Month: December 2025

Source: Victoria Country Fire Authority

More than 100 firefighters battled a stubble fire in Inverleigh this afternoon which burnt around 40 hectares of land.

CFA was called to the fire on Hamilton Highway just before 2.30pm today.

CFA issued an Advice message due to smoke in the area.

The fire, which was burning in a northerly direction, was brought under control around 3.45pm.

There was no threat to the Beyond the Valley music festival.

CFA had 25 vehicles on scene supported by water aircraft.

Several CFA units remain on scene blacking out.

The cause of the fire was farming machinery.

The Beyond the Valley festival organisers have been providing support to the CFA crews on scene.

Submitted by	CFA Media

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

The Northern Territory Police Force has suspended search operations in Darwin Harbour in relation to the sighting of a body floating near a naval base on the evening of Sunday 28 December 2025.

Although search operations have been suspended, police will continue enquires and the Search and Rescue Section stands ready to provide a response should new information become available.

Police would like to thank the public for their assistance.

Source: Australia Government Statements 2

A new community-led early childhood education and care service has opened in Alice Springs creating more opportunities and greater access to quality early education for local First Nations children.

The new Todd Street Child Care Centre is led by the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Aboriginal Corporation (Congress) and provides high-quality, culturally responsive early childhood education and care for up to 37 additional local children. 

Congress has been providing comprehensive primary health care, advocacy and support for Aboriginal people in Mparntwe – the Arrernte name for Alice Springs – and surrounding remote communities for more than 50 years. This includes critical early years programs focused on improving developmental outcomes for Aboriginal children. 

This site is an expansion of the services provided by the long-established Congress Ampe Kenhe Apmere Gap Road Childcare centre, ensuring better access to early education and care for Mparntwe children. 

The service focuses on embedding local languages, delivering enriched caregiving and providing families with confidence that their children will be cared for in a safe environment that supports children’s development and learning, in readiness for preschool. 

The Congress Todd Street Child Care Centre was established as part of an almost $30 million expansion of the Australian Government’s Community Childcare Fund Restricted (CCCFR) Program, which funds the establishment of early childhood education and care services run by mainly First Nations-led organisations.

This is another example of the Albanese Government’s commitment to the Closing the Gap National Agreement, in particular reducing community level barriers to participating in early childhood services and increasing access to quality and culturally appropriate care. 

The national peak body for Indigenous children, SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, is providing support to sites under the CCCFR Expansion Program to support their establishment of community-led services.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth, Senator Dr Jess Walsh

“The opening of the Todd Street Child Care Centre is an important day for First Nations children and families in Alice Springs, providing greater access for First Nations children in the community who need it most.

“Early education gives children the best start in life, and every child in the Northern Territory should benefit from access to quality and culturally safe early education and its transformative benefits.

“The Australian Government is prioritising investment in our regional and remote communities through programs like the Community Child Care Fund.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy 

“The new Todd Street Child Care Centre will ensure more First Nations children in Alice Springs have access to quality early education. 

“The Albanese Government is committed to working in partnership with First Nations organisations like Congress, and I congratulate them for their important work supporting children to get the best start in life.   

“Ensuring First Nations children are engaged in high quality and culturally appropriate early childhood education is an important part of Closing the Gap.”  

Quotes attributable to Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour MP 

“The Albanese Labor Government is committed to Closing the Gap and early childhood education plays a huge role.  

“The new Todd Street Child Care Centre will increase places for First Nations children in a region where access to child care is an ongoing issue.   

“I’m proud that our government is investing in our First Nations children because we know supporting children in a culturally safe setting leads to better futures, stronger families and more connected communities.”   

Quotes attributable to Dawn Ross, General Manager Child, Youth & Families, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress 

“Congress is pleased to be able to increase access to excellent-quality, culturally responsive care for even more children in Mpartnwe. 

“Extending this service means more children will benefit from a holistic approach to their development, enabling any need for interventions to be identified and accessed easily and at the service. 

“The centre provides local families with confidence that their children will be cared for in a safe, nurturing environment that supports the children’s development and learning needs.” 

Source: Australia Government Statements 2

SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN: Welcome friends from media. Let me introduce my colleagues, Mr Honourable Minister Jason Clare, Minister for Education Government of Australia. To my right, Mr Andrew Giles, Honourable Minister for Skill and Training, Government of Australia. This is Julian Hill to my left, Assistant Minister for International Education, and two of my important colleague, Mr Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Mr Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State in Education Department. 

Friends, today we have successfully completed the third Australia‑India Education and Skill Council. Previously it was known as Australia‑India Education Council. Since last two meeting, consciously both the governments decided to expand the scope of our bilateral discussion up to skill, because we believe for the new age economy, I quote Prime Minister Narendra Modi-ji, “Degrees are important, but competence is much more than that”. 

