On Saturday 4 December we need to vote for people who focus on issues that can be controlled by Council. Candidates claiming they can, and will, make significant and positive contributions to climate change, social housing, transport, arts and small business and the myriad of problems facing us, are fooling you and themselves. They can’t and will not, as a local councillor.
State and federal governments have overriding legislation and public servants in abundance that already have control over these matters. We need local candidates who aim to control the things that local councils are given the responsibility to control; The unexciting monitoring of the general manager, to ensure the proper and equitable fixing of local roads, maintenance of sewer systems, local parks and beaches etc.
We need local councillors who focus on the local development of local land to best please local residents, not developers who take the most profit and leave a mess for locals to live with.
We need local councillors to acknowledge ratepayers who fund a large part of the local budget, by not forcing them to pay extra charges in parking when they come to town and who also live with poor or no services outside of built up areas – eg water and sewer.
There are some candidates who are willing and able to do this. We, as voters, need to put some energy into finding out who they are and then vote for them. The ultimate responsibility for getting who we voted for is ours.
Offshore social media platforms with at least 250,000 Australian account-holders would be required to set up a local company to handle defamation complaints as part of a federal government plan to make tech giants take greater responsibility for defamatory content posted by anonymous users.
An exposure draft of proposed anti-trolling laws, released today, makes clear social media companies will be considered “publishers” of users’ comments made in Australia on their platforms and can be held liable for defamatory comments, while media companies and individuals with public Facebook pages will not be responsible for third-party comments.
The federal government has announced a change to defamation laws to tackle anonymous trolls.Credit:Getty Images
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has signalled the Coalition’s tough-on-tech platform will be a key election pitch to voters ahead of next year’s federal poll.
Characterising the companies as a potential threat to Australians, Mr Morrison said on Wednesday the government was “ripping the mask off” trolls and issuing an edict to the tech giants of: “You built it, you make it safe”.
“When you’re a prime minister, you’ve got to have the strength to stand up to those who threaten Australia. You’ve got to have the strength to stand up to the big tech companies,” Mr Morrison said, as he announced a new Parliamentary inquiry in the toxic impact of social media.
The proposed changes come as Coalition MPs, including Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Victorian senator Sarah Henderson, have shown their willingness to pursue defamation actions over comments on social media.
The proposed laws will reverse a High Court ruling that the owners and operators of public Facebook pages, including mainstream media companies and public figures, are legally responsible as “publishers” for the defamatory comments of third parties. The person posting the comments will continue to be liable alongside the social media companies, and can be sued directly for defamation.
Under existing defamation laws, social media companies are already “publishers” of users’ comments on their platforms and former NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro is suing Google over allegedly defamatory videos posted by YouTube personality Jordan Shanks.
But there can be jurisdictional issues with bringing defamation proceedings against entities that are not located in Australia. The proposal aims to create an incentive for platforms to set up an Australian “shopfront” by giving them a defence against being held liable for the defamatory comments of users if they meet specific conditions.
Platforms with at least 250,000 Australian users would need to set up a local entity to handle complaints from users about potentially defamatory comments, including dealing with requests for information about the identity of an anonymous commenter to enable an alleged victim of online defamation to sue the person directly.
However, the anonymous commenter must consent to their details being disclosed by the platform.
If consent is not given, a person could apply to the Federal Court for a new order requiring the platform to disclose the identity of the anonymous commenter. This appears similar to an existing process in Australia known as preliminary discovery, and it is not yet clear how this would be cheaper or easier than this process.
To escape liability for the defamatory comments of users, the social media companies would need to reveal the identity of the anonymous commenter, either because the person agreed to their details being provided or the court order was made.
Professor David Rolph, an expert in defamation law from the University of Sydney, said: “The reason why social media companies have not been defendants in Australian defamation cases until now is due to problems of jurisdiction and enforcement.
“A reform to require social media companies to have a presence in Australia for the purposes of jurisdiction and enforcement will overcome a significant impediment that plaintiffs have faced.”
Facebook, which also owns Instagram, and Twitter have been contacted for comment.
The proposed changes follow the High Court’s decision in former Northern Territory youth detainee Dylan Voller’s defamation case against media outlets over allegedly defamatory comments posted by third parties on their public Facebook pages.
The High Court ruled the media outlets were legally responsible as “publishers” of those comments, even if they were not aware of them. The case will now proceed to a NSW Supreme Court trial to determine if the comments were in fact defamatory and if the media outlets have any defences.
The change proposed by the federal government would mean operators of Facebook pages would have no legal responsibility for comments on their pages and would not have a duty to monitor comments.
