I ask you about the Job-ready Graduates Scheme? Now this was introduced by Dan Tehan, your predecessor, under the Morrison Government. It increased the contributions, HECS debts of arts students, society and culture degrees by around about 113 per cent. Considering a lot of these students are women who overwhelmingly voted for you in the federal election, it is seen as punitive because, you know, they’re earnings aren’t necessarily as much as STEM graduates. Will you reverse this decision?

    CLARE: It’s one of the things that we’re looking at right now. You’re right – it was introduced by the former Liberal Government and didn’t work. If the intention was to reduce the number of people doing arts degrees, then that hasn’t happened. There’re more people studying arts degrees today than when they implemented this reform. And that’s because people pick the courses that they love, that they’re passionate about, that they want to do, not based on the price tag attached to it.

    Fixing it is complex. What we have announced is that we’ll establish something called the Australian Tertiary Education Commission to help to drive long-term reform of our universities and our tertiary education system. It starts work on the 1st of July, so in just over a month’s time. And one of the tasks that we’ve asked them to look at is exactly this – to look at that Job-ready Graduates program and what change can happen.

    Can I mention just quickly two other things, because there’s been a lot of attention on the cut to HECS by 20 per cent, and that’s what that bill that I introduce will do. But the bill will do two other things as well: it will change the amount of money that you have to earn before you start paying your debt back. At the moment you have to start paying it back once you earn $54,000 a year. That will be increased to $67,000 a year. And it will also reduce your annual repayments. For somebody on an income of $70,000 a year it will reduce the amount that you have to repay back to the Government every year by about $1,300 a year. It means more money in your pocket. And they were recommendations by Bruce Chapman, the architect of HECS who designed it with John Dawkins back in the 80s.

    FELDHOFF: Just before we move on from the HECS debt, Federal Education Minister, I’ve got a question on the text line. I think you mentioned June 1st was the date that that would be backdated to?

    CLARE: Yep.

    FELDHOFF: So, I don’t think that applies to this person. What about those that just finished paying their HECS debt back? Do they get a refund? I guess hypothetically, what happens if you choose to pay the HECS debt, you know sometime after June 1st? Will they get the refund?

    CLARE: People that have got a HECS debt today and they have a HECS debt next week, they’ll see the benefit of this. Obviously if your HECS debt has already been paid off today then a 20 per cent cut to zero is still zero.

    FELDHOFF: But if you paid that off on June 2nd, for instance, you might get a refund?

    CLARE: I’ll have to have a look at that. But what we want to do is make sure that everybody that’s got a HECS debt, a student debt now, and there’s 3 million of them right across the country, get the benefit of this cut by 20 per cent.

    McLAREN: Minister, ahead of the federal election you managed to get a new funding agreement in place with states and territories for schools. It comes at a time when the latest NAPLAN results show one in three Australian school students is performing below literacy and numeracy benchmarks. How quickly can you turn that performance around in this term of government?

    CLARE: This agreement that we’ve struck not just with the South Australian Government but every Government across the country is crucial. It makes good on what Whitlam was talking about in the 50s about needs-based funding for schools and what Gonski built as a formula but has never been implemented before. It’s about funding our schools properly but also tying that funding to practical and real reforms that are going to address the sort of things you’re talking about.

    What NAPLAN really tells us is this – and it’s a test for students at school in year 3, year 5, year 7 and year 9 – and it tells us that about one in 10 children are below what we used to call the minimum standard, but it’s one in three children from poor families, from our outer suburbs, from our regions, Indigenous kids, who are below that minimum standard. And even more concerningly, what really concerns me, because there’s always going to be children who fall behind, what NAPLAN tells us is that 80 per cent of the children who are below the minimum standard in year 3 are still below the minimum standard when they’re 15 in year 9 – in other words, they’re not catching up.

    What this funding is tied to are things like phonics checks, literacy checks in year 1 that South Australia did first, and the rest of the nation has followed. But also, numeracy checks in year 1 to identify the maths skills of students when they first start school, and South Australia is going to roll that out next year along with Victoria and New South Wales. And then when you identify the children through those checks that are behind, investing in things like catch-up tutoring where, if a child needs more individualised support, they get it by being taken out of a classroom of 25 or 30 –

    McLAREN: But this is all going to take time, Minister, with respect. So how quickly are you hoping to see improvements in the results, as a result of the agreements you reached, including with Queensland back in March?

    CLARE: There’s two things I want to see improvements in. I want to see improvements in results through things like that catch-up tutoring. I want to stress this point, because it’s an example of the sort of practical reforms that I think are necessary. We know that if a child gets taken out of a big class into individualised support with one or two other children 40 minutes a day, four days a week, they can learn as much in six months as they’d normally learn in 12 months. In other words, they catch up, and the sooner a child who needs extra support gets it, the better chance they have of catching up occurs.

    But the other thing that we need to do is increase had number of kids finishing high school. 10 years ago, 83 per cent of young people at public high schools finished high school. Today it’s 73 per cent. It’s gone in the absolute wrong direction in public schools. We’ve got to turn that around. It’s more important to finish school today than it was when we were kids and then go on to TAFE or go on to uni, get the sort of skills for the jobs that are being created now and will be created in the future.

    If we get this right, if the funding is invested in the right things that help kids catch up, they’re more likely to finish school, particularly kids from poor backgrounds and from the outer suburbs. And so, this is all connected. It doesn’t mean that you can click your fingers, pass a bill and it all gets fixed straight away; that’s not the way this works. But you’ve got to invest now in the right things to see an impact in the years ahead.

    SCHILLER: You’re listening to Jason Clare, Federal Education Minister. It is 891 ABC Radio Adelaide’s Sonya, Jules and Rory for Breakfast at 13 minutes to 9. Jason Clare, can I ask you about civics in schools? I think we spoke to some people who literally voted – their basis of voting was who gave them a how-to-vote card first.

    FELDHOFF: Yeah.

    SCHILLER: Now, that’s not all –

    FELDHOFF: And we don’t learn civics in school to a great extent.

    SCHILLER: Yeah. That’s not all people, but the understanding of how local government, state government and federal government works you would have to say is not great at the moment. Do you think this is a discipline that needs to be more prominent in our education?

    CLARE: We do learn it at schools. One of the things that worries me is I often find that kids in primary school have got a better grasp on this than kids in high school. It’s a big part of the curriculum in year 5 and year 6, and when I visit primary schools and I ask children about the way the Parliament works, you get the right answers. If I go and see students in year 9 or year 10, they’ve sometimes forgotten it. It’s not just what you learn in the classroom, it’s the opportunity to visit Parliament House, whether it’s in Adelaide or whether it’s in Canberra as well. We’ve cut the cost of those visits to make it easier for people not just from Canberra to visit Parliament House but from South Australia as well. I think last year about 3,500 students visited Canberra, get to visit the War Memorial as well. People don’t just learn in the classroom. If you can see it with your own eyes, I think it has an impact. But all of the evidence we’re getting is that young people don’t understand the way that our system of Government works as well as you’d like them to. And it’s the sort of thing we need to look at.

    FELDHOFF: Yeah. So that will be a priority. Any others that you have over the next three years, given that it’s the first time we’ve spoken to you since you’re re-in the role?

