16 News

The Albanese Government is rebuilding the Australian Defence Force (ADF) – driving the highest recruitment in 15 years, slashing separation rates, and keeping the force strong at over 61,000 full-time personnel. 

Over the last three years, the Albanese Government has focussed on introducing bold and targeted initiatives to address the declining recruitment and retention rates inherited from the former Coalition government, and set Defence up for long-term growth. 

These efforts are delivering results and for the first time in years, the ADF is growing. 

• In 2024-25, the ADF enlisted 7,059 permanent full-time personnel – the highest annual intake since 2009-10 and 17% increase on the previous year. 
• As at 1 July 2025, the permanent and full-time ADF workforce reached 61,189 people – higher than the targeted growth path for 2024-25. 
• More than 75,000 applications to join the ADF were received in 2024-25 – the highest number in five years and 28% year-on-year increase, compared to the same time last year. 
• Importantly, retention has also improved. The ADF-wide separation rate fell to 7.9% – well below the ten-year average and a dramatic turnaround from three-years ago.

The ADF is now well on track to meet the Albanese Government’s target of 69,000 permanent Average Funded Strength by the early 2030s – a key outcome of the 2024 National Defence Strategy and the 2024 Defence Workforce Plan, which provides a credible and budgeted pathway to grow the Defence workforce. 

While there is more work to be done, these results highlight significant progress in attracting and retaining the skilled workforce required to build the future Defence Force. 

Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles: 

“It is essential that Australia has the Defence Force it needs to help protect its strategic interests, and that is why we have made significant investments to support our current Defence workforce and grow it for the future. 

“When the Albanese Government came to office we inherited a personnel crisis. Throughout the near-decade the Coalition was in office, the ADF grew by just 2,000 people. 

“In 2025, the ADF is now growing again for the first time in almost four years. While there is much more work to do, we are confident these positive trends will continue. 

“The Defence Workforce Plan centres our efforts to recruit and retain the highly specialised and skilled workforce required to meet capability needs.” 

Minister for Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh: 

“Thanks to our recruitment and retention initiatives the Australian Defence Force is seeing increased applications, enlistments and more people staying in service than we have in years. 

“It’s fantastic to see more and more Australians signing up for an exciting and fulfilling career in the ADF. 

“These efforts are complemented by our ongoing efforts to retain our personnel in service for longer, with improvements to how Defence personnel and their families are supported at work and at home. 

“A stabilised and strengthened workforce is the foundation that we need to continue to grow, to reskill and transform to have the future workforce required to deliver against the 2024 National Defence Strategy.”

The Albanese Government is today making a further humanitarian contribution in response to the catastrophe in Gaza.

Australia will provide an additional $20 million to support organisations with the scale and capacity to respond quickly to deliver food, medical supplies for field hospitals and other lifesaving support to women and children in Gaza, following the announcement of new humanitarian corridors.

The Australian Government has now committed more than $130 million in humanitarian assistance to help civilians in Gaza and Lebanon since 7 October 2023.

As with all our humanitarian assistance to Gaza, we’re delivering our aid with key partners, including close coordination with the United Kingdom and humanitarian organisations.

The Australian Government’s new package of support includes:

• $2 million for relief support with the UK, through our existing partnership arrangement
• $6 million to the UN World Food Programme for the provision and distribution of food supplies
• $5 million to UNICEF for nutritional support to children at risk of starvation
• $5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross to meet essential needs, including access to healthcare
• $2 million to the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, expanding our cooperation with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to provide medical supplies to support the operation of field hospitals in Gaza.

This funding supports the efforts of our international partners in addressing the most urgent need of innocent civilians in Gaza.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Penny Wong:

“Australia has consistently been part of the international call on Israel to allow a full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza, in line with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice.

“The suffering and starvation of civilians in Gaza must end.

“Australia will continue to work with the international community to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and a two-state solution – the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.”

International Development Minister Dr Anne Aly MP:

“We’re working with partners to deliver immediate and sustained life-saving assistance to the people of Gaza. They must be allowed to do their vital work and deliver aid at scale.

“Australia’s additional funding will bolster international efforts to address urgent needs in Gaza. It will provide urgently needed food and healthcare.

“We continue to call on Israel to allow immediate and unimpeded aid access into Gaza.”

