Power companies should pay compensation for blackouts, NSW parliamentary report finds
Electricity companies that breach their licenses should be forced to compensate customers, an inquiry into a prolonged blackout in Far West New South Wales has found.
On the night of October 16 2024 seven transmission towers were knocked out when a severe storm hit the region.
One of the two emergency diesel generators was not in service and the other was not operating at full capacity.
As a result thousands of Broken Hill residents experienced persistent outages and the Wilcannia, Menindee, Tibooburra and White Cliffs communities were blacked out for weeks.
Yesterday the state parliament's Committee on Environment and Planning handed down its report into the incident.
Twenty recommendations were made, including allowing the electricity pricing regulator to order a network operator in contravention of its licence to compensate affected customers.
The report found Broken Hill electricity supplier Transgrid failed to notify any government agency, regulator or council about the inoperable backup generator.
But it also found there was "no clear legal obligation for Transgrid to proactively inform" any regulatory or government body about the situation.
The inquiry also examined renewable energy sources in the region, including a large-scale battery system that was unable to be used to provide electricity locally.
"It is nuts that you've got all that electricity generation in your own neighbourhood but you can't access it," committee chair Clayton Barr said.
"If you're producing electricity in your own backyard and the power goes out, why can't you access it?
"That's all a commercial and private business arrangement and it failed the community enormously."
Microgrid backup systems for small towns where also suggested, which Mr Barr described as a "no-brainer".
Broken Hill mayor Tom Kennedy said the community hoped the report would lead to accountability.
"It can have devastating effects for a community … simply because there wasn't enough [redundancy] and power available for Broken Hill in a case of an emergency situation where we had a blackout," he said.
"These recommendations will – or are attempting to – ensure this doesn't happen again and doesn't happen … anywhere in the state and, if it does happen, someone is held to account."
The Australian Energy Regulator and the Indendent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal are also conducting inquiries into the event.
A Transgrid spokesperson said the company was "closely examining the findings and recommendations" of the report.
"Transgrid also acknowledges the significant impacts the resulting outage had on the local community," they said.
"We have been working with the community and local businesses to assist in the recovery, both through financial assistance in partnership with the NSW government as well as extensive community grants programs."
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ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Popular bakery owes staff almost $250,000 in super, but 'payday' super could protect workers
Popular hospitality group All Are Welcome owes almost a quarter of a million dollars in superannuation to its current and former employees, with many staff feeling worried and concerned they won't see the money they are owed. The Insta-famous bakery — with locations in Melbourne's Northcote, Thornbury and East Ivanhoe — entered voluntary administration in February this year after accruing more than $1 million in debts. Documents shared with the ABC reveal staff are owed $243,000 in superannuation and $125,000 in leave entitlements, with the total amount owed to the ATO standing around $1.4 million. But, according to the administrator's report, the original director — Boris Portnoy — bought back the business after it entered into voluntary administration, with question marks over whether he will carry over the former business's liabilities. "[It's] quite concerning because I don't have confidence that I'm going to see that money," one former employee told the ABC. The former staff member, who has asked not to be named, says they found out about the lack of super payments in March this year. "When we received a correspondence from the administrators on the 12th of March which had some information about the business, including a section that stated how much money was owed in super, which prompted myself and others to go and check our super accounts properly." They say, despite their pay slips including superannuation contributions, this money was not reflected in their accounts. "It was clear that we hadn't been paid any super payments since around sort of September last year, which is around sort of eight or nine months worth of no super payments," they say. Multiple former staff from the bakery have told the ABC they are each owed thousands of dollars in superannuation. "[I felt] disappointed because we were led to feel quite responsible for the financial situation of the business in that there was a lot of pressure put on all of us as employees in terms of keeping the roster as tight as we can and ordering as tight as we can in order to sort of get the business across the line," said one former worker. "Then to find out that we've been withheld entitlements and hadn't been told, felt like a bit of a blindside." The former employee says there was no communication from the director and when they tried to seek answers from him, nothing was clear. "The