Ex-HMAS Brisbane post Tropical Cyclone Alfred inspection.
Sections of the ex-HMAS Brisbane, a former Royal Australian Navy warship that is one of Australia’s premier wreck-dive sites, have been redesigned by Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Steve Hoseck, Principal Ranger of Southern Marine Parks, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service said rangers conducted an initial post-cyclone inspection of the popular dive site, located off Mooloolaba, over the weekend.
“While the majority of the wreck remains in great shape, and appears unaffected by Alfred, a large forward section of the ship has undergone a major makeover,” Mr Hoseck said.
“An entire section below the front funnel has detached and been relocated to the port side of the ship – this is an amazing demonstration of the power of the waves and water currents that were at play during the cyclone.”
Mr Hoseck said Rangers are prioritising making safe the separated areas so diving can resume as soon as possible.
“Once these works have been completed, we will open the site for guided external-only dives run by the two local dive operators.
“The next priority is a full internal inspection of the wreck to assess if additional work is required before diver entry into the wreck is deemed safe.
“This internal assessment is complex work that requires good sea conditions and could take several months to complete. Access during this time will be limited to guided dives only for safety.
“A multi-beam survey in April will give us an indication of damage to external surfaces, and will be compared to previous surveys to determine if any further twisting or warping has occurred.
“We recognise how important the ex-HMAS Brisbane site is to the local diving community and tourism industry and we are committed to getting the site safe and reopened so that visitors can experience its new creative expressions as soon as possible.
“We ask that people stay away from the site until it is deemed safe.”
“Once deemed safe, the ex-HMAS Brisbane will be an amazing dive, with new twists and unique perspectives thanks to Tropical Cyclone Alfred.”
Headline: New Aboriginal Cultural Learning Hub to empower students in Botany Bay
Published: 18 March 2025
Released by: Attorney General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty
A new learning space to help foster employment opportunities and Aboriginal cultural connection has been launched at La Perouse Public School, thanks to a $99,000 ‘Community and Place’ grant from the Minns Labor Government.
Grant recipient IndigiGrow is a 100% Aboriginal-owned and operated social enterprise which operates nurseries at La Perouse and Matraville Sports High School, reviving, growing, and delivering native plants and bush tucker across Sydney.
The development of the cultural learning space on Bidjigal Country in Botany Bay is part of IndigiGrow’s broader efforts to grow jobs and broaden cultural knowledge.
The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, David Harris, attended the launch with school students, staff, parents and carers to celebrate the transformation of an unused school space, into a thriving hub for hands-on education in native plants, cultural knowledge, and connection to Country.
The launch featured a demonstration on how to propagate banksia pods using fire, given by IndigiGrow’s Peter Cooley.
The NSW Government’s Community and Place Grants has funded $35 million to support community-led programs that advance Closing the Gap outcomes since 2022.
Attorney General and Member for Maroubra, Michael Daley said:
“The cultural learning hub will help strengthen young Aboriginal people’s connection to culture.
“Programs like this are crucial to improving outcomes for Aboriginal students and empowering the next generation of community leaders.”
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, David Harris said:
“The NSW Government is proud to support community-led initiatives that provide opportunities for students to deepen their cultural knowledge, learn from Elders, and gain practical skills that connect them to Country and community.
“Projects like this demonstrate the power of Aboriginal knowledge and leadership in shaping meaningful educational experiences for young people in NSW.
“By supporting IndigiGrow’s work, we are helping ensure the next generation can access cultural learning in a way that strengthens identity, wellbeing, and opportunity to help close the gap.”
Peter Cooley from IndigiGrow, said:
“Having these cultural educational learning facilities in the school environment is so important.
“They provide pathways for our young people to learn cultural knowledge and skills in a culturally safe, supportive and familiar learning environment, enhancing social and emotional wellbeing.”
Lisa Maller, Principal of La Perouse Public School said:
“IndigiGrow shares invaluable knowledge about bush tucker and significant local plants, deepening students’ awareness of the natural world and its cultural significance.
“The creation of the yarning circle will provide a vital communal space for cultural exchange and connection, offering students profound learning experiences that celebrate both environmental and cultural heritage.”
Headline: Minns Government seeks energy bill relief for cyclone region
Published: 18 March 2025
Released by: Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Minister for the North Coast, Minister for Small Business
The Minns Labor Government has written to energy companies asking them to defer electricity bills and waive a fee for NSW households and businesses hit by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, to further ease the pressure on those recovering from the natural disaster.
Residents and business owners in northern NSW have experienced substantial disruptions to their power supply due to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. It delivered heavy rain and severe winds to large areas of Northern NSW, causing extensive damage to the area’s electricity distribution network.
A total of 84,000 homes and businesses experienced power outages across various communities from Tweed Heads to Grafton, and west to Armidale. Some lost power multiple times.
Essential Energy will waive the daily access charge for customers for the period they were without power.
While energy retailers have not played a role in relation to the power disruptions, Minister for Energy Penny Sharpe has written to 22 companies requesting their cooperation in supporting customers who live in local government areas included in the natural disaster declaration. The Minister has asked them to:
waive the daily power supply charge for customers for the period they were not supplied electricity (by passing on the waiver being provided to retailers by Essential Energy)
defer any electricity bills that are due to be sent to customers for 14 days
defer any disconnections or repayment requirements for 14 days for affected customers in debt or with any amount owing on their account
provide additional information about payment plan options and NSW Government financial support if customers find they are unable to pay their bill as a result of the cyclone impacts.
The NSW Government along with the Australian Government is working together to provide support to the affected area. A personal hardship grant with payments of $180 for individuals and up to $900 per family is available through Service NSW for essential costs such as food, clothing, medicine and emergency accommodation. To be eligible, individuals must have been subject to an evacuation order or have experienced a power outage of more than 48 hours.
Customers whose ability to repay their energy bills has been impacted by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred can also apply for NSW Government Energy Accounts Payment Assistance (EAPA) support to help pay their energy bills. EAPA helps people experiencing difficulty paying their electricity and/or gas bill due to a short-term financial hardship, crisis or emergency to stay connected to essential services. EAPA can only be applied to current, unpaid energy bills.
Minister for Energy, Penny Sharpe said:
“It is important we provide as much support as possible to households and business owners who are recovering from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
“I have written to energy retailers asking them to join Essential Energy in providing relief to customers in the natural disaster zone, and thank them in advance for any assistance they can offer.”
Minister for Recovery, Small Business and the North Coast, Janelle Saffin said:
“Every bit of support counts for families, households and businesses doing it tough in the wake of this natural disaster.
“Thank you for your consideration of this request during this difficult time for the residents and businesses of the Northern Rivers and North Coast.”
Further information:
Essential Energy is one of three distribution network operators in NSW. Essential Energy, Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy are responsible for the distribution lines in a specified region:
Essential Energy – Riverina, South Eastern region, Northern NSW and Central Tablelands
Ausgrid – Sydney’s north, Central Coast and Newcastle
Endeavour Energy – Blue Mountains, Western Sydney, Illawarra and South Coast
Energy retailers such as Origin Energy, AGL, Red Energy and EnergyAustralia buy electricity from the market pool and contract with generators to manage prices.
Retailers then sell electricity to households and businesses. Most customers only ever interact with their retailer, which sends them their quarterly bill.
There are 22 energy retailers with customers in the region affected by the natural disaster from 3 March 2025.
To assist customer recovery from the impacts of ex-cyclone Alfred and the extended periods of time without power, Essential Energy is offering financial and non-financial support. For more information visit the Essential Energy website.
Wind back the clock and get a glimpse into the past during the City of Wanneroo’s Australian Heritage Festival celebrations this autumn.
Running from 18 April to 18 May and coordinated by the National Trust, the Australian Heritage Festival is the country’s largest community-driven celebration of heritage.
This year’s theme is Unearthed – revealing the past, bringing to light lesser-known histories and stories, and unearthing knowledge to empower younger generations as custodians of culture and tradition.
To celebrate this theme, the City is running a series of free, family-friendly community events at the Cockman and Buckingham heritage houses, Wanneroo Regional Museum and a variety of other locations across the City.
Our free Heritage Festival events include:
The Antipodean Manifesto exhibition at Wanneroo Regional Gallery, Wednesdays to Saturdays, 18 April to 3 May.
On April 2 the United States is set to implement a new wave of tariffs under its Fair and Reciprocal Trade Plan. Details of the plan that will impact all US trading partners are not yet known, but the US administration has suggested these tariffs will target any rules it considers “unfair”.
This means the April 2 tariffs may take aim at a range of Australian domestic policies, such as biosecurity rules that govern food imports, and the government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
The size of the hit is uncertain. One report indicates a relatively modest tariff between 2% and 8% is being considered, below the 25% rate imposed on steel and aluminium on March 12. But it will apply to a much larger set of exports.
Australia and the US have been allies for over a century. The two nations celebrated a “century of mateship” in 2018. More formally, the two countries have a current free trade agreement, Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA).
The agreement was negotiated in good faith, and entered into force on January 1, 2005. It called for the elimination of tariffs between the two nations over time, and until now both parties have upheld their respective bargains. The so-called “reciprocal” tariff plan would breach that agreement.
What sectors are likely to be targeted?
The Trump reference to non-tariff barriers raises two main concerns for Australian products: meat and pharmaceuticals.
In Australia, domestic beef products are subject to strict traceability rules. Similarly, imported beef has rigid biosecurity requirements as it is classified as a high-risk food.
This is because of the potential risk of mad cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy). This disease was detected in the US in 2002 and triggered an Australian ban on US beef products.
The ban was partially lifted in 2018, but some restrictions remain, which the US says are a barrier to trade. This was also raised by the Biden administration in a 2024 report on trade barriers.
The US cannot force Australia to change its laws on the basis of tariffs – but they can make products coming from Australian suppliers more expensive and therefore restrict market access to the US, which many Australian producers rely on.
A tariff on Australian-sourced beef products would also push up prices for American consumers. Trade Minister Don Farrell has warned the price of a McDonald’s burger may increase.
If tariffs are placed on Australian beef, the government has warned that McDonalds burgers in the US will become more expensive. Shutterstock
Medicines are also in the line of fire
Turning to pharmaceuticals, the Australian PBS has been a sticking point between US and Australian trade negotiators for the past 20 years.
The PBS, which has been in place since 1948, ensures Australians have affordable access to essential medicines. It formed part of discussions during the free-trade negotiations and has been raised as a potential barrier to trade.
The US argues innovation and unfettered market access for American drug companies should be prioritised over Australia’s reference pricing arrangements. Reference pricing means medicines with similar outcomes should have similar pricing.
The reason the US has a problem with this scheme is because some of their companies are not able to charge higher prices for medicines.
Although these are the categories of most concern, there is no assurance the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” will be limited to beef and pharmaceuticals.
For instance, there are no barriers imposed on the import of wine into Australia. But there has been some concern tariffs could be introduced regardless.
Wine is often the target of trade wars and President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with a 200% tariff on all wine and spirits entering the US. As Australian wine makers have only recently recovered from Chinese and Canadian tariffs, any US tariffs would deal a harsh blow to the industry.
An old clip of the former Republican President Ronald Reagan went viral this week, highlighting his quite different view:
Is there any avenue for appeal?
There is one thing that is clear about these tariffs. Their imposition will be in violation of both the WTO rules and the free-trade agreement.
Both have provisions to settle disputes and Australia does have options for filing complaints. However, the rule of law and existing norms of the international order do not appear to be persuasive to the Trump administration.
Despite this, it is important to note the US cannot force Australia to change its longstanding laws that protect consumers and ensure accessibility to medicines. This remains the choice of the Australian government.
If the tariffs are introduced in the range of 2% to 8%, there may not be a significant direct economic impact. But they will have other consequences. Trade negotiations, and international agreements, are largely based on goodwill. These acts of the US will erode much of what has been built up over the past century.
The downturn we are seeing in financial markets has so far been dismissed by the Trump administration as necessary. But if the correction turns into a crash, it may give President Trump pause. Given his lack of interest in negotiating, this may be the only thing that could change his mind.
Felicity Deane 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.
Headline: Ray James appointed Veterans’ Representative to the Anzac Memorial Board of Trustees
Published: 18 March 2025
Released by: Minister for Veterans
Ray James OAM has been appointed as Veterans’ Representative to the Anzac Memorial Board of Trustees.
Minister for Veterans David Harris, in his capacity as the Premier’s proxy and the Chair of the Trustees, appointed Mr James who was welcomed by the Trust at its regular meeting at the Memorial on Thursday, 13 March.
Mr James’ long military career includes 20 years in the Royal Australian Navy, service in the Vietnam War and a further 26 years in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve.
He is the most recent past President of RSL NSW, where he worked tirelessly to revitalise and rebuild RSL NSW.
He has also served as a Trustee of the Anzac Memorial for a previous three-year term between 2020 and 2023.
Mr James has remained an active member of RSL NSW since his term ended at that organisation in 2023 and continues to be a strong advocate for the veteran community.
