More than 400 aspiring early childhood teachers across NSW are set to receive a cash boost to complete their studies thanks to a NSW Government investment.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, Treasurer Matt Kean and Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell announced today that a record 439 scholarships are being awarded across the state, to attract and retain staff to support supply in the early childhood education and care sector.
Premier Perrottet said almost $11 million has been invested from the NSW 2022/23 Budget to deliver scholarships to support educators in entering the workforce or to boost their skills as degree qualified early childhood teachers.
“Early learning professionals are invaluable and we need more of them, which is why we are making a record investment in the early childhood education workforce,” Mr Perrottet said.
“This investment of almost $11 million in delivering 439 scholarships will support our commitment to address workforce supply issues and build a sustainable pipeline of early childhood teachers for tomorrow.”
Treasurer Kean said these scholarships will help create a sustainable supply of early learning professionals, with every successful applicant to be awarded up to $25,000 under the 2022-23 Early Childhood Education Scholarships Program and Aboriginal Early Childhood Education Scholarships program.
“This record investment in scholarships will support our vision of a highly qualified and sustainable workforce, meeting the needs of NSW families and children,” Mr Kean said.
“We want to build a stronger and brighter future for NSW families and we know that building on the early childhood workforce is a no-brainer in delivering this commitment to families.”
Minister Mitchell said one third of all successful scholars live and work in regional and remote areas across the state, which will help create lasting benefits now and into the future for all NSW children, families and the economy.
“With submissions from hundreds of talented applicants, many already working in community preschools and long day care services, it’s great to support these applicants to retrain or start their early childhood career,” Ms Mitchell said.
“These scholarships will support recipients to deepen their understanding of early childhood environments, and gain additional skills and capabilities which will be passed on to the children they teach.
“I congratulate the scholars on their commitment to education and I wish them every success in their studies and future careers as qualified early childhood teachers.”
More than 18,000 prospective early childhood teachers and carers will be supported to enter the sector or boost their skills thanks to a $281.6 million workforce package in the NSW Government’s 2022/23 Budget.
The NSW Government has committed $15.9 billion to deliver a brighter future for every child in NSW through a revolutionary transformation of early childhood education, child development and women’s economic participation over the next decade. Through the introduction of a universal pre-Kindergarten year, the Brighter Beginnings initiative, workforce package and affordable preschools the Liberals and Nationals Government are ensuring NSW is the best state to live, work and raise a family.
More information can be found on the Department’s website: https://education.nsw.gov.au/early-childhood-education/working-in-early-childhood-education/professional-development-and-scholarships
Police appeal for information after man injured in fail-to-stop crash – Newcastle
Newcastle yesterday.
About 6.40pm (Friday 15 July 2022), a BMW R1150 motorcycle was travelling south on Stewart Avenue, near the intersection of Parry Street, when he was hit by a small white sedan, possibly a Toyota Yaris.
The 25-year-old rider was thrown from his motorcycle onto the roadway as the sedan continued travelling south on Stewart Avenue.
The rider was treated at the scene and taken to John Hunter Hospital with shoulder and rib injuries. He remains in a stable condition.
Officer from Newcastle City Police Area Command attended and established a crime scene and have commenced inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Australia supports Indonesia’s response to Foot and Mouth outbreak
The Australian Government will provide $1.5 million to support Indonesia’s response to the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).
The funding will provide at least 1 million FMD doses for Indonesia’s vaccination program, following a formal request for assistance from the Indonesian Government.
Indonesia’s vaccination program is focused on support for the small-holder farming sector, which makes up around 90 per cent of Indonesia’s cattle industry.
This support is in addition to Australia’s existing commitment of 435,000 Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) vaccine doses that are currently being distributed to affected Indonesia provinces.
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt discussed Australia’s support with Indonesian Minister for Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo in Jakarta today.
Minister Watt also met with Indonesian National Disaster Management Authority head and Chief of the Indonesian Task Force for Foot and Mouth Disease, Lieutenant General Suharyanto.
The Australian Government has also committed an initial $500,000 to Meat and Livestock Australia, responsible for coordinating support from Australian industry for the Indonesian feedlot sector’s emergency response to these diseases.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong said:
“Safeguarding the biosecurity of our region is a shared concern for Australia and Indonesia – this was something confirmed during the recent Indonesia-Australia Annual Leaders’ Meeting.
“The provision of 1 million vaccine doses to combat Foot and Mouth disease underscores Australia’s commitment to supporting Indonesia’s response to the outbreak.”
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator the Hon Murray Watt said:
“During my meeting with Lieutenant General Suharyanto we offered to share Australian expertise on emergency disease management and biosecurity.
“The Albanese Government is taking a two-pronged approach to preventing the incursion of Foot and Mouth disease, first by strengthening biosecurity measures at the Australian border, and also by supporting efforts to curb the spread overseas.”