Looking into this spirit both of our main conscious decide our bilateral discussion with the framework of education and skill. Today, we have a very successful meeting since morning. As you can see, the high-level delegation led by Minister Clare, Minister Andrew Giles and Minister Julian Hill; many Vice‑Chancellors, many Deputy Vice‑Chancellors; educationers and senior bureaucrats of Government of Australia as a part of this bilateral discussion. From our side, [indistinct] three important officials from our Government, Secretary School Education, Secretary Higher Education and Secretary Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department and [indistinct] department. And Department of [indistinct] Ministry and Department of [indistinct] statutory and regulatory body of Government of India, they link to later to education and skills. 

Firstly, I will highlight few important outcome of this meeting from the education side and my colleague, Mr Chaudhary will highlight few important outcome of the skill set. Then both our colleagues from Australia will also respond to some of your queries. Let me put some points. 

First, one of our important outcome to this delegation was in the early childhood care and education area, the collaboration between the Government of India’s academic bodies, CBSE, and Australian Qualifications Framework in the area of teachers for early education and childhood education, professional development of augmenting of competency of teachers between. Another outcome was agreement between NCT and Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. These are two important outcome we have delivered today, completed today. 

And I’m pleased to say that we’re also exploring the possibilities of setting up few more CBSE-affiliated schools in Australia pertaining to our growing India diaspora and demands of CBSE syllabus in school system due to STEM education across the world. Because nowadays the CBSE is getting traction due to STEM education in all parts of the globe. So, Australia is also – we’re entering the Australian education ecosystem. 

Friends, today we have hand over the letter of intent to one of the prestigious institute – a university of Australia. If I could, this is not only limited to Australia.  This is the world’s twentieth ranked university, the New South Wales University of Australia, from Sydney, which is my colleague Minister, Mr Jason Clare is alumni of that prestigious university. That university is very soon coming to India to [indistinct] campus at Kharnatak in Bengaluru city. 

This is seventh, [indistinct] Already, there is six universities already open there ‑ two of them are already open their campus in India – Wollongong and Deakin in GIFT City of Gujarat. Four more universities with five campuses in the different part of country have opened – they have taken LOI from our system. And seventh one, the prestigious one, the University of the New South Wales, today we hand over the LOI in the presence of my colleague Ministers, and that university campus will offer industry focus undergraduate and post‑graduate program in business, media, computer science and data science, and cyber security. 

This program aligns closely with the needs of the future‑ready India and the globe. 

Friends, today also we discuss about sports curriculum. Australia is good at sports. Today we decided to collaborate in the area of sports curriculum from school to higher education level – sports technologies, sports techniques, and curriculum in the school areas – because of both of us have a common aspiration. Australia is going to host 2032 Olympics in Australia, and India is pitching for 2036 Olympics, and India is again going to organise 2030 Commonwealth Games. 

So, Prime Minister Modi has a vision to massive capacity-building on sports, [indistinct] India, [indistinct] India, [indistinct] program, now became a mass movement in Indian system within youngsters. Australia is a natural partner in this area, so that today in our Education Skill Council meeting, we have deliberated in detail about the future investment area of sports. 

And the two important schemes, SPARC and [indistinct] these are the ongoing research exchange program between the both the countries, as you all witnessed this important program just few minutes before. Indian academia will go to important Australian university and institutions for the purpose of study and research. This will be funded in a [indistinct] for around 100 crores spending will be there on these schemes from the Government of India side, and the Australian Government to host these [indistinct] university, to host these programs in Australian facilities. 

Friends, in conclusion, I will say two things. Both the leaders, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Albanese have a very excellent cordial relationship and mutual trust and understanding to create a special relationship between India and Australia. I’m thankful to my colleague, Mr Clare, Mr Giles and Mr Hill for participating in this discussion, and I’m thankful to my own colleagues, Mr Chaudhary and Mr Majumdar and all my senior colleagues from both the sides for this successful third AIESC meeting organised at Delhi, and today one of the important decision we have taken, foundation has been laid. Now, the meetings that deliver us [indistinct] goal twice and more specific outcome will be expected from our deliberation. Thank you friends. 

JAYANT CHAUDHARY: Thank you. My Senior Minister just outlined some of the specific outcome that have come out of today’s deliberations, and I would just like to state that this forum, the third such meet, is a signal of the warmth and trust of relations between our two countries and our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. 

In our day‑long deliberations today, apart from our engagement just before this press engagement was, we also held bilateral meetings, and a lot of free‑flowing conversation and ideation also happened. 

But I would also like to thank officials from both side that have regularly worked in between these events to ensure that these engagements are productive, and things that get literally decided, there is a date of expiry and we’re able to work together and achieve those outcomes. 

In the space of skills, those skills is not, as Honourable Minister Pradhan just said, in view to be separate category, it is part of our education framework and it is a mandate given to us by National Education Policy, NEP 2020, that we do not look at skills in isolation, but in fact look at it from school, higher education and then a vocational ecosystem. But I would still like to point out that today remarkable achievements have been made by both sides coming together and having deliberations. 

