Budding Information and Technology (IT) professionals are honing the latest industry techniques as part of an innovative program that will equip them with the skills they need for the rapidly changing technology landscape.
Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology and Minister for Skills and Training Alister Henskens said more than 50 young people are participating in the NSW Government’s IT traineeship program through TAFE NSW.
“This program will ensure we develop a strong and robust IT workforce, which will help grow the economy and secure a brighter future for NSW,” Mr Henskens said.
“The NSW Government is delivering more opportunities than ever before to help people get the skills they need for the jobs they want, and this program is another great example of that.”
The two-year IT traineeship has been designed for Year 12 school leavers seeking to commence a career in the high-growth and in-demand tech industry, which combines a formal qualification with employment and on-the-job training at a NSW Government agency.
Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello said IT skills can take you anywhere and this program is preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow.
“The pandemic has seen a rapid increase in the adoption of emerging technologies and there is a growing need to improve our digital readiness to ensure NSW remains at the forefront of a booming industry,” Mr Dominello said.
“By giving young people a foot-in-the-door, they are gaining real-world experience and building industry connections, which in turn will support their ongoing education and employment pathways.”
More information about the program can be found online
Month: August 2022
400 new fire trucks since Black Summer
The 400th new fire truck has rolled off the production line and been handed over to the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) as part of the NSW Government’s $830 million investment in response to the Bushfire Inquiry.
Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke said $105.6 million in this year’s Budget has been allocated to the Tanker Replacement Program, delivering on one of Inquiry’s key recommendations.
“The Black Summer bush fires had a devastating effect on communities across our State and pushed the RFS to the limit,” Ms Cooke said.
“Two years on from that horror fire season, we are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Bushfire Inquiry. Making sure our RFS volunteers are better equipped to handle bush fires will help keep communities across NSW safer into the future.
“With the next bush fire danger period fast approaching, I am pleased we have now 400 new tankers deployed to Brigades in every corner of the State so that they’re more prepared than ever to handle the oncoming threats.”
The new trucks have been assembled at four factories across NSW.
RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers said the increased funding has greatly benefited Brigades members along with the communities they protect.
“While the existing trucks have served our Brigades well, it’s important that the latest and safest equipment is provided to our members to keep themselves safe and best serve communities,” Commissioner Rogers said.
“The 400th fire truck has been handed over to the Yanco Rural Fire Brigade. The new vehicle is a Category 1 bush fire tanker which is worth $380,000 and will be greatly welcomed by the local Brigade and their community.”
Yanco Rural Fire Brigade is located in the Leeton Shire in south-western NSW.
Construction for new Tweed Valley Hospital reaches highest point
The new seven-storey $723.3 million Tweed Valley Hospital development has reached a major milestone, hitting its highest point of construction.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the new hospital campus is the state’s largest regional hospital project.
“This is about delivering world-class health facilities and services closer to home to transform healthcare for communities in the Tweed Valley region,” Mr Toole said.
“Today’s ‘topping out’ ceremony is a significant milestone for this incredible new health facility which will double capacity of the existing hospital to better meet the current and future healthcare needs of this community which has grown by 6,000 people since this project was first announced.”
Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor said the hospital will feature two new major services, including an interventional cardiology service and an integrated cancer care service with radiotherapy and PET-CT.
“These services will be a game-changer for the local community, providing treatment locally to ensure up to 5,000 people no longer have to travel outside of the region to access life-saving treatments,” Mrs Taylor said.
“Once complete next year, the new hospital will boast almost 200 more beds and an extra 16 new Emergency Department treatment spaces.”
Member for Tweed Geoff Provest said in addition to the world-class health facility, construction for the hospital has provided a boost to the local economy, supporting hundreds of jobs since work began.
“As the project moves into the internal fit-out stage, work is ramping up with around 400 people on-site each day,” Mr Provest said.
“Importantly, many of the workers contributing to this project are from the local community.”
The hospital has been designed in close collaboration with staff and the community and will include:
- More than 400 overnight and day only beds to address future demand for health services
- Expanded emergency department with 42 treatment spaces
- Expanded outpatient services with more clinics
- 12 operating theatres, an increase of five from the existing Tweed Hospital
- New interventional cardiology service
- New radiotherapy service as part of integrated cancer care, including a PET-CT suite
- Outdoor green spaces
- Campus roads and car park.
With the hospital reaching its full structural height, construction teams will continue the internal fit-out of the building, services installation and the hospital’s facade.
Construction of the new hospital is on track for completion in 2023.
A new $50 million multi-storey car park will also be delivered as part of the project, providing staff, patients and visitors with access to over 1,200 car park spaces at the new hospital campus when complete. Construction is underway and on-track to open in 2023.
The Tweed Valley Hospital development is part of the NSW Government’s record $10.8 billion investment in health infrastructure over four years to 2024-25, with nearly a third of the spend in this financial year earmarked for regional and rural health facilities.
