Treasurer Daniel Mookhey will today warn parliament that the State’s workers compensation system is unsustainable without reform to how it deals with workplace psychological injury.
Mr Mookhey will set out plans to make greater use of workplace health and safety laws to prevent psychological injuries, instead of relying solely on the state’s workers compensation system as the main response.
In a Ministerial Statement, the Treasurer will also advise Parliament that:
If claims continue growing at recent rates, the State insurer icare expects an additional 80,000 people will make psychological injury claims over the next five years,
For every $1 needed to care for injured workers, the State’s main workers compensation scheme currently holds only 85 cents in assets, and
Without reform, premiums for businesses facing no claims against them are forecast to rise by 36 per cent over the three years to 2027-28.
Mr Mookhey will outline a program of consultation with Business NSW and Unions NSW, as well as other interested parties, to create the reform. The model he will outline will see NSW:
Give the NSW Industrial Relation Commission a bullying & harassment jurisdiction ahead of requiring those claims to be heard there first before a claim can be pursued for compensation. This will allow the Commission to address psychological hazards, fostering a culture of prevention.
Define psychological injury, as well as ‘reasonable management action’, to provide workers and businesses with certainty – rather than let the definitions remain the subject of litigation.
Align whole-person-impairment thresholds to standards established in South Australia and Queensland.
Adopt some of the anti-fraud measures recently enacted by the Commonwealth to protect the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Respond further to the recommendations retired Supreme Court justice Robert McDougall made in his independent review of Safe Work NSW.
The Treasurer has been working closely with Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis and Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib on the reform.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:
“Our workers compensation system was designed at a time when most people did physical labour – on farms and building sites, in mines or in factories.
“A system that approaches all psychological workplace hazards the same way as physical dangers, needs to change.
“Allowing the system to stay on autopilot will only trap more employees, employers, and the state of NSW to a fate we can avoid.
“We must build a system that is fit for purpose – one that reflects modern workplaces and modern ways of working.”
Source: Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Port au Prince- 16 March 2025: Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) strongly condemns the intentional opening of fire upon four of its vehicles while they were seeking safety for their staff amid escalating violence in Port au Prince, Haiti.
The escalating violence close to the Turgeau Emergency Centre has forced MSF to suspend again its activities in the hospital on the 15th of March and evacuate its teams from the hospital as a precautionary measure. During one of the evacuation movements, the MSF identified convoy was repeatedly and intentionally fired upon, despite prior coordination with authorities. While fortunately no one was killed, our staff suffered minor injuries.
“This attack serves as stark reminder that no one is safe amidst the ongoing violence between armed groups and law enforcement. Despite our precautions, we have been targeted and this is unacceptable. We urgently call on all parties for the respect of medical staff, facilities and patients at all times,” says Benoit Vasseur, Head of Mission for MSF in Haiti.
Since end of February, the situation in Turgeau, where MSF runs a Referral and Emergency Centre, has worsened sharply. On March 12 alone, our Emergency Centre treated 27 victims of violence, including women and children, from the surrounding area. During the night of March 14-15, the violence escalated further. Armed groups moved within meters of the hospital, threatening to turn it into a frontline. “We had to make the painful decision to suspend activities at the MSF Turgeau Emergency Centre to protect our staff and patients. Currently, it is impossible to continue operations at the hospital, but we are committed to reopening our facility as soon as the situation allows us to do so safely,”says Benoit Vasseur.
Before suspending activities, MSF successfully referred all patients from the Emergency Centre to other medical facilities. Between February 24 and March 2, our teams at the Turgeau Emergency Centre treated 314 patients. In February 2025 alone, our teams conducted over 2,500 medical consultations and more than 400 physiotherapy sessions at the Turgeau Emergency Center.
This is the second time in less than four months that MSF has been forced to suspend operations at the health facility. On November 22, 2024, MSF halted all activities in Port-au-Prince following multiple attacks and repeated threats against medical staff. After months of engagement with authorities and assurances from all parties regarding the protection of MSF’s medical mission, the organization partially resumed operations in January, reopening the Turgeau hospital on January 20, 2025.
However, the resurgence of violence and the deliberate attack on our vehicles during this evacuation make it clear that these assurances and engagements with authorities have failed to translate into real safety for our staff and patients.
Our MSF team has been providing emergency medical care in Turgeau since 2021. MSF maintains multiple medical programs in other areas of Port au Prince and Haiti, notably for maternal and newborn care, severe burns, trauma and victims of sexual violence. Continuing these vital medical services requires clear guarantees about the security of our movements.
MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation. MSF has been working in Haiti for over 30 years, offering general healthcare, trauma care, burn wound care, maternity care, and care for survivors of sexual violence.
MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation. MSF has been working in Haiti for over 30 years, offering general healthcare, trauma care, burn wound care, maternity care, and care for survivors of sexual violence. MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. In 2022, more than 120 project staff from Australia and New Zealand worked with MSF on assignment overseas. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au
Sydney, Australia – 18 March 2025 – GridBeyond, a global leader in energy optimization and AI-driven solutions for demand response and energy storage, is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris O’Brien as the new Managing Director of Australia. Chris brings over 16 years of experience in the energy sector, having previously held leadership roles at Edge Zero as Executive General Manager and SunPower as Vice President of APAC & LATAM, where he played a key role in the establishment of SunPower’s business in Australia and Asia.
As Managing Director of GridBeyond Australia, Chris will be responsible for overseeing the company’s operations, driving its expansion, and ensuring the successful delivery of its AI-powered energy solutions to Australian businesses. His leadership will focus on helping commercial, institutional, and industrial organisations maximise the value of their energy assets, reduce costs, and achieve their sustainability goals through advanced demand response and energy storage technologies.
“I’m thrilled to join GridBeyond at this pivotal moment for the Australian energy market,” said Chris O’Brien. “GridBeyond’s technology is already making a significant impact in driving energy efficiency and grid stability, and I’m excited to help accelerate our growth in Australia. Our solutions not only help businesses optimise their energy usage but also enable them to actively contribute to a more sustainable and resilient energy system.”
GridBeyond’s platform uses cutting-edge AI, machine learning, and data analytics to enable organizations to reduce energy costs, generate new revenue streams, and support grid reliability through demand response and flexible energy storage. Under Chris’s leadership, GridBeyond Australia will continue to support the country’s energy transition by empowering businesses to take a proactive role in managing their energy consumption while helping utilities improve grid stability.
About GridBeyond
GridBeyond’s vision is to deliver a global zero carbon future. By leveraging AI, we innovate and collaborate with our customers to create optimal value from energy generation, demand and storage to deliver a zero-carbon future. By bridging the gap between distributed energy resources and electricity markets, GridBeyond’s technology means every connected asset – whether utility-scale renewables generation, battery storage, or industrial load – can be utilized to help maximize opportunities and enhance the grid. By intelligently dispatching flexibility into the right market, at the right time, asset owners and energy consumers unlock new revenues and savings, resilience, and management of price volatility, while supporting the transition to a Net Zero future.
Journeys around the Hunter will soon be made easier, with construction to start earlier on the Muswellbrook Bypass and planning to begin on a new Cessnock Bypass.
The Albanese Labor Government has brought forward its $304.8 million investment in the Muswellbrook Bypass which means construction can commence ahead of schedule.
Critical utility relocation work will start this year and the tender for major construction is expected to be in late 2026, with construction to commence the following year.
The bypass will move the New England Highway out of the Muswellbrook town centre, onto an alternate route to the town’s east.
The new route will allow highway traffic to avoid traffic lights and flow freely at highway speeds, saving time for motorists and truck drivers who are travelling through the Hunter toward Aberdeen in the north, or the Liddell region in the south.
With the 13,000-20,000 cars that pass through Muswellbrook’s town centre every day, residents will benefit from a less congested main street and reduced wear-and-tear on local roads, with 13 per cent being heavy vehicles.
The Muswellbrook Bypass is just one project within the suite of New England Highway Corridor upgrades, with the Australian Government investing nearly $1.1 billion in improving the highway between Tenterfield and Newcastle.
The bypass is funded in partnership with the NSW Government, which is contributing $76.2 million.
The Albanese Labor Government is also announcing $5 million today to kick-start the planning process for a future Cessnock bypass.
The project will identify an alternative safe route to connect new housing developments at Bellbird in Cessnock’s south west to Nulkaba in the north and then onwards to the Hunter Expressway.
This would bypass Cessnock’s city centre, reducing traffic congestion on Wollombi Road and supporting safer, more efficient journeys for road users.
These transformative packages of works will better connect residents of the Hunter region with jobs and services, and will fast-track goods to markets and consumers.
Quotes attributable to Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King:
“Fast tracking this work in Muswellbrook is a big win for motorists and truck drivers in the Hunter, but also for resdients who will see a significant reduction of vehicles through their local roads.
“We’re accelerating this funding so construction can start a ahead of schedule. Alongside our planning work for a future Cessnock Bypass, the Albanese Government’s investment will mean trips across the Hunter will be quicker and safer, sooner.”
Quotes attributable to Federal Member for Hunter Dan Repacholi:
“The Muswellbrook Bypass is a game-changer for our community. Not only will it ease congestion and improve travel times, but the construction phase will bring hundreds of jobs to the region, supporting local businesses and boosting our economy.
“When the bypass is complete, Muswellbrook will see less heavy traffic through its main streets, making it a more inviting place for locals and visitors to stop, shop, and enjoy everything our town has to offer.
“The $5 million investment from the Australian Government to kickstart planning for the Cessnock Bypass is another critical step in improving connectivity in the Hunter. Cessnock’s roads are under significant pressure, and this project will provide much-needed relief to residents and businesses alike.
“The Cessnock Bypass will work hand-in-hand with existing road infrastructure to significantly reduce traffic and congestion on Wollombi Road. By easing pressure on this critical route, we can ensure safer and more efficient journeys for locals and visitors while supporting the continued growth and prosperity of the region.”
17th March 2025, Cook Islands – An intensive two-week training program by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre on Gender, Violence Against Women and Girls, Human Rights, and Counsellor Training is started today in the Cook Islands in collaboration with the Punanga Turuturu Itivaine, Cook Islands Women’s Support Centre.
This training is being facilitated by a team led by Coordinator Shamima Ali who says the objective is to help participants identify specific types of violence against women and girls, as well as the cause and contributing factors.
“Additionally, participants will learn to recognize the consequences of such violence on women and girls, their family members, and the broader community,’ she adds.
“The training will also explore response and prevention actions that can be taken to eliminate violence against women. Moreover, sessions on Counselling Skills will ensure a survivor-centered approach, and support using a rights-based approach,”
FWCC’s relationship with the Cook Islands and Punanga Turuturu Itivaine dates back to the first meeting of the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women in 1992.
When the Pacific Women’s Network was created, there were only two centres addressing violence against women: FWCC in Fiji and Punanga Tauturu (as it was known at the time) in Cook Islands. Now the Network brings together organisations from over 10 Pacific countries.
“So, we were invited to go to the Cook Islands in 1996 after the first regional meeting in 1992” said Shamima who is also the Chair of the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women.
“We were invited by the Cook Islands to strengthen Punanga Tauturu at that time and do the training. We also did a male advocacy in the 2000s. Cook Islands was one of the first countries second to Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu,”
She says they are very excited that the relationship with Punanga Turuturu Itivaine has been ongoing.
“Even after a lull, the request has come through, and that also shows the trust that people who work in this area around the region have in the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre,’ adds Shamima.
A comprehensive and holistic training module has been developed by FWCC and is used in various training packages locally and regionally with relevant adaptations.
FWCC has been supported by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for more than three decades.
About Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women
The regional Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women (PWNAVAW) has been a catalyst and leadership incubator for most work on sexual and gender-based violence in the region since the 1990s using a rights-based approach. Today, it operates in over 10 Pacific countries and advocates, trains, innovates and sets standards on the prevention and response to gender-based violence, with the Secretariat based at the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC). This is a clear example of the many ways that Pacific feminists have built the road we walk on.
In 1992, FWCC facilitated and hosted the first Pacific Regional Meeting on Violence Against Women in Suva comprising of feminists from 15 Pacific Island countries. The inaugural meeting led to the establishment of the PWNAVAW.
