Source: New South Wales – News
The number of lives lost on South Australia Roads has been revised following an investigation into the death of a man at Angle Vale.
The death of the 67-year-old man involved in the crash on 29 July will not be counted in the number of lives lost on SA roads.
The number of lives lost stands at 47.
Source: New South Wales Community and Justice
Three people charged in relation to aggravated evade at Sorell
Thursday, 7 August 2025 – 1:27 pm.
Police have charged three people in relation to an aggravated evade in the Sorell area yesterday.
Police will allege that about 9.15am, a silver/grey Mitsubishi Triton single cab utility (registration L47DB) was stolen from Nubeena.
This vehicle was allegedly seen travelling with a silver/grey Mazda 3 hatch (registration B33UI) and was involved in an aggravated evade through Dunalley, Bream Creek and into the Sorell area.
Police located the Mazda 3 which allegedly contained a large amount of suspected stolen property. Three people were arrested at the scene.
A 26-year-old woman from George Town has been charged with 2x motor vehicle stealing, 1x stealing, and other traffic offences. She was detained to appear in court today.
A 23-year-old man with no fixed address has been charged with 1x burglary, 2x aggravated burglary, 3x motor vehicle stealing, 11x stealing, 1x evade police with aggravated circumstances and other driving offences. He was detained to appear in court today.
A 26-year-old man from Hillwood has been charged with 2x motor vehicle stealing, 1x evade police with aggravated circumstances, 1x negligent driving and other driving offences. He was bailed to appear in court at a later date.
Police investigations are ongoing to locate the stolen Mitsubishi.
Anyone with information in relation to the location of the stolen Mitsubishi, or dash cam or vision of either vehicle yesterday, is asked to come forward.
Information can be provided to South East CIB on 131 444 – quote OR781774.
Information can also be provided anonymously to Crime Stoppers Tasmania at crimestopperstas.com.au or on 1800 333 000.
Source:
Having departed on Monday, 14 July to Manitoba, Ian has drawn on his experience as a Forest Industry Brigades Coordinator to perform the role of Operations Section Chief.
Fire activity remains rife in Thompson, in a region where four active areas of fire are impacting the community, with warm, windy and dry conditions set to intensify fire behaviour for days.
For Ian, each morning starts with an Incident Management Team meeting to review the previous 24 hours of fire activity, before heading to the airport to work alongside the Air Operations and Divisional Commander.
“Post-briefing I usually conduct a helicopter reconnaissance flight over the fire areas to pinpoint priority zones and to plan the crews’ next day of assignments,” Ian said.
“My primary responsibility is to identify key areas of concern and coordinate crew deployments and water bombers as needed.
“We have five Quebecois, four Mexican and two local firefighting crews all working on the Mystery Lake fire. It remains our top priority as it still poses a threat to the city of Thompson.”
Now well entrenched in the operations, Ian has observed how Canadian fire suppression strategies differ significantly to Australia, largely due to the water sources available.
“Their primary approach involves aerial bucketing from helicopters to cool down fire activity before ground crews are deployed to the fire line,” Ian said.
“Unlike us, they don’t use tankers or slip-on units. They rely entirely on portable pumps and extensive hose lays to tackle the fire edge, as well as dozer lines when the terrain allows for it.
“Crews are inserted directly onto the fire line via helicopter and then set up camp onsite. Once a helipad is established, supplies are then airlifted to them.
“They typically remain on the fire line for 24 consecutive days, followed by four days of rest. Every seven days they are rotated out briefly overnight for a shower and laundry.”
Ian has gained deeper insights into hose lay techniques and how they could be effectively applied in Australia, especially in culturally sensitive or remote areas.
“The success of hose lay operations depends heavily on having a reliable water source, and Canada’s abundant water resources contrast sharply with Australia’s scarcity,” Ian said.
“We’d need to truck in substantial amounts of water to make this method viable.