    CLARE: A couple of things. Obviously top priority is doing what we promised, delivering on the things that we committed to. So that’s the legislation we’ve talked about this morning – cutting student debt by 20 per cent. In schools, it’s the rollout of this big agreement, the billion dollars in South Australia but $16.5 billion across the country and the reforms that are tied to it.

    I’m also responsible for early education as well. And so that includes the rollout of the 15 per cent pay rise for our early educators and building more early education centres in places where they don’t exist. We know that most of the brain develops before you even get to school and children who miss out start behind. And so those investments there are just as important.

    FELDHOFF: Thank you for your time today. The Federal Education Minister Jason Clare.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Serious crash at Gawler Belt

    Source: New South Wales – News

    Emergency services are at the scene of a serious crash at Gawler Belt.

    Just before 2.30pm on Wednesday 28 May, police were called to the intersection of Horrocks Highway and Thiele Highway at Gawler Belt after reports a car and a motorbike collided.

    There will be road closures in place, motorists are asked to please avoid the area.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Are you preparing for your NFP’s AGM?

    Source: New places to play in Gungahlin

    Your NFP’s annual general meeting (AGM) is an important opportunity each year for you to give members a report on your NFP’s activities and finances for the previous year, invite questions from your members and elect new committee members.

    Preparing for your AGM is also a great time to make sure that all your organisation’s tax, super and obligations are up to date. Doing so will help your NFP run smoothly and reduce the chances of your organisation being subject to compliance activity or penalties.

    Our NFP tax, super and registry responsibilities checklist is designed to record your important information in one place to help your NFP stay on track. The lead up to your AGM is an ideal time to run through this checklist and identify any action you need to take to keep on top of your obligations.

    All NFPs need to have clauses in their governing documents that prohibit the distribution of income or assets for the benefit of specific people – both while it operates and when it winds up. This is especially important if your NFP has an ABN and is self-assessing as income tax exempt. If you need to update your NFP’s governing documents, consider using your upcoming AGM to get your governing documents in order. Learn more at NFP governing documents.

    And as part of welcoming any new committee members & bidding farewell to those who are stepping down, make sure you update your details with the ATO. You must update your ABN detailsExternal Link within 28 days of any changes, and you should review your authorisations in Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM)External Link to confirm who has the authority to act on behalf of your NFP. You can use this use this handover checklist to help your new administrator or office bearer manage its tax affairs.

    Keep up to date

    Read more articles in the Not-for-profit newsroom and, if you haven’t already, subscribeExternal Link to our free monthly newsletter Not-for-profit news to be alerted when we publish new articles.

    For updates throughout the month, Assistant Commissioner Jennifer Moltisanti regularly shares blog posts and updates on her LinkedInExternal Link profile. And you can check out our online platform ATO CommunityExternal Link to find answers to your tax and super questions.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Paracetamol to poisoning: When medicines harm instead of heal

    Source:

    28 May 2025

    Medicine-related problems cause about 93 children to present at hospital each day

    Every day, nearly 100 children present to Australian emergency departments with suspected medicine poisoning. It’s a startling statistic, but a reality that could be avoided, according to new research from the University of South Australia. 

    Now, the latest Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) Medicine Safety report – produced by UniSA – shows that many medicine-related problems among children and teenagers are not only foreseeable but, in most cases, preventable.

    The report reveals that most medicine harms are caused by unsafe off-label use, unexpected drug interactions, accidental poisoning, or overdoses from common household medicines like paracetamol.

    Specifically, it shows that:

    • Medicine-related problems cause about 93 children to present at hospital each day – half of these are preventable; additionally, about 40 of these children and teens are admitted, and half of these are also preventable.
    • About 120,000 children (aged under 14) experience a bad reaction to medicines over a six-month period – nearly a third of these are children aged four and under.
    • Accidental poisonings are common – every day, seven children attend the emergency department for medicine-related poisonings; three children are admitted.
    • Paracetamol and antidepressants are mostly responsible for poisoning admissions – Younger boys account for most poisonings in children under 10, while girls account for most poisonings among teens. In 2022-23, 7,332 children (aged 0-19) were admitted to hospital for medicine poisoning.
    • The cost of medicine-related harm in children is at least $130 million every year – related Emergency Department attendances accounting for $30 million, and an additional direct cost of medicine poisonings to the health system is estimated at $40 million per year.

    The National Health Survey shows that most children and teens have between one and four different medicines dispensed over the past six months; 50% have had at least one PBS medicine dispensed in the past six months; about 184,000 have had between five and nine medicines dispensed; and an estimated 11,500 have had 10 or more.

    Lead researcher, UniSA’s Dr Imaina Widagdo, says children and teenagers are particularly vulnerable to medicine-related harm.

    “Medicine use among children and teenagers is common. Yet given that nearly 100 children present at hospitals each day for adverse reactions, it’s clear that more needs to be done to protect their health,” Dr Widagdo says.

    “Medicines are meant to help – and usually they do. But there are important things that parents and carers need to know. Firstly, unlike adults, children have developing bodies, which means they can respond to medicines differently than adults. Secondly, because medicines are rarely trialled with children, the doses, safety and efficacy of certain medicines may not be fully known or always accurate.

    “What this tells us is that we need to take much more care when prescribing and monitoring medicines for children and young people.”

    It’s a timely reminder to take extra care with children’s medicines, particularly following the recent Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) safety warnings on Risperidone dosing earlier this month, where accidental administering of more than the prescribed dose led to multiple children being hospitalised.

    “As we see greater incidences of chronic health conditions among children and teens, it’s important for parents and carers to prioritise the safe storage and careful administration of medicines at homes, schools, and childcare,” Dr Widagdo says.

    “Often, there are no child-specific preparations available, so extra care is needed when storing and dosing medicines.

    “Finally, we encourage parents and carers to report any suspected adverse medicine reactions to the TGA’s adverse drug reaction reporting system, which can help build more accurate medicine safety profiles.”

    Better education, safer prescribing, and more informed use at home could significantly reduce these risks.

    “We all have a responsibility to protect children and teenagers from the incorrect use or accidental consumption of medicines. Because when it comes to children’s safety, prevention is always better than cure.”

    If an overdose occurs, a medication error is made, or poisoning is suspected, immediately call 000 for an ambulance if there’s a medical emergency or call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 for advice. 

    The full research team includes Dr Imaina Widagdo, Dr Renly Lim and Professor Libby Roughead.

    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

    Contact for interview:  Dr Imaina Widagdo E: Imaina.Widagdo@unisa.edu.au
    Media contact: Annabel Mansfield M: +61 479 182 489  E: Annabel.Mansfield@unisa.edu.au

    Other articles you may be interested in

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: North West Shelf approval brings Woodside’s toxic gas plans a step closer to Scott Reef

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    SYDNEY/PERTH, Wednesday 28 May 2025 — Greenpeace Australia Pacific has denounced the proposed approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas extension to run until 2070, a decision it says brings Woodside’s drills a step closer to Scott Reef.

    The decision was provisionally granted by Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt today. Greenpeace footage captured from the Rainbow Warrior shows how close Woodside’s planned drill sites are to Scott Reef, with up to 50 gas wells planned that would supply its North West Shelf facility.  

    David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “This is a terrible decision that brings Woodside’s destructive gas drills one step closer to Scott Reef, a magnificent marine ecosystem that is home to threatened species like pygmy blue whales and green sea turtles.

