Category: Australian News

For the first time, the Australian Defence Force will establish a purpose-built space workforce. 

The 2024 Defence Workforce Plan highlighted the need to recruit and retain highly‑specialised personnel for emerging capabilities, including space. 

To meet the demands of the evolving space domain, Defence will soon begin targeted recruitment and training for highly specialised roles to grow its existing space workforce across areas including satellite communications and operations, position, navigation and timing, intelligence and surveillance. 

Defence’s current space workforce consists of diverse Navy, Army and Air Force personnel. From 2026, Air Force direct entry will be available for roles including Space Operations Specialist and Space Operations Officers. 

Emerging space capabilities are a focus of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, with Defence personnel working alongside international partners to conduct real-time and on-demand space demonstration exercises in Townsville.

During the exercise, personnel will use commercially-available data to provide timely and accurate reporting on space events and activities to support military operations. 

The evolving space domain demands highly specialised roles, requiring targeted career development and training continuums. The workforce will eventually cover the full spectrum of space mission sets, including: 

• Satellite communications
• Position, navigation and timing
• Space domain awareness
• Missile warning
• Satellite operations
• Space control
• Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and
• Environmental monitoring.

Beyond the technical edge, an Australian Defence Force career in space operations will offer some truly extraordinary opportunities. From working with cutting-edge satellite systems and commercial partners, to contributing to joint and coalition operations, members will be part of a frontier mission at the intersection of science, strategy and service.

This purpose‑built space workforce would continue to work alongside Australian industry and commercial operations to deliver the capabilities and outcomes required by our strategic circumstances. 

Minister for Defence Personnel, the Hon Matt Keogh MP:

“Our region is rapidly evolving, and space is a critical operational domain. By establishing a permanent space workforce, we are preparing Defence to lead, integrate and innovate in this contested and congested environment.

“Space capabilities will play a critical role in the execution of activities as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 alongside existing operational domains of maritime, land, air and cyber.

“People are at the centre of our advantage. Defence is building a sustainable space workforce through targeted recruitment, career pathways and joint training. 

“The evolving space domain demands highly specialised roles and will provide our people with opportunities to shape how Australia operates in space.”

Media note:

During a visit to Townsville, Minister for Defence Personnel, the Hon Matt Keogh MP had the opportunity to see first-hand the work of the Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) Pacific Cell as it conducted dynamic and time sensitive space activities. 

The JCO Pacific Cell undertaking these exercises brings together personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and Republic of Korea, with the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and India joining as participants. 

The JCO is also being supported throughout the exercise by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s space weather team.

A NSW Government Koala Translocation project, claimed to promote genetic diversity in south-east NSW has gone horribly wrong with 13 koalas translocated and 7 dead, leading to calls to explain how the project got off the ground, halt all translocations of koalas in NSW and investigate whether any charges for animal cruelty should be laid against those responsible.

Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson says “What’s happened is deeply disturbing, tragic and cruel. How this even past muster as a Koala “conservation program” is unfathomable, something has gone radically awry and the Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe is staying quiet, but she and Premier Chris Minns must explain.

“This level of experimentation with our endangered koalas is cruel, was a catastrophic failure and should not have happened. The control settings around this translocation experiment were obviously fundamentally flawed and I don’t think the public would find this level of experimentation with our endangered koalas at all acceptable.

“The evidence over many years shows that translocation of koalas is fraught with risk and failure. It is deeply concerning that the Government allowed thirteen healthy koalas to be taken from their habitat in the Upper Nepean State Conservation Area all the way to South East Forest National Park where there are no koalas. Given the outcome, it’s clear they shouldn’t have.

“Koalas are not expendable, any and all translocation programs must be immediately stopped and the ethics and controls around such programs need to be reviewed transparently and publicly. In this case there needs to be an investigation as to whether animal cruelty laws have been breached. It is hard to reconcile that only a few months ago wildlife carer Tracey Dodds was prosecuted for animal cruelty charges for caring for a rescued kangaroo that had to be euthanized.

“It’s a stark and tragic reminder that the only sure way to protect koalas and avoid their current dire trajectory of extinction is to protect them from predation, road strike and disease now, where they currently live and to improve and extend that very habitat.

“It’s deeply distressing and sends a very cynical message that the Government is focussed on high risk and failed koala program effort while it continues to allow the destruction of core koala habitat for development and logging of high quality koala habitat in the forests of the promised Great Koala National Park, with no end in sight.

“The Minns Labor Government promised to protect koalas, but it’s been over 2 years, they haven’t established the Great Koala National Park, changed any laws to better protect koalas, they haven’t even completed the review of the NSW Koala Strategy and the Minister for the Environment is staying quiet about what has happened here.