explanation of why we weren't paid super was that the business had been struggling financially and that was a method that he was able to use in order to help him with cash flow for the business," they said. But they say nothing was provided in writing, and there was no clear timeframe on when staff may see their money. "I'm not sure what's changed in order to allow him to pay that moving forward in a different manner." During this period, Mr Portnoy also lent himself $235,028 through his family trust, which documents reveal "were made to him in lieu of a wage". In a statement to the ABC, Mr Portnoy said: "As part of the business purchase all outstanding employee entitlements are to be assumed by the new company. "The timing for the payment of the superannuation is being determined by the administrators and we will have a firm timeline after finalisation of the liquidation," he said. The administrator did not respond to the ABC's request for comment. Superannuation advocates have been pushing for "payday super" to help minimise this problem. "Payday super, as it sounds on the tin, is your super paid on the same day as your wages," said Mary Delahunty, chief executive officer of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA). Some employers already do this, but it's not a requirement. If the law changes, everyone will get their superannuation payments at the same time as their wages. If it had been in place, the former staff of All Are Welcome are unlikely to have had such a large amount of super owing to them. Superannuation is not covered under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, which protects some of the money owed to workers when a business goes under. "They are due to be paid. Unpaid super is an obligation still, even through a liquidation process. And they have a priority sort of setting in the liquidation processes," Ms Delahunty said. She said the most common way people were paid wages was fortnightly, "but monthly is also very common". Payments to superannuation however are most commonly paid either quarterly or monthly. Because of this, some small businesses use superannuation payments as a kind of overdraft or "credit card", helping them to smooth cash flow issues — when the timing of income and payments doesn't line up. Payday super should allow such problems to be seen sooner, she adds. "It would allow for non-compliance with payments to be seen more regularly … [people] could chase it up and the ATO could do their reckoning of that non-compliance in a more timely manner." Essentially, flagging problems before they get bigger. The laws, which are meant to take effect in July 2026, haven't even passed Parliament yet and a lobby group representing accountants is asking for a two-year delay. Richard Webb, superannuation lead at CPA Australia, says the industry supports the intent of payday super and the idea that people should have their deferred remuneration — such as superannuation — paid at the same time as their wages. "But the reality is that the infrastructure and the spend that many businesses will need to do to make sure that their systems are up for it is simply not doable by that time," he argues. Most workers simply receive their pay in their bank account. But for the people on the other end pushing money through the financial pipes, it's a lot harder. The Single Touch Payroll system means, for the vast majority of Australian employees, data is sent to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) at the same time the wages or salary are paid to the employee's bank account. "But in the case of superannuation contributions, there's a lot more data needed to be sent at the same time as contributions themselves," Mr Webb says. "So the cash goes one way, the data goes the other. It meets at an intermediary who mixes the data and the cash together and makes sure they all match up. And then it sends the data the various separate ways to various separate super funds [for individual employees]." That's not the only problem. Many Australians work in roles that attract penalties and bonuses, such as extra pay for unsociable hours and weekend work. Others receive commissions on sales that can take time to be calculated — such as when the product is delivered or when the client pays — making the amount of super for a defined period like a fortnight difficult to accurately calculate. CPA Australia represents 170,000 accountants dotted throughout the world, with members working in different areas of accounting, finance and regulation. Mr Webb agrees the current system needs to change. When it goes bad and employees are short-changed, Mr Webb adds, the delay can make it harder to ascertain the figures owed. "So we think that having them paid near each other makes it a lot easier ultimately for employers, who are paying smaller amounts out rather than one big lump sum at the end of the quarter," he said. "It means that everyone can have everything nicely and neatly bundled in the same place where they can see it." But he doesn't see the industry ready by the mooted deadline of July 1, 2026. Even workers who don't suffer the misfortune of their employer going under could benefit. Due to the effect of compound interest — the returns from investments and interest building on top of itself — just the shift to more frequent payments will boost the retirement savings of millions. ASFA's Mary Delahunty says a shift from being paid superannuation quarterly (once every three months) to every fortnight will add up.