    “The North West Shelf facility is one of Australia’s dirtiest and most polluting fossil fuel projects. This approval brings Woodside’s toxic gas plans closer to Scott Reef, holds back the clean energy transition underway in WA, and fuels growing climate damage in Australia and around the world.

    “In the 1970s, Gough Whitlam led the initial charge to protect the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling. It’s unthinkable today that we would allow a multinational company to drill for fossil fuels on the Great Barrier Reef, yet that is what Woodside plans to do at Scott Reef. The Albanese government has an opportunity to define its ocean legacy by protecting Scott Reef from Woodside’s destruction.

    “Despite what the gas lobby says, the reality is we don’t need more polluting gas. We’re over 40% towards powering Australia with clean renewable energy and setting our industry and communities up for clean jobs and economic growth — not pretending that the old polluting ways can just continue.

    “A healthy, thriving environment is good for us all: business, nature and WA communities. The Albanese government’s next decision on whether or not to approve Woodside’s Browse proposal will show Australians the true colours of the government — we urge Minister Watt to stand up for nature and oceans and reject Woodside plans to drill at Scott Reef.”

    -ENDS-

    For more information or interviews contact Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or [email protected]

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • Foreign Secretary Misri in US to strengthen strategic tech and trade ties

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met with US Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler in Washington on Tuesday to discuss convening the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue at an early date and to explore deeper cooperation in critical and emerging technologies.

    The meeting is seen as a step forward in bolstering high-level collaboration between India and the United States in strategically vital sectors. Discussions focused on reinforcing existing institutional frameworks and accelerating joint initiatives in technology and trade.

    The Indian Embassy in Washington posted on X, stating, “Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler to advance India-US cooperation in critical & emerging technologies. They also discussed early convening of the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue to deepen tech & trade collaboration.”

    Misri is currently on a three-day visit to the US, during which he will engage with senior members of the Trump administration. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the visit follows up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official trip to the US in February 2025.

    That visit marked the launch of the ‘India-US COMPACT’—Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology—a strategic framework introduced by PM Modi and US President Donald Trump to expand collaboration in defense, trade, and technology.

    It was Modi’s first trip to the US since Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025. He was among the first world leaders invited by the new administration, visiting within three weeks of the swearing-in.

    The visit also comes amid President Trump’s recent remarks claiming credit for mediating a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan earlier this month. However, Indian officials have strongly refuted the claim.

    New Delhi maintains that the ceasefire came about due to Pakistan’s appeals following intense Indian military operations during Operation Sindoor, which targeted Pakistani air bases. Officials have underscored that the pressure from India’s offensive left Islamabad with little choice but to seek de-escalation.

    External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar clarified last week that while the US had reached out to India between May 7 and 10, it was not acting alone, and multiple countries had engaged with New Delhi during the period.

    -IANS

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Upcoming personal transfer balance cap changes

    Source: New places to play in Gungahlin

    The general transfer balance cap (TBC) will be indexed on 1 July 2025, increasing from $1.9 million to $2 million. This increase will impact members with a personal TBC. Members who have commenced a pension prior to 1 July 2025 and haven’t previously reached or exceeded their personal cap will be eligible for a proportional increase, based on their highest ever transfer balance and the amount of unused cap space.

    Members starting a pension for the first time on or after 1 July 2025 will be entitled to a personal TBC of $2 million.

    Display of updated transfer balance caps

    Although indexation of the general TBC takes effect on 1 July 2025, updated personal transfer balance caps are not expected to display until 11 July 2025.

    From 11 July:

    Members’ personal TBC will be calculated based on the information reported to and processed by us.

    To ensure members have a clear understanding of their cap entitlements, we encourage funds and advisers to report all TBC events as they occur and, where possible, before 1 July 2025.

    Reporting between 1 and 11 July 2025

    You can continue to report TBC events to us between 1 and 11 July 2025, and we will process these reports as usual. However, during this period, updates will not be reflected in a member’s transfer balance.

    As a result, between 1 and 11 July we will not issue or revoke:

    • excess transfer balance determinations we have sent to a member
    • commutation authorities we have sent to a fund.

    Please continue to respond as normal to commutation authorities during this period.

    For more information see transfer balance cap.

    Looking for the latest news for Super funds? You can stay up to date by visiting our Super funds newsroom and subscribingExternal Link to our monthly Super funds newsletter and CRT alerts.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI: TransAlta Renews Normal Course Issuer Bid

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    CALGARY, Alberta, May 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TransAlta Corporation (“TransAlta” or the “Company”) (TSX: TA) (NYSE: TAC) announced today that the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) has accepted the notice filed by the Company to implement a normal course issuer bid (“NCIB”) for a portion of its common shares (“Common Shares”).

    Pursuant to the NCIB, TransAlta may repurchase up to a maximum of 14,000,000 Common Shares, representing approximately 4.7% of the 296,449,829 Common Shares issued and outstanding as at May 20, 2025. Purchases under the NCIB may be made through open market transactions on the TSX and any alternative Canadian trading systems on which the Common Shares are traded, based on the prevailing market price. Any Common Shares purchased under the NCIB will be cancelled.

    Transactions under the NCIB will depend on future market conditions. TransAlta will initially retain discretion whether to make purchases under the NCIB, and to determine the timing, amount and acceptable price of any such purchases, subject at all times to applicable TSX and other regulatory requirements. The period during which TransAlta is authorized to make purchases under the NCIB commences on May 31, 2025, and ends on May 30, 2026, or such earlier date on which the maximum number of Common Shares are purchased under the NCIB or the NCIB is terminated at the Company’s election.

    Under TSX rules, not more than 481,658 Common Shares (being 25% of the average daily trading volume on the TSX of 1,926,633 Common Shares for the six months ended April 30, 2025) can be purchased on the TSX on any single trading day under the NCIB, with the exception that one block purchase in excess of the daily maximum is permitted per calendar week.

    TransAlta has repurchased and cancelled 7,963,000 Common Shares on the open market through the facilities of the TSX and/or alternative Canadian trading systems at an average price of $12.00 per share under its prior NCIB approved by the TSX on May 27, 2024, for the twelve-month period commencing May 31, 2024.

    The NCIB provides the Company with a capital allocation alternative with a view to providing long-term shareholder value. TransAlta’s Board of Directors and Management believe that, from time to time, the market price of the Common Shares does not reflect their underlying value and purchases of Common Shares for cancellation under the NCIB may provide an opportunity to enhance shareholder value.

    About TransAlta Corporation:
    TransAlta owns, operates and develops a diverse fleet of electrical power generation assets in Canada, the United States and Australia with a focus on long-term shareholder value. TransAlta provides municipalities, medium and large industries, businesses and utility customers with clean, affordable, energy efficient and reliable power. Today, TransAlta is one of Canada’s largest producers of wind power and Alberta’s largest producer of hydro-electric power. For over 114 years, TransAlta has been a responsible operator and a proud member of the communities where we operate and where our employees work and live. TransAlta aligns its corporate goals with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Future-Fit Business Benchmark, which also defines sustainable goals for businesses. Our reporting on climate change management has been guided by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S2 Climate-related Disclosures Standard and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations. TransAlta has achieved a 70 per cent reduction in GHG emissions or 22.7 million tonnes CO2e since 2015 and received an upgraded MSCI ESG rating of AA.