Lisa Visentin is a federal political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, covering education and communications.Connect via Twitter or email.
The audit from the Office of the Auditor General Western Australia assessed a sample of 15 local government entities
A cyber security audit of local government entities in Western Australia showed vulnerabilities in some systems dating back to over 15 years.
The audit from the Office of the Auditor General Western Australia assessed a sample of 15 local government entities to determine how they manage cyber security risks and respond to cyber threats.
Caroline Spencer, Auditor General of Western Australia, said local government entities use key systems to deliver services to their communities and collect information about residents.
“This information is attractive to cybercriminals. LG entities need to understand and mitigate their cyber security risks,” she said in the report.
“In doing so, entity capability and public confidence in digital initiatives and government processes will be strengthened.”
Conducting simulated attacks
For the audit, the team carried out black box simulated cyber-attacks and sent test phishing emails to local government entities without their knowledge.
The black box approach is used to simulate a real-world scenario where tests are undertaken without any inside knowledge of the organisation’s IT environment or systems.
The team then worked with the Security Research Institute at Edith Cowan University to analyse the audit results.
Outdated policies
The audit found that only three local government entities had adequate cyber security policies to govern and manage cyber security.
Nine local government entities had policies that were out of date or did not cover important areas, and the remaining three did not have a policy or framework.
“Without policies that clearly outline the principles and expectations of systems and employees, entities are at higher risk of compromise by cyber threats,” the report said.
“This may result in financial loss, reputational damage or disruption to the delivery of important services to their communities.”
The audit also found that only two local government entities had identified all their cyber risks, ten had considered some but not all, and three had not identified any.
“If LG entities are not aware of their cyber risks, they cannot mitigate them,” the report said.
“This exposes them to higher risk of compromise which may adversely impact their business plans and objectives.”
No process for managing vulnerabilities
Most of the local government entities also did not have a process to manage vulnerabilities. Only three had a process in place and none of these were fully effective, according to the audit.
A penetration test is a simulated cyber-attack that organisations can perform against their computer systems to check for vulnerabilities.
Only five of the local government entities had recently tested their security controls, two had not conducted tests since 2015 and one had never tested at all.
As part of the audit, the team used basic open-source tools to simulate cyber-attacks on the local government entities to test their response strategies.
Only three had their systems configured to detect and block the simulated attacks in a timely manner.
“It was concerning that nine LG entities did not detect nor respond to our simulations, and three LG entities took up to 14 days to detect the simulations, and only did so after the simulation intensity increased significantly,” the report said.
Ongoing training needed
Training staff to increase awareness of cyber security was not enough to prevent cyber-attacks, according to the audit, which showed that seven staff who had undergone training still clicked on links in the test phishing emails, with some even submitting their username and password.
“This type of information can be used to compromise key systems or deliver malware to maintain long-term access into entity networks,” the report said.
“Cyber security awareness programs should be ongoing and focus on current trends.
“Further, if awareness programs are overly technical, individuals will not understand the cyber risks posed to their entity and their personal responsibilities.”
The audit set out seven recommendations for local government entities to adopt, including having processes to identify and address cyber security risks, ongoing awareness programs and technical controls to detect and prevent phishing emails.
All of the 15 local government entities have accepted the recommendations.
Key local manufacturer Austin Engineering delivers 1,000 iron ore truck bodies to Rio Tinto
Partnership between the two companies first commenced in 1988
100 per cent local content in truck bodies, supporting hundreds of WA jobs
Kewdale manufacturing facility is one of Austin Engineering's two major manufacturing sites in the Asia-Pacific region
The McGowan Government has welcomed local Austin Engineering's milestone achievement of delivering 1,000 locally manufactured iron ore truck bodies to Rio Tinto.
In a partnership that first commenced in 1988, Rio Tinto has purchased approximately $300 million worth of equipment from Austin Engineering.
With 100 per cent local content in the truck bodies, the manufacturing program supports hundreds of Western Australian jobs.
The milestone comes as the McGowan Government's continued efforts drive more initiatives as part of its WA Jobs Plan to capitalise on WA's manufacturing sector.
This has resulted in State Government investment of $126 million into the following programs:
critical iron ore rail wagon parts;
stand-alone power systems;
wind turbine manufacturing; and
precursor cathode materials manufacturing for battery industries.
Last month, the McGowan Labor Government welcomed Rio Tinto's commitment to use local suppliers to build iron ore railcars for its Pilbara mining operations.
Rio Tinto's announcement includes a commitment to the initial purchase of 50 iron ore railcars, followed by an ongoing commitment of 10 ore cars a year for at least the following five years.