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
Woodside's massive gas extension explained
Sam Hawley: Woodside is on a winning ticket. It's had the life of its massive gas project in Western Australia extended by 40 years. That's great news for the oil and gas giant that will export almost all of the gas overseas. But what's in it for us? And what about the climate? Today, Jo Lauda from the ABC's climate team on why the Albanese government has approved the extension, even though we're meant to be going renewable. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. News report: To some breaking news for you now. The life of Australia's largest oil and gas project will be extended to 2070 with Environment Minister Murray Watt to give the long-awaited environmental approval for the Northwest Shelf Project. News report: The decision has left Indigenous custodians and environmental groups devastated. Murray Watt, Environment minister: Whatever decision I make, there'll be lots of people unhappy. It's Anthony Albanese, PM: Net zero, not zero. Net zero. Protestors: Stop! Woodside! Stop! Stop! Woodside! We will challenge this at every level in every court. The climate movement is united against this project. It's an absolute climate bomb. Sam Hawley: Jo, the newly elected Labor government says it has this plan to tackle climate change. But one of its first decisions since it was re-elected was to extend the life of one of the country's biggest gas plants. And I thought we were meant to be quitting gas. Jo Lauder: Yeah, this was a really interesting first major decision for the government. And I think like you, a lot of people are really confused. So we can step through it a bit. So I guess to start with, this is the Northwest Shelf Gas Project. And so since the 1980s, gas has been extracted from basins off the Pilbara coast in northern Western Australia. This area is home to one of the largest deposits of gas in the country. And it's also where we find this gas plant. So it's the biggest, it's the oldest gas plant in Australia, the Northwest Gas Shelf. And it's run by a company, Woodside Energy. So the gas plant was due to close in 2030 until Senator Murray Watt, under his first major decision as Environment Minister, he approved that extension until 2070. Sam Hawley: Wow, that's another 40 years, so that's quite some extension, isn't it, Jo? And the thing is, it has an extraordinary Indigenous history as well, doesn't it, this area? Jo Lauder: Yeah, so it doesn't just have huge gas reserves. This area is also home to an estimated one million petroglyphs. And so these are rock carvings and art, and these are believed to date back as far as 50,000 years, Sam. So really, really significant history. And so for years, local elders and scientists, they've been raising really significant concerns about the direct industrial emissions, the air pollution that's come from these nearby industrial plants and what that is doing to these rock art and how it might be degrading the surfaces of it. And so there's some suggestions that the effect of those emissions are so significant that the rock arts could be lost in 100 years. Sam Hawley: So this facility has been given the green light to run for another 40 years, and part of that, according to the government, is because LNG, liquefied natural gas, plays a key role in our energy mix. So it's supposed to be a reliable source of energy, right, throughout this transition to renewables? Jo Lauder: Yeah, so gas is going to play a role in our electricity mix going forward and also for heavy industry, which is a big part of WA's economy. And interestingly, in terms of what the world actually needs going forward, if we're going to hit our net zero targets, the International Energy Agency says we actually don't need any new or expanded coal, gas or oil projects to stay under those targets. But at the same time, you know, the Woodside's chief executive, Meg O'Neill, says that this extension of the Northwest Shelf beyond 2030 will secure reliable energy for decades to come. Meg O'Neill, Woodside Energy CEO: I think it's time that the opponents of our industry face up to the fact that they are making the energy transition harder and riskier by slowing down investment and trying to take practical options off the table. Jo Lauder: And it's also something the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said as well. He really talked up the role of gas as part of the transition. And that's what he said when the extension was approved. He also pointed out, you know, WA does still use a lot of gas in its electricity mix and WA has a domestic gas reservation policy. And so Woodside is meant to keep 15 per cent of the gas for the local market. And that's something the Prime Minister really talked to when he was defending this decision. Anthony Albanese, PM: In Western Australia, they are closing their last coal-fired power station at Collie in 2027. They are moving to renewables backed by gas. And that will be a really important part of the transition that will occur. Sam Hawley: But that's WA. What will it mean for gas supply for the rest of the country? Jo Lauder: Not a lot. So none of the gas from the Northwest Shelf is going to be reserved for the East Coast. And this is where people would have heard about a looming potential gas crunch, especially in Victoria and, you know, like the cold estates. So for the domestic