Latest news with #AlanMiller
News.com.au
03-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Housing crisis help for 220 essential workers
Construction has begun on an affordable housing development offering more than 220 blocks for essential workers. Villawood Properties has officially started work on 'Baya' — a $250m development in Southern Redland Bay, offering 224 lots of land for care workers such as emergency staff, nurses, and teachers, to build new homes. Villawood's Care Worker Support Program is offering an automatic grant of $20,000 for care workers to afford the available lots. Villawood Properties CEO Alan Miller said an important part of this development was giving care workers access to affordable homes at a reasonable distance. 'The whole issue is the whole of southeast Queensland is pretty unsupplied with housing options,' he said. 'Getting people into housing in locations where they work is really the most important thing.' The program has been taken advantage of by more than 400 care workers across Australia, including in Villawood's Beaudesert community, 'Eucalee'. Redland Bay's hospital is currently receiving a $300 million expansion, and Mr Miller said these changes factored into why they picked the area. 'We targeted [Redland Bay] because it's a major growth corridor in Queensland,' he said. 'Very strong demand and supply was very restricted – we thought we could bring something to the market that other developers weren't bringing.' Stage one has now launched, expected to be complete within 18 months. Lots ranging from 358 to 1184 sqm are on offer to Queenslanders, with more than a thousand people having already registered their interest. 'We've had a huge response, not just from care workers but from everyone in all parts of the market,' Mr Miller said. 'What we're looking to do is see how we can keep those prices down.' Residences will move into a spot near both the ocean and 1000 hectares of conservation area, and will have around 1.8 hectares of green space to share within the project itself. Stage one lots begin at $489,000, with the project expected to have seven stages before selling out. The project's full three-year development will give Queenslanders more than 700 jobs across building, administration and landscaping industries.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trademark lawsuit alleges Disney intentionally ripped off Portland Pickles
PORTLAND, Ore. () — The Portland Pickles have hit an entertainment giant with a lawsuit involving an animated series that features a mascot similar to the Rose City's very own Dillon T. Pickle. The baseball organization filed the complaint against Walt Disney Company on Wednesday, arguing that Pixar Animation Studio's new series is violating trademark laws. The cartoon, which premiered on Disney+ in February, follows the story of a softball team titled the Pickles. 'Accelerated disposition' planned for federal Medford courthouse that the fictional players' green and white jerseys, logo and graphics closely resemble those of the real-life Portland team. Pickles President and Co-owner Alan Miller originally said that taking legal action against Disney would be a 'last resort,' but it appears the organization has changed its tune. 'Fueled by incredible support from our fans and community members from all walks of life, we felt we had no choice but to protect our rights — not just for ourselves, but on behalf of the little guy,' the Pickles said in a statement. The team's lawsuit is arguing Disney has intentionally used its 'outsized market power' to copy the smaller brand that has been trademarked since 2016. The entertainment company has also begun selling merchandise to promote the new series, which plaintiffs claim has prompted confusion among local baseball fans. According to the Pickles, several supporters have asked the organization whether it is affiliated with Disney. The team also fears its own merchandise could be mistaken as unlicensed apparel for the company's new series. Robert Prevost becomes first American pope of the Catholic Church: What to know 'This confusion directly threatens to erode the goodwill and consumer recognition that Plaintiff has cultivated through years of consistent and distinctive use of their marks on high-quality baseball merchandise, ultimately damaging their commercial reputation and control over their brand identity,' the lawsuit reads. KOIN 6 has reached out to Disney for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Glasgow Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Strathclyde professor helps create human rights 'toolkit'
Professor Alan Miller is one of the four lead authors of the Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) to Development Programming Toolkit. The toolkit outlines how a human rights-based approach can act as a "problem-solving" method to tackle global development issues and help achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read more: 'Mon the Tech': Strathclyde University win varsity sporting competition It is intended to serve as a guide for UNDP Country Offices, helping them enhance their execution of development programmes and their pursuit of the SDGs. The document introduces a framework called PLANET (Participation; Link; Accountability; Non-discrimination and equality; Empowerment and capacity development; Transparency) for implementing the human rights-based approach. Professor Miller, who serves as a senior independent expert with the UNDP Crisis Bureau, said: "A human rights-based approach involves a 'whole of society' approach, where different interests around the table all have a stake in the matter, and you establish the framework in which sometimes competing sets of rights and interests are reconciled with one another. "As a problem-solver, the toolkit can help to find an agreed way forward to enable sustainable development. "It can also have a preventative role where things happening in a country could give rise to conflict, huge poverty or displacement of individuals and communities if the problems are not addressed." The toolkit is linked to a matrix of recommendations made to member states following the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of each UN member state's human rights record. Professor Miller is collaborating with the Scottish Government to devise proposals which may include the matrix as a component of a 'tracker tool'. This tool would assess performance in fulfilling international human rights obligations, as well as the possibility of linking these to relevant policy areas and SDGs. Read more: 'Lots to learn': International manufacturing conference to take place in Glasgow In their co-written forward, UNDP Assistant Secretaries-General Shoko Noda and Marcos Neto, stated: "Utilising HRBA in development programming can help UNDP improve how it delivers for populations and governments around the world. "It can be an enabler of progress, engaging whole of societies, systems and unpacking development challenges whilst providing solutions pathways and helping us to anticipate, prevent and manage risks. "At UNDP, we believe that human rights can be a preventive, protective and transformative force, guiding societies towards stability, prosperity and equality." Professor Miller's co-authors of the toolkit are UNDP officials Julie van Dassen, Sarah Rattray, and Seán O'Connell. Arifur Rahman and Brian Migowe provided coordination and research support.
