Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland
Statement by TUV deputy leader Court Councillor Ron McDowell:
“The questions surrounding Sinn Fein when it comes to the issue of child safety continue to grow in number and there will be few who will be filled with confidence that the decision of some member of the Executive Office Committee to furnish Ms O’Neill with their questions in advance of the meeting is a route which is likely to get to the truth. However, in addition to those profoundly important issues we now have confirmation that the IRA “Army Council” continues to exist, that the IRA is still involved in gathering intelligence, that it retains arms 19 years after they were supposedly decommissioned and that the IRA’s “Army Council” continues to oversee Sinn Féin’s overarching strategy.
“Child safety is profound enough an issue to call into question the suitability of anyone to hold office. After this morning’s confirmation that nothing has changed when it comes to the IRA and the role of its leadership in Sinn Fein surely all Unionist MLAs will be queuing up to sign the TUV motion of no confidence on Monday morning?
“Any Unionist who doesn’t sign it obviously does have confidence in Ms O’Neill. One is given to wonder what on earth Sinn Fein/IRA would have to do in order to lose it.”
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Amanda Cole, Lecturer in Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex
On October 21 1964, the iconic and much-celebrated film My Fair Lady premiered in Hollywood. Sixty years later, the film remains an enjoyable rollick full of catchy songs, but is not a wholly accurate depiction of what linguists do – certainly not nowadays at least.
Linguists are far from the academics who are most frequently depicted in films. It’s normally the white-coat, work-in-a-lab, scientist-of-some-nondescript-sort professors who get to give stark warnings or unsettling research insights to the maverick protagonist. But My Fair Lady is a film all about linguistics (and also class, love and terrible Cockney accents – more on that later).
In the film, Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), takes under his wing a Cockney flower seller called Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn). He wagers with his friend and fellow haughty linguist, Colonel Pickering, that he can teach her to speak “properly”.
It seems at first there is no hope but – hoorah! – Eliza finally grasps it, suddenly blurting out “the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” in a perfect imitation of Queen’s English.
Doolittle then dazzles at an embassy ball, the perfect replica of an upstanding posh woman – or, as the film’s title suggests, a “lady” (itself a problematic word which encodes sexist tropes about what should be aspirational and respectable for women).
She even fools a man who has made a name for himself by identifying imposters based on their accent. Though, you may also wonder if she evades detection by barely speaking at the ball, converted into a demure and unforthcoming shadow of her previously forthright, unapologetic and garrulous self.
Professor Higgins: not your typical linguist
My Fair Lady avoids the common pitfall of assuming that the primary endeavour of the linguist is to learn as many different languages as they can, collecting them like stamps (the film Arrival can take note). But it still doesn’t get our job quite right.
I, for one, have never groomed a young, destitute woman to speak “correctly” while moulding her into a “respectable”, posh woman (if only modern academia granted the breathing space for such folly).
Linguists love, celebrate and are constantly itching to understand, study and explore the diverse tapestry of accents, dialects and languages that exist in the UK and around the world. We have no interest in reinforcing any societal ideal for a supposedly “correct” accent, or throwing a grammar rule book at unwitting members of the public.
By contrast, Higgins is repulsed by any accent that is not Queen’s English (which, by a wonderful turn of luck, is also his accent). In the opening number, he has a pop at the dialects of Yorkshire, Cornwall, America, Scotland and Ireland.
But he is particularly dismayed and repulsed that Doolittle, despite being from London, has a strong London accent (or she is meant to at least – I can only imagine Hepburn was instructed to open her mouth as wide as possible for all vowels and caw like a crow if all else fails).
Higgins makes various proclamations which will have you shouting at the telly, “Steady on, Professor!”. In his words:
Look at her, a prisoner of the gutter / Condemned by every syllable she ever utters / By right, she should be taken out and hung for the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.
Best not tell him “hanged” is the past tense of “hang” when referring to capital punishment, else he walk himself straight to the gallows.
With a little bit of accent prejudice
The real beast in disguise at the embassy ball is not young, Cockney, Eliza Doolittle. It is misogyny and contempt for the working class that hides behind a mask of maintaining good standards and protecting the English language.
Accent prejudice is a smokescreen for broader societal prejudice. My Fair Lady seems antiquated and quaint in many ways – like Higgins using a gramophone to play back recordings of Doolittle – but accent prejudice is alive and well.
Women in the UK such as Alex Scott, Angela Rayner and Priti Patel still routinely face criticism, commentary and contempt for their regional accents.
You might think that the film’s lesson is for Doolittle to take on the world with her freshly mastered “standard” accent. After all, she consented to being ridiculed and paraded around like a show dog as she felt her accent prevented her from getting a job in a flower shop. Now, nothing stands in her way.
But people should not have to change their accent to get along – and it is not always possible or even a guaranteed ticket out of discrimination. If we take the accent out of accent prejudice, we are still left with the prejudice – let’s remove the prejudice and be left with the accent.
We need more unapologetically working-class women with regional accents at the embassy ball, but also in politics, academia, in the media and in all walks of life.
In the film, Doolittle ultimately feels she has been used and disrespected, leading her to sour on Higgins. After she leaves, he grows to miss her and wistfully plays back recordings of her voice.
And this is the real lesson for viewers today. Higgins has gotten to know Doolittle as a person and now sees beyond her accent and his own prejudice. The more we hear people with regional accents, the more normal and uneventful it becomes, and the more we will focus on what they say and not how they say it.
Amanda Cole does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
A Banbridge man has been convicted in court for being the keeper of a Bully dog which mauled and seriously injured a man two years ago.
On Thursday 17 October, Gabriel McCauley of Ballygowan Park was convicted of a dog control offence under Article 29 of the Dogs (NI) Order 1983 (as amended) for being the keeper of a Bully dog which attacked another person.
In response to the attack, which occurred on October 3, 2022 at Havelock Park, the Dog Warden team from Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council attended the scene alongside police officers. The dog was brought under control before being humanely destroyed.
At Banbridge Magistrates Court, sitting in Newry on Thursday – Mr McCauley was found guilty of the offence and was fined £500, with a £15 offenders levy and the Council awarded costs of £300.
A Council spokesperson welcomed the conviction for the attack, and said it was important that all owners of XL Bully dogs comply with the new laws for keeping these dogs.
“This was an extremely serious attack which has left the victim with life-changing injuries, so it is welcome that the owner is brought before court and convicted,” they said.
“We want to emphasise that the Council operates a rigorous enforcement policy on dog control, and we also want to ensure that everyone is aware of the new rules around owning these XL Bully dogs.
“Owners need to keep their dog muzzled and on a lead when in public places. The dog must be kept in secure conditions that will stop it from escaping.
“Furthermore, owners are not allowed to breed, sell, exchange, gift or abandon an XL Bully type dog.”
Across Northern Ireland, it will be illegal to own an XL Bully dog without an Exemption Certificate from January 1, 2025. The application process for XL Bully dog exemptions is now open and will close on December 31, 2024.
Copies of the letters from Max Soule, Deputy Director Local Government Stewardship and Interventions at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to Michael Hainge and Richard Paver, detailing the decision by ministers to appoint them as Assistant Inspectors in relation to Warrington Borough Council under section 10 of the Local Government Act 1999.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Government marks ‘new beginning’ of relationship with civil society to tackle some of society’s most pressing issues with launch of a new ‘Civil Society Covenant’
Government marks ‘new beginning’ of relationship with civil society to tackle some of society’s most pressing issues
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy host No10 roundtable discussion and reception with key civil society representatives
Event signals start of a period of wider engagement over the Autumn to forge a bold new partnership between Government and civil society
The creation of a ‘Civil Society Covenant’ will usher in a new era of partnership between government and civil society and help tackle some of the country’s biggest challenges, the Prime Minister and Culture Secretary will announce today.
The new Covenant is designed to harness the knowledge and expertise of voluntary, community, social enterprises (VCSEs) and charities to deliver better outcomes for communities right across the country.
Civil society occupies a unique place in public life by providing support to those in need, binding communities together and helping drive growth. Across the country, there are countless examples of what partnership between civil society and government can achieve, including youth activities to support vulnerable teenagers and tools to support people into work.
The new Covenant will build a new partnership between government and civil society based on trust and mutual respect. Crucially, it will unlock the dynamism, innovation and trusted reach of civil society across communities, helping to deliver the defining missions of this government; driving economic growth and opening up opportunity to all.
As a first step, a Covenant Framework has been developed in consultation with key civil society bodies, including the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO).
The inclusion of key representative organisations recognises the expertise civil society offers in tackling disadvantage, driving cohesion, supporting democracy and community voices both at home and abroad.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will chair a roundtable discussion with civil society leaders at 10 Downing Street today to launch the Covenant Framework. This will be followed by a reception hosted by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to welcome leaders from a range of civil society organisations. Attendees will represent civil society from across the four nations, including grass roots charities and social enterprises covering a range of diverse communities.
Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer said:
To fix the foundations of our country we need a fundamental reset of the relationship between government and civil society.
That is why we’re building a new partnership with the sector to tackle the complex social and economic challenges we face as a country.
By harnessing the dynamism, innovation and trusted reach of civil society organisations, we can boost growth and deliver better outcomes for communities right across the country”.
Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy said:
The Covenant paves the way for a new era in the relationship between government and civil society — one that recognises the critical role the sector plays as a trusted partner in achieving shared goals for the benefit of communities across the UK.
Voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises all understand the challenges being faced every day in our villages, towns and cities and the government wants to work hand-in-hand with them to help fix them — changing lives for the better.
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) CEO, Sarah Elliott said:
We are proud to be working with the Government on the Civil Society Covenant. This foundational moment resets the relationship between government and civil society, ensuring the expertise of charities and social enterprises are central to decision making. We look forward to continuing our work with partners across the sector to achieve this vision.
Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) CEO, Jane Ide said:
ACEVO welcomes the government’s commitment to work together to develop a Civil Society Covenant which aims to redefine our relationship for the benefit of the people, causes and communities we serve. Effective leadership relies on collaboration, trust, and mutual respect — values that underpin this Covenant. Civil society leaders are essential partners in realising this vision and ensuring its principles are upheld.
Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) CEO, Dr Lindsay Cordery-Bruce said:
WCVA has proudly worked alongside the Welsh Government for over 20 years to ensure positive and meaningful engagement with the third sector. We welcome the new Covenant as the next step in the civil society movement across the UK. A new Covenant that complements the existing arrangements in the devolved nations will offer an opportunity to build on good practice.”
Locality CEO, Tony Armstrong said:
We welcome the government’s commitment to resetting its relationship with civil society. Local community organisations have long played a vital, yet often overlooked role in addressing society’s most pressing issues. We see every day what community power can achieve, and the support of government at all levels will allow community organisations to do even more to help local people thrive.
Refugee Council CEO, Enver Solomon said:
It is very encouraging to have a government firmly committed to reaching a new deal on how it works with the voluntary sector as it responds to the huge challenges society and public services face.
Charities bring years of invaluable frontline experience, service innovation and an independent perspective that can make government policy and delivery stronger and grounded in the reality of people’s lived experience.
Four key principles will form the basis of the Covenant Framework: transparency, recognition, participation and partnership. They will act as a starting point for wider engagement across Government, the public sector and civil society.
The initiative aims to improve Government and civil society’s ability to tackle complex social and economic challenges by uniting the unique capabilities of the two to facilitate better outcomes for communities which would otherwise be impossible to achieve in isolation.
Today’s events at Downing Street will kickstart a period of engagement throughout the autumn, with consideration given to ensuring broad representation is achieved across the full breadth of civil society, inclusive of organisations of all purposes, sizes, geographical locations and demographic focus.
In parallel, engagement will take place across Government including the Devolved Governments, Arm’s Length Bodies, local authorities and Mayoral Combined Authorities.
The robust engagement period will culminate in the publication of a final co-created Covenant to be published next year.
ENDS
Additional quotes:
National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) CEO, Maddy Desforges said:
We welcome Government’s explicit recognition of the VCSE’s role in tackling complex and deep rooted societal problems. Local VCSE support organisations form critical connections between the VCSE and statutory partners and capture communities’ unique knowledge and problem solving insights. We are excited to work with Government to collaborate and deepen our relationship to support and develop resilient communities.
Voice4Change England Director, Kunle Olulode MBE said:
Voice4change England welcomes the opportunity to work with government on setting out a new relationship with voluntary organisations, social enterprises and civil society generally.
It is long overdue for the government to engage seriously with the parts of the Black and Minoritised third sector we are involved in, so we are keen to make it work. We look forward to constructive, meaningful engagement and positive changes for all in British Society.
The Civil Society Covenant will support partnerships between: 1. national government and associated public bodies including executive agencies and arm’s length organisations 2. civil society organisations including charities, community groups, social enterprises, funders and contributors to the impact economy.
While the Covenant scope will focus on core Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations, relevant industry bodies including Trade Unions were also consulted as part of the initial drafting via engagement with NCVO and ACEVO.
The Covenant will not override existing arrangements between civil society and the Devolved Governments, local authorities and combined authorities, but will instead seek to support these existing relationships.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Lea Paterson announced as Chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body.
Today, Thursday 17 October 2024, the Government has announced that Lea Paterson will be the new Chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).
Lea brings extensive experience from public policy, regulation, HR and financial journalism. She has held a number of senior roles at the Bank of England, including serving as the Bank’s Executive Director of People & Culture, and as the organisation’s first Director of Independent Evaluation.
Lea is currently a Board Member at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, an independent member of Warwick University’s Remuneration Committee, and a Civil Service Commissioner. She also holds a number of voluntary and community roles.
As Chair of the SSRB, Lea will provide strong leadership at a senior level and a clear direction of the policy, financial and operational levers that impact on remuneration decisions, especially in the public sector.