market, for the East Coast, we'd have to buy it. And then even then, the WA network isn't connected via pipelines to the east. So it involved like a complicated process of shipping it. But really, the overwhelming majority of this gas is for export markets. So more than 85 per cent will be going to mostly Asia. So Japan, as well as China and South Korea. So the Northwest Shelf is largely an export project. Sam Hawley: Right. OK. But hang on. This sounds all very good for Woodside that will presumably make a lot of money from exporting this large amount of gas. But what do we actually get out of it as taxpayers? Jo Lauder: Yeah, it's a really good question. And so the Australian Institute, a think tank, they estimate that the Northwest Shelf extension is going to be receiving all up around $215 billion dollars of royalty free gas over that lifetime. And so at the same time, you compare it to the fact that Woodside paid $175 million in the petroleum resources rent tax on the Northwest Shelf project in 2022/2023. That's according to the Australian Tax Office. But also Woodside says, you know, across its whole business, it is amongst one of Australia's biggest taxpayers. So it says it paid more than $4 billion in taxes, royalties and levies in 2024. But the other issue as well is that this is a gas processing plant, but the gas has to come from somewhere from those different gas fields and the existing gas fields that are currently supplying it are running out. And so a bigger part of what Woodside's ambition is here is getting an extension. So there are plans in place to develop new fields and especially one called the Browse Basin. Sam Hawley: OK, so just tell me about this Browse Basin then. Where is that exactly and what do they want to do there, Woodside? Jo Lauder: So Browse is one of the country's biggest untapped gas basins and resources projects. So the gas reserves there are really significant. It's enough to meet the equivalent of Australia's demand for like 20 years. But it's quite remote. It's really far away. It's in a reef. And that's one of the biggest reasons it hasn't been developed up until this point. And actually, Woodside still needs to get approvals for Browse. It's before the Environment Minister, Murray Watt. And so that is to explore for gas beneath that marine reef system and then also to build a pipeline to connect the basin to the northwest shelf. So that's really the next stage here in this like this bigger project. Sam Hawley: OK, so Woodside has got this 40 year extension to its WA gas plant. But what it really wants now is access to the Browse Basin. And the concern about that is, is that the basin itself stores, Jo, a huge amount of carbon. Jo Lauder: Yeah. And understandably, like there's been a lot of opposition to this project from different climate groups. And it's something that is really concerned a lot of people. So the northwest shelf is already Australia's third highest emitting facility in the country. It produces around six million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. And that's just what's directly produced at the facility. But on top of that, climate groups have labelled that potential extension of the Browse Basin that we were just talking about. They've called it a carbon bomb, which is their quote, because it's really emissions heavy. And this is even for gas, which is already a fossil fuel. It's got quite a lot of carbon dioxide. It accounts for about, I think it's around 12 percent of the field's reserves. And that's really high even for gas projects. And so environmental groups claim that this project could lead to up to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over its lifetime. And that's more than three times Australia's annual emissions output. So it's a really high number. Sam Hawley: Yeah, it's a lot. So could that then, Jo, delay our commitment and our target to meet net zero by 2050? Jo Lauder: So this is a million dollar question. And to understand that, you kind of need to know how we account for our emissions. So under Australia's emissions laws, actually all of them around the world, we only count the direct emissions. So this is in this case from extracting and processing the gas at the Northwest shelf. But because most of this gas is for export, as we were saying, the emissions that come from, you know, after the gas is sold, it's shipped and then it's burnt at its final destination. They don't count towards Australia's emissions. So towards our targets, they're what you call scope three emissions. So they're counted as emissions in the country where they're burnt. So as we said, you know, Japan, South Korea, China, they will count towards their emissions. So some estimates, if you added up the total from all of them, the total lifetime emissions from this project, some people have said it could be equivalent to a decade of Australia's current emissions. At the end of the day, you know, no matter where the emissions are counted, climate change is a global issue. So even burning that gas elsewhere, ultimately it still will affect Australia's climate. Sam Hawley: And a lot of people have actually been asking how this project got approved considering Australia's position and the government's position on climate change. Was it actually factored in to that decision? Was it discussed before this project was given the green tick? Jo Lauder: No, Sam, this is a really