Category: MIL-OSI

Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

Challenging weather impacting Mt Field search efforts

Sunday, 19 October 2025 – 12:20 pm.

The search for missing bushwalker, Daryl Fong has continued this weekend despite challenging weather conditions.
30-year-old Daryl was on a day hike in the Mt Field area last weekend, and his last contact with anyone was about 3am on Sunday (15 October) when he indicated he had become delayed and was planning to seek shelter overnight.
Since that time Daryl has not been seen or heard from, and the personal located beacon he is believed to have been carrying has not been activated.
Search and rescue operations on Saturday included deploying a police vertical rescue team into Tarn Shelf via helicopter.
Specialist search equipment has also been utilised, but efforts today are being hampered by the dangerous weather conditions, including waist-deep snow, poor visibility, and damaging winds.
Search personnel remain committed to finding Daryl but with the passing of time and the conditions in the area, serious concerns are held for his welfare.
Anyone who has been in the Mt Field National Park area and seen Daryl or anything they believe could relate to him, is asked to contact Bridgewater Police on 131 444 and quote ESCAD 000225-13102025.

Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

Public Warning Announcement – Tasmania Police

Sunday, 19 October 2025 – 11:35 am.

Due to today’s severe weather conditions, Tasmania Police urges the public to reconsider any non-essential outdoor activities, especially those involving watercraft or remote areas.
These sorts of weather conditions impact our ability to conduct search and rescue response, with high winds preventing helicopter operations.
Please reconsider any high-risk activities, including boating or hiking, and make choices that prioritise your safety and the safety of others.
Stay informed, stay safe, and help emergency services by making responsible choices.

Source:

An initiative driven by brigades is boosting the firefighter ranks in an innovative way.  

If community members who live in Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) response areas apply to become CFA firefighters, they are normally rejected – it would be impossible for them to turn out fast enough given the distance to their nearest CFA station.

Rowville Fire Brigade members had the clever idea that they could recruit these people as seasonal firefighters who would turn out specifically to fight grass and bushfires as part of a strike team, support VICSES in storm and flood response, and carry out planned burns as members of the Planned Burn Taskforce. These activities don’t usually need as fast a response.

New seasonal firefighters are activated in the lead-up to summer to complete all the Chief Officer’s minimum requirements and participate in brigade training. They are deactivated at the end of summer if they choose to, however the current crop of seasonal firefighters typically stays on during winter to participate in all brigade activities.

When qualified, they are encouraged to join strike teams where they will be paired up with an experienced firefighter. 

District 13 held an information session at Rowville Fire Station on a winter’s evening to encourage a group of young people to join either Rowville or Boronia brigades as seasonal firefighters. These potential firefighters live in an FRV response area of Melbourne.

The session was run by Commander Richard Hill, Rowville Fire Brigade Captain Cien Pereira and Boronia Fire Brigade Captain Ramon Relph. 

“What we really need are strike teams,” Ramon said. “They are our bread and butter.” 

Ramon, who’s a strike team leader, said being part of strike teams leads to strong friendships and life-long memories. They are also a crucial part of CFA’s response.  

“Being on a strike team is rewarding. A pre-planned strike team that’s in position before a fire hits can save a whole town.” Richard said. 

The Knox Group in District 13, which currently has 20 seasonal firefighters, has seen the benefits of this program.
“I would like the seasonal firefighter initiative to be adopted across all of metro Melbourne,” Richard said. “Why would we ignore people who live in metro Melbourne? They can get to a CFA station fairly quickly. 

“People in metro Melbourne care about people in regional and rural Victoria and want to help.” 

Two current seasonal firefighters attended the session to answer any questions. Wes Armstead and John Anastasoglou qualified as seasonal firefighters in October 2023. 

Wes hasn’t been part of a strike team yet, but he has gained valuable experience with the Planned Burn Taskforce.  

“When the 2019 Mallacoota fire happened, I watched the news and saw that people had lost everything. It was devastating,” Wes said. “Seeing American firefighters in Melbourne helping us inspired me to join CFA.”  

He has carried out planned burns in Belgrave, Olinda and around the Rowville Lakes golf course. He also checked the safety at a Knox Council fireworks display. 

“I really like planned burns and helping local brigades. It’s good experience to light a fire and then put it out.” 

“After I freshly graduated with a degree in environmental science, I knew that I wanted to help mitigate the effects of climate change,” John said. “I’m pursuing a career in bushfire management and have also decided to become a firefighter.” 

John joined a strike team to help fight the 2024 Beaufort bushfire and he was also part of an SES Taskforce in Frankston to clean up fallen branches after a storm. 

“I would like to progress to be a crew leader, develop as a CFA leader and use my knowledge from university,” John said. 

