Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: AMP Limited

21 07 2025 – Media release

Retopia
New games capture distinctive stories, landscapes and communities from across the country
Screen Australia has today announced the latest games and gaming events to be supported through the agency’s industry-leading funding programs – providing $1.4 million for gamemakers to upskill and develop stand-out projects.
The funding supports 26 games including a hand-drawn puzzle game about a flooded village rebuilding after climate catastrophe, a point-and-click visual novel with small town mysteries to solve, and an action-adventure RPG (Role-Playing Game) about a brave native mouse. It also supports the Freeplay 2025 Events Series, solidifying the agency’s commitment to foster a sector that has both a robust sense of independence and a strong community focus.
In 2024-25, the agency invested $3 million into the tenacious local industry which included support for 49 games and 200 Australian gamemakers. Initiatives like the Future Leaders Delegation and support for ten Festivals and Events provided Australian independent gamemakers the opportunity to showcase over 270 games for national and international audiences.
Minister for the Arts Tony Burke said, “Digital Games are a billion dollar global industry and Australia’s sector is growing every year. This funding ensures that we’re backing home-grown talent in order to be at the top of the leader board.”
Screen Australia Head of Games Joey Egger said, “What struck me about these projects is the depth of talent and the distinctiveness of the content; the diversity of our culture, communities, landscapes and stories really shines through. We’re seeing games being developed all across the country including regional towns such as Wallabadah in New South Wales and Toongabbie in Victoria.”  
“It’s also incredibly exciting to see another round of projects transitioning from the Emerging Gamemakers Fund through to the Games Production Fund. It reinforces our unique position as an end-to-end avenue for Australian gamemakers to take their projects from concept to prototype, to production and then launch.”
The past 12 months have seen five games from the Emerging Gamemakers Fund progressing to the Games Production Fund: Monster Snap (WA), Rocketcard Defence (ACT), Wyrmspace Tactics (VIC) and L8R SK8R (QLD), as well as Management in Space (NSW).
Funded games include:

Ashes (VIC): For fans of graphic novels and interactive fiction, seasoned players and those new to games, comes adventure game Ashes. The creative team includes producer/developer Clea Frost, lead developer Nick Loki, 2D artists Phoenix Waddell and Jennifer Reuter and composer Trent Francis. It follows 16-year-old skater Azar Warren who, after witnessing a murder, takes refuge in a rural compound with her estranged grandfather.
Buru and The Old People (NSW): A narrative-driven adventure game set in a vibrant anthropomorphic world rich in Indigenous storytelling. Buru and The Old People is from creative director and recipient of the ‘Rising Star’ award at the 2024 Australian Game Developer Awards Benjamin Armstrong, producer Brooke Collard (Yokai), 2D artist Letoya Muraru, and composer Alexander Tulett.
Nothing To Do Summer Vacation – Part 1 (NT): A unique point and click visual novel game from lead programmer Adam Prenger and creative director Mel Stringer, an accomplished illustrator and comic artist making her exciting debut in games. In this game, Summer is bored out of her mind in the small town of Driftwood, until fresh mysteries come calling to be uncovered.
Penguin Colony (VIC): A stylish action-adventure game from producer Megan Faulkner, audio engineer David Mason and creative director Naphtali Faulkner, the developer behind the Independent Games Festival Grand Prize-winning Umurangi Generation. In Penguin Colony, players explore the depths of Antarctica at their own pace as different penguins – unravelling difficult truths along the way.
Retopia (NSW): From creative lead Jennyfer Ong, lead designer Nicholas King and lead producer James Lockrey, this cosy management game is the latest project from the Australian Game Developer Awards’ 2024 Studio of the Year, Chaos Theory Games. Retopia follows a cast of quirky robot companions as they restore life to a collapsed world by salvaging lost technology, rebuilding community, and nurturing a floating sanctuary in the sky. The game continues Chaos Theory’s tradition of values-driven development after the success of the award-winning Crab God.
Fern: Seed Guardian (WA): An action-adventure RPG from creative director Sophie Till and technical director Jamie Dougall. In a fantastical Australian bushland, a brave native mouse battles an encroaching, mysterious goo.  She must overcome not only this encroaching danger but also her deep fears, as the Goo uses them to manipulate her perception of reality.
Slumbering Woods (QLD): An evocative, hand-drawn puzzle adventure game with a unique crafting and building twist from creative director Svitlana Amelina, lead developer Oleg Chernyshenko and sound designer Jane Wei. In a world recovering from a long-past climate catastrophe, players help a flooded village thrive, rebuild and find their way home along the way. Slumbering Woods is financed with support from Screen Queensland’s Games Grants.

