Category: MIL-OSI

In brief:

• The winners of the 2025 ACT Australian of the Year Awards have been announced.
• The four categories recognise people who go above and beyond for their communities.
• They are now finalists in the national awards, to be announced on 25 January 2025.

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The winners of the 2025 ACT Australian of the Year Awards have been announced.

They will join the other state and territory recipients as finalists for the national awards announcement on 25 January 2025.

Read on to find out more about the winners.

2025 ACT Australian of the Year recipient – Megan Gilmour

Social innovator Megan Gilmour wants to create a world where all children are seen and heard.

In Australia, 1.2 million children are at risk of missing school due to complex medical and mental health challenges.

Megan advocates for change in education systems for these vulnerable children.

She drew on her lived experience to co-found MissingSchool. The organisation develops school solutions that help students continue learning alongside their peers.

MissingSchool launched the world’s first national telepresence service, allowing children in hospital or at home to join lessons in real time.

It has restored school connections for some 6,900 students since 2018.

2025 ACT Senior Australian of The Year recipients – Marilyn and Peter Ralston OAM

Peter and Marilyn Ralston support people with vision impairment or other disabilities to run, walk and be active.

They began Achilles Running Club Canberra in 2013. Peter is President of the club.

Through Achilles Canberra, volunteer guides team up with people with disability. Together, they join fun runs, club training and the weekly Parkrun.

In the past three years, Peter has guided blind athletes 120 times at Parkrun. Achilles Canberra has enabled several blind members to each achieve hundreds of Parkruns.

Peter and Marilyn also serve the community through other charity work.

2025 ACT Young Australian of the Year recipient – Daniel Bartholomaeus

Daniel Bartholomaeus is an artist and neurodiversity advocate.

Daniel, who has autism and ADHD, inspires and motivates others. This is especially the case within the neurodiverse community.

He not only uses his art to express himself, but also to forge common pathways for people with mental ill-health and those of different abilities.

His art and lived experience help bridge the gap between neurotypical and neurodiverse people.

Daniel is a mentor with The With Friends Initiative, a social group for neurodivergent young people.

2025 ACT Local Hero recipients – Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello

Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello use hospitality to empower vulnerable women.

Their business, Cafe Stepping Stone, operates as a social enterprise. It employs women who experience significant barriers to employment. These women are mostly from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

The café’s two locations offer culturally and linguistically diverse women employment pathways, on-the-job training and qualifications. These help them enter or return to the workforce.

Hannah and Vanessa’s inclusive employment practices assist female workers who:

• are the sole income earners in their household
• are new arrivals to Australia
• have limited English or minimal employment history
• are experiencing homelessness.

Find out more about the awards and other ACT nominees on the Australian of the Year website.

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In brief:

• The ACT Government’s Strong Foundations program is in Phase 1 of implementation.
• There is extra funding for early years classroom resources in all ACT P-2 classrooms.
• Resources will support evidence-informed literacy and numeracy education.

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The ACT Government’s new Strong Foundations program is in Phase 1 of implementation.

This week all ACT public schools with preschool to year 2 students will receive a grant.

This extra funding will support them to buy additional evidence-informed literacy and numeracy resources for early years students.

These resources will be in place for preschool to year 2 classrooms for the start of the 2025 school year.

System-approved resources

The teaching materials and equipment will include decodable readers and maths resources.

Resources will support both students and teachers.

Teachers will be trained on how to use these resources in the classroom.

Setting kids up for success

High-quality teaching in the early years helps prepare students for long-term success at school.

These additional resources will enhance and improve early years education in ACT public schools.

It will also give parents more confidence their school is sufficiently resourced to provide evidence-informed literacy and numeracy education.

These resources come in addition to the rollout of the Year 1 Phonics Check across ACT public schools in 2025.

Read the Strong Foundations Phase 1 Implementation Plan.

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In brief:

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• There is an option for families, mountain biking, road biking, people new to cycling, and nature lovers.

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For families: Lake Tuggeranong District Park

For mountain biking: University of Canberra Stromlo Forest Park

For road biking: Lake Burley Griffin Eastern loop

For newbies: Lake Burley Griffin Central loop

For nature lovers: the Canberra Centenary Trail

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In brief:

• A Justice of the Peace (JP) certifies documents for members of the public.
• Damiano Costa has been a JP for more than 50 years.
• This article shares some of Damiano’s experience as JP and provides more information about finding a JP.

