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The Minns Government is continuing its smart programs that deliver benefits to regional NSW communities with a new multimillion-dollar investment to address childcare shortages in three western NSW local government areas that will benefit many people and local economies.

The expansion of the Government’s Workforce Activation Program to three new areas – Carrathool, Hay and Warrumbungle Shires – will be funded with $4.39 million to expand or upgrade eligible early childhood education and care services.

Improving access to childcare can have a significant impact in helping stay-at-home parents, particularly in underserved rural areas, stay in the workforce.

A recent study by the Regional Australia Institute confirmed that not having access to childcare services is hampering the ability of people to maximise their contribution to the local workforce.

This disproportionately impacts regional towns like these and contributes to worker shortages in essential services such as health care and education, plus in local businesses.

By freeing up people to enter the workforce this will have an immediate positive input to the local economy.

Projects eligible for funding include workforce attraction and development initiatives to address workforce shortages, infrastructure upgrades to accommodate more children, and service improvements.

The second phase of the pilot program builds on the success of the $5.6 million announced in November 2024, which created 189 additional childcare places in Broken Hill, Bourke and Cobar over the next 18 months.

Since November 2024, childcare centres in Broken Hill, Bourke and Cobar have advertised for additional childcare educators, engaged experts to deliver staff training workshops and finalised building plans for expansion.

The pilot program expansion considered childcare places available, population growth and the needs of communities where families may face more barriers to accessing childcare.

Applications for the grants open on Friday 29 August 2025, and close on Friday 7 November 2025.

Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW Tara Moriarty said:

“We know that access to childcare in regional NSW is key to helping parents and carers return to work or training which will then contribute to their local economy.

“This $4.39 million investment means more families can fully participate in the workforce in Carrathool, Hay and Warrumbungle Shires and that is a positive outcome on many levels.

“The Minns Government is committed to growing the economy in western NSW and breaking down barriers to workforce participation and helping more parents and carers, particularly women, delivers a great return for everyone.”

Program beneficiary Alex Page said:

“It’s important that my wife and I can remain at work, we both undertake fairly important roles in terms of servicing our local community.

“Without being able to access childcare, my colleagues and I wouldn’t be able to be in the workforce, and I’m one of the lucky parents whose kids have fulltime care across the week.

“All around Broken Hill it’s very hard to get employees to work full time because they can’t get childcare, and with greater access to childcare we’ll be able to have more people back into the workforce – it is a gamechanger.

“To have the ability to move to the region and have access to childcare more easily would make it far more palatable and enjoyable for families to move from a major metro centre.”

Program beneficiary Sarah Baum said:

“If I didn’t have access to childcare services, I wouldn’t be able to regain the financial independence to financially contribute to our household.

“With funding coming into childcare in Broken Hill creating additional childcare places will trickle on and flow out through the community.

“You’ll have more people earning more money and more people injecting those funds back to into the economy and you’ll have more people returning to work which will hopefully entice more people to come out to our region to help grow it.”

The Albanese Labor Government is supporting the growth, resilience and sustainability of Australia’s agricultural sector, with an additional $1 billion in new loan funding through the Regional Investment Corporation (RIC).

RIC administers support for farmers facing hardship with concessional loans for farm businesses and drought-affected farm-related small businesses.

This new funding will ensure farmers can continue to access concessional lending to improve their long-term resilience and profitability – and brings total support for the agriculture sector through RIC loans to over $5 billion.

The Government will also support the broadening of RIC’s loan scope to include assistance for improving climate resilience, boosting sector productivity, and supporting agriculture to be part of Australia’s net zero transition.

This additional $1 billion in new loan funding demonstrates the Albanese Labor Government’s commitment to RIC beyond 30 June 2026.

This will provide certainty around RIC funding and concessional lending for Australia’s farmers while the Government finalises the full response to the Review of the operation of the Regional Investment Corporation ACT 2018.

To date, over 3,400 loans have been supported through RIC, with more than $3.6 billion in settled funds providing direct on-farm benefit.

These new commitments build on the Albanese Labor Government’s rural support and drought resilience funding which has helped Australian farmers to prepare, adapt and respond to a range of hardships and issues including drought.

Minister Anthony Albanese

“I have seen firsthand the toll that extreme weather events like drought take on regional communities.

“That is why my Government is backing our farmers who are doing it tough by continuing the Regional Investment Corporation.

