Latest news with #LizAllen
News.com.au
23-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Begging for migrants': Australia's telling new fertility statistics
New findings from financial firm KPMG have added to growing concerns about Australia's labour force and economy. The study reveals that while the number of births nationally in 2024 reached 292,500 in 2024, it is still a 3.8 per cent drop from 304,000 in 2019. The fertility rate (the average number of children over a woman's lifetime), sat at 1.51 in 2024, far below the 2.1 rate needed to sustain Australia's growth. It found outer-suburban and regional Australians were most likely to sustain higher numbers of children per person, with the largest increases in fertility rate felt outside the nation's capital cities. Meanwhile, major cities Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have all seen further declines in the fertility rate. It comes amid cost-of-living pressures, which KPMG attributes as a key factor driving this reduction. 'Rising rents, mortgage payments and childcare costs in the metro areas are putting a handbrake on people's plans to start or grow their family,' KPMG Urban Economist Terry Rawnsley said. 'Instead, regional communities are continuing to emerge as popular places to live, work and raise a family, with affordability now top of mind for many Australians.' The primary concerns around a low birth rate relate to population growth and an ageing population. Liz Allen, demographer at the ANU Centre for Social Policy Research, believes that the issue is unlikely to resolve itself, saying that Australia will unlikely experience a 'bounce back' without drastic policy changes in areas such as housing affordability, economic security and gender equality. 'We've essentially hit rock bottom, and trying to come back from that is going to be incredibly difficult,' she said to SBS. 'It will be a task that requires enormous policy and political intervention.' Brisbane based psychologist Dr William von Hippel said the low birth rates would drive governments to 'fight to let migrants in, not keep them out', as a bid to support the workforce needs. 'If you look at the current population of the globe, it's meant to peak somewhere between 2070 and 2090, probably around eight billion and some change,' he told the Diary of a CEO podcast. 'In 50 years, that argument is going to be, how can we convince people of country X to come into our country because we're going to shrink and disappear,' he said. According to research published in the medical journal The Lancet, Australia's fertility rates could fall further to 1.45 before 2030.
News.com.au
21-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Professor erupts amid Australian National University's $250m cuts
A senior academic has opened up about the staff crisis gripping Australia's premier university as it works through plans to cut $250 million from its budget by next year. Morale is 'incredibly low' among Australian National University (ANU) employees who are being 'worked to the bone' due to recent cuts, with further job losses flagged by management. That's according to Liz Allen, who accused ANU executives of running a 'slash and burn approach' to budget repair and having 'no insight into to the reality' of day-to-day work. 'Staff simply don't have the resources to do their job and that means that education is being impacted,' she told 'Research is being stifled, and staff are being worked to the bone … it's the worst it's ever been.' The Commonwealth-funded university announced in October its Renew ANU plan, led by vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell, saying it 'must reform to put us on a financially sustainable footing'. It followed a cap on international students imposed by the federal government, with the Canberra institution losing 400 spaces compared to 2024 enrolments. ANU announced 41 redundancies for staff in June, from its Information Technology Services, Information Security Office, and Planning and Service Performance division. This month, it revealed another 59 jobs were in line to be cut from the colleges of Science and Medicine, Arts and Social Sciences and the Research and Innovation Portfolio. Chief operating officer Jonathan Churchill told staff at a recent town hall that ANU had 'recorded significant financial deficits since 2020'. 'Last year our operating result was a $140 million deficit,' he said on June 5. 'We know we need to get to a break-even operating result in 2026, and to do that we need to make really significant adjustments to the university cost base. 'We're looking for a $250 million reduction in costs overall – including $100m of salary cost reductions across (20)25 and (20)26.' Mr Churchill said the university was 'a bit over halfway' toward that target 'but obviously there is still more to do'. He said ANU had introduced significant hiring controls and reduced the number of academic colleges from seven to six as part of cost-cutting measures. Dr Allen said enrolments in her classes had increased 72 per cent since 2024, from 134 to more than 225 students. Despite this spike, she said she had no contracted teaching support as she prepared to teach her first class on Monday. Last year she had two support staff. 'I'm exhausted,' Dr Allen said, revealing she spent her weekend working unpaid ahead of the first day of semester. 