The announcement reflects the State Government's commitment to boost local manufacturing and secure an ongoing pipeline of WA jobs through its establishment of the Iron Ore Railcar Wagons Manufacturing and Maintenance Action Group.
Austin Engineering's Kewdale facility is currently receiving its first manufacturing upgrade, with Austin Engineering investing heavily into the facility to implement new advanced manufacturing processes.
Austin Engineering's Kewdale facility is one of two of the company's major manufacturing sites in the Asia-Pacific region.
Comments attributed to Premier Mark McGowan:
"Congratulations to Austin Engineering and Rio Tinto for their 30 year partnership, which has now seen 1,000 WA-made truck bodies roll off the production line.
"It is fantastic to see our major resources companies investing heavily in our local manufacturing businesses, which is incredibly important for local jobs.
"As part of our WA Jobs Plan, we're investing in initiatives that bolster local jobs and local content to reinforce our strong manufacturing sector.
"The State Government is committed to creating more opportunities for Western Australian manufacturers to help boost our economy and create WA jobs harnessing local skills and training."
Comments attributed to State Development, Jobs and Trade Minister Roger Cook:
"Our local manufacturing sector is going from strength to strength, and today's milestone is just another indication of what WA is capable of.
"Austin Engineering has forged a relationship with Rio Tinto that should be the envy of the industry, and we're encouraging other key players to strike while the iron is hot and choose WA manufacturers and invest locally."
Premier's office - 6552 5200
State Development, Jobs and Trade Minister's office - 6552 6500
Peel Regional Skills Summit being held in Mandurah
More than 40 business leaders, peak bodies, unions and training representatives attending
State Government supporting unique workforce needs of regional WA
Low fee course enrolments up by 27 per cent in the Peel region
Local business and government leaders are meeting in Mandurah today to generate innovative ideas and practical actions to grow the skilled workforce in the Peel region.
The Mandurah-Peel Regional Skills Summit is the ninth in a series of 10 Regional Skills Summits hosted by the McGowan Government since August 2021.
Insights from the Mandurah-Peel Regional Skills Summit will form the basis of a local action plan to meet the region's unique workforce needs.
More than 40 government and regional business leaders from a range of sectors are attending the Mandurah Summit, including the region's biggest employing industries of retail, health care and social assistance, construction, education and training, manufacturing and accommodation and food services.
Recognising the importance of training to build a skilled workforce and retain people in regional areas, the McGowan Government has been working to ensure its investment in training initiatives reaches all corners of the State.
Peel locals are snapping up affordable training opportunities offered through the State Government's Lower fees, local skills (LFLS) initiative, with a 27 per cent increase in LFLS enrolments in the region this year.
Employers have responded by taking on more apprentices and trainees in the Peel region in 2021, with commencements up by more than 75 per cent in the 12 months to September 30, 2021.
The McGowan Government recently expanded the LFLS program by a further 30 courses from 2022, to include a total of 210 courses with heavily reduced course fees in priority industry areas including hospitality, health care, construction, retail and others.
Workers in industries which have a critical need to upskill workers - including childcare, aged and disability care, and civil construction - will be able to access low fee existing worker traineeship places to help meet the skills needs of these sectors.
The new initiatives respond to workforce issues raised by industry leaders at the Perth and regional skills summits held to date, and are jointly funded through a $103.5 million agreement between the State and Commonwealth Governments under the expanded JobTrainer Fund agreement.
Other initiatives progressing from the Perth Skills Summit include attracting onshore skilled migrants to fill jobs in demand in Western Australia; supporting mature age apprentices; promoting the tourism and hospitality industry to school students to grow the workforce; extending the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Re-engagement Incentive; freezing regional Government rental accommodation to attract public sector workers to the regions; and boosting Aboriginal youth employment opportunities.
The State Government is also providing support for jobseekers experiencing disadvantage to obtain a driver's licence; progressing targeted advertising campaigns to attract interstate workers and increase participation of under-represented groups in WA; has smoothed the pipeline of construction work; and is running a series of 10 Regional Skills Summits, including the one being held today.
Comments attributed to Education and Training Minister Sue Ellery:
"Through Skills Summits our Government and industry leaders are working together to increase the capability of local workforces across the State.
"Ideas and discussions captured at the Mandurah Skills Summit will inform local action plans to address changing workforce needs in the Peel region, with a focus on local solutions for local issues."
Comments attributed to Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education and Training Terry Healy:
"Our Government is keen to hear from business leaders about practical actions that can be taken in the Peel to help fill local jobs.
"I know from having hosted many of these that they have been well received and I look forward to meeting with the Peel community."