Since its establishment, the PWNAVAW, recognised as the leading network on ending violence against women and girls in the region, has brought together decades of collective expertise, networks and knowledge on ending violence against women and girls in the region, to support the efforts of Pacific governments, national, regional and international CSO and NGO networks and development partners to lift, build and maintain the quality and standards for gender-based violence and counselling services across the Pacific region.
It has served as a support mechanism for women in the Pacific who are working in gender-based violence and human rights. This, in turn, is reflected in the emergence of many counselling centres in the Pacific region including in Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Collectively since 1992, the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women (PWNAVAW) has had a membership of 129 organisations in over 10 countries across the Pacific.
PWNAVAW which is deeply rooted in the principles of feminism, women’s human rights, gender equality and the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls has also pioneered response and prevention approaches in engaging men.
FWCC’s regional presence
FWCC is a pivotal regional player. It has been provided with Australian aid resources to auspice similar organisations in Tonga and Vanuatu. In 1992, FWCC helped found the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women. It continues to act as the Secretariat for this Network and organises its conferences. The Centre undertakes training both across the region and within Fiji. Since 1995, the Centre has offered a four-week regional training twice a year on gender-based violence awareness, prevention and response strategies. This program has trained over 1,000 participants from 15 countries. FWCC also runs specialised training programs. It began police training in 1995 and now trains police not only from Fiji but from other Pacific countries.
In a world where Baby Reindeer has become a pop culture hit, sometimes what seems harmless can reveal a darker side with unsettling encounters. Now more than ever it’s worth checking who might be digitally tracking you.
In November 2024, the Government announced plans to make stalking and cyberstalking illegal, bringing New Zealand in line with the UK and Australia. The Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill was introduced under urgency. But Kiwi’s shouldn’t wait to take control of their privacy while academics and politicians remain divided on the bill.
If you’re interested in more information on stalkerware, we’d be happy to connect you with Avast security expert.
Researchers from Avast recommend the following 5-Point Stalkerware Quick Check:
1. Review your allowed permissions for anything unusual. Once installed, Stalkerware requires various permissions to function. Check your granted permissions such as access to SMS, call logs, contacts and location. Remove these permissions from any apps you do not recognise.
2. Clean sweep your location sharing. Location sharing has become very popular in the last few years, especially on iPhone. Are there people who you’ve shared your location with that may no longer need it? For iPhone users, go to “Find My” – at the bottom of that screen, you can see all the people you are sharing your location with.
3. Double-check your app list. Go through your apps and check for any applications that you do not recognise. Stalkerware is often disguised, either by hiding its application icon or by pretending to be a safe app such as a Notes, Settings or WiFi apps.
4. Keep an eye on your phone’s performance. If your phone’s performance or battery starts behaving in an unusual way, it may point to some form of Stalkerware. Sudden error messages, a battery that drains faster than usual, unknown notifications or requests for additional permissions out of nowhere may indicate an infected device.
5. Install reputable security software. Software like Avast Premium Security is free to users and can scan your phone for any known malicious apps, such as stalkerware and spyware. This free step can go a long way in helping protect your privacy.
How to prevent Stalkerware if you think you are at risk:
1. Secure your phone against all unauthorised physical access. Most of our digital interactions occur through our mobile phones, be cautious about allowing physical access to your devices.
2. Ensure your phone or device uses a secure unlock method such as a complex PIN code or biometric unlock.
3. Install a reliable antivirus product on your mobile phone. A good mobile antivirus will treat stalkerware as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) and give you the option to remove it.
People who believe their device may be infected by stalkerware or spyware can find detailed instructions to help remove this software for iPhone, Android and PC users on the Avast blog. Avast, a part of Gen, is also a proud member of the Coalition Against Stalkerware which provides a variety of resources for people who have been impacted.
If you are being stalked or cyberstalked, you can contact the NZ Police or Netsafe for support.
CBA Business Bank’s customer recognition program is now available to more than 340,000 small business customers.
More than 340,000 small businesses across Australia now have access to a broad range of exclusive benefits and discounts with the rollout of CommBank Yello for Business.
“It takes grit, determination and hard work to run a small business, particularly as a sole trader, but with some goods and services costing 20 per cent more today than five years ago, business owners are having to work harder and get even savvier when it comes to managing costs,” said CBA’s Group Executive Business Banking Mike Vacy-Lyle.
“We know that our customers count on us to be there for them, which is why we’re expanding our CommBank Yello for Business program to help more than 340,000 eligible small business customers across Australia access discounts and special deals from our partners,” Mr Vacy-Lyle said.
“Through our customer recognition program, business owners can access a variety of offers ranging from discounted internet plans to better deals on equipment hire. No matter their industry, there’s an opportunity for business owners to unlock savings,” Mr Vacy-Lyle said.
The expansion of CommBank Yello for Business means all eligible sole proprietor and single director corporate customers can unlock business benefits from our partners1including:
Discounted pricing on More Business nbn®, SIM-only Mobile and Business Phone Systems for 12 months when paying with your CommBank Debit or Credit card Various discounts on Nine Ad Manager orders (minimum spend applies) Exclusive pricing on all Samsung products via the Samsung portal for CommBank Yello for Business2 20% off BioPak certified compostable food packaging (for new BioPak customers only) 20% off equipment hire with Kennards Hire (applicable to general hire products only) 3 months free for new Doshii customers, then 10% off thereafter Various discounts on products from Workwear brands Hard Yakka, NNT, and KingGee (minimum spend applies)
These benefits are available to eligible small business customers who hold a business transaction account with CBA and who meet certain eligibility criteria. Eligible business customers can access one of two benefit sets, based on the customer’s transaction volumes and lending relationship, with eligibility typically assessed in the second week of each month, for the previous month(s).
CommBank Yello for Business is an extension of CommBank Yello, delivering even greater value to our customers.
CommBank Yello, launched in 2023, is the bank’s customer recognition program where eligible retail customers can access benefits like cashbacks, discounts and prize draws simply by being a customer. Customers can check their eligibility status in the CommBank Yello hub within the latest version of the CommBank app by simply tapping ‘CBA Yello’, then ‘View all’ in the CommBank app to see their personalised offers. https://www.commbank.com.au/commbank-yello.html CommBank Yello for Business, an extension of CommBank Yello, rewards business customers for banking with us.
Source: Australia Government Statements – Agriculture
18 March 2025
Who does this notice affect?
Stakeholders in the import and shipping industries—including vessel masters, freight forwarders, offshore treatment providers, Biosecurity Industry Participants, importers, customs brokers, principal agents and master consolidators.
What has changed?
Following identification of critical non-compliance, we have suspended Arda Lashing Survey International Inspection, Port Services, Shipping Agency CO, LTD (AEI: TR4018SB)…
I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Bundjalung people, and pay my respects to their elders past, present and future.
I would also like to acknowledge Jenni Beetson-Mortimer, CEO of Northern Rivers Community Gateway and Chair of the NSW Financial Inclusion Network – thank you for inviting me, Jenni.
Thank you to all the wonderful presenters, panel members and attendees who join us – there are so many wonderful representatives here today from organisations that provide critical support for our communities.
Well thank you very much to Northern Rivers Community Gateway for inviting me to speak with you all at the 5th Financial Inclusion Conference.
As the Federal Assistant Minister for Social Services and the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, as well as your local Federal Member for Richmond – it’s wonderful that this important conference could be held right here in beautiful Kingscliff.
I am very much looking forward to the wonderful insights that will be shared over the next two days.
This conference is in fact extremely timely – as many people in our area are now relying on much-needed financial help and support, in the wake of severe weather here on the North Coast.
The severe weather associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred has seriously impacted us here on the North Coast – with much devastation to people, their homes, their livelihoods and their communities.
My office has been one of the main points of contact during this time, fielding calls for help; assisting with disaster payments, insurance claims, grants, emergency housing and getting people to safety.
Recovery is a long process, and the Albanese Government is standing by the people of NSW throughout their journey to rebuild.
That’s why we swiftly activated timely support for the community, through Personal Hardship Assistance, jointly funded with the State Government – the Disaster Recovery Allowance and Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP), to support those impacted.
We know this is particularly important for our most vulnerable and for those on a low-income, who are needing to replace lost or damaged essentials, repair their homes, and of course rebuild their lives.
This support is just part of a suite of comprehensive aid that people will require to get back on their feet, and I will go through some of those other measures shortly.
We know too that this weather event has come at a time where many Australians are already feeling financial pressures.
That’s why there’s never been a more important time to work together – and through the help of organisations and volunteers, such as many of yourselves here today – provide the frontline support that vulnerable Australians need.
The Albanese Government is committed to improving financial wellbeing.
Under the Financial Wellbeing and Capability Activity, which includes Emergency Relief, financial counselling and financial resilience services, we have increased our investment to around $150 million per year.
This funds a range of community organisations across our nation, including many organisations represented here today, to deliver a wide range of supports and services to vulnerable people in need, helping them navigate financial crises, manage financial stress and hardship, and overall, improve financial wellbeing.
Thankfully, through working with over 190 community organisations across the country, we can provide around 430,000 vulnerable Australians with Emergency Relief annually.
And while we are very proud to be providing this funding, it is thanks to the organisations and their volunteers on the ground that so many people receive the support they need, when they need it.
Now, Emergency Relief is not just providing food and water, clothing, fuel and medicine vouchers – but also budgeting assistance and referrals to other services to address underlying causes of financial strain.
We cannot underestimate the negative effects that financial pressures can have on an individual or a family.
Mounting financial pressure puts an extreme strain on a relationship and a family unit.
Sometimes this stress can contribute to higher rates of domestic and family violence, which is particularly compounded in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
That is why financial stability and resilience is so vital.
From 1 July 2025, our government has proudly committed $27.4 million over five years to the National Debt Helpline so any person seeking financial counselling has access to support.
Through the Helpline, which you can call on 1800 007 007, anyone can access a financial counsellor either over the phone or through the web chat.
They can also remain anonymous, should they wish to.
This allows people to access the support they need in a way that best suits them.
As many of you know, financial counsellors support people to build the knowledge and confidence to make informed financial decisions and to advocate for themselves, where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
And this support, support with respect, is so critical.
Because we know the consequences of when people are ill-advised – that sometimes the most vulnerable can fall into a cycle of predatory debt.
That’s why I’m so proud of the No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS), and the role that plays in assisting at-risk individuals to access help through fair and safe loans.
Car repairs, registration, medical and dental costs, and education costs – these are all things that can creep up on a person without warning and send costs spiralling.
Through NILS, people can access loans of up to $3,000 that can be paid over two years with no interest, fees or charges.
We know this can make a world of difference when someone is struggling.
Our government is also investing $51.5 million over 5 years from 1 July 2025 to continue the Saver Plus program, which helps families receive matched savings of up to $500 for education costs for themselves or their children.
This important program, led by the Brotherhood of St Laurence in partnership with ANZ, has helped more than 64,000 Australians save more than $30 million since 2003 – and I understand you will hear more about this successful program throughout this conference.
By supporting people with techniques to manage finances, providing them with incentives to save, and by giving better options to those in need – we are helping to improve lives and helping to build overall financial resilience.
The support that the Northern Rivers Community Gateway, and all other community organisations represented here today provides is incredibly important, and I would like to take a moment to thank you for the great work you have done and will continue to do.
Your support lets people know that they are not alone and that they are valued – at what can often be the most isolating, stressful and daunting time in a person’s life.
As we all navigate financial pressures as well as extreme weather events, let’s keep working together to make our country stronger, and help people become more financially resilient and economically independent.
I ask all of you here today to make use of this conference, to listen and to share your thoughts and ideas on ways forward and next steps.
Flinders University coastal experts are now finding more cost-efficient ways to capture crucial seascape elevation data (bathymetry), through current research projects that are monitoring environmental change across areas of South Australia’s coastline.
“High-precision traditional technologies such as topographic profiling, boat-based echo sounders and sonar are currently the best available methods for providing accurate bathymetric data, but their use can be limited by cost and time restraints,” says Professor Patrick Hesp, head of Environmental Science at Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering.
The Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB) method is a less costly and highly efficient tool for researchers examining the movement of sand in the nearshore, this new study highlights the enhanced accuracy of optical satellite-derived bathymetric datasets in a shallow, low-wave-energy coastal environment by identifying the best combination of input satellite imagery, spectral bands and empirical derivation techniques.