Firstly, our institution‑to‑institution mapping and creation of a collaborative network is a significant achievement. Three MOUs between our Skill Council, between higher education institutions, between the relevant trading partners in Australia have been exchanged in front of you.

Also on Mutual Recognition Qualification Framework, which was agreed to in 2023, and I think that has now served as a great example where we are able to work with other governments where we have agreements in place and partnerships that we are looking to improve upon, where we posit this achievement between India and Australia as a way forward. 

So I think on the MRQ, we are both in agreement that we need to operationalise it [indistinct]. Already in the space of agriculture, our Skill Council and the Joint Working Group between the two countries has been able to create a number of occupational standards, and now it is time for the education training partner ecosystem to really take those courses up and ensure that the students have a flexible pathway to utilise the qualifications that are in place. 

An important agreement on both sides that I think both sides are of the view that sports is a strategic area, an important area to focus on, with a positive impact on youth development, with India’s young demography, with both countries looking to host key global marquee sporting events. There’s a lot of learning that both countries will have to undergo and will experience in the hosting of such events. 

In the Indian context, recent studies have pointed out that the sports and physical wellness industry has a potential in the next two decades to grow up to about two per cent of our GDP. So there’s immense economic potentialities, immense potentialities for workforce development, for skilling, for education, and therefore starting from school to higher education – and even viewing sports as a skill, whether it’s a trainer, whether it’s the hosting economy, the gig economy, the event management, whether it’s sports science – all of these different verticals and subjects need intervention. And therefore I think both sides are of the view that our collaboration on sports and education framework must be strengthened upon. 

Also, the whole issue of employability skills, creating a joint research, understanding the employability metric as it applies to different industry verticals, that is a core issue that we discussed. And then facilitating exchange programs between teacher training for our young students and our [indistinct], to go to Australia to experience how the TAFE education system works, and similarly to open our ecosystem up for opportunities for Australian students to come in and look at what industry, Indian industry looks at employability and how it approaches the actual vocational skills. 

All of these deliberations have been very fruitful, but like our Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan has said, these are all discussions that will yield even more outcomes going ahead. 

This is indeed a unique platform, as Minister Clare also pointed out in our meeting, that perhaps no such mechanism or platform or interaction or high‑level meeting or engagement exists for India with any other country. I think that’s a sign of how deep our relationship is, and also a sign of the great potential we have to work together.

Thank you. 

PRADHAN: Dear friend, Australian Minister Jason Clare to say a few words. 

JASON CLARE: Thank you, Dharmendra. This is unique. Australia doesn’t have this sort of relationship when it comes to education with any other country in the world, full stop. 

And to give you evidence of that, you just need to look at the stage. Three Education Ministers who have come to Delhi for this meeting, but bringing with us a delegation of half a dozen Vice‑Chancellors, of a half a dozen Deputy Vice‑Chancellors, the key regulators of our education system in Australia, across the board, across all parts of education, and including the Secretary of my Department whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday again, Tony. 

But also look at the other side, and the seniority and the experience on the Indian side of the table. There is nothing like this that Australia experiences with any other country in the world when it comes to education. 

This is my third visit to India as Education Minister in three and a half years. This is our fifth meeting in that period of time. And with every meeting it gets better, it gets stronger, it gets deeper, the trust between our two nations, our two systems just gets better and better and better. 

When we first met our conversations were about higher education, and about international education. Dharmendra came to the University of New South Wales in late 2022 and made a speech, I talked about this this morning, where he told us about the NEP, this audacious plan to skill up the nation, transform the Nation of India, and he asked for Australia’s input and support and assistance. And Australia has responded. And I thank you for placing your trust in us, Dharmendra. 

I understand 19 universities, international universities, have been given letters of intent to establish campuses so far in India. Seven of those are Australian; seven of the 19, so I think that is a sign, or the evidence, if you need any, of the strength and the depth and the seriousness of our relationship and the trust between our two nations and our two education systems. 

But it’s not just in the area of higher education. What, Dharmendra, you have done in expanding this meeting to include skills, and in our last meeting the decision we took to expand it to look at early education and schools as well, meant that today in our conversation we looked at all parts of the education system. 

We looked at it as a whole system, and we asked our officials to make sure that when we come back in 12 months’ time there is more work that we’ve done on early education, on school education, on vocational education and in higher education, and in particular, as we’ve all said, in the area of sports education. 

And let’s not forget research, give me a copy of that report, please. And this terrific piece of work, the Australia-India Institute Shared Pathways For Research Futures  a guide here to help collaboration between universities here in India and here ‑ in Australia and here in India, we launched that framework today as well. 

And Dharmendra, when you travel to Australia next year, and hopefully all the ministers travel to Australia next year, we’re looking very much forward to hosting you and looking at all the work that we have accomplished over the last ‑ over the next 12 months, but also hoping to take you to visit the first Hindu primary school in Australia, which, it’s extraordinary that it doesn’t exist at the moment given that there are now more than a million Australians who can trace their heritage back to India, and lots of Hindu temples in Australia, not one Hindu school. That’s about to change. Construction will start very soon and looking forward to taking you to see the school when you make it to Australia next year. 