Since 2011, the government has delivered more than 170 hospitals and health facilities across NSW, with more than 110 currently underway – of those, more than 70 are in rural and regional areas.
NSW Government provides $2 million to improve boating infrastructure
The NSW Government has committed a one-off $2 million funding program to support maintenance and repair works to boating infrastructure as part of a $28 million Boating Now Program.
Minister for Transport and Veterans David Elliott said the NSW Government allocated the additional funds to help boating infrastructure owners across NSW undertake maintenance works to boat ramps, pontoons, wharves, jetties, boat ramps and car and trailer parks.
“NSW boasts some of the best waterways in the world which are not only enjoyed by recreational water users but vital for local tourist operators and commercial vessels, therefore it is important to ensure boating communities have easy access to modern maritime facilities,” Mr Elliott said.
“We understand the challenges of maintaining boating facilities and recognise that repairs can be costly for asset owners and managers.
“We’ve listened to feedback from boating stakeholders and as a result we’ve made up to $2 million available as part of Round Four of the Boating Now Program to help owners return boating assets to their optimal operational condition,” Mr Elliott said.
Applications are now open for the Boating Asset maintenance sub-program, which will fund up to $30,000 per asset and up to a maximum of $60,000 per applicant for multiple assets.
To be eligible, the boating asset must be available for general boating public use and provide direct benefits to recreational boaters. The asset must also be included in an existing annual maintenance schedule or have its own asset maintenance plan in place at the time of application.
Guidelines and the application form is available on the Boating Now website. Applications close at 5pm on 30 September 2022 and must be emailed to MIDO@transport.nsw.gov.au
DEFENCE STRATEGIC REVIEW
Today the Albanese Government announced details of the Defence Strategic Review, including the Terms of Reference and the independent leads who will conduct this Review for government.
In 2020, the Defence Strategic Update identified that changes in Australia’s strategic environment are accelerating more rapidly than predicted in the 2012 Force Posture Review. As our national security landscape changes, it is vital that our defence force remains positioned to meet our global and regional security challenges.
To meet these challenges, the Review will examine force structure, force posture and preparedness, and investment prioritisation, to ensure Defence has the right capabilities to meet our growing strategic needs.
This is a large task, and it is for this reason we have appointed two eminent leads to conduct the Review; former Minister for Defence, Professor the Hon Stephen Smith and former Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK AFC (retired).
The Albanese Government is committed to ensuring we have a capable and sustainable Australian Defence Force, which is informed with the best possible strategic assessments.
As independent leads, Professor Smith and Sir Angus will ensure the Review’s recommendations to government meet this criteria.
Professor Smith and Sir Angus will deliver the Review and its recommendations to government in early 2023.
Submissions to the Review from all interested parties are welcome until noon AEST, Sunday 30 October 2022.
For more information or to submit a paper for consideration as part of the Review, visit Defence Strategic Review.
A copy of the Terms of Reference can be found on the Defence website.
The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said:
“This work will help ensure that the Australian Defence Force is well positioned to meet the nation’s security challenges over the next decade and beyond.”
“Professor Smith and Sir Angus bring a unique blend of knowledge and experience to their role as independent leads.
“Their depth of expertise will be invaluable in informing the Review.
Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles said:
“In 2020, the Defence Strategic Update identified that changes in Australia’s strategic environment are accelerating more rapidly than predicted in the 2012 Force Posture Review.
“This necessitates an immediate analysis of where and how Defence assets and personnel are best positioned to protect Australia and its national interests.
“It also requires an assessment of Defence’s force structure and Integrated Investment Program.
“Exploring how our capabilities can better integrate and operate with the United States, the United Kingdom and other key partners will also be an important element of the Review.
Visit to Australia by Latvian Foreign Minister
This week I welcome Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs His Excellency Edgars Rinkēvičs to Australia.
Australia and Latvia enjoy warm relations based on strong people-to-people links and the pursuit of common interests.
Our countries are firm supporters of multilateralism, human rights, gender equality and free trade.
Minister Rinkēvičs and I will discuss our shared interest in supporting Ukraine and holding Russia to account for its unilateral, illegal and immoral aggression against the Ukrainian people.
We will also discuss the urgent challenge of climate change and the how an Australia-EU free trade agreement can accelerate our clean energy transition.
Minister Rinkēvičs will open Latvia’s first embassy in Canberra. Australia welcomes Latvia’s growing footprint in the Indo-Pacific.
Teachers and students deserve better than technocratic tinkering
The Greens say a proposal by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership to parachute inexperienced staff into classrooms and give pay rises to a mere handful of teachers is an insult to hard-working educators across the country and will do very little to address teacher shortages.
“It’s also incredibly insulting to the thousands of hard-working teachers across the country who are forever being told to do more with less, while their real wages continue to shrink.
“Over the past ten years, government funding for private schools in Australia has increased at nearly five times the rate of public school funding. By the end of the decade, private schools will be overfunded relative to the Schooling Resources Standard benchmark, while public schools won’t even hit 91%.