    For more information about TransAlta, visit its website at transalta.com.

    Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-looking Information:
    This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words “may”, “will”, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. More particularly, and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to TransAlta’s intentions with respect to the NCIB, the effects of repurchases of Common Shares and purchases thereunder, including any enhancement to shareholder value. These statements are based on TransAlta’s belief and assumptions based on information available at the time the assumptions were made. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause such differences include: the entering into of an automatic securities purchase plan; legislative or regulatory developments; any significant changes to Common Share price or trading volume; continued availability of capital and financing; changes to general economic, market or business conditions; business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by TransAlta; and other risk factors contained in the Company’s annual information form and management’s discussion and analysis. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, which reflect TransAlta’s expectations only as of the date of this news release. TransAlta disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. 

    Note: All financial figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

    For more information:

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: FARMERS AND MERCHANTS BANCSHARES, INC. PROVIDES UPDATE ON ITS DIVIDEND REINVESTMENT PLAN AND SEMI-ANNUAL DIVIDEND

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HAMPSTEAD, Md. , May 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc. (the “Company”), the parent of Farmers and Merchants Bank (the “Bank”), filed a Registration Statement on Form S-1 (the “Registration Statement”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission the “SEC”) for the purpose of registering shares of the Company’s common stock for issuance under a new 2025 Dividend Reinvestment Plan (the “2025 DRIP”). The 2025 DRIP will replace the dividend reinvestment plan that the Company implemented in May 2017 under which no further shares remain available for issuance. The Registration Statement is not complete and is subject to review by, and must be declared effective by, the SEC before the Company can offer or sell any shares under the 2025 DRIP.

    Because the Company cannot predict when or if the SEC will complete its review of the Registration Statement and declare it effective, and to allow stockholders sufficient time after the Registration Statement is declared effective to enroll in the 2025 DRIP, the Company’s Board of Directors has determined to delay the declaration of the semi-annual cash dividend. Although the Company can make no assurances, it anticipates that such dividend will be declared in June 2025. This one-time deviation to accommodate the 2025 DRIP does not represent an intention by the Company’s Board of Directors to alter its historical practice of declaring semi-annual cash dividends going forward.

    The information set forth in this press release is not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, or a solicitation of consents with respect to any securities. Offers and sales under the 2025 DRIP may be made only pursuant to a final prospectus that will be included in the Registration Statement and distributed to stockholders if and when the Registration Statement is declared effective.

    Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements in this report may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” and “will” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about, among other things, the industry and the markets in which the Company operates, are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks related to the SEC’s review of the Registration Statement in the anticipated timeframe or at all. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the actual results anticipated will be realized, or if substantially realized, will have the expected consequences on our business or operations. These and other risks are discussed in detail in the registration statements and periodic reports that the Company files with the SEC (see Item 1A of Part I of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for the year ended December 31, 2024. Except as required by applicable laws, the Company does not intend to publish updates or revisions of any forward-looking statements that the Company makes to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

    About Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc.

    The Company is a financial holding company and the parent company of the Bank. The Bank was chartered in Maryland in 1919 and has over 100 years of service to the community. The Bank serves the deposit and financing needs of both consumers and businesses in Carroll and Baltimore Counties along the Route 30, Route 795, Route 140, Route 26, and Route 45 corridors. The main office is located in Upperco, Maryland, with seven additional branches in Owings Mills, Hampstead, Greenmount, Reisterstown, Westminster, Eldersburg, and Towson. Certain broker-dealers make a market in the common stock of Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc., and trades are reported through the OTC Markets Group’s Pink Market under the symbol “FMFG”.

    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

    Mr. Gary A. Harris
    President & CEO
    (410) 374-1510, Ext. 1104

    Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc.
    4510 Lower Beckleysville Rd, Suite H
    Hampstead, Maryland 21074

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: QCI’s CTO Andrew Cardno to Speak at C2G Conference on the Power of Analytic Theories in Bingo and Slots

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN DIEGO, May 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Quick Custom Intelligence (QCI) is proud to announce that Andrew Cardno, Chief Technology Officer of QCI, will be a featured speaker at the upcoming Class 2 Gathering (C2G) Conference, taking place June 2–4, 2025, at Prairie Band Casino in Mayetta, Kansas.

    Mr. Cardno will participate in General Session II: “Utilizing Analytic Theories”, scheduled for Tuesday, June 3 from 11:30 AM to 12:20 PM. This session will explore the integration of analytic theories and artificial intelligence to enhance player engagement and drive data-driven decision-making in bingo and slot operations. Joining Mr. Cardno on stage will be Erik Isner, with the session moderated by Eric Casey.

    Attendees will gain insight into how descriptive and diagnostic analytics uncover player behavior, while predictive models help forecast churn and high-value player actions. The session will also address solution-focused analytics for retention and monetization, and how probability models and game theory are redefining success in the highly competitive brick-and-mortar gaming landscape.

    “Integrating advanced analytic theories with AI is transforming our industry,” said Andrew Cardno, CTO of QCI. “From optimizing bingo outcomes through pattern recognition to leveraging reinforcement learning in slots, we are ushering in a new era of data-led decision making that drives both player satisfaction and operational efficiency.”

    Sarah House, C2G Committee Co-Chair, added, “We’re thrilled to have Andrew Cardno bring his extensive expertise to the C2G Conference. His insights into the application of advanced analytics and AI in gaming align perfectly with our mission to drive meaningful conversations around innovation and modernization in tribal gaming.”

    The C2G Conference is a key gathering for tribal gaming operators and technology leaders, offering a platform for exploring cutting-edge innovations and strategies to improve performance across gaming properties.

    ABOUT CLASS 2 GATHERING
    Class 2 Gathering brings together casino and gaming professionals, vendors, and experts in the field of class II casino gaming from the traditional bingo hall experience to the slot floor. The conference will combine education paths, showcase current innovations, plus engaging events for participants.

    The education paths have a wide range of topics encompassing class II gaming including data analytics, cybersecurity, guest service, mobile on premise, and the hub and spoke model. Attendees will have the opportunity to visit the exhibitor expo, user workshops, and network during evening events. Registration and agenda information can be found at www.class2gathering.com.

    ABOUT QCI
    Quick Custom Intelligence (QCI) has pioneered the revolutionary QCI Enterprise Platform, an artificial intelligence platform that seamlessly integrates player development, marketing, and gaming operations with powerful, real-time tools designed specifically for the gaming and hospitality industries. Our advanced, highly configurable software is deployed in over 250 casino resorts across North America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. The QCI AGI Platform, which manages more than $35 billion in annual gross gaming revenue, stands as a best-in-class solution, whether on-premises, hybrid, or cloud-based, enabling fully coordinated activities across all aspects of gaming or hospitality operations. QCI’s data-driven, AI-powered software propels swift, informed decision-making vital in the ever-changing casino industry, assisting casinos in optimizing resources and profits, crafting effective marketing campaigns, and enhancing customer loyalty. QCI was co-founded by Dr. Ralph Thomas and Mr. Andrew Cardno and is based in San Diego, with additional offices in Las Vegas, St. Louis, Denver, and Phoenix. Main phone number: (858) 299.5715. Visit us at www.quickcustomintelligence.com.