ANDREW GILES: Thank you, Dharmendra. As Jason said, this is a unique forum, it’s unique in that it brings together our two nations in a way that we don’t do with any others, and it also has a really shared long‑term vision for each of our countries and for both of our countries building on the trust and respect which has always existed but which isn’t taken for granted and which is built through engagements like this. 

Unlike Jason, this is my first visit to Delhi in this capacity, and I’m privileged to be here because Dharmendra has expanded this Council to include every element of the education system and to work closely with Minister Chaudhary has been a privilege; to build on discussions which took place in Australia last year, to see real progress towards them, but also to think beyond that progress. And some of the issues which have already been touched upon I think are worthy of restating. The work that’s being done to deepen our people‑to‑people links in the skills base is vital. 

We’ve had some innovative new ideas come up today, which I look forward to working through and building on. The work between our regulatory bodies is so fundamentally important. Much has been done by officials, there is real energy about building on that, to build on the MRQ process, to really put it from concept to execution in a really practical sense, to build on that work. 

I’m excited about the opportunities that are presented by the Centre of Excellence that’s being progressed in Odisha State. I think that is a symbol of an important area of shared understanding and progress, and we’ve seen that in related MOUs between our countries just announced, but it’s also a symbol of how in technical education we can really deepen our partnership to build on the work that’s done well in both countries, to build on the shared aspirations that elevate vocational and technical education, and indeed to bridge the gap between what has been considered technical education and the higher education pathways. 

Everyone has mentioned sport, and I’ll mention it again because it has been a critical feature of our conversations, again at every stage of the education journey. There are opportunities that are being explored today that will identify further opportunities in this regard. 

And perhaps finally, I might end by saying the discussions today show a shared commitment, a shared commitment to do jobs of today, to build for the jobs of tomorrow, to make sure that the opportunities that are present in both of our labour markets can be met and achieved more efficiently and with a deeper understanding of what works for each of us and for both of us. 

JOURNALIST: Sir, a brand new campus of [New] South Wales University – when will start in India, and what would be the focus area? That is my first question. And another one is, sir, how many CBSE school will be opened in Australia? 

PRADHAN: Don’t come to any conclusion. Today we agreed to open more CBSE-affiliated schools, today we agreed to do that. Both regulators and both the Government and the [indistinct] and both the [indistinct]. Don’t get into targets. Number two, today we exchanged the letter of intent from UGC, and University of [New] South Wales. Today we did a record time. They are planned in the month of June 2025, today we got LOI. Very soon I hope by next academic year the course will start. 

CLARE: And some of the courses include business, media, computer science, and cyber security. 

JOURNALIST: Hi, sir, this is Vishwadhana from ANI, as you saw several agreements and MOUs were exchanged today. I just want to know, was labour mobility discussed a part of this framework, and if it was discussed, will these agreement increase the mobility of Indian students and [indistinct]. 

PRADHAN: Labour mobility is not part of our delegation of responsibility, but certainly labour mobilisation is there between India and Australia. The competent ministries, the Trade and Commerce Ministry, they have successfully deepened that. Our role is to create the capacity. Today, what we did – we created the capacity from both the side. To cater – one thing I’d like to mention – one of the agreed thing what we have a few years back; we have developed a collaborative model of recognition – Mutual Recognition of Qualification, MRQ. Today, Australia-India MRQ standards becoming the global standards for many other bilateral agreements. This kind of things we are organising from this kind of deliberation. 

JULIAN HILL: Just on labour mobility, I might just use this to promote an agreement that Australia has only with India. There’s no other country in the world that we have this agreement, and that’s called the MATES Program. It grants up to 3,000 visas to early career professionals or graduates from high‑quality Indian universities in certain disciplines, including science, IT, STEM, and so on, to apply for a visa to come to Australia for one, two or three years, and work in those fields. 

It’s open for another two weeks, so we would say to any young Indians that meet that criteria, please put in an expression of interest. We know that there will be more interest than the number of places, and so for anyone who meets the quality and the requirements there’s a ballot, and they’re invited to apply. But this is an agreement that we only have with India. There’s no other country that is eligible for this special MATES visa, given the relationship between our two countries. 

JOURNALIST: Good afternoon, Ministers. I am Thanushka from [indistinct]. My question to you is with respect to the Centres of Excellence in Disaster Management and Resilience. Could you share details as to how would Australia be exactly contributing to the Centre of Excellence, first.  Secondly, when can we expect it to be actually inaugurated? And third, with respect to disaster management, will Australia bring in their expertise, of course, but will there be funding as well? 