“In Canada, fires burn through neat forests with poplar canopy trees. Although the surface can be damp, the elevated fuel load is what sustains the fire and allows the spread along the treetops.
“They also use a ranking system to assess fire intensity, from Rank 1 for low, up to Rank 6 for extreme, adding another layer to understanding and predicting fire dynamics on the ground.”
While Ian earned a three-day rest break, he reflects fondly on the fishing trip the local fire chief treated them to at Paint Lake where they spent an afternoon cooking and reeling in pickerel.
“We took some time to explore the island and were lucky enough to spot a bald eagle and come across some fresh moose tracks. The local community was incredibly welcoming,” Ian said.
“I’ve really valued the opportunity to work alongside fire agencies from around the globe and learn from their diverse experiences and how they tailor efforts to their unique terrains.
“The Mexican crews have added an extra layer of entertaining camaraderie by trying to teach me Spanish. It’s given me insight into their impressive endurance and skill as firefighters.
“Collaborating with the Canadian teams has been nothing short of rewarding. Their knowledge and practical approach to suppression tactics have taught me a great deal about what methods are truly effective in the field—and which ones aren’t.”
Ian will return home on Saturday, 16 August with a wealth of knowledge heading into the Victorian fire season.
| Submitted by | CFA media |
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Source: New places to play in Gungahlin
All public and private ancillary funds must lodge an annual information return.
If your ancillary fund isn’t endorsed as a registered charity, it isn’t exempt from income tax. Additionally, you may also need to lodge an income tax return.
For 2016 and subsequent years, ancillary funds that are registered charities must lodge their annual information return by completing the online Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission’s (ACNC) Annual Information StatementExternal Link – which contains additional questions specific to ancillary funds.
Ancillary funds that aren’t registered as charities with the ACNC must continue to lodge a paper Ancillary fund return with us.
The Ancillary fund return form and its instructions for current and previous income years can be found on our Forms and instructions and Ancillary fund return and instructions 202This link will download a fil5.
You are required to lodge an Ancillary fund return either by:
If your ancillary fund has to complete an ACNC’s annual information, the lodgment date for the ancillary fund return is the same lodgment date as the information statement.
An ancillary fund may apply to us to reduce its minimum annual distribution.
Requests to reduce the minimum distribution rate for a financial year will only be considered, if your fund has met all its annual lodgment obligations.
We’ll write to you to let you know the outcome of your application. If your application is refused, we’ll provide you with a clear explanation of our decision.
If you’re dissatisfied with our decision, you can lodge an objection.
For further information you can access Application to reduce the minimum ancillary fund distribution rate.
Source: New places to play in Gungahlin
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If you follow our information and it turns out to be incorrect, or it is misleading and you make a mistake as a result, we will take that into account when determining what action, if any, we should take.
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Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry
Today we have released three issues papers ahead of the Albanese Government’s Economic Reform Roundtable from 19–21 August.
The Roundtable is all about building consensus around reforms, the issues papers do the problem definition.
The issues papers released today cover each of the three themes of the Economic Reform Roundtable – resilience, productivity, and budget sustainability and tax reform.
They define the issues, set out recent trends and outline the big challenges and opportunities we are confronting.
They are deliberately flat and factual, and the issues are already well known and broadly understood, but we are circulating them so we can spend time at the Roundtable on specific ideas not just problem identification.
We’ve released these papers with plenty of time to give participants the opportunity to engage with these issues in detail and build consensus before the Roundtable where possible.
To view the issues papers, visit the Treasury website.
Source:
The fire was sparked by embers from a fire pit.
The alarm woke the resident shortly after 2am on Friday 25 July, giving him enough time to escape through the front door as flames engulfed the property’s rear deck, second storey, and roof space.
CFA crews were called to the property alongside Fire Rescue Victoria to find the rear of the home fully alight, with flames climbing from the ground-level into the second storey.
Drysdale Fire Brigade Captain Brendan Macdonald, who was incident controller, said the resident was only able to escape because of his working smoke alarm.