Comments attributed to Mandurah MLA David Templeman:
"I am thrilled to be able to host one of the Skills Summits in Mandurah.
"The region has unique skills needs and I am interested in hearing about new ways of ensuring we can continue to grow our local workforce to support local jobs."
Remember R2-D2 beaming a hologram of Princess Leia pleading for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first “Star Wars” movie back in 1977?
Now a local company aims to bring similar holograms to real life on desktop and handheld devices.
Ikin, founded four years ago by Taylor Scott Griffith and Joe Ward and headquartered in an office next to the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine hotel, is working on volumetric hardware, “neural adaptive” artificial intelligence algorithms and other software to deliver holograms on small devices — including an accessory that attaches to smartphones.
Ikin’s products aren’t ready for prime time yet. They remain in the beta testing or special-order phase. When they do launch commercially, they’ll face stiff competition from more established technologies, such as augmented reality smart glasses and virtual reality headsets.
“When I look at holographics, I don’t know that there is a huge market today or in the next couple of years,” said Eric Abbruzzese, research director at ABI Research, which tracks the industry. “But I am excited to see the miniaturization of the technology. I think we’re seeing the first of that with an Ikin.”
If Ikin succeeds in delivering easy-to-use holograms without headgear, it could find audiences across a wide range of industries, including videoconferencing — with lifelike Zoom calls and more engaging online education — e-commerce, health care, real estate, architecture, remote field repair and gaming.
Ikin’s desktop device displays a volumetric eyeball.
(Courtesy of Ikin)
Griffith, Ikin’s chief technology officer, contends that holograms deliver a more intense emotional experience. He said he saw that firsthand while working on holographic shows in Las Vegas. Holograms of deceased performers such as Tupac Shakur, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson are used in some stage productions.
“You would have people weeping, especially when it came to the holographic resurrections,” Griffith said. “It is really an incredibly powerful thing.
“I was working to create this optics system,” he continued. “It is easy to create large-scale systems but incredibly difficult to create a functional small-scale system when it comes to holograms. I finally stumbled upon a solution.”
The young company’s technology has popped onto the radar of a U.S. military contractor, which included it as part of a 5G logistics demonstration at a military warehouse in Georgia.
It’s also being explored by an undisclosed cosmetics firm that is looking to use it for remote product testing.
Ikin has two main projects under development.
ARC is a 32-inch desktop display that projects holograms in ambient light and is directed at businesses. At the company’s headquarters, ARC produced a hologram of an eyeball that spun so it could be examined from various angles.
“It’s really cool to be able scan a turbine engine and see it in a hologram for cracks and defects over time,” said Ward, Ikin’s chief executive. “The goal is to continue to explore business-to-business opportunities while at the same time producing a consumer product.”
Ikin’s other project is an accessory display that attaches to smartphones to enable holographic images on handsets.
Estimated to cost less than $500, the RYZ display is expected to launch sometime next year. It includes a software kit that can be uploaded into the Unity 3D development platform.
Unity is a popular game engine used by software developers across desktop, mobile, console and virtual reality platforms.
Ikin’s hologram technology displays a wasp.
(Courtesy of Ikin)
The RYZ kit allows developers to repurpose existing content and apps to enable holograms, as well as create new holographic content. “Literally right now all the applications that exist on a phone are ready to be translated into a holographic environment,” Griffith said.
Ikin, which has about 20 employees, has raised roughly $15 million in seed money since it was founded. It is now seeking to raise an additional $20.9 million, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Abbruzzese said Ikin’s challenge will be getting content creators on board and making its technology easy to use. It is still “early days,” he said.
“I hesitate to make the comparison to 3D TVs, but I think it is apt,” Abbruzzese said. “Even if the content is there, the interest might not be. There have been attempts at glasses-free 3D — holographics being sort of the next step for 3D — and it never really caught on.”
— La Jolla Light staff contributed to this report. ◆
The Northern Territory has recorded three local COVID-19 cases in 24 hours related to the Katherine cluster.
Key points:
Four new COVID cases — three local and one from an international repatriation flight — have been recorded in the NT
The Lajamanu remote community has gone into lockdown after wastewater samples tested positive for COVID
Genomic sequencing to determine if a South African traveller has the Omicron variant is yet to come back
The new cases are in a man in his 40s from Katherine, a woman in her 20s from Robinson River and a boy under 10 years old from Robinson River.
It brings the total number of cases linked to the local cluster to 56.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said all three people are household contacts and had been in the Howard Springs quarantine facility for the whole of their infectious periods.