'I don't have anyone currently contracted to help me teach upwards of 11 tutorials, two lectures, do all the marking, (and) maintain the integrity of that learning environment to ensure … that ANU certificate of educational attainment is worth the paper it's printed on.' She said colleagues were anxious about losing their jobs and were 'taking sick leave at unprecedented levels'. Dr Allen said staff were also unconvinced by the numbers ANU has put foward to justify the cuts, saying they had already been revised down: 'even by their own account, they don't appear to know what the figures are'. She resigned from the university's governance council in April after 95 per cent of respondents to a union poll said they had no confidence in the Chancellor – former federal minister Julie Bishop – and Dr Bell. The vice-chancellor, Dr Bell has previously acknowledged the 'hard time for our community' but that 'we are going to keep having to make hard choices'. 'I am really hopeful by the end of the year that we are in a much better place than we are now,' she told ABC last month. A spokesperson for ANU said in a statement to it was 'on a journey to achieve long term financial sustainability'. 'Our current operating model is inefficient and places bureaucratic obstacles in the way of our staff doing good work,' they said. 'That's why we'll be redesigning services to work in more contemporary ways.' Federal Senator David Pocock has been a fierce critic of ANU's handling of its restructure, claiming it had 'misled' him on consultancy expenditure during senate estimates. He revealed ANU had spent more than $1.1 million on one firm alone, and had engaged three others regarding its renewal project. Staff were sent guidance this week on how to 'respond to disruptions … in relation to the current tensions surrounding' plans for change at the university. It follows protests over the planned cuts involving staff and students in recent weeks. A report by the Australian Financial Review this month stated 175 people had accepted voluntary redundancies on top of the 100 job cuts announced in June and July. The National Tertiary Education Union has estimated that up to 650 staff could go to meet the stated $100 million savings from salaries. The university has refuted data from Workplace Gender Equality which appeared to show its headcount dropped by 797 in the 12 months to March, saying the agency only offered a 'snapshot' and counted casual staff as full-time workers. The union's ACT division branch secretary Lachlan Clohesy has said there was 'no continuing financial rationale for job cuts at ANU'. 'Our view based on the cuts that they have already made is that they have already achieved the target and there is no financial justification for further cuts,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Newsweek
17-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Australia Birth Rate Warning Issued: 'Human Catastrophe'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Australia is now at a "tipping point," facing a reality in which the number of deaths outpaces the number of births, which could lead to "human catastrophe," an analysis shows. New data analysis from financial firm KPMG shows that while the number of births in 2024 increased from 2023, it is still dangerously low, behind pre-pandemic levels. "Australia, like much of the world, is facing a human catastrophe," Liz Allen, a demographer at the Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Social Policy Research, told Australia's Special Broadcasting Service. A file photo shows a crowd waving Australian flags at the Great Aussie Barbecue in Perth, Australia, on October 29, 2011. A file photo shows a crowd waving Australian flags at the Great Aussie Barbecue in Perth, Australia, on October 29, 2011. AP Why It Matters Australia's experience reflects a global pattern of plummeting fertility rates. Many developed countries, including the United States, are recording their lowest birth rates in generations—a shift that signals long-term workforce shortages, strains on public services and the dominance of aging populations. A continued decline could mean fewer people of working age supporting a growing number of elderly citizens, undermining the country's tax base and putting pressure on social welfare systems. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently called the falling global birth rate a "crisis," describing it as a threat to economic stability and social cohesion worldwide. What To Know Steep Drop in Australia's Birth Rate Australia's fertility rate hit a record low of 1.51 babies per woman in 2024, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This puts Australia far below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to sustain its population without migration. Some 292,500 births took place across Australia last year, which is more than the 285,000 births the previous year, but these are both well below the more than 300,000 births recorded every year between 2013 and 2019. Economic and Social Drivers Behind the Trend Key reasons for the decline include high living costs, unaffordable housing, and increased uncertainty about the future, according to KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley. Similarly, Allen said