“When we arrived, the whole rear of the home was alight. The resident’s bedroom was on the upper level, directly above the fire,” Brenan said.
“The fire was silent, and by the time he woke up the house was already full of smoke.”
“He told us the smoke alarm absolutely saved his life.”
Brendan said the fire started after embers from a fire pit ignited decking at the rear of the house.
“The occupant thought the fire pit was fully extinguished when he went inside. However, a breeze reignited the embers, which in turn ignited the deck.
“It’s a stark reminder to fully extinguish any fire pit or campfire with water, never just leave it to burn down. Coals can stay hot for hours,” he said.
Crews were able to stop the fire spreading to neighbouring properties, thanks largely to unincumbered access to a hydrant.
“This fire had the potential to spread, but quick action and access to hydrants helped us stop it,” Brendan said.
He added that the incident serves as a strong reminder that simple safety steps can save lives.
“Thankfully in this instance the occupant escaped with the most important thing, his life,” Brendan said.
“But it shows how vital it is to have a working smoke alarm.
“Smoke alarms save lives.”
| Submitted by | CFA Media |
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Source: Australia’s climate in 2024: 2nd warmest and 8th wettest year on record
The Albanese Government is today making a further humanitarian contribution in response to the catastrophe in Gaza.
Australia will provide an additional $20 million to support organisations with the scale and capacity to respond quickly to deliver food, medical supplies for field hospitals and other lifesaving support to women and children in Gaza, following the announcement of new humanitarian corridors.
The Australian Government has now committed more than $130 million in humanitarian assistance to help civilians in Gaza and Lebanon since 7 October 2023.
As with all our humanitarian assistance to Gaza, we’re delivering our aid with key partners, including close coordination with the United Kingdom and humanitarian organisations.
The Australian Government’s new package of support includes:
This funding supports the efforts of our international partners in addressing the most urgent need of innocent civilians in Gaza.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Penny Wong:
“Australia has consistently been part of the international call on Israel to allow a full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza, in line with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice.
“The suffering and starvation of civilians in Gaza must end.
“Australia will continue to work with the international community to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and a two-state solution – the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.”
Quotes attributable to International Development Minister Dr Anne Aly MP:
“We’re working with partners to deliver immediate and sustained life-saving assistance to the people of Gaza. They must be allowed to do their vital work and deliver aid at scale.
“Australia’s additional funding will bolster international efforts to address urgent needs in Gaza. It will provide urgently needed food and healthcare.
“We continue to call on Israel to allow immediate and unimpeded aid access into Gaza.”
Source: New South Wales Community and Justice
Search for missing light plane enters sixth day
Thursday, 7 August 2025 – 9:47 am.
The search for a missing light plane and the two people on board is resuming for a sixth day, with a Tasmania Police helicopter crew today conducting searches off the north coast of Tasmania.
Pol Air has been operating along the coastline from Bridport to Turners Beach earlier this week but there has been no sign of the light sport plane that was reported missing on Saturday evening.
Marine resources have not been deployed since Tuesday due to a combination of challenging conditions and no new specific search areas being identified.
Ongoing search operations will be assessed later today.
The two people on board the plane have been identified as Gregory Vaughan, 72, and his partner, Kim Worner, 66, both of Deloraine.
The plane is a Bristell S-LSA, a two-seat single engine aircraft which is a distinctive bright green.
It left George Town airport about 12.45pm on Saturday but failed to arrive at its destination at Hillston, central NSW.
Tasmania Police has previously said there had been no contact with the couple, or their plane, after leaving George Town.
This matter is now part of an active investigation, and no further comment will be provided on specific details.
Updates on the search operation will be provided when new information comes to light.
If anyone has knowledge of the plane’s movements, or information that can assist the investigation, they should contact Tasmania Police on 131 444.
Anyone who sees anything unusual on Tasmania’s northern coastline or in Bass Strait, such as debris on land or water, is urged to contact police.