A fourth case recorded in the NT overnight was in a flight crew member who arrived from London on a repatriation flight.
Mr Gunner said because the three local cases had tested positive late in their 14-day quarantine periods, there was a chance they had caught the virus while in Howard Springs as a result of "family mingling".
He said the rules around mingling in Howard Springs had since been tightened.
Some people staying in the facility will have their quarantine periods lengthened as a result.
The remote community of Lajamanu, about 560 kilometres south-west of Katherine, was sent into lockdown last night after wastewater samples tested positive for COVID.
Mr Gunner said a rapid assessment team had arrived in Lajamanu late last night to test, vaccinate and otherwise support the community, and Katherine West Health Board staff were also assisting.
He said authorities were aiming to test everyone in Lajamanu over the next 48 hours.
"When you get a positive wastewater sample like this, it's similar to the Katherine East experience at [the] Bicentennial [Road] catchment and there's a case in the community," he said.
No Lajamanu residents have reported symptoms so far.
COVID viral fragments have been detected in Lajamanu wastewater samples.(ABC News: Stephanie Zillman)
Mr Gunner also said getting more residents vaccinated would be a focus.
Lajamanu currently has a first dose vaccination rate of about 60 per cent and a second dose rate of just 35 per cent, according to NT government figures.
Mr Gunner said more resources were also being sent to the nearby remote communities of Yuendumu and Kalkarindji to boost vaccination rates, and that daily wastewater testing was being done in a number of surrounding communities.
NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker urged anyone who had left Lajamanu in the past week to get tested for COVID immediately.
And he asked Territorians living in remote communities to "stay where you are" to help contain the virus's spread.
"If you don't need to travel, simply stay where you are," he said.
Commissioner Chalker is urging remote community residents to limit their travel to prevent the spread of COVID.(ABC News: Che Chorley)
Test results still pending for COVID- positive South African traveller
Acting Chief Health Officer Charles Pain said authorities were still waiting on the test results of a COVID-positive repatriation flight traveller from South Africa who arrived in the NT on Thursday, to see if the man was carrying the new Omicron variant of concern.
"We are doing the genomic testing at the moment so we might have a result tomorrow if we're lucky, or maybe the day after," he said.
Dr Pain said the testing was taking a bit longer than usual because the man had returned a "slightly low positive result".
"We are doing some extra testing, so gathering more virus from the individual so we don't… have that confirmation yet," he said.
Dr Pain said it was still too early to tell if the new Omicron variant was "actually a more lethal virus".
"We don't know whether it's actually going to be cause more serious illness, and we don't know the other key things as to whether or not the vaccine would have a lesser effect, or treatments," he said.
He said alarm bells were initially raised about the new variant because its discovery had coincided with a surge in cases in South Africa, and it displayed about 30 mutations in the spike protein, which is the part of the virus that latches onto human cells and infects people.
Family mingling, man's escape raises security questions
Authorities said there had been a change to procedures at Howard Springs to reduce the risk of COVID transmission through family mingling.
They said some mingling had only happened within family groups, rather than between different family groups or domestic and international travellers, and generally compliance at the facility was good.
"These are quite different circumstances to those that we've experienced before," Dr Pain said.
"Cohorting families together – we've tried to do that, but, as you can imagine, we're trying to keep people separate to prevent that transmission, while at the same time keeping conditions habitable and civilised for people.
"We will adjust our systems so that we prevent any further transmission."
Tighter security measures are now in place at the Howard Springs quarantine facility, near Darwin.(ABC News: Dane Hirst)
He was caught by police and returned to the facility about four hours later.
Yesterday, Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the government would conduct a review of the facility to determine what had happened.
Asked what was being done at Howard Springs to prevent bad behaviour, Commissioner Chalker said he wanted to be clear that "we're not operating a prison", and people staying at the faculty needed to heed the health risks and work with authorities.
But he admitted there was some room for improvement.
"We have learnt from that," he said of the escape.
"We've been working with the teams on the ground to make sure that any of those gaps that were inadvertently created have been closed."
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What COVID-19 travel insurance doesn't cover you for(Emilia Terzon)
Jananie Janarthana says Australia needs to have a conversation about who gets elected to political office.
Key points:
The NSW local elections will be held on December 4
Young Australians are the most under-represented in local government
Candidates the ABC spoke to were concerned about climate action, sustainability, affordable housing and civic engagement
That's one of the reasons the 27-year-old is running in the New South Wales local elections next weekend for a seat in the City of Ryde.
"This area means so much to me and I've been such a beneficiary of it, and I want to pay that forward for future generations," Ms Janarthana said.