This research, which ties into monitoring seagrass movement and coastal impact studies across Adelaide and South Australia, uses optical satellite observations that are cost-effective, less intrusive than traditional methods, and capable of extensive coverage – which is especially helpful in remote locations.
“Our findings indicate that using satellite derived bathymetry improves the monitoring of seabed changes, which will improve our ability to map and monitor the dynamic sea floor and aid coastal management,” says Joram Downes, a student who recently completed his First-Class Honours thesis in the Beach and Dune Systems (BEADs) Laboratory at Flinders University.
Mr Downes is lead author of a study that enhances the accuracy of optical satellite-derived bathymetric datasets for the Adelaide metropolitan coast by identifying the optimal combination of input satellite imagery, spectral bands, and empirical derivation techniques.
“Satellite derived bathymetry will supplement existing methods of data collection, filling in gaps in data where seafloor elevation remains unknown” says Associate Professor David Bruce, an expert in remote sensing at Flinders University, and primary supervisor of Mr Downes.
The study, part-funded by the Coast Protection Board, examined combinations of more than 100 bathymetric derivations that were calibrated and validated using more than 1 million ground observations. The results revealed an optimised method, achieving the best results with input spectral bands from the low-cost PlanetScope SuperDove constellation.
The research was also supported by the use of a newly acquired drone-based bathymetric LiDAR.
Flinders University’s Associate Professor Graziela Miot da Silva works with these systems in her scientific coastal surveillance projects and is delighted by the outcomes of this research.
“It was exciting to see these technologies working seamlessly together, especially the LiDAR that captured excellent data in shallow waters which closely aligned with the sonar dataset, and provided a precision method to correlate with the satellite-based bathymetry,” says Associate Professor Miot da Silva.
“This research not only optimises satellite derived bathymetry for use in the Gulf St Vincent, but it also provides valuable insights into how the number of input bands, their spatial resolution and their specific spectral properties influence the quality of satellite-derived bathymetry datasets,” says Mr Downes.
The research – “Optimising Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Using Optical Imagery over the Adelaide Metropolitan Coast”, by Joram Downes, David Bruce, Graziela Miot da Silva and Patrick Hesp – has been published in Remote Sensing. doi.org/10.3390/rs17050849
Headline: NSW Government to crack down on practice of ‘claim farming’
Published: 18 March 2025
Released by: Attorney General
The NSW Government will crack down on the predatory practice of ‘claim farming’ where vulnerable people are pressured to lodge compensation claims.
Claim farmers often use unethical and high-pressure tactics to target those such as child abuse victim-survivors.
The NSW Government is introducing the Claim Farming Practices Prohibition Bill 2025, to:
prohibit a person from contacting another person to solicit them to make a relevant claim
prohibit a person from buying or selling a relevant claim referral
prevent lawyers who are convicted of these offences from charging legal costs in relation to the claim, and to require them to refund any costs already received.
Claim farmers may obtain someone’s personal information without consent to make unsolicited contact and use high-pressure tactics such as harassment and intimidation.
The practices used by claim farmers can cause distress to victim-survivors who are pressured to lodge civil compensation claims.
Claim farmers charge referral fees to ‘sell’ the claim to a legal practice or another claim farming organisation.
They often make promises about legal entitlements that may not be correct or in the claimant’s best interests.
The bill will prohibit claim farming for personal injury claims under the Civil Liability Act 2002 and arising from intentional torts (intentional acts that result in injury or death).
The Civil Liability Act 2002 applies to many types of claims, including serious injury, medical negligence, and public and product liability.
Intentional torts cover acts such as child abuse, assault and deprivation of liberty.
Existing offences such as fraud will still apply in addition to the claim farming bill. Dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception currently carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
Prohibiting claim farming will not prevent abuse victims from bringing a claim for compensation, which can be done by contacting a lawyer directly.
Attorney General Michael Daley said:
“It’s abhorrent that individuals and organisations are seeking to profit off vulnerable people such as victim-survivors of child sexual abuse.
“The NSW Government is listening to advocates who have called for a ban on this predatory and exploitative practice that worsens the trauma experienced by victim-survivors.
“We have carefully consulted with the community and are moving to stop the harm inflicted by this egregious behaviour.”
There’s a stark choice facing voters this year thanks to the major parties’ radically different views on teaching and learning and, critically, how schools should be funded.
AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says the choice is between Labor’s vision for fully funded public schools where teachers and students have the support they need or a Dutton government that plans to tell teachers what to teach and how to teach it and deny them the support and resources they need. Peter Dutton claims “ideologically driven advocates” have too much influence over what is taught.
“Kids are being indoctrinated from preschool where all sorts of woke agendas are part of the curriculum … it then progresses … all the way through to high school. And there are a lot of teachers there who are masquerading as teachers, but who are really either climate zealots
or other social issues that they’re obsessed with,” he says.
By contrast, Minister for Education Jason Clare celebrates the work of teachers, telling Parliament:
“Everything they do helps our kids to aim higher, to work harder, to be braver and to believe in themselves.”
Prime minister Anthony Albanese too has praised teachers and educators, saying: “Hardworking, dedicated educators who have slogged hard through the terms, through the years, all of them working to make sure that holding open the doors of opportunity is not a lofty ideal, but a lived reality – and an Australian tradition.”
He describes public schools as an essential part of the fabric of Australia and recognises that “education is the single most powerful weapon we have against disadvantage. And it’s the single best investment we can make in our nation’s future”.
Labor’s groundbreaking pledge
In January, the prime minister made a landmark commitment to deliver full funding of public schools.
In agreements struck with Victoria and South Australia, he guaranteed to lift the federal share of public school funding from 20 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to 25 per cent.
The SRS is the minimum level of funding schools require to meet the needs of all students.
State and territory governments are required to fund the remaining 75 per cent of the SRS and remove clauses in previous agreements that allow them to count non-school costs of $2 billion a year as part of their share of funding.
With NSW signing on in March, the federal government is aiming to finalise agreements with every state and territory to deliver full funding to the minimum standard of 100 per cent of the SRS by 2034.
Haythorpe says full funding will mean guaranteed funding increases for schools over the next decade, allowing for the employment of additional teachers, more small group and individual support for struggling students and more support for teachers inside the classroom via additional education support workers.
It will also mean more specialist support in schools such as counsellors and speech pathologists.
“We’ve been campaigning for more than a decade for schools to be funded to 100 per cent of the SRS, which was the original recommendation of the Gonski review in 2011,” says Haythorpe. “The Albanese government’s commitment is testament to the efforts of teachers, principals, support staff and community members who have worked tirelessly to deliver it.”
The government has also made serious inroads in addressing the teacher shortage crisis, announcing teaching scholarships of up to $40,000 to new undergraduates and payments to teaching students during their practicums, in addition to tuition-free teaching degrees and HELP debt reduction.
Coalition conservative agenda troubling
The Coalition has never expressed support for the full funding of public schools. It has not responded to requests for clarification on its position before this edition of Australian Educator was finalised.
“You can’t trust the Coalition on school funding,” says Haythorpe.
“The last time they were in government, they promised to honour school funding agreements but then ripped them up and cut $14 billion from public schools in 2017,” she says.
“Scott Morrison struck agreements with state and territory governments in 2018 that saw only 1.3 per cent of public schools fully funded by 2023. By contrast 98 per cent of private schools were funded at or above the SRS.”
New official data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority highlights the disparity between public and private school funding.
Private schools are receiving 27 per cent more recurrent income from all sources per student than public schools.
The capital expenditure gap is also increasing. In 2023, it was 2.1 times more than public schools, up from 1.5 times more in 2021.
Stark differences in teaching and learning
The major parties’ ideas about teaching and learning are also diametrically opposed.
Dutton has consistently attacked teachers, questioning their professionalism and claiming children are being indoctrinated in schools.
The Coalition’s plan for schools includes overhauling the national curriculum, mandating explicit/direct instruction in every classroom and introducing a behaviour curriculum for students.
The Albanese government’s schools funding plans are tied to reforms including a Year 1 phonics and numeracy check to identify students who need extra help, wellbeing programs including access to mental health professionals in schools, high-quality and evidence-based professional learning and new initiatives to improve the attraction and retention of teachers.
Greens call for end to private school funding
The Greens have called for full funding to 100 per cent of the SRS for public schools by July this year. Their election commitments also include a capital fund for public schools and additional funding of $2.4 billion for public schools so fees can be abolished. Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt says governments are underfunding public schools and shifting the costs onto parents.
Bradley Burke receives his commendation from DCO Bill Johnstone
Jeffcott Fire Brigade Captain Bradley Burke has received the Chief Officer’s Commendation for Courage after risking his life to rescue a truck driver from a burning vehicle, in late 2023.
It was while driving through Jeffcott in the state’s northwest, Captain Burke saw a semi-trailer carrying grain leave the road and crash into trees.
Acting instinctively, he pulled over and ran toward the wreckage.
“I saw the truck veer off and thought he was avoiding a bump, but then he kept going straight into the trees,”Captain Burke said.
“The first thing I did was ring my brother James also a CFA member, who was only 6 minutes away.
“He called 000 to alert emergency services.
“As I approached the crash, my first thought was, ‘I need to find the driver.’ The door was pinned against a tree, but I heard him inside.”
Finding the driver wedged between the seats, he realised the driver’s side door was blocked.
“I had to tear away the bonnet, break the glass, and climb onto the engine bay to reach him,” he said.
As he worked to free the driver, fire ignited near the rear of the cabin and spread quickly.
“By the time I pulled him free, flames were spreading.”
Despite sustaining lacerations, Captain Burke pulled the driver to safety through the broken windscreen.
Not long after he had freed the driver, the truck was fully engulfed in flames.
“James stayed on the phone to 000 and rendered first aid until paramedics arrived. Which allowed me to organise more CFA appliances to respond to the scene, as the fire was starting to get away.
“Thankfully crews arrived quickly and were able to stop it spreading.”
The driver was taken into the care of paramedics and has since made a full recovery.
“You don’t think, you just do it. The priority was getting him out and making sure no one else was inside,” Captain Burke said.
CFA District 18 Assistant Chief Fire Officer Gavin Wright praised Captain Burke’s actions.
“He acted with incredible bravery under extreme pressure,” Gavin said.
“His quick thinking and determination saved a life that day, and his actions are truly worthy of this recognition.”
Upon receiving his award at Donald Fire Station on Saturday night, Captain Burke insisted he was just doing his job.
“It’s humbling to receive this award, but my only thought was getting the driver out safely, I didn’t think about anything else,” he said.
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. If it were me in that truck, I’d hope someone would do the same.
“It’s what we do as firefighters. We’re here to protect our communities, and that’s all I was trying to do.”
Captain Burke is now one of just 19 recipients of the Chief Officer’s Commendation for Courage since its introduction in 2012.
I would first like to pay respect to the traditional and original owners of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, to pay respect to those who have passed before us and to acknowledge today’s custodians of this land. I also extend that respect to any First Nations people joining us here today.
Introduction
Three weeks ago, the Reserve Bank Board cut interest rates for the first time since 2020. Naturally there is a lot of interest in what lies behind the Board’s decision-making process. Today I want to shine a light on three key inputs to the process, how they interact with one another and how they fit together to support the Board in its decision making.
The first is our view of how changes in the cash rate affect the economy. The impact of policy changes takes time to flow through the economy; looking at the response of banking credit flows to interest rate changes, which many here today know intimately, clearly highlights this. So policy decisions today shape inflation and employment outcomes in the future.
This necessitates a forward-looking approach to meeting our mandate. Policy decisions require both a view of the outlook for the economy and an understanding of how policy is likely to affect that outlook. That helps the Board set the cash rate to give the best chance of achieving the RBA’s objectives over time.
The second is how we form our view of the outlook – our baseline forecast – and how it responds to incoming data. When we talk about being ‘data dependent’, we are referring to the way we update our view of where the economy is and the outlook. The implication of continuously updating our view on the outlook means we also continuously update our policy advice to the Board; the future pathway for the cash rate is not predefined.