    ABOUT Andrew Cardno
    Andrew Cardno is a distinguished figure in the realm of artificial intelligence and data plumbing. With over two decades spearheading private Ph.D. and master’s level research teams, his expertise has made significant waves in data tooling. Andrew’s innate ability to innovate has led him to devise numerous pioneering visualization methods. Of these, the most notable is the deep zoom image format, a groundbreaking innovation that has since become a cornerstone in the majority of today’s mapping tools. His leadership acumen has earned him two coveted Smithsonian Laureates, and teams under his mentorship have clinched 40 industry awards, including three pivotal gaming industry transformation awards. Together with Dr. Ralph Thomas, the duo co-founded Quick Custom Intelligence, amplifying their collaborative innovative capacities. A testament to his inventive prowess, Andrew boasts over 150 patent applications. Across various industries—be it telecommunications with Telstra Australia, retail with giants like Walmart and Best Buy, or the medical sector with esteemed institutions like City Of Hope and UCSD—Andrew’s impact is deeply felt. He has enriched the literature with insights, co-authoring 10 influential books with Dr. Thomas and contributing to over 100 industry publications. An advocate for community and diversity, Andrew’s work has touched over 100 Native American Tribal Resorts, underscoring his expansive and inclusive professional endeavors.

    Contact:
    Laurel Kay, Quick Custom Intelligence
    Phone: 858-349-8354

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: One couple, two apartments, different surnames for the children: how ‘two places to stay’ is shaping families in China

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xiaoying Qi, Associate Professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Australian Catholic University

    During fieldwork in cities in China I came across a new marital practice, locally described as liang-tou-dun, literally “two places to stay”.

    A bride and groom, each an only child of their respective family, receive from each set of parents a wedding apartment. The young couple thus has two marriage apartments which they may occupy at different times.

    If a couple with “two places to stay” has two children, it is likely one will have the father’s surname and the other the mother’s. This ensures that the familial lines of both families continue – but it can also entrench inequalities between siblings.

    What’s in a name?

    A child being given the mother’s surname is unconventional. The norm in China is that children take their fathers’ surname, even though Chinese women retain their birth surname after marriage.

    The adoption of patronyms – family names handed down through the male line – historically served as an instrument of consolidation for hereditary property owners. But in China patronyms lost this purpose when the Communist Party came to power in 1949 and abolished private property and inheritance. Still, patronyms persisted.

    Women in China traditionally keep their own name when they get married.
    Snowscat/Unsplash, FAL

    From 1978, Chinese government reforms led to a transition from a planned to a market economy. Since then, many Chinese families have accumulated significant wealth. Such families are focused on how to prevent the loss of property from their family line through inheritance.

    This is a real matter of concern for daughter-only families which have become numerically significant as a result of the one-child policy. This was in place from 1980 to 2015, and many (but not all) families were limited to having just one child.

    A place to stay

    Traditionally, a wife enters her husband’s family and the children take on their father’s surname.

    A traditional solution for a family without a male heir is zhao-xu, the phrase for a marriage where a man marries into his wife’s family, living with or in close proximity to her family.

    Zhao-xu not only requires cohabiting after marriage with the wife’s parents, but also that their children take the mother’s surname, ensuring continuance of the mother’s family’s line.

    A daughter-only family requires her essential role in the continuation of her family lineage.
    Macro.jr/Unsplash, FAL

    This traditional form readily adapts to the needs of daughter-only families in contemporary China. Sons-in-law in these families generally come from families with more than one son, so the husband’s family’s line is not threatened. In these circumstances the wife’s family provides a wedding apartment, furniture, household equipment, dowry and wedding banquet.

    Traditionally in China it is a son’s responsibility to support and care for his ageing parents. A daughter-only family requires her to take an essential role in carrying out elderly support obligations.

    Two names, two places

    An alternative to zhao-xu is “two places to stay”, where the bride’s parents provide her with a wedding apartment and the groom’s parents provide him with a wedding apartment. This tends to happen for young couples who are each an only child in their respective families.

    With owning two apartments, the young couple marries into neither family, but instead maintains close relationships with both. They move between two apartments, occupying one for a certain period of time and then the other.

    As each set of parents endows the young family, the grandparents play an important role in the choice of their grandchildren’s surname. If the young couple has two children then a perfect solution to continuing both family lines is that one child takes the father’s surname and the other the mother’s.

    Grandparents play an important role in the lives of their grandchildren.
    Li Lin/Unsplash, FAL

    First-born children, especially sons, have a special role in the continuity of a family line, and so it is likely the firstborn will take the father’s name.

    But if the young wife’s family has higher social or economic standing than her husband’s, it is likely the first child will take the mother’s surname.

    “Two places to stay” may generate inequalities within families. Grandparents tend to provide resources (educational, recreational and medical) to the grandchild who shares their surname.

    Because of the differences of access to resources, the future education and career prospects of siblings will reflect not their immediate family background, but the different endowments of their respective grandparents.

    Two places to stay is a new form of marriage in China, and a new form of surnaming siblings. It is a new way of doing family, an innovation in intergenerational relations.

    Xiaoying Qi received research funding from The Hong Kong Baptist University’s Start-Up Grant and the Sociology Department Research Fund.

    – ref. One couple, two apartments, different surnames for the children: how ‘two places to stay’ is shaping families in China – https://theconversation.com/one-couple-two-apartments-different-surnames-for-the-children-how-two-places-to-stay-is-shaping-families-in-china-255877

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australia could tax Google, Facebook and other tech giants with a digital services tax – but don’t hold your breath

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fei Gao, Lecturer in Taxation, Discipline of Accounting, Governance & Regulation, The University of Sydney, University of Sydney

    Tada Images/Shutterstock

    Tech giants like Google, Facebook and Netflix make billions of dollars from Australian users every year. But most of those profits are not taxed here.

    To address this tax gap, some countries have introduced a new kind of tax called the digital services tax, or DST. It applies to revenue earned from users in a country, even if the company has no physical operations there. Some European Union member countries, the UK and Canada have all introduced such a tax.

    In Australia, it is estimated the five largest tech giants recorded A$15 billion in revenue in Australia last year, but combined they paid only $254 million in tax.

    Australia has never contemplated imposing a similar tax. New Zealand tried but backed down last week after the United States threatened to impose higher tariffs on New Zealand goods.

    So what’s holding Australia back?

    How 20th-century tax treaties create 21st-century problems

    To understand why Australia thinks its hands are tied on the taxation of the multinational tech giants, we need to step back in time.

    About 100 years ago, Australia and other developed nations decided to tax residents on all their income earned worldwide, while non-residents were taxed only on income earned locally.

    After the second world war, Australia entered into tax treaties so foreign companies selling to Australian customers would no longer be taxed here. Instead, those companies’ home countries would tax all their profits.

    As the world moved to digital products this century, it became easy for giant multinational enterprises offering advertising on social media (such as Facebook and Instagram), advertising on search platforms (Google), and streaming services (Netflix) to provide those services from abroad. Little or no activity is conducted through local branches.

    But countries where the sales are made have increasingly questioned the wisdom of having forfeited their taxing rights over income by foreign providers.

    The rise of the digital services tax

    The obvious solution would have been to renegotiate the treaties. This would restore the right of countries like Australia to tax foreign companies’ profits made from local customers or users.

    However, treaty renegotiation is slow and complex. So several European countries, beginning with France in 2019, came up with a short-cut solution.