Source: Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions
ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE DIGITAL ECONOMY DR ANDREW CHARLTON: Terrific. Well, welcome everybody. It is terrific to be here with Minister Wells. Thank you, Ellie and the team at NBN for hosting us. Thanks to the folks from Amazon for being here for this game changing announcement.
As the Assistant Minister for the Digital Economy, I know that digital connectivity is the foundation of our economic growth and our productivity into the future. And the biggest opportunity we have to lift our national productivity is to lift up those areas of our nation that have been left behind.
Too many Australians in regional, rural and remote Australia have been living without fast and reliable broadband for too long and this has been holding back the businesses, the students and the communities in those areas of our country.
For today’s historic announcement between NBN Co and Amazon, changes that reality for hundreds of thousands of Australians. It will provide city quality, fast, reliable broadband in regional areas of Australia.
And that fast, reliable broadband is the driver that will enable new businesses, support the curiosity and learning of students, enable communities to connect and grow our economy in those regional areas and make them full participants in Australia’s future digital economy.
So, thank you very much to all everyone who’s been involved in this announcement, and I’ll hand over to Minister Wells.
MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS ANIKA WELLS: Thank you, Andrew. Thank you to Ellie Sweeney and to Amazon’s Lisa Scalpone for coming all the way to Sydney for this big announcement.
This beautiful country that we call home is intangibly unique. Australia is the world’s largest island, and it is the sixth biggest country on the earth.
Yet this vast nation holds just three-and-a-half people per square kilometre, one of the lowest population densities in the world. This combination ensures that connection is an evergreen challenge for us. From Broome to Bendigo, from the Pilbara to Palm Island, Australians yearn and deserve to be connected. And today we reach another major milestone on our mission for no one to be left behind.
Today we can announce that NBN has reached agreement with Amazon’s Project Kuiper to bring city quality broadband to remote Australia. The agreement will deliver high-speed broadband to regional, rural and remote Australia via low earth orbit satellite technology, 600 kilometres above our heads. Being more connected means Australians living anywhere will be better off, whether that is working from home, managing a regional business, accessing telehealth, video conferencing or online learning.
It will also help regional Australians to stay informed during natural disasters.
And speed matters – independent Accenture research shows a higher capacity, lower latency NBN network will boost GDP by about $400 billion by 2030.
Whether you live in the city or on the outskirts of town, or kilometres from your nearest neighbour, our government’s mission is for homes and businesses to access fast and reliable broadband, either through fibre, fixed wireless or from next year, low earth orbit satellite technology.
The Albanese Government knows that technological transitions can create uncertainty. That’s why I have asked the NBN to consult closely with regional communities as it transitions customers from Sky Muster satellites to the new LEO satellites. Project Kuiper is a game changing announcement that will help Australia to retain its uniqueness whilst ensuring that no one is left behind.
And now I’d like to hand over to Ellie Sweeney, CEO of NBN Co, who will take you through that technology and the agreement in detail.
NBN CO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ELLIE SWEENEY: Thank you, Minister. Hi, good morning everybody, it’s great to have people in the room and also I know we’ve got a number of people online. So look, thank you Minister Wells and Minister Charlton. It is an absolute honour for us to have you both here today in our Discovery Centre for what is not only an important announcement, it’s an important moment in NBN’s history.
I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to Lisa Scalpone. Lisa has just come in from Chicago. She is the head of worldwide consumer at Amazon Project Kuiper and she is, as I’ve just mentioned, she’s based in Colorado in the US.
I am delighted to also welcome Kristy Sparrow. Kristy is over here and Kristy, who may be known to some of you, is the co-founder for Better Internet for Regional, Rural and Remote Australia. And she’s travelled more than 1500 kilometres to be here with us from Alpha in Queensland, Australia. And I think again, Kristy very kindly is going to be available to talk with you after the proceedings today. Kristy is also a passionate advocate for regional telecommunications and she knows first-hand the benefit of low latency fast broadband for the bush.