The SSRB provides independent advice to the Prime Minister and senior ministers on the pay of many of the nation’s top public servants.
The SSRB’s remit covers senior civil servants, the judiciary, the senior military, certain senior managers in the NHS, Police and Crime Commissioners and chief police officers.
This is a Prime Ministerial appointment with Cabinet Office being the sponsoring department. The appointment process for this role was in full accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.
The Rt Hon Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said:
Congratulations to Lea on her appointment as Chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body.
This role requires someone with financial expertise, strong leadership skills and dedication to public service, and Lea’s skills and experience across many relevant fields will be invaluable.
I wish her the best of luck in her new role.
Lea Paterson, incoming Chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body, said:
I’m delighted to have been appointed as Chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body.
I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to deliver independent, evidence-based advice that not only helps to attract and retain great talent for our public services, but also ensures value for money for the taxpayer.
I would also like to thank the outgoing Chair Pippa Lambert for her sterling leadership of the SSRB.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kieran Maguire, Senior Teacher in Accountancy and member of Football Industries Group, University of Liverpool
When the Premier League broke away from the rest of English football in 1992, its 22 clubs generated £205 million in its debut season, and the average player earned £2,050 a week. Thirty years later, despite having two fewer clubs, the league’s revenue had increased by 2,850% to £6.1 billion and the average player earned £93,000 a week.
At the heart of this extraordinary growth is an American revolution. In the Premier League’s inaugural season, football was still in recovery from the horrors of the stadium disasters at Hillsborough and Heysel. Owners tended to be from the local area and with a business background. The only foreign owner was Sam Hamman at Wimbledon, a Lebanese millionaire who bought the club on a whim having reportedly been much more interested in tennis. The season ended with Manchester United (under Alex Ferguson) winning the English game’s top league for the first time in 26 years.
Now, if the Texas-based Friedkin Group’s recent deal to buy Everton goes through, 11 of the 20 Premier League clubs will be controlled or part-owned by American investors. The US – long seen as football’s final frontier when it comes to the men’s game – suddenly can’t get enough of English “soccer”.
Four of the Premier League’s “big six” are American-owned – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea – while a fifth, Manchester City, has a significant US minority shareholding. Aston Villa, Fulham, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Ipswich Town also have varying degrees of American ownership.
And it’s not even just the glamour clubs at the top of the tree. American investment has also been significant lower down the football pyramid, led by the high-profile acquisition of then non-league Wrexham by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny, and Birmingham City’s purchase by US investors including seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady. American investment in football has reached places as geographically diverse as Carlisle and Crawley in England, and Aberdeen and Edinburgh in Scotland.
The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.
Manchester United was the first Premier League club to come under American ownership – after a row about a horse.
In 2005, United was owned by a variety of investors including Irish businessmen and racehorse owners John Magnier and J.P. McManus. Their erstwhile friend Ferguson, the United manager, thought he co-owned the champion racehorse Rock of Gibraltar with them – a stallion worth millions in stud rights. They disagreed – and their bitter dispute was such that Magnier and McManus decided to sell their shares in the football club.
The Miami-based Glazer family – already involved in sport as owners of NFL franchise the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – had already been buying up small tranches of shares in United, but the sudden availability of the Irish shares allowed Malcolm Glazer to acquire a controlling stake for £790 million (around £1.5 billion at today’s prices).
The fact Glazer did not actually have sufficient funds to pay for these shares was a solvable problem. In the some-might-say commercially naive world of top-flight English football before the Premier League, Manchester United was a club without debt, paying its way without leveraging its position as one of the world’s most famous football clubs. Glazer saw the opportunity this presented and arranged a leveraged buy-out (LBO), whereby the football club borrowed more than £600 million secured on its own assets to, in effect, “buy itself” in 2005.
Despite the need to meet the high interest costs to fund the LBO, United continued winning trophies under Ferguson – including three Premier League titles in a row in 2007, 2008 and 2009, as well as a Champions League victory in 2008. Amid this success, the club felt that ticket prices were too low and set about increasing them, with matchday revenue increasing from £66 million in 2004/05 to over £101 million by 2007/08.
Commercial income was another area the Glazers were keen to increase. United set up offices in London and adopted a global approach to finding new official branding deals ranging from snacks to tractor and tyre suppliers – doubling revenues from this income source too.
But in this new, more aggressive world of “sweating the asset”, the debts lingered – and most United fans remained deeply suspicious of their American owners. (Following their father’s death in 2014, the club was co-owned by his six children, with brothers Avram and Joel Glazer becoming co-chairmen.)
Today, despite its partial listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the February 2024 sale of 27.7% of the club to British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe for a reputed £1.25 billion, United still has borrowings of more than £546 million, having paid cumulative interest costs of £969 million since the takeover in 2005. But with the club now valued at US$6.55 billion (around £5bn), it represents a very smart investment for the Glazer family.
Indeed, while the prices being paid for football clubs across Europe have reached record levels, they are still seen as cheap investments compared with US sports’ leading franchises. Forbes’s annual list of the world’s most valuable sports teams has American football (NFL), baseball (MLB) and basketball (NBA) teams occupying the top ten positions, with only three Premier League clubs – Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City – in the top 50.
With NFL teams having an average franchise value of US$5.1 billion and NBA $3.9 billion, many English football clubs still look like a bargain from the other side of the pond.
The risk of relegation
The latest to join this US bandwagon, the Friedkin Group – a Texas-based portfolio of companies run by American businessman and film producer Dan Friedkin – is reported to have offered £400m to buy Everton, despite the club’s poor financial state.
“The Toffees” have been hit by loss of sponsorships as well as two sets of points deductions for breaching the Premier League’s financial rules, leading to revenue losses from lower league positions. While the new stadium being built at Liverpool’s Bramley-Moore dock has been yet another financial constraint, it will at least increase matchday income from the start of next season.
Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock will open in time for the start of the 2025-26 season. Phil Silverman / Shutterstock
A wider reason for the relative bargain in valuations of European football clubs is the risk of relegation – something that is not part of the closed leagues of most US sports. While the threat of relegation (and promise of promotion) has always been an integral part of English and European football, the jeopardy this brings for supporters – and a club’s finances – does not exist in the NFL, NBA, Major League Soccer and similar competitions.
The Premier League, with its three relegation spots at the end of each season, has featured 51 different clubs since it launched in 1992. Only six clubs – Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton – have been ever present, with Arsenal now approaching 100 years of consecutive top-flight football.
Other Premier League clubs have experienced the dramatic cost-benefit of relegation and promotion. Oldham Athletic, who were in the Premier League for its first two seasons, now languish in the fifth tier of the game, outside the English Football League (EFL). In contrast, Luton Town, who were in the fifth tier as recently as 2014, were promoted to the Premier League in 2023 – only to be relegated at the end of last season.
While it is difficult to compare football clubs with basketball and American football teams, the financial difference between having an open league, with relegation, and a closed league becomes apparent when you look at women’s football on both sides of the Atlantic.
Angel City, a women’s soccer team based in Los Angeles, only entered the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in 2022 and is yet to win an NWSL trophy. But last month, the club was sold for US$250 million (£188m) to Disney’s CEO Bob Iger and TV journalist Willow Bay – the most expensive takeover in the history of women’s professional sport.
In comparison, Chelsea – seven-time winners of the English Women’s Super League and one of the most successful sides in Europe – valued its women’s team at £150 million ($US196m) earlier this summer. While there are a number of factors to this price differential, the confidence that Angel City will always be a member of the big league of US soccer clubs – and share very equally in its revenue – will have made its new owners very confident in the long-term soundness of their deal.
The story of Angel City FC, the most expensive team in women’s sport.
A further attraction for American investors is the potential to enter two markets – one mature (men’s football) and one effectively a start-up (the women’s game) – in a single purchase. In the US, the top men’s and women’s clubs are completely separate. But in Europe, most top-flight women’s teams are affiliated to men’s clubs – with the exception of eight-time Women’s Champions League winners Olympique Lyonnais Feminin, which split from the French men’s club when Korean-American businesswoman Michele Kang bought a majority stake in the women’s team in February 2024).
While interest in, and hence value of, the WSL is now growing fast, the women’s game in England is dwarfed by viewer ratings for the Premier League – the most watched sporting league in the world, viewed by an estimated 1.87 billion people every week across 189 countries.
These figures dwarf even the NFL which, while currently still the most valuable of all sporting leagues in terms of its broadcasting deals, must be looking at the growth of the Premier League with some jealousy. This may explain why some US franchise owners, such as Stan Kroenke, the Glazer family, Fenway Sports Group and Billy Foley, have subsequently purchased Premier League football clubs.
Ironically, for many spectators around the world, it is the intensity and competitiveness of most Premier League matches – brought on in part by the threat of relegation and prize of European qualification – that makes it so captivating. However, billionaire investors like guaranteed numbers and dislike risk – especially the degree of financial risk that exists in the Premier League and English Football League.
European not-so-Super League
In April 2021, 12 leading European clubs (six from England plus three each from Spain and Italy) announced the creation of the European Super League (ESL). This new mid-week competition was to be a high-revenue generating, closed competition with (eventually) 15 permanent teams and five annual additions qualifying from Europe. According to one of the driving forces behind the plan, Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer:
By bringing together the world’s greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities, and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid.
The problem facing the Premier League’s “big six” clubs – and their ambitious owners – is there are currently only four slots available to play in the Champions League. So, their thinking went, why not take away the risk of not qualifying? However, the proposal was swiftly condemned by fans around Europe, together with football’s governing bodies and leagues – all of whom saw the ESL proposal as a threat to the quality and integrity of their domestic leagues. Following some large fan protests, including at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, Manchester City was the first club to withdraw – followed, within a couple of days, by the rest of the English clubs.
Under the terms of the ESL proposals, founding member clubs would have been guaranteed participation in the competition forever. Guaranteed participation means guaranteed revenues. The current financial gap between the “big six” and the other members of the Premier League, which in 2022/23 averaged £396 million, would have widened rapidly.
For example, these clubs would have been able to sell the broadcast rights for some of their ESL home fixtures direct to fans, instead of via a broadcaster. All of a sudden, that database of fans who have downloaded the official club app, or are on a mailing list, becomes far more valuable. These are the people most willing to watch their favourite team on a pay-per-view basis, further increasing revenues.
At the same time, a planned ESL wage cap would have stopped players taking all these increased revenues in the form of higher wages, allowing these clubs to become more profitable and their ownership even more lucrative.
American-owned Manchester United and Liverpool had previously tried to enhance the value of their investments during the COVID lockdowns era via ProjectBig Picture – proposals to reduce the size of the Premier League and scrap one of the two domestic cup competitions, thus freeing up time for the bigger clubs to arrange more lucrative tours and European matches against high-profile opposition.
Most importantly, Project Big Picture would have resulted in changing the governance of the domestic game. Under its proposals, the “big six” clubs would have enjoyed enhanced voting rights, and therefore been able to significantly influence how the domestic game was governed.
Any attempt to increase the concentration of power raises concerns of lower competitive balance, whereby fewer teams are in the running to win the title and fewer games are meaningful. This is a problem facing some other major European football leagues including France’s Ligue 1, where interest among broadcasters has dwindled amid the perceived dominance of Paris St-Germain.
So while to date, American-led attempts to change the structure of the Premier League have been foiled, it’s unlikely such ideas have gone away for good. The near-universal fear of fans – even those who welcome an injection of extra cash from a new billionaire owner – is that the spectacle of the league will only be diminished if such plans ever succeed.
And there is evidence from the women’s game that the US closed league format is coming under more pressure from football’s global forces. The NWSL recently announced it is removing the draft system that is designed (as with the NFL and NBA) to build in jeopardy and competitive balance when there is no risk of relegation.
Top US women’s football clubs are losing some of their leading players to other leagues, in part because European clubs are not bound by the same artificial rules of employment. In a truly global professional sport such as football, international competition will always tend to destabilise closed leagues.
Why do they keep buying these clubs?
Does this mean that American and other wealthy owners of Premier League clubs seeking to reduce their risks are ultimately fighting a losing battle? And if so, given the potential risks involved in owning a football club – both financial and even personal – why do they keep buying them?
The motivations are part-financial, part technological and, as has always been the case with sports ownership, part-vanity.
The American economy has grown far faster than that of the EU or UK in recent years. Consequently, there are many beneficiaries of this growth who have surplus cash, and here football becomes an attractive proposition. In fact, football clubs are more resilient to recessions than other industries, holding their value better as they are effectively monopoly suppliers for their fans who have brand loyalty that exists in few other industries.
From 1993 to 2018, a period during which the UK economy more than doubled, the total value of Premier League clubs grew 30 times larger. And many fans are tied to supporting one club, helping to make the biggest clubs more resilient to economic changes than other industries. While football, like many parts of the entertainment industry, was hit by lockdown during Covid, no clubs went out of business, despite the challenges of matches being played in empty stadiums.
Added to this, the exchange rates for US dollars have been very favourable until recently, making US investments in the UK and Europe cheaper for American investors.
So, while Manchester United fans would argue that the Glazer family have not been good for the club, United has been good for the Glazers. And Fenway Sports Group (FSG), who bought Liverpool for £300 million in 2010, have recouped almost all of that money in smaller share sales while remaining majority owners of Liverpool.
Despite this, the £2.5 billion price paid for Chelsea by the US Clearlake-Todd Boehly consortium in May 2022 took markets by surprise.
The sale – which came after the UK government froze the assets of the club’s Russian oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich, following the invasion of Ukraine – went through less than a year after Newcastle United had been sold by Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund for £305 million – approximately twice that club’s annual revenues. Yet Clearlake-Boehly were willing to pay over five times Chelsea’s annual revenues to acquire the club, even though it was in a precarious financial position.