As a result of the evening information session, Boronia and Rowville brigades each gained four firefighters.

Submitted by	News and Media

Source: Mental Health Australia

One of the icons of Sydney Harbour, the Freshwater-class ferry Narrabeen is coming back into service today following a life-enhancing refurbishment.

The Narrabeen re-enters service on the F1 Circular Quay – Manly route ahead of what is expected to be a record summer on the Harbour for ferry patronage.

A restoration and refurbishment has given the classic Manly ferry a new lease of life that will see it operate for another five years before its next major docking.

The Narrabeen can carry up to 900 passengers per trip and its return will allow the Freshwater to enter dry dock at Garden Island for repairs to continue the renewal of the Freshwater-class vessels.

Read the full media release here (PDF, 86.23 KB).

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

NT Police are calling for information in relation to a large disturbance that occurred in Parap yesterday afternoon.

Around 1:45pm, the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre (JESCC) received a report that two security guards had been assaulted by a group of up to 20 people in Summerville Park, Parap. It is alleged some members of the group were armed with bottles and sticks.

Police attended and two adult males were arrested but subsequently released pending further investigation.

Both security guards were injured, with one suffering suspected fractures. They were conveyed to Royal Darwin Hospital by St John Ambulance for treatment.

Anyone with information, or who witnessed the incident, is urged to contact police on 131 444. Please quote reference P25279927. Anonymous reports can be made through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via https://crimestoppersnt.com.au/.

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

ANDREW CLENNELL: Well, joining me live from Sydney is Education Minister Jason Clare. Jason Clare might start with you on this Barnaby Joyce defection.

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Good morning, mate.

CLENNELL: What would you think of him running for One Nation or even leading One Nation?

CLARE: Oh, let’s wait and see. You know, if Barnaby’s retiring, can I wish him well and his family well. Politics is a tough old business and we’ve seen that. Barnaby and I have known each other for a very, very long time. We consider each other mates. Thank God there were no iPhones in the early 2000s, otherwise there’d be some pretty shocking footage of the two of us singing karaoke together. But if he’s retiring, let me wish him well. Obviously, not just the National Party, but the Liberal Party too, are in a world of pain here at the moment. They need to work out whether they want to be Howard or Hanson. They’ll eventually work this out. They always do. The job of the Labor Party, the job of the Government is to ignore all of this and just focus on our job of governing Australia and making decisions in the national interest. 

CLENNELL: Do you think it’s a tenable situation for Barnaby Joyce to stay in the National’s party room while he’s flirting with going to One Nation?

CLARE: Mate, that’s not a question for me. That’s a question for David and for Barnaby. They’ll make those decisions. My job, our job, is to focus on Australians and do our job. Make the decisions like the ones that I’ve announced just in the last 24 hours or so in education that are focused on Australian parents and Australian children.

CLENNELL: I’ll get to them Jason Clare, but I need to ask you about this White House visit of the Prime Minister first. It’s been a while coming. How are you expecting it to go?

CLARE: I think it’ll go very well. I think it’ll be a very positive meeting. You know, the fact is, Australia and America have been great mates for a very long time. Through thick and thin, we’ve worked together and fought together, what, more than 100 years? And the relationship between our two countries is built on shared values, common interests. Different presidents and Prime Ministers of different political parties have worked together over a long, long period of time. I don’t think this will be any different. You’ll have a bird’s eye view of it, mate. I think you’re on the plane with the PM today. You’ll be in the room where it all happens. But I’m very confident that this will be a good meeting.

CLENNELL: What can you tell us about the critical minerals deal Australia is looking to strike with the US.

CLARE: Not much, I don’t know much about it. Even if I did, I probably couldn’t tell you. But as you know, they’re called critical minerals for a reason. They’re the sorts of things, along with rare earths that you need for everything from a mobile phone to an electric car or for military weapons, for defence equipment. These are important. It’s why the world wants them and we’ve got them. We want to work with likeminded countries around the world to help to extract them and refine them and process them. I think Don was on the show last week and he was talking about the work that we’re doing with the EU on that and the work he’s doing with the US. We want to work closely with the US on this.

CLENNELL: You do have an interest as Education Minister with the trading relationship with China, however. Do you think any such agreement could endanger that relationship?

CLARE: I don’t think so. You know, we’re in favour of free and fair trade. China is our biggest trading partner. The US is our greatest and most important ally. A big part of our responsibility as a mature government is to work with both nations in Australia’s interest.

CLENNELL: What should Australians think about the Government handing over $1 billion here and there for the AUKUS agreement?