The ACT Greens are alarmed by Labor’s inaction on climate change and nature restoration, saying work in progress when Greens previously held the portfolios have ground to a halt.

Following questioning in Budget Estimates on Friday from the ACT Greens, it was uncovered that the ACT Labor Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water has no vision and is dragging her feet on climate action.

ACT Greens Leader and former Minister for Energy, Water and Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury said one thing Labor can do to show they are taking climate action seriously is to progress the next ACT Climate Change Strategy, given the current one ends this year.

“The next strategy should be almost ready to launch but the Labor Minister couldn’t provide any clear update on where it’s up to, or when we might see it,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“There is no excuse. Towards the end of my term as Minister, I instructed the Directorate to prepare options for the development of the new Climate Change Strategy for consideration by the incoming Minister in November 2024.

“It usually takes about 12 months to prepare, consult and then get Cabinet approval for a new strategy. Nine months later and we still can’t get a timeline.

“During the hearings, the Head of ACT Climate Change Council, Arnagretta Hunter, said that Canberra needs to plan for 55 degree days. We know more extreme weather events are coming and that we need to better equip Canberra to remain resilient in the face of these threats.

“At the election Labor promised almost nothing on climate action, but did say there would be ‘no backwards steps’. Clearly they also meant no steps forward.”

ACT Greens Deputy Leader Jo Clay said Labor is going backwards on environmental care, and that the green spaces and key environmental areas that currently make Canberra a great place for people, animals and plants, will further decline without major ongoing investments in nature.

“Environment is clearly at the bottom of ACT Labor’s list of priorities. In the hearings they doubled down saying they won’t boost much-needed funding for environment and nature care delivered by environmental volunteers,” Ms Clay said.

“These are the organisations that maintain Canberra’s green spaces, keep nature thriving across our suburbs and generate a strong sense of community, belonging and mental wellbeing across the ACT.

“Just a few months ago, in their Close to the Edge report, the ACT’s Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment damned the “demonstrably inadequate” environmental funding from ACT Government.

“The report stated ‘It is therefore hard to take the view that biodiversity protection is a genuine priority for the ACT.’

“I had hoped Labor’s new Environment Minister would take the Commissioner’s recommendations seriously, but it’s clear that is not the case.

“The Greens are still driving environmental protection from the crossbench this term, with the Labor Government sitting in the back seat.

“It’s only because of Greens work alongside the community that the ACT will set an urban growth boundary, fund efforts to save the Canberra Earless Dragons from extinction, protect all of Bluetts Block and recognise the environmental, cultural and agricultural values of the Western Edge and Eastern Broadacre areas.”

The ACT Greens have condemned the Federal Labor Government for pushing the critically endangered Canberra Grassland Earless Dragon towards extinction, following news today that the Environment Minister has given the green light for the Canberra Airport Northern Road development to go ahead.

Deputy Leader of the ACT Greens Jo Clay said that despite the community’s best efforts, with hundreds of people backing calls to save the critically endangered Canberra Grassland Earless Dragon, Labor has once again chosen the interests of business over people and planet.

“The approval of the Northern Road at Canberra Airport is a blow to the community and sends a message that our Federal Government does not care about nature,” said ACT Greens Deputy Leader Jo Clay.

“The offsets and conditions in this road development approval are an attempt to buy the goodwill of the community in exchange for habitat degradation, the annihilation of one of our local critters and potentially the uplisting of many other species who live in temperate grasslands.

“The reality is there are very few patches of this habitat in Australia. Let’s be clear – the impacts on the dragons and grassland habitat are entirely avoidable, and not compensated for by the conditions attached to the development.

“We call on the ACT Labor Government to use all compensation funding from the road development to protect remaining natural temperate grassland habitat – otherwise there will be nowhere left in the wild to reintroduce dragons from the breeding program.

“Hundreds of Canberrans wrote to the current Environment Minister, the former Environment Minister and all Independent and Labor Parliamentarians for the ACT, urging them to help save the dragons and stop the road. For the few that actually responded, they insisted they care about the environment.

“But actions speak louder than words – and it’s not a one off, it’s a trend. The Federal Labor Government has time and time again sided with corporations over the very people and planet they were elected to stand up for.