Clearlake is a private equity group whose main aim is to make profits for their investors. But unlike most such investors, who tend to focus on cost-cutting, the Chelsea ownership came in with a high-spending strategy using new financial structuring ideas, such as offering longer player contracts to avoid falling foul of football’s profitability and sustainability rules (although this loophole has since been closed with Uefa, European football’s governing body, limiting contract lengths for financial regulation purposes to five years).
Chelsea’s location in the one of the most expensive areas of London, combined with its on-field success under Abramovich, all added to the attraction, of course. But there are other reasons why Clearlake, along with billionaire businessman Boehly, were willing to stump up so much for the club.
From Hollywood to the metaverse
While some British football fans may have viewed the Ted Lasso TV show as an enjoyable if slightly twee fictional account of American involvement in English soccer, it has enhanced the attraction of the sport in the US. So too Welcome To Wrexham – the fly-on-the-wall series covering the (to date) two promotions of Wales’s oldest football club under the unlikely Hollywood stewardship of Reynolds and McElhenney.
Welcome To Wrexham, season one trailer.
The growth in US interest in English football is reflected in the record-breaking Premier League media rights deal in 2022, with NBC Sports reportedly paying $2.7 billion (£2.06bn) for its latest six-year deal.
But as well as football offering one of increasingly few “live shared TV experiences” that carry lucrative advertising slots, there may also be more opportunity for more behind-the-scenes coverage of the Premier League – as has long been seen in US coverage of NBA games, for example, where players are interviewed in the locker room straight after games.
According to Manchester United’s latest annual report, the club now has a “global community of 1.1 billion fans and followers”. Such numbers mean its owners, and many others, are bullish about the potential of the metaverse in terms of offering a matchday experience that could be similar to attending a match, without physically travelling to Manchester.
Their neighbours Manchester City, part-owned by American private equity company Silverlake, broke new (virtual) ground by signing a metaverse deal with Sony in 2022. Virtual reality could give fans around the world the feeling of attending a live match, sitting next to their friends and singing along with the rest of the crowd (for a pay-per-view fee).
Some investors are even confident that advancements in Abba-style avatar technology could one day allow fans to watch live 3D simulations of Premier League matches in stadiums all over the world. Having first-mover advantage by being in the elite club of owners who can make use of such technology could prove ever more rewarding.
More immediately, there are some indications that competitive matches involving England’s top men’s football teams could soon take place in US or other venues. Boehly, Chelsea’s co-owner, has already suggested adopting some US sports staples such as an All-Star match to further boost revenues. Indeed, back in 2008, the Premier League tentatively discussed a “39th game” taking place overseas, but that idea was quickly shelved.
The American owners of Birmingham City were keen to play this season’s EFL League One match against Wrexham in the US, but again this proposal did not get far. Liverpool’s chairman Tom Werner says he is determined to see matches take place overseas, and recent changes to world governing body Fifa’s rulebook could make it easier for this proposal to succeed.
The potential benefits of hosting games overseas include higher matchday revenues, increased brand awareness, and enhanced broadcast rights. While there is likely to be significant opposition from local fans, at least American owners know they would not face the same hostility about rising matchday prices in the US as they have encountered in England.
When the Argentinian legend Lionel Messi signed for new MLS franchise Inter Miami in 2023, season ticket prices nearly doubled on his account. And while there is vocal opposition to higher ticket prices in England, this is not borne out in terms of lower attendances for matches against high-calibre opposition – as evidenced by Aston Villa charging up to £97 for last week’s Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich.
Villa’s director of operations, Chris Heck, defended the prices by saying that difficult decisions had to be made if the club was to be competitive.
Manchester United’s matchday revenue per EPL season (£m)
For much of the 2010s, with broadcast revenues increasing rapidly, many Premier League owners made little effort to stoke hostilities with their loyal fan bases by putting up ticket prices. Indeed, Manchester United generated little more from matchday income in the 2021-22 season, as football emerged from the pandemic, than the club had in 2010-11 (see chart above).
However, this uneasy truce between fans and owners has ceased. The relative flatlining of broadcast revenues since 2017, along with cost control rules that are starting to affect clubs’ ability to spend money on player signings and wages, has changed club appetites for dampened ticket prices. This has resulted in noticeable rises in individual ticket and season ticket prices by some clubs.
However, season ticket and other local “legacy” fans generate little money compared with the more lucrative overseas and tourist fans. They may only watch their favourite team live once a season, but when they visit, they are far more likely not only to pay higher matchday prices, but to spend more on merchandise, catering and other offerings from the club.
Today’s breed of commercially aware, profit-seeking US Premier League owners – pioneered by the Glazer family, who saw that “sweating the asset” meant more than watching football players sprinting hard – understand there is a lot more value to come from English football teams. The clubs’ loyal local supporters may not like it, but English football’s American-led revolution is not done yet.
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Kieran Maguire has taught courses and presented on football finance for the Professional Footballers Association, League Managers Association, FIFA and national football associations in Europe.
Christina Philippou is affiliated with the RAF FA, and Premier League education programs.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Insolvency Service working with regulators to improve support for people with debt
Research was commissioned by the Insolvency Service in light of concerns about the Individual Voluntary Arrangement market.
Of the 310 terminated IVAs that were examined, 60% showed evidence of poor practice by providers.
The Insolvency Service is working with the industry’s regulators to address the situation.
Latest research commissioned by the Insolvency Service has shown evidence of poor practice among providers of Individual Voluntary Arrangements.
Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) are a legally binding agreement between a person who is insolvent and their creditors.
They are administered by licensed Insolvency Practitioners, usually last for between five and six years, and give people the opportunity to pay an affordable monthly contribution towards their debts.
After concerns were raised about the way IVAs were being offered to people who signed up to them, the Insolvency Service commissioned independent research to look into the market.
The research, which has been published today, looked at 310 randomly selected IVAs which had been both registered and terminated between 2021 and 2023, and found that 60% showed evidence of poor practice in the early stages.
Examples of poor practice included people’s income and expenditure not being recorded accurately by providers, other debt solutions being incorrectly dismissed and providers failing to make sure people understood what they were signing up to.
Claire Hardgrave, the Head of Insolvency Practitioner Regulation for the Insolvency Service said:
Poor practice in the IVA market isn’t in anyone’s interest. It is bad for the economy, for creditors and providers, and it has negative consequences for people dealing with problem debt, including those who are vulnerable.
While IVAs can work well for many, if an IVA is unsuitable it can leave people struggling with their household budget, being in debt for longer, or even taking on more debt to make their IVA payments.
We are working with the industry’s regulators on ways to improve this important area of support for people with debt, to make sure they are always given the best advice.
Across England and Wales, a total of 64,050 IVAs were registered in 2023.
The agreements freeze a person’s debts, stop recovery action and provide debt-relief, allowing them to become debt free over a set period. They often provide a better outcome for consumers and creditors than alternative debt solutions, such as bankruptcy.
Despite steps to improve poor practices over the past few years, the Insolvency Service has still received reports of poor practices, including aggressive marketing towards people in financial distress which fails to mention the fees which organisations charge or the cheaper alternatives available.
Following the publication of its research, the Insolvency Service is continuing to progress its work with regulatory bodies on actions to improve the IVA market.
Measures being investigated include creating new advertising protocols, simplifying the process for people entering IVAs, making sure people are presented with more information before they sign up to an IVA and providing better training for Insolvency Practitioners’ staff.
Anna Hall, Corporate Director for Debt at the Money and Pensions Service, said:
This research shows how incredibly important it is that those who are struggling with debt have access to free and impartial advice, helping them to understand the best way to manage their financial situation.
For free and impartial guidance, visit MoneyHelper.org.uk to access our debt advice locator tool which provides information about free and confidential debt advice online, over the phone or near to where you live.
A debt adviser will treat everything you say in confidence, never judge you, and will suggest ways of dealing with debts that you might not know about.
For more information about IVAs and this research, see here.
DAERA launches £1.55 million rural micro business development grant aid fund
17 October 2024
Small businesses in the Derry City and Strabane Council area are being encouraged to stake their claim for development grant funding worth up to £4,999.00. DAERA’s Rural Business Development Grant Scheme will deliver a total of £1.55 million in capital grants to support rural micro businesses across Northern Ireland. The programme is funded through the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Rural Business Development Grant Scheme (RBDGS) and is delivered in partnership with local Councils. Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr, encouraged local businesses to find out more about the application process and avail of the opportunity to give their business a competitive edge. “This programme offers rural micro businesses the opportunity to take their enterprise to the next level,” she said, “It is an opportunity to invest in equipment and machinery that can streamline your business and give you a competitive edge in the marketplace “I would urge applicants to book their attendance at the Pre Application workshops now as these are mandatory for a successful application,” she added. Eligible rural businesses can apply for capital assistance of 50% up to the value of £4,999 for the purchase of capital equipment that will help their business to enhance sustainability or lead to growth opportunities and the creation of employment opportunities which in turn strengthen the rural economy. Launching the scheme, Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir, MLA, said: “I am pleased to announce the opening of the £1.55 million Rural Business Development Grant Scheme. “This fund is important in delivering on the Department’s priority of building strong sustainable and diverse rural communities and the draft Programme for Government priority of growing a globally competitive and sustainable economy with a focus on addressing regional balance”. Minister Muir continued: “I urge all eligible rural businesses to go online and apply as soon as possible. “Rural Businesses continue to play a vital role in our rural communities and I want to support them at this challenging time and provide them with opportunities that will maximise their potential and stimulate business growth”.
Only online applications can be accepted for this scheme. The Scheme opens for applications at 9.00am on 16 October 2024 and closes at 12 noon on 8 November 2024.
For more details on pre-application workshops and link to the Application visit http://www.derrystrabane.com/businesssupport The workshops will take place on Wednesday October 23rd at 6pm (Online), Wednesday 30th October at 1pm (Glenelly Room, Strabane) and Tuesday November 5th at 1pm (Online).
Details of the Rural Business Development Grant Scheme are on the DAERA website at Rural Business Development Grant Scheme (RBDGS) 2024/2025 | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk).
Only online applications can be accepted for this scheme. The Scheme opens for applications at 9.00am on 16 October 2024 and closes at 12 noon on 8 November 2024.
The Museum of Oxford has been awarded a £136,309 grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to mark its 50-year anniversary in 2025.
The National Lottery funding will support a new project titled “50 Years and Beyond: Embedding Community Voices”, which aims to engage Oxford’s diverse communities in celebrating and sharing their heritage and the city’s rich history.
As part of the project, the Museum of Oxford will collaborate with Oxford’s communities to co-create an exhibition and year-long programme of events. Working closely with local people, community groups, and Oxfordshire County Council’s Museum Collections Team, the museum will identify existing and new objects, stories, and artefacts that reflect the cultural diversity of Oxford’s residents. These materials will become part of the museum’s permanent collections through loans or acquisition, ensuring they remain accessible to future generations.
The project will invite community contributors to co-curate exhibition content, sharing their perspectives on Oxford’s history and offering new heritage stories. Through expert talks, family activities, and special events, the public programme will celebrate Oxford’s unique heritage while fostering community cohesion.
Key Project Outcomes
Public programme: A celebratory year-long series of events including talks, family activities, and exhibitions.
Workforce development: Recruitment of a Cultural Learning and Participation Apprentice, who will undertake a Level 3 apprenticeship, gaining skills in partnership working, consultation, and exhibition development.
Sustainable heritage: The project will establish a cross-generational, cross-community approach, ensuring the museum continues to reflect and represent Oxford’s diverse cultural landscape for years to come.
The Museum of Oxford will begin preparations this autumn, with the project running for 26 months leading up to and beyond the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2025.
Comment
“We are delighted to support this project, which thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, will mean that more people will be able to get involved with, protect, and learn about the exciting heritage right on their doorstep. Heritage has a huge role to play in instilling pride in communities and boosting local economies, and this project is a fantastic example of achieving those aims.”
Stuart McLeod, Director of England – London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund
“We are really pleased to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This project is a great opportunity to bring more voices into the Museum of Oxford’s story, ensuring that our heritage reflects the rich diversity of our city. By working closely with local communities, we’re not just celebrating 50 years of the museum, but also creating a lasting legacy that represents everyone who calls Oxford home.”
Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Business, Culture, and an Inclusive Economy at Oxford City Council
More than 150 new homes look set to be built on redundant brownfield land in the city thanks to a successful bid for government funding.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been awarded £2.2 million from the government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 – one of four local authorities in the West Midlands to receive a share of £5.4 million.
As part of its commitment to delivering new homes and jobs in the city, the council has now identified two parcels of land for redevelopment, and work to clear the sites will soon get underway after the proposals were agreed by cabinet earlier this month.
The council is looking to transform the former Brookhouse Green Primary School site, on Wellfield Road in Bentilee, into a new estate for 117 new affordable homes. The site has been vacant since the school closed in 2006.
It is expected that the former Olympus Engineering site, on College Road in Shelton – which was deemed surplus to requirements in 2020 – will also be cleared, to make way for new apartments. This is one of three sites in the north Shelton area of the city which has been earmarked for future residential development.
Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, infrastructure and regeneration, said: “Everybody has the right to live in a decent home which is why we are committed to bringing forward these much-needed new homes and raising housing standards in the city.
“In the last 12 months we have made a significant investment in our housing stock with almost 9,000 council-owned homes benefitting from our multi-million-pound capital investment programme, so it would be great to see these long-term vacant sites regenerated, transforming empty brownfield land into thriving new communities.”
The three-year £180 million Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 was launched in July 2022. The primary aim of the Fund is to release local authority-owned land by the end of March 2028 for housing development that otherwise would not come forward during that period.
With the funding, councils are able to cover the cost of decontamination, clearing disused buildings or improving infrastructure such as internet, water and power.
In this latest round of funding, a total of £68 million has been directly awarded to 54 councils in England.