economic and environmental concerns were putting Australians off from having children. Regional Variations and the Urban-Rural Divide While birth rates are declining nationally, the KPMG analysis shows that urban areas are seeing a more dramatic drop than regional areas. "Rising rents, mortgage payments and childcare costs in the metro areas are putting a handbrake on people's plans to start or grow their family," Rawnsley said. "Instead, regional communities are continuing to emerge as popular places to live, work and raise a family, with affordability now top of mind for many Australians." The Global Context: Declining Fertility Worldwide Australia's situation mirrors an international trend. Global fertility rates have dropped dramatically since 1950 and are forecast to fall further, according to a study by medical journal The Lancet and recent data collected by Birth Gauge. The United States has seen its fertility rate decline to 1.58 in 2025 so far—down from 1.59 last year, 1.60 in 2023, 1.64 in 2020 and 1.84 in 2015. Countries in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia face even sharper drops, with some nations increasingly reliant on immigration to buffer population losses. What People Are Saying ANU demographer Liz Allen said: "We've essentially hit rock bottom, and trying to come back from that is going to be incredibly difficult. It will be a task that requires enormous policy and political intervention." UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem previously said: "We must create the conditions that enable people to exercise their reproductive rights, including gender equality and economic stability." U.S. Vice President JD Vance said in January: "Our society has failed to recognize the obligation that one generation has to another as a core part of living in society. So let me say very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America." What Happens Next Australian and international authorities are expected to closely monitor birth rate trends and continue policy debates on how to address the crisis. Long-term solutions are likely to require broad economic reforms targeting housing affordability, job security and childcare support. Without significant action, experts warn that shrinking workforces and aging populations will pose major challenges for future prosperity.
NBC Sports
21-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
NFL, NFLPA have yet to reach an official agreement on Olympic participation
On the issue of active NFL players participating in the Olympics, the owners have spoken. The NFL Players Association has, too. However, the two sides have yet to speak to each other in a meaningful — or binding — fashion. According to the NFLPA, substantive talks between the league and the union regarding Olympic participation have not yet happened. 'The resolution just green lit that process which has yet to be designed or debated,' NFLPA chief external affairs officer Liz Allen said. 'Everything laid out so far is just the opening bid from which to work on participation and safety terms.' It's an important point. Although the NFLPA has expressed full support for the participation of players in the Olympics, Tuesday's formal announcement of the passage of the resolution contained a not-so-subtle caveat from executive director Lloyd Howell: 'We look forward to working with the league, IFAF, and Olympic authorities on the terms of their participation to ensure players who compete will do so with protections to their health, safety, and job.' That sets the stage for potentially harder-than-they-look negotiations regarding issues such as field quality, tryout duration and intensity, pre-Olympics practice sessions, and salary protection in the event of serious injury. There's another issue into which we stumbled while trying to unpack during PFT Live the many non-obvious issues arising from NFL players playing flag football. For example, will players be able to waive their right to participate in the Olympics through individual negotiations with their teams? The NFLPA notes that receivers are the players who are the most interested in playing Olympic flag football. What if a team approaches a star receiver who is inclined to accept a spot on the U.S. flag football team and offers him a contractual sweetener to pass on the invitation? Will that be permitted? If the player has the right to participate in the Olympics, expressly waiving that right has financial value. Why shouldn't he be able to capitalize on a decision to refrain from assuming the injury risk? The league office may not like that. But if the teams and players want to do it, why should it be prevented? It's a way for the players to leverage greater compensation for his full and complete commitment to the team, as evidenced by turning his back on Olympic flag football. The key word is leverage. The NFLPA has it, given that the league has announced that players will be eligible to participate without first formalizing an agreement with the union. And while the NFLPA is taking the position that it supports the players who choose to play, the circumstances give the union the ability to squeeze various concessions from the NFL as the resolution works its way toward becoming a binding codicil to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