PRADHAN: Let us not get into the details today. [indistinct] deadline. It is an agreement [indistinct words] mature [indistinct words]. It is an evolutionary thing. We discuss, we deliberate, we recognise mutual capacity from both sides in many area, not only disaster mitigation – in many area starting from early childhood education care to advanced research, to cyber security, we have mutual agreement in many area, and in many MOUs and many ‑ you might have seen few MOU between two university from Indian side and institute from the Australian side. Many mutual agreements are already working, many more has to be decided, many more are in pipeline. 

JOURNALIST: Hello, sir, I’m Krithika Tiwari from Times Now. My ‑ I have two questions, first, what new initiatives through this collaboration can we expect in the smoother mobility of students and researchers both between India and Australia? And secondly, we have heard about how lead institutions are partnering. Can you also expect the same sort of partnership, because you also underline how there are multiple benefits to it. These partnerships to percolate to more regional and more vocational institutions as well. 

PRADHAN: As my colleague, Mr Jayant Chaudhary has already mentioned, the prestigious institution from Australian side, TAFE, is aligning with many IT ecosystem of our country. That means it is getting percolated to that level also. 

Regarding the dimension of our agreement – what is the net outcome. Sports is the net outcome, capacity building by both the side from NCT and Australian teacher’s standing institute issue. These are the additional outcome up to this deliberation. 

So, I can say this ‑ knowledge and competence is such a vast subject. We cannot quantify in the one meeting, we cannot quantify between few subjects. It is a vast one. Regarding mobility, I just said my colleague can correct me, India is today Australia’s one of the major destination, bringing our students to Australia. Our number is more than ‑‑

SPEAKER: 1.7 lakh. 

SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN: 1 point ‑ 1,728 numbers of Indian students already studying in different institutions of Australia. Almost all the provinces. This is a welcoming state. [indistinct words].  Now, the changing geopolitical scenario, Australia is a favourite destination of Indian students. For us, the number is not important, the kind of academic engagement from both the sides we are organising today, that’s the main achievement of our relationship.

CLARE: Just to add on to Dharmendra’s answer, not every young bright Indian will be able to make their way to Australia, perhaps ’cause they can’t afford it, perhaps because of their life circumstances. And that opportunity is not a one‑way street, it doesn’t always have to involve getting on an aeroplane and going to Australia. It can involve these great universities coming here, and that’s really what these international campuses are about. 

It’s bringing the best of Australia and the best of Australian universities closer to where so many young Indians are seeking that great education, and so it’s a win for Australia and it’s a win for India. It helps a lot more people get access to an education that otherwise they couldn’t get access to. And so having now seven Australian universities amongst 19 from around the world committed to establishing a campus across India, not just here in Delhi or in GIFT City, but in different parts of the country like Bengaluru or Chennai or Mumbai in the case of the University of Western Australia, or Uttar Pradesh in the case of Western Sydney University, that provides an opportunity for so many more young Indians that otherwise they may not have had the chance to take advantage of, because it would be impossible to even contemplate taking a couple of years out of their life to come to Australia. 

CHAUDHARY: May I just add that what Minister Hill pointed out, that for skilled professionals there are established pathways and unique opportunities between Australia and India, and it is very clear that we already have a mobility and migration partnership agreement which is in place. 

How we implement that is there are mechanisms, there is a joint working group that meets periodically.  The critical element is recognising each other’s institutionals and the skilling capacity, what is the quality of the training that is being done, what is the quality of assessment. So, that a young skilled, young person from India, when they’re going out from a diploma or certificate program, an Australian institution or Australian employer knows specifically what is the skill level, how does that relate to the Skill Qualification Framework. How does it apply to the Australian system of looking at it. 

That is key, and I think already as part of the mechanism, in five critical areas there has been agreement, occupation standards have been created. What I mean by when I say occupation standards, this is a qualification [indistinct]. There are courses that are available for Indian students who want to get skilled and get assessed according to what the Australian standard is. 

And like what Minister Pradhan is saying, this is an iterative process, it is a dynamic process, it is not a static process. These are not credentials that will remain etched in stone. They have to continuously evolve. This is the mechanism and platform through which we’re able to work collaboratively. 

JOURNALIST: Nishant from DDU. So the sports curriculum is a new thing, so what will be the key focus areas of this initiative and what major outcomes can we expect from this sports curriculum? 

PRADHAN: Primarily sports culture, primarily capacity building of a sports teacher, and starting from school level to higher education level. And campuses, what we have found, the medallists of Australia come from the campuses of Australia. 

So we want to recreate a model where Indian campuses, be it school or [indistinct words] or polytechnics, this is the breeding ground of sports medicine, future generations of sportsmen who come out of that, that’s Australia’s successfully developed that model in different level we have discussed. Thank you friends.

Source: Australia Government Statements 2

The Albanese Labor Government has struck a preschool funding agreement with the States and Territories, providing funding certainty to the end of 2027.

The Preschool Reform Agreement supports the delivery of 15 hours a week, or 600 hours a year, of quality preschool programs for every child in the year before school.