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Most Canberrans will seek the services of a JP, or Justice of the Peace, when they need a document certified. But what is actually involved in being a JP?

A JP is authorised to:

• administer oaths and affirmations
• witness statutory declarations and affidavits
• witness signatures
• attest and certify documents.

They’re the people who can certify your passport documents or witness your signature. They might do this in their home, on a weekend or after hours, but they’re not paid for this.

An office of the JP is an honorary role. This means they can’t charge fees or accept payment for their services . Before providing JP services to the ACT community, an individual must:

• complete the required training
• make a successful application to the Attorney-General
• attend a swearing-in ceremony.

Damiano’s story

Damiano Costa has been a JP since 1967. At the time, he was working for the Department of Immigration, who were then responsible for issuing passports.

“Five hundred people were employed in the public service in Immigration at the time and I was the only person speaking Italian,” Damiano said.

For the Italians who migrated to Australia after the war, the services of someone like Damiano were critical.

“Also, when we created the Italian Club in Forrest, people needed documents certified for various reasons, and they also needed interpreting and translation,” he said.

“I decided to become a JP to make it easier for myself, because we were limited to where JPs were available and there were not very many at that time.”

Becoming a Justice of the Peace meant Damiano was able to help other members of the Italian community in Canberra. He recalls people from Cooma and Goulburn coming to Canberra to have documents translated and certified.

Over the years, he has helped many Italians with passport applications, bank loans, and speeding fines. He’s also helped them transfer their Italian pensions to Australia, an important responsibility that has since been transferred to the Italian Embassy.

How JPs work

Part of the responsibility is being available to perform the role at all reasonable times, including after hours and on weekends.

Some JPs perform their duties from their homes, but others meet people in mutually convenient locations. JP services are also available at public locations such as:

* shopping centres

* public libraries

* police stations.

Damiano has made visits to nursing homes to perform duties for older people who are unable to travel to him.

Looking for a JP?

JPs are available at a range of public locations. Often no appointments are necessary, however you may have to wait. You can also search the online JP Register to find a JP near you.

Find a Justice of the Peace.

Learn more about what a Justice of the Peace does.

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In brief:

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Bombay Duck, Greenway

XinFuTang Canberra, Canberra City

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Canberrans are great recyclers, but sometimes people mistake items as recyclable when they’re not.

Things you can put in your recycling (yellow) bin include:

• aluminium and steel cans
• glass bottles and jars
• paper and cardboard
• plastic bottles and containers.

However, plenty of other items turn up in yellow bins across the ACT every day. These include everything from coffee cups to clothing and computers to cat poo.

While some of these things can be recycled, your yellow bin is not the place for them. Visit the A to Z guide of waste and recycling to find out what to do with them.

Here are some items Canberrans commonly try to recycle through their yellow bin.

Bagged recycling

Plastic bags cannot go in your recycling bin. If you put items in your yellow bin inside a plastic bag, the whole bag will go to landfill. Waste sorting facilities will not open the bag as there may be other contamination inside.

Don’t let the bag cancel out what’s inside. Simply place recyclable items – loose and empty – into your recycling bin and reuse your bags another way.

Soft plastics

Soft plastics include things like chip and lolly packets and bread bags. Like plastic bags, these can’t go in your recycling bin.

The general rule is that if you can scrunch it up, it can’t go in your recycling bin. Put it in your landfill (red) bin instead.

Even though items like milk bottles and berry punnets may feel a bit soft, these are still considered hard plastics and can go in your household recycling.

Takeaway coffee cups

There is a lot of confusion around these. While many takeaway coffee cups are made from cardboard, they cannot go in recycling bins. This is due to the type of materials they’re made from, including the plastic coating often found on the inside.

You should also put the disposable lids in your landfill bin as they cannot be recycled either.

Timber

Timber can be reused but not via your household recycling bin.

You can dispose of reusable timber by dropping it off for free at second-hand locations like Goodies Junction. If the timber is valuable, you could try a local ‘buy nothing’ group or consider contacting places like Thor’s Hammer or ACT Recycling.

Textiles

These include clothing, blankets, sheets, towels and fabrics.

These items can also be recycled but your recycling bin is not the place for them.

You can try giving them another home by:

• passing them on to a friend
• selling or giving them away online
• donating them to a charity
• dropping them off for free at Goodies Junction at either Mitchell or Mugga Lane.

Batteries and eWaste

It’s imperative batteries and eWaste are disposed of correctly. These items can cause fires and should not go in any of your household bins.