Finally, I will say a bit about the Board’s approach to setting policy under uncertainty. In practice we are uncertain about both the outlook for the economy, and the effect of monetary policy, and this complicates policy decisions. Under uncertainty, policy depends on more than just the central forecast – judgements about the risks and uncertainties matter too. That’s why, as we have discussed on a number of occasions recently, it’s important to consider alternative possible pathways for the economy and how policy would have to respond.
Monetary policy is forward looking …
Central bankers and macroeconomists often say that monetary policy impacts the economy with a lag.
So, if inflation moves away from our target, or employment falls below full employment, monetary policy cannot immediately offset those moves. Instead, central banks have to look ahead. Ideally we would know when and by how much the economy is going to move away from our targets in the future. Knowing this, we would calibrate policy today to prevent this from happening, and the economy would stay at full employment and inflation at target.
In practice of course, this isn’t what happens. We can’t foresee shocks, and even in times of relative calm outcomes are rarely (if ever) exactly as we expect. The economy and our understanding of it is always evolving and our models, analysis and judgements aren’t perfect; we don’t have a crystal ball and even if we did it would be very cloudy.
Despite this, given the lags in monetary policy transmission, we always have to forecast how we think the economy will evolve, and set policy now so that we expect to achieve our mandate once any policy change has had time to have its effect. In practice, as I will explain later, policy decisions also take account of uncertainties about the outlook. We put significant effort into identifying and understanding the risks around the baseline forecast, and the Board explicitly considers such risks in its decision-making.
… because there are lags in transmission
It is important, then, to understand how policy changes affect the economy. In a speech in 2023 my colleague Christopher Kent set out the RBA’s view of how monetary policy works, and how the sequence of increases in the cash rate up to that point had affected the Australian economy. I plan to use the same framework to explore the lags in transmission, so let me briefly summarise it here.
Figure 1: How Changes in the Cash Rate Flow through the Economy
When the cash rate changes, the first step in transmission is that other short and longer term market interest rates and other asset prices (including the exchange rate) adjust, more or less straightaway. Then these changes affect economic activity and ultimately inflation through a number of ‘channels’:
Cash flow: lower interest rates flow into households’ disposable income; borrowers pay less to service their debt, and savers earn less on their deposits.
Savings and investment: a decrease in saving and borrowing rates typically encourages people and businesses to borrow, invest and consume more, and save less.
Asset prices: A cut in interest rates typically encourages investment in assets, resulting in higher house, equity and other asset prices. Higher household wealth tends to increase household consumption.
Credit: Lower interest rates can increase the flow of loans to households and the availability of external funding to businesses.
Exchange rate: a decrease in interest rates can contribute to a depreciation of the exchange rate, making imports less competitive and exports more competitive, leading to stronger growth. Higher import prices also directly increase inflation.
Macroeconomists often talk about expectations, and whether or not an interest rate change is partially or fully anticipated by financial markets, households and businesses is an important determinant of the size of each transmission channel. If the change is fully anticipated by financial markets then we may see little if any change in asset prices and the exchange rate, which limits the size of the exchange rate and asset price channels after the decision. Households and businesses may also start to adapt their spending and investment decisions ahead of a change in the cash rate, but they typically respond less than financial markets prior to the policy decision.
Overall, then, the size and timing of the impact of policy changes through these channels varies.
Take the cash flow channel as an example. Some variable loan and savings rates change quickly, as we saw following the Board’s latest decision. Households in aggregate have more interest-sensitive loans than deposits, so lower interest rates increase household disposable income. That prompts higher spending by borrowers, though households typically adjust their spending by less than the changes in their incomes in the short run. For those with fixed-rate mortgages, cash flows remain unchanged until loans roll over, though they might start adjusting their spending in anticipation (Graph 1).
Or consider the exchange rate channel. All else equal, an interest rate cut in Australia lowers the relative rate of return on Australian assets compared with overseas. This typically leads to a depreciation of the dollar, making exports cheaper and imports more expensive. However, while the exchange rate adjusts immediately, the volume of traded goods responds more gradually. Domestic businesses will have existing contracts to purchase goods from overseas, while foreign buyers are similarly committed to purchasing Australian products at previously agreed prices. If there is a trade deficit this price effect may exacerbate it. But as these contracts come up for renewal, and as firms and consumers adjust their purchasing behaviour, there will be a gradual increase in the volume of exports and a decline in imports, leading to an increase in net trade over time.
So far I’ve been discussing the direct channels through which cash rate changes impact the economy; these start working immediately, though they take time to fully play out. But there are also indirect spillovers, such as the impact of spending decisions by businesses, households, and importers on employment and income. For example, a business might hire new workers for an investment project that is made viable by a rate cut, boosting household income and spending. This ripple effect can amplify the direct impact of policy and may occur quickly or over time. Recent research suggests these indirect effects could be a major part of the transmission mechanism.
While identifying these channels helps us think through how monetary policy operates, in practice they operate at the same time and there is no precise way to isolate or quantify the contribution of each one. Nevertheless, one simple way to build intuition about their relative roles is to look at how the components of GDP evolve after a change in monetary policy.
To do this we can use a model of the economy – here I will use MARTIN, the RBA’s main macroeconomic model, to illustrate the transmission of a reduction in interest rates.
There are a number of helpful insights from the decomposition shown in Graph 2:
The immediate GDP response to lower interest rates is relatively limited – it takes time for everyone to adjust
In MARTIN it takes 9–12 months for a loosening in monetary policy to have its peak effect on economic output.
The effect from total investment is an important channel over the first year, with dwelling investment in particular responding relatively quickly compared with business investment, whose response builds fairly gradually. Intuitively this makes sense – businesses might immediately be encouraged to invest more by higher valuations and cheaper credit, but it takes time to get projects off the ground, and some businesses will wait to respond once they see an increase in the demand for their goods and services from consumers.
Changes in imports and exports also play an important role in driving the initial response of GDP, at least according to this particular model. This highlights that the exchange rate channel is important and operates relatively quickly compared with other channels; if overseas holidays become expensive, households tend to quickly switch to vacationing at home and vice versa.
The response of household consumption to lower interest rates is initially small but grows over time. This suggests the ‘cash flow channel’ – which should start working quickly – plays a minor role in the overall transmission mechanism, as the boost from lower debt payments is offset by reduced interest income on deposits. The slow response likely reflects the indirect effects of transmission channels and households’ tendency to smooth their spending changes.
While it takes about nine months for the cash rate to have its biggest impact on GDP, the peak effect on inflation is estimated to take nearly twice as long (Graph 3). This could be because it takes time for an increase in demand to affect the hiring decisions of firms and the job search decisions of households, which then ultimately feed into price setting. Or it may simply reflect some ‘stickiness’ in prices.
This tells us that – according to MARTIN at least – the decisions we make today will have their largest effect on economic output at the end of 2025, and on inflation in mid-2026.
Monetary policy is always data dependent …
So to set policy we need an estimate of how changes in the cash rate affect the economy and a view of the outlook for the economy – a forecast.
As forecasters, we essentially try to do two things. First, we try to understand the state of the economy now. Second, we use models based on economic theory and capturing historical patterns in the data combined with our judgement, to extrapolate from the current state of the economy into the future.
In both cases this comes down to our understanding of the data – both quantitative information such as official ABS data, surveys and financial market data, and qualitative information such as liaison. Extracting reliable signals from noisy data and forming a coherent economic picture is challenging. New or revised data can alter our view of the starting point or how the economy might evolve. As things constantly change, we continuously update our views with new information.
In recent years many central banks have described their policy setting as ‘data dependent’. Rather than meaning that policy responds mechanically to particular pieces of data, we are data dependent in the sense that incoming data affects our view of where the economy is today and the outlook, and this in turn influences the path for policy. At times of heightened uncertainty about how the economy is responding to shocks – for example, during the pandemic and the immediate aftermath –central banks may put a higher weight on real time data relative to baseline forecasts and models. But these weights change over time, as conditions evolve and we learn more about how the economy is responding; policymakers must always take a forward-looking view on the outlook. So, how does this work in practice?
… because data informs our view of the outlook
To give a sense of how we draw this information together into a forecast, I am going to use the example of our household consumption forecasts.
In our most recent Statement on Monetary Policy (SMP), one of our key judgments was that household consumption growth had started to recover in line with the pick-up in real household incomes. This judgement was informed by analysis of a range of timely indicators – such as the ABS Household Spending Indicator, and credit and debit card spending indices – which suggested that consumption growth had picked up in the December quarter.
But was this just a temporary pick-up as financially squeezed households concentrated their spending around Black Friday and other sales? Digging further into the data suggested there was more to it than that (Graph 4). Not surprisingly, spending on the types of goods that tend to have significant sales, such as household goods and clothing, did grow strongly in the quarter. However, we had also seen a modest lift in household disposable income from the middle of 2024, and discretionary spending not impacted by sales (e.g. eating out) also showed signs of picking up, which suggested a genuine improvement in underlying momentum. Information from our liaison contacts also supported this assessment.
Our read of the data is a crucial input to our forecasts. In fact, one way to think about the forecast is that it captures and projects forward what we think is signal from the latest data, while disregarding what we think is mostly noise.
The outlook for consumption is only one part of the forecast, and we spend considerable time thinking about how different assumptions impact different sectors, and how these interactions might magnify or offset one another. But underneath it all, the links between data, forecast and policy sits at the heart of us saying that policy is ‘data-dependent’.
Policy under uncertainty
As I set out earlier, the link between our forecast and the Board’s policy decision is not mechanical. It is not as simple as constructing our central forecasts, then working out what the Board needs to do with the cash rate to meet its objectives.
The main reason for this is that there are always risks and uncertainties around the central forecast; the baseline pathway is just one of a vast number of possible outcomes. Board decisions are always made in an uncertain environment, which means thinking about the distribution of risks around the central forecast. One of the things we are focused on right now is US policy settings, the impact of these on the global economy and how this flows through to activity and inflation here in Australia; we have been using scenarios, analysis and judgement to assess the policy implications.
As the Governor and Deputy Governor have both indicated recently, the February decision reflected a judgement by the Board that it was the right time to take some restrictiveness away, but the Board were more cautious than the market about prospects for further easing.
In all of this, the RBA uses a range of timely indicators to form its economic forecasts. These data help to distinguish between temporary fluctuations and more sustained trends, informing policy decisions. The RBA’s policy decisions are made in the context of various risks and uncertainties. The Board considers a wide range of possible outcomes and uses scenarios, analysis and judgment to assess the implications of different policy paths, ensuring a balanced and forward-looking approach. This is why being forward looking is not in tension with being data dependent.
For the first time ever, ACT is looking to stand candidates in local council elections.
Today ACT Leader David Seymour announced the Party is seeking expressions of interest from New Zealanders to stand for their local council under the ACT banner.
“ACT has been focused on tackling the cost of living, wasteful spending, and co-governance in central government. But when I travel the country, I’m constantly told that local councils have failed to address these same concerns at the local level.
“Kiwis voted for real change in 2023, but our councils seem to have missed the memo. It’s time for a clean-out.
“Ratepayers are fed up with councillors who make big promises to get elected, then whack up rates, neglect roads and pipes, and waste money on pet projects. They’ve waged war on cars with cycleways and speed bumps while pushing divisive race-based policies like co-governance and Māori wards. Meanwhile, the basics – rubbish collection, fixing potholes, keeping rates affordable – get ignored.
“In Government, ACT is fighting for real change, slashing wasteful spending and reining in the cost of living. ACT councillors would do the same: lower rates, scrap the nice-to-haves, end the anti-car ideology, and take race out of local politics.
“We’re seeking practical, community-minded New Zealanders to step up. We don’t want career politicians. We want people who are sick of the nonsense and ready to focus on what matters – keeping rates down and services up. If that’s you, we want to hear from you.”
ACT is inviting potential candidates to visit actlocal.nz to learn more and register their interest.
“Councils won’t change unless good people act. This is your chance to deliver real change for your community with ACT,” says Seymour.
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New Zealand’s National-led coalition government’s policy on Gaza seems caught between a desire for a two-state diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and closer alignment with the US, which supports a Netanyahu government strongly opposed to a Palestinian state
In the last 17 months, Gaza has been the scene of what Thomas Merton once called the unspeakable — human wrongdoing on a scale and a depth that seems to go beyond the capacity of words to adequately describe.