Greens MP, spokesperson for justice and solicitor Sue Higginson has condemned the comments from Premier Chris Minns after he refused to meet with Kathleen Folbigg on Monday.

The Premier told a press conference he would refuse Ms Folbigg’s request for a meeting, saying:“There’s a lot of difficult calls for me to make as Premier. This isn’t one of them.”

“… like every citizen in the state, she’s entitled to take her matter to the courts and sue the NSW government, but this is a complex issue given she won’t do that.”

Ms Higginson has recommended that the Premier undertake trauma-informed communication training to avoid further hurtful comments being made toward victims of injustice and school himself in the functions of the justice system.

NSW Greens Justice Spokesperson and solicitor Sue Higginson MLC said, “I’m shocked at the disparaging language Labor Premier Chris Minns is using when talking in public to Kathleen Folbigg and I am concerned about his lack of understanding of our justice system.

“The Premier Chris Minns has essentially engaged in victim-blaming, and he should be more mindful when talking through the powerful media to a woman who has lost four children to a rare genetic disease and who was wrongfully imprisoned for decades by the State he represents.

“Ms Folbigg is owed some form of compensation by the NSW Government and a request to meet with the Premier is literally the bare minimum. Instead, the Premier has criticised Ms Folbigg for requesting a meeting and seeking an accepted method of compensation rather than engaging in drawn out expensive civil litigation against the State of NSW

“Saying, as Premier, that you make hard decisions but “this isn’t one of them” – it’s incredibly callous and cruel particularly in the circumstances while Ms Folbigg is simply exercising her rights to access justice and has in fact spared the State protracted legal proceedings.

“Ms Folbigg has chosen not to sue the NSW Government after being wrongfully convicted. Chris Minns is repaying her grace and her choice with ghosting, accusations and dismissals. The Premier and his advisors need further training in trauma-informed communication, basic compassion, how to respect human dignity and the justice system.

“Misogynistic and dismissive tone is not what people expect from the Premier and it is retraumatizing for a woman who has been the victim of an historic miscarriage of justice.

“The Premier should apologise to Ms Folbigg, and the public and he should meet with her. There is no conflict of interest here. It’s a serious case of justice delayed, is justice denied. Ms Folbigg has waited too long. I am now in discussions with the opposition and other members of the cross bench in the Parliament about what further steps we can take to end this drawn out denial of justice.”

There is an urgent need for tax reform if Labor wants to solve the housing crisis according to Greens housing spokesperson, Senator Barbara Pocock.Treasury has kyboshed Labor’s targets and Pocock says all they are doing is helping wealthy investors to corner the market with the 50% discount on capital gains tax and lucrative negative gearing arrangements.Senator Barbara Pocock:“Jim Chalmers said yesterday that Labor can deliver their promised 1.2 million new homes – well, someone needs to tell him he’s dreaming.”Without reform to the tax concessions for property investors this supply side solution will never solve the housing crisis. House prices will continue to rise, rents will continue to spiral and wealthy investors will acquire most of those new homes while first home buyers continue to miss out.”We need more homes to be built, but we also need to make sure first home buyers and owner occupiers are actually able to purchase them.”Currently, 70% of home lending is going to people who earn over $200,000 a year. To make home ownership accessible to those not on a top tier salary, we need to tackle the tax problem by limiting negative gearing and scrapping the capital gains tax discount.”The tax changes proposed by the Greens, would allow 850,000 people to live in a home they own and bring many of the 31% of households who rent into home ownership.”Rent Assistance“People struggling with high rents who are relying on Commonwealth Rent Assistance should be given immediate relief through an increased rate.”This government must raise income support levels above the poverty line and work with the states and territories to control unlimited rent increases and make lasting improvements to renters rights. Nobody deserves to teeter on the knifepoint of housing instability.”

Aspiring nurses in the Central West are set to benefit from a $635,000 investment to upgrading nursing training facilities at TAFE NSW Orange, ensuring Diploma of Nursing students’ graduate job-ready with the latest industry skills.

The Minns Labor Government is delivering on education in the region, transforming two existing four-bed wards into a cutting-edge simulated hospital environment.

The revamp will include purpose-built additions such as a clean preparation area, dirty utility, and a fully equipped training bathroom; all designed to replicate real-world clinical settings.

Students will train using the same equipment they’ll encounter on the job, including medical services panels at every bed, a medication fridge, and a lockable medicine cabinet, helping the build the confidence and competence to step straight into the healthcare workforce.

Orange is home to one of the largest regional health hubs in NSW. Nurses account for over 42% of the Western NSW Local Health District workforce, making this investment a critical part of strengthening the pipeline of skilled local nurses who can meet growing community needs. 

Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education, Steve Whan visited the campus today to tour the existing nursing facilities and announce the funding package.

Work is set to commence later this year and will be completed by mid-2026.

Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education, Steve Whan said:

“The Minns Labor Government record $3.4 billion investment in TAFE NSW and the skills sector is helping to futureproof regional campuses and train critical workforces.

“This investment will set students up for real-world success now and into the future, not just in the classroom but in the region’s hospitals, clinics, and aged care facilities where they’re urgently needed.

“TAFE NSW Orange plays a vital role in training the next generation of nurses, and these upgrades will ensure students can confidently transition their skills from the classroom to the workplace.

“Whether it’s in Orange or across the Central West, we want our future nurses to have the best possible start, and that begins with world-class public training facilities”.

Member for Orange, Phil Donato said:

“I welcome this announcement of $635,000, that will go directly towards upgrading nurse training facilities at the TAFE NSW Orange Campus. These added education facilities will ensure a pipeline of job ready nurses to enter the workforce.

“I appreciate the NSW Government has recognised that this upgrade will not only attract more regional students but go a long way to retaining them as part of a valued and skilled workforce.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is focused on advancing Australia’s security and economic interests – with trade, tourism and Australian jobs a critical part of his visit to China.

That means driving greater and more diverse tourism cooperation between Australia and China – building on our strong people to people links.

China is Australia’s largest tourism market by expenditure, with a total spend of $9.2 billion in the 12 months up to March 2025.  

This represents around a quarter of all short-term international visitor expenditure in Australia for that period.

Chinese tourism is also growing at a faster pace than other international markets, with a 26% increase in visitors in the past 12 months and a total of 860,000 trips to Australia. 

Today Prime Minister Albanese witnessed Tourism Australia and Trip.com Group sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that promotes Australia as a premier tourist destination for Chinese travellers as well as visitors from other key Asian markets.

This partnership will provide a significant boost for Australia’s tourism industry. 

Trip.com Group is one of the world’s largest travel agencies. It commands more than 40% of the Chinese travel market, has a large presence in other parts of Asia and is accessed by more than 300 million travellers worldwide. 

While visiting Trip.com Group’s headquarters in China, Prime Minister Albanese attended the launch of Tourism Australia’s new trailer for the next chapter of its Come and Say G’Day campaign – aimed at inspiring international travellers to book an Australian holiday. 

Prime Minister Albanese

“Not only is Australia’s beef, barley, red wine and rock lobster the best in the world – we’re the best place in the world to come for a holiday.

“Expanding our tourism relationship with China will mean more jobs for Australians and a boost for Australian businesses.”

A NSW Government Koala Translocation project, claimed to promote genetic diversity in south-east NSW has gone horribly wrong with 13 koalas translocated and 7 dead, leading to calls to explain how the project got off the ground, halt all translocations of koalas in NSW and investigate whether any charges for animal cruelty should be laid against those responsible.

Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson says “What’s happened is deeply disturbing, tragic and cruel. How this even past muster as a Koala “conservation program” is unfathomable, something has gone radically awry and the Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe is staying quiet, but she and Premier Chris Minns must explain.

“This level of experimentation with our endangered koalas is cruel, was a catastrophic failure and should not have happened. The control settings around this translocation experiment were obviously fundamentally flawed and I don’t think the public would find this level of experimentation with our endangered koalas at all acceptable.

“The evidence over many years shows that translocation of koalas is fraught with risk and failure. It is deeply concerning that the Government allowed thirteen healthy koalas to be taken from their habitat in the Upper Nepean State Conservation Area all the way to South East Forest National Park where there are no koalas. Given the outcome, it’s clear they shouldn’t have.

“Koalas are not expendable, any and all translocation programs must be immediately stopped and the ethics and controls around such programs need to be reviewed transparently and publicly. In this case there needs to be an investigation as to whether animal cruelty laws have been breached. It is hard to reconcile that only a few months ago wildlife carer Tracey Dodds was prosecuted for animal cruelty charges for caring for a rescued kangaroo that had to be euthanized.

“It’s a stark and tragic reminder that the only sure way to protect koalas and avoid their current dire trajectory of extinction is to protect them from predation, road strike and disease now, where they currently live and to improve and extend that very habitat.

“It’s deeply distressing and sends a very cynical message that the Government is focussed on high risk and failed koala program effort while it continues to allow the destruction of core koala habitat for development and logging of high quality koala habitat in the forests of the promised Great Koala National Park, with no end in sight.

