logo
BREAKING NEWS Annecto Incorporated closes: Major disability and aged care service provider makes shock announcement

BREAKING NEWS Annecto Incorporated closes: Major disability and aged care service provider makes shock announcement

Daily Mail​12-06-2025
A long-term care company closed after more than 70 years of business, leaving thousands of seniors and people with disabilities just three weeks to find a new provider.
Annecto Incorporated, based in Melbourne 's Footscray, will cease support for those with high-care needs in Victoria, Queensland, the ACT and NSW from July 1.
The not-for-profit on Wednesday announced it will close due to 'financial challenges facing the organisation into the future'.
'We deeply appreciate the support of our community over all these years and the dedication of our staff and partner to high quality of support standards,' Colleen Furnaletto OAM, Annecto chair, said.
The closure will affect some 3,000 customers and 1,000 employees.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Cost of Victoria's renewable energy transmission plan projected to double
Cost of Victoria's renewable energy transmission plan projected to double

The Guardian

time2 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Cost of Victoria's renewable energy transmission plan projected to double

One of Australia's largest renewable energy transmission projects has expanded zones for solar, battery and wind developments with the cost of connection to almost double. The latest version of Victoria's 2025 Transmission Plan, released by state government agency VicGrid on Sunday, revealed a 200,000-hectare increase in the area available to developers. The plan outlines the parts of the state designated as renewable energy zones and the new transmission infrastructure needed in the next 15 years to connect them to the grid. The latest version increases areas of land designated as hubs for wind, solar and battery farms from 1.66m hectares proposed in May to 1.88m hectares across six proposed renewable energy zones. The amendment increases the footprint of these areas to 7.9% of the state, up from 7.0% in the original draft proposal, after industry feedback said larger areas were needed to make projects technically and commercially viable. The number of distinct zones has been increased to nine from seven, also in response to feedback. Sign up: AU Breaking News email The greatest change will be in the state's west with an expansion to the Wimmera-southern Mallee zone, while a new area around Coleraine has been added to the south west zone. The state energy minister, Lily D'Ambrosio, said more than 42% of Victoria's electricity was produced by renewables in the past financial year, with the state reaching record levels of renewable energy generation. 'Our record investment in renewable energy is paying off,' she said in a statement on Sunday. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'Victoria consistently has the lowest wholesale power prices in the country, helping to slash energy bills for families and businesses.' Victorians paid an average wholesale price of $107 per megawatt hour, compared with $151 in NSW, $138 in South Australia, $127 in Queensland and $115 in Tasmania, according to government data. But the latest modelling predicts the cost of connecting Victoria's renewable energy zones could almost double. The government initially estimated a $4.3bn cost, but VicGrid puts the latest price tag closer to $7.9bn, taking into account new Australian Energy Market Operator costings for the transmission lines. The costs are expected to be mostly recouped through higher consumer bills, although the government argues Victorians will overall be better off with wholesale energy costs lowered by the delivery of more renewable energy into the grid. The federal government has a target of 82% renewable energy in the national grid by 2030, up from 43% this year.

Maker or faker? Australia's handicraft markets face rise in mass-produced goods
Maker or faker? Australia's handicraft markets face rise in mass-produced goods