The latest Gaza conflict began with a horrific Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 that prompted a relentless Israel ground and air offensive in Gaza with full financial, logistical and diplomatic backing from the Biden administration.
During this period, around 50,000 people – 48,903 Palestinians and 1706 Israelis – have been reported killed in the Gaza conflict, according to the official figures of the Gaza Health Ministry, as well as 166 journalists and media workers, 120 academics,and more than 224 humanitarian aid workers.
Moreover, a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, signed in mid-January, seems to be hanging by a thread.
Israel has resumed its blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza and cut off electricity after Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal to extend phase 1 of the ceasefire deal (to release more Israeli hostages) without any commitment to implement phase 2 (that envisaged ending the conflict in Gaza and Israel withdrawing its troops from the territory).
Hamas insists on negotiating phase 2 as signed by both parties in the January ceasefire agreement
Over the weekend, Israel reportedly launched air-strikes in Gaza and the Trump administration unleashed a wave of attacks on Houthi rebel positions in Yemen after the Houthis warned Israel not to restart the war in Gaza.
New Zealand and the Gaza conflict Although distant in geographic terms, the Gaza crisis represents a major moral and legal challenge to New Zealand’s self-image and its worldview based on the strengthening of an international rules-based order.
New Zealand’s founding document, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, emphasised partnership and cooperation between indigenous Māori and European settlers in nation-building.
While the aspirations of the Treaty have yet to be fully realised, the credibility of its vision of reconciliation at home depends on New Zealand’s willingness to uphold respect for human rights and the rule of law in the international arena, particularly in states like Israel where tensions persist between the settler population and Palestinians in occupied territories like the West Bank.
New Zealand’s declaratory stance towards Gaza In 2023 and 2024, New Zealand consistently backed calls in the UN General Assembly for humanitarian truces or ceasefires in Gaza. It also joined Australia and Canada in February and July last year to demand an end to hostilities.
The New Zealand Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, told the General Assembly in April 2024 that the Security Council had failed in its responsibility “to maintain international peace and security”.
He was right. The Biden administration used its UN Security Council veto four times to perpetuate this brutal onslaught in Gaza for nearly 15 months.
In addition, Peters has repeatedly said there can be no military resolution of a political problem in Gaza that can only be resolved through affirming the Palestinian right to self-determination within the framework of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
The limitations of New Zealand’s Gaza approach Despite considerable disagreement with Netanyahu’s policy of “mighty vengeance” in Gaza, the National-led coalition government had few qualms about sending a small Defence Force deployment to the Red Sea in January 2024 as part of a US-led coalition effort to counter Houthi rebel attacks on commercial shipping there.
While such attacks are clearly illegal, they are basically part of the fallout from a prolonged international failure to stop the US-enabled carnage in Gaza.
In particular, the NZDF’s Red Sea deployment did not sit comfortably with New Zealand’s acceptance in September 2024 of the ICJ’s ruling that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory (East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza) was “unlawful”.
At the same time, the National-led coalition government’s silence on US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to “own” Gaza, displace two million Palestinian residents and make the territory the “Riviera” of the Middle East was deafening.
Furthermore, while Wellington announced travel bans on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank in February 2024, it has had little to say publicly about the Netanyahu government’s plans to annex the West Bank in 2025. Such a development would gravely undermine the two-state solution, violate international law, and further fuel regional tensions.
New Zealand’s low-key policy On balance, the National-led coalition government’s policy towards Gaza appears to be ambivalent and lacking moral and legal clarity in a context in which war crimes have been regularly committed since October 7.
Peters was absolutely correct to condemn the UNSC for failing to deliver the ceasefire that New Zealand and the overwhelming majority of states in the UN General Assembly had wanted from the first month of this crisis.
But the New Zealand government has had no words of criticism for the US, which used its power of veto in the UNSC for more than a year to thwart the prospect of a ceasefire and provided blanket support for an Israeli military campaign that killed huge numbers of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
By cooperating with the Biden administration against Houthi rebels and adopting a quietly-quietly approach to Trump’s provocative comments on Gaza and his apparent willingness to do whatever it takes to help Israel “to get the job done’, New Zealand has revealed a selective approach to upholding international law and human rights in the desperate conditions facing Gaza
Professor Robert G. Patman is an Inaugural Sesquicentennial Distinguished Chair and his research interests concern international relations, global security, US foreign policy, great powers, and the Horn of Africa. This article was first published by The Spinoff and is republished here with the author’s permission.
The outstanding and compassionate care provided by MotherSafe to hundreds of thousands of NSW families is being celebrated, as the service marks its 25th anniversary.
Minister for Health Ryan Park extended his gratitude to MotherSafe staff for their important role in providing evidence-based information and counselling about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, street drugs, infections, radiation and occupational exposures.
Funded by the NSW Government, the free, comprehensive telephone and face-to-face counselling service has received more than 400,000 calls over the last 25 years, from women and healthcare providers seeking health advice through pre-conception, pregnancy and breastfeeding.
The service was expanded in 2022 to provide specialist support to pregnant women experiencing severe effects of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy and hyperemesis gravidarum, which are the main causes of hospitalisation in the first half of pregnancy.
Hyperemesis gravidarum is a condition that causes severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy for around 1 in 100 women during pregnancy.
Women living with hyperemesis gravidarum during pregnancy are often so sick they can’t go to work, care for themselves or someone else.
Through MotherSafe, women with hyperemesis gravidarum are assessed for the severity of their symptoms and given evidence-based information regarding available treatments to help manage their symptoms.
The expanded service has been particularly important for women living outside of metropolitan Sydney or who may be too unwell to travel, to access tailored advice from a MotherSafe consultant.
Women, families and healthcare professionals can contact a MotherSafe consultant by calling 1800 647 848, or visit the MotherSafe website to access a range of factsheets.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health, Ryan Park:
“Preconception, pregnancy and breastfeeding are crucial times for the health of women and babies. Having access to clear, evidence-based advice on medications and other exposures is critically important for expectant and new mums.
“I want to thank the many dedicated MotherSafe staff who have helped hundreds of thousands of NSW women give their babies the very best start to life.
“Hyperemesis gravidarum is the number one cause for hospitalisation in the first half of pregnancy. MotherSafe has helped many women manage the significant physical symptoms and emotional distress that comes with this condition.”
Quotes attributable to Dr Debra Kennedy, Director MotherSafe:
“We are proud to have supported the physical and emotional wellbeing of women and families across NSW over the past 25 years.
“MotherSafe provides advice to women who are concerned about medications, infections or exposure to occupational hazards before and during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding.”
Quotes attributable to Ella Rich:
“I experienced severe nausea and vomiting throughout each of my four pregnancies. Managing my symptoms was really challenging and I was highly anxious.
“It was confirmed I had hyperemesis gravidarum at around 13 weeks during my fourth pregnancy following a medical emergency. The hospital recommended I contact MotherSafe and, as soon as I spoke with them, I felt reassured.
“MotherSafe became my lifeline during the remainder of my pregnancy. Knowing I could call a consultant who knew about the medications I was exposed to and hyperemesis gravidarum gave me confidence in the health of my baby and alleviated my stress and anxiety.
“MotherSafe got me the right medication to treat my HG and I was never sick again. They answered my calls with empathy and compassion every time and even arranged for me to speak with one of their leading doctors.”
Released by: Minister for Planning and Public Spaces
The Minister for Planning and Public Spaces has declared a further 15 housing proposals as State Significant Development (SSD) following recommendations from the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA).
These new housing proposals, if approved, could deliver more than 7,000 new homes.
After three briefings in two months a total of 44 housing development proposals have been declared state significant under the HDA, with the potential to deliver more than 22,000 new homes, once proposals are assessed.
Since the first meeting, nine projects have also had Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements issued, the first step in the assessment process which signals a good flow of projects progressing quickly along the SSD pathway.
To date, the Authority has received over 250 expressions of interest. At its latest meeting, 32 proposals were examined.
The authority is prioritising high-quality housing projects with detailed plans that can be submitted within nine months and can begin construction within 12 months of approval. To be declared state significant, proposals submitted to the HDA that are already being assessed via another planning pathway need to be withdrawn from that pathway.
All proposals declared as SSD will have their development applications assessed by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, without needing to be approved by councils. This can cut approval times and speed up the delivery of new homes.
This is all part of the Minns Government’s plan to build a better NSW with more homes and services, so young people, families and key local workers have somewhere to live and in the communities they choose.
The HDA builds on the Minns Government’s recent reforms to the planning system to speed up the delivery of more homes, including:
The development of the NSW Pattern Book and accelerated planning pathway for those who use the pre-approved patterns.
The largest rezoning in NSW history around transport hubs and shopping centres to address the “missing middle.”
The largest ever investment in the delivery of social and affordable housing in NSW.
$200 million in financial incentives for councils that meet the new expectations for development applications, planning proposals and strategic planning.
$450 million to build new apartments for essential workers including nurses, paramedics, teachers, allied health care workers, police officers and firefighters.
Recommendations from the HDA are published as required under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 before the SSD declaration. For more information visit Housing Delivery Authority | Planning.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:
“These latest projects that I have declared as State Significant Developments have the potential to deliver more than 7,000 new homes including affordable housing.
“The Housing Delivery Authority is not a silver bullet to our housing supply challenges, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
“In three briefings, I have declared projects that could deliver more than 22,000 dwellings into a state-assessed planning pathway, proponents now have nine months to prepares their planning documents, and must commence construction if they are approved within 12 months, because the need for housing is too urgent.”
Released by: The Premier, Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism
The Minns Labor Government’s crackdown on knife crime has seen more than 90 dangerous weapons seized from our streets since the NSW Police Force began wanding operations in December.
The force has conducted 34 wanding operations across metro and regional NSW, scanning 4,147 individuals, seizing 91 unlawful weapons and charging 67 people with 71 weapons offences.
Weapons seized include knives, tasers, sling shots, knuckle dusters, machetes and folding kitchen knives.
Under Operation Ares, officers are conducting high-visibility policing operations and using handheld scanners or electronic metal detecting ‘wands’ to scan individuals within a designated area for dangerous weapons.
Locations of the operations include Sydney CBD, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Blacktown, Mt Druitt, Parramatta, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Nowra, Bomaderry, Albury and Lavington.
The Minns Labor Government has taken decisive action to give police further resources to create a safer NSW and send the clear message that knife crime will not be tolerated.
Under the powers, modelled on Queensland’s Jack’s Law, police can stop and scan individuals without a warrant at designated areas.
When switched on by NSW Police, the powers can be used in public spaces including public transport stations, shopping precincts, and certain sporting venues.
These police powers complement other measures introduced by this Government to address knife crime, including:
Doubling the penalty for selling a knife to a child under 16 to $11,000 and introducing a custodial sentence of up to 12 months for the offence; and
Creating a new offence for selling knives to children aged 16 or 17 without a reasonable excuse.
The NSW Government remains committed to reducing knife crime and building a safer NSW through continued legislative and operational policing efforts.
Premier of NSW, Chris Minns said:
“The number of weapons that have been seized already is shocking.
“To have taken almost 100 knives and other weapons off our streets is as horrifying as it is important.
“Our tough knife laws are working and getting weapons out of our community.
“The NSW Government and NSW Police are confronting knife crime and sending a strong message that it is not tolerated.”
Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism, Yasmin Catley said:
“Everybody deserves to feel and be safe in public and it’s clear that these new laws are making NSW a safer place.
“I want to thank the NSW Police who are working around the clock to seize dangerous weapons and keep our community safe from the devastating effects of knife crime.
“There are very few excuses to carry a knife in public – anyone thinking about leaving home with a dangerous weapon should think again. The NSW Police are cracking down hard and you will be caught.”
NSW Police Force Public Transport and Public Safety Command Assistant Commissioner Stephen Hegarty said:
“During the 34 operations we have not only seized dangerous knives and weapons, but we have arrested 67 people with offences and put them before the courts.
“There are only very few purposes for anyone to have a knife in their possession in public. In most circumstances, it is illegal and will only lead to tragedy and the death of innocent people.
“We want people to feel and be safe while they go about their daily lives at shopping centres or on public transport.
“Our high-visibility operations are designed to send a message to people and deter them from carrying knives and weapons.”