    They introduced a discrete new tax on sales of digital services, called digital services taxes (DSTs). While the specific design varies by country, most DSTs apply a low tax rate, typically between 3% and 5%, on revenue rather than profits. They target large digital platforms that earn money from users within the taxing country, regardless of the company’s location.

    Because DSTs are levied on revenue and are structured as separate from income tax, governments argued they could be introduced without breaching income tax treaties.

    The new taxes quickly became popular and spread widely.
    In Australia, the Greens have called for a DST, but both major parties have remained steadfast in their objection to a new tax. This is due to the concern that the US may impose retaliatory tariffs on Australian goods.

    US tech bosses at the inauguration of President Trump: (from left to right) CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, CEO of Google Sundar Pichai and X CEO Elon Musk.
    Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AFP

    How big is the tax loss?

    Australians are enthusiastic consumers of digital products. Depending on which companies are included in the calculation, the annual revenues vary between $15 billion and $26 billion a year, but only a fraction of that is taxed here.

    At a time when the federal budget is forecasting deficits for the foreseeable future, Australia is foregoing potentially millions in lost revenue from these digital giants.

    While Australia has avoided a DST as a solution to the income tax loss, it has been willing to regulate and tax foreign digital companies in other ways.
    Australia collects 10% goods and services tax, or GST, on digital services provided to Australian companies, including streaming platforms and app subscriptions.

    This helps ensure foreign providers are taxed similarly to domestic ones when it comes to the GST.

    Australia has also imposed non-tax obligations on digital giants such as the requirement that digital platforms pay Australian media outlets for using their news content.



    Read more:
    Australia’s ‘coercive’ news media rules are the latest targets of US trade ire

    Serious hurdles for reform

    In February, the Trump administration described DSTs as tools used by foreign governments to “plunder American companies” and warned retaliatory tariffs would be imposed in response.

    The accompanying White House fact sheet singled out Australia and Canada, arguing the US digital economy dwarfs those countries’ entire economies. It suggested any attempt to tax US tech companies would not go unanswered.

    Six weeks later, the US imposed a 10% tariff on most Australian exports to the US and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium exports.

    The US sees its penal tariff plans as a useful negotiating tool to pressure trading partners into retreat on a broad range of peripheral complaints, including the digital services tax.

    To date, only two countries have retreated: New Zealand and India. Other countries are standing firm.

    In Australia, the Greens have called for the adoption of a DST, but the current and previous governments remain firm in their opposition. There is concern about antagonising the US at a delicate time when our broader trade relations are under scrutiny.

    For the foreseeable future, the digital giants will continue to earn billions from Australian users. Most of those profits will remain beyond the reach of Australian tax law.

    Richard Krever receives funding from the ARC

    Fei Gao does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Australia could tax Google, Facebook and other tech giants with a digital services tax – but don’t hold your breath – https://theconversation.com/australia-could-tax-google-facebook-and-other-tech-giants-with-a-digital-services-tax-but-dont-hold-your-breath-257251

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The ‘3 day guarantee’ for childcare starts next year. The challenge could be finding quality care

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Victoria Whitington, Associate Professor in Education Futures (Adjunct), University of South Australia

    One of the Albanese government’s headline election policies was a “three-day guarantee” for childcare.

    From January 5 2026, all eligible Australian families will be able to access at least three days of subsidised early education and care until a child starts school.

    Labor will also remove the “activity test” requiring parents to work or study to receive more than minimal subsidised care.

    The government estimates more than 100,000 families will be eligible for more care. Families will also save money on fees – for example, those on a combined annual income of A$120,000 will save about $220 a week.

    But while extra financial support and scrapping the activity test will certainly help, families are still left with the challenge of finding and securing a place in a quality service.



    Read more:
    Labor guarantees 3 days of childcare and 160 new centres. What does this mean for families?

    Quality is patchy

    Over the past 20 years, the early education and care system in Australia has rapidly expanded.
    And this has sometimes come at the expense of quality.

    The sector is overseen by the national authority and state-based regulators and services need to meet national quality standards.

    But quality is patchy. While 91% of services either meet or exceed national standards, assessments can be infrequent and there are exemptions – leaving room for poor practices.

    State-based regulators are also under-resourced, compromising their capacity to keep assessments of services up to date.

    Meanwhile, about 70% of daycare centres are owned and run by for-profit providers. This means the majority have an incentive to prioritise profits over quality care and education for children.

    Recent reports of shocking abuse and neglect in some services have highlighted how quality – and basic safety – continue to be an issue for the early childhood sector.



    Read more:
    Amid claims of abuse, neglect and poor standards, what is going wrong with childcare in Australia?

    It can be impossible to find a spot

    According to the Mitchell Institute, nearly one in four Australians lives in a “childcare desert”, where more than three children compete for every available place.

    Media reports describe how families can be left waiting well over a year to find a childcare place, depending on where they live.

    In recognition of how difficult it can be to find a childcare place, the Albanese government will build 160 not-for-profit childcare centres in regions where services are hard to find.

    While this is welcome, they may not transform accessibility. The sector has more than 9,000 existing long daycare services.

    There are not enough qualified educators

    Meanwhile, staffing is a nation-wide issue. The rapid increase in early years services has made it difficult to train, recruit and employ qualified educators.

    Many services have exemptions so they can operate without the required number of qualified staff.

    Last year, without factoring in the three-day guarantee, a Jobs and Skills Australia report estimated an extra 21,000 staff were needed to meet existing demand.

    While the government is trying to increase access with the three-day guarantee, services are already struggling to provide for existing demand.

    What should families do?

    Families eligible for the new three-day guarantee are likely to find accessing care and in a quality centre a challenge.

    They will no doubt want to make sure any potential services can provide a safe, happy environment in which their child will thrive. Here are some questions parents could ask:

    • is the service meeting national quality standards or better?

    • what are the current qualifications of staff?

    • does the service have a current exemption regarding staff qualifications?

    • what is the staff turnover?

    Families could also take a tour of the service and consider:

    • how do you feel in the environment?

    • are children engaged in activities?

    • how do staff interact with the children?

    • is there a rich environment for outdoor and indoor play?

    If you have concerns, consider other services if they are available.

    Victoria Whitington has previously received research funding from the South Australian government and has current funding for research from Catholic Education SA, Ngutu College and Gowrie SA. She is chair of the Gowrie SA board.

    – ref. The ‘3 day guarantee’ for childcare starts next year. The challenge could be finding quality care – https://theconversation.com/the-3-day-guarantee-for-childcare-starts-next-year-the-challenge-could-be-finding-quality-care-256905

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: From surprise platypus to wandering cane toads, here’s what we found hiding in NSW estuaries

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maarten De Brauwer, Senior Research Scientist in Marine and Estuarine Ecology, Southern Cross University

    Maarten De Brauwer

    Rivers up and down the north coast of New South Wales have been hammered again, just three years after devastating floods hit the Northern Rivers and Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley.

    The events of 2022 sparked our latest research into the estuaries of NSW. These special places, where the rivers meet the sea, are teeming with life. Now – for the first time – we can reveal what lives where, in maps based on tell-tale traces of DNA.

    Together with Indigenous rangers from six language groups, we surveyed 34 estuaries to capture evidence of living species – everything from microbes to fish, plants and mammals.