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that 6 gigawatts (GW) of distributed solar have been installed across New York, marking the early achievement of the State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act statutory goal a year ahead of schedule. The solar power generation, which benefits homes, business owners and off-takers of community solar projects, is enough to power more than a million homes, underscoring New York’s leadership in growing one of the strongest distributed solar markets in the nation.
“Today we celebrate the early achievement of New York’s 6-GW milepost, which brings us one step closer to a reliable and resilient zero-emission grid,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “Distributed solar is at the heart of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding the availability of renewable energy, and delivering substantial benefits for our health, our environment, and our economy.”
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) President and CEO Doreen M. Harris made the announcement at a distributed solar project in the Town of New Scotland. The project, developed by New Leaf Energy and owned by Generate Capital, includes a 5.7-megawatt solar array that will produce 6.7 million kilowatt-hours of solar energy annually, enough to power nearly one thousand homes. The project participates in the Solar for All pilot program with utility partner National Grid where the energy harnessed by this project benefits low-income households.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, “As the top community solar market in the nation, New York State has provided a replicable model for others to deliver clean, low-cost renewable energy to more consumers. Our public-private partnerships are the catalysts which have helped us to achieve our 6-GW goal well ahead of target, trailblazing New York’s path to an equitable energy transition.”
With the achievement of New York’s 6-GW goal—which is underpinned by support from the State’s signature $3.3 billion NY Sun initiative—distributed solar is generating enough energy to power more than a million homes and businesses across the state, including those in disadvantaged communities. The expeditious achievement of the 6-GW goal has also generated approximately $9.2 billion in private investment across New York.
To date, solar projects in New York have created more than 14,000 solar jobs statewide, from engineering and design to installation. In addition, New York requires all solar projects more than 1 megawatt (MW) in size to pay prevailing wages, further supporting the opportunity to advance family sustaining clean energy jobs across New York.
In anticipation of the success, three years ago Governor Hochul directed NYSERDA and the Department of Public Service to expand the goal to 10 GW by 2030. With 6 GW now complete, New York continues to be ahead of schedule for reaching the expanded 10-GW goal with almost 3.4 GW already in development.
New York State Public Service Commission Chair Rory M. Christian said, “Hitting this 6 GW milestone is an important accomplishment, and all involved in this endeavor deserve a round of applause. This is further evidence that distributed solar is a critically important piece of the equation and, through Governor Hochul’s leadership, we are well on our way to creating a clean energy economy.”
New York Power Authority President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll said, “Today’s milestone is a testament to the power of strong partnerships in advancing distributed solar projects across New York State. As we work together to expand the deployment of solar energy, NYPA is committed to working with municipalities, school districts, and state entities to build a portfolio of projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide energy savings for our customers.”
Generate Capital Investments Managing Director Peggy Flannery said, “Customers and consumers are asking for access to clean energy, and New York state is listening. We’re very excited to have helped New York reach six gigawatts of solar and deliver the benefits of clean energy to the community. Generate operates 69 projects and counting in New York, and this celebration is another proof point of our successful efforts in serving developers, customers, and local communities and accelerating the clean energy transition.”
New Leaf Energy Director of Policy and Business Development Sam Jasinski said, “New Leaf is honored to be celebrating this impressive milestone with the many State and local agencies, towns, fellow industry members, and utilities that made it happen. It shows real progress towards meeting New York’s nation-leading clean energy goals. And while we’re incredibly proud of the work and partnerships that have led to this achievement, we’re more excited that it can be repeated and multiplied. With the State’s continued leadership, we’re confident we can get to 10 GW and beyond.”
New York is the national leader in community solar deployments, allowing renters, low-income residents, and others who cannot install their own panels to benefit from solar energy. In 2023, New York ranked first in the nation in total installed community solar capacity. Last year was also the state’s most productive year ever for solar installations, with 885 MW of capacity installed.
Through NY-Sun, New York is making it much easier for low-income households to benefit from solar projects through the first of its kind Solar for All pilot program. The Solar for All program, which is administered through NYSERDA, allows solar project developers to partner with National Grid to provide additional bill savings to low-income customers in their Energy Affordability Program (EAP). The Public Service Commission has approved an order to replicate NYSERDA’s Solar for All pilot program statewide, including solar projects in National Grid, ConEdison, Orange and Rockland, New York State Electric and Gas, Central Hudson Gas & Electric, and Rochester Gas and Electric utility territories.
The statewide Solar for All program delivers an electric bill credit to EAP customers. The long-term program design is driving continued community solar and storage growth and directs the benefits of that growth to New York State’s low-income residents.
Building on this effort, in April 2024, NYSERDA was selected to receive nearly $250 million from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Solar for All program to enhance New York State’s existing portfolio of highly successful and effective solar deployment, technical assistance, and workforce development programs for the benefit of over 6.8 million residents that live in low-income households and disadvantaged communities. As part of the grant funding, the New York State Housing and Community Renewal, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and New York City Housing Preservation and Development, will also implement new programs that target specific barriers to solar deployment for this population.
Clean solar energy reduces the need for fossil fuel-based power generation while producing less harmful emissions, resulting in cleaner air and improved public health.
New York Solar Energy Industries Association Executive Director Noah Ginsburgh said, “New York has achieved its 2025 rooftop and community solar goal ahead of schedule and under budget, and we’re just getting started. Distributed solar projects are lowering New Yorkers’ electric bills, providing tax revenue to local governments, and employing thousands of workers across the Empire State. NYSEIA congratulates Governor Hochul, the legislature, NYSERDA, the Public Service Commission, the solar industry, and all New Yorkers on this important milestone.”
Coalition for Community Solar Access Northeast Regional Director Kate Daniel said, “The Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) congratulates the Empire State on reaching this impressive milestone. We are tremendously proud of the large role community solar has played in achieving the first Climate Act requirement ahead of schedule. The 6 GW of rooftop and community solar operating today in New York means direct bill savings for millions of customers, good-paying jobs and economic benefits to host communities, and millions of tons of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. We look forward to continued growth in New York’s community solar programs to help New York on its way to the remaining Climate Act goals.”
State SenatorKevin Parker said, “The installation of six gigawatts of distributed solar energy is a giant step to meeting the state’s renewable energy goals and a major win for clean energy development, the environment and New York’s disadvantaged communities. I applaud Governor Hochul and NYSERDA for taking strong action to ensure New York is a national leader in solar energy production and making tremendous progress toward the goals under the CLCPA.”
State Senator Neil Breslin said, “This program spreads the economic opportunities of solar power beyond corporate investors to local homeowners, property owners and small businesses. It is an increasingly important part of the clean energy mix New York State, and our nation, needs to leverage.”
Assemblymember Patricia Fahy said, “Meeting New York’s ambitious climate mandates under the nation-leading CLCPA is not a question of if – but when. Today’s announcement showcases New York’s commitment to responsibly building out solar energy to help us transition to clean energy and reduce emissions that are driving costly extreme-weather events for too many communities across the state. Climate change is the transcendent threat of our time, and we are already paying for it. I couldn’t be prouder to see the Town of New Scotland right here in the 109th District leading the way to ensure that New York’s clean energy future is bright, affordable, and within reach.”
New Scotland Town Supervisor Douglas LaGrange said, “As a Climate Smart Community, the Town of New Scotland is proud to have been a part of seeing this project come to fruition. We are equally proud that we can do our part to help reach Governor Hochul’s goals for renewable energy in New York State.”
New York League of Conservation Voters President Julie Tighe said, “The state reaching its goal of 6GW of installed distributed solar is an important reminder that, with strong leaders like Governor Hochul and NYSERDA President Dorreen Harris, we are capable of tackling difficult challenges. And as the climate crisis grows more urgent by the day, there is no more important challenge than transitioning to a clean energy economy, which is why we must increase the pace of our renewable energy development and double down on our efforts to meet all of our CLCPA obligations, including by continuing to increase the distributed solar goal as we exceed initial targets.”
Vote Solar Northeast Director Elena Weissmann said, “Distributed solar is a key component of NY’s decarbonization mandate, and promises cleaner air, good jobs, and lower energy bills for New Yorkers. As we celebrate this remarkable milestone – a year ahead of schedule – we must seize this opportunity to double down on what’s working so well. This moment is a testament to the power of distributed solar and a call to accelerate deployment of solar for our homes and communities, so that communities across the State can harness the benefits of a clean energy future.”
National Grid’s Chief Operating Officer for Electric Brian Gemmell said, “Today’s announcement is an important next step in our ongoing efforts to build a smarter, stronger, cleaner electric grid that delivers reliable power for all New Yorkers. Greater access to renewable generation resources like solar power not only advances the state’s clean energy goals, but also helps secure long-term economic stability. We appreciate the partnership of Governor Hochul, NYSERDA, and all the other stakeholders who share our commitment to ensuring a safe, reliable, and accessible energy future.”
New York State’s Nation-Leading Climate Plan
New York State’s climate agenda calls for an orderly and just transition that creates family-sustaining jobs, continues to foster a green economy across all sectors and ensures that at least 35 percent, with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities. Guided by some of the nation’s most aggressive climate and clean energy initiatives, New York is advancing a suite of efforts – including the New York Cap-and-Invest program (NYCI) and other complementary policies – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. New York is also on a path to achieving a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and economy wide carbon neutrality by mid-century. A cornerstone of this transition is New York’s unprecedented clean energy investments, including more than $28 billion in 61 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the State, $6.8 billion to reduce building emissions, $3.3 billion to scale up solar, nearly $3 billion for clean transportation initiatives and over $2 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. These and other investments are supporting more than 170,000 jobs in New York’s clean energy sector as of 2022 and over 3,000 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, New York also adopted zero-emission vehicle regulations, including requiring all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks sold in the State be zero emission by 2035. Partnerships are continuing to advance New York’s climate action with more than 400 registered and more than 130 certified Climate Smart Communities, nearly 500 Clean Energy Communities, and the State’s largest community air monitoring initiative in 10 disadvantaged communities across the State to help target air pollution and combat climate change.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Martina Egedusevic, PhD Candidate, Impact Fellow (Green Futures Solutions), University of Exeter
Think of flood prevention and you might imagine huge concrete dams, levees or the shiny Thames barrier. But some of the most powerful tools for reducing flood risk are far more natural and widely recognisable: woodlands and green spaces. Trees offer much more than beauty and oxygen. Here’s how trees help to protect us from floods.
1. Intercepting rainfall
Trees and green spaces hold the key to protecting us against flooding. When rain falls on a forest, trees play a vital role in managing water flow. The canopy of a forest acts like a giant umbrella, catching and holding rainwater before it hits the ground.
This slows down how quickly rain reaches the soil, allowing water to gradually seep into the earth instead of rushing over the ground and straight into rivers and watercourses. This delayed water flow can reduce peak water levels in rivers during heavy storms, helping to prevent flash floods.
One of us (Martina) was involved in a two-year study, which has not been peer reviewed, that used sensor equipment to measure the speed and level of surface water at various locations along two streams in the Menstrie catchment area in Scotland: one with greater tree cover and another with less.
The stream with more trees appeared to have consistently reduced flow discharges compared with the more barren stream. This suggests that young forests may be able to dramatically reduce water runoff during rainfall, potentially preventing water from overwhelming streams and rivers.
As trees grow and mature, their effect on water management could become even more significant. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that shows forests offer a natural defence against floods.
Trees are one of our best allies in adapting to the increasing risks posed by climate change. Trees also remove water from catchments via evapotranspiration, whereby moisture evaporates from the surface of the soil and is released from the plant’s leaves and other surfaces.
Importantly, these processes aren’t just relevant at the scale of rural, catchments. We can use the benefits of trees and plants in our towns and cities as targeted small-scale interventions.
2. Keeping rivers clean
Trees help keep rivers clean and healthy. When there are no trees, rain can wash away a lot of soil (and pollutants) into rivers. This might lead to them having a reduced capacity to convey water. But tree roots act like anchors, binding the soil in place and preventing it from flowing into rivers.
This keeps the rivers clear and stops sedimentation, helping them cope with flood waters better. That, in turn, can prevent flooding and maintain river capacity to protect against future flooding.
In places like the Menstrie catchment, planting trees around rivers helps trap dirt and sediment in the upper parts of the river, keeping the lower parts cleaner.
Ploughed ground can better capture sediment across the catchment because the plough lines act as barriers. They keep the sediment in place more efficiently than other techniques, such as hand-screefing (when someone clears a small spot of ground by hand to plant a tree) and excavator mounding (a process that uses a machine to build little hills to help trees grow better in wet areas), which were less successful in containing the sediment.
Evidence shows that trees are essential for long-term soil stabilisation. Cultivation methods and forestry practices therefore play a crucial role in managing erosion and sediment flow.
3. Absorbing and storing water like sponges
Trees improve the soil’s ability to soak up water. Their roots channel deep into the ground, creating preferential flow paths that allow water to absorb into the soil profile, rather than run off on the surface. This process helps reduce the amount of water rushing towards rivers and streams after a heavy rainstorm, which is a major factor in slowing the flow of water and reducing flooding.
How trees are planted, the slope of the land and the type of soil all affect how much water runs off during rainfall. Different planting techniques affect water runoff differently depending on the amount of rain.
During floods, some areas with trees planted (that includes plots with plough cultivation and excavation mounding) have less water runoff compared with unplanted areas without trees.
4. Reducing surface runoff
When heavy rain falls on bare land, water runs off quickly, which can cause floods. Trees, with their roots and fallen leaves, slow this down by helping the ground soak up more water.
This reduces how much water flows into rivers all at once, helping to prevent floods. Planting trees using different layouts, densities and patterns can make this even more effective by helping trees grow better and absorb more water, thereby reducing runoff.
