Daniel Holmes

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Dan Holmes |Daniel Holmes

A group of four Victorian peak bodies representing the environment and fishers is demanding the state government reverse its proposed abolition of fisheries compliance officers. An initial Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) restructuring proposal saw all 73 fisheries compliance officers replaced with 36 engagement officers. This would change VFA’s frontline focus from enforcement of the rules to educating people about the role of the authority.

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Dan Holmes |Daniel Holmes

New Zealand’s public service union has slammed last week’s budget, calling it a “pay equity betrayal”. The 2025 New Zealand budget forecasts $12.8 billion in savings from new laws limiting who can make a pay equity claim. Public sector workers will be heavily affected, with than 100,000 staff on the government payroll making successful claims since 2021. The yearly cost of settlements is almost $1.8 billion a year and rising.

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Dan Holmes |Daniel Holmes

Demand on government services is rapidly growing, and the nexus of social, geopolitical, and environmental change is making it more difficult to meet those expectations. But futurist Ross Dawson thinks public servants are up to the job, despite challenges. Speaking at this year’s Business Improvement and Innovation in Government (BiiG) conference in Brisbane, he said the key challenge will be maintaining stability and public trust while managing these epochal changes.

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Dan Holmes |Daniel Holmes

The word ‘polycrisis’ is being used by policymakers to describe the way society’s big problems interact with and influence each other. This could be the way attempts to alleviate poverty increase fossil fuel emissions, or the compound effects of climate change, the war in Ukraine, and COVID-19 have shattered agricultural supply chains across the world. The term polycrisis has particular resonance in natural disaster-prone Queensland, where floods and cyclones have .

2 weeks ago | themandarin.com.au | Dan Holmes |Daniel Holmes

New Zealand’s government has declined to support a multilateral treaty on future pandemic cooperation recommended by its former prime minister, Helen Clark. Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf co-chaired the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) COVID-19 pandemic response. Their key recommendation in 2021 was a global agreement to ensure resources like vaccines and masks are distributed in a needs-based and equitable way.