Libs: Independent costings show Budget worse under Labor
The independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has confirmed the Labor Government’s policies will result in higher debt and deficits.
Analysis in the PBO’s 2022 Election Commitments Report confirms Labor’s policies will result in a deterioration in the Budget position.
If fully implemented the Labor Government’s platform will see increased deficits across both the forward estimates and the medium term.
The independent body has also shown Labor failed to meet the same high standards for transparency during the election campaign. Despite waiting until the eve of the election to publish their costings, the report confirmed Labor’s costings document hid commitments from voters.
By contrast, today’s independent report confirms the Coalition adopted a transparent and fiscally responsible approach to costing its policies at the election.
The PBO’s report independently confirms the Coalition’s strong economic management and election commitments would have improved the deficit over the 2022–23 Budget forward estimates period.
The Coalition adopted best practice throughout the campaign by submitting all commitments for independent costing and public scrutiny before election day.
The independent analysis confirms the Coalition’s Budget was balancing the task of Budget repair while supporting Australians with the rising cost of living.
This builds on the Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook released in April, which found:
- The Coalition left the Budget bottom line with the largest and fastest improvement in over 70 years, with $103 billion of improvements compared with last year.
- Australia was on course to stabilise and then reduce debt over the medium term.
- Resilient economic growth despite the shocks of the COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- A strong and improving labour market.
This is compared to Labor’s poor excuse for a costing document which has finally been independently reviewed by the PBO.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the independent report confirms that every year debt and deficits are higher under Labor.
“The impacts of Labor’s increased spending will constrain the government’s ability to provide cost of living relief and Budget repair without increasing taxes,” Mr Taylor said.
“With the Budget position confirmed to decline over the forward estimates under Labor, the Government must promise it will not increase taxes and will clearly commit to the previous Government’s tax cap.”
Shadow Minister for Finance Senator Jane Hume said despite promising greater standards of transparency, it has taken 54 days since the election for the Australian people to learn the full costs of Labor’s policies.
“The Government needs to explain to the Australian people why they failed to disclose all their policies and their costs to the Australian people before the election,” Senator Hume said.
Senator Hume said the Government should explain to Australians why now is the time to send the budget further into deficit.
“Anthony Albanese has said that if you don’t repair the budget, households wear the cost. Today we’ve confirmed that the Albanese Government’s plans – including those they never costed – will make sure households will wear that cost. They have no plan for fiscal responsibility and no plan to get spending under control,” said Senator Hume.
Rehabilitation of Ironbark Creek flows on
City of Newcastle has commenced the next stage of its award-winning Ironbark Creek rehabilitation project, targeting 350 metres of creek from Croudace Road, Elermore Vale, to Lewis Street Oval, Wallsend.
The $2.6 million stage of the project will significantly renaturalise the channel replacing weeds with thousands of native plants on the creek banks, and new rock work will better protect the creek as well as public and private assets.
The project will produce an environmentally friendly watercourse, which will improve flow and help make the creek and floodplain behave in more predictable ways during major floods.
Image: Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes inspects a previously rehabilitated section of Ironbark Creek with City of Newcastle staff (L-R) Sam Parker, Lindsay Nichols, Dean Jamieson, Ian Lacey, Stephen Long and Petra Freeman.
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the complex project has been crucial in ensuring the health and long-term sustainability of the creek.
“City of Newcastle is committed to caring for and enhancing our natural environment and that is clear to see when you consider what we have achieved with Ironbark Creek. We started rehabilitation works 10 years ago and I’m proud to say that we are now continuing on with this next stage,” Cr Nelmes said.
“We expect this work will also improve the local tree canopy and habitat in the area, making the creek line friendlier for native plants, birds and other animals.”
The Ironbark Creek project began in 2011 and by using nature-based solutions, aims to rehabilitate the creek from Elermore Vale Park, downstream to Wallsend Park where the creek flows into a Hunter Water Channel.
“Ironbark Creek is the city’s largest tidal creek draining to the Hunter River. Its catchment covers nearly 13,000 hectares and is crucial to the health of our local catchment,” Cr Nelmes added.
“We have invested over $4.1 million into rehabilitating Ironbark Creek over the past decade, which provides flow on benefits beyond the creek, including into Hexham Swamp. Hexham Swamp is a fresh water and estuarine wetland, of ecological importance, which was once the largest predominantly freshwater wetland on the near north coast of New South Wales. The benefits will also reach as far as the Hunter River mouth at Sandgate.”
Work on this stage of the project is scheduled to be completed in November, weather dependent, with the next two stages currently in the design phase.