At NBN our story is one of national purpose and of nation building, and it is centred around a commitment to developing or delivering rather the digital infrastructure that supports how Australians live, how we work and how we connect. And that’s not just for today, it’s into the future.
So, whether you live in Sydney or on the edge of a regional town, whether you live on a remote cattle station, every Australian deserves secure, resilient, fast and affordable broadband. Which is why today’s announcement, which I’m so pleased again to make alongside Minister Wells and Minister Charlton and our partners at Amazon Kuiper, is such a significant step forward in delivering that ambition.
This announcement means that more than 300,000 homes and businesses become eligible within our geostationary satellite footprint, become eligible to upgrade to NBN’s residential grade LEO satellite services delivering high speed and low latency broadband connectivity.
Our two geostationary satellites exist today, so those Sky Muster satellites have served remote Australia, we think with distinction over the last decade, but times change and technology evolves and Project Kuiper is one of the finest examples we think of where what’s possible, where innovation meets that ambition.
We hear a lot about a data drought in the bush, but here at NBN we have a goal to make buffering in the bush a thing of the past. With full fibre in many areas already today, upgraded fixed wireless in others and now LEO satellites, we’re committed to making an end to that data drought. Upgrading from our geostationary satellites and offering a LEO satellite broadband backed by Project Kuiper continues our NBN journey of connecting people and powering progress and that’s in regional, remote and rural Australia. So today marks the first step in this exciting new chapter we think for rural and remote connectivity. We always knew that our Sky Muster satellites would reach their end of life in the early 2030s and we’ve been planning to ensure that we have the right technology in place well beyond well before rather our existing satellite fleet is retired. So now that the agreement with Amazon’s Project Kuiper is signed, our focus shifts immediately to comprehensive consultation.
And over the coming months, we’ll be working closely with internet providers, with regulators, with regional stakeholders and community groups to shape the product offerings. And that’s from our speed tiers and our wholesale pricing and also that upgrade process for our existing customers.
So while LEO services won’t be online for a little time yet, this consultation we believe is absolutely essential to ensure that the final product reflects the needs of the people and the communities who are going to rely on most.
We will be working closely with our participating retailers to ensure and prioritise a smooth upgrade and an orderly upgrade of those existing customers on Sky Muster. So today, I want to be very clear for our current Sky Muster customers, there is no immediate change. Sky Muster will continue to remain in service during this transition from Geo to LEO, and we’re going to keep our customers informed every step of the way.
So in conclusion, we at NBN are so proud of what Sky Muster has delivered for remote Australia over the last decade and it’s now time to evolve with full fibre in many areas in upgraded fixed wireless in other and now with LEO satellites, we’re committed to ending buffering in the bush. LEO sat technology is a powerful step forward.
It is purpose built for the most remote parts of this country that sit beyond the reach of fibre or fixed wireless and it delivers lower latency. It delivers better performance and greater reliability than the geostationary satellite services that it will replace.
NBN’s mission has always been clear and it’s to connect every home and business across Australia with the right technology for each location and with performance that meets the modern digital demand. And this announcement, we think, is the next step in our technology evolution because every person, regardless of where they live, deserves to have a broadband that is secure, that is resilient, that is robust, that is fast and that’s affordable.
It’s about turning investment into impact. It’s about innovation into inclusion and infrastructure into opportunity for the economy, for the communities and for every Australian home and business.
On that note, I’d really love to now invite Lisa. Lisa’s going to come up and provide a little bit more detail on what is planned with Project Kuiper and planned from a global LEOSat constellation and really importantly what it’s going to mean for Australia and our customers in that geostationary footprint today. Welcome, Lisa.
AMAZON PROJECT KUIPER HEAD OF WORLDWIDE CONSUMER, LISA SCALPONE: Good morning, Minister Wells, Minister Charlton. Ellie, thank you so much everyone for joining us here today. I am so honoured to be here to announce the partnership of NBN and Project Kuiper.