Additional projects supported through the Games Production Fund include Bravest Coconut (QLD), Mission Delta (VIC), Dungeon Breakers (NSW) and Rocketcard Defence (ACT).
Additional projects supported through the Emerging Gamemakers Fund include SCAV (VIC), Pixellated (VIC), Dead Zone Mycologist (VIC), Dicot (VIC), Ash and Earth: Wilderness Reclaimed (NSW), Spin Spirits (WA), Eclipsia (NSW), Untitled Cube Game (Working Title) (QLD), Stewards of Nu Juno (QLD), Displaced: Oath of Tomes (VIC),Kaiju Critters (QLD)and Trinket (NSW).
For the full list of funded gamemakers and projects supported throughout the 2024-25FY, please see the Games blocklines here.
Applications for the Emerging Gamemakers Fund and Games Production Fund are now open. For more information about Games funding at Screen Australia and to apply, click here.
For accompanying image assets, click here.
Ashes
Media enquiries
Jessica Parry | Senior Publicist (Mon, Tue, Thu)
+ 61 428 767 836  | [email protected]
All other general/non-media enquiries
Sydney + 61 2 8113 5800  |  Melbourne + 61 3 8682 1900 | [email protected]

Source: New places to play in Gungahlin

Taxpayers may be eligible for tax offsets depending on their individual circumstances. Tax offsets reduce the amount of tax people need to pay.

We’ve recently updated the remote zone tax offset web content to make it easier for you and your clients to understand the eligibility requirements.

Determining eligibility

Taxpayers are generally eligible for the remote zone tax offset when they have resided in a relevant area of Australia for more than 183 days during the financial year in which they are claiming the offset. That is, when their usual place of residence is within a remote zone.

The 183 days does not have to be a continuous period of residency but must be within one financial year unless certain circumstances apply.

Where your client hasn’t resided within a remote zone for 183 days during the income year, they may still be able to claim the offset if their usual place of residence was in a remote zone for a continuous period of less than 5 years, and:

• they were unable to claim in the first year because it was not their residence for 183 days or more
• the total of the days they resided there in the first year and the current income year is 183 days or more
• the period they resided in a zone in the current income year includes the first day of the income year.

Fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) and offshore oil or gas rig workers are generally not eligible to claim the zone tax offset, unless their usual place of residence is within a remote zone for the required number of days.

Temporarily working in a zone, staying at an employer’s camp or provided accommodation does not mean the worker resided in the zone where the worker’s usual place of residence is outside a zone.

Australian zone list

We have a non-exhaustive list of locations that are within a remote zone. There may be other eligible locations that are not included on the list but are geographically within a remote zone.

If your client resides at a location that is geographically within a remote zone, it does not need to be on the list in order to claim the offset.

Claiming the offset – address details

Before lodging your client’s income tax return, confirm if there have been any changes to their residential and postal addresses. It’s important to ensure your clients keep their ATO record up to date with their current phone number, postal, residential and email address details.

Source: New South Wales – News

About 12.50 am Monday 21 July Police and emergency services were called to a house at Pebble Court after reports of fire in the garage and house. Fortunately the occupants were not home at the time. MFS were quickly on scene and extinguished the blaze.

When police arrived, they saw a Subaru station wagon leaving the street. Police recognised the car as a stolen vehicle which had been stolen from a Mitchell Park home last week. Police attempted to stop the car, with the driver refusing to pull over.

The car was pursued by patrols along with the assistance from PolAir and Dog Operations Unit on South Road, along the Southern Expressway, through to the eastern suburbs before making its way to Two Wells where the tyres were successfully spiked by patrols at Port Wakefield Road and Mallala Road.