To find out more about the project, visit www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/ironbark-creek
Knowledge gaps in the understanding of economic and financial abuse of older people identified
Economic and financial abuse of older people is a serious issue with wide-ranging impacts for victim-survivors and their families. To better understand this type of abuse in the context of domestic and family violence (DFV) further research is required, according to a UNSW Sydney report into economic and financial abuse funded by Commonwealth Bank (CommBank).
Understanding Economic and Financial Abuse and Older People in the Context of Domestic and Family Violence is the fifth report in a partnership between CommBank and UNSW’s Gendered Violence Research Network (GVRN).
The partnership forms part of CommBank Next Chapter, which aims to help victim-survivors of financial abuse achieve long-term financial independence. Through the partnership, CommBank and UNSW’s GVRN hope to increase community and industry understanding and the prevention of financial abuse. With the release of the fifth report, the completed research series is one of the most comprehensive compendiums of evidence on economic and financial abuse in Australia.
GVRN conducted a comprehensive review of academic and policy literature to examine existing research on financial and economic abuse among older people. They found the term ‘elder abuse’ can obscure situations where financial and economic abuse may have been perpetrated as part of DFV.
“This can drastically impact service providing spaces and create barriers for victim-survivors seeking help,” says Professor Jan Breckenridge, Co-Convenor of GVRN at UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture.
“Financial institutions have a key role to play in identifying and responding to economic and financial abuse of older people perpetrated in the context of DFV.”
The report also found evidence that traditionally gendered financial management may enable economic and financial abuse against older people, including within First Nations communities. This includes the patriarchal norms around inheritance and the expectation for older women to play caretaking roles.
Effective responses to prevent financial abuse of older persons included family mediation, better training for health and legal professionals to detect and identify abuse, and formal regulations around transactions within families. However, the research found service providers who are responding to the economic and financial abuse of older people face a range of barriers to providing support, including: reluctance of the victim-survivor to disclose the abuse, and a lack of resources and training to handle suspected abuse.
The report suggested areas for further investigation, such as: deepening the conceptual definitions and data on economic and financial abuse against older people in the context of DFV, improving the understanding how gender roles and culturally and linguistic diversity influence abuse, and the impact financial and economic abuse has on older people’s financial security.
“At CommBank, we know elder financial abuse is prevalent and it can have a devastating impact on family relationships. This report is an important step in developing our understanding of this issue, and ensuring we continue to provide the right support for anyone impacted by elder financial abuse in the context of domestic and family violence,” says Claire Dawson, Executive Manager of Community Investment at CommBank.
Telstra Finalises Acquisition of Digicel Pacific
The Australian Government welcomes today’s announcement by Telstra of the finalisation of its acquisition of Digicel Pacific.
Digicel Pacific is the leading mobile telecommunications and network services provider in the Pacific and plays a vital role in the economic development of the Pacific region.
As a trusted and experienced industry leader, Telstra brings strong capabilities to ensure secure, reliable and high-quality services are provided to Pacific communities, including in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Nauru.
The Government is providing USD1.33 billion in a financing package, through Export Finance Australia (EFA), to support Telstra’s commercial acquisition.
Telstra will own and operate Digicel Pacific.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong said:
“The Australian Government’s support for this transaction reflects our commitment to help build a stronger Pacific family through investment in high-quality infrastructure.
“Telecommunications and digital access are critical to sustainable economic growth and development outcomes into the future.”
Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator the Hon Don Farrell said:
“The finalisation of Telstra’s acquisition marks a significant milestone in Australia’s economic engagement with our Pacific family.
“This transaction sends a positive signal of business confidence in the Pacific region, and we hope it will encourage further investment in the region from top tier Australian companies.”
Minister for International Development and the Pacific, the Hon Pat Conroy MP said:
“Telstra will be able to bring its extensive experience in the telecommunications sector to build on Digicel Pacific’s strong track record in support of economic development across the region.
“Now more than ever, the region needs access to high quality telecommunication services as it recovers from the economic impact of COVID-19.”
Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP said:
“Telstra’s acquisition of Digicel Pacific is a positive development for our neighbours in the Pacific, who will experience a number of social and economic benefits through improved telecommunications infrastructure.
“Accessing reliable telecommunication networks is essential for families, businesses, communities and governments to connect and share information, which is why the Australian Government is pleased to support this acquisition.”
Greens: PM needs to choose: co-operation or confrontation?
Responding to the Prime Minister’s attempts to rewrite history and issue ‘take it or leave it’ ultimatums to the Parliament, Greens Leader Adam Bandt has warned that the Prime Minister risks misreading the national mood for co-operation on climate.
Mr Bandt added that Labor needs to understand its vote went backwards at the election and that while the government has a slim majority in the Lower House, the Greens also have an increased mandate in the Senate, and that the government risks creating 3 years of conflict by starting with belligerence.