“The Minns Labor Government promised to protect koalas, but it’s been over 2 years, they haven’t established the Great Koala National Park, changed any laws to better protect koalas, they haven’t even completed the review of the NSW Koala Strategy and the Minister for the Environment is staying quiet about what has happened here.

Today, I am pleased to announce the 34 recipients of this year’s Maitri Grants, Fellowships and Scholarships.

The Maitri (meaning friendship) Grants, administered by the Centre for Australia-India Relations, aims to support greater exchange and collaboration with India across technology, business, education and culture.

Each project will cultivate deeper connections between our two countries, including:

• The Lowy Institute’s first-ever India Chair, which will lift the quality of research and conversations around India’s role as a major power in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Best-practice playbooks by Asialink Business to support collaboration, capability training and the sharing of successful partnership models in cleantech and agtech.
• A world-class exhibition featuring rare artworks by renowned Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.
• An incubator of untold narratives from Australia’s South Asian diasporas that will showcase Australian-Indian experience to global screen audiences, led by Bodhi Studios.

The 2024-2025 Maitri Grants also includes 13 Maitri scholarships supporting innovative research across fields such as quantum computing technologies and clean energy solutions and three Maitri fellowships dedicated to exploring opportunities between Australia and India in biomanufacturing, maritime cooperation and digital governance.

Australia and India’s relationship is closer and more important than ever. We are deepening cooperation across priority sectors that are vital to both nations’ futures, including in defence, trade, education, and technology.

For the full lists of Maitri Grants:

• 2024-25 Maitri Grants – general recipients
• 2024-25 Maitri Scholars
• 2024-25 Maitri Fellows

The Greens welcome UNESCO including Murujuga on the World Heritage List and hope Labor will now ensure its survival by cancelling the draft approval for the North West Shelf.

Leader of the Australian Greens and First Nations spokesperson, Larissa Waters:

“The Murujuga Cultural Landscape is an awe inspiring illustration of culture and stories beginning tens of thousands of years ago. 

“It truly deserves World Heritage listing, just as it deserves protection from North West Shelf’s acidic emissions so its ancient stories can continue to be told. 

“A word of warning to Minister Watt, the world is now watching. Cancel the draft approval for the North West Shelf and prove Labor is willing to stand up for the oldest art gallery in the world.

“We applaud staunch advocates Raelene Cooper and Save Our Songlines for fighting to ensure Murujuga’s strictest protection from Woodside’s money grab.

“UNESCO had warned that Woodside’s gas plant threatened the longevity of the rock art prior to the listing, but Minister Watt successfully lobbied other nations when he should have simply rejected Woodside’s climate bomb extension in the first place.

“This highlights why World Heritage laws need to be strengthened, and once again shows Labor needs to bolster Australia’s limp environmental laws.”

The Albanese Government is supporting Palau’s renewable energy transition by investing a further $16.4 million to upgrade the country’s electricity network infrastructure.

The upgrade will provide improved network reliability while increasing the amount of renewable energy used in the grid. It builds on Australia’s support for Palau’s first large-scale solar power plant and battery storage facility.

This project, financed by the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, has reduced carbon emissions from diesel generators and supported Palau in reaching its renewable energy targets.

Australia and Palau will today sign a letter of intent to form a bilateral partnership under the Australia-Pacific Partnership for Energy Transition. A renewable energy partnership will provide practical support for Palau’s energy transition priorities, including strengthening Palau’s energy system with technical, planning and policy support, as well as providing skills and training for a renewable energy workforce.

Australia is supporting the region’s transition to renewable energy by sharing climate adaptation technologies, and by financing projects that include solar construction and hydro power refurbishment.

Our region is at the frontline of the climate crisis, the single largest threat to the lives, livelihoods, culture and security of Pacific peoples.

Australia will continue to work with our Pacific partners to safeguard climate resilience in the region.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong:

“Palau, and other Pacific nations, can count on Australia to take meaningful action on climate change – at home and in partnership with the region.

“Ensuring climate security in the Indo-Pacific is vital to sustaining a peaceful, stable and prosperous region.

“Australia is supporting Pacific nations’ transition to renewable energy and this investment is another important step in achieving this goal”.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen:

“The Australian-backed solar facility will deliver around 20 per cent of Palau’s annual energy needs.

“We are committed to working with our Pacific neighbours to accelerate the renewable energy transformation and build clean energy industries across our region.

Minister for Defence Industry and Pacific Island Affairs, Pat Conroy:

“Australia listens to the priorities of the Pacific family – and acts on them.

“From backing Palau’s first large-scale solar power plant and battery storage facility to upgrading Palau’s energy grid, Australia’s investment in Palau’s energy transition is an investment in Palau’s future.

“We will continue partnering with our Pacific neighbours to deliver on their priorities.”