CLARE: Well, this is again in Australia’s interest, national security, the security of the nation. There’s nothing more important than that. But AUKUS is a deal which is not just in Australia’s interest, it’s in America’s interest as well. It’s in the interest of the Poms. That’s why in the review that the UK government did, they reached the conclusion that it was in their interests and I’m pretty confident that the US will find the same. Three nations working together on national security, I think is in the interest of all of us.

CLENNELL: Donald Trump does have a crack at Anthony Albanese here. Is it a problem for the PM or perhaps not? Given the attitude to Mr Trump from some parts of the Australian electorate.

CLARE: I doubt that’s a problem. I think most Australians understand the importance of the relationship between America and Australia, our most important ally. America and Australia aren’t the same. We’re not the same countries. We’ve got different views on different things. Medicare, gun laws are good examples of that. But we’ve got more in common than we have that separates us or divides us. We’re two countries based on the same essential values, the same focus on liberal democracy, the same interests in the world. And it’s those sorts of values and those sorts of interests that will drive the conversation and the relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese.

CLENNELL: I see your former boss from a way back, Bob Carr, suggested Anthony Albanese should suck up to Donald Trump. Do you think that’s good advice?

CLARE: It’s not about that. It’s about having a mature, professional relationship, working on areas where you can agree. And there is so much where Australia and America can work together.

CLENNELL: I wanted to ask now about the superannuation tax back down by Jim Chalmers during the week being made to push it out when the PM was on leave. It’s a bit humiliating for the Treasurer, isn’t it?

CLARE: No, this is really about making the superannuation system, universal superannuation, something the Labor Party is incredibly proud to have created, making that system better and fairer than it is today. This decision means that I think about 1.3 million Aussies will retire with more super because of this decision than they otherwise would. And a couple of thousand Australians that are sitting on a mountain of money, more than $10 million in their super, will have their concessions reduced a bit. So, more Aussies retiring with more and it’s better for the budget. I think it’s a good policy outcome.

CLENNELL: Now, you’ve announced a number of measures out of the Education Ministers meeting, as you alluded to. One of them is to address bullying and a suggestion teachers have to act on it within 48 hours. How is that going to be enforced? How do you intend to make a real difference to bullying there?

CLARE: Well, the key here is what different state governments around the country do to help us to implement this. They run the schools, they employ the teachers. But what parents are telling us is the faster you act, the better. If you can act in the first one or two days after a complaint’s made, then you can nip this in the bud and you can really make a difference. You know, just to, I guess, give people watching a bit of perspective. Somebody said to me the other day, look, shouldn’t kids just harden up a little bit? Take a spoonful of cement. I’ve got to tell you, mate, bullying today isn’t what it was when we were at school in the 80s or the 70s, or the 90s. It’s different today. And that’s partly because of the Internet. It’s not just people yelling at each other in the playground or stealing lunch money. It’s what people are writing and saying and posting online, day or night. Everybody can see it. And artificial intelligence makes this even worse. It supercharges all of this. We’ve seen that with people cutting and pasting faces, putting it on naked bodies and then sending that round to kids at school. And on Friday, I learned – I didn’t know this before, but it terrifies me. We heard that artificial intelligence or AI chatbots are now bullying kids as well, telling them they’re losers, telling them to kill themselves. There’s been examples overseas of kids killing themselves because of this. So, this is no longer just kids bullying kids, this is AI bullying kids. And we’re seeing in the most heartbreaking, awful, terrifying circumstances, kids taking their own lives. So, if we can act earlier, that will help. If we can give better tools for teachers, that’ll help as well. But I’m not naive to think that you can end this entirely. There’s always been bullies, there always will be, there’ll always be bullying in schools, and it’s happening outside of schools as well. But schools are places where we can take some action and that’s what this is about.

CLENNELL: What forums are these occurring in, the so-called AI bullying? Is it the social media apps that you’re looking to ban under 16s on, or is it through messaging services as well, which you’re not banning?

CLARE: Yeah, it’s – so, it’s both. The two big ones at the moment are TikTok and Snapchat. The eSafety Commissioner briefed us on this on Friday when Education Ministers met. She said they’re the two big ones where a lot of online bullying is happening at the moment. And so the action that we’re taking that starts on 10th December will help a lot of young people there. But it’s not just there, it’s on messaging services as well. It’s on those AI chatbots that I described as well. So, the action that we’re taking to delay people who are under the age of 16 accessing social media until they’re a bit older is going to help here. But it’s not the only thing that we need to do. And that’s why, based on the evidence, we’re saying that if schools act earlier, then there’s more that we can do to help young people that are impacted by this. It affects not just their mental health, but it can also affect how they’re going at school. If you’re being bullied at school, you’re more likely to fall behind at school and you’re also more likely not to turn up to school at all.