I just want to say at the outset, a tremendous thank you to the team at NBN for their partnership already to date and a thank you in advance for all the hard work and teamwork that’ll come in the months and years ahead of us to bring LEO broadband to rural and remote Australia.
Amazon started Project Kuiper in 2019 to bring world-class connectivity to more customers and communities around the world. We’re several years now into that journey and this agreement with NBN represents a really important step to us towards delivering on that mission. It’s especially important and special to Project Kuiper because it’s the first agreement for us of its kind anywhere in the world.
And, and one of the reasons why I think we are here today is because of the fit between NBN and Project Kuiper. We are thoroughly aligned on the mission together. We’re combining NBN’s deep expertise in serving Australian communities with Kuiper’s advanced LEO satellite network.
What we’re trying to create is something truly transformative. Together we will enable Australians in the most remote corners of this vast country to participate fully in the digital economy and society.
It’s a milestone moment, but what I want to say today is that we are committed to delivering a low latency, high performance, great service to 300,000 homes and businesses in rural and remote parts of Australia.
They will see significant improvements to their internet speed, latency and reliability as a result of this partnership. Millions of Australians live outside major urban centres. These homes deserve the same quality connectivity as their urban counterparts. As Ellie had just said, it doesn’t matter whether you’re running a business, accessing essential services, video calling with loved ones, streaming favourite sports, Project Kuiper and NBN will transform these everyday experiences.
We also will support the Australian Government’s productivity agenda.
Project Kuiper represents a new era in space-based Internet. Our network combines advanced satellites in low Earth orbit with high performance customer terminals and they’re very small and expansive ground infrastructure. This allows us to deliver new levels of speed and performance and low latency in remote locations.
So where are we today? We began deploying our satellites earlier this year. We’ve had three launches, satellite launches in less than three months and we are committed to increasing our production of satellites and launch rates as the year progresses. We are already looking forward to our initial service roll out in Australia starting from the middle of 2026.
Amazon’s already committed to investing more than $15 billion dollars into Project Kuiper globally and our team in Australia, while we’re still a little bit small, we’re growing fast as we ready for the service roll out next year.
We’re so proud to be working with NBN to help reach even more customers and communities. As we look ahead to our service launch, we’re committed to Australia, to the NBN and to the homes and people of Australia.
We are committed to delivering the best possible internet service. Today marks just the beginning of our journey and we couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities that this partnership will unlock. Thank you again.
JOURNALIST: I do have one. I guess the obvious question is why Kuiper versus say Starlink, for example, which already has a kind of operational constellation like are there advantages to the Kuiper deal that you can get from?
SWEENEY: Maybe let me take that one. Look, NBN is the statutory infrastructure provider here in Australia we’re the default provider. So it’s incumbent on us to be able to provide broadband access Australia. And so we went through a pretty rigorous and compelling, I think RFI and RFP process to provide wholesale broadband access via low Earth orbit.
So again, we’ve worked through a pretty complex negotiation to provide those wholesale broadband services via LEO.
We’ve had to take into account, I think you know, again, not only legal, regulatory, the commercial, the technical, the customer requirements as we’ve gone through that and we determined that Amazon was the best partner for us to deliver in terms of that wholesale access agreement.
The other thing is I think I’ve just mentioned is that you know, again our Geo stationary satellites are in life until you know the early 2030s. We’ve really got time to ensure that we again do great proof of concepts with Amazon. They will be in market next year and I think I can say it’s going to be in the lower half of Australia. Can I say that? In Tasmania and we’ll be working through beta testing and proof of concept. So I think in short, we’ve gone through a rigorous RFP process on this. We’ve been able to satisfy the due diligence and particularly around the ongoing investments that Amazon are making. And that’s obviously, you know, Lisa’s just mentioned a $15 billion investment in LEOSat on a global basis as well.