The Guardian

time2 days ago

  • The Guardian

Maker or faker? Australia's handicraft markets face rise in mass-produced goods

Peggy Byrne was strolling through market stalls held by artisans and makers in Adelaide. A selection of crocheted flowers and animals caught her eye. Byrne, the owner of Bowerbird, a design market in the city, asked the stallholder which pattern was his favourite. 'He looked at me like I was an alien,' she says. 'There is no way this guy is the maker of these things.' Tiziana Ferrero-Regis, an associate professor of fashion at Queensland University of Technologysays markets are the 'number one place' people go to find that 'special thing'. But over the past 18 months market organisers and vendors have noticed a rise in mass-produced goods being bought online then resold in ways that imply they are locally handmade. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Georgia Richards, who used to sell handmade ceramics at several markets across Brisbane, says many have been 'overrun with resellers'. She has also noticed resellers who claim their goods are handmade, and has seen them at markets that specifically promise local and artisanal wares. Jo Harvey, who manages the Kirribilli markets in Sydney, says she has seen resellers 'slapping … little 'handmade' signs on everything'. She believes this practice is wrong: 'It's not fair on those people that put a lot of time, money and effort into it. Their products are beautiful and it means something because they are handmade.' Harvey has strengthened Kirribilli's stallholder application process to combat this practice. She now asks would-be vendors to include videos or pictures of themselves making the product to prove it is handmade. Kirribilli also uses Google Lens when looking over applications, to cross-reference images against websites including Temu, Alibaba or Aliexpress, where resellers may have purchased their goods. 'We get the same person applying 20 or 30 times, under different names, under different emails,' Harvey says. Emma Morris, a founder of the design market Makers and Shakers, has also experienced an increase in applications from resellers and says she is surprised at how pervasive the model has become. 'That's the business,' she says. 'It's 'what can I import and sell?'.' Resale vendors usually sell their goods at low prices, which has left small designers and creatives struggling to compete. Richards believes that their presence comes at the expense of local artisans. 'I would have times where I would be placed next to a reseller who was selling items at a fifth of the price I was selling my items for. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion 'Between vendors it creates … an impossible price comparison. Artists price their work based on their skill, time, materials and much more to create something unique.' This cannot be compared to the cost of mass produced items, she says. Kai Salvador spends nearly every weekend shopping at markets around Sydney. She agrees with Richards, saying she has noticed a change in the quality of wares being sold at markets. It 'ruins the culture', she says, and to see fewer local, small-scale vendors is 'just a bit … saddening'. She says people go to markets is to support local brands and to find quality items that people pour their time into. On a wet Sunday, the Kirribilli markets are still busy. People take their time picking up, touching and feeling the items on display. Two shoppers, Alyssa Ellwood and Annalese Vochteloo, say that they have both noticed more mass-produced items coming into markets, rather than 'little homemade things'. At Kirribilli markets, artisans and general stallholders are kept separate, in different sections, and most people Guardian Australia spoke to there had not noticed any vendors misrepresenting the origin of their goods. Maddie Boyd, another shopper, says she has noticed a rise in mass-produced crochet but believes the differences between a handmade item and something that has been bought online are obvious. 'I think you can easily tell … but they're often mixed in with pieces that are genuinely handmade, or made by local artists.' It's something you have to look out for, she says. Boyd has mixed feelings about whether mass-produced items have a place at markets. 'It also does sometimes provide a cheaper alternative for people to engage in a market,' she says. Clearly distinguishing artisanal goods from mass-made is something Richards advocates for. She says resellers do have a place. 'They're essentially doing what retail stores do,' she says. 'But 'handmade markets' should be for handmade artists. 'There's nothing worse than going to an artisan market and seeing a table full of Temu wares.'

The bumper pay rise given to 'undervalued' NSW firefighters is revealed
The bumper pay rise given to 'undervalued' NSW firefighters is revealed

Daily Mail​

time2 days ago

  • Daily Mail​

The bumper pay rise given to 'undervalued' NSW firefighters is revealed

Thousands of firefighters have secured a lofty pay rise in a sign an industrial umpire is willing to favour workers in fiery labour disputes. NSW firefighters will receive a 14 per cent wage increase across three years, backdated to February 2024, the Industrial Relations Commission ruled. That was substantially above the nine per cent offered by the Labor government, which re-established the stand-alone commission in July 2024. 'The work of firefighters is currently significantly undervalued, due to historic or intrinsic factors,' the commission said. The Fire Brigade Employees' Union welcomed the decision as vindication firefighters' role extended to non-fire work, including search-and-rescue operations and road crash scenes. It had sought 17 per cent, claiming the state's almost 7000 firefighters 'had suffered wage suppression for a decade' under the previous coalition government. The deal includes a one-off bump of two per cent to account for cost-of-living pressures. Another one-off bump of three per cent recognises their competency in road crash rescue work, which the commission found was a 'core function'. Industrial relations expert Fiona MacDonald hoped the finding would discourage state governments from 'crying poor when it comes to ... pay increases for public sector workers'. 'If state governments genuinely consider pay claims, then unions won't need to go to the (commission),' the acting director of the Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work told AAP. But other analysts were not sure governments would change their tune about stretched finances or that unions could pencil in other wins. 'There is always a lottery element to any (commission) hearing,' University of Sydney professor John Buchanan said. 'Employers have argued that 'capacity to pay' is a key principle they believe should shape wage determination ... so I anticipate the NSW government, no matter what colour, will continue to use this argument.' He said unions would persist with collective bargaining and fall back on arbitration if that failed to deliver. Doctors, nurses and psychiatrists, who are all agitating for markedly higher pay from the government, are currently engaged in arbitration at the commission. Their respective unions have gone on strikes before, with psychiatrists threatening a mass exodus. Prof Buchanan said the 2.5 per cent wages cap by the previous coalition government created deep distortions in the labour market. One of the architects of that cap, shadow treasurer Damien Tudehope, criticised Labor for surrendering control of its budget. The commission had 'exercised its unshackled power' by rejecting the government's fiscal arguments, the opposition industrial relations spokesman said. Labor welcomed the commission's decision as delivering wage certainty for firefighters and recognising the work they did at road crash rescues. 'We were elected on a mandate to fix the recruitment and retention crisis in essential services and that is what we are doing,' Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store