CLENNELL: What impacts do you think the social media ban will have for kids who are now between 12 and 16 and use the apps? Does the government have any strategies for how to wean teenagers off this addiction and replace it with activities? Or is it all down to parents to deal with?

CLARE: No, it’s not down to parents at all. I’m one of those parents. My big guy’s a little bit younger than that. But I get how difficult this is for parents right now. The acid needs to be put on the companies, not parents. Parents are grappling with this right now with young people on social media. The tech companies know who is using, who are using their platforms. They are able to assure themselves of their age and they can take action to deactivate those accounts. Look, again, mate, I’m not naive. There’s always going to be young people who get around this. There’s young people who drink grog today who are under the age of 18, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have laws that say that you can’t sell alcohol to people under the age of 18. And the same will be the case here. There’ll be young people that’ll attempt to get around it. 

CLENNELL: Sure.

CLARE: But instead of putting the pressure on – 

CLENNELL: I guess my question, Jason Clare is, does the Government have any advice once it implements the ban, to parents of this aged teenager, on how to communicate it and cop any backlash in relation to it?

CLARE: Yeah, yeah, it’s a good question. If you’re a mum and a dad, a mum or a dad, you’re going to be wanting that sort of information. And Anika Wells and the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, are producing and preparing materials along with the advertising campaign which I think kicks off this weekend to support mums and dads, but not just parents, schools as well. And they provided us with some of the material they’re going to be providing to principals and teachers over the next few weeks. Because this is a big change. It’s huge. And it’s really going to impact, in particular, the young people you spoke about who are under 16 and are using social media at the moment will see the impact not just at home, but will see it in our schools as well. But I think if you ask most people, they’ll say, look, this is in the public interest, this is going to help our young people. And I also think if you ask people who are 16 and 17, maybe, rather than people who are 14 and 15 today, they’ll say this is a good thing, too. That the algorithms that social media use now are more aggressive and more sophisticated today than they were even a couple of years ago. And it can just suck kids into a hole that they can’t get out of, doom scrolling for hours, just keep feeding them the same information and it’s not helping our kids, that’s for sure. That’s why I suspect Australia won’t be the only country that does this.

CLENNELL: A recent report had more than half of the students, more than 50 per cent of the students of Sydney University, one of the most prestigious sandstone universities in Australia, being international students. How is this acceptable? What are you going to do about it?

CLARE: Well, international education is important for Australia. It helps, it provides investment in Australia, money to Australian businesses. It’s also valuable because if international students come to Australia and fall in love with Australia, they’ll take that love for Australia back home with them. And in the world we live in, that’s important. But there’s nothing more important for Australian universities than educating Australians. That’s why we’ve made it very clear that we’ve got to set international student numbers at sustainable levels. We reduced them last year. We want to make sure that growth is done in a managed way, and you can see that through the allocations that we made this week, which are focused at regional universities. We don’t want it just to be the big universities that benefit from international students, but smaller regional universities that benefit as well.

CLENNELL: Are you going to bring down that number? Is it your intention for Sydney University to have more than 50 per cent of students being local students?

CLARE: Well, it should be more than 50 per cent of students at universities being local students. It’s one of the reasons why we didn’t allocate more international student numbers to Sydney University. But it’s also because we’ve said to universities, if you want additional international students allocated to your universities, then we need to see evidence of two things. One, that you’re building more housing because we need more housing. But two, that you’re diversifying so that international students aren’t just coming from one country, but they’re coming from a number of different countries around the world. In particular Southeast Asia, which is where Australia is doing a lot of work to build strong relationships. You mentioned the trip that the Prime Minister is making to the United States, but shortly thereafter he’ll be at the ASEAN meeting in Malaysia and the APEC meeting. The work that Australia does with our Asian neighbours is critical here, and the work that we do in international education to make sure that students are coming from a number of different countries is very important as well.

CLENNELL: Just finally and briefly, you’ve now got Julian Leeser as your Opposition opponent. He looks like he’s going to concentrate on the issue of anti-Semitism on campuses. Are you planning more measures to address that?

CLARE: Well, can I just say, I’ve got a lot of respect for Julian Leeser. We’ve worked together in different areas on different things and he’s a fine parliamentarian. Likewise, Jonathan Duniam, who was in the portfolio briefly before Julian, and I think Jono’s on the program next, is a great human being, a very smart person who lent his intellect to this portfolio area. So, I’m looking forward to working with Julian. The fact is anti-Semitism is a poison. And we’ve seen plenty of evidence of that – in the lifetime of our grandparents we’ve seen what it can do – but only in the last few weeks in the UK. I’ve made it very, very clear to Vice-Chancellors that their top priority must be to implement their codes of conduct to make sure that students are safe. But not only that, I’ve made the decision and had the Parliament agree to establish a National Student Ombudsman. So, there is a proper independent complaint system when the system lets them down. And in addition to that, I formed the view that the tertiary education regulator, TEQSA, doesn’t have the powers that it needs to be able to act where universities aren’t acting in the public good. And that’s why there’s work going on right now on the tools that TEQSA needs to be able to act here and elsewhere, where university governance isn’t up to scratch. At the moment they basically have a sledgehammer in one hand, they can shut a university down, or a feather where they can tell them that they’re not doing the right thing. They need better tools here to be able to act. And I’m hoping that I’ll be able to bring forward legislation to improve and strengthen the powers of the tertiary education regulator next year.