“This is about helping farmers to manage cost pressures and free up cash flow so they can continue producing the products we all rely on.”

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins MP

“The funding we are announcing today underscores our Government’s enduring commitment to supporting Australian farmers who are facing hardship.

“We are committing to concessional loans over the long-term to give farmers certainty that there will always be support available, including those impacted by drought.”

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong will today welcome Indonesian Foreign Minister His Excellency Sugiono, and Defence Minister His Excellency Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to Canberra for the Ninth Australia–Indonesia 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministers’ Meeting. 
 
Australia and Indonesia are the closest of partners, with a long history of friendship and cooperation based on mutual strategic trust. The meeting will strengthen our engagement on shared defence, strategic, economic and development priorities in support of a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.  
 
The Deputy Prime Minister will also host Minister Sjafrie for the annual Australia-Indonesia Defence Ministers’ Meeting. Discussions will focus on deepening defence cooperation through increased education and training exchanges, more complex joint exercises and enhanced interoperability. 
 
This year’s 2+2 follows Foreign Minister Wong’s visit to Jakarta earlier this month to meet Foreign Minister Sugiono for discussions on our shared bilateral and regional priorities.  

Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Richard Marles MP: 

“Our relationship with Indonesia continues to go from strength to strength, buoyed by growing strategic trust and a shared commitment to transparency and regional stability. 

“Australia is deepening ties and increasing the complexity of our engagement with our closest regional partners, especially Indonesia, in response to an increasingly challenging and uncertain security environment.” 

Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Penny Wong: 

“There is no more important partner for Australia than Indonesia. We look forward to discussing our strategic, economic and development cooperation priorities as we work to shape our region for the better.

“Australia remains a reliable, steadfast friend and partner to Indonesia and to the region at a time of global uncertainty.” 

Today I announce the recipients of the Australia-Korea Foundation (AKF) grants for 2025-26 Grant Round.

The AKF strengthens the relationship between Australia and the Republic of Korea in ways that enhance mutual understanding and people-to-people links.

The 19 grant recipients are listed on the AKF website and include:

• A new short course on doing business in Korea and Australia, delivered by the University of Sydney in partnership with the Yonsei University, to strengthen Australia-Korea economic ties through education and professional exchange.
• A reciprocal peer mentoring program through James Cook University that links Australian and Korean working holidaymakers to help them to navigate cross-cultural challenges, explore career pathways and form long-lasting connections.
• An initiative led by Citrus Australia Ltd to deliver industry workshops and site visits in Australia and Korea to foster institutional relationships and boost confidence and growth in the export of Australian citrus into the Korean market.

I also announce the appointment of Dr Constantinos Yiallourides as the 2026 Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Seoul National University (SNU)’s Graduate School of International Studies, an initiative supported by Woodside Energy, SNU and the AKF.

Dr Yiallourides is an eminent Senior Lecturer in International Law at Macquarie University. As the second Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at SNU, Dr Yiallourides will foster research collaboration and connections between Australia and Korea.

Finally, I welcome Australian and Korean representatives from academia, industry and government to the fourth Korea Australia Future Forum in Sydney today, hosted by the AKF and Korea Foundation. The Forum is an important opportunity to exchange views and ideas to advance shared bilateral interests across the breadth of the Australia-Korea relationship, including strategic and security cooperation, economic security and trade, people-to-people links and innovation and technology collaboration.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong will today welcome Indonesian Foreign Minister His Excellency Sugiono, and Defence Minister His Excellency Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to Canberra for the Ninth Australia–Indonesia 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministers’ Meeting.

Australia and Indonesia are the closest of partners, with a long history of friendship and cooperation based on mutual strategic trust. The meeting will strengthen our engagement on shared defence, strategic, economic and development priorities in support of a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.

The Deputy Prime Minister will also host Minister Sjafrie for the annual Australia-Indonesia Defence Ministers’ Meeting. Discussions will focus on deepening defence cooperation through increased education and training exchanges, more complex joint exercises and enhanced interoperability.

This year’s 2+2 follows Foreign Minister Wong’s visit to Jakarta earlier this month to meet Foreign Minister Sugiono for discussions on our shared bilateral and regional priorities.

Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Richard Marles MP:

“Our relationship with Indonesia continues to go from strength to strength, buoyed by growing strategic trust and a shared commitment to transparency and regional stability.

“Australia is deepening ties and increasing the complexity of our engagement with our closest regional partners, especially Indonesia, in response to an increasingly challenging and uncertain security environment.”

Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Penny Wong:

“There is no more important partner for Australia than Indonesia. We look forward to discussing our strategic, economic and development cooperation priorities as we work to shape our region for the better.

“Australia remains a reliable, steadfast friend and partner to Indonesia and to the region at a time of global uncertainty.”

The Greens have celebrated a win for people on income support payments following Labor’s announcement on income support payments.

The Greens have previously called for all income apportionment debts to be waived, in keeping with the Royal Commission recommendation which would see a 6 year limit imposed on debt collection. Background on these issues here

The debts affected by income apportionment are at their most recent from 2020, and are on average 19 years old. Still no legal time limit on debt collection exists. On Monday, the Greens introduced a bill which would implement the outstanding Robodebt recommendations including the 6 year time limit.

Greens questioning in Estimates revealed the Department currently holds debts dating back to the 1970s. 

Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens spokesperson for Social Services:

“This is a tremendous win for the Greens and for advocates who have been calling on Labor to waive these income apportionment debts and protect people living in poverty from serious harm.

“Like Robodebt, the income apportionment scandal has shown the systemic issues with the way our welfare system brutalises people living in poverty over ridiculous errors.

“When you’re living week to week on poverty payments, a debt notice from the government can cause your whole life to spiral. Tragically for some it has led them to take their own lives. 

“The work unpicking Robodebt is far from done. The Greens will continue to push Labor to implement the outstanding Robodebt recommendations including the six year limit on debt recoveries, and to stop the rampant suspension of welfare payments which takes life-saving funds out of the hands of over a hundred thousand people each month.”

The Greens have reintroduced their two key Bills to take on corporate profiteering – one to give the ACCC divestiture powers to break up corporations when they misuse their market power, and another to make price gouging illegal across the economy.

“Corporate giants are bleeding people dry while the Labor Government sits on its hands,” Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“Coles and Woolworths have built their empires on exploiting their market dominance. They gouge shoppers, farmers, and workers.”

“The Greens’ Bills would finally give the ACCC the teeth to break them up and outlaw price gouging across the whole economy.”

“Two weeks ago the Reserve Bank found that declining competition and increased mark-ups have reduced productivity and left the average person $3000 worse off over ten years. That’s the price of letting corporations run the economy for their own benefit.”

“Now, in the profit-reporting season, the evidence is in black and white. Australia’s biggest oligopolies are raking in staggering profits off the back of ordinary people’s pain.”

• Insurance giant IAG just booked $1.359 billion net profit, up 66% on last year.
• Commonwealth Bank pulled in more than $10 billion, their highest in at least a decade.
• Coles pocketed nearly $1.2 billion, a 3.1% jump on last year.

“Since Labor came to power in 2022, food and groceries have risen on average by 14%. For some essentials it’s much worse: bread is up nearly 20%, cheese 20%, eggs 40%, and oil nearly 30%.”

“Labor promised to ban supermarket price gouging but have gone missing in action. If they were serious about helping people through this cost-of-living crisis, they’d back the Greens’ Bills.”

The Senate has today voted to establish an inquiry into the Government’s proposed social media age ban and search engine age verification codes following a motion by the Australian Greens. The inquiry will examine the privacy implications and effectiveness of the proposed measures.

The inquiry comes amid growing concerns that the proposed age verification system will require all Australians to provide personal data to access social media platforms and search engines, raising significant privacy and civil liberties questions.

The inquiry will soon begin accepting public submissions. Further details will be announced promptly.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge and Digital Rights Spokesperson said: 

“This isn’t just about kids – it’s a national age verification system and identification system being sold as online safety for children.

“The age ban will force all Australians to hand over personal data to access social media and the verification codes will mean the same for search engines. Everybody will have to go through age-checking to make this work. 

“Instead of the much promised digital duty of care, the Government is focusing on bans and codes that will encourage big tech to vacuum up everyone’s private information. 

“The current approach risks driving young people away from safer regulated platforms and towards spaces where bullying and image-based abuse has no limits. 

“This inquiry will examine what actually works globally and presents an opportunity for evidence-based policy that upholds fundamental human rights. 

Greens Communications Spokesperson and Chair of the Environment and Communications Committee Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:

“Trying to fix all the harms of social media and online platforms by simply banning under 16s from using them is never going to work. This inquiry is about continuing the conversation about how we keep all people safe online and holding the big tech platforms to account for protecting their users.”