The Veterans’ Representative is nominated by the President of RSL NSW and joins the Trust Board which comprises the NSW Premier, Leader of the Opposition, Lord Mayor of Sydney, State President of the RSL NSW, the Government Architect, the State Librarian, the Secretary of the Department of Education, an Australian Defence Force representative, and community representative, as legislated Trustees under the Anzac Memorial Building Act 1923.
Mr James will hold the position on the Board of Trustees for three years.
“I am delighted that Mr James is joining the Trust and I look forward to working alongside him once again. He has a wealth of Defence and Government experience that he can bring to the Board.
“Mr James is an active member of the veteran community and a tireless advocate for veterans. Since his tenure as President of RSL NSW ended in 2023, he has continued to raise awareness of the service and sacrifice of veterans and their families.
“On behalf of the Trustees, I congratulate Mr James on his appointment and wish him well in the position.”
Headline: Builder appointed for Moree Hospital Redevelopment
Published: 18 March 2025
Released by: Minister for Regional Health
The Moree Hospital Redevelopment is a step closer, with the main works contractor appointed and the next stage of work on track to begin in the coming months.
The NSW Government is investing $105 million in the hospital redevelopment to deliver new health facilities and upgraded health services for Moree and the surrounding communities to ensure their health needs continue to be met well into the future.
Hutchinson Builders has been awarded the contract following a competitive tender process.
The $105 million Moree Hospital Redevelopment will include construction of a new Acute Services Building on the existing hospital campus, which will house:
An emergency department
Operating theatres
Medical imaging
A birthing and inpatient unit
Pathology
A new main entry for the new hospital building.
The appointment of a builder follows the recent statutory planning approval for the project. Construction is expected to begin in the coming months.
The Moree Hospital will continue to operate during construction as a District Hospital, providing care for the Moree and surrounding communities, and will remain networked to Tamworth Hospital for access to specialist services.
Extensive consultation with staff and the community has been carried out throughout planning for the redevelopment to ensure the new hospital building creates a welcoming environment that reflects the heritage and culture of the region.
A Language Reference Group is working to inform the inclusion of Aboriginal language and storytelling into signage and wayfinding into the redevelopment, while planning is underway for Arts projects which will be included in the new acute services building.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Regional Health Ryan Park:
“We’ve reached a significant milestone in the delivery of the redevelopment which will deliver enhanced healthcare facilities for Moree and surrounding communities.
“The Moree Hospital Redevelopment will provide staff, patients, families and carers with a modern facility to support the health needs of the community now and into the future.
“All hospital services will continue to operate during construction, which follows significant planning and design work in collaboration with staff, stakeholders and the community.”
Quotes attributable to Government Spokesperson for Northern Tablelands, Peter Primrose:
“The $105 million Moree Hospital Redevelopment is estimated to support approximately 150 direct jobs, with the potential to support hundreds of indirect jobs over the life of the project.
“This will provide a huge boost to the local economy, and I look forward to seeing work progress in the coming months.”
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds is urging a national response to revelations about dangerous practices and regulatory failings across Australia’s childcare sector.
An ABC Four Corners investigation aired last night has exposed an ineffective regulatory system for Australia’s childcare providers which is failing to protect the safety, health and wellbeing of infants and young children.
Commissioner Hollonds: “The safety and wellbeing of our youngest and most vulnerable children should be of paramount concern for governments across Australia.
“There’s been a lot of commentary about ‘childcare deserts’ being a barrier to women seeking employment, and so governments have been focussed on increasing supply and improving affordability as well as increasing pay for childcare workers and early childhood educators.
“However, there has clearly been insufficient focus on the safety of infants and preschool age children in some of these centres.
“Australia has had a childcare quality framework in place since 2012, and the majority of childcare centres do prioritise child wellbeing.
“However, the ‘quality’ of early childhood education needs to start with the basics, and that means ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our youngest and most vulnerable children, without exception.
“We must urgently address any serious gaps in the regulatory scaffolding and child safeguarding framework that allows physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children in early childhood centres to continue unnoticed or unaddressed.
“Putting babies, toddlers and young kids at risk because of regulatory failings is unacceptable and we need urgent government action across our federation to address these dangerous gaps in how we protect children in this country.
“By not making child safety and wellbeing a priority for National Cabinet, we’re allowing our youngest citizens to fall into these gaps created by jurisdictional boundaries as well as fragmentation and complexity in the childcare industry.
“As I have consistently said, our whole approach to child safety and wellbeing in this country is in desperate need of systemic reform, and this includes our childcare sector.
“Governments need to stop tinkering around the edges and make the safety and wellbeing of children a priority for National Cabinet so we have accountability and evidence-based approaches at the heart of how we protect our kids and provide opportunities for them to thrive.”
The reality of shorter working hours could be one step closer for many Australians, pending the outcome of the federal election.
The Greens, who could control crucial cross bench votes in a hung parliament, have announced plans for a four-day working week, with no loss of pay. They say the policy would alleviate stress and burn out, and increase women’s participation in the workforce.
Earning the same money for fewer hours would appeal to most workers. But is it too good to be true? Could it really be rolled out cost free to all workplaces, especially to “client facing” companies and service providers?
Or does research suggest the Greens could be onto something?
The Greens’ plan
The Greens’ policy would involve a new National Institute for the Four Day Work Week and a test case through the Fair Work Commission.
A series of national trials would be set up in a number of different industries, whereby workers would work 80% of their normal hours, while maintaining 100% of their pay.
According to Greens Senator Barbara Pocock, it’s a win-win for everyone:
It can increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, improve recruitment and retention and give employees more time to manage their home life. This change will allow workers to create a working week that works for them.
The 100:80:100 model
The four-day work week being proposed in this instance is commonly regarded as the 100:80:100 model.
It delivers 100% of the pay, for 80% of the hours, in return for maintaining 100% of productivity.
This is unlike other forms of shorter working weeks, which compress five days’ worth of work into four longer days. This obviously disadvantages some employees.
Recent research conducted by Swinburne University of Technology involved interviews with ten Australian firms that have already adopted the 100:80:100 model.
They were a mixture of small and medium sized private sector businesses, including management consulting firms, a shipping and logistics company, and recruitment and marketing agencies.
The research underlined the potential for a range of positive outcomes for both employers and employees.
Workers reported having better work-life balance, more time to complete “life administration” tasks, and more time to invest in hobbies, exercise, wellness and self-care. Bosses cited productivity gains, reduced sick days, and significant improvements in recruitment and retention rates.
However, the 100:80:100 model is viewed with scepticism in some quarters. There is still doubt that productivity and output would be maintained, or in some cases improved, when workers are working one day fewer per week.
Also, there could be costs associated with the implementation of this work model for front-line roles, such as retail, schools, hospitals and nursing homes. Additional workers may need to be hired, at extra expense, to cover the hours dropped by the existing workforce.
100 years of working 5 days a week
The year 2026 will mark the 100th anniversary of the five-day work week.
It was car maker Henry Ford who reduced the working week in the United States from six days to five. Other sectors and countries followed suit. This was at a time when the average life expectancy of Australian workers was just 55 and households typically only had one bread-winner.
Despite the time saved by the many technological breakthroughs in the past 100 years – from the photocopier, desktop computer and fax machine, to the internet, mobile phones and AI – the average Australian is now working longer hours in paid and unpaid labour than ever before.
The Greens point out Australian society is changing. More women and carers are either in the workforce or would be encouraged into the workforce by more flexible arrangements:
yet we are constrained by archaic labour laws that see the fruits of our efforts swallowed up in profits for bosses and shareholders.
The role of generative AI technologies in the workplace may also deliver benefits to workers. Separate Swinburne research has revealed an increasing expectation among workers that they will receive a share in the time saved by future technologies in the form of improved work-life balance and wellbeing gains.
Time to enter the 21st century
Earlier this year, 200 UK companies signed up to the 100:80:100 model, as part of a campaign to “reinvent Britain’s working week”. Large scale trials are also underway in Canada and several European countries.
The global interest in a shorter working week is not surprising, and has likely been fuelled by the COVID pandemic, which has caused workers and employers to re-imagine their working lives.
If the Greens are in a position to leverage any balance of power after the coming election, it could be Australia’s turn to recognise the conventional five-day working week is no longer fit for purpose.
John L. Hopkins 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.
Topics: Investment in Australia’s neighbourhood houses and community centres; ABC Four Corners child care investigation.
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: I’m so pleased to be here at Derwent Valley Community House to make a really important announcement that the Commonwealth Government will partner with neighbourhood houses and community centres across Australia to deliver funding for their priorities. This announcement will be close to a $1 million and deliver small grants to up to 50 projects delivered by neighbourhood houses and community centres through the Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association. This is a really good partnership. We have been investing through our Strong and Resilient Communities grants in neighbourhood houses directly. But this is the first time that we’ll partner with the national association to deliver small grants across the country. Of course, here in Tasmania, there is a very strong network of neighbourhood houses and community centres, and they’ve demonstrated that they do a lot with a small amount of money. So, I’m really pleased to be announcing this partnership today, and happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST: So, what’s the value of these individual grants?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Individual grants will be up to $15,000 to do a variety of things under the SARC (Strong and Resilient Communities) grant guidelines. It’s really about building community connections, particularly for those people that may be isolated, disengaged, disconnected. There’s often a focus on youth or newly arrived migrants. But ultimately, the types of ideas will come from the centres themselves, and they’ll be able to put an application into the association to get that funding.
JOURNALIST: You spoke about a lack of volunteers before over the past few years. Can you go into a little bit of that?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: COVID, in particular, disrupted volunteering across the country. We have been working hard with Volunteering Australia to build that back up. So we have put in place a National Strategy for Volunteering, along with an action plan. I’ve also been working with the peak associations in all states and territories to make sure that we’re providing funding for them to look at groups that may have been excluded from volunteering in the past. And we’re actually also running a new national campaign encouraging young people to look at volunteering. It’s called Hanging Out to Help Out. So these are really important elements to encourage volunteering. But I would say that we are seeing some green shoots of this investment. We are seeing, anecdotally, volunteers coming back and wanting to play a role, and speaking with the volunteers at this neighbourhood centre, hearing that they want to give back to the community is really heartening. And we’ve also heard, of course, the connections that are made through volunteering and being part of a community.
JOURNALIST: Of those 50 community houses that you mentioned before. Are they predetermined or are applications open?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: We are providing the funding to the Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association to take applications and deliver that money. They are best placed and have the experience to do this. They have run a similar program with philanthropic money so they know how to do this. So we’re partnering with the national association to administer those ones.
JOURNALIST: And is there a state by state allocation or is it first in best dressed?
KEIR PATERSON, CEO OF NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSES VICTORIA: We will assess all the applications, and they will be granted on the merit of the application. But we also look at the geographical spread to make sure it’s equitable state by state.
JOURNALIST: Do you know how many are based in Tasmania compared to other states?
MICHELLE EWINGTON, PRESIDENT OF NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSES TASMANIA: So here in Tasmania, we have 35 neighbourhood houses that are funded through a variety of means. We’re very lucky to have state government funding and a commitment to such valuable and vital services.
JOURNALIST: Is there a part of Tasmania that really takes up a lot of those 35 services, or how are they spread out?
MICHELLE EWINGTON: They are dispersed right around the state. Each of them have their own diverse communities that they work with. They listen to the needs of communities. They fill the gaps for vital services that are required across the state, and each of those will have a great interest in applying for specific project funding as a result of this grant.
JOURNALIST: You really rely on this funding. This 15K – is it enough?
MICHELLE EWINGTON: Funding is essential to keep our services alive. We have such loyal staff in these organisations that stretch themselves immensely to actually deliver on the much-needed services for each community. So whilst these grants are going to be very useful and of interest, the continued funding for such important services, having been here today listening to the stories of this great house itself, the experiences of the volunteers here, the more funding that can be provided to houses right across the country, but particularly here in Tasmania, it’s essential.
JOURNALIST: What types of programs are being offered?
MICHELLE EWINGTON: Across the state there’s a diverse range of programs, from supporting people with learning to drive and mentor programs to offering social inclusion activities. Here we have a program called Happy Hookers Crochet Club. We offer cooking classes across the state. We bring services in so that they can meet the community where the community is. Community connectors is an important role that actually allows those that are vulnerable, those who may not have the skills, those who might not have the confidence, to approach the relevant services and get the referrals they need.
JOURNALIST: So for people coming through the door, what are some of the challenges that they’re facing?
MICHELLE EWINGTON: The challenges that communities face again are complex. The cost of living – we see that every day. Things like our food relief programs, the increased need for those. When we think about isolation and loneliness and the impact on communities, again, another important need addressed by our houses. There are a number of other skill building programs which might not be accessible to people through other means, and so neighbourhood houses fill a vital space in our communities and in amongst government services.
JOURNALIST: Have you seen a change in the community needs post COVID?
MICHELLE EWINGTON: I think the change is pretty evident in in terms of the common themes that have come through – cost of living, impacts on mental health, loneliness, concerns about health access, housing. All of the things that we know are big ticket items. At a grassroots level, the neighborhood houses are the places where we hear this, where we learn this, and where we support this.