CLENNELL: Jason Clare, thanks so much for your time. 

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

The Northern Territory Police Force has arrested four adult offenders in relation to a disturbance that occurred in Nightcliff yesterday morning.

Around 8:25am, the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre (JESCC) received a report that a security guard was being assaulted by four offenders in a supermarket carpark on Dick Ward Drive.

Two 34-year-old females, a 56-year-old male and a 58-year-old male had allegedly become involved in an altercation with a male cleaner inside the premises.

When a male security guard attempted to move the group away from the area, the female offenders allegedly attempted to punch him, before one of the females and the 56-year-old male produced large sticks from a bag and assaulted him with them. The two other offenders allegedly physically assaulted the security guard and threw objects at him.

With the assistance of the cleaner, he was able to move the offenders away from the premises, during which the cleaner was allegedly pushed and shoved.

Casuarina police attended and all four offenders were arrested.

They were charged with offences including Assault a Worker, Armed with an Offensive Weapon, and Engage in Violent Conduct. They were all bailed to appear in the Darwin Local Court on 4 November.

Neither victim suffered injuries during the incident.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police on 131 444. Please quote reference P25279724. Anonymous reports can be made through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via https://crimestoppersnt.com.au/.

Source: Mental Health Australia

A surge in bicycle traffic across Sydney Harbour is expected in coming months, with the Harbour Bridge cycleway ramp build entering the home stretch to completion.

The 170-metre ramp to the Bridge cycleway will significantly improve bike access, ending the challenge faced by cyclists who have for five decades pushed their bikes up 55-steps to make it to the cycle path which links Milsons Point to Millers Point.

A ramp will open up the Harbour crossing to many more people, including older cyclists and those with heavier e-bikes who currently struggle to get them up the stairs.

Read the full media release here. (PDF, 104.46 KB)

Source: Mental Health Australia

The Transport Management Centre (TMC) has reopened after a $10 million transformation to boost its capability to manage traffic flow and incident response.

The most significant upgrade to the TMC since it opened in 1999 ahead of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the ten-month project means the Eveleigh facility is now a future-proofed hub designed to keep NSW moving.

When it opened, the TMC managed around 70 incidents a day. Now, 26 years later, it handles upwards of 700, coordinating rapid response across roads, the transport network, using traffic lights, a network of cameras, variable message signs, traffic response crews and tow trucks. It also coordinates replacement services and major events transport.

Read the full media release here (PDF, 161 KB).

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Well, thanks very much for coming to Bankstown this morning. Yesterday Education Ministers met in Queensland. We focused on a lot of really important issues. This gives me a bit of an opportunity to give you a bit of a briefing on the things we discussed and the decisions we made. 

First and foremost, we were briefed on the childcare safety reforms that we announced in August of this year and advised that those reforms are on track. That includes the rollout of the CCTV trial in the next few weeks, also the testing work in December on the new Educator Register, as well as the development of mandatory early educator training that will roll out in February next year. 

We also focussed on the next stage of reforms to school education. This year we signed agreements with every State and Territory to fix the funding of our schools and to tie that to real and practical reforms in the classrooms. 

But yesterday we focussed on the next stage of reforms, and that includes a decision yesterday in principle to establish a new Australian Teaching and Learning Commission. That’s a body that would bring under one roof the work of ACARA, that focuses on curriculum, and on NAPLAN the, testing program at the moment, but also AITSL, that are responsible for teacher standards, as well as AERO, that independent important body responsible for expert evidence about what works in the classroom. And ESA, that’s responsible for the tools and technology that we apply in the classroom. 

We agreed that if we get the design of this right, it will be bigger and better than the sum of its parts, help us to implement the big reforms that we’re all committed to to lift standards right across the country, and help to ensure that more young people finish high school. And not just that, potentially this is a body that can help us to implement the reforms we need in our universities, the initial teacher education degree, the degree that you do if you want to become a schoolteacher, and we’re making significant reforms to that degree. This new body can help us in the implementation of that as well. 

Yesterday we also agreed to make some keyhole surgery to the curriculum, starting with maths, and starting with the first three years of maths, from kindergarten to prep to Year 1 and Year 2. 