It has a focus on improving preschool participation and outcomes, including for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children experiencing disadvantage.

The Preschool Reform Agreement also continues rollout of the Preschool Outcomes Measure, which supports teachers and educators to better understand a child’s learning and development needs. 

The Albanese Labor Government has worked collaboratively with the States and Territories to deliver this agreement on time. 

It went to the Education Ministers Meeting in October and was agreed in principle by all States and Territories. 

The Minister for Early Childhood Education, Jess Walsh, then wrote to Early Education Ministers with a formal offer.

Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory have now signed, which means the agreement will come into effect for these jurisdictions allowing Australian Government funding to flow, with others to follow.

This extension will bring the Australian Government’s contribution to over $3 billion over the life of the agreement.

At the Education Ministers Meeting, Ministers also agreed to continue to work together on future reforms beyond the end of this extended agreement, to help build a quality, universal early education and care system.

Children who engage in quality preschool programs are generally better prepared for when they start primary school, and also as they progress through life.

Attributable to Jess Walsh, Minister for Early Childhood Education: 

“We know that quality preschool helps children prepare to thrive at school and in the years beyond.

“I am so pleased we’ve been able to deliver funding certainty to ensure Australian children can attend preschool, giving them the best possible start in life.

“The Agreement is delivering on its objectives to strengthen the delivery of preschool education, ensuring children are better prepared for their first year of school.

“I’d like to thank my State and Territory colleagues for working collaboratively with us to make this happen.”

Source: Australia Government Ministerial Statements

I am so shocked and sad to hear that Emma has passed away.

Emma Johnston was one of Australia’s biggest brains and nicest people.

Emma was also one of Australia’s new generation of university leaders and a real reformer.

My sincere condolences to her family and friends and the whole University of Melbourne community.

Source: Australia Government Ministerial Statements

The terms of inaugural Australian Tertiary Education Commissioners Professor Mary O’Kane AC and Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO conclude at the end of this year.

I want to thank them both for helping to establish the interim Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

As Chair of the Universities Accord Expert Panel, Mary O’Kane mapped out a nation-building program of reforms that are set out in the Accord, including the establishment of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

The Accord is a blueprint for reform of our higher education system for the next decade and beyond, and Mary O’Kane is the architect of that and more.

Mary O’Kane didn’t just design the Accord as the first ATEC Commissioner she has helped build it.  She has helped to lift the words off the page and make them real.

I asked both Mary O’Kane and Larissa Behrendt to serve the inaugural ATEC Commissioners this year, to help establish the interim Commission and craft the legislation that will formally establish it.

Larissa also served on the Universities Accord Expert Panel and as the ATEC’s inaugural First Nations Commissioner.

I am indebted to both Mary and Larissa for their work and their extraordinary vision.

The Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 has now been introduced to Parliament.

The Government will announce two interim Commissioners with ongoing support from Jobs and Skills Australia Commissioner Professor Barney Glover AO early next year.

Recruitment of the statutory ATEC Commissioners has commenced, with applications due on 29 January 2026.
 

Source: Australia Government Ministerial Statements

DAVID WOIWOD, CO-HOST: Good morning and welcome back. Well, a new Education Taskforce led by Jewish business leader David Gonski will aim to stamp out antisemitism in our nation’s kindergartens, childcare centres, schools and universities.

SALLY BOWREY, CO-HOST: It’s part of a wide-ranging response after the Bondi massacre almost a week ago and for more on this, this morning, we’re joined by Education Minister Jason Clare. Jason, thanks for your time this morning. You’ve been given 12 months to bring the states together on this. It’s right across universities, right down to preschools. What will this look like?

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Well, it’s about the whole education system. Preschools, as you say, schools, universities, but TAFEs and vocational education as well. The truth is, kids aren’t born racist, kids aren’t born antisemitic, they’re not born with hate in their heart. This is something that’s learnt, that’s taught, and there’s a lot of things that we need to do to tackle the poison of antisemitism. But the education system is one area where we can help. 

And so we announced a number of things this week around teacher training, extra resources for teachers. There’s terrific programs that run in our schools to tackle antisemitism at the moment. We’re going to expand those. But we also announced this week changes to the curriculum to teach children about the evils of antisemitism, about the horrors of the holocaust. That already happens, but we can do more of that, and teaching Australian children about Australian values, we can’t do enough of that. 

So, that’s our school system, but there’s more that we can do in our universities as well. So, whilst the Taskforce will go for 12 months, action doesn’t wait for 12 months. We want that teacher training to start when schools go back. We want laws in the Parliament to be able to give us the power to crack down on universities where they don’t act and to act as quick as we can.

WOIWOD: Jason, you speak of the poison of antisemitism. And we know that our Jewish community and our Jewish leaders have been saying this for some time, that it has been spreading and breeding, particularly in our tertiary institutions, our universities. Do you have evidence of that? Does the department have evidence of that? And how do you tackle that directly?