Six youths ran from the car and were arrested on Artisan Road with the assistance of PD Duke without incident.

The driver, a 17-year-old boy from Ottoway has been arrested for arson, illegal use, dangerous driving to escape pursuit

Four 15-year-old boys have been arrested for arson and illegal use.

One 16-year-old boy has been arrested for arson and illegal use.

All six will appear in the Youth Court later today.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Northern Territory Police are calling for information after a domestic violence incident that occurred in Angurugu this afternoon.

Around 12:05pm, the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received a report that an 18-year-old female had allegedly been stabbed in the head with a spear by a male known to her.

Police and local clinic staff attended and located the victim conscious, with the spear still embedded. The victim has since been conveyed to Royal Darwin Hospital via Care Flight in a serious but stable condition.

The alleged offender remains outstanding, and investigations are ongoing.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police on 131 444 and quote reference number P25193995. Anonymous reports can also be made through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via https://crimestoppersnt.com.au.

Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

Family rescued from Mount Field National Park

Sunday, 20 July 2025 – 1:24 pm.

Six people, including three children, have been safely retrieved from the Mount Field area this morning after being caught in heavy snow overnight.
The family raised the alarm with police shortly after 4.30pm on Saturday, after heavy snowfall meant they could no longer access the walking track.
Search Coordinator Callum Herbert said police were able to speak with the group briefly to provide advice.
“The walkers were advised to return to the nearby Newdegate Hut and await the rescue crew,” he said.
“Due to the extreme weather conditions, the helicopter wasn’t able to reach the area, so a search and rescue team of police and Ambulance Tasmania wilderness paramedics was sent in on foot.”
“The rescue team reached the walkers at the hut shortly before midnight, finding them all safe, but cold and wet.”
“Given their condition and the hazardous environment, including strong winds and nearly one foot of snow, we determined it was unsafe to walk them out during the night.”
“Medical assistance, food and sleeping bags were provided overnight to ensure everyone could remain safely sheltered.”
“The helicopter was sent in once conditions allowed this morning, and the group was safely returned to the visitor centre about 10.30am.”
“We are thankful the walkers were able to reach emergency services by phone yesterday, or the outcome could easily have been far worse.”
“The Tasmanian family had set off on a planned day walk, but the turn in weather conditions was significant, and the situation quickly became dangerous.”

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

NT Police are calling for information following a suspicious structure fire in Braitling on Saturday evening.

Around 6:45pm, the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received multiple reports of a unit on fire at a residential complex on Elliot Street.

Emergency services attended and NT Fire and Rescue Services extinguished the blaze, with a search of the premises confirming no one was inside at the time.

Initial investigations indicate the fire is suspicious, with two mattresses, one on the ground floor and another on the top floor, identified as the points of ignition.

A crime scene was declared, and investigations remain ongoing.

Police urge anyone who witnessed suspicious activity in the area, or who may have CCTV or dash cam footage around the time of the incident, to make contact on 131 444. Please quote reference number NTP2500073181.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

The Northern Territory Police Force are investigating after 7-year-old child died in Tiwi this afternoon.

Around 1:55pm, the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received a report that a 7-year-old female was struck by a falling palm tree at an address in Tiwi while playing in the yard.

Police and St John Ambulance attended the scene, and the victim was conveyed to Royal Darwin Hospital; however, she was pronounced deceased prior to arrival.

A 11-year-old male was struck also struck by the palm tree and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident is not believed to be suspicious.

Investigations are ongoing and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Northern Territory Police have arrested a 50-year-old female in relation to an aggravated assault that occurred in Palmerston on Friday evening.

Around 8:20pm, the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received reports that a man had allegedly been stabbed during a domestic violence disturbance at the Palmerston Bus Exchange.

Police and St John Ambulance attended the scene, where the male victim was located unconscious. He was conveyed to Palmerston Regional Hospital for treatment with non-life-threatening injuries.

A 50-year-old female was arrested at the scene and a crime scene was established. CCTV footage has been obtained, and investigations are ongoing.

Police urge anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that may assist, to contact 131 444. Please quote reference number P25192391. Anonymous reports can be made via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or through https://crimestoppersnt.com.au/.

Source:

Source: New places to play in Gungahlin