1. This week 10 years ago, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) announced a trial of the MoneySmart Teaching resource in Australian schools to ensure young people learned the skills and knowledge to break the debt habit.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed Australians owed $50 million in credit card debt and young students were starting their adult life with an average study debt of $16,000.
MoneySmart Facilitator at Sydney’s North Rocks Public School, Tom Moth said the MoneySmart program would educate students about money, preparing them for financial success and equipping them with the values and attitudes to be responsible consumers in a digital world where credit was so readily available.
2. Victoria Police launched a Statewide operation focused on preventing and detecting bushfire arsonists in which dedicated police patrols would be boosted by specialist support from the Operational Response Unit.
Crime Assistant Police Commissioner, Stephen Fontana said Operation Firesetter would involve highly visible patrols in bushfire arson hotspots and community education during the fire season.
He said the annual operation would also see police investigate recidivist offenders who had been identified as high-risk arsonists and encourage community help.
“The message is simple: if you’ve seen something or know something, then say something,” Assistant Commissioner Fontana said.
3. Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young declared obesity the biggest challenge to the health of Queenslanders in this century, saying about 55,000 Queenslanders joined the ranks of the overweight and obese every year and that the State’s obesity rates had doubled in the past 16 years.
“The obesity epidemic reflects our environment and busy lifestyles, which promote high-energy diets while at the same time limiting opportunities to be active,” Dr Young said.
“All these elements are contributing to a much heavier Queensland, with 2.2 million people in our State facing premature death and disability due to excess weight.”
4. A team led by accounting company Deloitte was selected to complete the long-term planning necessary to unlock the vast natural resource wealth underlying South Australia.
Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese said the appointment followed the allocation of funding from the Federal Government’s new mining tax.
Mr Albanese said Deloitte and its partners would develop regional plans covering the Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula–Braemar and the Upper North, with each identifying the water, energy and transport infrastructure required to take full advantage of the growing global demand for the State’s natural resources.
5. Further evidence that prescribed fire minimised the behaviour of high-intensity bushfires was published in the international journal Forest Ecology and Management by Principal Research Scientist at Western Australia’s Department of Environment and Conservation, Dr Lachie McCaw.
Dr McCaw said his study’s findings demonstrated that prescribed burning could change fire behaviour by reducing its intensity, improve suppression, and reduce the likelihood of crown fires for at least five years after burning.
“Prescribed burning reduces the severity of bushfire impacts on soil, vegetation and other environmental values, and is an important tool for achieving biodiversity conservation and environmental management objectives in eucalypt forests,” Dr McCaw said.
6. And a decade ago, the first prison in Western Australia dedicated to addressing the specific needs of 18 to 24-year-old male offenders was opened, with Minister for Corrective Services, Murray Cowper saying the Wandoo Reintegration Facility offered intensive case management and a strong reintegration focus with relevant vocational, training and employment opportunities.
“Young adult men who enter the prison system are often compulsive and extremely vulnerable to the risks of repeat offending,” Mr Cowper said.
“The Wandoo facility separates these men from the influences of older, entrenched prisoners and introduces training and employment pathways to redirect them from offending patterns.”