“In the three months since the election – and despite Labor claiming Australia voted for climate action and protecting the environment – they’ve approved the climate-wrecking extension of the dirty gas North West Shelf facility to 2070 and are now pushing the Earless Dragon towards extinction.

“Our national environmental laws have been failing for years – Labor threw in the towel last term to reform our systems and genuinely put people and the planet ahead of vested interests.

“Now we’ve seen the Canberra Earless Dragon added to their failures of no new extinctions, right behind Tassie’s Maugean Skate casualty thanks to Labor backing the dirty salmon industry.

“The ACT Greens are calling on the Federal Government to fix broken environmental laws before we see more native animals lost to Labor constantly choosing business over people and nature.”

BACKGROUND:

• The Northern Road Development was granted approval in 2009 under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, subject to varied conditions. These conditions were set without any consultation with the ACT Government. A Grassland Earless Dragon Recovery Team was responsible for implementing a Recovery Plan at that time. They advised the road would have minimal impact on the population if it went around the core habitat area.
• In 2023 the Canberra Grassland Earless Dragon was uplisted to ‘critically endangered’ – the last stop before extinction. The former ACT Greens Environment Minister and community secured a commitment from Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to reconsider protections for the earless dragon before this road progresses.
• The ACT Government 2024-25 budget included funding for emergency response measures to rescue the Canberra Earless Dragon from extinction.
• Construction was first reported by the media on Monday 24 February 2025. In these articles, Canberra Airport Group are reported to have agreed to pause a section of road construction that bisects the largest area of intact grassland habitat.
• Following news coverage, the ACT Greens contacted both Minister Plibersek’s office and the Canberra Airport Group on 25 February 2025. This was followed up with a formal letter to Minister Plibersek on Wednesday 5 March 2025. To date, there has been no response.
• The ACT Greens formally wrote to the ACT Chief Minister and ACT Environment Minister on Sunday 2 March 2025 seeking urgent action to elevate the issue with their Federal counterparts and ensure the Canberra Airport Road does not make a species extinct.
• The Australian Greens wrote to Minister Plibersek on Thursday 6 March 2025 calling for the Minister to intervene and revoke the road development.
• The ACT Greens were alerted on Thursday 13 March 2025 that construction has recommenced on the road. Ms Clay visited the site and confirmed construction vehicles operating on Friday 14 March 2025.
• The ACT Greens met with the Canberra Airport Group on Thursday 1 May to hear their plans for the road, its purpose and review their environmental studies on site. Following the Greens meeting, the Canberra Airport Group also met with local ecologists.
• The 2025-26 ACT Budget invested $4.5m into breeding programs for the Canberra Earless Dragon and temperate grassland habitat restoration.
• On 22 May the ACT Greens wrote to the new Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt expressing the community’s grave concerns about the proposed development of the Northern Road at the Canberra Airport precinct and urged him to uphold his government’s commitment of no new extinctions and ensure no further work is undertaken on the site until there is evidence showing the proposed mitigation measures work. A response was received on Tuesday 29 July.
• The approval decision is dated Wednesday 30 July and was uploaded to the EPBC Act Public Portal on Friday 1 August.

The Australian Greens welcome the ACTU’s calls to urgently address the unfair tax breaks that benefit property investors, as well as their call for a 25 percent levy on coal and gas exports at Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ Economic Roundtable.

The Greens’ have taken policies for changes to the CGT discount and negative gearing to successive elections. In 2025 the Greens’ policy to wind back these generous tax concessions to property investors which supercharge house prices was announced at the National Press Club in April.

Under the Greens election policy, both negative gearing and the CGT discount would be grandfathered to one existing investment property and removed on all second and subsequent properties, ensuring “mum and dad” investors with a single investment property are not negatively impacted, while disincentivising future speculative and unproductive investment in the property market.

The Greens also welcome the ACTU’s demand for a 25 percent tax on coal and gas export revenue. As former Treasury head Ken Henry has argued, fossil fuel exporters reap vast profits while paying minimal tax here and sending those profits offshore.

Greens Leader and spokesperson on Climate and Energy, Larissa Waters:

“People and nature should be the beneficiaries of the economic roundtable, and the mega profits of big companies should be in the government’s sights.

“We can’t fix the housing crisis unless we scrap massive tax discounts that give property investors a leg up while locking first homebuyers out of the market.