interesting quirk with Australia's environmental laws because under the current environmental legislation, climate change isn't actually a deciding factor. So it's not something that they are forced to weigh up the environment minister when they're looking at the project. And so a lot of experts have called out this, they've called it a massive loophole. And it means that Australia is still approving fossil fuel projects like this without explicitly considering the climate harm. And the environmental legislation is really old. It came in under Howard. And it was actually back in 2005, even back then, this was considered a loophole or an issue with environmental laws. There was a proposal to fix this by the shadow environmental minister at the time in 2005, Anthony Albanese. So he actually put a proposal before the parliament to fix what he called a glaring gap in the laws because climate change wasn't considered under these laws. Anthony Albanese, former Shadow Environment minister, 2005: The climate change trigger will enable major new projects to be assessed for their climate change impact as part of any environmental assessment process and will ensure that new developments represent best practice. We know that the Howard government has been considering and procrastinating on a climate change trigger since 1999. Jo Lauder: But you know, we're 20 years later. It's still the same issue that that loophole, that gap hasn't closed. And so instead, what has happened is Senator Watt has said the approval of this development is subject to strict conditions. The main one that they're focused on is around direct emissions or the direct air pollution that comes from the plant. The other thing is the Northwest shelf is regulated under our climate laws called the safeguard mechanism. But what happens is each plant has a limit. And so each year that goes down under this legislation. And if the plant doesn't come under their target, they have to buy offsets or credits. And that's what Woodside did last year for the Northwest shelf. So it'll continue to be regulated under the safeguard mechanism. Sam Hawley: So, Jo, what do you think? How would this be going down around the world among countries who are moving towards net zero? Is this really a good look for us? Jo Lauder: No, it's really not a good look. And I think a big part of that is this 2070 number this year. I think it's come as a real shock to lots of Australians as well, because I think the idea of net zero by 2050 is pretty firmly fixed in people's minds. And this approval is for 20 years past that. The other thing, Sam, is that Australia is really ramping up its efforts at the moment to become the host of next year's UN Climate Summit, COP 31. And these are major events. And there'll be so much scrutiny and focus on Australia's climate action. We've just recently had the latest figures out about Australia's emissions and it's not looking great. So our reduction efforts, they're kind of stalling. So they were slightly lower in the last quarter of last year. It was like 0.05 of a percent. But we're at the point where emissions need to drop if we're going to hit our 2030 target. And to get there, we're going to have to have consecutive years of pretty significant drops of around 3.6 percent or more. And so that's a really big ask where emissions are flatlining at the moment. Sam Hawley: Jo Lauder is a reporter in the climate team with ABC News. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Adair Sheppard. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
Scott Morrison, Baz Luhrmann given top accolades in King's Birthday Honours 2025
Former Covid prime minister Scott Morrison has been given the top King's Birthday honour of an Companion of the Order of Australia for his work Mr Morrison was given the honour in recognition of his 'eminent service' to the people and Australian parliament, noting his contributions to his 'leadership of the national Covid-19 response,' his economic initiatives and his work on national security, 'especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS'. Reflecting on the challenges during his term as Australia's 30th prime minister from 2018 to 2022, he said Australians responded with 'trademark courage and a care for their country and one another'. He also highlighted China's increasingly aggressive defence posture during this period, during this period, which included the encroachment of Chinese jet fighters on the Taiwan Strait's median line in March 2019. 'During this time Australia faced challenges and threats not experienced since the Second World War,' he said in a statement. 