"My grandparents migrated from Sri Lanka, first to England but then to Australia, and they actually moved to Eastwood."
She said the major parties — including her own party, Labor — have a long way to go with representation.
"We are falling behind in so many ways at a basic level — the Labor Party doesn't gather any data on our members, on how they identify culturally, and you can't do anything like quotas without data."
Jananie Janarthana is running for Labor in the City of Ryde.(Supplied)
If elected, Ms Janarthana wants to collaborate with state and federal governments to develop affordable social housing in Ryde Council and work with students and young people to improve civic education.
Ms Janarthana, currently a senior project officer at the Sydney Policy Lab, thinks a lot can be achieved on big issues like climate change at the local level — for example by building electric car stations to encourage uptake.
"I do think there's an importance of having people who are interested in big macro change at a local governance level."
Ms Janarthana is being supported by Run For It, a volunteer grassroots organisation trying to change the political landscape by supporting and training young, diverse candidates.
Edward Krutsch, Run For It's 21-year-old national director, said he started the organisation because politicians were not acting on issues young people were speaking about.
For Run For It to support a candidate, they need to align with the organisation's mission to champion causes young people care about.
"We have three core policy-style values: climate justice, economic justice and social justice," Mr Krutsch said.
Run For It is supporting 18 candidates during this year's election across several parties including Labor, the Greens, Animal Justice Party and Clover Moore's Independent Team.
Young, diverse people most politically engaged
Mr Krutsch said candidates his organisation supported in the Victorian local election last year had often been dissuaded from running for office.
"We had candidates who had people say things like they were too young and they needed to wait their turn," he said.
Edward Krutsch, the founder and national director of Run For It, wants to see young people elected.(Supplied )
Research released by the Sydney Policy Lab in September showed younger people who grew up with a first language other than English were the most civically engaged of any demographic.
But this engagement does not translate to getting elected.
Furthermore, 27 per cent of households speak a language other than English, but only 8 per cent of councillors have a first language other than English.
Mr Krutsch has tracked diversity in politics, too, and said the current statistics were a big issue.
"There are quite a number of councils that are entirely just older white men," he said.
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'There's no young women'
Karen Wright, a 28-year-old single mother with two kids, is running as an independent in the Bega Valley to pave the way for people like her in the future.
"When I look at the current makeup of councillors, there's no young women, there's no people of colour," the Indian-Australian woman said.
Karen Wright is running as an independent candidate in the Bega Valley. (Sourced: Tony Harrington)
Being a young woman of colour in a "largely rural white community", Ms Wright hopes to support and advocate for other minorities like refugees, Indigenous people and senior women.
But getting elected as an independent is difficult.
Ms Wright has funded her own campaign and does not have a large volunteer base, although there are advantages to not being associated with a political party.
"Lots of people have this distrust towards parties and politicians and running as an independent with fresh ideas has actually been more positive than negative," she said.
If elected, the community sector worker hopes to create a youth council in the Bega Valley.
Ms Wright said she wants to support young people in thinking about how they can create change, and give them a platform for their ideas.
"There's that small handful of young people who are very successful at school and really engaged in their communities, but there's a whole bunch of young people that are completely disengaged because they're not being heard," she said.
Local council isn't about an impressive CV
Deyi Wu, president of the NSW Young Liberals, said there "definitely" needed to be more diversity in local councils, but there were some cultural barriers.
Deyi Wu says many Young Liberals are running for local council this year.(Supplied)
"Often young people are written off too quickly, or they write themselves off … but council isn't necessarily about how good your CV is, it's about wanting to give back to your local community and understanding the issues."
"As someone who is from an Asian background, politics is known for being quite unstable," she said, adding families like hers might encourage their children to pursue "safe" careers as doctors, lawyers or accountants.
Haris Strangas says local council candidates come from all walks of life. (Supplied)
Haris Strangas, a young Australian of Greek heritage, is running for a seat in Sutherland Shire for the Liberals.
"I want to give back to the community that has given my family and I so much. I am passionate about supporting small businesses through the reduction of red tape," he said.
He said his running mate Hassan Awada immigrated from Lebanon in his 20s, and that young people brought a "youthful exuberance and new ideas to the table".
"In recent years, I have personally seen an increase in candidates from diverse backgrounds representing the Liberal Party. I hope to see this trend continued," Mr Strangas said.
Ms Wu said she hoped the upcoming election would be a way to see how many of their candidates were women, young or culturally diverse, and from there to establish a baseline and set targets.
"I think there definitely should be targets, especially when they're recognised at a whole-party level, it is more likely to be achieved."