Getting maths right is critical, having a basic grasp on maths is really important for work and for life and for setting you up for the future, and it’s important that we get the curriculum right and get the materials for teachers right so they teach it in the right order. 

Maths is really sequential. You’ve got to learn it in the right order, and if you don’t understand the basics, the fundamentals, then you get lost, and you can’t catch up, and teachers and principals have told us that the current curriculum is a bit too complex, others have told us they need more tools to help them to teach it in the right order. 

And so on the advice of ACARA, we’ve made the decision yesterday to ask them to scope out a review of that curriculum and to come back to us with a plan about how to do it when we next meet in February. 

Yesterday we also looked at the next step of reform in higher education, and we were briefed by Melinda Cilento, the Chair of the Expert Council on University Governance, and today we’re releasing the report of that Expert Council on University Governance. 

I think anybody that’s looked at this will know that university governance at the moment is not up to scratch. If you don’t think it’s up to scratch you’ve been living under a rock the last few years. And what this report does is set out some principles that all universities should meet, and if they can’t meet them they’ve got to explain why not. And we will, as an Australian Government, implement those principles in law and require universities to report to the Tertiary Education Regulator every year on “an if not why not” basis. If you’re not implementing them, then why not? 

We also are making reforms in law to improve the accountability and the transparency of our universities, to help make sure basically that they meet the sort of expectations that the community expects, that students expect, that the staff who work at our universities expect. 

And yesterday we also made the decision that we will get the Remuneration Tribunal to work with us to set a framework for the salaries of university Vice-Chancellors. 

Now that’s before we get to the important issue of bullying in our schools, and the social media changes for under-16-year-olds that come into place in just a couple of weeks’ time. 

Yesterday we were briefed by Anika Wells, the Communications Minister, and Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner on the work that they are doing to prepare the country for those changes that will come into effect on the 10th of December. 

They also briefed us on some materials that they’re going to provide teachers and schools to help them with the implementation of this report, because inevitably, the impact of these changes is going to be felt in our schools as well. 

We made a very important decision yesterday around bullying in our schools. I think this is something that mums and dads across the country all worry about. It’s getting worse, not better. It’s different than it was when we were kids, when we were at school. Now a lot of it happens online. What Anika and Julie were telling us yesterday is that most of the bullying’s happening through TikTok and Snapchat, so the changes we’re making to social media will help; getting kids off TikTok and Snapchat will help, but it’s not the only place where kids are bullied day and night. You know, we heard about message apps and messaging services that can be used as means to humiliate and hurt other children. 

We heard – I heard for the first time yesterday the impact that AI chatbots are having in this area as well. I don’t know if you guys have heard this before, I haven’t, that AI chat bots are now bullying kids, it’s not kids bullying kids, it’s AI bullying kids; humiliating them, hurting them, telling them they’re losers, telling them to kill themselves. 

I can’t think of anything more terrifying than that, than AI telling kids to kill themselves; we’ve heard stories overseas of kids doing that. That’s what we’re up against. That’s why I say this is getting harder and harder, AI is supercharging this problem. 

I’m not naive enough to think that you can end bullying. There’s always been bullies, there will always be bullying. And now it’s just not happening in the playground, it’s not push and shove in the ground or stealing lunch money, it’s so much more insidious than that, and it happens day and night, and everybody can see it. 

It helps explain why some children, heartbreakingly, are taking their own lives because of it. That’s why we’ve got to take it so seriously. 

Parents told us that the key thing we can do is get their schools to act more quickly. That in too many cases it’s taking too long to act, and that if you take action within the first 48 hours, then it can help to nip this in the bud. And that means digging into the situation, talking to the kids, finding out what happened and taking action to stop it, but also talking to the parents of the kids, the mums and dads, whose child is the victim of this, but also the mums and dads of who’s the alleged bully. 

What we also heard from the review is that we’ve got to provide teachers are more tools to help them to manage this and tackle this, and tools for mums and dads too. 

There’s a lot of great programs out there at the moment, a lot of great policies in our schools that are being implemented at the moment. Ministers agreed yesterday we’ve got to put them all in the one place online so schools can access them and decide what works for them. 

But we also agreed that mums and dads need a bit of help too. And so we’ve agreed that we’re going to use $5 million to develop some resources for them too; basic information to tell mums and dads, if the school tells you that your son or daughter’s being bullied, here’s some things that will help you. And if the school rings you and tells that your son or daughter is the bully, that they’re the one that’s alleged to have done these awful things, here’s some things to help you, so you can help your son or daughter to change their behaviour to make our kids safer, and our schools safer. 