Overall, the NSW Government and Australian Governments have provided up to $6.1 million to improve rural connectivity to around 1,500 premises across Weddin Shire, Burcher, Burra, Eumungerie, Glen Davis, Talbingo in the central west and Burra, Urila and Talbingo in southern NSW.
Improvements will be delivered through new services provided by YLess4U and Connected Farms, enabling farmers to access reliable communications and data directly from their paddocks, maximising productivity and saving time and money.
Primary producers and agricultural businesses are increasingly relying on the internet, with modern farming technology such as livestock monitoring, smart irrigation systems and wireless drone inspections for land surveying now being used alongside AgTech in tractors, headers and centre-pivot watering systems.
This new funding will allow growers in the Weddin Shire and surrounding areas to fully harness modern farming technology through improved coverage.
Currently, machinery programmed to sow seeds in a designated area across Weddin Shire farmland can only be configured using farm-office based computers with wired internet connections, as there are no reliable wireless options out on the farm.
In the Weddin Agriculture Precinct, Connected Farms will deliver a network providing mobile services and high speed fixed wireless broadband to more than 200 premises in Caragabal, Bribbaree, Piney Range and Pullabooka.
Dual SIM phones will allow locals to make calls and access mobile data via the Connected Farms network, while still accessing other mobile voice and data networks.
In addition to unlocking modern Agtech methods, locals and visitors alike will have improved access to emergency services during disasters and unexpected events.
In Burcher, Burra, Eumungerie, Glen Davis, Talbingo and Urila, telecommunications provider, YLess4U will deliver high speed fixed wireless broadband to premises providing locals farmers and their families with fast and reliable internet.
Quotes from Federal Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland
“Every Australian deserves access to fast, reliable and affordable connectivity regardless of whether they live.
“Since coming to office, the Albanese Government has been working to bridge the digital divide with a focus on regional New South Wales.
“These upgrades will make a meaningful difference to residents, local businesses and visitors to the Central West.
“Labor’s vision is for Australia to be the most connected continent, and we are working with the NSW Government and industry to deliver this.”
Quotes from NSW Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty
“Residents in rural and regional areas deserve dependable telecommunications services to support their everyday needs and that is what this program is providing.
“Improved digital services is important for both the productivity of the farm business and for the daily logistical challenges of living in a rural area.
“Farmers and their families shouldn’t have to stand in the back yard waving their phones around to make a call.
“These upgrades will mean school children can easily contact their parents when the school bus drops them off at the farm gate.
Quotes from co-founder and Growth Lead at Connected Farms Melissa Andrews
“These connectivity services will provide farmers with a platform to utilise the latest in real time digital and precision agricultural technologies across their farms to increase their operational efficiency,” Ms Andrews said.
”For many years, connectivity in many parts of Weddin Shire has been very limited and these services will also enable better communications and farm safety capability.”
Quotes from YLess4U director Jason Green
“We’re proud to partner with the NSW Government as part of the Australian Government’s Regional Connectivity Program to deliver fixed wireless broadband services to over 900 homes and businesses across six communities in regional New South Wales,” Mr Green said.
“Once complete, residents and businesses will have access to faster, more reliable internet and a wide range of plans and pricing options, importantly at prices equivalent to those found in metropolitan areas.
Case study – Stuart McKellar
In the Weddin Shire, sheep and cropping farmer Stuart McKellar runs a large family operation alongside his wife, Cath, brother, Brett, and son, Scott.
Since the land was handed down from Stuart’s parents, the family have managed the farm together and as residents of rural Weddin Shire, they are all too familiar with the challenges brought on by the digital divide.
In 2023, when Stuart’s truck broke down 40 kilometres outside of Grenfell, he deliberately stopped the vehicle on a hill, knowing it was his only chance to get enough mobile reception to call for help.
When the mechanic arrived on-site, they realised that he would need to make five separate trips back into town to access the phone and internet coverage needed to diagnose the mechanical fault and get Stuart’s truck back on the road.
Unfortunately, these incidents aren’t the only way the digital divide affects Stuart and his family; it also impacts their daily sheep and cropping operations.
The business is forced to rely on paper-based vendor declarations and contracts because they lack the internet access required to download even low-megabyte digital resources.
Poor connectivity makes it hard for farmers to use modern tools like Variable Rate (VR) fertiliser tech, which usually lets them upload field data, like soil tests, straight from their tractor.
Without internet in the field, Stuart is forced to return to the home office to upload the required data and make adjustments before getting back to spreading fertiliser where it’s needed most.
This slows things down and means they can’t always make the best use of expensive inputs like lime and gypsum, or maximise crop growth efficiently.
Once the Connected Farms service becomes available in the area, challenges like Stuart’s will soon become a thing of the past and residents will finally have access to reliable mobile phone reception and metropolitan-grade internet, whether during car breakdowns or for everyday farming needs.
Weddin Shire farmer Stuart McKellar said:
“Connectivity has always been very poor around here and our dependence on data is getting greater and greater,” Mr McKellar said.
“Accidents often happen where there is no service, and that improved connectivity would not only make residents’ day-to-day lives easier but would increase farm safety across the shire.
“I recently broke down 40 kilometres from Grenfell and the mechanic had to make five trips out from town to fix the issue as we couldn’t get data out at the worksite. It’s an awful lot of travelling and time wasted and if we had decent internet connection, it would have been a simple fix.
“Currently, your phone will only work near a certain tree or on a hill, we have to use a paper-based vendor declaration because electronic ones won’t load, and we rely on internet in the home office to do simple things like searching the weather forecast.
“Any AgTech field adjustments that need to be done on farm machinery must be done on the house computer too – our farm is spread out across 30 kilometres so when you go out to the field and realise what you’ve preplanned is wrong, you have to take it back to the home office, where the internet is, to make the necessary adjustments.
“Once we have reliable coverage, it’ll be a big time saving and big benefit if we can make those adjustments on the spot.”
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey will today warn parliament that the State’s workers compensation system is unsustainable without reform to how it deals with workplace psychological injury.
Mr Mookhey will set out plans to make greater use of workplace health and safety laws to prevent psychological injuries, instead of relying solely on the state’s workers compensation system as the main response.
In a Ministerial Statement, the Treasurer will also advise Parliament that:
If claims continue growing at recent rates, the State insurer icare expects an additional 80,000 people will make psychological injury claims over the next five years,
For every $1 needed to care for injured workers, the State’s main workers compensation scheme currently holds only 85 cents in assets, and
Without reform, premiums for businesses facing no claims against them are forecast to rise by 36 per cent over the three years to 2027-28.
Mr Mookhey will outline a program of consultation with Business NSW and Unions NSW, as well as other interested parties, to create the reform. The model he will outline will see NSW:
Give the NSW Industrial Relation Commission a bullying & harassment jurisdiction ahead of requiring those claims to be heard there first before a claim can be pursued for compensation. This will allow the Commission to address psychological hazards, fostering a culture of prevention.
Define psychological injury, as well as ‘reasonable management action’, to provide workers and businesses with certainty – rather than let the definitions remain the subject of litigation.
Align whole-person-impairment thresholds to standards established in South Australia and Queensland.
Adopt some of the anti-fraud measures recently enacted by the Commonwealth to protect the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Respond further to the recommendations retired Supreme Court justice Robert McDougall made in his independent review of Safe Work NSW.
The Treasurer has been working closely with Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis and Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib on the reform.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:
“Our workers compensation system was designed at a time when most people did physical labour – on farms and building sites, in mines or in factories.
“A system that approaches all psychological workplace hazards the same way as physical dangers, needs to change.
“Allowing the system to stay on autopilot will only trap more employees, employers, and the state of NSW to a fate we can avoid.
“We must build a system that is fit for purpose – one that reflects modern workplaces and modern ways of working.”
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage – to inaugurate this august Dialogue – with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our warm discussions this morning. I am a great admirer of your extraordinary achievements as Prime Minister. In the almost 11 years that you’ve occupied the Prime Minister’s office, you have weathered the COVID crisis and still managed to expand India’s economy by 50%. You have lifted 250 million of your countrymen out of poverty and eliminated extreme poverty. Today, India is at the leading edge of technology with massive innovative potential. You were the first country to land on the moon’s South Pole. In the process drawing the world’s attention to India’s extraordinary technological prowess. And Prime Minister, during your tenure, the Men in Blue have been the most dominant side in cricket’s white ball competitions, most recently winning the Champions Trophy last week against my Men in Black and breaking many New Zealanders hearts – including mine – in the process! Congratulations! Among this catalogue of achievements is the reason we gather today: the Raisina Dialogue. A forum that provides a moment every year for thought-leaders from across the world to focus their collective minds on the contemporary strategic challenges being navigated right here in the Indian Ocean. I applaud Dr Jaishankar and Samir Saran for the intellectual leadership they have shown driving this Dialogue over the past 10 years. It has grown into a hugely influential forum. Look no further than the luminaries you attract: 6 former Heads of Government and Ministers from over thirty countries. I hope my remarks today, add to the debate in some small way. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s more than 200 years since Indians and New Zealanders first began living side-by-side. At the beginning of the 19th century – well before we became a nation – Indian sailors jumped ship in New Zealand, with some meeting locals and marrying into our indigenous Māori tribes. A few years later, Māori traders began travelling to Kolkata to sell tree trunks used in sailing ships. An exchange that echoes down the ages. Just as they were 200 years ago, Kiwi-Indians today are fully integrated into our multicultural society. New Zealanders of Indian heritage comprise 11% of the people living in Auckland, our biggest city. I’ve brought with me to New Delhi a selection of Kiwi-Indian community leaders. Members of Parliament, captains of industry, professional cricketers and even an online influencer who has revolutionised investment for women the world over. In short, a selection of Kiwi-Indians who get up every single morning to make New Zealand a better place to live. And our trade has diversified considerably from wood thanks to the increased sophistication of your economy. India today is a critical source of pharmaceuticals and machinery for us. While we are a great tourism and education destination for you. India has become an ever more significant feature of our society. And yet, while there has been much that has developed and changed, there has been something missing at the core of our relationship. With a country as consequential as India, we need rich political interaction, engaged militaries, strong economic architecture, and connections that support a diaspora that bridges between our two great nations. Prime Minister Modi and I sat down today and charted out the future of our two countries’ relationship. A future that builds from where we have been. One that is wholly more ambitious about what we will do together in the future.
We agreed to our Defence Forces building greater strategic trust with one another, while deploying together and training together more. We want our scientists collaborating on global challenges like climate change and on commercial opportunities like space. We are supporting our businesses to improve air links and build primary sector cooperation. We will facilitate students, young professionals and tourists to move between our countries. And we’ve instructed our trade negotiators to get on and negotiate a free trade agreement between our two great nations.