5. Stopping floodwaters
In Somerset, England tree planting projects along rivers, such as those under the Environment Agency’s initiative, have played a crucial role in reducing flood risks.
Since 2020, almost 30,000 trees and shrubs were planted across multiple sites to help slow water flow and protect communities vulnerable to flooding. These trees were strategically placed along riverbanks, including in the Parrett catchment in Somerset, an area known to be prone to flooding.
Underground, tree roots drink up lots of water, slowing how quickly the rainwater flows. And when floodwater hits a forest, the tree trunks act like a natural barrier or wall, slowing the water down so it doesn’t rush all at once to other areas and cause bigger floods. By planning and planting forests to build climate resilience, these positive effects can become even stronger.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Martina Egedusevic receives funding from the Scottish Forestry Trust.
Daniel Green works for Heriot-Watt University as an Assistant Professor in Nature-based Solutions. He is also a Research Associate at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Highland Council Trading Standards are warning residents to be on their guard following reports of an unsolicited text message claiming to be from the UK Government Living Allowance Office.
The text reads:
“UK Government Living Allowance Office Last Time Reminder: Due to the reduction of winter heating subsidy, you can no longer receive it, and the uk government has decided to advance the living subsidy to allow you to survive the winter.
We will reopen applications. Please apply for your living subsidy in the link as soon as possible after receiving the information. If you do not submit an application before 2024/10/15, we will cancel your qualification and reallocate the funds.”
Mark McGinty Trading Standards Team Leader states: “Please be careful when you receive a text message from a Government Body, it’s not usually something that Government Bodies do, and if you think the text means something to you please go to your original source and check things out that way” He also offered this advice to anyone receiving such a text message:
Never click on any links in the text
Be suspicious
Beware of pressure selling tactics. These can include being told time is of the essence
Always check with the Government Body in another way, the .gov website is a good starting point.
Do not rely on a number provided in the text
Do not provide any personal information
Report the text by using 7726
Mr McGinty adds, “Scam texts are designed to get your interest and mislead you into thinking you are doing the right thing by responding. Responding will only give the scammers what they need to exploit you, usually financially, by emptying your bank account. Please take a minute to think and if in doubt do not engage.”
If you have a complaint or wish to report a scam text you can contact Trading Standards partner agency Advice Direct Scotland on telephone 0808 164 6000 or at http://www.consumeradvice.scot
The new Northern Territory government is planning a swathe of changes to alcohol policy.
If implemented, these changes fly in the face of what evidence shows works to reduce alcohol-related harms. Some are also out of step with the rest of Australia.
Among our concerns are plans that would lead to harmful alcohol products becoming cheaper, alcohol becoming more easily available, criminalising public drunkenness, and a particularly worrying type of mandatory alcohol treatment – all of which evidence suggests will cause more harms.
No one is downplaying the magnitude and complexities of alcohol-related issues in the NT. But we hope the territory government will pay more heed to the evidence and voices of those most impacted.
Alcohol-related harm in the NT is complex
Alcohol-related harms in the NT are significantly higher (for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people) than elsewhere in Australia.
In the territory, these harms contribute to health and social outcomes costing at least A$1.4 billion a year. Alcohol harms result in costs related to health care, deaths, crime, policing and child protection.
Aboriginal communities in the NT have for decades cried out for solutions and services that effectively respond to alcohol-related harm. Instead, they found their lives made part of a political football match on law and order. Policies have been reactive and mostly ineffective. They’ve been overturned at each election.
Now, the new NT government is discussing changes that promise to exacerbate the very issues it aims to address.
1. Cheap alcohol that contributes most harm would be on the market
The World Health Organization recognises that raising the price of alcohol is one of the most effective ways for governments to reduce alcohol-related harm.
So some governments around the world, including in the NT, have set a price below which alcohol cannot be sold, known as the minimum or “floor price”. This targets cheap, high-strength alcohol associated with patterns of drinking that cause the most harm.
The new NT government plans to repeal this, despite evidence showing this works to reduce harms.
14% reduction in alcohol-related assaults in Darwin and Palmerston
11% reduction in domestic and family violence assaults
21% reduction in domestic and family violence assaults involving alcohol
19% reduction in alcohol-related emergency department attendances.
Originally, experts recommended a $1.50 floor price but this was reduced to $1.30 after a backlash from alcohol industry lobbyists. Had the policy not been watered down, evidence suggests the impacts above would likely have been greater.
The floor price has likely also lost some of its initial impact as it has never been indexed for inflation.
The best available research shows the floor price has reduced alcohol-related harms with no evidence of unintended consequences or negative impacts on the alcohol industry, despiteclaims otherwise.
Researchers and experts from around the world have been writing to NT ministers urging them to reconsider repealing this effective policy.
This includes researchers from the United Kingdom and Canada, who have coauthored this article. In these countries, evidence on the effectiveness of minimum pricing has been used to increase the floor price by 30%, not abolish it.
2. Bottle shops could be open longer
There are also proposals to repeal current restrictions on bottle shop trading hours. Such restrictions are highly effective in reducing alcohol harms, including violence.
Our paper from earlier this year found that in the town of Tennant Creek, restrictions to reduce trading hours and introduce purchase limits at bottle shops resulted in a 92% reduction in alcohol-involved domestic and family violence assaults.
Preliminary analyses of the reduced trading hours introduced in Alice Springs following Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit in early 2023 also suggest a clear reduction on violence rates.
Ministers were also set to pass laws to create a new offence for “nuisance” public intoxication (also known as public drunkenness). This would allow police officers to arrest people and fine them up to $925, in addition to current powers to seize and tip out alcohol from people drinking in prohibited areas.
This is at the time when nearly every other jurisdiction in Australia is in the process of decriminalising public drunkenness, making the NT out of step with the rest of the nation.
The NT’s proposed new laws on public drunkenness would criminalise more people who are already locked out from our society, placing them at risk of the negative, intergenerational and preventable impacts that often arise from contact with the justice system.
In its previous term of government, mandatory alcohol treatment was focused on people with a public intoxication offence rather than providing quality care to people with alcohol dependence in life-saving circumstances. If the same model is reintroduced, this is potentially harmful and at best ineffective.
In the NT, this model of mandatory alcohol treatment had no better outcomes than for those who may not have received any treatment at all. But it cost the taxpayer three times as much.
Where to from here?
Researchers, health professionals and partner organisations have urged the NT government to reconsider these decisions, as we have well-founded concerns these may worsen the very issues the government aims to address.
There’s no need to guess the outcomes of changing, repealing or introducing alcohol policies. We can draw on robust evidence, including extensive research from the NT, on what works in our communities.
Cassandra Wright receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, Music NT, NT Motor Accident Compensation Commission and Commonwealth government Department of Health.
Beau Jayde Cubillo receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and Fisheries Research Development Corporation on behalf of the Australian Commonwealth.
John Holmes receives funding from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research and has previously received funding from UK Research & Innovation, the Wellcome Trust, Alcohol Change UK and other similar public health charities and government bodies. He has received funding from NHS Health Scotland (now part of Public Health Scotland) to evaluate the impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland. He has also received funding from UK and international governments to model the potential impact of minimum unit pricing in various jurisdictions.
Mark Mayo receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Ian Potter Foundation, Ramaciotti Foundation.
Mark Robinson currently receives, or has previously received, funding from Health and Wellbeing Queensland, Queensland Health, National Health and Medical Research Council, and Australian government Department of Health and Aged Care. He was a member of the Consumption and Health Harms Evaluation Advisory Group for the evaluation of minimum unit pricing led by Public Health Scotland.
Michael Livingston receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, HealthWay, VicHealth and the Commonwealth Department of Health. He is on the board of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation.
Nicholas Taylor receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Cancer Council, VicHealth, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Northern Territory government, and the Queensland government Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability.
Sarah Clifford receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council, Music NT, and NT Motor Accident Compensation Commission.
Tim Stockwell receives funding from the Canadian Cancer Society, the the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. He has accepted travel expenses from IOGT-Sweden, the Swedish temperance society. He has been an expert witness in court cases in Canada relating to contested liquor licence applications and damages for the victims of alcohol-related violence and road crashes. He has received research funds, travel expenses and minor personal fees for conducting public health related research for government-owned alcohol retail monopolies in Finland, Sweden and Canada.
Health and physical education is one of the key subjects students learn at school. In Australia it is mandatory for students from the first year of school to Year 10.
It involves theory and practical components to help students manage their health and wellbeing. This includes healthy eating habits, sexual health, cyber safety and mental health. It also incorporates fundamental movement skills (such as throwing and catching), sports (such as swimming, gymnastics and football) and team-building.
Because it is a core, compulsory part of the curriculum it is supposed to be free for students at government schools. But our research shows some students are being asked to pay – and those who cannot are missing out.
Our research
In our recent study, we looked at the staffing and delivery of health and physical education in New South Wales government schools.
We surveyed 556 schools, which make up about 30% of public schools in the state. This included primary and high schools with a mix of locations and levels of advantage.
We used an online survey, which was completed by the teacher in charge of health and physical education.
Many schools are outsourcing lessons
We asked survey respondents who was teaching health and physical education to students at their schools. Some schools were using more than one option.
For all schools: 67% were using external provider, 44.5% were using a specialist teacher and 55.4% were using another teacher.
For primary schools: 78.4% were using an external provider, 17.9% were using a specialist teacher and 48% were using another teacher.
For high schools: 44.8% were using an external provider, 95.9% were using a specialist teacher and 69.2% were using another teacher.
Previous research has shown how schools outsource to external providers to “fill the gap” of teachers lacking confidence and competence to provide quality health and physical education lessons.
This study did not measure how frequent outsourcing was, however, comments from respondents suggests it is regular. For example, one teacher said: “a typical [outsourced] class would have one lesson a week for a term”.
Another teacher similarly said
one 40 min[ute] lesson per week. Company comes in with equipment and young university students to run different activities. They also assess our students for us.
Another teacher told us:
We use [company name], they offer different sports/programs that run for one lesson a week per term.
Families are being asked to pay
Of the schools who were outsourcing lessons, 78% of the schools outsourcing lessons said they were asking parents to help pay for these lessons.
One respondent told us, the costs were “A$45 for one term, $80 for two”.
Of this group, 64% reported students who did not pay did other school work (either for health and physical education or another core subject). About one fifth of schools said students that don’t pay just had to “sit and watch”.
This suggests some students are missing out on basic learning opportunities at school for financial reasons. As one teacher told us:
the school uses some off-campus sporting/gaming facilities that students can choose to pay extra for instead of free on-campus teacher run [activities].
Some students are just made to ‘sit and watch’ if they can’t pay. nannycz/Shutterstock
Why is this a problem?
The outsourcing of health and physical education lessons comes in the middle of an ongoing teacher shortage in Australia and around the world.
Specific shortages of health and physical education teachers have been noted for more than a decade.
However, outsourcing lessons away from qualified teachers, is a significant concern. Little is known about the external providers’ qualifications or quality. Unlike teachers, they are not subject to registration requirements or professional standards.
Even more concerning is some students are missing out on lessons or some components of lessons because their families have not been able to pay.
This links to wider concerns about unequal access to sport in the school system. This includes some private schools with new Olympic pools and boat ramps when other public schools don’t have access to council playing fields.
More research is needed
Our study suggests more research is needed. We need further information on staffing, outsourcing and lesson delivery in other areas of the country and in other subjects.
We need to be sure all students are being taught the core curriculum, free of charge and by qualified teachers – ideally specialists.
Jessica Amy Sears is affiliated with ACHPER (Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation) NSW.
Rachel Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Released by: The Premier, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Natural Resources, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces
The Minns Labor Government will create a $250 million royalty deferral initiative for critical minerals projects and will examine the implementation of a rapid assessment framework for minerals mining projects.
The initiatives are the first actions of the NSW Government’s new Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy, which sets a vision for NSW to become a global leader in critical minerals.
Currently there are 12 critical minerals mining and processing projects in NSW that are ready for investment. They need around $7.6 billion in capital investment value and are expected to generate about 4,600 jobs during construction and 2,700 ongoing jobs.
High initial investment costs for critical minerals projects are a barrier for the industry. The royalty deferral scheme will assist new projects in the early stages of development, ease financial pressures, attract investment to NSW and enhance the economic viability of the sector.
Another immediate action from the strategy is a joint Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure and NSW Resources assessment to deliver greater certainty to the sector around the planning process for critical minerals projects.
NSW has globally significant resource deposits and 21 of the 31 nationally declared critical minerals. The strategy identifies priority minerals and metals for NSW – including rare earths, scandium, cobalt, copper and silver – which have important uses in the electrification of the economy and the manufacturing of clean energy products like solar panels and batteries.
The strategy outlines the vital role of critical minerals in supporting broader government priorities, including in the clean energy transition and driving domestic manufacturing.
The International Energy Agency estimates that over the next 20 years, the world will need six times the amount of critical minerals currently mined to reach global net-zero carbon emissions. The energy transition will need double today’s copper production, triple today’s rare earth elements and cobalt production, and thirty times more nickel – all these minerals can be found in NSW.
Fully realising the opportunity of the state’s critical minerals and high-tech metals deposits means moving further down the supply chain and beyond only extracting and exporting resources. Examples of this in the strategy include investigating opportunities to pilot common-user refineries and supporting investment in domestic manufacturing.
The new Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy focuses on five key pillars:
Encouraging exploration by minimising investment risk in greenfield exploration and promoting exploration in new areas,
Incentivising production by creating an attractive investment environment and removing barriers to help projects move from exploration to production,
Developing future-ready skills by providing training and education pathways to encourage careers in critical minerals mining,
Establishing resilient supply chains by examining local processing facilities, driving research and development, and investigating critical minerals recycling, and
Engaging local communities by ensuring responsible mining.
The royalty initiative will be an opt-in scheme where the first five years of royalties are deferred. It will apply to critical minerals projects which can start production between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2030, predominantly mine commodities listed on the Commonwealth Government’s Critical Minerals List and where the proponent has a market capitalisation under $5 billion.
The full Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy, and a two-page summary of the strategy, can be viewed on the NSW Resources website https://www.nsw.gov.au/criticalminerals.
Quotes attributable to NSW Premier Chris Minns:
“We’ve got the metals and minerals the world needs, and NSW is open for business.
“We are sending a clear message to Aussie and global miners: invest in NSW.
“This is about backing regional jobs and manufacturing jobs, and taking advantage of the critical minerals boom.
“We want to make sure we fully realise the opportunities that critical minerals and high-tech metals have for NSW.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully:
“To be a global leader in critical minerals, it is vital that the NSW planning system operates efficiently and provides certainty and transparency to the critical minerals sector and communities.
“The strategy identifies a number of improvements we can make to help enhance the system. These will provide greater guidance to the industry and improve collaboration between government agencies and departments in project assessment.
“We’re also investigating further ways to improve decision-making to make sure we fully realise the opportunity before us.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos:
“Our vision for NSW is to be a global leader in critical minerals and high-tech metals, generating economic prosperity through exploration, mining, processing and advanced manufacturing.
“NSW critical minerals projects typically have long lead times for development, and higher capital investment. The new royalty deferral scheme will assist mine proponents to attract investment and move faster to production.
“The new strategy sets out a clear vision for NSW to be a leader in critical minerals and high-tech metals, generating economic prosperity through responsible exploration, mining, processing, recycling and advanced manufacturing.
“We want NSW to be moving further down the supply chain. Extracting minerals is a critical first step, but we can generate strong economic returns and support more jobs by getting into processing and advanced manufacturing.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Industry and Trade Anoulack Chanthivong:
“The new Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy forms a key part of the NSW Government’s approach to Industry policy, which seeks to invest and promote home-grown products and services not only for NSW, but for export right around the world.
“This strategy provides a long-term vision and commitment to the critical minerals and high-tech metals mining industry so that businesses can feel confident to invest and grow in NSW, as we seize the investment opportunities of the renewable energy economy, both here and across the globe.”
Released by: Deputy Premier, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Minister for Western Sydney
The Minns Labor Government is investing $75 million to build roads, parks, infrastructure and improved town centre access for more than 42,000 new homes across Western Sydney.
Special Infrastructure Contributions fund critical supporting infrastructure for homes such as state and regional roads, primary and secondary schools and emergency, health and bus services.
For more than a decade, fast-growing communities in Western Sydney have not received their fair share of infrastructure. Delivering on its commitment to support essential infrastructure for the communities taking the most housing, the Minns Labor Government is delivering new grant funding to help build better communities.
The $75 million in round 6 of the Special Infrastructure Contribution grant funding targets councils in specific local government areas in the Western Sydney Growth Centres such as Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Hawkesbury, The Hills and Liverpool.
The grant funding aligns with the National Housing Accord target of 377,000 new, well-located homes across NSW by 2029.
Previous grant rounds have supported long-awaited projects for growing communities, including:
More than $34 million toward the Memorial Avenue Road Upgrade at Kellyville in North West Sydney, which is currently underway.
More than $20 million toward the new Edmondson Park primary and high schools. Approvals have now been received for the high school, with construction set to get underway in the near future.
The key driver of these projects has been the significant population growth experienced by Western Sydney, which has not been matched by the infrastructure these communities need.
The Minns Labor Government is committed to building a better NSW with more homes, paired with vital infrastructure, as we take action to address the housing crisis.
This grant is also open to state agencies including Communities and Justice, Education, Transport for NSW, NSW Health, NSW Police, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Planning Ministerial Corporation.
The grant funding for the Special Infrastructure Contributions $75 million Round 6 will open for nominations at 9am on Friday 18 October and close midnight on Monday 16 December 2024.
The Special Infrastructure Contributions will continue to apply until 30 June 2026 when the Housing and Productivity Contribution will apply to the current area of the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Western Sydney Prue Car said:
“Western Sydney is one of the largest growth areas in our state but is lacking the infrastructure to support vibrant and well-connected communities.
“New roads, open spaces, active transport and town centre access will make housing across these six LGAs possible, especially in Blacktown and The Hills.
“Western Sydney was left behind by the previous government, we are not only building new homes but we are building the infrastructure to support better communities.”
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:
“The Minns Government is committed to delivering new, well-located homes where they are needed most.
“In order to build a community, residents need access to a local school, connecting roads and critical services.
“This funding means supporting infrastructure is being delivered alongside new homes.”
Released by: Minister for Regional Transport and Roads
The Minns Labor Government has greenlit development of a new strategy that will lay out the pathway to a better regional rail network in NSW for passengers and freight.
Representing a fresh approach to how rail infrastructure investment is determined, the Regional Network East/West Uplift (RNEW) Program has been established to create a 10-year investment pipeline and strategic plan for rail infrastructure in regional NSW.
Under the former government, regional rail infrastructure investment was determined on an ad-hoc basis without proper regard for the needs of the regional rail network in its entirety. Industry partners and other major stakeholders were also not always properly consulted, with initiatives like Fixing Country Rail and the Main West Capacity Enhancement Program lacking a holistic, strategic focus and projects often stuck in development limbo for years.
The RNEW Program will take a fresh look at where regional rail infrastructure investment is needed, while putting proper evidence-based decision making at the forefront of planning work and giving industry, the Government and the public a clear vision for the future of the network.
Through comprehensive data analysis, research into reliability and future capacity requirements, extensive evaluation of existing assets and wide-ranging consultation — the RNEW Program will ensure the NSW Government better understands, manages, forecasts and delivers upgrades to regional rail network.
The Program will also have a key focus on opportunities to improve the Country Regional Network (CRN) which includes over 2,300 kilometres of operational rail lines and is vital for transporting 2.7 billion gross tonnes of freight annually and delivering more than 120 passenger services per week.
Linkages between the broader regional rail network and existing projects such as Inland Rail, the Freight Policy Reform and Regional Level Crossing programs will also be explored by the Program team, with potential efficiency improvements to be identified and considered.
Once developed, the final investment strategy will complement Strategic Regional Integrated Transport Plans being developed across the nine regional areas in the state.
The RNEW Program team will commence engagement with freight industry, rail operators and users, and local government will begin in 2025, with the final strategy to be delivered in 2026.
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said:
“The NSW Government is committed to providing rail networks across the state that are effective, efficient and reliable for all users – freight and passengers.
“The RNEW Program will allow us to better understand, manage, forecast, and deliver improvements on the state’s regional rail network, bringing projects under one banner to ensure a holistic and strategic approach.
“Regional communities have been calling for investment in rail infrastructure in the regions. This program will ensure any investment is made on the basis of robust planning and development to enrich our state.
“The program will enable the NSW Government to develop a long-term pipeline of infrastructure investment initiatives whilst being flexible and agile enough to address emerging network issues.”
This Minns Labor Government is continuing work to safeguard the production of local stories across the state with $3 million in grants to be made available to regional and rural newspapers.
Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty announced the delivery of the Government’s top up of $3 million to make the Regional Media Fund a $6 million commitment since its election, at the 2024 Country Press NSW Conference and Awards of Excellence in Dubbo.
Regional media plays a vital role in keeping their communities informed and reporting on matters of importance, as well as informing, celebrating and connecting people.
The first round of the Regional Media Fund, which closed in April 2023, delivered grants to 47 regional outlets to support diversification and expansion into digital content.
Following consultation with regional media stakeholders, including the Country Press NSW and Australian Community Media, the second round of this program will be improved to better reflect industry needs and ease accessibility for support.
This new funding will be made available to help support media organisations to meet the production, operational and content gathering costs associated with running a regional and rural media outlet.
Eligibility and guidelines of the second round will be finalised in the coming weeks in close consultation with industry and stakeholders with grant applications to open before the end of the year.
This is part of the Minns Labor Government’s ongoing work to deliver solutions which will support regional NSW communities to thrive.
Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW Tara Moriarty said:
“The Minns Labor Government understands the importance of local papers and local stories particularly in regional communities.
“It is regional and rural papers that help get local issues on the agenda that would otherwise fall through the cracks.
“We understand complex barriers face these outlets, including the rise of technology. This funding is about providing responsible support which will ease the pressure facing regional media.
Country Press NSW President Lucie Peart said:
“We are pleased that the Minister has announced the Regional Media Fund Round Two. This second round was a key piece of the government’s election commitment.
“We are grateful that this round will provide further support to regional publishers. Since the first round of the fund, the landscape for regional news businesses has changed; we are challenged by digital platforms and a further decline in newsrooms across the state.
“This second round of funding will provide a boost to the regional news industry and allow journalists and local newspaper publishers to keep doing what they do best – keeping communities informed and providing vital public interest journalism.”
A panel of cruise and tourism industry experts has been established to work on identifying the preferred location for a potential new cruise terminal in NSW.
This will allow the NSW Government to determine the best solution to plan for a new terminal so our state can maintain and grow its market share of Australia’s multi-billion dollar cruise industry well into the future.
A new cruise terminal will provide greater capacity for our cruise industry, which contributed $4.4 billion to the NSW economy in 2023-24 and created more than 13,700 jobs.
The Cruising Industry Advisory Panel has been convened by NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen and will be chaired by Port Authority CEO Phil Holliday, supported by industry experts including:
John McKenna, Port Authority Chief Customer and Commercial Officer
Margy Osmond, CEO Tourism and Transport Forum
Marika Calfas, NSW Ports
Gavin Smith, Vice President and Managing Director in Australia and New Zealand of Royal Caribbean International
Peter Little, Interim Leader for P&O Cruises Australia and Carnival Australia Jill Abel, CEO, Australian Cruise Association
Sarina Bratton, Ponant
Joel Katz, Managing Director Cruise Lines International Association Australasia Antony Ritch, CEO, TFE Hotels
Ben Angell, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Vice President & Managing Director
While Sydney cruise terminals have not reached capacity for bookings yet, the panel will identify options for a future berthing facility to support the long-term growth of the cruise industry across our state.
The Panel will also investigate options for increased capacity at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, ensuring the cruise industry remain well supported for growth, as plans progress to investigate options for a potential third cruise terminal.
This work follows the Minns Government’s announcement that Shore Power at the White Bay Cruise Terminal will be delivered by the end of 2026, so cruise ships can plug into power instead of running their engines while in port.
Quotes attributable to NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen:
“The cruise industry in NSW is making a massive contribution to our economy, but it needs certainty so we can all get the benefits from its long-term growth.
“NSW’s next permanent cruise terminal will be a massive new piece of infrastructure and we have to get it right. That’s why we’ve assembled the best people to find the best location, so we can grow our cruise industry long into the future.”
Quotes attributable to Tourism and Transport Forum CEO Margy Osmond:
“It’s fantastic to see the State Government and industry coming together to identify a third cruise terminal, to attract more visitors and boost tourism across NSW. We look forward to working with the Port Authority to deliver a more certain future for the cruise industry and all Australians who love to cruise.
Increasing capacity will be essential to cater for the growing interest in cruising and support a range of jobs linked to cruise tourism, spanning restaurants, hotels, retailers, travel agents and more.”
Quotes attributable to Port Authority CEO Captain Philip Holliday:
“Port Authority is delighted to be leading this cross-industry panel as the next step in determining the right location for a new state-of-the art third cruise terminal in NSW.
Planning for a third terminal is about keeping NSW in pole position as the capital of cruise and retaining the lion’s share of economic benefits from cruise right here in NSW to support local hospitality and retail businesses, tourism and suppliers.”
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government Non-Ministerial Departments
The Charity Commission, the regulator of charities for England and Wales, has opened a statutory inquiry into Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living Limited.
The charity supports disabled people by promoting inclusion and accessibility in everyday living.
The charity was already under investigation as part of the Commission’s ‘double defaulters’ class inquiry, after it was identified as persistently late in filing its accounting information.
Upon further engagement with the charity, serious concerns arose regarding its general management and governance. The Commission has therefore escalated its engagement to a separate inquiry to investigate:
The extent to which the charity’s trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of their charity.
Whether the trustees have adequate financial and strategic oversight of their charity, including the management and supervision of staff.
Whether the charity is being managed in accordance with its governing document and operating for the public benefit.
The trustees’ compliance with their legal obligations for the content, preparation and filing of the charity’s accounts and other information or returns.
The scope of the inquiry may be varied if new evidence comes to light.
It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were.
ENDS
Notes to editors
The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its ambition is to be an expert regulator that is fair, balanced, and independent so that charity can thrive. This ambition will help to create and sustain an environment where charities further build public trust and ultimately fulfil their essential role in enhancing lives and strengthening society.
This statutory inquiry was opened on 13 September 2024.
On 25 July 2022 the Commission placed the charity into the Double Defaulter Class Inquiry for charities that are in default of their statutory obligations to meet reporting requirements by failing to file their annual documents (annual returns, reports and accounts) for two or more years in the last five years.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
The government will fund research into wearable technology, virtual reality and artificial intelligence in a bid to support people with drug addictions.
Government funds research into wearable technology, virtual reality and artificial intelligence to support people with drug addictions and save lives
Projects include body-worn devices which alert emergency services if overdose is expected
11 projects across UK could be rolled out more widely if successful
Thousands of lives could be saved through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and wearable technology designed to reduce drug deaths and improve outcomes.
The government has awarded £12 million to projects across the UK that are researching innovative technology to support people with addictions.
One of the chosen projects, called PneumoWave ALERT, pairs a chest-worn sensor that monitors breathing to a mobile device that sends out an immediate alert to nearby antidote carriers and emergency services if an overdose is detected, helping people get potentially life-saving treatment as soon as possible.
Another study will look at using virtual reality to help people overcome their triggers for cocaine addiction. People will be assessed using watch-like devices to determine which cues in their environment lead to a drug craving, by measuring physical changes to the body.
Virtual reality will then be used to create realistic situations to repeatedly expose people to triggers in a safe environment. Previous research shows cue exposure treatment (CET) can significantly reduce the level of craving and relapse among alcoholics, but it has not yet been fully explored for people experiencing a cocaine addiction until now.
Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Andrew Gwynne said:
Drug addiction devastates lives and rips apart families, and this government is committed to gripping this problem.
We’re determined to harness the full potential of cutting-edge technology to save thousands of lives across the country. I want the UK to lead the way in championing innovation to end the harmful effects of addiction.
The research is being funded through the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme, which is run by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS). Around £12 million has been awarded to 11 projects across eight organisations in the UK. The projects were selected as part of the Reducing Drug Deaths Challenge and the NIHR i4i Addiction: Innovation for Treatment and Recovery Awards, which are being run in partnership with the Scottish government and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The funding will also support research to improve the accessibility of the life-saving drug naloxone. Naloxone rapidly reverses heroin and opioid overdose but is typically available as an injection or nasal spray which have limitations and cannot always be used in time. Kings College London is looking into naloxone wafers which melt in the mouth and provide rapid access to this emergency medicine and can fit easily in a wallet or purse.
Several of the projects are based in Scotland which has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe.
These include a wristband to monitor vital signs such as blood oxygen levels, heart rate and body temperature. If an overdose is suspected, the device, named “Saving Sam”, will send out an alert to a trusted contact. This research is being run by the University of Edinburgh and NHS Fife.
The technology being researched could be rolled out to more sites across the UK if successful. The projects support the government’s Health Mission – building an NHS fit for the future – by helping to embed a greater focus on prevention and supporting services.
It also helps establish the UK as a global leader for innovative treatments and technologies, supporting the UK’s Growth Mission – for sustained economic growth, good jobs and increased productivity across the country – by inspiring healthcare companies to invest in the UK, while supporting people back into stable work.
Science Minister Lord Vallance said:
The UK’s life sciences sector plays a critical role in finding new ways to tackle the biggest challenges facing healthcare, including the devastating impact of addiction. The Addiction Healthcare Goals Programme is testament to our commitment to bringing together researchers, clinicians, and innovators to create real change.
From wearable technology to AI-powered tools, these innovative projects highlight the power of collaboration in delivering life-saving treatments. By investing in these partnerships, we are tackling addiction head-on and ensuring that cutting-edge science reaches those who need it most, improving public health across the UK.
Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR’s Scientific Director for Innovation, said:
Innovation in managing addiction is needed to break the pattern of prison relapse and rebound and the wider impacts of addiction on society.
Through the NIHR i4i Addiction: Innovation for Treatment and Recovery Awards, successful projects have been awarded funding to develop approaches to improve treatment and recovery outcomes.
Interventions, including AI, that allow management in the community need this research to validate their potential so we can implement them at scale.
Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientific Advisor for Health, Scottish Government, said:
Tackling drug-related deaths is a priority for the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland and we are committed to tackling these issues through targeted research, innovation and support.
As part of phase two of the Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Competition, funding has been awarded to develop seven prototypes aimed at reducing drug deaths.
These innovative solutions include wearable sensors, digital monitoring and alert applications as well as novel antidote delivery systems.
By harnessing the expertise we have in Scotland and across the rest of the UK, we can continue to develop new technologies to drive prevention initiatives.
Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes, Chair of the Addiction Healthcare Goals, said:
New approaches to treat drug addiction and reduce drug related deaths, particularly from overdose, are urgently needed. The Addiction Healthcare Goals programme is pleased to fund promising innovations that have brought together partnerships between industry, academia and organisations involved in delivering treatment and care for those experiencing drug addictions.
Establishing such collaborations also enhances the UK’s research capacity and ability to deliver novel patient research. This lays firm foundations for the UK to accelerate the development and testing of effective innovations to use in routine care to save lives, reduce harms, and benefit society.
Notes to editors:
Further information on some of the projects is available below:
Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge
Pneumowave ALERT
PneumoWave ALERT is a remote monitoring platform designed to make opioid usage safer by detecting the onset of life-threatening respiratory problems caused by opioid-induced overdose. The platform consists of a discreet, chest-worn biosensor paired with a mobile device, which allows for the immediate alerting of nearby naloxone carriers and emergency medical services. The research involves conducting end-to-end monitoring, detection, and alerting in 200 high-risk patients residing in homeless accommodation, in collaboration with the University of Dundee, King’s College London, and Third Sector partners HumanKind, Thames Reach, and Hillcrest Futures.
NOMW Health
NOMW Health, in collaboration with Greater Glasgow and Clyde Innovation Hub and The University of Southampton, previously conducted a feasibility study on LifeSavr, an innovative wearable device aimed at addressing the opioid overdose crisis. The Scotland-based team is now advancing the development of LifeSavr to prepare it for consumer availability in the UK, Europe, and globally. LifeSavr features monitoring of oxygen saturation, heart rate, body movements and respiratory rate for accurate overdose detection. It is based on NASA research and uses a self-contained design that eliminates the need for a mobile phone. The device aims to reduce the burden on emergency services and long-term care.
Kings College London
Kings College London is developing rapid-dispersal naloxone wafers to improve the accessibility and portability of this life-saving emergency antidote medication. Naloxone rapidly reverses heroin/opioid overdose, but current forms (injection and nasal spray) have limitations, such as requiring healthy nasal passages and consistent carrying by users. The proposed naloxone wafers disintegrate within seconds and can easily fit into a wallet or purse, addressing the current low carriage rates which are around 15-20%.
EMoodie – Saving SAM System for Alert and Monitoring of Potential Overdoses
‘Saving SAM’ is an innovative, low-cost digital tool developed by eMoodie Limited to help prevent drug overdoses and save lives. The tool consists of a wristband that monitors vital signs such as blood oxygen levels, heart rate, body temperature, and movement patterns to detect potential overdose risks. If an overdose is suspected, the wristband sends an alert to the Saving SAM app on the user’s smartphone, alerting a trusted contact. The app also offers mental health support and well-being programs for people who use drugs. Co-created with people with lived experience, “Saving SAM” is an overdose detection tool that combines wearables, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence (AI), and a smartphone app with gamified digital therapeutics.
Mesox-Ltd
MESOX has developed a wearable patch of the antidotes Naloxone and Flumazenil for the rising number of drug deaths from mixed overdosing of opioids and benzodiazepines. The skin patch is designed for wide application by non-professionals in the community, avoiding the challenges of existing routes of administration and complexity of injectable antidotes. In the next phase of development on the programme, MESOX will work closely with NHS Fife and other sub-contractors to design acceptability studies with patients across all four UK nations.
Science & Engineering Applications Ltd (Scienap)
Scienap, in collaboration with ambulance services led by the Scottish Ambulance Service, has designed a low-cost alert and responder pathway to create effective responses to potentially fatal overdose events. The project includes a new Alert App for self-monitoring by drug users, automatically raising an alarm if they become unresponsive, and a Care & Respond App for trusted supporters to provide coordinated help, administer life-saving drugs, and be supported by emergency services when appropriate.
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow presents a significant advancement in wearable sensor technology for detecting and preventing overdoses. The soft sensor, designed for seamless body integration, provides real-time respiratory monitoring to identify early signs of overdose episodes. The team will test the usability and acceptability of the refined prototype with people with lived/living experience of substance use through an iterative co-design process supported by the West of Scotland NHS Innovation Hub.
NIHR i4i Addiction Innovation: Innovation for Treatment and Recovery Awards
Kings College London – is developing a Virtual Reality-enhanced cue exposure treatment integrated with a wearable device to address craving, prevent relapse and improve treatment outcomes of people with cocaine dependence.
A key challenge in helping people to recover for cocaine addiction (or dependence) is their craving for the drug that can be triggered by ‘cues’ in their environment, such as situations or objects, which remind them of the pleasurable effects of cocaine. This process is known as ‘classical conditioning’ and the aim of this study is to reduce the risk of relapse to cocaine through use of novel technologies to reduce craving. This research will test the ability of technology-enhanced CET to reduce craving and relapse to cocaine use, compared to people receiving usual care.
Another project led by Kings College London, The Prison Release Engagement Trial will refine and test an interactive smartphone app to improve Continuity of Care post-release for prisoners working to stay drug free.
For the full list of projects that have been successful in receiving funding across both competitions, please see the NIHR publications and the Scottish Government publications.
Further information
The Addiction Healthcare Goals is being delivered by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) alongside the Dementia, Mental Health, Cancer and Obesity Healthcare Goals. The Addiction Healthcare Goals programme is working to make the UK a globally leading location for researchers and industry to develop, trial and deploy innovative treatments and technologies which will help people recover from drug and alcohol addictions, save lives, and benefit society.
Alongside funding innovative research, the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme is aiming to support the training of research leaders across the UK and is exploring ways to make better use of addiction healthcare data to enable researchers to develop better treatments. The programme has also been working with the James Lind Alliance to identify the key research priorities within the UK community and will be publishing this list in 2025 with the aim of influencing future research funding priorities.
The Addiction Healthcare Goals form a part of the Department of Health and Social Care’s ambition to deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system for people experiencing drug and alcohol addictions.
Source: New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
18 Oct 2024
Coastal ecosystems are being targeted by eyes in the sky as part of an ongoing effort to monitor and protect, seagrasses, saltmarshes and mangroves across the state’s estuaries.
NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Fisheries Research Scientist Dr Daniel Swadling said the state-wide mapping project is using drones to capture images of these challenging environments.
“Accessing remote saltmarsh and mangrove areas is no easy task, due to the challenging environments. Some sites are so remote that they can’t be accessed by boat or 4WD,” Dr Swadling said.
“By using drone technology, the team can capture high-resolution phot ographs of these areas which is crucial for tracking changes in these habitats and assessing their overall condition.
“These images are then compared to preliminary maps created from aerial imagery, a process known as validation, which helps ensure the accuracy of the habitat data.”
Dr Swadling said a recent mapping expedition in the Clarence River demonstrated the benefits of blending technology with the natural habitat.
“Because of the difficulty in accessing some of these areas, we were able to obtain ‘Extended Visual Line of Sight’ (EVLOS) endorsements. This approval allows drone pilots to fly beyond the usual visual line of sight. With EVLOS, we could photograph areas up to 1.5 kilometres away, well beyond standard drone operating limits,” Dr Swadling said.
“Mapping estuarine habitats is a key component of the Marine Estate Management Strategy (MEMS) and vital for safeguarding the future of NSW’s estuaries by providing data to protect these ecosystems for future generations.”
Headline: Golden Highway a critical path to net zero ambitions
Published: 18 October 2024
Released by: Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Minister for Regional Transport and Roads
Detailed maps are now available to outline the 19 highway upgrades that will pave the way from the Port of Newcastle to the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).
‘Port to REZ’ upgrades will be funded by the Australian and NSW governments, with $128.5 million announced towards 320 kilometres of road upgrades and ancillary works.
The upgrades will enable the transportation of wind turbines and other crucial components needed for wind and solar farms and the transmission network that connects them.
The Energy Corporation of NSW (EnergyCo) and Transport for NSW are working together to deliver the improved roads, ensuring they can comfortably accommodate transportation of materials required, whilst also improving road safety for local communities.
The 19 specific locations identified as pinch points are on the Golden Highway between the Port of Newcastle and Elong Elong, as well as a section of the Castlereagh Highway.
Quotes attributable to NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison:
“Transport for NSW is supporting the eight councils along the route with resources and information to help guide them in the rollout of the REZ in preparation for new wind and solar power operations.
“We are working closely with councils who are the local road authorities in their respective areas, responsible for the management of local road networks, including road safety, road funding, road maintenance and heavy vehicle access.
“Additionally, Transport for NSW and EnergyCo are currently carrying out a review of roads across the designated renewable energy corridors to determine if any roads should be reclassified as state roads.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate Change and Energy Penny Sharpe:
“As the Renewable Energy Zones progress, we’re working to ensure that local infrastructure such as roads, are in a good enough state to accommodate extra demands.
“This is part of our commitment to the long-term prosperity of communities hosting Renewable Energy Zones as we continue the transformation of our state’s energy system.”
Headline: Reducing workload in hundreds more schools
Published: 18 October 2024
Released by: Minister for Education and Early Learning
A trial program aimed at slashing teacher workload and helping educators focus on classroom learning has been extended for two years as the Minns Labor Government rolls out the next tranche to more than 700 schools.
The School Administration Reduction Program is part of the Minns Labor Government’s work to address teacher burnout and staff shortages caused by unsustainable workloads.
The trial workload reduction program works to permanently equip schools with new systems and more efficient ways of dealing with the many additional tasks that schools, and in particular teachers, do every day above and beyond teaching their students.
Through the program hundreds of additional School Administrative and Support Staff (SASS) are deployed to public schools to improve systems and relieve teachers of burdensome administrative work that built up under the Liberals and Nationals.
Schools who have participated in the program have reported a substantial reduction in the workload of teachers and principals, as well as better training for staff.
Examples of improvements made through the program include:
The Ponds School – improved the planning and coordinating of additional support, resources and programs offered by the school. Previously this work was performed by teachers.
Tacking Point Public School – better utilised technology to streamline many administrative tasks, taking them off the plate of teachers.
Medowie Public School – developed and implemented an efficient communication strategy to reduce teacher workload and improve correspondence with parents and carers.
Wallerawang Public School – enhanced staff induction processes, developing a new handbook on key school procedures including first aid, evacuation, and other WHS protocols.
James Fallon High School – made improvements including digitising historical records, strengthening healthcare plan systems and managing risk assessments.
The program, which has been in 419 schools across 2023–24, will now move to more than 700 schools for 2025–26. By the end of 2026, 1,000 schools—or nearly half of NSW public schools—will have benefited from the School Administration Reduction Program.
This program is part of a wider effort to reduce workload pressure in schools, which includes:
An extensive review of administrative tasks done in schools. Some 70 per cent of the tasks identified are directly linked to departmental policies, highlighting the importance of streamlining these documents and teachers’ ability to access them.
A line-by-line audit of teachers’ administrative and bureaucratic tasks was also completed earlier this year, as part of a broader initiative to reduce teacher workload by 5 hours a week. The review identified around 100 tasks which cause high or very high bureaucratic workload, around 60 per cent of which directly impacts teachers. The department is using the findings to simplify tasks and further reduce teacher workload.
This is part of the Minns Labor Government’s ongoing work to address the teacher shortage and rebuild public education in NSW. Under the former government teachers were leaving the profession in record numbers, with teacher vacancies rising to a record high of 3,000.
Our work to rebuild public education includes delivering teachers the biggest pay rise in a generation and reducing the number of teacher vacancies to their lowest in three years, a 24 per cent drop from last year to this year.
Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said:
“We need our teachers focusing on what matters most – providing high quality teaching for our students in the classroom.
“This program is reducing teacher workload and streamlining school systems on a long-term basis, allowing educators to focus on the important job of teaching.
“We’ll closely study the learnings from the School Administration Reduction Program to inform our broader effort to cut workload across our system.”
Michelle Said, Principal, South Creek School, said:
“The program has been hugely beneficial to our School for Specific Purpose. We have been able to achieve so much in our school and community due to our extra SASS taking the load off teachers and executive.”
Megan Manson, Principal, Canobolas Public School, said:
“The program has made a real difference for our classrooms and the running of our office. We have used our SASS staff member to assist with administration on digital platforms, coordinating projects and excursions, covering books and other classroom duties, and running a reading fluency program.
“All of these tasks have had a positive impact on our staff and students.”
Headline: Mid North Coast Midwifery Group Practice expanded
Published: 18 October 2024
Released by: Minister for Regional Health, Minister for Women
An expansion of the Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) model on the Mid North Coast is providing more women and their families with access to evidence-based midwifery continuity of care.
Mid North Coast Local Health District recently announced the commencement of a new MGP service and Maternity Antenatal Postnatal Service (MAPS) in the Hastings Macleay region.
The MGP service commenced in Port Macquarie in September, supporting increased access to continuity of care with a known midwife.
Under the MGP model, women receive care from a known primary midwife throughout their pregnancy, labour, birth and up to six weeks after birth. MGP midwives work as part of a small team to ensure support and minimise potential disruptions to care.
A review of criteria for MGP is also enabling more women with higher-level care needs to access the service where clinically appropriate, or to stay in the program if they develop risk factors during pregnancy.
In May this year, a dedicated team of midwives began providing MAPS care at Kempsey District Hospital and Port Macquarie Base Hospital. The MAPS model offers midwifery continuity in the antenatal and postnatal periods, while birth care is provided by a core hospital birthing team.
These new services are in addition to the existing MGP models in place at Coffs Harbour and Macksville since 2021.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Regional Health Ryan Park:
“We are committed to ensuring women across NSW have access to respectful, evidence-based maternity care. I am proud of the work Mid Morth Coast Local Health District is doing to expand its midwifery continuity of care models.
“These models of care enable women to get to know their midwife throughout their pregnancy, who then provide postnatal care in the home for up to six weeks to support mother-baby bonding and a healthy start to life.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Women Jodie Harrison:
“Women’s health and wellbeing are a key focus for this government. It’s important we provide women with continuity of care so they feel supported during their pregnancy and after their baby is born.
“With the expansion of the MGP to Mid North Coast, we are increasing the number of women who will be able to access to midwifery continuity of care.”
Quotes attributable to Labor Spokesperson for Port Macquarie Cameron Murphy, MLC:
“I welcome Mid North Coast Local Health District’s commitment to improving maternity services for women in Port Macquarie, so they, their babies and their families can have the best possible experience in our hospitals.”
Quotes attributable to MNCLHD acting Chief Executive Jill Wong:
“We’re thrilled to expand the midwifery continuity of care models across the Mid North Coast region and to build on the successful Coffs Harbour and Macksville models which have been in place since 2021.
“We’re committed to delivering midwifery-led care and offering more choice to pregnant women and their families. I thank the many staff and consumers who have worked to deliver these positive changes.”
Quotes attributable to Courtney Harvey, who had her baby Charlotte through the MAPS service at Kempsey:
“Being a first-time mum, everything can be a little scary, there are so many unknowns about labour and birth. The first few weeks, everything is such a big change but having my own midwife at all my appointments made such a big difference, it was really lovely.
“It was nice having the same point of contact for everything in my pregnancy.
“My postnatal care was amazing. I loved that my midwife did an antenatal home visit prior to me having my baby. It was nice having her come into my space at home during the antenatal period and I could get comfortable having a health professional in my own home.
“If I am blessed to have more children, I would really hope that I can have the same experience as I have had with my pregnancy and birth this time as it has all been so positive, so special, I wouldn’t want to change it. I hope I can have continuity, and birth here, once again.”
Headline: Full steam ahead for the Albury to Illabo section of the Inland Rail project
Published: 18 October 2024
Released by: Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Minister for Regional Transport and Roads
The NSW Government has approved the Albury to Illabo section of the 1,600-kilometre Inland Rail project between Brisbane and Melbourne.
The Critical State Significant Infrastructure (CSSI) project has now been formally approved by the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully. The approval means the project remains on target for the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to begin construction in south-western NSW in early 2025.
The work will include upgrades to rail tracks, footbridges and road bridges, overhead structures, signal structures and level crossings on agricultural land and through Albury, Culcairn, Henty, Yerong Creek, The Rock, Uranquinty, Wagga Wagga and Junee.
The project’s approval, includes consent conditions that relate to traffic monitoring, transport infrastructure upgrades and noise and biodiversity management.
Following the completion of the Inland Rail, Australia’s regional freight capacity will be expanded, meaning less trucks on the road and lower freight industry emissions.
With a capital investment of $300.8 million for this section of the rail line, the project is a major economic boost for the region on top of the 770 new jobs provided by the project.
The Albury to Illabo connection is one of seven sections traversing the inland length of NSW and its approval comes weeks after the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces approved the Illabo to Stockinbingal Inland Rail project.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:
“Improved Inland Rail will enhance our national freight and supply chain capabilities by connecting and improving routes through rail, roads and ports.
“I look forward to seeing this critical state significant infrastructure project come to life over the next few years and the many benefits it will bring to regional NSW.
“This project has gone through a rigorous planning process with extensive consultation completed to minimise impacts and maximise the project’s opportunities.”
Minister for Regional NSW and Western NSW Tara Moriarty said:
“Inland Rail promises to be a game changer for people across rural NSW.
“Regional communities need big developments to keep workers in the bush actively contributing to their communities, with this project providing 770 new jobs.
“We are proud that NSW continues to help Inland Rail’s essential journey through Australia’s three eastern states.”
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said:
“This section of Inland Rail will provide a valuable infrastructure link for the Murray region as it connects with this vital piece of national infrastructure.
“The NSW Government is working with Inland Rail to deliver this project and strengthen its commitment to the regions.
“Consumers right across regional NSW stand to benefit with valuable cost savings once the Inland Rail project is complete as our state will have a more efficient and sustainable freight transport.
“The Albury to Illabo and Stockinbingal to Parkes sections of the Inland Rail project have already injected more than $4.2 million across these local economies with many businesses receiving a timely economic boost during a cost-of-living crisis.”
Headline: More support available for women in Western NSW experiencing severe menopause symptoms
Published: 18 October 2024
Released by: Minister for Regional Health, Minister for Western New South Wales, Minister for Women
Women experiencing severe or complex menopause symptoms now have improved access to additional support following the establishment of Western NSW Local Health District’s (WNSWLHD) new menopause referral service.
WNSWLHD’s new Specialised Menopause Referral Service aims to provide assistance and support for women whose symptoms have not responded to previous treatments, or those women who face additional complications from other medical conditions.
The new service has been established as part of NSW Health’s menopause network, which has four hubs and multiple referral sites across the state and is networked with the South-Western Sydney LHD hub.
General practitioners, specialists and nurse practitioners are able to refer women to the service for advanced care.
Care Coordinators will assist with triage and navigate care locally, supporting the medically-led, multi-disciplinary hub team of nursing and allied health professionals to provide holistic support.
The WNSWLHD Specialised Menopause Referral Service will deliver care using a hybrid approach, with a largely virtual service coupled with face-to-face consultations when they are required.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Regional Health Ryan Park:
“I’m pleased to announce this service has been launched today on World Menopause Day today, to improve menopause care and support options available for local women.
“This Specialised Menopause Referral Service will promote flexibility and choice in the way women in Western NSW access support to manage severe menopause symptoms, and by improving access locally this service will significantly reduce the need to travel for this important care.
“Up to one in four women endure severe and debilitating menopause symptoms, which is why services like this one are so important.
“By continuing to break down barriers like geographic isolation through effective use of virtual care technology, this service will help us continue to improve health outcomes.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Women Jodie Harrison:
“Menopause will affect most women at some stage of their life.
“This new menopause referral service will provide much needed support to women in regional areas who experience complex menopausal symptoms and can provide advice about associated health risks of menopause.
“On this World Menopause Day, I also encourage women to speak up – you don’t have to suffer in silence. There is support available from your GP and specialists. The Menopause Toolkit can help you understand a bit more about perimenopause and menopause symptoms, and the care available.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Western NSW Tara Moriarty:
“Every woman is different, and every woman experiences different symptoms of menopause. But many women experiencing severe or complex symptoms will endure in silence which can seriously impact their health and wellbeing.
“That’s why enhancements like this are so important, this service is eye-opening and will be potentially life-changing for many women in Western NSW, which is home to some of our state’s most remote and most vulnerable populations.”
Quotes attributable to WNSWLHD Senior Manager Women’s Health and Violence Prevention Nicolla Giddings:
“Severe symptoms of menopause don’t discriminate, and our new Specialised Menopause Referral Service aims to help local women access the support they need as close to home as possible.
“Being an inclusive service and providing reliable access to advanced care for people living in rural areas of our District is at the forefront of this new service, to also increase the comfort levels of women while they receive care.”
Disturbing details emerged this week about AFL men’s football team GWS’ end-of-year event, themed “controversial couples”.
The AFL handed down a range of sanctions to the players involved, including fines and suspensions.
While those defending the players have suggested their actions were lighthearted and in the spirit of the season-end celebration, research has established a connection between rape jokes and sexual assault.
The AFL has a tarnished history when it comes to players perpetrating violence against women.
Despite pledging support for ending gender-based violence in Australia, this incident proves problematic cultural problems persist within AFL clubs.
What happened?
Following an anonymous tip-off to GWS management, it was revealed a number of players engaged in sexist, racist and degrading acts during an end-of-season event.
Hayne was sentenced to four years and nine months prison for raping a woman on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final but was released earlier this year after his convictions were overturned.
Players Connor Idun and Lachie Whitfield performed a skit involving slavery, while another pair simulated the September 11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.
It has also been reported a sketch involving Sean “Diddy” Combs — an American rapper currently jailed on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation — was performed.
Scholars and activists are working tirelessly to change public perceptions around violence against women. Jokes and skits themed around violence and sexual assault are harmful because they trivialise the immense harm gendered violence causes women and children.
The AFL’s woman problem
There are many historic examples of AFL players and athletes of other codes acting violently and disrespectfully towards women.
Numerous current and former players, who have faced criminal charges for assaults and sexual violence towards women, have been allowed to continue playing or retain their status as celebrated players.
Current AFL player Jordan De Goey has faced sexual assault allegations, and was briefly stood down by his club in 2021 after being charged with assault in the United States.
Recently, one of the AFL’s greatest former players, Wayne Carey, was set to be inducted as a legend in the New South Wales Football Hall of Fame, despite having a number of charges for assaulting women. However, the AFL did eventually block the move after public outcry.
The AFL, and parts of the media, often distinguish players’ violence against women from their achievements on the field. This allows men to continue playing or repair their public image.
In the case of the GWS players, the AFL’s sanctions indicate the code’s willingness to take a stance on breaches of conduct.
However, that the players believed their costumes and skits were acceptable in the first place indicates deep-seated issues in attitudes towards women.
In each of the costume examples, sexual and racial violence formed key elements of the “joke”, indicating the AFL’s education and training on equity and diversity is not working.
It is often suggested that boys and young men require positive role models and that AFL players fit the bill, although research is not clear on whether the gender of supportive adults is relevant.
At the moment, there is significant concern within the community about the influence of dangerous misogynist influencers on boys’ attitudes and behaviour towards women.
Research suggests that while some young men have the skills to be critical about the messages they receive about violence and sexism, they still experience pressure to live up to restrictive rules on what it means to be a “real man.”
Many Australians highly value AFL players’ skills and abilities on the field. This admiration and respect can also extend to their off-field lives.
But it doesn’t mean AFL players are beyond reproach.
More needs to be done
The impacts of men’s violence on their victims are horrific and myriad.
This year, the AFL partnered with Our Watch – a national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women and their children – to provide training to players and clubs and help them understand:
the link between gender inequality and violence against women
the role of sport in promoting gender equality
and what players can do to be active allies including taking action when they see or hear disrespect.
While this is promising, this education must result in changed behaviour, attitudes and accountability.
The Australian government has recently labelled violence against women a “national emergency”. Major sporting codes need to take a leading role in addressing it.
It’s time for the AFL to honestly confront their problems with misogyny and violence against women.
Stephanie Wescott receives funding from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS)
