Former English cricket captain and current Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom Sir Ian Botham visited UOW’s Innovation Campus earlier this week, touring facilities and meeting with local business leaders as part of a day-long visit to the city. Lord Botham is a part of the United Kingdom’s Trade Envoy to Australia, visiting Bluescope Steel as well as Innovation Campus’s Sustainable Buildings Research Centre and iAccelerate facility. He stated that this was an important visit as part of his promotion of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement. “It’s an honour to be here in Australia, not just…
Author: Russell Haylock
A report released in March by clothing agency Reluv and Monash University has shown that Australian consumers are visiting resale businesses more than ever to combat a range of factors present in the fashion industry. The study was conducted in late 2022, with 270 individuals and 53 businesses taking part in a survey that aimed to gain insight into current trends, opportunities and challenges in the resale market. Reluv is an Australian online resale platform that aims to reduce the impact of the textile industry on the environment and those it claims are treated poorly working in factories around the…
Australia’s ongoing rental crisis is causing several flow-on effects in regional communities, according to a report released by Anglicare late last month. Anglicare’s Chief Executive Kasy Chambers has called for changes to be made across the board, such as a return to fully publicly funded social and affordable housing, with less reliance on the private sector. She also called for changes to current schemes such as negative gearing, capital gains tax concessions and commonwealth rent assistance. “We now spend more commonwealth dollars per capita on those three payments than we ever did on housing, and yet housing affordability has never been…
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has announced a ban on recreational vaping and a tax hike on tobacco products over the next three years. Mr Butler stated that single-use disposable vapes will be made illegal, and that the importation of non-pharmaceutical vaping products will also be prohibited, meaning they will only be available when prescribed by a doctor. The current excise on tobacco will also increase by five per cent, as part of a plan that the Health Minister said will see more than $3 billion dollars in tax revenue raised across this three-year period. “These changes will raise an…
Runners from across the country have been preparing to take on the new-look Wollongong Running Festival this year, with the event scheduled to be held at Stuart Park in June. The event will feature a half marathon for the first time in its 10-year history, as well as the 2km, 5km and 10km events. Committee member Nikki McCarthy Hicks, who has been involved with the event since it began in 2011 when it was known as the Bulli Burn, said the attraction of a half marathon, and the chance to get out and socialise had boosted this year’s entries. “I…
A veteran rugby league official has notched up his 300th game as a local first grade referee, becoming one of the first ever to achieve the milestone. William Drury has been a Group 7 referee since 1989, with his 300 game stint in the first grade competition including seven grand finals. He plans to continue adding to the tally despite having officiated hundreds of games over the last 32 years. “I enjoy the on-field challenge of refereeing first grade, it’s not easy and not for the faint-hearted,” he said. “The main challenge is keeping up with the fitness and skill…