“It’s really quite simple: If we want to attract more teachers to public schools and provide a world-class education for our kids we need to properly fund all public schools and pay all public school teachers more.
“And we could pay for that simply by canning the stage 3 tax cuts that will rob the public coffers of $224 billion and deposit $9,000 a year into the pockets of the super rich.
“Ahead of next week’s Education Ministers Meeting I urge federal, state and territory education ministers to reject proposals that merely fiddle at the margins and commit to genuine investment in teachers and schools.”
RBA is prescribing the wrong medicine
Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim, has responded to today’s decision by the RBA to increase interest rates.
“The RBA is smashing workers, renters and recent homebuyers to try to bring down inflation that is being driven by supply shocks and corporate profiteering.
“We are hearing plenty from the government and the RBA about supply pressures.
“What we aren’t hearing from the government or the RBA is about the role of corporate profiteering.
“Profit’s share of national income was already at a record high and workers’ share of national income was already at a record low.
“Now big companies are using the cover of inflation to gouge prices and further drive up inflation.
“This is why raising interest rates is the wrong medicine.
“To tackle the cost of living crisis, we need government action to make big corporations pay their fair share of tax.
“We need corporate super profits taxes to help rein in corporate profiteering and to help fund cost of living relief, such as by putting dental and mental into Medicare, building 1 million new affordable homes, and providing free childcare.”
WESA Report – Greens call for water buybacks
Responding to the release of the Second Water for the Environment Special Account (WESA) Report, Greens Spokesperson for the Environment and Water, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“This Report bells the cat – the Liberal-National Party have spent a decade ripping off both the taxpayer and the environment, failing to deliver water to the River and instead funnelling billions of dollars into bogus projects.
“Billions of dollars have been wasted on efficiency measures that would never, and as the Report states, will never, deliver the 450GL water needed and promised to save the River.
“This is a massive breach of faith to South Australians. The Plan was actively undermined for the last nine years by the last government who never intended on delivering the full Plan.
“The time for draining the River and the public purse is over. We need urgent action to return flows to the environment and keep the River alive. Anything short of the 450GL is unacceptable.
“My message to Minister Plibersek is: go and buy the water.
“Water buybacks must be reinstated immediately. Putting up the white flag is surrendering to big corporate irrigators. The Minister has tools in her toolkit to start returning large amounts of water to the system right now with voluntary buybacks.
“The only way to end the ‘water wars’ is to return the water to the River that it needs for the whole system to stay alive.”
ACCC reveals east coast energy crisis will last for at least 12 months
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC’s) July 2022 interim report on its gas inquiry confirms the east coast energy crisis is likely to last beyond the winter of 2023.
A forecast 70 per cent increase in gas demand for electricity generation (forecast to increase by 52 petajoules (PJ) to 126 PJ in 2023) and sustained, high international gas prices means that both electricity and gas prices on the east coast of Australia are likely to remain elevated for at least the next 12 months.
While no one is blaming the Albanese Labor Government for a surge in international gas prices, it is the Government’s responsibility to come up with a plan to address this crisis.
The best the resources minister Madeleine King could muster today was a discussion paper and a promise to set in motion the process of triggering the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM).
Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O’Brien MP said the energy minister Chris Bowen is in hiding and doesn’t support bringing on new gas supply because it will jeopardise his chances of a deal with the Greens on his climate legislation.
“This report shows the energy crisis is here to stay and this Labor government is unwilling or unable to make the tough decisions needed to decisively address it,” Ted O’Brien said.
“That’s why the Prime Minister has abandoned Labor’s election promise to cut household power bills by $275 by 2025.
“The best long-term fix to disconnect domestic gas prices from high global prices is more supply.”
“The report also forecasts a reduction in demand from Australian manufacturers. This could be the beginning of a jobs crisis in the manufacturing sector.”
Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Senator Susan McDonald said the Coalition had a plan in government to unlock new supply to keep prices low and the lights on.
“The Coalition’s Strategic Basin Plans and National Gas Infrastructure Plan were backed by more than $300 million of funding,” Senator McDonald said.
“The resources minister Madeleine King’s hands are tied behind her back. She knows the answer is more supply but she’s not supported by her Cabinet colleagues. The Labor Government must put aside their politics and support projects like the Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan introduced by the Coalition.
“Short-sighted bans on developing unconventional onshore gas are coming home to roost. The Labor Government should be doing everything in its power to encourage rather than undermine new gas development.
“Yet Labor appears hell bent on halting development and reducing supply to pander to the Greens by undermining investment vehicles like the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) from supporting new gas supply projects.
In opposition, the now energy minister Chris Bowen labelled the Coalition’s plan to unlock new gas supply “BS” and “a fraud”.
Asked today whether she supported a ban on new coal and gas projects in the federal environmental approvals process, the resources minister Madeleine King could only say “I’m not going to state a view.”
While the Albanese Labor Government dithers, businesses are going to the wall and households are choosing between heating and eating.