Category: MIL-OSI

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

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.”

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

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

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

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: New South Wales Health – State Government

NSW Health is warning the public of multiple high-dose MDMA (ecstasy) tablets in circulation in NSW, found to contain a higher dose than is usually expected.
The tablets were detected by the NSW Government’s Drug Checking service at Lost Paradise music festival on Monday 29 December and Tuesday 30 December on the Central Coast of NSW.  Images and more information are available at Public drug warnings.
NSW Poisons Information Centre, Acting Medical Director and Clinical Toxicologist Dr Angela Chiew said although detected on the Central Coast, it is important to know these tablets could be circulating anywhere in the state.
“We are urging the community to be extra cautious this New Years Eve and be aware that high dose MDMA is circulating in the community,” Dr Chiew said.
“MDMA can cause severe agitation, raised body temperature, seizures or fits, irregular heart rhythm and death.
“These risks are greatly increased if MDMA is used in combination with other stimulants, such as amphetamines or cocaine, or if high amounts are consumed over a short period of time.
“The amount of MDMA in a tablet or capsule can vary significantly, even within the same batch.”
Hot environments increase the risk of harm from MDMA. Taking a break from dancing, seeking shade and drinking water are important measures to reduce the risk of overheating.
“It is very important to remember if you or a friend has taken drugs and feel unwell, you won’t get into trouble for seeking medical care. If you or a friend feels unwell, please seek help immediately by calling Triple Zero (000),” Dr Chiew said.
For information about the potential adverse effects of MDMA, please contact the NSW Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26.
For support and information with alcohol, MDMA and other drugs, please contact the Alcohol and Drug Information Service on 1800 250 015. This is a 24/7 service offering confidential and anonymous telephone counselling and information.
NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA) also provides a range of harm minimisation resources and advice and can be reached on 1800 644 413.

Source: Tasmania Police

Somerset man on firearms, drugs charges

Wednesday, 31 December 2025 – 2:57 pm.

Police seized firearms and drugs, including a sawn-off rifle, a taser and zip-lock bags containing methylamphetamine, during a search of a property at Somerset on Tuesday.
Officers from Burnie Police, the Western Drugs and Firearms Unit, dog unit and specialist resources were involved in the search in the state’s North-West which resulted in the detection of firearms, ammunition, drugs and cash, and also some power tools believed to be stolen property.
A 37-year-old Somerset man has been charged with a range of offences and been detained for court.
Among the charges, police will allege the man was in possession of firearms which were unregistered, had been shortened, were not kept securely and that he was not licensed to possess.
If anyone has information regarding illicit firearms or drug activity, report to police on 131 444 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers Tasmania on 1800 333 000 or online at crimestopperstas.com.au

Source: Australian Capital Territory Policing

30/12/25

Source: Australian Capital Territory Policing

23/12/25