'These ranged from unrelenting natural disasters and a once in a century global pandemic and the recession it caused, to coercion and intimidation designed to threaten our support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a world order that favours freedom and our strong bond with allies and partners.' His statement also paid tribute to his parliamentary colleagues, state premiers, chief territory ministers, as well as Josh Frydenberg and Michael McCormack who respectively served as treasurer and Nationals leader during his term. While at times divisive, Mr Morrison's prime ministership was marred in controversy after it was revealed he secretly awarded himself the portfolios for health, finance, home affairs, treasury, and industry, science, energy and resources. His unpopularity as prime minister also resulted in what was then the 'most serious' election loss for the Liberal Party, with the party losing six of its inner metropolitan seats to teal independents. Baz Luhrmann – Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) One of Australia's most beloved Hollywood exports, Baz Luhrmann's prodigious film and theatre career is well-documented. His repertoire spans the Oscar-winning 2001 film Moulin Rouge! the third of his highly-aclaimed Red Curtain Triology which also includes Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom. His latest major work was the 2022 film Elvis which explored Elvis Presley's relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker and starred Austin Butler and Tom Hanks. His partner, Catherine Martin – a famed production designer – was also award a AC. Hailing from Herons Creek, a tiny town on NSW's North Coast about 291km from Sydney, Luhrmann paid tribute to his humble beginnings, and the arts community at large. 'My personal journey from a small, rural town to the world stage would not have been possible but for those who came before having the vision to support the arts, allowing us to reflect our stories back to ourselves and participate in global culture as Australians,' he said. 'Catherine Martin and I feel this honour recognises not just us, but those who have made access to the arts possible for every Australian.' Catherine Martin – Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) Hailing from Lindfield in Sydney's upper north shore, renowned costume designer, production designer and set designer Catherine Martin is behind her husbands box-office hits. She currently holds the record for the most Academy Awards held by any Australia (four), winning both best costume design and best production design for her work on The Great Gatsby (2013), and Moulin Rouge! (2001). Speaking about her latest accolade, which sits alongside four Academy Awards, a host of Baftas and a Tony, Martin said she was humbled by her AC in eminent service to the arts, to costume, production and set design, and to fostering emerging artistic talent. 'I am so honoured to be joining the ranks of so many illustrious Australians, whom I have admired and been inspired by,' she said. 'Being recognised in your home country is especially meaningful.' Outside of film, she's held executive producer and costume and production design credits on television series Faraway Downs and The Get Down. Martin also dipped her toe into filmmaking, recently launching her collaboration with Italian fashion powerhouse Miu Miu. The project showcased the brand's Upcycled capsule collection which reworks vintage dresses from the brand. Roger Byard – Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) While South Australian forensic pathologist Roger Byard has shared his expertise on headline-grabbing events like the Bali bombings, the Boxing Day tsunami and the Snowtown murders, he says the biggest impact of his profession can happen outside the mortuary. Currently a senior specialist forensic pathologist with Forensic Science SA, a role he's held since 2006, and the Emeritus Professor of Pathology at the School of Biomedicine, Prof Byard said he wants to use the knowledge found in the mortuary into public education and health and social policy. 'To do good forensic pathology, you have to have curiosity, but I think it has to be the foundation has to be compassion, so that you can actually do something with this information,' he said. 'A lot of people in forensics will just document something. They won't actually act on it and look at prevention. 'In forensic pathology we see cases that bypass the hospital, so we've got information that's extremely useful.' His area of expertise however is in pediatrics and SIDS – sudden infant death syndrome – and determining the risk factors, and causes for the rare but tragic event which affects about 0.3 deaths per 1000 live births. Showing the link between forensic pathology and social issues, he points to his work in amending legislation to create an Australian standard for cots to prevent instances of babies suffocating. 'There was a British pathologist who called said that SIDS is in danger of becoming a diagnostic dustbin if people don't investigate the cases properly, and a lot of unsafe cots where babies were suffocating, those deaths were being called SIDS,' he said. 'People weren't realising how dangerous the cots were.' Nicole Livingstone – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) From Olympic medallist to presenter and now senior sports administrator, Nicole Livingstone has been honoured for her 'distinguished service to sports development and administration, to the promotion of women in sport, and to community health'. The mum-of-three participated in three Olympic Games including Seoul in 1988, Barcelona 1992, and finally Atlanta 1996, competing in a total of 11 events. She holds a bronze Olympic medal for the 200m backstroke, a bronze medal for the 4 x 200m freestyle relay, and a silver medal by the 4 x 100m silver medal. After retiring from professional swimming in 1996, Livingstone segued into presenting before becoming the general manager for the Women's Football at the AFL in 2017, where she was credited with expanding the game and growing the presence of the AFLW. Speaking to Domain in 2021, Livingstone reflected on the growth of women in sport. 