“It’s absolutely imperative that changes to negative gearing and CGT concessions are on the Economic Roundtable agenda. Young Australians shouldn’t be locked out of home ownership while a small cohort of investors get an unfair tax advantage.

“The cost of climate change shouldn’t be left to ordinary Australians. Fossil fuel exporters are mainly foreign companies that pay little to no tax and send their profits offshore along with our gas or coal. 

“It’s time these big polluters paid their fair share, including for the damage they are causing to ordinary Australians whose cost of living and livelihoods are being exacerbated by climate change.

“A 25 percent levy on fossil fuel exporters should be on the summit and the government’s agenda. 

“Nurses, teachers and community workers already pay more tax than oil and gas companies. That simply isn’t fair, especially when those industries’ emissions are driving more extreme weather events that we all suffer through.

“Australia urgently needs comprehensive economic reform that tackles both the housing crisis and the climate crisis. 

“The Greens would be happy to see reforms in all of these areas come to the senate and to work with Labor to pass them.”

Senator Barbara Pocock, Greens housing spokesperson:

“If the Government genuinely wants to fix the housing crisis, scrapping tax breaks for wealthy property investors – such as the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing – is an essential and long overdue reform.

“Let’s be clear – this is a tax break for wealthy property investors, a tax break which comes at a cost to first home buyers and owner occupiers. This is also a tax break that increases levels of homelessness, which have increased by 10 percent under this government since it was elected in 2022.

“Massive tax breaks for wealthy property investors are cooking our housing system. Instead of everyone having a roof over their head, houses have become an investment asset class – which fuels intergenerational inequality.

“Instead of funding tax breaks for rich property investors, this government could be redirecting funds to building more public and affordable housing.

“Unless the Government makes the necessary reforms to the tax concessions for property investors, we’ll continue to see house prices rise and rents spiral. The Greens stand ready to work with Labor to action this urgent reform.”

Six reserves and parks along the inner Sydney Harbour have been added to the NSW State Heritage Register, recognising their unique cultural, environmental, and industrial histories while safeguarding Sydney Harbour’s natural beauty for generations to come. 

Nestled across one of the most stunning harbours in the world, the ‘green necklace’ is a series of iconic cultural landscapes around the headlands and water planes that connect the northern and southern shores.  

The Green Necklace is formed by:  

• Badangi Reserve, encompassing Berrys Island Reserve and Wollstonecraft Foreshore Reserve
• Ballast Point Park, an acclaimed park in Birchgrove built on a former Caltex Oil site
• Balls Head Reserve in Waverton, a rare surviving natural headland that was dedicated as a public reserve following an environmental campaign in the 1920s and 30s
• Berrys Bay (Carradah Park) in Waverton, the former site of a BP refinery
• Yurulbin Park and Foreshore in Birchgrove, an early example of the successful transformation of industrial land to public use, recapturing the qualities of an Indigenous landscape. It was the site of the launch of the Australian government’s Local Government Reconciliation Program in 1994.

These landscapes represent the ever-evolving nature of land and water use on Sydney Harbour, showcasing the change from undisturbed bush to industrial use to green space preservation.  

Each park and reserve has its own story that has been shaped by thousands of years of Aboriginal connection and more recent layers of industrial, artistic and community history. They reflect how people have interacted with, altered, and valued the land over time.   

Listing these landscapes means their heritage value will be safeguarded into the future, in a context where Sydney’s built environment is fast growing. The listing is a shift away from traditional listings such as physical buildings and instead recognises the importance of a cultural landscapes and the environment in NSW’s rich history.  

The ‘green necklace’ was coined in a 2018 cultural landscape study by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) NSW. The listing follows extensive consultation with local councils, heritage experts, and community groups.  

Minister for Heritage Penny Sharpe said: 

“These parklands really are the jewels in the Sydney Harbour crown and their inclusion on the State Heritage Register ensures their stories, fabric and significance are preserved for future generations.  

“They are not only green spaces but living archives of Sydney’s cultural and industrial evolution, and a reminder of the rich and enduring Aboriginal history we are surrounded by. 

“I want to acknowledge the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects for starting this listing process many years ago, and congratulate them on the wonderful outcome of their work and advocacy.” 