    We were surprised to find platypus in places they had not been seen for years. We also identified elusive native species such antechinus and rakali, and 68 invasive or pest species including cane toads – spreading further south than previously thought.

    This catalogue of species in NSW estuaries can be used by authorities and scientists – but anyone, anywhere can explore the map online.

    Mapping life in NSW estuaries (Southern Cross University)

    Estuaries are vital, yet many questions remain

    First Nations Peoples have long recognised the vital importance of the areas where land meets sea. Estuaries are have provided food resources for thousand of years and are home to important historical and contemporary cultural sites.

    Today, 87% of Australians live within 50km of the sea. This makes estuaries one of the most intensively used areas of NSW. They provide critical habitats such as seagrass or mangroves, host high biodiversity, and have a high social value as places for recreational activities such as fishing.

    Yet research into the species that live in estuaries is mostly limited to large estuaries such as Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay or Port Stephens.

    NSW has excellent water quality monitoring programs, and vital habitats such as seagrass meadows have been the subject of long-term mapping programs. However, large gaps remain.

    Understanding how biodiversity in estuaries changes over time, especially in response to extreme events, can help governments design appropriate responses to maintain or restore ecosystem health. But with nearly 200 estuaries in NSW, studying changes in biodiversity is not a simple task.

    Find out what lives in your local estuary free, online.
    Wilderlab

    Our DNA detective work

    Measuring salinity or oxygen levels in water is relatively straightforward, using equipment on the shoreline or hanging off the side of a boat. Finding out what lives where is much more difficult. This where new genetic methods come in.

    Collecting environmental DNA samples at the Clarence River estuary.
    Southern Cross University

    Life forms leave tell-tale traces of DNA in the environment. Animals may shed hair, skin or scales, as well as poo. Plants produce pollen and leaves that end up in the water.

    We matched small snippets of DNA to find the species it belonged to – a bit like scanning a barcode in the supermarket.

    This technique allows us to analyse the full extent of biodiversity in estuaries. This includes not just fish, but also species at the base of the food chain such as microscopic algae – all from a few litres of water.

    Indigenous rangers live and work on Country and know it well. We formed alliances with six groups of Indigenous rangers through the state’s Cultural Restoration Program:

    • Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council (Walbunja)
    • Bega Local Aboriginal Land Council
    • Jali Local Aboriginal Land Council
    • Jerinja Local Aboriginal Land Council
    • LaPeruse Local Aboriginal Land Council (Gamay)
    • Yaegl Wadyarr Gargle Land and Sea Contractors.

    Our research builds on the different strengths and interests of local groups. The rangers worked with us all the way through, from the design phase to selecting sampling sites of ecological or cultural significance, helping to conduct surveys and working with scientists to interpret the results.

    Trained in environmental DNA methods, rangers can monitor their Country independently in future.

    What did we find?

    We now have the largest publicly available biodiversity dataset for NSW estuaries. It covers everything from single-celled algae at the base of the food chain, to top predators such as great white sharks and white-bellied sea eagles.

    Anyone can explore the interactive map to find out what lives in the estuaries nearby or further afield.

    Rangers detected platypus in the lower reaches of Bega River, in places where they were thought to have disappeared. Totemic species such as dolphins were widespread across the state, including urban estuaries such as Botany Bay in Sydney, while mullet and bream were found shifting between the mouth and further upriver. Cane toads were found at Sandon River in the Northern Rivers region, and most recently in Coffs Harbour, much further south than expected.

    These results mean a lot to local Indigenous mobs. They can integrate contemporary scientific results into traditional ecological knowledge and use both approaches to better understand how estuaries respond to extreme weather events or activities such as habitat restoration.

    We also recently returned to sample sites following Tropical Cyclone Alfred and the extreme rainfall events in March. Being able to compare the data to a well-established baseline survey means we will be able to see which species were worst affected.

    Knowledge sharing for the future

    Two-way knowledge sharing between Indigenous knowledge holders and research scientists is improving our understanding of estuarine health.

    The results of this project will help Indigenous groups to care for their Country while also improving scientific knowledge to better respond to environmental impacts such as floods for decades to come.

    The project was a team effort. L to R: Kait Harris (NSW Departments of Primary Industries and Regional Development), Maarten De Brauwer (Southern Cross University), Shaun Laurie (Yaegl Rangers), and Amos Ferguson (Yaegl Rangers).
    Southern Cross University

    The authors wish to acknowledge this program was delivered collaboration with and on behalf of the Departments of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Fisheries & Forestry, with funding provided by the Australian and NSW governments under Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements as part of the NSW Estuary Asset Protection program (NEAP).

    Maarten De Brauwer received funding from the federal government’s Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (Riparian Stabilisation Package) as part of the NSW state government’s Estuary Asset Protection program. He is a board member of the Southern eDNA Society.

    Kaitlyn Harris works for NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

    Kelly Gittins works for the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

    – ref. From surprise platypus to wandering cane toads, here’s what we found hiding in NSW estuaries – https://theconversation.com/from-surprise-platypus-to-wandering-cane-toads-heres-what-we-found-hiding-in-nsw-estuaries-257123

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Girls with painful periods are twice as likely as their peers to have symptoms of anxiety or depression

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subhadra Evans, Associate Professor, Psychology, Deakin University

    Shutterstock

    Around half of teenage girls experience moderate to severe period pain. The mechanical force of the uterus contracting and inflammatory chemicals such as prostaglandins contribute to this pain.

    Moderate to severe period pain has a significant impact on daily life. Girls with period pain are three to five times more likely than their peers to miss school or university, and two to five times more likely to miss out on social and physical activities.

    Our new research found girls with period pain reported higher levels of psychological distress as young adults, even after accounting for earlier mental health issues and socioeconomic factors.

    What comes first?

    Menstrual pain has been dismissed and under-treated. Women report there is a perception among some health-care providers that stress, anxiety, or depression cause their pain.

    However, participants in our lived experience research have told us that period pain leads to psychological distress. As one woman explained:

    mental health [is] used frequently by health professionals to diminish my symptoms and make me feel as though I have untreated mental health conditions that are the cause of my issues instead of my physical pain.

    Prior research suggests a bi-directional link between pain and mental health. A study of almost 15,00 adolescents with chronic pain found an increased risk of lifetime anxiety and depression. While our prior research on pelvic pain in adults showed psychological distress can worsen functional pain over time.

    Research exploring the relationship between mental health and pain in teens with period pain is limited, with the direction of the relationship still unclear.

    Take the example of Ruby, who represents a composite of clinical cases:

    Ruby was netball captain in Year 6 but painful periods led to her dropping out of the team in Year 8. By Year 10, she was socialising less with her friends. At 17, she felt like her mental health was deteriorating and was locked in a struggle with her own body. Ruby saw her GP and was told to take Nurofen and keep moving because anxiety and depression had caused chronic pain.

    While research has linked mental health and pain perception, we set out to determine the direction of this link: do mental health difficulties lead to period pain? Or does period pain contribute to mental health issues?

    Our new study

    We used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, also known as Growing Up in Australia, which has tracked the lives of 10,000 children and their families since 2004. We used data that tracked 1,600 girls who reported on their periods from age 14, 16 and 18.

    Parents reported symptoms of anxiety and depression when the girls were 14–16 years old. The young women self-reported these symptoms at age 18, and levels of psychological distress at age 20–21.