CLARE: Ask any Jewish Australian, ask any Jewish student who attends our universities and they’ll give you plenty of evidence of that. The truth is, Jewish students have been made to feel unwelcome in our university campuses and that is not on. 

I’ve said that to vice chancellors, I’ve told them to enforce their codes of conduct. I’ve told them to improve their complaint handling systems. One of the things that we don’t have at the moment is the right sort of penalties to enforce against universities where they don’t act and that’s what the legislation that I’ll introduce to Parliament is all about.

BOWREY: Can we just talk on Jewish public schools? They’re being deemed safe to reopen and operate as normal. But the reality is, outside of these schools, and this will continue and it has been there for a while, we’ve got, you know, CCTV on it, armed security guards. That’s what young children just to go to school are looking at as they walk in the gates. And obviously there’s a lot of focus on that, what happens outside of the gates to keep them safe. But really, the focus, as you’re saying, has to be what happens also inside the schools too. What’s the impact for this next generation, do you think, on the current state of things?

CLARE: Look, no child should have to walk through security guards to have to go to school or to preschool. But that is the horrible truth. And the life that a lot of Jewish Australian children face at the moment to keep themselves safe, that tells us something about the seriousness of what we’re all facing here as a nation. We’ve had childcare centres firebombed, being rebuilt in the eastern suburbs right now as well. That tells us there’s a lot of work to do. There are 15 people dead, there are people still in hospital, people still recovering here. What we need in this country is to come together. We need a bit of love, we need a little bit of compassion, we need a bit of common sense here. Our education system is the most powerful force for good. It’s not the only thing that we need to do here. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have guns. You’ve got to also get the poison out of people’s brains that cause them to pull the trigger. And I do believe that the education system can help here.

WOIWOD: I want to talk to about the kids that have been exposed to all of these horrific images all week. Now, a number of those schools, particularly in that Bondi area, they were closed. How does the Government – how does the Education Department now wrap their arms around those kids to help them through this traumatic period?

CLARE: On Sunday night last week, the first phone call I made was to the secretary of the NSW Department of Education to see what they could do. And within an hour of the massacre happening, they had already organised counselling services at the schools in the area, as well as static security there, which I was glad to hear. The universities in the area and across the city have also organised counselling services for students and for alumni. That’s just some of the sorts of things that the education system can and should do to help.

BOWREY: I mean, obviously, those schools have broken up for the year, so as they go into the new year, those teachers themselves too will need support. I’m assuming that the Government’s also looking at that because it’s a big burden on them to understand also how to help people as they navigate in the months to come.

CLARE: Exactly right. They live with that nightmare every single day. For all of us who are parents, we’re trying to explain what happened to our children. I know I have. For those of us who had friends on the beach that day who were holding children in their arms while they were being shot at, how do you – how do you recover from that? So, whether you were there that day and survived, or whether you’re a child in a school in Bondi, or whether you’re just a parent watching the TV now and trying to explain it to your little child, it’s going to take a long, long time for us to heal.

WOIWOD: Jason, we thank you for your time this morning.

CLARE: Thank you.

Source: Australia Government Ministerial Statements

LARA VELLA, HOST: Jewish leaders are strongly calling on the Victorian Government to prevent an anti-Zionism protest happening this Monday in Melbourne. Meanwhile, NSW police have issued a warning to those who plan to attend unauthorised gatherings this weekend in Sydney. Let’s bring in today’s talkers. We are joined this morning by Education Minister Jason Clare and journalist from the Australian Financial Review, Zoe Samios. Good morning to you both and thank you both for coming into the studio this morning. Minister, I’ll start with you. What’s the Government’s message to anyone planning to attend these potential rallies planned this weekend and the one on Monday?

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Don’t. It is unthinkable that these rallies or protests would happen full stop. 15 people are dead. There are still people in hospital, many more people that are injured. What we need in this country right now is, is love, not hate, not protest. The idea that we would have protests like this at this time is unthinkable.

VELLA: Zoe, the organisers of these events have been accused of exploiting grief to amplify hostilities. What’s your take on that?

ZOE SAMIOS, JOURNALIST: I think, to the Minister’s point, you know, this is not the time to be doing that. I guess you could make the argument that they’re exploiting grief or they’re just saying this is part of the national conversation, we should do something. It’s just not – this is not the time to be doing any of that. This is not the time to be inciting hate, to be talking about anything that distracts from the families that have lost – and friends of these people who have lost their lives in the last week. This is just – the prospect or the actual thought that anyone thinks this is a good time to do this is just unbelievable.

VELLA: Minister, I assume the government is working closely with authorities and intelligence services when it comes to any of these potential protests being planned. Will the response be swift to those who do attend?

CLARE: Well, I would hope that the Victorian Government will do everything in their power to make sure that this doesn’t happen. I’d also think, to Zoe’s point, any right-thinking Australian would know this is absolutely wrong and shouldn’t happen in the first place. So, I’m hoping that it just doesn’t happen. But as you would expect, the Federal Government, working with law enforcement authorities, state and federal, as well as security agencies, will do everything within their power.