JOURNALIST: There are calls for an urgent inquiry into the childcare sector, following a Four Corners expose into abuse, sexual misconduct and neglect. Would you support an inquiry, and in what form?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: First, I would say that our Government has taken the safety and quality of early learning and care incredibly seriously. In fact, it was Labor that introduced the National Quality Framework, which has done really important work in ensuring that we’re lifting the quality and safety of our early learning sector. But in addition, Minister Clare and Minister Aly commissioned an important report around child safety requirements under the National Quality Framework, and all Education Ministers have agreed to implement those recommendations. So the work really is working across the board with all states and territories to implement these recommendations. I would say that the majority of early childhood education settings and the workers that work in there do the right thing. For those that are not doing the right thing, there needs to be swift action.
JOURNALIST: And do you think there is swift action at the moment?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well as I said, predominantly the regulatory enforcement does come down to states and territories. However, as I said, Minister Clare and Minister Aly have worked and commissioned a review into child safety. There are now recommendations that all Education Ministers have agreed to. It’s important that those recommendations are implemented.
JOURNALIST: The sector’s propped up by $14 billion in Federal funding, and there have been increased incidents and breaches in every state. What are you doing to prevent money for educators’ pay rises just going to the profits of centres?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, let’s be really clear if, if educators and centres sign up for the pay increases, they have to deliver those through pay increases. The program that involves funding educators’ wages must be given to educators. That’s first and foremost. Secondly, we are driving improvement in this sector. It was neglected under the previous Government, who, in fact, opposed the introduction of the National Quality Framework. So it is important that we continue to work with our state and territory colleagues who are responsible for implementing it, but I want to see, importantly, action taken where we see quality improving and safety being lifted.
JOURNALIST: Given the systemic failures and serious breaches in childcare uncovered by Four Corners, does the Federal Government need to take over regulation to ensure children’s safety?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, we think that there is an important role to be played by both state and territory governments and the Commonwealth. It is a joint responsibility around the National Quality Framework. We have been working hard, as I said, through the Education Ministers, to do a review through the National Quality Framework to ensure that child safety is reviewed, and it’s a responsibility for states and territories, along with the Commonwealth, to deliver this.
JOURNALIST: I guess, circling back to that first point, on calls for inquiry. Should there be one? Have you seen the reports from Monday on Four Corners?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Of course, child safety has to be at the forefront at all times. And as I said, this has been something that Minister Aly and Minister Clare have had as a real focus. That’s why they commissioned the review. That’s why they’ve taken the recommendations to the Education Ministers, and that’s why they are focused on implementation. We need to ensure that the implementation of these recommendations are made. That’s critically important, and we’ll keep working with states and territories to ensure that happens.
JOURNALIST: But no fresh inquiry?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: There was a review done in 2003 after a decade of neglect by the previous Government. There are recommendations made. It is now down to implementing them.
From May 1, the oral contraceptive Slinda (drospirerone) will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This means the price will drop for the more than 100,000 Australian women who currently use it – from around $A320 a year to around $94.
It’s the third contraceptive pill the federal government has added to the PBS this year, after Yaz and Yasmine. But these two are combined oral contraceptives – meaning they contain both the hormones oestrogen and progestogen – whereas Slinda is progestogen-only.
So, Slinda is a little bit different – here’s how it works and what it will cost.
What is Slinda and how does it work?
Oral contraceptive pills contain active ingredients based on the female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone to prevent pregnancy.
Contraceptive pills with both hormones are known as combined-contraceptive pills. Progesterone only pills are often referred to as mini-pills.
The active ingredient in Slinda is a progestogen, which is a synthetic derivative of progesterone, which makes the medication a mini-pill.
Slinda works by stopping ovulation (the ovary doesn’t release an egg) and making the mucus in the cervix thicker so sperm cannot get into the uterus from the vagina.
Both combined contraceptive pills and mini pills effectively prevent pregnancy, but their suitability varies for different women. Mini-pills, including Slinda, can be 99% effective if used perfectly – but with typical day-to-day use, they provide only around 93% protection.
Who will find Slinda useful?
Slinda may be a particularly beneficial alternative for people who can’t use contraceptives containing oestrogen.
This may include women who are older, overweight, or prone to migraines. This is because oestrogen is known to increase the risk of blood clots which lead to deep vein thrombosis – already a higher risk for older and overweight women.
Similarly, combined pills containing oestrogen aren’t appropriate for those who’ve had a baby in the last 21 days or are breastfeeding. Lower levels of oestrogen are needed in a woman’s body post-birth as it stimulates prolactin, the hormone responsible for milk production. Taking an oestrogen-based pill can potentially interfere with that.
Slinda can be taken at any time after childbirth, including while breastfeeding, and generally remains a safer option for people with a history of blood clots or migraines.
Slinda also has advantages over other, older generations of progestogen-based contraceptive pills. Mini-pills such as Microlut and Noriday have no pill-free days, whichs means if a woman misses taking the pill by even a few hours it can increase her chance of becoming pregnant.
The pill-free window for Slinda is 24 hours. This means if you are less than 24 hours late it’s considered a late pill, not a missed pill. If you take the late pill as soon as you remember, and then the next pill at the normal time, you should have effective protection from unwanted pregnancy.
The potential side effects for Slinda are similar to other contraceptive pills. Women may find that their period may stop altogether, or they may experience bleeding irregularities or spotting, as well as breast tenderness.
The pill may also not work effectively if it’s not taken correctly every day, or if it is taken with other drugs, such as the anti-viral ritonavir and anti-seizure medication phenytoin.
If a woman is suffering from vomiting or severe diarrhoea, Slinda may not be effective and she should use back-up contraception such as condoms.
There are other progesterone-only contraceptive options available on the PBS, such as levonorgestrel pills and implants, including the intrauterine devices, Mirena and Kyleena.
Why was Slinda added to the PBS?
Slinda has been available in Australia since at least 2004, but not at a subsidised price.
In November 2024, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee recommended Slinda’s listing on the PBS. The committee cited several reasons, including advice from doctors, the need to provide women with more contraceptive options and Slinda’s longer pill-free window.
At a stakeholder meeting in October 2024, doctors stressed the need for more choice for women, when choosing a pill.
They highlighted women starting an oral contraceptive pill for the first time will often first use PBS-subsidised medications, even though a non-PBS product may be more suitable for them. Slinda’s listing makes it a more accessible first choice for women.
As Slinda is a prescription-only medication, if you wish to change pills or start on the drug you will need to consult your doctor. If you do change, from May 1 and based on similar PBS medications, you can expect to pay around $31 for a four-month supply.
Nial Wheate in the past has received funding from the ACT Cancer Council, Tenovus Scotland, Medical Research Scotland, Scottish Crucible, and the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance. He is a fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Nial is the chief scientific officer of Vaihea Skincare LLC, a director of SetDose Pty Ltd (a medical device company) and was previously a Standards Australia panel member for sunscreen agents. Nial regularly consults to industry on issues to do with medicine risk assessments, manufacturing, design, and testing.
Jasmine Lee and Shoohb Alassadi do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Man charged following evade incident in Huon Valley
Tuesday, 18 March 2025 – 2:33 pm.
Police have today charged a man with several offences following an evade incident in the Huon Valley. The man was arrested yesterday when the vehicle he was allegedly driving was intercepted on Swamp Road at Franklin. The 50-year-old man of no fixed address has been charged with several offences including motor vehicle stealing, evade police, drive while disqualified and assault a police officer. He was detained to appear before the Hobart Magistrates Court this afternoon.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released a new set of updated financial benchmarks to help small business owners take the pulse of their business.
Updated annually, the ATO’s benchmarks act as a health check, allowing small business owners to compare their performance including average expenses against other businesses in the same industry.
Quotes attributable to ATO Assistant Commissioner Tony Goding:
‘The benchmarks are a valuable tool for small businesses wanting to stay in good financial health.’
‘Think of our benchmarks like a routine test you take with your GP each year. These can help small businesses diagnose their strengths or spot the early warning signs.’
‘Whether you’re running a pizza shop, pet store or a plumbing business, the benchmarks can help you see how your business stacks up.’
‘If your numbers are outside of the benchmark range compared to others in your industry it may be time for a closer look at your business plan.’
‘Businesses that remain within industry benchmarks are generally less likely to attract the ATO’s attention.’
‘While we never use the benchmarks in isolation, small businesses who fall outside the ATO’s benchmarks are more likely to trigger a closer examination from us to identify if they are making mistakes or deliberately doing the wrong thing.’
The ATO takes non-compliance with tax seriously. Small businesses avoiding their tax obligations are participating in the shadow economy which puts pressure on Australians who are doing the right thing.
Deliberate shadow economy behaviours contribute nearly 60% of the gross small business income tax gap or around $11.2 billion per annum in missing tax. Approximately $8.9 billion of this is associated with under reporting of income and over claiming of deductions.
‘The benchmarks are just one of the tools we use to tackle the shadow economy, along with community tip-offs and data matching.’
‘It’s all about levelling the playing field for honest businesses who are being undercut by their dishonest competitors that aren’t paying the tax they’re supposed to,’ Mr Goding added.
The benchmarks cover 100 industries and over 2 million small businesses around the country. The industries include:
Accommodation and food
Building and construction trade services
Education, training, recreation and support services
Health care and personal services
Manufacturing
Other services
Professional, scientific and technical services
Retail trade
Transport, postal and warehousing.
Small business owners who need help understanding how to improve their business performance can consult a business adviser or registered tax professional. The ATO’s online learning platform Essentials to strengthen your small businessExternal Link can support small business owners to prepare for these conversations, as well as further understand their tax and super obligations.
The benchmarks are accessible on the ATO website and via the ATO app business performance check tool. The key benchmark ratios can also be downloaded from data.gov.au.
Example
The below example shows a small business using the ATO benchmarks to compare its performance to similar businesses in the same industry.
Anna’s pizza shop
Anna operates a pizza shop as a sole trader. Anna wants to know how her business compares to her competitors and how she can improve her business.
Anna searches online for ‘pizza shop benchmarks’ and finds the ATO small business benchmarks. She follows the instructions to download the ATO app. Then, she goes to the business performance check tool.
Anna enters her details into the business performance check tool. She learns the key ratio of cost of sales to turnover for her shop is 44%.
While this is within the range for businesses in her industry with a turnover of $550,300, Anna sees that the range for cost of sales starts at 37%. She realises some of her competitors have lower cost of sales.
Anna looked at other suppliers in the market and got a better deal to reduce her business’s expenses and improve profits.
A vacancy fee return is an online form that you lodge using Online services for foreign investors once a year while you own the residential property.
The information required includes how many days in a vacancy year your property was occupied, that is:
occupied by the owner living in the property
rented by a tenant
made genuinely available for rent.
You or your representative must lodge the vacancy fee return within 30 days from the end of each vacancy year using Online services for foreign investors.
How a vacancy fee applies to you
A vacancy fee is a fee that you pay when your residential property is vacant for 183 days (6 months) or more in one vacancy year. By living in the dwelling or making it available for rent, you may not need to pay the fee.
Note: Established dwellings purchased as a principal place of residence cannot be rented or leased. The property needs to be genuinely occupied by foreign owners or their family members.
You may need to pay a vacancy fee if your residential dwelling is not:
residentially occupied
genuinely available on the rental market
rented out for 183 or more days (6 months) in a 12-month period.
A vacancy fee may also apply if the vacancy fee return is not lodged by the due date.
When you lodge your vacancy fee return, the confirmation page will tell you if you are liable to pay a vacancy fee and the amount you need to pay. You can pay the fee when lodging the return or within 30 days of lodging the vacancy fee return.
The vacancy fee is based on the fee amount you paid when you submitted the foreign investment application.
After you’ve lodged we will email you a notice of liability of the vacancy fee payable that includes the following:
information on the reason we are charging you this fee
the fee amount payable
payment details
the due date.
It is important you use the correct payment reference number (PRN) when making a payment.
Changes to legislation mean that for vacancy years that start from 9 April 2024, the vacancy fee will be double the foreign investment application fee. This applies for all residential properties that are within scope of vacancy fee.
Example: calculating the vacancy fee
Myeong purchased a newly developed townhouse for $850,000 as an investment property in Geelong. Myeong paid a foreign investment application fee $13,200 and settlement occurred on 1 August 2022. Each year in August, Myeong is required to lodge a vacancy fee return.
If Myeong is liable for a vacancy fee, for:
the vacancy years 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023 and 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2024, the fee would be the same as the foreign investment application fee of $13,200
the vacancy year 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025, the vacancy fee will be double the foreign investment application fee. The vacancy fee will therefore be $26,400
End of example
If you acquired the dwelling under a New or near-new dwelling exemption certificate held by a developer, the vacancy fee payable will be based on what the foreign investment application fee would have been for the dwelling had the exemption certificate not been in place.
If the application fee was waived, the vacancy fee is based on the lowest foreign investment application fee that would have been payable.
In the case of joint tenants, only one vacancy fee will be payable. For tenants in common, the fee payable will be based on the foreign investment application fee that was payable by each individual tenant.
The vacancy fee may also apply where a foreign person failed to submit a foreign investment application but purchased a residential property before 9 May 2017.
Joint owners or multiple dwellings
If the dwelling is owned by 2 or more people as joint tenants, you only need to lodge one vacancy fee return.