    This multi-stage study allowed us to look at how menstrual pain and mental health show up together and change over time during an important stage in young women’s lives.

    While conditions such as endometriosis (which causes tissue similar to that which lines the uterus to grow outside the uterus) can be associated with pelvic pain, including period pain, the survey didn’t ask participants about endometriosis or pain-related diagnoses. So this didn’t form part of our study.

    Around half of the participants experienced moderate to severe period pain.

    We found girls who had painful periods were much more likely to also have symptoms of anxiety and depression at ages 14, 16 and 18 compared to those who did not have painful periods.

    At age 14, adolescents who experienced painful periods were around twice as likely to have symptoms of anxiety and depression, compared to their peers who said their periods were not painful, or only a little painful.

    These adolescents also reported higher levels of psychological distress as young adults, even after accounting for earlier mental health issues and socioeconomic factors.

    Adolescents who reported period pain throughout their teens were more likely to experience “moderate” psychological distress in early adulthood. In contrast, adolescents who did not have period pain were more likely to experience “mild” psychological distress in early adulthood.

    Importantly, we showed that period pain often comes before mental health issues develop – not the other way around. This suggests period pain could be a risk factor for future mental health problems.

    The findings underscore the importance of identifying adolescents who are experiencing period pain. Many adolescents believe period pain is something they just have to put up with, and don’t seek help.

    What can be done about period pain?

    We recommend treating period pain early with a variety of options.

    First-line period pain management includes:

    • anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen, which are available over the counter
    • seeing your GP to discuss hormonal therapies, such as the oral contraceptive pill.

    Additional strategies to manage period pain can include:

    Improved menstrual education is needed to ensure teens can recognise when their menstrual experience is unusual, and know where they can access support.

    Some programs provide menstrual education across schools and community groups. This education should be extended to families and school health and wellbeing support staff to facilitate early recognition and intervention.

    Finally, further research is needed to confirm whether addressing period pain promptly reduces the risk of longer-term mental health symptoms.

    Subhadra Evans receives funding from the Australian Government.

    Antonina Mikocka-Walus receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

    Marilla L. Druitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Girls with painful periods are twice as likely as their peers to have symptoms of anxiety or depression – https://theconversation.com/girls-with-painful-periods-are-twice-as-likely-as-their-peers-to-have-symptoms-of-anxiety-or-depression-256232

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘No support, no housing, no job’ – the vicious cycle pushing more women into prison

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hilde Tubex, Professor, The University of Western Australia

    For too many women, prison is “as good as it gets”.

    New research based on interviews with 80 female prisoners in Western Australia reveals most of these women were “criminalised” by circumstances outside their control before they became offenders.

    They were victims of multiple forms of abuse, including family violence. The trajectory of their lives meant jail was almost unavoidable.

    In turn, prison became a refuge from all the problems that helped put them there in the fist place.

    Rising rates

    Internationally, women make up between 2% and 9% of the total prison population in most countries. Australia sits at the higher end with just over 8% of inmates being female – 3,426 people as of December 2024.

    Female imprisonment rates have increased at a higher rate than the national average.
    ChameleonEye/Shutterstock

    Across the globe, the numbers and rates of women in prisons are growing faster than those of men.

    We see the same trend in Australia, especially in WA. Between December 2022 and 2024, the female imprisonment rate increased by 25%. The state has the highest rate of incarcerated women after the Northern Territory.

    It is noteworthy that across the female population in WA jails, 62% of sentences are for non-violent crimes.

    Cycles of harm

    Given the significant rise in incarceration rates, we conducted our Profile of Women in WA Prisons research. Funded by the WA Department of Justice, our report investigated the pathways to imprisonment.

    We had in-depth interviews with 80 Indigenous and non-Indigenous women in eight prisons in metropolitan Perth and regional WA.

    The results confirm earlier research which showed women in the criminal justice system are frequently victims of domestic and family violence. However, there is so much more to the story of how women end up in prison. The findings are quite disheartening.

    Throughout their stories, “cycles of harm” emerged as the reason they eventually ended up in prison.

    Shared stories

    Many of the women were exposed to violence, alcohol, drugs, crime and poverty from a very early age. They described negative life events such as trauma, physical and sexual abuse, neglect and domestic violence in childhood.

    Many women view prison as a safe haven that is not available to them in the outside world.
    Andrew Agelov/Shutterstock

    Leaving home early was a common experience. Due to their young age and vulnerability, they often ended up in unsafe accommodation, with unsuitable partners.

    I left home at 15. I told my mum at 11 [about the abuse], she didn’t do anything about it. So I ran away at 14. I had a boyfriend who was much older than me. So he was nearly 20.

    Many reflected that their own use of alcohol and drugs was a way of numbing the trauma and pain:

    When I ran away, and I was with him for a few years. I remember the first time taking speed, and it just made everything so much easier to deal with. He would come home and beat the crap out of me, and I would just take drugs, and wouldn’t care.

    Reaching out for help was not something many of these women were used to doing, due to a lack of self-esteem and struggles with their mental health as a result of ongoing abuse.

    Moreover, seeking assistance often backfired, leading to their children being taken away, or the woman being misidentified as the perpetrator.

    Little support

    Throughout the criminal justice system, there was a lack of support and understanding of what led these women into criminal behaviour.

    Once incarcerated, they are in a system that is still dominated by men. They suffer particular disadvantages, such as the lack of women-specific programs and services.

    Adding to their difficulties is a lack of safe accommodation and financial support. This makes women subject to even more cycles of harm from which it is hard to escape.

    I’ve been coming in and out of prison for the last 20 years. Yeah, I’m 41 now, so in and out of here. Yeah, it’s just due to lack of housing, I’ve been homeless a lot. When I get out of prison, there’s not enough support to set me up to get me back on track in my life. And it’s just, yeah, getting out of prison with no support, no housing, no jobs.

    While the burden of imprisonment was undeniable, jail was often viewed as the only safe refuge they had from trauma, abuse and homelessness.

    Some felt prison was about as good as it was going to get for them. Many of the women we interviewed were mothers. There is evidence to suggest the offspring of these women face a higher intergenerational risk of incarceration, and new generations may suffer the same cycles of harm.

    New approach

    The evidence suggests jail is functioning as a solution to social problems like homelessness and drug addiction. This comes at a very high financial cost, with Australia spending over $6 billion a year building and operating prisons.

    Yet, we know locking people up is not necessarily creating safer communities.

    As many women have become criminalised by the various forms of interpersonal and systemic abuse they have suffered, the rising rates of female incarceration should not be approached as a criminal problem, but as an expression of a failing society letting down its most vulnerable members.

    To curb the trend, we need to identify the cycle of harm at the early stages, and interrupt the predictability of ongoing damage which leads to crime and incarceration.

    Women have specific needs. We need to address the complexity of the lives they return to after prison to prevent further offending.

    Hilde Tubex receives funding from The Western Australian Office of Crime Statistics and Research (WACSAR) Criminal Justice Research Grant.

    Natalie Gately receives funding from The Western Australian Office of Crime Statistics and Research (WACSAR) Criminal Justice Research Grant.

    – ref. ‘No support, no housing, no job’ – the vicious cycle pushing more women into prison – https://theconversation.com/no-support-no-housing-no-job-the-vicious-cycle-pushing-more-women-into-prison-257218

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –