Category: Australian News

The ACT Greens will use their votes in the balance of power to disallow ACT Labor’s planned $11 fee on volunteers seeking Working With Vulnerable People Cards, urging Treasurer Chris Steel to give the community certainty and abandon the idea now.

“It’s over. The Greens are closing the door on this unconstructive and unhelpful new fee,” said Greens MLA Laura Nuttall, who wrote to the Treasurer this week.

“Labor shouldn’t wait for the fee to be defeated by the parliament in September. It’s time to accept defeat and reassure volunteers now that they won’t face this new fee, because we actually value the work they do in the community.

“Since the Budget was handed down, well over 1,000 people have signed the petition I sponsored against this new fee,” Miss Nuttall said. “Many people have made it very clear that the cost will turn them off volunteering.

“Like Labor’s health levy, this direct charge is such a blunt, careless way to address a legitimate concern.

“We want a good WWVP scheme, properly administered. So, if too many people are applying for a card when they don’t need one, let’s explore how to best educate volunteers and organisations, instead of just making the whole thing less appealing.

“This fee raises so little revenue for the government that it’s clearly not about the money. It’s just a lazy, unpopular stopgap that will make it even harder for the government to properly look after people.

“Ultimately, the government relies on volunteers to deliver many important services they’ve outsourced to community organisations. It’s wrong to treat local volunteers like a pain in the side.”

Greens Senator Barbara Pocock is concerned that the government may have already given a green light to PwC to restart it’s bidding for federal consulting contracts following reports that Department of Finance has made the decision but refused to say what it is.

PwC was banned from bidding for government work following two inquiries into the tax leaks scandal which has brought the entire consulting sector under a cloud. Finance extended the ban on the Big 4 firm for two weeks from its original deadline on 1 July while it deliberated on whether to allow the disgraced firm to bid for new contracts.

Senator Barbara Pocock:

“For a Government that came to office in 2022 after campaigning on a platform of greater transparency, this move really takes the cake. They’ve made a decision, but they won’t tell us what it is.

“This is gravely concerning and it worries me that they may have given a green light to a firm that has clearly betrayed the trust of the Australian people and remains unaccountable for actions that could have cost us millions in lost multinational tax revenue.

“This is the firm that is still under investigation by the Australian Federal Police over the tax leaks scandal. This is the firm that treats Australians and their government with such distain that that they refuse to handover documents or give any details about who was involved.

“PwC’s strategy has long been to wait this crisis out and it looks like the moment they’ve been waiting for has come. This is not a hard decision to make and the fact that the Department of Finance has deferred the announcement is deeply worrying.

“This is an insult to the Senate and the Members of Parliament who worked on two federal inquiries that found PwC’s behaviour utterly reprehensible.

“While investigations are continuing at the AFP, the Tax Practitioners Board and the NACC, it remains to be seen whether anyone inside PwC is liable to face criminal charges. This situation should result in a firm no from the Finance Department without any reservation. I call on the Finance Minister to come clean and make the decision public.”

The Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury has sponsored a petition led by Care Financial to save the ACT Government’s Rent Relief Fund from being cut as has been planned by Treasurer Chris Steel in the ACT Budget.

Carmel Franklin, Chief Executive Officer of Care:

“Care strongly supports this petition to keep the Rent Relief Fund. At Care, the Rent Relief Fund proved to be a critical part of providing wraparound support to vulnerable private renters. 

“It provided clients with financial support to sustain their housing as well as providing a means to connect with other supports offered through Care’s financial counselling and other programs, including energy supports. 

“The Rent Relief Fund also provided a means to connect clients with other services and supports provided by government and non-government agencies who we work closely with as referral partners. 

“The loss of the Rent Relief Fund has created a gap in the range of supports our most vulnerable households need to help keep a roof over their heads in Australia’s least affordable private rental market for people on a low income.”

Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury:

“This Labor Government says it’s replacing the rent relief fund with ‘more targeted supports’—but really it’s just spin. In reality, what they’re doing is cutting support for renters doing it tough in an unaffordable housing market.

“The Greens fought to introduce this fund so people wouldn’t be pushed into crisis over an unexpected bill or a family emergency. Now, Labor is walking away from those renters and leaving them out in the cold. 

“If you’re on minimum wage and struggling to pay the rent, this cut doesn’t leave you with better options—it leaves you closer to homelessness.

“Keeping this fund going costs just $1.7 million a year—a tiny amount compared to what this government hands over to the gambling industry. This is small-scale funding that delivers a huge impact for those who need it most.

“It’s about time Labor revisited their priorities for this budget. They’ve already faced significant backlash to their unfair health levy, and this decision is clearly cut from the same cloth–it’s about time they change their direction. 

The Newcastle Ocean Baths will become the backdrop for two of New Annual’s signature events as part of a 10-day program bringing iconic spaces to life with local stories. 

City of Newcastle’s flagship arts festival will return for its fifth edition in September, showcasing local people, places and performances alongside some of the best theatre, art and music from Australia and overseas. 

New Annual Festival Director Tory Loudon and Councillor Jenny Barrie celebrate the launch of the 2025 New Annual program at Newcastle Ocean Baths with artists and performers including trumpeter Tom Avgenicos, theatre maker Janie Gibson and cast members from Meet Me at the Baths, musician Tim Levinson and members of Newcastle band DUST.

Familiar landscapes including Camp Shortland, Nobbys Beach and The Station will be temporarily transformed into unexpected hubs of art and culture, while audiences will be invited to Meet Me at the Baths and SOAK up unique outdoor theatre and live music experiences at the iconic Newcastle Ocean Baths. 

New Annual Festival Director Tory Loudon said City of Newcastle was committed to investing in and celebrating the breadth of creativity and diversity of local talent. 

“Supporting Newcastle’s creative community has been one of the real strengths of New Annual since it was established by City of Newcastle in 2021,” Ms Loudon said. 

“I’m proud to continue this tradition in 2025, with over 70% of this year’s program showcasing Newcastle’s artistic community.  

“We have commissioned new works from Newcastle artists this year, focusing on telling Newcastle stories in locations that are uniquely designed or chosen for a particular artwork or performance. 

“This year’s festival invites people to come and play, see their city differently and discover something new. We are taking art to the streets, parks and Baths of Newcastle. I look forward to seeing you there.” 

The 2025 program includes 23 signature events that span music, theatre, dance, visual arts and public art. More than 60% of the events are free and family friendly. 

Councillor Jenny Barrie, Chair of City of Newcastle’s Community and Culture Strategic Advisory Committee, said New Annual is a festival for the entire community. 

“City of Newcastle is proud to support and invest in arts and cultural opportunities, community pride and local identity through events such as New Annual,” Cr Barrie said. 

“With a predominance of free and low-cost events, the festival provides a valuable way to make art and culture accessible to more people within our community, while also acting as a drawcard for visitors from across our region and beyond.” 

Member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp said events such as New Annual help celebrate the vibrant cultural diversity of local communities while also driving economic growth.

“New Annual continues to strengthen Newcastle’s position as a centre for art, supporting around 1,500 visiting and local artists and attracting more than 121,500 visitors to the city during its first four years,” Mr Crakanthorp said. 

“Funding contributed by the NSW Government will create vital opportunities for local artists to display their craft, emerging artists to gain exposure, students to gain career placement in their field of study, and the local community members to engage with high calibre local art.” 

The festival will kick off on 26 September with a vibrant First Night Art Party in Laman Street to celebrate the community’s first look at the expanded Newcastle Art Gallery and will run through until 5 October. 

New Annual is proudly funded by the NSW Government in association with Transport for NSW Open Streets and Permit/Plug/Play Pilot programs, Multicultural NSW Stronger Together grant, Create NSW and the Destination NSW Regional Event Fund.  

The University of Newcastle, Equip Multimedia and Newcastle Art Gallery are presenting partners of the 2025 event. 

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday 21 July. For more information and to stay up-to-date with the latest New Annual news visit https://newannual.com/

2025 NEW ANNUAL FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Meet Me at the Baths

Take a seat on the Newcastle Ocean Baths’ beloved concrete bleachers, don a pair of headphones and become immersed in stranger-than-fiction stories inspired by real Novocastrians in this new site-specific work presented by local theatre company Whale Chorus and written by Ang Collins.  

Whilst you are there, check out The Bathers: Magical Memories, an outdoor photography exhibition, featuring the people and stories of the Newcastle Ocean Baths by Lee Illfield and Edwina Richards. 

SOAK: Live at the Baths

Five nights of sunset music performances at the Newcastle Ocean Baths curated by local musician and manager Tim Levinson (Urthboy and Elefant Tracks). 

Featuring local and globally renowned music talent including post punk quintet Dust, globally acclaimed pop violinist Joel Sunny, virtuoso beatboxer Tom Thum, with Dobby and Freyja Garbett, breakout R&B/hip hop artists Boy Soda, A.Girl and Dean Brady + legendary local DJs Jayteehazard and GNGR. 

Public Art Trail

Follow the self-guided art trail to experience vibrant, surprising and immersive art along the Newcastle Foreshore and in shipping containers near Nobbys Beach and Camp Shortland. Hero works include: 

• Argo Escargot, Jen Denzin. A cargo full of tall tales, lost histories and a healthy dose of the absurd, all housed in a shipping container at Camp Shortland. 

• Listen to a Starfish, Diana Chester and Damian Ricketson. Lie down, close your eyes and listen to field recordings from Newcastle’s shore and rock pools in a sensory sound installation that will help you hear and feel our beloved coastline. 

• Anchor, Heidi Axelsen & Hugo Moline. Enter the camera obscura near Nobbys Beach and see the world differently. Flipping images of the world outside upside down – this is a playful take on perception. 

• Mini Putt Putt Golf, Rosie Deacon x Jen Denzin. Tee-off on a colourful and whimsical 6-hole mini putt putt course, built especially for New Annual. 

Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer and Night Night

Take in a theatre show at the Newcastle Museum featuring family programming from one of the best theatre companies in Australia, The Last Great Hunt (WA).  

Alvin Sputnik – a theatrical masterpiece that will warm your soul, and Night Night – a cinematic stage adventure – like a Wes Anderson film brought to life! 

First Rhythms

First Nations composer and musician, Adam Manning joins forces with renowned contemporary ensemble, Australian Art Orchestra for a performance that reimagines clapsticks, First Nations rhythms and visual art to explore the living pulse of Country. 

POV

A kid with a camera, two adults, no rehearsals. Just real reactions. Prepare to be transformed by this uplifting and unpredictable family portrait.  

SURGE

Curated by Tantrum Youth Arts and transforming Newcastle Museum for one night only, SURGE is a punk explosion of new performance, music, and interactive, visual and installation art. 

Ghosts Between Streams II

A groundbreaking collaboration featuring jazz, strings and visual art, led by one of Australia’s boldest jazz innovators, Tom Avgenicos. This visionary team showcase the story of the Coquun/Hunter River. 

Chicken

Don Murphy is a proud Irish man, a hopeless ketamine addict and one of his generation’s greatest actors. He also happens to be a chicken. A one-woman show by Eva O’Connor (Ireland) that is bonkers and unbelievably brilliant. 

Spooky Men’s Chorale

Experience a men’s choir in a league of their own live on stage at City Hall. Join the singing workshop in the afternoon and be part of the evening’s finale. 

Dancefloor Conversion Therapy

Jonny Hawkins was once on the straight and narrow, now they’re on the queer and wide. A show for clubbers, ravers, party people and all who’ve been born again on the dancefloor. Join the built-in after party in the laneway at Bernie’s Bar. 

First Night Art Party

A free night of music, movement and art on Laman Street, featuring high-energy sets from Haiku Hands, Kira Puru and Devaura, roving performances, and stunning projections by Art Thinking lighting up the outside of the newly reimagined Newcastle Art Gallery.  

Global Gathering

Lighting up Beaumont Street, Hamilton with the sights, sounds and flavours of the world. Led by MCs Australian journalist, author and screenwriter Benjamin Law and Chinese-Australian writer, comedian, and curator Jennifer Wong, the event will feature performances across two stages, including cooking demonstrations, family-friendly workshops, live music and dance. 

La Ronde – Spiegeltent Newcastle

Step into the Spiegeltent and surrender to the intoxicating world of La Ronde. At the centre of this heady cocktail of circus, live music and comedy will be groundbreaking headliners, world-class provocateurs and captivating raw energy direct from the European underground.

Police are appealing for public assistance to locate a teenage girl missing from Newcastle..

Ruby-Lee Camilleri, aged 13, was last seen on Fowler Street, Hamilton South, about 9.30pm yesterday (Tuesday 16 July 2025).

When she was unable to be located or contacted, officers attached to Newcastle Police District were notified and commenced inquiries into her whereabouts.

Police hold concerns for her welfare due to her age.

Ruby-Lee is described as being of Caucasian appearance, 155cm tall, with a thin build, short brown hair and blue eyes.

She was last seen wearing a grey hoodie and black shorts.

She is known to use the Newcastle, Hamilton South and Waratah West areas.

Anyone with information into her whereabouts is urged to contact Newcastle Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

The ship’s company of HMAS Stuart has today been recognised, with approximately 150 personnel among the first in the nation to receive the Australian Operational Service Medal (AOSM) – Indo-Pacific, during a ceremony at Henderson Shipyard in Western Australia. 

This is the Australian Defence Force’s newest medal, acknowledging the role Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have, and continue, to play in operations throughout our Indo-Pacific region. 

The recognition highlights the vital contribution of ADF personnel to Australia’s national interest and their ongoing role in supporting peace, stability and security across the Indo-Pacific region. 

The AOSM, instituted by the Governor-General in January this year, can be awarded to ADF personnel of all ranks who have completed 30 days of operational service on certain ADF operations. 

Approximately 15,000 current and former-serving ADF personnel will be recognised for their contributions and service.

Minister for Defence Personnel, the Hon Matt Keogh MP:

“It was a great honour to attend the presentation of the first Australian Operational Service Medals – Indo Pacific to ADF personnel for their dedication in operations in this most vital of regions for Australia’s national security.

“This medal recognises the contribution of over 15,000 ADF personnel for their service in the Indo-Pacific region since 2005. Behind each medal is a story of service – years of deployments and moments spent away from home. 

“The Australian Government is committed to recognising the service of ADF personnel, and Defence’s continued engagement in the pursuit of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.”

The Greens (WA) are calling for the WA Labor government to amend prescribed burning programs to exclude tingle forests, after a prescribed burn earlier this year felled almost 100 of the rare trees found nowhere else on earth. 

The Greens (WA) Forests and Woodlands spokesperson Jess Beckerling MLC said the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions prescribed burning program was having a catastrophic impact on the fragile tingle forest ecosystems of the Southwest. 

“Hundreds of tingle trees were burned in the Giants Forest near Walpole last year and now – after months of asking by conservation groups, the media and the Greens – it has finally been confirmed that 95 irreplaceable red tingle trees were felled during that burn. 

“This is absolutely devastating; it is time for DBCA to acknowledge that prescribed burning in mature tingle forest is doing far more harm than good and to commit to a major overhaul of burning practices to protect biodiversity and improve fire mitigation outcomes.”

“The Noongar people who protected these forests for tens of thousands of years never burnt tingle forests like this because they are not adapted to be resilient to fire.  

“On top of that, over the last 25 years the red tingle forests have lost about 200mm of average rainfall as a result of our warming and drying climate, putting even further pressure on this fragile ecosystem. 