So really important discussions and decisions by Education Ministers yesterday. We agreed to get our departments to develop an implementation plan of how we do all of this, and I’ll report back as to when we meet again next, in February next year. 

Happy to take some questions. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, I was just speaking to Kelly O’Brien, the mother of a child that has passed away. She thanks you personally for the work that you’ve done. Do you have a message for her, and secondly, it might seem obvious, but why is that 48 hours so important? 

CLARE: There’s nothing I can say that’s going to fill the hole in Kelly’s heart or Mat’s heart, they lost the most important thing in their life, their little girl, their precious little girl. You know that hurt it was so big, and it hurt so much that she made that tragic decision to take her own life, and you can’t bring her back. 

What we can do is to still listen to her and what she said to us. She asked us to act. She asked the kids to be upstanders, not bystanders, to look after each other, to help each other. And it’s not just Kelly and Mat, it’s other mums and dads who’ve told us the sooner we act the better. 

So this is not about punishing schools or calling schools out, it’s about saying here’s the standard. If we do this, then we can really make a difference and we can help children like Charlotte. 

JOURNALIST: A lot of this strategy is predicated on children being safe and comfortable enough to file a report. What’s the strategy for helping many of the kids who are too ashamed or too afraid to report these incidents? 

CLARE: Yeah. You’re right, we need children to feel confident enough and safe enough to say to their teacher, to say to their principal, “This terrible thing has happened to me, and I need you to take action”. I see it in our schools all the time, I see from the little fella behind the TV cameras making a noise at the moment, but I do think that our schools are doing a better job than they did when we were kids. 

Our kids today know the word “bullying”, and they know the values of their school and how, if something’s wrong, they should walk away or they should go see the principal or go see the teacher and call it out. 

I think things have improved in that regard over the last 20 years. What’s harder today, what’s worse today is the technology that makes it so much easier to hurt people. Young people ‑ older people do this too ‑ there are some things that you wouldn’t say face-to-face to somebody, whether it’s in the playground or at work that you’ll say to somebody anonymously online designed to hurt them or humiliate them, and it’s not just you seeing it, it’s the whole world seeing it, and that’s what makes this so much more insidious today than when we were kids. 

There’s a lot more work that we’ve got to do here. First, we’ve got to call it out, then we’ve got to develop a plan for how we implement it, and then the hard work begins about helping to make sure that it’s not just some schools that meet that standard but all schools. 

JOURNALIST: I won’t jump ahead [indistinct] but you talked about the hard work of how we [indistinct] so how do we enforce something like this? 

CLARE: Look, it’s not about enforcement so much, it’s not about punishing schools, it’s about recognising best practice and encouraging all schools to meet it. I’m very conscious as the Australian Education Minister that I don’t run schools, I don’t employ teachers. This is only going to work if all schools and all school systems think this is the right thing to do and it will work. So ‑‑ 

JOURNALIST: If I can, what’s the incentive then?

CLARE: I’ll tell you what the incentive is: looking after our kids. Everybody that becomes a teacher wants our children to be safe, to be happy, to learn and to thrive. We know that the sort of bullying I’m talking about, whether it’s in the playground or online, hurts our kids, and it can lead to really serious mental health challenges. 

Now that in turn can lead to children falling behind at school, their academic results suffer, it can also lead to children not turning up to school at all, and in the most awful situations it can lead to children taking their own life. That’s the incentive to act, for all good people to act. 

I got the impression yesterday that every Minister and every Director-General of every department gets this and wants to act. The evidence tells us that ‑ we’re releasing the report today, have a good look at it – the evidence tells us, the earlier you act the better. 

In too many tragic examples that I’ve seen, schools took two or three or four weeks to act. If we take initial action in the first two days, chances are we can nip this in the bud and help to save young lives. 

JOURNALIST: I appreciate the good faith effort here that’s being undertaken, and in theory I understand the system. You just mentioned that teachers are an important part of the system. Teachers are also telling us that they’re incredibly strained and that we’re adding to their workload, with a tipping point, counting down 48 hours to file reports for each of these many incidents. Aren’t we over-straining – aren’t we overworking teachers, and the fact that they are being strained as a resource, doesn’t that risk the system’s value? 

CLARE: This is not about adding workload to teachers. I get it more than anybody how overworked our teachers are. This idea that teachers start at nine o’clock in the morning and finish at three is rubbish. Any mum and dad knows that, as Minister, I know that too. I also know that bullying’s happening right now in our schools, and it’s impacting our schools. It makes it harder for teachers, it has a real impact on the kids and on the teachers too, and if we act early and nip it in the bud, that’s going to help our teachers. 