JOURNALIST: What’s the total cost of this arrangement with Amazon to the Australian taxpayer, have you made any upfront payments? How much is it going to cost over the long term?
SWEENEY: Yeah, I mean you won’t be surprised that the actual contract is is commercially in confidence. But in terms of the Australian taxpayer, NBN is funding this initiative. So again it’s funded by NBN. It is not funded by, you know, a taxpayer equity injection.
JOURNALIST: Do you expect that the wholesale pricing for this will be different compared to Sky Muster?
SWEENEY: Well, what I can say is we’re about to start consultation with a range of stakeholders around that pricing and that’ll be stakeholders from regional, from our RSPs. We’ll also be talking to our regulatory environment. So we’re really wanting and expecting to be able to put in what we think will be a comparable wholesale pricing arrangement as we do for our other technologies in fixed and in fixed wireless as well.
JOURNALIST: Historically Sky Muster has been classed as like a non commercial service is that going to be the same?
SWEENEY: Yeah. I mean again, you know, providing services through to regional and remote comes at a cost and often they are loss making. And again, that’s where I think this question of equity around NBN becomes so important around being able to provide services to someone sitting in North Sydney here or someone sitting in a remote and regional area as well.
JOURNALIST: Are there kind of commitments I guess around pricing stability and performance from Amazon?
SWEENEY: Yeah. But we’ve put in place, we think a pretty rigorous due diligence. We’ve put in place what we think is a supply arrangement, which is compelling and does take into account some of those challenges around pricing as well. And that’s obviously across the term of the contract.
JOURNALIST: You suggested that services would start in Tasmania, whether that’s actual provision of services or testing. Can you give us a sense of what the plan is state by state?
SWEENEY: Yeah, so look in terms of being able to talk further about the roll out of constellations, I might ask Amazon to do that. But I can tell you that we will be starting in Tasmania. It’s a great opportunity for us to obviously run beta testing. It’ll be a great opportunity for us to understand around both professional installs and potentially self installs as well. It will be a great opportunity for us to work with RSPs to make sure that we’re just delivering the best experience for customers who today are in that Geo satellite footprint. But I’m not sure if you want to give any update in terms of the actual roll out schedule across Australia as well?
SCALPONE: Yeah, so as you may know, LEO satellite constellations come in from the poles toward the towards the equator. And so, as a we will start south and go north, so that’s why we started in Tasmania in mid-2026.
Testing can be available earlier than the service roll out.
When we talk about mid-2026, we’re talking about regular commercial grade service that that comes online and then in a series of weeks and months we will complete the roll out of Australia going from south to north.
JOURNALIST: In terms of the Amazon deal, is there any exclusivity with NBN or is there any possibility of sellers outside NBN?
SWEENEY: Yeah, so the the deal is not exclusive with Amazon. What we’ve signed up for and our agreement around LEOSat is to provide LEOSat into that Geo stationary footprint, which today is about 300,000 homes and and businesses.
As you’re probably aware, we have a fixed line footprint, and we also have a fixed wireless footprint and that’s about 97% of the Australian homes and businesses are covered by that footprint. So that’s the last kind of up to 3% that’ll be covered by LEOSat.
So again, it’s it isn’t exclusive, but again, we have a very clear contract with Amazon to be able to deliver into that footprint.
JOURNALIST: Given that Amazon doesn’t actually have that many satellites yet in orbit, and it’s planning on sending thousands more up there, what what are the contingency plans if the expected services are actually slower than expected or … the technology doesn’t work?
SWEENEY: Look, we’re really confident in Amazon and in Project Kuiper. I mean, it’s been a big investment for Kuiper. Again, they’re planning to have 3,200 LEOSat constellations in the air. Again, there is some provisions within our contracts but again, we’re starting this with a very clear mindset that this is going to be successful. And again, all indications in terms of the three rocket launches and the fact that the satellites today are working absolutely as planned and indeed you can stream 4K on their satellites as well. So we’re confident in terms of the selection criteria that we’ve made.