'Young people should be out voting'
HY William Chan, an architect running in the City of Sydney with the Clover Moore Independent Team, has never thought about running for federal or state government.
"I think at local government, that's where you can have direct action, but also direct engagement," he said.
HY William Chan is running with Clover Moore's Independent Team in the City of Sydney.(Supplied)
Mr Chan said that he was representative of the city's diverse population as a young, first-generation migrant.
"The City of Sydney has 50 per cent of the entire LGA [local government area] aged between 18 and 34," he said.
"Fifty per cent of the community of the City of Sydney were born overseas, and I was also born overseas in Hong Kong."
With a background in urban planning, Mr Chan is passionate about creating sustainable cities — he wants to implement water recycling and air monitoring systems to prepare the city for the impacts of climate change.
He also hopes to address homelessness and create affordable social housing which offers the community more than just four walls and a roof.
"Having access to green spaces actually becomes a critical part of our mental wellbeing," Mr Chan said.
Another priority is to collaborate with young people and have conversations about creating a city that serves both current and future generations.
"Young people should be out voting, but we should be voting together as a community because it's our collective future."
Election is the third vote in Algeria under President Abdelmadjid Tebboune who promised to reform state institutions inherited from Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Algerians voted in local elections seen as key in President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s push to turn the page on the two-decade rule of late president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
But despite official campaigns urging Algerians to “make their mark”, the vote for municipal and provincial councils on Saturday sparked little public interest.
The election is the third vote in Algeria under Tebboune, who has promised to reform state institutions inherited from Bouteflika, a strongman who ruled the country for two decades.
Observers predicted a low turnout as with the poorly attended elections since Bouteflika was driven from power by the Hirak pro-democracy protest movement in April 2019.
The North African country’s rulers are trying to “impose their will despite the embarrassing results of previous elections”, said analyst Mohamed Hennad.
Polling stations opened at 8am (07:00 GMT) and close at 7pm. More than 23 million people are eligible to vote with 15,230 candidates standing and results expected on Sunday.
Campaigning had been muted despite calls by authorities on Algerians to take part if they “want change” and “institution-building”.
Tebboune was elected in a contentious, widely boycotted 2019 ballot months after Bouteflika stepped down under pressure from the army and Hirak rallies.
He pledged to break with local and regional elections marred by widespread claims of fraud in the era of Bouteflika, who died in September at the age of 84.
In a televised interview on Friday, Tebboune, a former prime minister under Bouteflika, called on Algerians to participate actively in the vote.
“If the people want change, it is time they do something about it themselves by voting,” he said.
‘Huge challenges’
Algeria’s local assemblies elect two-thirds of members of the national parliament’s upper house, with the president appointing the remainder.
Redouane Boudjemaa, a journalism professor at the University of Algiers, said the vote was simply “an attempt to clean up the façade of local councils by changing their members to benefit the ruling class”.
“Politics at the moment is limited to slogans proclaiming that the country has entered a new era, while all indicators point to the contrary.”
Tebboune’s rule has seen a crackdown on journalists and Hirak activists, even as he has packaged important policy moves as responses to the calls by the protest movement for reform.
He has also faced a diplomatic crisis with Algeria’s colonial ruler France and is embroiled in a diplomatic crisis with neighbouring Morocco, with which Algiers severed diplomatic ties in August over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
But in his televised remarks on Friday, Tebboune said “these relations must return to normal provided the other party [France] conceives them on an equal basis, without provocation.”
Hennad said the elite in power since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962 were using slogans around change to impose their agenda, without truly engaging other political forces.
Tebboune pushed through an amended constitution in November 2020, approved by less than 24 percent of the electorate, and oversaw a parliamentary election that saw just 23 percent of voters take part.
Despite a declared boycott by the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), party activists are standing on independent lists, setting up a showdown with the rival Front of Socialist Forces (FFS) in the Kabylie region that often sees significant abstentions.
Electoral board head Mohamed Charfi has stressed the body’s efforts to boost turnout.
But Boudjemaa said the main issue at stake was the “huge economic and social challenges of the coming year”, warning Algerians’ purchasing power could “collapse”.
“Several indicators show that the pouvoir [ruling elite] has neither the vision nor the strategy to respond to the crisis,” he said.
In the earliest hours of the morning Ryan and Brighid Langley are milking the cows.
Key points:
Increased foreign ownership and corporatisation of agriculture makes farm ownership challenging for young families
A local farmer investment group aims to bolster local ownership with investment pathway for farmers
The Tasmanian group owns 11 dairies, with 4,200 hectares of farmland and 8,500 milking cows
The work is dirty, long and must happen every single day; but a cot in the corner of the dairy reminds them why they do it.