If you own a share of a dwelling as a tenant in common, you must each lodge a vacancy fee return.
When multiple dwellings are constructed on the land, you must lodge a vacancy fee return for each new dwelling constructed.
When you are not required to lodge a vacancy fee return
You are not required to lodge a vacancy fee return but are required to update your details if any of the following occur during a vacancy year:
the dwelling is sold or otherwise legally transferred (including if the owner dies)
you are no longer a foreign investor.
You do not have to lodge a vacancy fee return if you own vacant land and a dwelling has not yet been constructed on the land. You must lodge a vacancy fee return once a dwelling has been constructed and for each new dwelling constructed.
If any other changes occur, such as changes to your foreign person status or property, you can update your details.
More information about conveyancers, real estate agents and other persons charging a fee for services is available the Tax Practitioners BoardExternal Link website.
In applying the vacancy fee rules, a vacancy year is each successive period of 12 months starting on the occupation day for the dwelling during which you have continuously held an interest in the dwelling.
A vacancy year is unique to each dwelling held by you. It is not a calendar year or a financial year.
What is occupation day
The occupation day is the first day you have the right to occupy the dwelling. This will typically be the:
settlement day for an established dwelling
day on which a fitness for occupancy certificate for a new dwelling was issued.
Edmond is a foreign person who purchased an apartment that settled on 5 October 2022. As this was the date the apartment could be lived in, the occupancy date for the apartment is 5 October 2022.
As long as Edmond is the owner of the property and is a foreign person, he is required to lodge a vacancy fee return for each vacancy year.
The vacancy year starts from the occupancy date for the apartment. For Edmond, the first vacancy year is 5 October 2022 to 4 October 2023.
Edmond must lodge his first vacancy fee return by 3 November 2023. This is the date that is 30 days after his vacancy fee year ended on 4 October 2023.
His vacancy year for each subsequent year is 5 October to 4 October.
End of example
When is a dwelling residentially occupied
A dwelling is considered residentially occupied if any of these situations last for at least 183 days in a vacancy year:
The owner or a relative of the owner genuinely occupied the dwelling as a residence.
The dwelling was genuinely occupied as a residence subject to lease or license for minimum terms of 30 days.
The dwelling was made genuinely available as a residence on the rental market (with minimum terms of 30 days).
Residential occupancy of at least 183 days does not need to be one continuous block of time. Residential occupancy can be made up of multiple continuous periods of at least 30 days throughout the vacancy year.
If a dwelling is made available for a short-term lease of less than 30 days (including via web-based stay sites) it is not residentially occupied. These dwellings are liable for a vacancy fee.
We consider a dwelling genuinely available for occupation as a residence (with a term of 30 days or more) if it is:
made available on the rental market
advertised publicly
available at a market rent.
You may need to provide supporting evidence to prove a dwelling was residentially occupied during a vacancy year. For example, if you are requesting a fee waiver on the basis that the dwelling was occupied.
How to lodge a vacancy fee return
You should lodge a vacancy fee return using Online services for foreign investors. Select either:
From July 2023 when you register a residential dwelling, you will receive an asset identification number (asset ID), previously known as a land registration number.
If you:
received a vacancy fee reminder from us, the number will be in the email
have not received a vacancy fee reminder, you may need to register your asset first in Online services for foreign investors to receive an asset ID.
Vacancy fee exemptions
You do not pay a vacancy fee if you can show that your dwelling was incapable of being occupied as a residence for at least 183 days in a vacancy year. You must still lodge a vacancy fee return to claim this exemption.
Your dwelling may be considered incapable of being occupied as a residence if any of the following apply:
The dwelling is damaged, unsafe or is otherwise unsuitable to be occupied as a residence.
The dwelling is undergoing substantial repairs or renovations.
Occupation of the dwelling as a residence is prohibited or legally restricted by an order of a court or tribunal or a law of the Commonwealth, state or territory.
A person (who may or may not be the foreign person) who ordinarily occupies the dwelling was absent from the dwelling due to receiving long-term, in-patient, medical or residential care.
You may be required to provide acceptable supporting evidence to prove the dwelling was incapable of being occupied.
Vacancy fee waivers
We only waive or remit fees in limited circumstances.
The vacancy fee waiver form is not available in Online services for foreign investors.
If you do not lodge your vacancy fee return by the due date, you may be liable to pay a vacancy fee. This is regardless of the number of days the dwelling was residentially occupied during the vacancy year.
If you are directed to pay the vacancy fee for failing to lodge, you will receive an email from us. The email notice will provide the following information:
reason we are charging the fee
amount of the fee you have to pay
payment details
due date.
You may be liable for an infringement notice or a civil penalty if you do not:
lodge a vacancy fee return on time
keep records that are relevant to your liability for vacancy fees.
You are required to keep these records for at least 5 years after the end of each vacancy year.
Latrobe man charged with drug and traffic offences
Tuesday, 18 March 2025 – 2:00 pm.
A Latrobe man has been charged after an evade incident yesterday, and a subsequent search where police seized a quantity of drugs. Around 11am officers from Task Force Scelus attempted to intercept a vehicle on Forbes Street at Devonport. The vehicle evaded officers and police subsequently searched a residence in Devonport and took a man, alleged to have been the driver, into custody. During a search at the property police seized a quantity of methamphetamines. The 40-year-old man from Latrobe has been charged with several drug and road safety related offences including with trafficking in a controlled drug and aggravated evade. He was detained to appear before the Devonport Magistrates Court today.
Woodville Gardens man Bill Frangos was murdered more than three hours before his Essex Street home was set alight in a bid to destroy evidence, Major Crime Investigation Branch detectives have revealed.
In a significant development in the murder investigation, detectives have also revealed they believe those responsible for the murder returned to the scene in a distinctive grey Holden Commodore shortly before lighting the fire.
CCTV has revealed just after 3.30am on 7 November 2024 the grey Commodore – which has a silver front bumper panel, damage to the front passenger door and a black tyre rim on the front passenger side – was parked on Ridley Grove at Woodville Gardens, a short distance from Mr Frangos’ Essex Street house.
A man wearing a backpack was seen walking from the grey Commodore towards the Essex Street house and a short time later CCTV captured it erupting in flames.
The vision also shows what detectives believe to be the same man then running back to Ridley Grove and leaving the area in a southerly direction in the grey Commodore.
In December detectives released CCTV of a red Ford Falcon XR6 utility leaving the vicinity of the murder. New CCTV footage reveals two people returning to this vehicle before it leaves. Investigations have revealed these two people are male of African appearance.
This vehicle has been seized by detectives as part of the investigation.
This new CCTV footage captured the two men walking between Mr Frangos’ address and back to the utility parked in nearby Parker Street on a number of occasions between 10.30pm and midnight on 6 November 2024.
Detectives believe the same two men are responsible for Mr Frangos’ murder and the subsequent arson attack on his home. It is believed the two men and Mr Frangos were acquainted and the murder is not random.
Major Crime Investigation Branch Officer-in-Charge Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke appealed for anyone with information on the whereabouts of the grey Commodore or who knows of any individual associated with it to contact police.
“It is a distinctive vehicle, particularly with the silver front bumper panel, that people will certainly recognise,’’ he said.
“The investigation is now moving rapidly, but we are still seeking information from the public to obtain more evidence that will assist us in rebuilding the full picture of what happened that night.
“We are confident there will be a resolution in the case as investigations continue. The net is closing in on those responsible for Bill’s murder. Now is the time to come forward with information.’’
Anyone with any information on the grey Commodore or those associated with it during the evening of Wednesday 6 November and the early hours of Thursday 7 November are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The 72 hours after the sexual assault of a child can be a crucial window for police to collect biological evidence and document signs of bruising or injury.
But this procedure – known as a forensic medical examination – can be scary and invasive.
In new research published with colleagues, I interviewed ten children (aged 4-16) and their parents about their experiences attending a Melbourne paediatric hospital in the hours after an alleged assault.
This was a small group, but their stories shed light on wider concerns. Addressing them can help put children first in what may be the most traumatic time of their lives.
Its purpose is to gather biological evidence from the victim to help police identify an offender and prosecute them.
At a hospital crisis care suite, the child will speak to a specialist doctor (a forensic paediatrician) alongside another clinician, usually a psychologist or social worker. Police also attend.
The doctor will take the child’s medical history, as well as asking for an account of the assault.
The doctor swabs relevant areas – such as the child’s vulva, vagina or anus – to collect biological materials that may be present, including saliva or semen. They will also look for injuries or bruising.
This examination can be uncomfortable and can take hours. It may also be emotionally harrowing, for the child as well as their carer.
In the following days, children often need to give another statement to police and are referred for counselling.
A child usually attends a forensic medical examination alongside their parent. fizkes/Shutterstock
A trauma-informed approach means prioritising a sense of safety for children who have experienced trauma, building trust and sharing control, to avoid retraumatisation.
This means explaining to children and their carers what is going to happen next, gaining their consent and giving them some control over the timing and pace of any interventions (such as being swabbed).
Children and families have different – sometimes traumatic – experiences of dealing with health services and police. So considering a child’s personal history and culture is important.
However there is still little research examining children and young people’s experience of crisis care.
My study involved seven girls, two boys and one non-binary child, aged between four and 16. In the days or weeks after their examination, I interviewed the child and the parent who attended hospital with them, both individually and together (in child-parent pairs).
The interviews uncovered four areas that were important to children and their parents.
1. Repeating their story but not feeling heard
After they first report their experience, children need to tell their story several times to various strangers.
This means sharing highly personal details while distressed to people who often don’t have the time to get to know them, their context, family, previous trauma history or culture.
Fiona* (16) found this aspect of the process “very, very, very stressful.”
Some said repeating their story felt like they had to convince professionals it was true.
Layla (14) commented:
I felt like I was the one in trouble.
2. Being treated with care matters
Several young participants discussed feeling “traumatised,” “intimidated” and “ashamed” during the examination itself.
Seven-year-old Sasha told us about the doctor who examined her:
She kept saying, ‘Lie still,’ and it was hard for me to just lie still. Then she just, when she did the examination […] I was crying on the bed, and it hurt me […]. And she just looked at me. Because she’s seen me crying and she just looked at me.
But when the doctor, or the clinician was caring – and took time to understand them and their individual needs – it helped ease some of the distress.
One parent, Kaye, felt the clinician “had this incredible demeanour and heart about her” and helped her child “understand what was going to happen.”
Other young people appreciated the clinician helped them with panic attacks and “made us feel relaxed.”
The youngest participant Ava (4) said she liked that she was given a teddy bear.
Children told us caring gestures – such as providing a teddy bear – made the experience less scary. fizkes/Shutterstock
3. Unpleasant surroundings made the experience worse
Some participants described the space where the forensic medical examination took place as small and unwelcoming.
Dylan (16) felt it was “unsafe”, while Ava said it was “a bit scary”.
Examination spaces need to be kept forensically clean. In the hospital where these examinations took place, that meant there were no windows, pictures on the walls or soft furnishings.
Several young participants felt it showed what had happened to them was somehow shameful. As Felicity explained:
it was frightening. […] You’re just walking down a really long corridor, all these white […] ceilings and walls. And it was kind of just like a bit […] not welcoming, not nice and hidden away.
Parents often felt sidelined or unheard before, during and after the examination.
Samira (a parent) said she didn’t feel like her concerns were understood:
I come from a different background, I don’t know what is happening and I don’t know what to ask. I’m not very trusting of police.
Children themselves worried about their parent. As Layla said:
it’s not just me that’s going through this, it’s my mum. […] I feel like she should be able to have that support too. None of it was offered to her.
One parent said they’d been “sent home without any support”. Another had a sense of being “just left there and wondering what to do”.
Responding to the whole child
The children and adults I interviewed made clear they wanted a holistic approach.
They wanted professionals (including doctors, clinicians and police) to not only pursue justice on their behalf, but also listen and respond to their physical, emotional and social needs and take into account their particular context and culture.
The response needs to make children and their families feel safer – not more scared.
It also needs to help them recover from the trauma, including counselling for both parents and children without long waitlists.
The National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.
*Names have been changed.
Caroline Whitehouse is employed by the Northern Centre Against Sexual Assault, which is affiliated with the peak body Sexual Assault Support Services Victoria (SASVic). She was previously employed by the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, where this study took place. The Royal Children’s Hospital, along with LaTrobe University, gave ethics approval for the study.
Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
Former ambassador Phil Goff is the latest (so far) and (probably) the least of many ‘statesmen’ who have invoked Munich and the ‘resolute’ Winston Churchill (a backbench MP in 1938) in the cause of good-war mongering. (Refer Winston Peters sacks Phil Goff as UK High Commissioner RNZ 6 March 2025, and What Was Actually Wrong With What Phil Goff Said?, Giles Dexter, RNZ and Scoop, 7 March 2025.)
The Munich narrative is central to the ‘Good War’ morality trope, through which democracies (especially the United States) justified wars of aggression; what used to be called ‘gunboat-diplomacy’ in the British days of empire. It’s the now-commonplace narrative that frames any putative war to be fought by a ‘liberal democracy’ against an ‘autocracy’ (ie fought by us against them) as a contest between Good and Evil; and if we don’t “stand up to” Evil – anywhere and everywhere – then Evil goes on to ‘win’, and subsequently to dominate and exact tribute as a regional or global hegemon.