You can drop off batteries for free at over 50 locations across Canberra. These include most supermarkets and hardware stores.

Both eWaste and batteries can be disposed of for free at a resource management centre – either at Mitchell or Mugga Lane.

Animal waste

While this one may seem obvious, animal waste is not recyclable and must not go in household recycling bins. Animal waste should only be placed in landfill bins.

If you’re ever unsure about what can and cannot be recycled, check out the A to Z guide to waste and recycling.

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If you ever have to call an ambulance, chances are you’ve found yourself in a bit of a stressful situation. Your head is probably racing with thoughts, your heart pumping, and possibly your body is shaking. When someone answers the phone, your words may spill out in a tangle, as you desperately try and get someone to help.

For the person on the other end of the phone, each call is also a pressured step into the unknown.

Connor is an emergency communications officer in the ACT Ambulance Service communication centre. Straight out of school, he started his career in the communication centre for the ACT Police, and worked there for five years. For the last three years, he’s worked in the ambulance call centre – his role including everything from taking emergency triple zero calls to ambulance enquiries and patients’ transport bookings.

He says working in the emergency call centre is, “like what you see on TV”, but despite almost a decade working in the field, “you can’t prepare yourself for the intensity or the unknown when you answer the phone”.

Emergency call takers manage emergency calls from start to finish, following a script of questions that help triage the resources required for a job. Call takers are supported by the ambulance dispatchers and paramedic clinicians, who also sit in the call centre, and the three work together to provide the relevant advice or send the appropriate care.

“We have a series of questions that we need to ask to arrange the best help for you. But some people don’t like the questions. [They ask] ‘where’s my ambulance? Why are you taking so long? Why are you asking me all these stupid questions? Why aren’t you focusing everything on me and helping me’?” says Connor.

“We reassure people our questions aren’t going to delay any help we’re going to organise for them, but they don’t like it sometimes.”

That can sometimes lead to verbal abuse, with the callers taking their stress and frustrations out on the call taker. Connor has had callers get so irate they not only threaten him, but threaten to also track down and harm his family.

“It’s tough. It’s not the standard that you want to listen to. It’s not nice being yelled and screamed at,” he says.

“[For the caller], it’s the worst point in their life at that time, hence why they call an ambulance, but at the same time, I don’t deserve to cop that.”

After difficult calls, staff are encouraged to step away from the phone and take some time either by themselves or with a team member to debrief. They also have a peer support network who are available to support staff after difficult phone calls, plus an Employee Assistance Program.

Despite the occasional abusive call, Connor loves his job. He loves knowing he’s helping people, and he finds the shift work suits his family – he and his wife have three kids – plus he loves the camaraderie of the team.

“You get close with your team, and they’re like your second family,” he says.

He said it’s a role that could suit anyone – they have staff ranging from those straight out of school to people from other industries including childcare and hospitality. And by the time you’re working independently in the role, you feel fully confident. Everyone gets a full six weeks of training, followed by eight weeks working on the phones where you’re supported one-on-one by a mentor – Connor is currently mentoring a new staff member – before you’re signed off as an independent call taker.

If you feel you’re in urgent need of medical attention, Connor always encourages people to call for an ambulance. But also remember that the service is there to help people in genuine emergencies. If you’re experiencing a non-urgent medical situation, there are other medical services that can help, such as your GP, or Canberra’s walk-in centres. If you do need to go to the hospital but have someone who can safely transport you there, that can also be a good option.

“We treat everyone, no matter who you are. We’ll give you the best advice that we can at the time,” says Connor.

“There is a misconception that if you go in an ambulance you get seen quicker, but you don’t. Whether you go to hospital yourself or via an ambulance, the triage system once you get to hospital is exactly the same.”

And if you find yourself in a position where you are calling an ambulance, don’t forget that the person on the other end is trying to help you.

“They don’t understand that we might have just got off a CPR call, or we might have just dealt with a child having a seizure or febrile convulsions, and we’ve just hung up that phone,” he says.

“We’re humans on the other side of the phone.”

* For personal privacy, surnames of interviewees have been removed.

Find out more about how you can help make ACT Government workplaces safe for everyone.

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In brief:

• The ACT Government has awarded $200,000 in funding through the Companion Animal Care Grants Program.
• The funding will support community groups in Canberra who improve animal welfare.
• This story lists the groups who have recieved grants, and what the funding will be used for.

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