A comprehensive agenda to underpin a comprehensive relationship. As we look to the future, the opportunity for both our governments is to sustain that momentum. Not only to follow through on the commitments we have made to one another. But to proactively build on that platform, by exploring new opportunities and creating new architecture. To ensure that we are creating strategic trust and commercial connection between two countries at the bookends of our wide Indo-Pacific region. Ladies and gentlemen, it is to the Indo-Pacific that I now turn. There are many reasons to be excited about our region. I want to single out the two biggest opportunities. First, India and New Zealand are fortunate enough to live in the world’s most economically dynamic region. The Indo-Pacific will represent two-thirds of global economic growth over the coming years. By 2030, it will be home to two-thirds of the world’s middle-class consumers. And India itself lies at the heart of this exciting economic future. It’s easy to focus on the troubles the world faces, but its worth reflecting for a moment on what economic development at this scale means at a human level. Here in India, you’ve gone from only the very few in rural areas having a water or power connection to almost everyone. It means people with better health and education outcomes. And that creates hope and optimism about the future for individuals and their families. Replicated across literally hundreds of millions of people, that process of development generates dynamic economies. Growth that offers massive opportunities for every country in the Indo-Pacific, and families and individuals within them. The second big opportunity is technological change. We are on the cusp of a transformation of our economies and societies in a way that we can barely now imagine. I’m talking about artificial intelligence, which is within reach of achieving the cognitive powers of a human being. But I’m also thinking of a range of other technologies – quantum, biotech, advanced manufacturing – that are going to have profound impacts on our economies. It has felt like this technological transformation has been long-heralded, but never quite arrived. Well, it seems to me that a series of innovations – the always online world, big data, powerful computing, machine learning – are cumulating in ways that are going to tip over into a dislocation that is new and altogether different. The game is about to change. We are on the cusp of an explosion in the application of AI, a technology that will have an impact across the whole economy, not just in one or two sectors. A technology that will transform the way we work, study and entertain ourselves. A technology that will force governments to think in entirely different ways about how they deliver public services and secure their nations. Certainly, this presents risks that will need to be managed. For example, militaries are already using AI, which means the international community is going to need to develop new norms about how this is done in a way that ensures compliance with the rules of war and ensures human responsibility in conflict. But my message is that, while we need manage change, we cannot allow ourselves to be paralysed by the risks. For those who believe they can outcompete through this period of technological dislocation, the opportunities are there. The citizens, the companies, and the countries that embrace the coming change will be the ones that reap the dividends. Yet, there’s also no doubt that there are fundamental trend lines in the Indo-Pacific that present geo-strategic risks to growth and prosperity. These have long-term drivers that are not going away, and have been amplified by recent events. Past assumptions – that underpinned the previous generation’s geopolitical calculations – are being upended. A fortnight ago, the Singaporean Foreign Minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, put this change eloquently when he said: “the world is now shifting from unipolarity to multipolarity, from free trade to protectionism, from multilateralism to unilateralism, from globalisation to hyper-nationalism, from openness to xenophobia, from optimism to anxiety”. This is a global change, not isolated to one region. Certainly, though, we live today in an Indo-Pacific navigating contest and rivalry, with a period of strategic uncertainty. I would highlight three big shifts that make for challenging times ahead. Fist, we are seeing rules giving way to power. Previously, we could count on countries respecting the UN Charter, the Law of the Sea and world trade rules. That sadly cannot be assumed in an age of sharper competition. Instead, we risk dangerous miscalculation at flashpoints. These range from the militarisation of disputed reefs to dangerous air movements. From land border incursions to breakout nuclear capabilities. Of course, it is not just flashpoints, but a slow shift in Indo-Pacific realities that change calculations. Recent demonstrations of naval force near New Zealand’s maritime surrounds, for example, sent a signal that alarmed many of my fellow citizens. Second, we are witnessing a shift from economics to security. After the Cold War, the dominant paradigm in relations between Indo-Pacific countries was a sustained effort to raise material living standards by tending to our economies. Make no mistake, “bread and butter” issues still loom very large, and are a priority for governments all around the region. Indeed, economic growth is my Government’s highest priority. But across the Indo-Pacific, we also see Governments dedicating increased attention and resource to military modernisation. Military build-ups reflect a need to prepare against uncertainty and insecurity. Some military build-ups, however, are underway without the reassurance that transparency brings. National security demands are expanding. Governments need to protect their people and assets against foreign interference, cyberattacks, and terrorism. In the last few months, a new threat has emerged, with damage to critical infrastructure, like sub-sea cables. You can’t have prosperity without security, not least when the tools of commerce themselves require protection. The third geo-economic shift is from efficiency to resilience. Where previously, Indo-Pacific economies saw ever deeper interdependence as a dynamo for growth, that can no longer be assumed in an age of decoupling. Onshoring, protectionism and trade wars are displacing best price, open markets, and integrated supply chains. And so we find ourselves in a world that is growing more difficult and more complex, especially for smaller states. However, we must engage with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. So, like most countries across the region, New Zealand’s strategic policy is being shaped by our assessment of these trends. We have agency to shape the Indo-Pacific that we want, but we must do so with energy and with urgency. Ladies and gentlemen, as New Zealand looks to protect and advance our interests in the Indo-Pacific, we can only do so alongside partners. Partners like India that have a significant role to play in the Indo-Pacific. In an increasingly multipolar world, India’s size and geo-strategic heft gives you autonomy. At the same time, your democratic partners in the Indo-Pacific offer you a force multiplier for our convergent interests. For at a time when democracy is in decline with less than half the world’s adults electing their leaders, it is an inspiration that 650 million Indians turned out to vote last year in the largest election in history. Your national election is a triumph of logistics and a triumph of legitimacy. An election that means your leaders serve their people, rather than your people serving their leaders. Now, I don’t advocate arbitrary divisions between democracies and autocracies. And just because we are democracies, we won’t always see eye-to-eye. Nonetheless, there’s truth in the fact that our democratic governance means we share a belief in the freedom to choose, giving everyone a voice and respect for the rules. Our interests increasingly converge around seeing these three ideas as an aligned set of organising principles for our Indo-Pacific region. First, we want to live in an Indo-Pacific where countries are free to choose their own path free from interference. A region where no one country comes to dominate. It is a sign of the times that I stand here defending respect for sovereignty. Yet, New Zealand’s approach is increasingly shaped around that objective. Just on Saturday, I joined a call led by Prime Minister Starmer focused on what more those contributing to Ukraine’s defence can do to support a just and lasting peace. To help a country whose sovereignty and territorial integrity has been so flagrantly attacked. In my home region, our fellow Pacific neighbours are navigating geo-strategic dynamics that are their sharpest in nearly 80 years. In a deeply contested world, Pacific partners are being asked to make choices that may undermine their national sovereignty. They risk falling into over-indebtedness, they must make choices about dual-use infrastructure, and they face pressure to enter new security arrangements. New Zealand invests in working alongside Pacific countries to boost their capacity to make independent choices free from interference. Yet, size alone cannot inoculate a country from these dynamics. Building strong and diversified relationships is the key to mitigating the risks of dependence on a few. That is why my Government is investing in our key relationships, from traditional partners to thickening and deepening our relationships across Southeast Asia, and in a serious way with India, too. And we have a responsibility to invest in our own security as a downpayment on our future ability to choose our own path. That is why New Zealand will be scaling up and doing more to support our own defence. We plan to better resource and equip our Defence Force to ensure we can continue to defend our interests. Whether in our near region, in our alliance with Australia, or in support of collective security efforts with partners like India. Alongside this investment in capability, we are making tangible contributions across the Indo-Pacific. When I was in Japan last year, I saw firsthand the work our aviators do to detect and deter North Korea’s sanctions-busting activities. The New Zealand Navy is leading Combined Task Force 150 responsible for multinational activities to protect trade routes and counter smuggling, piracy and terrorism in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. We are fortunate indeed that India has agreed to take up the Deputy Command. Underlining these naval connections, one of our frigates, HMNZS Te Kaha, is in Mumbai later this week. As we seek an Indo-Pacific in which countries are free to choose their own path, I’m determined New Zealand plays its role. Whether through our work with Pacific Islands partners, our relationships in the Indo-Pacific, or through our defence efforts. A second principle both India and New Zealand subscribe to is the criticality of Indo-Pacific regional institutions, even as these evolve. Regional architecture scaffolds our region’s security and its prosperity. ASEAN continues to promote regional peace and economic development. Through its convening power and its centrality, it also provides a place for the region’s players to come together to discuss strategic issues. ASEAN sits at the centre of the East Asia Summit, which for twenty years now has enabled political dialogue across the region, a forum that builds understanding, reduces the risk of miscalculation and contributes to strategic trust. Yet, the Indo-Pacific architecture is not static as it adapts to new realities. Mini-lateral groupings are important new pieces of the puzzle. The Quad has emerged as an important vehicle promoting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. India’s contribution to that evolution has of course been vital. While New Zealand has no pretensions to Quad membership, we stand ready to work with you to advance Quad initiatives. We ourselves are strengthening our work with Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as Australia. Last year, I convened the Indo-Pacific Four to discuss Ukraine and North Korea. And with serious headwinds buffeting the global trade system, New Zealand is seriously invested in Indo-Pacific trade and economic integration groupings. From CPTPP, the gold standard of FTAs internationally, to RCEP, perhaps the world’s most inclusive. And we welcome India’s engagement in the regional economic architecture, with our work together in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), important in an era in which we seek to build one another’s resilience. The third Indo-Pacific principle we align around is a region in which respect for the rules is foundational. Globally, rules are being undermined: whether those around territorial integrity, freedom of navigation, or laws of war. Yet, these are the very rules that preserve an Indo-Pacific order that is not “might is right” alone. And, as I have said before, there is no prosperity without security. The rules that underpin our security also allow our businesses to operate with certainty. Those rules deliver daily in meaningful ways for our people. For example, one in four jobs in New Zealand rely on exports and our exporting businesses being able to depend on the predictability that those rules deliver. And in a miracle, that’s only possible thanks to globally-accepted aviation standards, 120,000 flights carry 12 million passengers and operate safely between their destinations every day. These rules shape the character of our region. We remain committed to this rules-based system, even while acknowledging its shortcomings. It is a truism that the world of 2025 is vastly different from 1945, and yet global institutions sadly have been slow to adapt. We are not talking about “starting over” by remaking the global order. Instead, I tend to agree with Dr Jaishankar when he says we want an order in which change is evolutionary – at a pace that is comfortable and steady. That’s why New Zealand supports reforming global governance frameworks to better reflect today’s realities. Rather than casting them aside, they should give greater voice to the developing world and under-represented regions. Countries like India – that play such a central role in the global community – should have a seat at the table. We’ve therefore long supported India having a permanent seat on a reformed UN Security Council. Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen. It has been a privilege to speak to you today, at this important forum for global dialogue. The geostrategic picture I’ve painted is stark. Rules are giving way to power; economics to security; and efficiency to resilience. The tectonic shifts unfolding highlight that we – working alongside partners and friends – must navigate disruption, uncertainty, and sharpening pressure on our national interests. Yet, we will not be overwhelmed by complexity and challenge. We must go forward with confidence. We live at the heart of the world’s most exciting and dynamic region – the Indo-Pacific. We live in an era of technological transformation that offers outsized opportunities. We are countries with solid underlying democratic institutions, which will underpin our societies’ future success. India and New Zealand have extraordinarily talented people. Both our countries have a clear plan that reflects and reinforces the connections between our security and prosperity. We cannot afford to be thrown by the rapid pace of change – we must grapple with shifting realities and capitalise on these for all our peoples’ benefit. We will create and seize opportunities. Invest in our capabilities. This is our region. Its future will be shaped by the choices we make—together. Thank you, ngā mihi nui, and dhanyavaad .
Council last night agreed to request the Minister for Planning to appoint an independent panel to consider submissions received for Planning Scheme Amendment C282gben, which affects all industrial land across Greater Bendigo.
The proposed amendment seeks to provide a clearer policy for all industrial-zoned land, land identified for the proposed Bendigo Regional Employment Precinct.
Amendment C282gben proposes to partially implement the Greater Bendigo Industrial Land Development Strategy 2024 (GBILDS) by making the following changes:
Rezoning 1029 Calder Highway, Maiden Gully from Industrial 1 Zone to Public Conservation and Resource Zone
Introducing the draft Greater Bendigo Industrial Development Guidelines to replace the Good Design for Industry 1997
Making changes to the Municipal Planning Strategy, Planning Policy Framework and Operational Provisions of the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme
Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf said the proposed amendment responded to strong continued demand for larger scale industrial land.
“The region needs to ensure an adequate pipeline of suitably located and adequately sized industrial land to meet long term needs of industry,” Cr Metcalf said.
“This is not only about trying to attract new industry to Greater Bendigo but to retain the many businesses already here that provide local jobs and are looking to expand into the future.
“Several changes are included in the proposed Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme Amendment to give effect to the strategy and the guidelines.”
The Amendment was publicly exhibited for five weeks from October 31 to December 5, 2024.
Thirteen submissions were received from landowners, consultants and referral authorities. Seven submissions supported or requested no changes to the amendment. Six submissions, although largely in support of the principle of the amendment, requested changes. These will be reviewed by the independent panel.
Council last night agreed to refer submissions to an independent panel appointed by the Minister for Planning. There will be a further report to Council once the Planning Panel report has been received.
More vulnerable Australians will soon have better access to essential government services and programs that build their social connections within their own communities.
The Albanese Labor Government is investing $989,000 to bolster neighbourhood houses, neighbourhood centres and community centres across the country.