The corollary of the Munich narrative is that Good should never give up, even if Evil is winning on the battlefield; Good neither surrenders to Evil nor negotiates with Evil. Not ‘at any cost’. The logical conclusion of this is that, if that’s what it requires for Good to prevail, life on Planet Earth could be forfeit; better Dead than Red or Black. Earth’s tombstone, left for a future intergalactic explorer to discover, might read: “At Least ‘Atila the Hun’ [substitute any Eurasian ‘Devil’] Did Not Win”. Peter Hitchen (see below, p.27) notes: “one day, this dangerous fable of the glorious anti-fascist war against evil may destroy us all [through our rulers’ vanity]”.
Phil Goff is an example of persons who know just enough fragments of popular history to think they can use a historical argument to substantiate their rhetoric. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, meaning that superficial knowledge may be more problematic than ignorance. On the Munich question, Phil Goff is in good company. Peter Hitchens, in The Phoney Victory (p8, p20), cites the former Prince of Wales (now King) as making the same mistaken views about World War Two and the Ukraine-Russia War, as moral crusades.
(Meanwhile, as well as trying to cut disability benefits as a result of boxing itself into a corner, Keir Starmer UK government – unlike the political leadership of Canada and the European Union – is doing everything it can to appease Donald Trump on international trade and other matters.)
For readers’ interest, Stevan and Hugh Eldred-Grigg have written a New Zealand take on World War Two that does not follow the ‘Good War’ trope: Phoney Wars: New Zealand Society during the Second World War, Otago University Press 2017.
Were Neville Chamberlain’s actions at the September 1938 Munich Conference wrong?
No, neither with foresight nor hindsight. If Britain and/or France had signed a pact with Czechoslovakia similar to the one they signed with Poland in 1939, they would have been committed to declaring at most a phoney war. Neither had the capacity to wage war on Germany nor to come to Czechoslovakia’s aid. At best, British hostilities against Germany in 1938 would have been as ineffective as they were in Archangel, Russia, in 1918.
Popular sentiment was absent in 1938 in the United Kingdom towards war with Germany. That situation had changed by March 1939 after Germany fully annexed Bohemia and Moravia, the territories that make up twenty-first century Czechia. Due in part to changed popular sentiment, the British and French responded differently when Poland was similarly threatened in 1939. The western ‘powers’ declared war on Germany following the first attack on Poland, but did almost nothing to fight Germany or to protect Poland during what became known as the ‘Phoney War’. (The phoney war ended with the German conquest of France in May 1940.)
The 1939 declaration of war was arguably more duplicitous than the 1938 declaration of peace. Poland’s half-century-long tragedy – far worse than anyone today, except for a few professional and amateur historians, realise – began to unfold. (France briefly invaded Germany’s Saarland in 1939, southeast of Luxembourg, before withdrawing. Nowhere near Poland.) The war in 1939 in Poland, remote to the United Kingdom, was far from ‘phoney’.
Examples of invoking or evoking ‘appeasement’ and /or ‘Munich’ and/or Churchill on behalf of ‘democracy’:
Peter Hitchens gives these post-WW2 examples (pp.13-17):
President Harry S Truman, in December 1950, re the continuation of the Korean War
Anthony Eden, 1956, to justify the Suez War (which first brought Israel into an external war of aggression)
President Lyndon Johnson in July 1965, justifying the escalation of the Vietnam War
US Secretary of State George Shultz in February 1984, re conflict in Nicaragua
US Deputy Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger, in August 1989, before the US invasion of Panama
George Bush (senior) in June 1990, re the first war against Iraq (noting that the initial response to the immanent invasion of Kuwait was not unlike Churchill’s lesser-known response in 1938, to the German reoccupation of the Rhineland [“more talks”])
Bill Clinton’s 1999 comparison of Slobodan Milosevic to Hitler, in the context of the probable secession of Kosovo from Milosevic’s Serbia
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, in 2003, justifying the second invasion of Iraq
President Trump’s aids in June 2017, referring to Barack Obama’s Cuba initiative
Winston Churchill’s worst Appeasement, and Atrocities
The worst act of appeasement that I can think of was Winston Churchill’s kowtowing to Joseph Stain at Yalta (Crimea) in the second week of February 1945 (ref Hitchens p.6 and Wikipedia citing Leo McKinstry, “Attlee and Churchill: Allies in War, Adversaries in Peace”, Atlantic Books, 2019, Ch 22). According to McKinstry “When Churchill arrived at Yalta on 4 February 1945, the first question that Stalin put to him was: ‘Why haven’t you bombed Dresden?’.”
Ten days later, Churchill did indeed firebomb Dresden, immolating 25,000 people – mostly civilians and refugees. Stalin (metaphorically) said “jump”, Churchill said “how high?”. And Churchill delivered.
Dresden was far from Churchill’s only actual or intended atrocity. Operation Gomorrah, on Hamburg at the end of July 1943, was a worse 24-hour atrocity than Dresden. The malevolent intent of that ‘raid’ lies in the biblical name given to the operation. While it was largely a test-run and forerunner for later bombings – including a forerunner of the firebombing of Tokyo exactly 80 years ago – it killed more than 35,000 mostly civilians “in their homes”.
(As a single event the firebombing of Tokyo on the night of 9 March 1945 – Operation Meetinghouse – caused easily more deaths [100,000] than Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima [70,000] or Nagasaki [35,000]. In the mainstream media, I saw no 80th-anniversary commemoration stories of this ‘worst-ever in the history of the world’ attack on civilians. Now is a timely time for us to be reminded about this kind of aerial megadeath.)
The third Churchill atrocity to mention was the Bengal famine of 1943, which killed three million people. Encyclopedia Britannica says that “the 1942 halt in rice imports to India did not cause the famine, and the 1943 crop yield was actually sufficient to feed the people of Bengal. It was ultimately special wartime factors that caused this difficult situation to become a disastrous famine. Fearing Japanese invasion, British authorities stockpiled food to feed defending troops, and they exported considerable quantities to British forces in the Middle East”. Churchill’s atrocities have been justified on the basis that the casualties were to them while saving some of our lives. But the people of Bengal were, at least notionally part of us, citizens and civilians of the British Empire.
In Wikipedia: “Madhusree Mukerjee makes a stark accusation: “The War Cabinet’s shipping assignments made in August 1943, shortly after Amery had pleaded for famine relief, show Australian wheat flour travelling to Ceylon, the Middle East, and Southern Africa – everywhere in the Indian Ocean but to India.” Indeed, Bengal was required to export rice to Ceylon to support British naval operations there. Of Churchill’s major atrocities, this was the only one to be mentioned in Netflix’s recent over-the-top account Churchill at War.
The Netflix ‘docuseries’ does at least mention Churchill being sidelined by the Americans in late 1943 and 1944. Churchill was sidelined from the top table of war-command largely on the basis of his penchant for atrocities and his unwillingness to confront Germany head-on (an unwillingness that could have been interpreted as ‘appeasement’, and probably was understood as such by the Americans). Churchill indulged in a number of side-wars, including a successful invasion of Madagascar in 1942; an invasion that put paid forever to the 1940 German fantasy of resettling Eastern European Jews there.
The Americans took much longer than Churchill to become convinced about the merits of holocaust-scale bombing than did the British. It would seem that the British burning of Hamburg – which was bombed because it was there, easily accessible from Britain – left quite a bad taste upon some American commanders, and indeed upon President Roosevelt himself. (We note that the atrocious American incendiary bombings of Japan in March 1945 were undertaken after Harry Truman became Vice President, and in the context that Roosevelt was seriously ill, and died soon after the February Yalta ‘Peace’ Conference.)
Churchill’s final atrocity to mention here never actually happened, except to create an environmental disaster on a Scottish Island (Gruinard, Britain’s mysterious WW2 ‘island of death’ Myles Burke, BBC, 22 April 2024). It partly explains some of Churchill’s reticence towards the D-Day invasion of Occupied France. Churchill had another plan, which he seems to have kept secret from his Allies: biological warfare, Anthrax.
“The plan was to infect linseed cakes with Anthrax spores and drop them by plane into cattle pastures around Germany. … The proposed plan would have decimated Germany’s meat supply, and triggered a nationwide anthrax contamination, resulting in an enormous [civilian] death toll. … The secret trials carried on until 1943, when the military deemed them a success, and scientists packed up and returned to Porton Down. As a result, five million linseed cakes laced with Anthrax were produced but the plan was ultimately abandoned as the Allies’ Normandy invasion progressed, leading the cakes to be destroyed after the war.” The test programme on Gruinard was cynically called ‘Operation Vegetarian’. “Gruinard was not the only site where the UK conducted secret biological warfare tests, but it was the first. The consequences of what happened there stand as a grim testament to both the dangers of biological warfare and humanity’s capacity for destruction.”
Have Bill Clinton and subsequent US presidents drawn inspiration from Brezinski’s 1997 essay as a clarion call for world domination?
Zbigniew Brezinski’s call for US world hegemony seems not much different to what Richard Evans claims was Hitler’s aim: “Hitler’s obvious drive for European and eventually world conquest.” (Zbigniew Brzezinski, “A Geostrategy for Eurasia,” Foreign Affairs, 76:5, September/October 1997; review of Peter Hitchens’s Eurosceptic take on the Second World War, by Richard J Evans, New Statesman, 26 Sep 2018.)
Evans’ claim about Hitler is obvious hyperbole; Germany never could have had the capacity to “conquer” the world. (Think of the socio-geographic limits to the Roman Empire.) But the Nazi imperial vision for Germany was to create a mega-state in Central Eurasia that would have hegemony over the rest of the world. Is there any country in the twentieth or twenty-first century which has sought such ‘unipolarity’; sought to be the world’s one-and-only superpower, which expects other countries to say “how high?” whenever it says “jump”?
Perhaps there is? Did Brezinski – Henry Kissinger’s 1970s’ foreign policy rival – spell it out in 1997?
Finally
‘Appeasement’ is like ‘Antisemitism’; the powers-that-be only have to say either word to silence commonsense debate about peace and war and genocide. As Hitchens points out (p.27): “We have mythologised the experience so completely that [politicians] only have to say the word ‘appeasement’ to silence opponents and bring legislators and journalists to their side, on any wild adventure.” Phil Goff is a hapless victim of what Joseph Mali and Shlomo Sand have called “mythistory”.
Wars since the 1930s are no more ‘moral’ than were wars before that time. (Indeed, if we wish to personalise it, WW2 at its core was a war between Hitler and Stalin; neither men are commonly described as ‘moral’.) In fact, recent wars are less moral. WW2 became the first major war in which civilians were actively targeted as a predominant military gambit. This approach to war is now becoming entrenched, with drones replacing soldiers, and civilians evermore in the firing line.
We should not be coerced into supporting wars on the basis of narratives by powerful know-not-much persons or cliques dropping words like ‘appeasement’, ‘Munich’, ‘Churchill’ or ‘Hitler’. Wars are very costly, but the costs are not usually paid – at least in the short term – by those elites who promote them from far away.
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Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
As most of us appreciate, there is a whole geopolitical world that overlays the formal political world of about 200 ‘nation states’ (aka ‘polities’). Geopolitical fractures – a result of the ‘big games’ over and above the ‘rules-based order’ – occur in all sorts of places, sometimes through provinces, even counties. Their significances wax and wane, as geopolitics itself is a dynamic game of changing exceptions and allegiances, and the expansions or contractions of ‘real estate assets’.
How about this one, given the apparent detaching of the United States of America from the liberal democratic western alliance? (Is the western alliance – which includes Canada – in the process of becoming a set of American proxies, like certain Latin American countries, rather than a partnership? Or is it a process of divorce?) Point Roberts is a United States enclave within the Greater Vancouver urban area. Should Canada – or British Columbia – file for Point Roberts? It would be the tidy thing to do, as part of the divorce settlement.
Geopolitics operates on at least two levels. There are the big fractures, where potential world wars – hot and cold – are simmering. Then there are the smaller fractures, such as those between the European Union and its neighbours: Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, Cyprus. And those within the world’s mini-empires: Denmark vis-à-vis Greenland; Australia vis-à-vis Norfolk Island; New Zealand vis-à-vis Cook Islands; France vis-à-vis New Caledonia.
At an intermediate level are boundary disputes between Japan and Russia (Kuril Islands), India and Pakistan (Kashmir), India and China (Himalayas), and Rwanda and the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). Then there are new hot-fractures being created through civil wars; such as that between the Arabic and African worlds within Sudan, Islamic and Buddhist populations within Myanmar, and different ethno-cultural minorities within (and on the edges of) Syria and in the west of China.
There’s also a growing north-south sectarian divide in Nigeria (reflecting complex geopolitical game-playing in the Sahel, to Nigeria’s north and northwest), Africa’s most populous country. And there are geopolitical pushes and pulls in the non-EU Balkans. Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina (European countries with majority Islamic populations) have become effective proxies of the United States; the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina is fractured almost fifty-fifty, the other part being the autonomous though unrecognised Russian-aligned Republika Srpska. (China is currently building a north-south railway through the Balkans from Piraeus in Greece to Budapest in Hungary, while the European Union is sponsoring a new railway from Albania in the Adriatic Sea to Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.)