VELLA: Well, also making news this morning, the Prime Minister we know has announced the biggest firearms buyback since the Port Arthur massacre. Minister, I know so many people are still questioning how someone who was on the radar of authorities had access to these firearms allegedly in the first place. Will these changes in bolstering these laws ensure that this doesn’t happen again?

CLARE: Well, I think we’ve got to do two things. The first is get guns out of people’s hands, but also get the poison of antisemitism out of their brain. That’s what pulled the trigger last weekend. And so the sort of reforms that the Prime Minister announced this week about hate preachers and about cancelling visas, but also the work in my area as education minister about changes we can make to the curriculum, powers that we can give to the university regulators about the work of universities is important long term reform as well as. 

But you’re right, you know, why does somebody in Bonnyrigg, half an hour west of where we are right now or a little bit more, have six shotguns? You know, the simple truth is anyone hearing that now would say “Why? How?”, that that is not right. 

I was surprised the other day when I heard that there are more weapons in Australia, more guns in Australia today than there were 30 years ago or so when the Port Arthur massacre occurred. One of the greatest things this nation ever did were the actions we took after the Port Arthur massacre to get rid of guns and buy back guns, make us safer. But last weekend reminds us that there’s more that has to be done here to reduce the number of guns in this country, and the buyback’s part of that.

VELLA: I think as you touched on there, this is just one piece of the puzzle. What do you say to those though, that argue that bolstering these gun laws really doesn’t tackle the issue at play here, which is the rise of hate speech?

CLARE: I agree. You’ve got to do both. You’ve got to do two things. You want to get the weapons out of their hands and you’ve got to get the poison out of their brain.

VELLA: Zoe, what’s your take on, on this scheme?

SAMIOS: Look, I think it’s important that we review it. It has been a long time since the Port Arthur massacre, so I think that’s important. But I’m probably in the boat of I don’t think this is going to solve what’s actually going on here. That being said, the Prime Minister has announced a raft of different things. Now we can debate about whether or not he should have announced them on Monday or he should have announced them, you know, later in the week like he did. But it’s got to be a combined effort. And I know people, you know, I have a lot of friends in regional Australia. A lot of farmers, they have gun licences. They’ve done – never done anything wrong. They’re locked up nice and safe. So, this shouldn’t be just a big, you know, reactive thing. We’ve got to be smart about it. I think it’s right that we’re, you know, at least looking at it and looking at what we can do and if we do end up getting a few guns back, then maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world. You know, it, you know, less guns, I think, is a good outcome overall.

VELLA: I know at the moment so many of us have a heavy heart, our hearts are aching, but it was so heartwarming to see those extraordinary scenes in Bondi yesterday. Hundreds, if not thousands of people paddling out to honour the victims lost in Sunday’s terror attack. Minister, I know you’re from Sydney. What do those scenes mean to you when you see something like that?

CLARE: That’s the best of Australia. Last Sunday, we saw two evil psychopathic terrorists commit the most evil act in the world in our beautiful city. But we also saw the – we saw real heroism. We saw people put their own lives in danger, put their own lives at risk to save others and what you see there in that footage are real Aussies and real love and affection, trying to bring our country together and start the healing. And there’s a lot of healing that needs to happen.

VELLA: Minister Jason Clare and journalist Zoe Samios, thank you so much for making time to come into the studio this morning. We appreciate it.

Source: Australia Government Ministerial Statements

We promised it and we have delivered it.

More than 3.2 million Australians have now had their student debt cut by 20 per cent.

In total, the Albanese Government has cut more than $16 billion in student debt.

The ATO has sent more than 2.8 million messages notifying people of their cut. 

There are some people who have had their debt cut but the ATO doesn’t have current contact details for. Those people can see their updated balance by logging in to MyGov. 

There are around another 34,000 people whose debts will be cut next week.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:

“A weight has been lifted off the backs of young Australians heading into Christmas this year.

“The average student debt was $27,600 and we’ve taken about $5,500 off that.

“We promised it, Australians voted for it and we have delivered it.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Skills and Training Andrew Giles: 

“Our Government’s 20 per cent cut to student debt is now a reality for millions of Australians – including around 300,000 students and apprentices from the VET sector. 

“Ralph, a nursing student from Canberra, is one of those to benefit. He told me his student debt cut will help him keep studying as he works towards becoming a registered nurse. 

“From student debt cuts to programs like Free TAFE and the Key Apprenticeship Program, we’re backing Australians to get the skills they want for the jobs we need.”

Quotes attributable to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino:

“For many young Australians, the text message from the Australian Tax Office telling them their student debt has been cut by 20% will be one of the most welcome.

“The Albanese Government policy, promised and delivered, will help students as they plan for their future.

“Less debt will give them a firmer foundation on which to build their lives.”