These community-based organisations provide support to access Federal Government services such as Centrelink and emergency relief in geographically isolated and disadvantaged communities. They also offer programs to help vulnerable Australians better engage with their communities such as digital literacy programs, employment skills and education pathway training, one-on-one coaching, and nutrition and cooking classes.
The Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association (ANHCA) will use the funding to administer grants of up to $15,000 to eligible organisations to deliver more than 50 community-based projects.
ANHCA is the national peak body representing more than 1,000 neighbourhood houses, neighbourhood centres and community centres around Australia – accessed by more than 400,000 disadvantaged Australians each week.
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth visited Derwent Valley Community House in New Norfolk, Tasmania today. It provides people with information, educational, cultural and social supports and resources including cooking classes, learner driving programs, and help with literacy.
Minister Rishworth said by supporting place-based solutions to addressing disadvantage, we can help build stronger and more resilient communities, and help Australians who need extra support.
“The Albanese Labor Government is pleased to partner with ANHCA to deliver better outcomes for neighbourhood houses and community centres by addressing services gaps identified by the community and removing barriers vulnerable groups face to access support,” Minister Rishworth said.
“ANHCA is well-equipped with the expertise, community knowledge, and sector understanding to ensure that Government funding is being used and delivered where it is needed most.
ANHCA President Liz Bonner said: “This dedicated funding for neighbourhood houses, neighbourhood centres and community centres across Australia is very welcome support for a sector that provides Australia’s essential social infrastructure and contributes so much to social cohesion, at a time when the cost of living pressures are challenging community connection.”
The funding is delivered under the Strong and Resilient Communities – Inclusive Communities (SARC – IC) Activity which is designed to support people on pathways to self-reliance and empowerment through local community-driven solutions. The Government has invested $49.5 million in SARC – IC projects since 2022.
One of UniSA’s most passionate advocates for Aboriginal communities and marginalised groups has won the 2024 SA Governor’s Multicultural Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement.
Dr Jelina Haines, a practitioner-academic who has collaborated with Aboriginal Elders for more than 21 years and used art, storytelling and digital technologies to empower marginalised communities, was among nine winners and 31 finalists who attended the awards ceremony at Government House on 5 March.
The award, presented by the Governor of South Australia Frances Adamson AC, honoured Dr Haines’ extensive body of work over two decades championing social cohesion, intercultural understanding and the revitalisation of Aboriginal arts.
A Filipino-born Australian with an ancestral link to Indigenous Americas-Mexico, Dr Haines migrated to South Australia in 1997. Since then, she has spearheaded 52 minor programs, five major projects, and three international educational initiatives.
Her work has provided crucial income opportunities for Aboriginal artists while fostering a strong sense of identity within communities.
One of her most notable artistic collaborations has been with the Ngarrindjeri Cultural Weavers at Camp Coorong. Through this mutual partnership, she has helped create intricate woven sculptures representing Ngarrindjeri totems, including a life-sized whale exhibited at the SA Museum and the Le Havre Museum in France.
Dr Jelina Haines with her SA Governor’s Multicultural Award.
Other remarkable pieces, such as the Pelican and Murray Cod sculptures, have found homes in the National Australia Gallery, the SA Maritime Museum, and Ngarrindjeri Totems at the Department of Infrastructure, and Uniting Communities. These projects have not only united Aboriginal families and storytelling traditions but have also reinforced deep connections to ancestral landscapes.
Beyond her artistic contributions, Dr Haines has made an international impact through her research on the impact of digital technologies on marginalised communities, particularly Aboriginal groups.
Her award-winning studies have also shaped policies and practices that bridge digital gaps and create inclusive opportunities for underrepresented groups.
She currently serves as a Policy Advocacy Lead at Catalyst Now Oceania and Co-Chair of Catalyst Now Australia Chapter, and as SIG-Cabinet Deputy Director at the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), USA. She has also played a pivotal role in student mentorship, bringing exchange students from Japan, Asia, Europe, and America to South Australia while guiding students from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan in visual arts, archiving, information science and anthropology.
UniSA Associate Professor David Radford was also a finalist in the Outstanding Individual Achievement category, recognising his extensive research and ongoing work to support the settlement and integration of Hazara Afghan refugees in Australia.
CONWAY, Ark., March 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Home BancShares, Inc. (NYSE: HOMB), parent company of Centennial Bank, today announced it expects to release First Quarter 2025 earnings after the market closes on April 16, 2025. Following this release, management will conduct a conference call to review these earnings at 1:00 p.m. CT (2:00 p.m. ET) on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
We strongly encourage all participants to pre-register for the conference call webcast or the live call using one of the following links. First, participants can pre-register for the conference call webcast using the following link: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/447517977. Participants who pre-register will be given a unique webcast link to gain immediate access to the conference call webcast. Second, participants can pre-register for the live call using the following link: https://www.netroadshow.com/events/login?show=a44e9900&confId=79637. Participants who pre-register will be given the phone number and unique access codes to gain immediate access to the live call. Participants may pre-register now, or at any time prior to the call, and will immediately receive simple instructions via email. The Home BancShares conference call will also be scheduled as an event in your Outlook calendar.
Those without internet access or unable to pre-register may dial in and listen to the live call by calling 1-833-470-1428, Passcode: 947933. A replay of the call will be available by calling 1-866-813-9403, Passcode: 685290, which will be available until April 24, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. CT. Internet access to the call will be available live or in recorded version on the Company’s website at www.homebancshares.com.
Home BancShares, Inc. is a bank holding company, headquartered in Conway, Arkansas. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Centennial Bank, provides a broad range of commercial and retail banking plus related financial services to businesses, real estate developers, investors, individuals and municipalities. Centennial Bank has branch locations in Arkansas, Florida, South Alabama, Texas and New York City, with branches in Texas operating as Happy State Bank, a division of Centennial Bank. The Company’s common stock is traded through the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “HOMB.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Home BancShares, Inc. Donna Townsell Senior Executive Vice President & Director of Investor Relations (501) 328-4625 Ticker symbol: HOMB
As part of ACT Government’s ‘One Government, One Voice’ program, we are transitioning this website across to our . You can access everything you need through this website while it’s happening.
ACT Ambulance Service (ACTAS) Chief Officer Howard Wren will be retiring from his role after over 50 years in the ambulance and healthcare fields.
Chief Officer Wren’s last day in office will be Friday, 28 February 2025. ACTAS General Manager, Clinical Governance Unit, Mr Patrick Meere, will be interim ACTAS Chief Officer while a recruitment process is underway.
Throughout his career Chief Officer Wren’s impact on NSW and ACT healthcare has been significant, leaving a legacy for many years to come. Some of the key initiatives that Chief Officer Wren has been part of include:
Guaranteeing a defibrillator is available in every frontline ambulance
Ensuring effective pain relief is accessible to patients
The education and training of many paramedics
Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, Dr Marisa Paterson, has paid tribute to Chief Officer Wren for his dedicated service to the Canberra community.
“Chief Officer Wren’s career progression is a remarkable representation of what it means to build from the ground up. His journey as a paramedic reflects an unwavering commitment to his peers and the community.
“The Canberra community is indebted to Chief Officer Wren in leading reform that has set our ambulance service up for years to come.”
Quotes attributable to outgoing ACTAS Chief Officer, Howard Wren:
“When I started my career as a paramedic in 1974, all that was required was to be over 18, have an unrestricted driver’s license and a few first aid certificates. Back then, never did I envision that the service would grow so much, with paramedics now being qualified health professionals.
“This is one of many changes I have witnessed across my five decades of service. Paramedics are now also more gender diverse than they have ever been and are equipped with life-saving tools that just weren’t available 50 years ago. I am proud to have been a part of each change no matter how big or small, helping improve healthcare, not just in the ACT, but across the nation.
“I’m retiring knowing the ACT community is in safe hands. ACTAS truly is one of the most forward-thinking and innovative ambulance services in the country, filled with exceptional people. It has been a privilege to have been a part of this organisation and to have served the Canberra community.
As part of ACT Government’s ‘One Government, One Voice’ program, we are transitioning this website across to our . You can access everything you need through this website while it’s happening.
Released 03/03/2025 – Joint media release
Up to 7,500 households in the nation’s capital will benefit from bill busting energy upgrades, with the Albanese Government investing $12.9 million for rooftop solar and batteries across social housing in the ACT.
The program will bring down energy bills for good using Virtual Power Plants (VPP) to connect and combine renewable energy resources. By joining a VPP, households with solar panels and batteries can access savings on their energy bills.
This is lasting cost of living relief by ensuring some of the most vulnerable households are better insulated from bill shock, with homes that are fitted out to stay cool in the summer and warm in the cold Canberra winters.
The ACT Government will provide a greater weighting through the procurement process for products that are Australian made.
The new funding is part of the Commonwealth’s $500 million expansion of the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative (SHEPI) and will enable more than 100,000 social housing properties across Australia – almost 25% of the country’s social housing stock – to save on energy bills and reduce emissions.
Upgrades delivered under the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative could save tenants around $1,800 on their energy bills each year.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen:
“The Albanese Labor Government is bringing down bills for good through the renewable energy transformation.
“While Peter Dutton’s Coalition spruiks a $600 billion nuclear scheme that will prolong coal, make bills more expensive, risk blackouts and shrink our economy, we are delivering the clean, cheap, reliable and resilient energy system that Australians deserve.”
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson:
“Every Australian deserves a home that is safe to live in, comfortable and cheaper to run, and energy efficiency upgrades can make a real difference to these outcomes.
“After the recent hot weather and knowing the challenge of winter is ahead, we’re reminded of just how vital these upgrades are in bringing year-round comfort and lowering bills to some of the most vulnerable households.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Homes and New Suburbs Yvette Berry:
“Every Canberran should have access to safe, secure, and affordable housing.
“Today’s announcement builds on our ongoing commitment to improve the comfort and energy affordability of public housing. Our new public housing builds maximise energy efficiency, including a 6-star energy rating and energy efficient appliances.
“The existing public housing stock is also being upgraded through the Home Energy Support Program, with ceiling insulation and or electrification upgrades already completed in over 2,500 properties since the program began in 2023.
“The latest SHEPI funding marks a further investment in public housing, that is critically important to our community’s overall economic and social wellbeing.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water, Suzanne Orr:
“The ACT Government is committed to ensuring no Canberrans are left behind as we transition to net zero. We welcome this significant further investment by the Australian Government which will see rooftop solar panels and batteries installed at thousands of social housing properties.
“These solar and battery systems will be operated as a Virtual Power Plant, delivering an innovative and long-term solution to reducing electricity costs and supporting grid reliability.”
As part of ACT Government’s ‘One Government, One Voice’ program, we are transitioning this website across to our . You can access everything you need through this website while it’s happening.
Minister for Children, Youth and Families, Michael Pettersson MLA, said the 2024 Family Matters Report, released by SNAICC on 21 November 2024, highlights progress in addressing the over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out of home care.
“Notably, the ACT is one of only two jurisdictions that have reduced the rate of over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out of home care,” Minister Pettersson said.
“The rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in the ACT in out of home care has decreased from 14 children per 1000 in 2022 to 11.7 in 2023. Contributing to this positive result is the comprehensive reform program being undertaken across the Children, Youth and Families system and the ongoing implementation of the recommendations from the Our Booris Our Way Final Report.”
“The Family Matters report underscores the importance of children growing up safe and cared for within their family, community, and culture. It also provides critical data on children’s interactions with child protection systems and projects future trends in over-representation if current conditions persist.”
“Today also marks a significant moment between the Community Services Directorate and the Our Booris Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee. Both parties will recommit to continued collaboration to implement the recommendations from the Final Report.”
”Our Booris Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee, in partnership with the ACT Government, has worked hard over the last 6 years to drive real and enduring change. Changes that benefit our children and families but will also have a positive impact on the experiences of ALL children and families in the ACT,” said Natalie Brown, Chair of Our Booris Our Way Committee.
Several milestones have been achieved through the partnership between the Our Booris Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee and the ACT Government, including:
Embedding the Child Placement Principle into the Children and Young People Act 2008;
Continued funding of the Care and Protection Legal Advocacy Service;
Commencement of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner.
“Together we must ensure that our children and young people in the Canberra community have greater opportunity to reach their full potential by growing up safe and supported”, Natalie Brown, Chair of Our Booris Our Way Committee said.