Finally, there’s a big geopolitical tension within the core Islamic world, which has led to the long-running civil war in Yemen; the two sides being proxies for Iran and for Saudi Arabia; for Tehran and for Riyadh.
The players – the ‘Great Powers’
At present, it would seem, the United States of America, which sees itself as the world’s preeminent geopolitical player, is impatient for conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine to end, so that it can get on with its ‘game of choice’, namely the ‘new cold war’ conflict with China.
We should note that, in Geopolitics, the players are typically identified by the countries’ capital cities. Thus, the United States becomes Washington, the United Kingdom becomes London, and the European Union becomes Berlin or Brussels. Sometimes the players are or have been referred to by power-centres within cities, such as the Kremlin (Moscow), or the Quai d’Orsay (Paris). (The New Zealand equivalent might be ‘Bowen Street’!)
Beijing and Taiwan; and Washington
I saw this Daily Telegraph story in the New Zealand Herald last weekend: Chinese navy practices amphibious landings with new barges in South China Sea. To this end Taiwan is the American proxy through which the conflict may be waged; just as Ukraine and Israel are American proxies; proxies in the most visible of the world’s current geopolitical hot wars.
From the story: ‘Emma Salisbury, a sea power research fellow at the Council on Geostrategy’ says “The fact Beijing has permitted details of these barges to become public signals the threat China poses in the region.” No, it doesn’t. It indicates that China is – had has been for decades – playing the geopolitical game of ‘optics’. Beijing is saying to Washington “don’t mess with us”, rather than “we are going to mess with you”.
Kinmen and Lienchiang Counties, Fujian. But what country?
Is this the world’s least understood geopolitical faultline?
The central piece of geography in the New Cold War is understood to be the Taiwan Strait; indeed we routinely see pictures of that Strait on our news bulletins. Usually, they look like these BBC versions:
The clear tale being told here in these maps is that there is a simple border in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China, and that there are two countries, Taiwan and China. The constitutional reality is that there are two regimes claiming constitutional sovereignty over a single estate. We may call these regimes China-Taipei and China-Beijing. (In the Olympic Games and other sports, Taiwan competes as Chinese-Taipei.) The official name of the two regimes are Republic of China (RoC), and Peoples Republic of China (PRC). (I once watched a story on TV3 News involving some Beijing-Chinese people in New Zealand. TV3 mistakenly showed pictures of a China Airlinesaircraft, when it should have been Air China.)
The BBC’s two-country optics are neat and tidy (compared to the one-territory two-regime reality), but is negated by the presence of two Taiwanese counties in the territory of Fujian province, PRC; Kinmen and Lienchiang (although Kinmen is sometimes called Jinmen or Quemoy, and in China Lienchiang is spelt ‘Lianjiang’). At its closest point, Kinmen (Taiwan) is 4km from the large Chinese city of Xiamen (and 190 km from the Taiwanese mainland); indeed Kinmen is located in Xiamen harbour, just as Rangitoto Island is in Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour. (Xiamen has the same population size as New Zealand, just over five million people.) Lienchieng is the Taiwanese portion of Lianjiang county, a subdivision of Fujian. (We note that Taiwan still uses the ‘postal’ style of anglicisation of Chinese names that was generally used before the 1970s; eg Peking instead of the Pinyin form, Beijing.)
From the inception of the United nations in 1945, until 1971, China-Taipei (aka Taiwan) held a permanent seat on the Security Council, with the right of veto). This only changed in 1971 after US President Nixon, committing to reality over narrative, moved towards rapprochement towards China (although the United States was not ready for the UN recognition switch in 1971); while at the same time fudging the issue of the status of Taiwan. That fudge remains the official status quo in the international ‘rules-based-order’.
We should also note that Taiwan (RoC) withdrew from the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games, due to its erosion of status as a recognised nation-state, with particular note that Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, had led the realpolitik move, recognising China in 1970.
This map correctly shows all of Taiwan, noting the black dashed lines. And this shows Taiwanese Fujian. This huge geopolitical boundary between West and East passes through the Chinese province of Fujian.
Geopolitical Implications
Presumably the people in these counties, for the most part, prefer the status quo and hope that it can be maintained indefinitely, and without military hostilities.
If there was a push for Taipei to repudiate its constitutional claim to all of China – for example as a means to de jureindependence as its own sovereign state – it is difficult to see how this could happen without Taipei ceding Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to Beijing. That would indeed be the minimum price Taipei would have to pay for Beijing to abandon its claim over all of Taiwan.
In effect, these two counties are hostages to both regimes. If the United States or any other United States’ aligned nation-state invaded China, then it would be realistic to expect that Kinmen and Lienchiang would be snaffled-up by Beijing; maybe one county immediately and, for leverage, the other staying on as a hostage.
On the other hand, if the United States was to escalate its optical war against Beijing into a fully-fledged ‘cold war’, it might install threatening military equipment into Kinmen or Lienchiang, much as the Soviet Union did in Cuba in 1962. Thus these counties represent leverage of Taipei (acting as a proxy for the United States) over China.
It would be hard to see China not-responding to such provocation. Further, in such a hostile context, China would be tempted to activate its claim over the whole of Taiwan, and not just the two counties in Fujian.
So, the untidy one-country two-regime status quo should be simply left as it is. Speculative political rhetoric against Beijing or Taipei should be treated by the international community as tantamount to diplomatic ‘hate-speech’. And simplistic media stories which represent Taiwan only as an island 100 kilometres away from China, should be corrected. Responsible media – unlike the BBC or the Daily Telegraph – do not distort the known truth.
We don’t want to end up in a major geopolitical conflict as a result of politicians and political journalists not even knowing or understanding the location of the China/Taiwan border. The border anomalies result from the pragmatic settlement of a military conflict between the two Chinese regimes; a conflict that took place in the decade after 1949.
Lessons for the Ukraine-Russia conflict
The present military boundary between Ukraine and Russia passes inside three recognised provincial boundaries of Ukraine: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. (The provinces of Luhansk and Crimea should be off the negotiating table; the world has to accept that they are now, for better or worse, de facto or de jure, territories of Russia; albeit unrecognised in the same way that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are Russian territories unrecognised by the United Nations. (And Northern Cyprus for that matter, as an unrecognised Turkish territory inside the European Union nation of Cyprus; a territory which untidily passes through the Cyprus’s capital, Nicosia.)
Successful negotiations to end wars have to take account of military realities. China’s 1950s’ concessions to Taiwan over Kinmen and Lienchiang show that such splits need not impede a long-lasting and workable peace. What does impede a transition to peace is the insistence on substantial one-sided deviations from the military reality at the time of a ‘cease-fire’; certainly, the side that is at a military disadvantage should not be demanding one-sided concessions from the other side.
Lessons for Palestine-Israel conflict
In 1967 and 1973, there were major wars between, in essence, Israel and Egypt. The lands most under contention were those that we call ‘Occupied Palestine’ (and ‘Occupied East Jerusalem’) today; though other lands were captured (especially the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria). The 1967 War was started by Israel under the pretext that Egypt was about to invade Israel. Israel unambiguously won this war. (In 1967, Israel even attacked – deliberately – an American naval vessel: USS Liberty.)
Israel had not thought-through the strategic consequences of its annexation (from Egypt and Jordan) of Gaza and the West Bank. Israel was working towards an acceptable way of incorporating Palestinian Israelis into the ‘Jewish State’. Now, all of a sudden, they found themselves with an enlarged country with a majority (or near-majority) Palestinian population. A legal fiction – replacing the language of ‘annexation’ with that of ‘occupation’ – enabled the non-Jewish populations of the ‘occupied territories’ to be treated as, at best, third -class citizens.
The 1973 War – started by Egypt, principally to regain its Sinai territory – triggered changes to the global architecture of capitalism. After the advantage switched from Egypt to Israel, Israeli troops crossed the Suez Canal and were heading towards Cairo when the cease-fire was called. Subsequent negotiations, over six years, saw Israel’s military successes eroded into something like the present situation in which Palestinians living in Palestine are citizens of nowhere.
After two military victories, through the 1978 Camp David Accords, Israel found that it had forfeited almost all its military gains; for Israel it felt like they had won the war but lost the peace. The result of the process was a substantial and unfortunate switch to the Right in Israeli politics. Since then, especially since the 1990s, Israel has been looking for ways to annex a Palestine free of Palestinians; to cleanse Palestine of Palestinians as part of an unapologetic annexation process undertaken with the full blessing of its geopolitical patron.
Proxy Warfare
Most wars today, including ‘civil wars’, are proxy-wars funded (on one side at least) by external patrons. While Ukraine has been a proxy of the United States for most of this century, Ukraine is now morphing into a proxy of Brussels and London; of the barely-elected Starmer (one-third of the vote in a low turn-out election) and an unelected Ursula von de Leyen (a bureaucrat who’s not even a Member of the European Parliament).
On Al Jazeera News (6am New Zealand summer time, 18 March 2025), it was reported that Donald Trump posted this message on his favoured social-media platform: “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” (See this quote on U.S. Air Campaign Against Houthis Continues Into Third Day, TWZ, The War Zone.)
This is a clear statement that the United States President, at least, believes that the patrons of proxies are the real antagonists, and should be deemed responsible – indeed ‘criminally responsible’ for misdeeds of aggression – for acts performed by their proxies. It should be quite easy to apply this dictum, at least allegorically, to the big hot wars of the moment: Ukraine and Palestine.
Conclusion
We can avoid most wars by finding pragmatic solutions to geopolitical conflicts, accepting realities as they stand, and avoiding inflammatory rhetoric towards others. We have avoided violent conflict in and around the Fujian geopolitical faultline by not, so far, trying to find and impose final tidy solutions.
Likewise, to find peace in the world’s current military hotspots, we have to accept and negotiate around the current realities of those situations. Most importantly, we follow the ‘first law of holes’: ‘if you are in a hole, stop digging’. Inflaming sensitive situations through speculative assertions about the other side’s escalating malevolence are unhelpful.
In today’s wars the western ‘liberal democratic’ side is not even close to being the ‘good guys’ in wars framed as good-versus-evil. The conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine demonstrate that these wars – like most past wars – represent the ‘hot’ phases of geopolitical game playing; wars are ‘bad guys’ versus ‘bad guys’, and such wars end through transactional deals. (The antagonists may be different shades of bad; and there are always good victims, though many of these are not ‘perfect victims’.) The ‘bad guys’ include the patrons of the proxies. Further, contemporary warfare targets civilians rather than soldiers.
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Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
SINGAPORE, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ACT Group welcomes seasoned sustainability professional John Davis as Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to accelerate their growth and deliver measurable climate impact across this rapidly expanding market.
With a career in sustainability solutions spanning 20 years, Davis recently led South Pole as their Interim CEO through a critical restructuring and funding round. Throughout his 10-year tenure there he held various leadership roles, including Global Commercial and Director for APAC, where he successfully expanded the company’s regional operations and drove strategic growth initiatives.
“We are delighted to welcome John to ACT in this crucial role to accelerate the growth of our business in APAC,” said Colin Crooks, CEO of ACT. “His extensive experience, including leadership positions at South Pole, has equipped him with a profound understanding of the sustainability landscape. John has years of experience in carbon finance and emissions trading and is a superb leader. His vision aligns perfectly with ACT’s mission to provide innovative environmental solutions and empower our clients to achieve their sustainability goals efficiently and transparently.”
Prior to South Pole, Davis held senior trading and origination roles at CF Partners and Spectron Group, executing high-value carbon and energy market transactions.
Expressing his enthusiasm about joining ACT, Davis shared, “I am incredibly excited to be joining ACT, and moving with my family from Sydney to Singapore, a city we love. The Asia-Pacific region is central to global energy sector decarbonization and the world’s transition to Net Zero, and Singapore is a key player in this movement, continually pushing the boundaries of innovation. I am eager to collaborate with the exceptional team at ACT across the region to make a meaningful impact in the various jurisdictions that are striving to decarbonize their economies over the next five years and beyond.”
Reflecting on his decision to leave South Pole, Davis said, “It was tough, but it was the natural end of an entrepreneurial cycle that I was incredibly proud to be part of. After some time out of the market to reflect, it was clear that the journey ACT is embarking on, in its next global growth chapter under Colin’s leadership, is an incredible opportunity.”
Davis succeeds Federico Di Credico, who established ACT’s Singapore office in 2022 as Managing Director. Di Credico now serves as ACT’s Global Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer.
Davis’s hiring comes as ACT continues to enhance its ability to serve clients as the global one-stop-shop for decarbonization and environmental solutions. In 2024, ACT opened a seventh global office in Tokyo, joining locations in Amsterdam, New York, Paris, London, Shanghai, and Singapore, as it continues to enhance its capabilities through strategic acquisitions and bolster its position as a global leader in environmental solutions.
The Removalists was first performed in 1971 at La Mama Theatre, Carlton, by the Australian Performing Group, an ensemble of young graduates, artists and friends.