The teachers have told us flat out, “We need better tools, we need more support, can you build this into our professional development”, so, for example, on the student days off, for example last Monday here in New South Wales, so the pupil-free days when teachers get together and do their professional development, build that into the training we get there. Put all the best practice on a one-stop-shop website that you can look at and use, but also for people who are at university now training to be a teacher, one of the things we talked about yesterday was building it into the degree. 

We’re changing the degree so it’s more focussed on teaching children how to read and write and to manage disruption in the classroom. But we also agreed yesterday that as serious as this is, it demands being of part the curriculum in our university degree as well. 

JOURNALIST: Can I quickly ask about the AI threats, that’s ‑ I’ve never heard that before, that’s quite shocking. How do you manage something like that, where it’s not even a person, it’s AI? 

CLARE: Yeah. Glad you said that ’cause I hadn’t heard that either, and my jaw dropped when I heard this yesterday, the eSafety Commissioner briefed us on this, and of all of the terrifying things I’ve heard in this area, this is the worst. The idea that it can be an app that’s telling you to kill yourself, and that children have done this overseas terrifies me. 

And I know in Australia we’re lucky to have an eSafety Commissioner who’s taking the action that she is to try to stop and eliminate these sorts of threats. It doesn’t exist in other parts of the world, but the planet’s getting smaller, an app that’s developed on the other side of the world can hurt a child here in Australia, and that’s why we’ve got to take this seriously. 

JOURNALIST: While we’re on the subject of AI, the ABC reported yesterday, and this is not the first incident that this new form of bullying is occurring, where there’s students uploading photos of female students into AI, declothing and sharing, which seems to be a new front in this bullying kind of issue. How are we preparing to deal with new forms of bullying that we don’t actually know yet? How are we creating a proactive approach to this? 

CLARE: Yeah. You’re talking about these Nudify apps, where a student will crop the face of one of their friends —

JOURNALIST: That’s correct. 

CLARE: — or one of their teachers, superimpose it on a naked body, and then send that to the world. Can you think of anything more humiliating and hurtful than that; can you imagine the impact that that’s having on young women across the country? It leads to some young female teachers quitting the job that they love. 

New South Wales has taken some action in terms of legislation there. The Communications Minister has flagged work that she is doing in this area too so that we stop these Nudify apps getting on to the app store in the first place. There’s more work that we need to do there. 

What Anika told us yesterday and what Julie Inman Grant told us is that this is a dynamic area, this is changing all the time. It’s one of the reasons why the social media reforms are dynamic, the type of platforms that are going to be the subject of the legislation will change based on what they do. 

But likewise here, we need an eSafety Commissioner that can pounce on new things that are hurting our children. That’s what she’s doing here. The job will never ever finish, because there will always be people coming up with some app or some piece of technology which they think is fun, but hurts our kids. 

JOURNALIST: In the New South Wales example that I referred to, it wasn’t a victim, but one of the male students who had received these images who reported the incident. It makes me wonder, under this new national strategy, what work is being done so that other witnesses report the incident, kind of taking care of the burden away from the victim. Has that been addressed in the strategy? 

CLARE: That will be something that we’ll look at in the context of the implementation. I talked about upstanders, people who are prepared to stand up, not walk past the problem. It sounds like from what you’ve just told me that’s a good example of that, where someone has seen something that’s hurt their friend and they’ve reported it. 

That helps to take the pressure off the victim to be the person to say, “Something terrible’s happened to me”, somebody else stands up, and is a good person, and says “This has happened, can you please make sure that it’s taken down”, that it’s taken off the Internet, or that action is taken by a school to help out. 

If we leave this just to children who’ve been bullied themselves, then we’re not going to be as successful as we need to be. We’ve got to look out for each other, more now than ever. 

JOURNALIST: Yeah. This is from Tim Lester at the Seven parli office.  

CLARE: I know Tim. 

JOURNALIST: I know you know Tim well. He says, Barnaby Joyce is widely reported to be considering One Nation, a strong Opposition is important to our system. Does the fracturing on the other side of politics worry you? 

CLARE: Look, I try not to get distracted by this. What’s going on in Barnaby’s mind or Pauline’s mind is a matter for them. If they want to get together, really, that’s up to them. But the Opposition’s in a world of pain at the moment, they’ve got to decide whether they want to be Howard or Hanson, that’s the bottom line. 

I figure they’ll eventually work it out, they’ll eventually get their act together, but I’m not getting distracted by this. The Albanese Government’s not getting distracted by any of this. We’re focussed on the Australian people in doing our job. What I’m talking about today, all of the things that we agreed to yesterday I think is evidence that we’re focussed on the Australian people, not this sort of rubbish. 

JOURNALIST: That’s all of my questions. 

CLARE: Okay. Thanks guys, I appreciate it. 

JOURNALIST: Thank you.