"We've got an 18-month-old and one on the way," Mrs Langley says.
The Langleys dream of one day buying their own farm to pass down to their children.
But in their district in Tasmania's north-west corner, that dream can feel like a fantasy.
"Someone told me in Circular Head there's only nine family farms left that's not corporate ownership."
"It takes away the opportunity of the dream of owning your own farm because they get bigger and bigger and bigger. You're talking 1,800 and 1,000 cow farms. They come with a big price tag," Mr Langley said.
The morning sun creeps over the dairy at the Langley's farm in Redpa.(ABC Hobart: Peter Curtis)
The rise of corporate and foreign-owned farmland has made farm ownership challenging for many young families across Australia.
A submission to the Foreign Investment Review Board said foreign entities – from North American pension funds to Chinese businessmen – controlled more than 60 per cent of Circular Head's milk production.
But not all corporates are created equal and a special type of corporate is giving the Langley a chance to chase their dream.
Buying back the family farm
Seven years ago, agribusiness entrepreneur Stephen Fisher became concerned that corporate agriculture was "limiting" the opportunity for locals to "come into the industry and have some ownership in it".
His solution was to create Circular Head Farms. The entity raises funds from local investors to buy properties and then finds aspiring farmers such as the Langleys to run them.
Circular Head Farms sharefarmer Cody Korpershoek chats with Stephen Fisher at their Edith Creek property.(ABC Rural: Lachlan Bennett)
Over time, these "sharefarmers" can raise their own cows and eventually buy a stake in the farm.
"They can start with very little and over time build up into cow ownership and even ultimately, our goal is to see them start to come into ownership of the farm," Mr Fisher said.
The first farm was bought in 2014 and its sharefarmer, Cody Korpershoek now owns a herd and a 40-per-cent stake in another property.
Meanwhile, Circular Head Farms has grown into a network of 11 dairies, more than 4,200 hectares of farmland and 8,500 milking cows.
Mr Fisher said the focus was bolstering opportunities for locals, not opposing foreign ownership.
"I just want to see us as a community reap the rewards," he said.
"Wealth is created by owning the farm, wealth is not created working on the farm. If you want to create wealth for your community, you own it."
Cashed up locals turn the tables
Recent effluent and animal welfare issues at the Chinese-owned Van Dairy farms in Circular Head thrust concerns about foreign ownership into the headlines.
While that property is a symbol of foreign ownership, it also signals a shift in the property market as large chunks were recently sold to Australian owners for the first time in history.
Nutrien Harcourts Tasmania director Michael Warren said locals are lining up to buy farms while foreign entities are facing hurdles.
Nutrien Harcourts Tasmania director Michael Warren says there have been many waves of foreign investment.(ABC Rural: Lachlan Bennett)
"With the market so strong, having to wait for that Foreign Investment Review Board approval has really pushed them out of the marketplace to a large extent," he said.
Mr Warren said there had been many waves of foreign investment – New Zealanders in the 90s, Europeans in the early 2000s – but today 80 per cent of his customers were locals.
"We really saw that foreign interest peak a year or two ago and now you're seeing local farming families taking advantage of being in a strong financial position [and] the cheaper interest rates," he said.
Attitude matters
Foreign interest in Australian agriculture is unlikely to disappear and there are plenty of migrants such as Genaro and Rosselyn Velasquez who also dream of a family farm.
The Venezuelan couple moved to Tasmania five years ago to work on a dairy farm and now own a herd and a booming business: La Cantara Cheeses.
Smithton cheesemakers Rosselyn and Genaro Velasquez at their business, La Cantara Cheeses(ABC Rural: Lachlan Bennett)
Mr Velasquez said what really mattered was "the attitude you bring to a place and your willingness to do the right thing".
"We may not be born here but we feel like we're a part of this community," he said.
Ensuring the wealth of the land stays in the community is also key for Circular Head Farms chair Paul Lambert.
He has been with the venture since its inception and said the biggest challenge ahead would be "finding the right property at the right price".
The Langleys shift their herd into a new paddock at their Redpa farm(ABC Hobart: Peter Curtis)
Booming property prices are making that tough but they do already have the backing of more than local 70 investors, from white-collar "townies" to rural tradies.
"The pitch is really around the community and what we are trying to achieve in terms of local ownership," he said.
"One of the big things I would like see out of this is that other people see it and say, 'Wow, we can do that in the wheat industry, we can do that in the sheep industry, we can do it in lots of areas around the country'."
Watch this story on ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm on Sunday, or on iview.