A beacon of the New Wave of Australian drama, David Williamson was part of a new generation of theatre artists who were interested in reflecting Australia back to its audiences. Now one of Australia’s most prolific playwrights, Williamson’s early plays are part of the repertoire of modern Australian classics.
The Removalists was just his fourth play. A brutal commentary on Australian masculinity, it was a dark turn for the young artist.
A crooked cop, an easily corruptible young constable, a boozy husband and father who beats his wife and demands his dinner, and a removalist who sees no evil, does no evil. A new production by the Melbourne Theatre Company, directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, celebrates the enduring appeal of the play.
A suburban police station
We begin in a police station. Young constable Neville Ross (William McKenna) is being inducted into the force by a bitter, manipulative, rule-bending sergeant, Dan Simmons (played with menace by the moustachioed Steve Mouzakis).
When middle class sisters Kate (Jessica Clarke) and Fiona (Eloise Mignon) enter to report domestic violence, Simmonds asks invasive questions about Fiona’s relationship to her beer-swilling loudmouth husband Kenny (Michael Whalley).
Fiona initially expressed uncertainty about making the complaint. Kate insisted on going to the police. The action that follows exposes the humiliation that accompanies reports of domestic violence.
The production exposes the humiliation that accompanies reports of domestic violence. Pia Johnson/MTC
In an excruciating moment, Kate stands by watching while Simmonds asks Fiona to show him the bruises on her back and upper thigh. Fiona is unsure as she turns her back to the auditorium, slowly pulls up her jumper and exposes the bruises on her bare back.
Under Sarks’ direction, it is a moment filled with empathy.
Enter the removalist
The action shifts in act two to Fiona’s place. Expecting Kenny to be out drinking, Simmonds – who is expecting sexual favours from Kate – and Ross arrive to help Fiona move into her new flat. But Kenny is home, and sprays a string of obscenities at the policemen. Simmonds cuffs him – and lands a few quiet punches.
The removalist (Martin Blum) interrupts the action, while turning a blind eye to the mayhem. The entrances and exits of the removalist and Ross and the moving of furniture, punctuate the drama with comic effect, injecting a light touch in the midst of the play’s violence.
The removal of furniture injects a light touch in the midst of the play’s violence. Pia Johnson/MTC
When the sisters and the removalist leave, the cops beat Kenny in an orgy of violence that is so relentless and brutal, it descends into farce.
The bloody ending has something of the Grand Guignol to it – the 19th century theatre of revenge that descends into comic horror but also raises serious questions about violence in the contemporary real life world.
Critiquing white Australia
Clever balancing of humour and social commentary is the key to Williamson’s critique of the law in relation to violence against women.
In an era of diverse casting, Sarks has cast The Removalists with an all white cast, laying the violence of the play at the feet of white Australian culture.
Matilda Woodroofe’s costumes contribute to the play’s critique of Australian culture. Kenny wears a pair of footy shorts and a t-shirt, Blundstone boots and short black socks, evoking the unoffical uniform of the ocker male Australian.
Onstage seating echos the intimate space of the original theatre, La Mama. Pia Johnson/MTC
In a novel touch, Dale Ferguson’s set adds rows of onstage seating for those who would like a much closer view of the action. Not only do they get a stronger sense of the onstage actors’ energy and presence, they experience the play as the original audience did in the tiny La Mama theatre.
Just as playwright Williamson targeted a conservative macho ocker culture in the early 1970s, this revival can be understood as its contemporary counterpart. Sarks highlights the particular kinds of violence that is systemic within Australian culture that continues today.
Sarks accords the female characters more dignity and independence than earlier versions. They deliver the same lines, but with confidence that speaks of their self-assurance. Kate uses her gaze to put Simmonds, the disgusting older cop, in his place. After her humiliation at the police station, Fiona rejects Kenny’s appeals.
Sarks accords the female characters dignity and independence. Pia Johnson/MTC
These subtle and not so subtle changes in the delivery of the women’s lines show how directing an historical play can resist the ideologies that determined more passive roles for women in the past.
The Removalists is at Melbourne Theatre Company until April 17.
Denise Varney received funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project Scheme.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Following the Trump administration’s abrupt cuts to USAID funding last month, the online international disaster database EM-DAT (normally funded by USAID) went dark for a week.
EM-DAT collates data on the occurrence and impacts of thousands of mass disasters worldwide and records both human and economic losses in a publicly available dataset. It relies on various sources, including United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations, but also news reports.
The vulnerability of this database to the Trump administration’s cuts highlights the need for New Zealand to take charge of its own data on the damage caused by extreme events.
Currently, New Zealand has no dedicated disaster loss database. This means we don’t know how much extreme weather events and other types of disasters are costing us.
Two events in 2023 – Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods – illustrate this problem. They were by far the costliest weather disasters in New Zealand’s modern history and we know they were exceptionally damaging.
But we don’t know the aggregate financial losses they caused, and the different sources shown in the table below provide conflicting numbers, none of them comprehensive.
Without understanding the magnitude of the problem, our ability to prevent damage or recover from extreme weather is diminished. It is indeed difficult to manage what we don’t measure.
In the face of these unknowns, most other countries, including Australia, are investing in the collection, collation and analysis of their own data to make informed decisions about disaster risk management. It is high time New Zealand did the same.
The limits of New Zealand’s data on loss and damage
Currently, data on extreme weather costs have come primarily from the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) or from EM-DAT, whose data sometimes come from less reliable sources. New Zealand’s reliance on a private source and an international organisation leaves us with data that could charitably be described as fragmented, incomplete and unreliable.
ICNZ figures showing insurance payouts for disasters are commonly used by the government and media as a proxy for total cost. But private insurance accounts for only a small share of the losses resulting from some extreme weather. Roads, bridges and many other parts of public infrastructure are not insured; many private assets are not insured either.
Furthermore, wealthier communities tend to be better insured and hence receive higher payouts. The ICNZ data imply they experience more damages than poorer, less insured communities, even when that is not the case.
As climate change brings more extreme weather, more homes will likely be under-insured. Phil Walter/Getty Images
Globally, insurance tends to retreat when the risks become too high to be covered affordably. We expect that in the future a higher number of homes and businesses will be under-insured. Relying solely on data on insured damages will hence provide us with an increasingly partial picture of damages caused by extreme weather.
The second main source of disaster loss data is EM-DAT. In principle, it aims to include all damage costs (not just insured ones), but the approach does not necessarily result in more accurate numbers.
As the graph below shows, ICNZ can be counted on to provide reliable data for all large events, but there are frequent gaps in EM-DAT’s data for New Zealand. It is also clear that the difference between ICNZ private insurance payouts and total cost estimates from EM-DAT is too small to accurately reflect uninsured losses.
In previous research (co-authored with Rebecca Newman) we identified other gaps in the EM-DAT international estimates of extreme-weather costs, most notably for wildfires, droughts and heatwaves.
Damages from these events are largely uninsured and so are not included in the ICNZ data either. Yet their likelihood is increasing because of dramatic changes in our climate.
We only have a partial picture, and a potentially very misleading one at that – both in terms of the size of the problem and how the problem is changing.
Nevertheless, the data from the ICNZ and EM-DAT are still the best we have for understanding what is happening.
When EM-DAT temporarily went offline last month following the termination of its funding from USAID, we received a crude reminder of how critical this resource is in the global context. How can we talk about disaster risk management and risk reduction when we have no idea what is going on?
Effective policy relies on accurate data
There are myriad ways in which a disaster-loss database for New Zealand could be used effectively by central and local government, insurance and banking companies, weather-exposed industries such as agriculture, community organisations and by individuals.
Policies about flood protection, planned relocation (managed retreat), climate adaptation, insurance pricing, banking regulation, home loans and infrastructure maintenance should all be informed by knowledge of the risks from extreme-weather events and other hazards.
A concrete example of how useful this data would be is for planned relocations. We need a clear perspective of the history of flood events in different communities and comprehensive assessments of past damages in order to quantify the future costs of relocations. Without these data, how can we decide which financial arrangements for relocation are fiscally sound?
A comprehensive New Zealand disaster-loss database is possible. As a nation we have the datasets we need, but these are held within different government agencies and other organisations, with no centralised collection or reporting.
Hidden there is everything we need to understand the current situation and plan better for the future. We just have to make the decision to invest in collecting and curating this data.
Stats NZ would be the data’s logical host, given the agency’s extensive experience in collecting and posting data to help us organise our society. Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods should have convinced us we need this. Maybe EM-DAT going dark, and thus obscuring a worldwide risk, should convince us even more.
I am grateful for the contribution of Jo-Anne Hazel (writing) and Tom Uher (data collection).
Ilan Noy is a member of the scientific committee of EM-DAT (pro bono).
It’s annoying to open your dishwasher after the cycle is finished only to find half of the dishes still wet. Instead of being able to stack them away, you end up with a full drying rack.
And you’ve probably noticed it’s always plastic items that end up the most wet. What’s going on?
The answer is a bit convoluted and requires some materials and physics knowledge, but bear with me.
Plastics have very different properties to ceramics and metals – the stuff your plates and cutlery are most likely made out of. Two key things play a role: one is how the materials store heat, and the other is what happens on their surfaces.
How dishes store heat
If you take your dishes out of the dishwasher promptly after the cycle ends, you’ve likely noticed that plates, glasses and ceramic mugs are still hot, while plastic containers don’t feel warm at all.
This relates to their heat capacity, sometimes also referred to as the “thermal mass” of these materials. Ceramics, glass and metals can store more heat, and it takes longer for them to give it away to their surroundings than it does for plastics. In other words, ceramics and metals cool down more slowly.
Since evaporating water takes energy and cools the surface – which is also how your body cools down on a hot day as you sweat – plastics cool down faster, leaving much of the water on the surface.
Ceramic, metal and glass items retain heat better than plastics – so they dry faster. Velik/Shutterstock
How water behaves on different surfaces
The other part of the problem is in surface energy, which tells us how water wets different surfaces.
You’ve probably seen water droplets bead up on things like high-end rain jackets or non-stick frying pans. These surfaces are called hydrophobic, meaning they “fear” water. This is also the case for most plastics, although not always to such a dramatic effect.
On the other end of the spectrum, surfaces like many ceramics and metals are coated with water easily. That’s because they are more hydrophilic or “water-loving”.
On a hydrophobic material such as a rain jacket, water will bead into droplets. Ondra Vacek/Shutterstock
But there’s another factor here – and it has to do with dishwashers, in particular. Dishwasher detergent contains a mixture of chemicals, mainly surfactants – substances that lower the surface tension of water.
Surface tension is the property of the material’s interface (for example, between solid and liquid, or liquid and gas) that tells us how much energy it takes to create a larger surface. By adding detergent to water, we reduce its surface tension. This makes it easier for the water to spread over surfaces it encounters (even over these hydrophobic plastics), in turn making it easier to wash your dishes.
More importantly, the surfactants in detergent are molecules that have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic chemical groups. This makes them a kind of link between water and fats. Since oil and water don’t like to mix, a surfactant helps to “blend” the latter and have it float in water, helping remove any oily residues from your dishes.
This happens in the main washing cycle. After rinsing, the chemicals get removed and your dishes are sprayed with clean water so you don’t have to taste the detergent in your tea.
So, at the end, water beads up on your hydrophobic plastic dishes and spreads all over your more hydrophilic ceramic plates, cups and metal pots. A large bead of water evaporates more slowly than when the same amount of water is spread more thinly over your plates and pots.
On top of that, ceramic dishes retain more heat, which makes them dry more quickly – the water that’s already spread more thinly just evaporates faster.
Is there anything I can do to make plastics dry faster?
You’ve probably heard about rinse aids that are added to the rinse cycle. Their key ingredients are different types of low-foaming surfactants and chemicals that make water softer. Some “all in one” dishwasher tablets may already contain a small amount of rinse aid and the makers provide instructions on how to use them in a safe and efficient way.
Rinse aids also lower the surface tension of water, making it easier for water to wet and run off the surfaces, preventing it from beading up and reducing streaks.
This also works on plastic dishes, leaving much less water behind. Some dishwasher manufacturers recommend using rinse aids because in addition to drying dishes faster, they can prevent corrosion of dishwasher parts from detergent residues.
Is there anything else you can do to dry the dishes faster?
There is one thing that is really simple: just crack the door open as soon as the cycle is finished and it’s safe to do so, so that water vapour can escape. If hot air and moisture instead remain trapped in the dishwasher, the water vapour will condense on all surfaces, like dew before dawn.
At the end, you have a way to make most of your dishes drier after the cycle, although you may still end up with a first-world problem in the form of some wet plasticware. There will be less water on it if you use a rinse aid according to instructions, and open the dishwasher when safe, after the cycle is completed.
Kamil Zuber 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.
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Released 17/03/2025
Canberrans can enjoy a new level of environmental protection from today as the Territory’s right to a healthy environment takes effect in the Human Rights Act2004.
The ACT is the first Australian jurisdiction to enshrine this vital human right in legislation.
The right to a healthy environment encompasses the right to clean air, a safe climate, access to safe water and adequate sanitation, healthy and sustainably produced food, non-toxic environments to live, work, study, and play, and healthy biodiversity and ecosystems.