“The Greens are willing to work constructively with Labor, but it seems Labor’s approach is ‘take it or leave it’,” said Mr Bandt.
“Labor risks letting their idea of the perfect be the enemy of the good.
“This ‘my way or the highway’ approach from Labor is setting Australia up for a very long three years.
“The government should choose co-operation over confrontation.
“Let me be clear. The Greens are willing to negotiate on climate. But it seems Labor isn’t.
“The Greens want to see a stop to new coal and gas projects, as do the Pacific Islanders, the UN, the International Energy Agency and the world’s scientists. Even Labor’s weak climate targets will be blown if they proceed with new gas projects like the Beetaloo Basin, which will lift greenhouse pollution by up to 13%.
“Labor would do well to understand the recent history of the election, where their vote went backwards, less than a third of the country voted for the government and voters put the Greens in balance of power in the Senate.
“The government needs to work constructively with the Senate this term if it wants to get things done. This could be one of the great reforming Parliaments of all time, and I’m sure there are Ministers that want to get a lot done during their term, but that will involve working with the Greens in the Senate.
“Three years is a long time.”
Designs Unveiled For $479 million Ryde Hospital
The Ryde community will benefit from a transformation of health care with designs for the $479 million Ryde Hospital redevelopment showcasing a state-of-the-art facility.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard today unveiled the latest concept designs and said the NSW Government’s significant investment in Ryde Hospital will ensure enhanced and expanded health services for the future closer to home.
“This first-class redevelopment will transform health facilities for the local community for many years to come, providing a range of new and expanded services, including a state-of-the-art emergency department, new theatres and medical imaging,” Mr Hazzard said.
“The redevelopment will also provide a dedicated purpose-built ambulatory care centre and paediatric short stay unit at the hospital for the first time.”
Member for Ryde Victor Dominello said it also makes best use of the current services, including the Graythwaite Rehabilitation Centre and preserving the historic Denistone House as well as delivering contemporary education, training and research to strengthen tertiary partnerships.
“I’m delighted to share the new concept designs of the Ryde Hospital redevelopment with the community. They demonstrate the connections with existing heritage buildings and the nearby Blue Gum High Forest and there is plenty of green space to create a welcoming environment for patients, their carers, staff, and visitors,” Mr Dominello said.
“The redevelopment team has been working closely with clinicians, staff and key healthcare stakeholders as well as representatives from the local community who have been providing their feedback to help inform the design of the project.”
The Ryde Hospital will be assessed under a two-stage planning approval process.
The Stage 1 State Significant Development Applications (SSDA), to be lodged with the Department of Planning and Environment in the coming weeks, will seek approval for the proposed scale of the redevelopment as well as site preparation and enabling construction works.
A second and more detailed SSDA application will be submitted early next year, seeking approval for the detailed design and main construction works for the redevelopment.
The project is part of the NSW Government’s record $11.9 billion investment in health infrastructure to 2025-26.
The $479 million Ryde Hospital redevelopment will include:
- a new and expanded emergency department
- a new and expanded medical imaging department
- a new and expanded intensive care unit
- new operating theatres
- adult overnight inpatient beds
- a new purpose-built ambulatory care centre
- a new paediatric short stay unit
- improved landscaping, urban spaces and car parking
To view the plans and find out more about the proposed new hospital, please visit www.rydehospitalredevelopment.health.nsw.gov.au
Mobile outreach to curb rural homelessness
More than 3,500 people in regional and rural NSW will have greater access to housing supports and services following the launch of a new mobile outreach program to assist people sleeping rough.
Minister for Families and Communities and Minister for Disability Services Natasha Maclaren-Jones said the program would ensure regional communities, from Broken Hill to Leeton, are supported into stable accommodation.
“This funding will ensure there are dedicated staff on the ground ready to help people living in regional communities to apply for housing,” Mrs Maclaren-Jones said.
“Housing stability plays a significant role in keeping families together and these regional outreach teams will provide people with the tools to make decisions for a chance at a better future.
“By intervening early and providing people with the support they need, we can engage them with the right services to significantly reduce their risk of homelessness.”
The outreach program will be launched in the Murrumbidgee, Far West and Western NSW regions and is expected to reach 35-50 people in each town.
It will serve as a mobile office travelling through regional areas and bringing with it information on services such as Rent Choice and Bond Loans, as well as access to housing supports.
The mobile outreach will also connect with existing service providers in those areas, such as specialist homelessness services, to build stronger relationships.
Member for Albury Justin Clancy welcomed the commitment to reducing housing waitlists and overcrowding.
“As Deputy Chair of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Community Services I have seen first-hand the positive impact of outreach services in a metropolitan setting,” Mr Clancy said.
“There is a demonstrated benefit in metro areas and this announcement is a signal the NSW Government is working to ensure the same level of services is also provided to regional communities.”