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said:  

“The addition of Ballast Point and Yurulbin Park to the State Heritage Register marks the final transformation of these former industrial sites to some of the world’s most beautiful harbourside parks.  

“The advocacy of many people including Tom Uren and Paul Keating is what has led to this magnificent outcome.” 

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) NSW President, David Moir said: 

“AILA commends the Minister for her foresight in protecting these critically important landscapes.  These iconic landscape elements, integral to the internationally significant Sydney Harbour setting, are foundational to the city’s identity as a global destination. 

“Through visionary landscape planning and design, once-derelict industrial sites have been transformed into inclusive public spaces where communities can connect with nature in an increasingly urbanised environment.

“Their inclusion on the State Heritage Register and the commitment to their ongoing conservation reflect enduring community values and a deep respect for our shared landscape legacy.”  

The Minns Labor Government has slashed the number of permanent teacher vacancies by 61 per cent, ensuring thousands more NSW public school students are receiving a quality and consistent public education.

New data released today on the first day of Public Education Week shows NSW public schools began Term 3 with 962 permanent teacher vacancies, down from 2,460 at the same time in 2022 under the former Liberal National Government.

While there’s more to do, the 61 per cent drop in vacancies has brought the number of permanent teacher vacancies to the lowest level in four years.

This progress follows the Minns Labor Government’s decision to scrap the unfair wages cap that held teacher salaries back and devalued the profession for more than a decade.

In contrast to the record 3,311 vacancies under the former Liberal National Government in late 2022 — which led to widespread class cancellations and merged lessons — public schools began Term 3 this year with just 962 vacancies, down from 2,460 at the same point in 2022.

There’s also been a sharp drop in the number of schools affected. Just 566 schools — a quarter of NSW’s 2,200 public schools — reported a vacancy in Term 3, down from 1,383 schools in 2022.

Areas with the fewest vacancies include the electorates of Kiama and Lane Cove, which both reported just one vacancy each at the beginning of Term 3, and the electorates of Castle Hill, Drummoyne, Heathcote, Cronulla and Vaucluse, which all reported two vacancies each.

Under the Minns Labor Government, the Department of Education has also ramped up efforts to provide dedicated support to schools facing recruitments challenges.

The Priority Recruitment Support initiative has been expanded from 79 to more than 150 schools with three quarters being in regional and rural areas – bringing fairness to communities that have been left behind for too long.

From this year, every NSW public school principal has been supported by a dedicated Recruitment Officer who will be a first point of contact and work closely with them to manage all recruitment in the school.

Over the past 12 months, 6,398 permanent teachers have been appointed, while resignation and retirement rates have declined — pointing to better retention and a stabilising workforce.

While there is more work to do, the reduction in vacancies is a demonstration of the Minns Labor Government’s commitment to rebuild public education, value the teaching profession and lift student outcomes.

While this work is ongoing, it is already delivering results and has included:

• Delivering the largest pay rise in a generation to all of NSW’s public school teachers.
• Making over 16,000 teachers and school support staff on temporary contracts permanent.
• Banning mobile phones in all public schools, minimising classroom distractions.
• Addressing workload by allowing additional time to roll out a new curriculum, improving mandatory training and professional learning requirements, providing access to AI assistance, providing additional administrative support in schools.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said:

“This is a step in the right direction. I’ve always said you can’t replace a teacher in front of the classroom.”

“We know there’s still work to do, but fewer vacancies means more consistency for students and less strain on schools.

“We scrapped the unfair wages cap, we’re making more roles permanent, and we’ll keep doing the work to rebuild public education properly.”

Acting Minister for Education and Early Learning Courtney Houssos said:

“The Minns Labor Government has demonstrated that when you stop suppressing teachers’ wages and genuinely value the expertise of the teaching profession, then you’ll keep more of our high-quality teachers in the classroom.

“Teachers are the most critical factor when it comes to improving student outcomes and that’s why, under the leadership of the Deputy Premier, we have been so determined to address the teacher shortage crisis we inherited.”

“There is still more work to do, but the 60% reduction in teacher vacancies is a clear demonstration of the Minns Labor’s Government commitment to rebuilding public education.”

“Families across NSW should know that while thousands more students now have permanent teacher in their classrooms, this could all be undone if the Liberals and Nationals succeed in their promise to bring back the wages cap.”