It also includes the right to access information on environmental matters, participate in environmental decision-making, and seek access to justice where the right may be breached. The inclusion of the right will also ensure environmental and climate considerations feature in ACT public authority functions and decision-making.
Canberrans can make a complaint to the ACT Human Rights Commission if they believe the right to a healthy environment has been breached or not considered in a decision by a public authority.
Quotes attributable Tara Cheyne, Minister for Human Rights.
“The ACT continues to be a leader in human rights, and this right takes a ground-breaking step forward for human rights legislation reform in Australia.
“The right to a healthy environment is recognised in law internationally, but this is the first time it has been recognised in Australia.
“Our community is facing pressing challenges from climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss each of which poses serious risks to other human rights, including the right to life and the right to equality, threatening the wellbeing of our community.
“Enshrining the right to a healthy environment is essential for the full enjoyment of other human rights.”
Quotes attributable to Suzanne Orr, Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water:
“I’d like to thank Minister Cheyne for her leadership on this nation-leading reform.
“Canberrans love their bush capital and have been among the strongest supporters for Climate Change Action in the nation.
“Having a right to a healthy environment is another demonstration of our appreciation for our environment and our commitment to leading the way on looking after it.”
Quotes attributable to Dr Pene Mathew, ACT Human Rights Commissioner:
“This is a really significant step in recognising that we all depend on a clean and healthy environment to be able to lead good and happy lives.
“While the right to a healthy environment can’t address climate change and environmental harms on its own, incorporating this right within our ACT human rights framework means that public servants and government agencies will now have to consider environmental impacts when they develop and implement policies and laws.
Quotes attributable to Nicole Sommer, Director of Legal Practice at the Environmental Defenders Office:
“Today is a historic day for the ACT and for the nation, as the first Australian jurisdiction recognises what we know to be true – that our wellbeing and security depends on access to a healthy environment.
“The ACT is leading the nation with this ground-breaking reform. We applaud the ACT legislature for acting so quickly to embed this into its existing human rights laws.
“As the climate crisis worsens, this right is only becoming more critical.”
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Released 17/03/2025
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the ACT School Volunteer Program, through which hundreds of individuals have volunteered as mentors to ACT public school students in our primary and secondary schools.
So many Canberrans have benefited from the generous contribution of these volunteers, who provide an extra tier of support for students through their conversation and connection.
In 2024 alone, more than 135 mentors volunteered across 40 schools. The volunteers typically meet weekly with their mentees, engaging with them through one-on-one activities to support literacy and numeracy, or by collaborating with them on craft, cooking, Meccano or Lego projects.
The Program recruits, trains and manages the volunteers in partnership with the ACT Education Directorate, with the latter providing facilities and support at the Headley Beare Centre for Teaching and Learning for training of mentors and committee members.
The volunteers share insights gained through their own lives and boost confidence and attitudes to learning through conversation and connection.
Some mentors have been with the Program since it began, returning each year to continue this invaluable work.
I thank all of the volunteers, including past and present committee members, for their contribution to the success of the Program.
I also acknowledge Directorate staff who have provided training and advice to the volunteer mentors to support the enrichment opportunities they offer our students.
Quotes attributable to Ms Nola Shoring, President of the School Volunteer Program ACT:
“I’m delighted the Governor General, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn, a past ACT public school student herself, will join us for the ACT School Volunteer Program’s anniversary celebrations.
“The then Governor-General, the late Major General Michael Jeffery, officially launched the Program at North Ainslie Primary School in 2005, so it is wonderful and fitting that Her Excellency can join us to celebrate the impact of each of our volunteers over the past two decades.
“I’d like to thank the ACT Education Directorate for its continuing commitment to our close working partnership, and the busy principals and teachers who have made space in their programs for our volunteers – it is at the schools that the magic happens.
“I’d especially like to recognise the students who have embraced the opportunities this very special intergenerational Program has provided.
“Each one of our mentors has valued the opportunity to help make a difference in these young people’s lives, and has in turn benefited greatly from the interactions they have shared.”
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This year, from March 17 to 23, communities across Australia will come together to celebrate the vibrant tapestry of our multicultural nation during Harmony Week.
The week-long celebration will feature a variety of events, all aimed at fostering inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
“Our cultural diversity is one of Australia’s greatest strengths, showcasing our commitment to multiculturalism, respect, and belonging for all, regardless of cultural or linguistic background,” said Minister for Multicultural Affairs Michael Pettersson.
“As the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I am excited to celebrate Harmony Week with you and reflect on how each of us can do more together to stamp out racism,” said Minister Pettersson.
“We should all take the day as an opportunity to focus on the urgency of combatting racism wherever and whenever it arises,” said Minister Pettersson.
The ACT Government is dedicated to fostering a harmonious and unified community where everyone feels included, respected, and valued, regardless of their background or experiences. This commitment is enshrined in the Charter for Multiculturalism under the Multiculturalism Act 2023.
“I am proud that in the ACT, we have introduced a new positive duty for organisations to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment, and unlawful vilification.
“This is a crucial step towards ensuring that everyone in our community feels welcome and has the same opportunities to participate in and contribute to the life of our city,” said Minister Pettersson.
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Released 17/03/2025
Six local emergency service members have been recognised for their contributions to the Canberra community, with each receiving an ACT Community Protection Medal at a ceremony today.
The Community Protection Medal was established in 2002 to acknowledge police and emergency services members who have made sustained and distinguished or outstanding service to the community.
The medals are awarded each year, with Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, Dr Marisa Paterson presenting medals to the recipients during a ceremony at Regatta Point today.
Minister Paterson said that these six recipients embodied the best of our emergency service staff and volunteers.
“I’m deeply impressed by the unwavering dedication of the people in these agencies in ensuring the safety and well-being of our community,” said Dr. Paterson.
“Today’s award recipients are being acknowledged for their excellence in training, response, membership, and health and wellbeing, and they should all should be very proud of their work.”
“They are true examples of the outstanding individuals within our emergency services. In times of crisis, they are the people who step up. We have seen this recently with our personnel heading to Queensland.”
“We also extend our gratitude to the families for their ongoing support. The commitment, the deployments, and the overnight and public holiday shifts is what allows us to live in a safe and secure city.”
“To the six award recipients, on behalf of the ACT community and the ACT Government, we extend our heartfelt congratulations and thank you for your service.”
The six recipients of the 2024 ACT Community Protection Medal are:
Michael Caldwell, ACT Ambulance Service
In recognition of his commitment to the provision and improvement of professional pre-hospital emergency services within the ACT Ambulance Service Communication Centre. During his 14-year career with the Service, Michael has progressed through the Communications Centre as a call taker, to now being the Coordination Officer. His leadership and experience has assisted in building the knowledge of the team around him, ensuring the Canberra community have call-takers who can respond effectively in times of need.
Commander Guy Cassis, ACT Fire and Rescue
In recognition of his distinguished and outstanding contribution to community safety through the awareness and promotion of firefighter health, safety and wellbeing. Throughout his 22-year career, Commander Cassis has dedicated his time, over and above that required of his regular duties, to develop and improve process and procedure around firefighter safety, including being a Peer Support Officer and Health and Safety Representative.
Mr Colin Dawes, ACT Emergency Services Agency
In recognition of his leadership within ESA for almost 20 years. Whether an emergency event or day-to-day operations, Colin consistently provides outstanding service, working tirelessly to deliver aid and support to the Services as they respond and help the community. During the most recent emergency events of fire, smoke, storm, and the pandemic, Colin proved himself to be an adaptable, reliable, competent, and compassionate leader, colleague, and mentor.
Detective Sergeant Lauren Gilliland, ACT Policing
In recognition of her sustained distinguished and outstanding service to the ACT community over the past 15 years as an extremely highly regarded and effective police officer, instructor, mentor, and role model. Detective Sergeant Gilliland’s work has revolutionised the delivery of training and investigations into sexual offences and child abuse in the ACT and is now recognised internationally as best practice. Detective Sergeant Gilliland has had a major positive contribution to the lives of numerous victims in Canberra and is an exemplary police officer in every regard.
Commander Adam Hartnett, ACT State Emergency Service
Adam has significantly increased membership participation and ensured robust ready team for emergency callouts. His active participation in all aspects of the SES, from frontline operations to training and community engagement exemplifies his commitment to service. Adam has fostered a culture of preparedness and resilience, ensuring his team is always ready to provide critical assistance to the ACT community during storms, floods and land searches.
Ms Nicola Lewis, ACT Rural Fire Service
In recognition of her sustained service to training and recruitment across the ACT Rural Fire Service. For the past 15 years Nicola has provided outstanding service to individual and collective training, recruitment, and provided administration and operational support to the Service. During her service, Nicola has served as the Gungahlin Brigade Training Coordinator and has coordinated 10 firefighter courses. She has also been the lead assessor across courses and her knowledge and wisdom will shape the next generation of firefighters within the ACT Community.
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The ACT Government is delivering an early election commitment with a new bus network uplift as part of our practical plan for public transport in Canberra.
This new timetable will support more rapid, local and school services from Monday 28 April 2025, the start of term 2.
The uplift aligns with the opening of Australia’s largest all-electric bus depot in Woden as network benefits and efficiencies are realised from this nation leading infrastructure.
There will also be more services for the growing Molonglo region. Rapid services between Denman and the city will start earlier, at 6:05 am, and now run every 15-minutes through the day.
Local services connecting Denman, Whitlam and Belconnen will also start earlier and run nearly three hours later, providing hourly frequency from 6 am – 10 pm with 30-minute frequency during the pm peak.
Additional services for popular routes between Belconnen and the city, and Woden and the city will see buses running more frequently during high demand periods.
Weekdays
Additional Rapid 2 services between Belconnen and the city – 10 extra services in AM peak and 4 extra services in PM peak
Additional Rapid 4 services between Woden and the city – 4 extra services in AM peak and 3 extra services in PM peak
Additional Rapid 10 services between Molonglo and the city – 3 extra services in AM peak and extending 15-minute frequency to all day
Additional Rapid 3 services from the Canberra Airport to the city in the evening
Additional route 47 services between Molonglo and Belconnen – 6 extra trips across AM and PM peaks
Additional route 66 services between Woden and Molonglo
Weekends
Additional Saturday route 47 services between Molonglo and Belconnen – 1 extra service in AM and 2 extra services in PM
An additional Saturday route 46 service between Kippax and Belconnen in PM
Schools There will also be a range of improvements to help students get to various schools. This includes additional services and refining routes so they provide better coverage to surrounding suburbs.
Some services are also being adjusted to better align with bell times based on school community feedback. A full outline of service improvements to schools is available on the Transport Canberra website.
Attribute to Minister for Transport Chris Steel: “This new timetable delivers key parts of Labor’s plan for more frequent local and rapid services that we took to the election.
“We can do this because we have built Australia’s largest all-electric bus depot in Woden which has increased the efficiency of the whole public transport network.
“We’ve heard from the community that some buses are full on certain routes, and we’ve responded by increasing frequency on these routes to meet demand.”
More information for students and families will be provided closer to the start of Term 2 services.
The Albanese Labor Government has appointed Dr Kevin Fewster AM and Dr Bülent (Hass) Dellal AOas members to the Council for the Australian National Maritime Museum for three-year terms.
Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, said the appointees’ industry knowledge would contribute greatly to the boards.
“Kevin has many years of experience working within cultural institutions as well as a deep passion for maritime history which will be a great asset to the council.”
“Bülent is an accomplished academic and who has a keen interest in exploring Australia’s multicultural stories which is something our incredible cultural instutions do with pride.”
The Australian National Maritime Museum is dedicated to exploring Australia’s maritime history through topics of migration, archaeology, ocean science, commerce, culture and lifestyle, and honours the stories of First Nations peoples’ living cultural connection to ancestral waters.
Dr Kevin Fewster AM has held a number of senior maritime heritage sector positions since 1984, particularly in Australia and the United Kingdom. He was previously Director of the Royal Museums Greenwich (2007-2019), the Powerhouse Museum (2000-2007), Australian National Maritime Museum (1989-2000) and South Australian Maritime Museum (1984-1988). He is currently a Patron of the Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network and The Friends of Gallipoli Inc, and a Board member of The Mariners’ Museum in Newport, Virginia. Dr Fewster was previously the President of the International Congress of Maritime Museums, the world peak body for maritime museums, as well as a former Chairman of the Council of Australasian Museum Directors. Dr Fewster was awarded a British CBE and was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to museum administration and the preservation of maritime history.
Dr Bülent (Hass) Dellal AO is Chair of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, and Adjunct Professor at Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. Dr Dellal’s other board memberships include: Chair of Alfred Deakin Institute of Citizenship and Globalisation’s Advisory Board, Board of Directors of the Scanlon Foundation, Board of Directors of The Huddle, and Board of Directors of the Penington Institute. Dr Dellal has given decades of service to multicultural organisations, the arts and the community, promoting a multicultural Australia. In 2015, Dr Dellal was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the multicultural community He has extensive board and council experience, contributing 10 years of service on the Board of Directors of SBS Television and Radio. In 2024, Dr Dellal served as Panel Chair for the Commonwealth’s Multicultural Framework Review.