“We must exclude fire from tingle forests.”

The Greens are demanding the government immediately release the final report of the National Climate Risk Assessment in the wake of yesterday’s Pabai v Commonwealth decision, where the Federal Court acknowledged the devastating climate impacts facing Torres Strait Islander communities — but disappointingly found the government had no legal duty of care.

The second phase of the National Climate Risk Assessment was due to be completed in 2024 to inform Australia’s upcoming National Adaptation Plan, yet the government has failed to release the final report or explain the delay, with its own website stating updates should have been given throughout 2024. 

This follows the government;s refusal to release a separate 2023 report by the Office of National Intelligence on climate change and national security, claiming it is classified.

Australian Greens Assistant Spokesperson for Climate Change and Energy, Senator Steph Hodgins-May 

“This vital report identifies the most pressing climate risks facing our country, and it’s nowhere to be seen.

“While the waves are literally lapping at the doors of our Torres Strait Island family, the government is withholding crucial information needed to respond to the urgent threats to their livelihoods, homes and culture..

“The government has both the power and the responsibility to protect climate vulnerable communities, but how can they do that if the climate risk report is being kept from the very people it should be protecting?

“Australians, especially Torres Straight Islander and Aboriginal communities, deserve the truth. They deserve to know what the climate risks are, and what their government is doing about them. 

“With Parliament returning next week, our message to the government is simple: show us this report, and work with us on real, urgent climate action for current and future generations.” 

Opening the ACT’s first safe injecting room should be a priority during this term of government, says Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury.

Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury:

“In cities like Sydney and Melbourne, safe injecting rooms have been operating for years. But despite Canberra at times recording the highest rate of drug-induced deaths per capita in the country, we still don’t have one.

“A commitment to investigate a safe injecting room was hard-won by the Greens in the last Parliamentary Agreement—but Labor dragged their feet for most of the term–having done no work on this while holding the portfolio.

“It wasn’t until three years in, after a cabinet reshuffle handed the drug harm reduction portfolio to Greens Minister Emma Davidson, that this critical work finally began–with a review into how, not if, but how this work would happen.

“The fact is, this reform is thirty years overdue. Every delay, every review, means more preventable overdose deaths—and that is simply unacceptable.

“If we’re serious about saving lives, we need to treat drug use as a health issue, not a criminal one. That means backing evidence-based, community-led harm reduction services—not leaving people to use alone on the streets.

“Right now we need outcomes— the Greens are flexible on location for this site, but we’re absolutely clear on the need for action. No matter whether it’s co-located with the fixed-site pill testing clinic in Civic or some other location that suits users, what matters is getting it done–and getting it done soon.

“The Greens are really clear: today we’re calling on the government to set-up a safe injecting room in this city before the end of the year. This morning I have written to the Health Minister outlining this ask, and offering the Greens’ support for a collaborative, cross-party approach to making this a reality

This morning’s reporting that housing approvals have reached an all-time low underscores the urgent need for a government-owned housing developer, says ACT Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury.

A draft report from Pegasus Economics has identified workforce shortages as the greatest barrier to meeting the government’s target of building 30,000 homes over the next decade—none of which are currently price-capped or guaranteed to be affordable.

Quotes attributable to Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury:

“If the government is serious about building affordable housing in Canberra—and I stress affordable—then it should be leading the charge by hiring and retaining its own workforce to build it.

“Relying solely on the same private market that caused the housing crisis to fix the housing crisis is a recipe for disaster. This is the same sector that drove prices up in the first place–and now we’re kidding ourselves that they’ll fix it.

“The government’s goal to build 30,000 new homes is certainly commendable, but without a plan to retain a workforce and ensure those homes are actually affordable to someone on minimum wage, it’s really a drop in the ocean.

“During the election, the Greens commissioned independent modelling that showed how a government developer can help us avoid tradie shortages while providing housing at prices everyday people can actually afford—by offering steady, secure work through a consistent pipeline of public builds.