'There's a lot more choice for women in this country now than in the 1990s,' she said. 'But you have to remember that during the 2000 Olympic Games, Friends was knocked off air to put swimming on TV and they had 1 million people watching. It was the time before pay-TV and the nation was glued.' Under her tenure, the AFLW became the largest employers of female athletes in Australia, and expanded the teams from eight to 18. Since 2024, Livingstone has served as the chief executive of the Victorian Institute of Sport. Naguib 'Nick' Kaldas – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) The former NSW Police Force commissioner was one of the three commissioners behind the Royal Commission in Defence and Veteran Suicide, a role he undertook with James Douglas KC and Peggy Brown. Mr Kaldas has also held roles with the United Nations, including chief of investigations with the UN's probe into the use of chemical weapons in Syria in 2016, and the same role in the organisation's Special Tribunal for Lebanon. He was awarded the AO for his 'distinguished service to international and transnational law enforcement, to counter-terrorism leadership, to multiculturalism, and to veterans.' Sobering findings from the royal commission revealed 1677 serving and former Defence Force members died of suicide between 1997 and 2021, with that figure 20 times more than the number of members who were killed in action or during military exercises. The government has agreed in principle to implementing 104 of the 122 recommendations from the report, and noted an additional 17 for further consideration. Speaking at the ceremonial closing of the royal commission, Mr Kaldas urged the government and the Defence Force to 'recognise and admit' to the 'unacceptable behaviour' unearthed by the probe, which include rampant sexual abuse and inadequate support given to veterans and unfair delays taken to process claims lodged with the Department of Veterans' Affairs. He said systems had 'failed' many veterans over many years, stating 'our nation remains indebted to them and that debt must be now be repaid'. 'Vigilance must be maintained, and no one should take their foot off the pedal in the reform process once the Royal Commission ceases to exist,' he said. 'And so, we call on this government and succeeding governments to finally take the courageous step of overruling bureaucratic inertia and do what is needed, what is necessary and what is right'. Julie-Ann Finney – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) An instrumental and relentless voice in calling for the Royal Commission in Defence and Veteran Suicide, which was released last year, Julie-Ann Finney's advocacy came from tragedy. The South Australian woman began campaigning for change in the military system after she lost her 38-year-old David to suicide in 2019. Ms Finney paid tribute to her late son and defence families nationwide who have lost a loved one. 'I did wish that he was here to get it. I really don't feel like this is my award,' she said. 'I feel like this award belongs to everybody who served or serves, and all of the voiceless and their families who are fighting for them. 'This has been such a huge fight, and usually if I something happens with me I don't talk about it but I have decided that this one, I'm going to stand on, because we still need so much change.' While she wasn't sure of the logistics, Ms Finney said she had plans of sharing the award with the defence community. 'I don't know how this works, but I'm going to hope that when we get the change that we need, that this award can go to the war memorial to say thank you to all who have served this nation, be they here or not, and their families who have supported them.' Deborah Hutton – Medal of the Order of Australi a (OAM) A familiar face on television screens, Deborah Hutton followed a decade-plus career at the Australian Women's Weekly to becoming a fixture on programs like Amazing Homes and Location Location. She's since parlayed her platform to raising awareness for skin cancer prevention s following two significant skin cancer removal surgeries, taking on ambassadorships for Chick Check Champions, The Skin Hospital, The Skin Health Institute and Lions Australia's Skin Cancer Screening and Awareness Program. Photos of Hutton's 'pretty brutal' recovery following the removal of two Basal Cell Carcinomas (BCC) from her face went viral in 2020, however she says the prevenance of the recent tan lines trend was proof of the need for continued advocacy. 'I was like: 'Are you kidding me'? Hutton said, exasperated. 'This is the message that I want these young people to listen to: You are literally investing in having a potentially really dangerous future with your skin. Three out of four Aussies are 100 per cent going to get some form of skin cancer in their lifetime. That's the stat'. Hutton said her message was about having a 'better relationship with the sun'. She also wanted to use her profile to raise more awareness for programs which operate mobile skin check buses and trucks to ensure Aussies in rural and regional areas can access free appointments. 'This is critical because these are areas where they have so little access to get their skin checked,' she said. 'We need more we need more light on these amazing organisations that are doing this, that are putting money behind these mobile units because it's very challenging in some of these areas.'
