Traditionally known as the Birrarung, meaning 'rivers of mist', the river was once rich with fish, eels and birds' eggs, making it a popular meeting point for Aboriginal people. Red gum trees on the banks of the Birrarung were used to build canoes, allowing men to fish and travel down the river.

Making the Birrarung swimmable again is so much more than just swimming. We need to reorient our city to recognise our main waterway, as a living entity, as a place inextricably linked to health and biodiversity.

The Australia Africa Chamber of Commerce (AACC) has confirmed that the inaugural Australia Africa Business Summit will take place in Melbourne from May 12-14, 2024.

AACC President Duncan Harris said he was pleased to greenlight the Summit especially now that many high-profile African delegations were now in a position to confirm their attendance.

“Following consultations from our African partners we decided to postpone the Summit from our original slot in October. The recent announcement of the African Union (AU) being permanently admitted as members of the G20 had had resulted in a shift to geopolitical discourse, however, with time, further clarity on the landscape, is emerging.”

“I am pleased to share that our key presenters, namely Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Minister for Trade & Tourism, Commonwealth of Australia and H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat have reconfirmed their attendance.

“The Summit venue, the Melbourne Sofitel is world-class and we are looking forward to showcasing it, the City of Melbourne and State of Victoria for our international and domestic delegates and attendees.

“We have been incredibly pleased with the interest from delegates, sponsors and presenters. Our key theme – New Bridges. New Connections – will focus delegates on opportunities for two-way trade and commerce particularly in mining, education, agriculture and professional services,” said Mr Harris.

With a vision to bring Africa to the forefront of the Australian trade and investment focus, the Australia Africa Business Summit 2024 was created to provide a unique opportunity to access key government representatives and private sector leaders, with the shared aim of building business between Australia and Africa.

DARPA
The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defence responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.

We pursue our objectives through hundreds of programs. By design, programs are finite in duration while creating lasting revolutionary change. They address a wide range of technology opportunities and national security challenges. This assures that while individual efforts might fail—a natural consequence of taking on risk—the total portfolio delivers.

DARPA Lite - Australia
Cybersecurity, Land, Air, Sea and Space are the five dimensions where Australia needs to manage sovereign innovation, without fully relying on alliance partners overseas.

The Defence Strategic Review says…

“Defence’s current approach to capability acquisition is not fit for purpose. The system
needs to abandon its pursuit of the perfect solution or process and focus on delivering
timely and relevant capability.

Defence must move away from processes based around project management risk
rather than strategic risk management. It must be based on minimum viable capability in the shortest possible time.”

And in Germany:

"What used to take 10 years is now achieved in a few months. We will build a new shell plant in Germany in record time to create strategic security of supply," the Rheinmetall CEO said.

At the same time, in response to the #German government's accusations of insufficient support for Ukraine, Papperger stressed the good cooperation between officials and the arms industry.

"A lot has changed for the better in military procurement. Last year, Rheinmetall alone received orders or framework agreements worth more than €10 billion from the federal government for the Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces) and Ukraine.”

Australia needs to be able to respond agilely and quickly to any potential challenge to Australia and its supply chains.

The advent of self-driving vehicles offers hope for vastly enhancing human mobility. Self-driving vehicles will share information and act in coordination, improving safety and traffic flow and reducing roadway congestion.

Connected
Modern vehicles increasingly employ significant on-board computing power, sensors, and communications systems. Evolving mobile networks will soon enable V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communications—connecting cars to their environment, to each other, to infrastructure, and to people—exponentially reducing traffic collisions and increasing safety.

Electric
Already a fixture on Australian roads electric vehicles—or EVs— reduce greenhouse emissions, improve urban air quality, and are significantly more energy-efficient than internal combustion vehicles. With advancements in battery technology, EVs are becoming an increasingly more cost-competitive alternative for drivers.

Shared
Current trends toward shared vehicle fleets, multiple passenger ride-sharing, and shared micromobility solutions will continue to grow over the next few years. Shared mobility has the potential to vastly reduce the number of vehicles on the road, easing the strain on transport infrastructure and enable the transition to a decarbonised transport system.

Inclusive
Accessibility is a fundamental element of high-quality, efficient, and sustainable transport systems. ITS Australia is committed to addressing the challenges of building future transport systems that are equitable and accessible to all Australians.

Australia's new High Speed Rail Authority has come into being. Created by the Albanese government, the authority and its newly named board have been set a challenging task: "bring high-speed rail to reality".

Nearly four decades after it was first proposed, Australia must surely hold the world record for high-speed rail studies with no construction. The cost of all these studies to date is about $150 million (both public and private money, in 2023 dollars). Yet not one kilometre of a land corridor for a high-speed rail track has been reserved.

In 1984, CSIRO proposed the Very Fast Train connecting Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. A consortium undertook many studies. A Senate committee inquiry was held. However, the proposal failed to win government support and did not proceed.

Next was the pragmatic Speedrail proposal. This was to link Sydney to Canberra using existing track from Sydney to Macarthur and new track to Canberra.

NSW now lags far behind Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. All these states have trains moving at 160km/h over upgraded tracks. This includes the Queensland electric tilt train, which has been running between Brisbane and Rockhampton since 1998.

A growing population is waiting for Australia to join the 34 countries that have or are about to get high-speed rail.

The Australian Government has adopted a policy of National Defence – the defence against potential threats arising from major power competition – as a new approach to defence planning and strategy.

The current defence industry policy was established in a very different environment to today. Risk of major power conflict was low, policy assuming a 10-year warning time, and industry capability was viewed largely in terms of supporting individual ADF programs.

The risk of a major conflict in the Indo-Pacific is real. China is openly using military and para-military forces to change the status -quo I the South China Sea, while in Europe Russia is continuing its war to annex Ukraine.

• The Australian defence industry should be considered a capability in its own right.

• Defence industry should be embedded within and managed as part of Australia’s broader national industry structure and policy.

• Defence industries should be strategically prioritised, then supported to achieve scale and surge capabilities.

• Government should use the full range of policy levers at its disposal to shape defence industry outcomes.

• Government should establish a Defence Industry Capability Manager.

Community sport infrastructure is a key driver of economic, health and social benefits.

Positive outcomes occur though participation in recreation based activities, but sport infrastructure amplifies outcomes, with volunteers and officials, team members and social supporters.

Community sport infrastructure provides a gathering place for a broad range of events, celebrations and meetings, supports greater amenity within communities, enhances connectedness and community pride, and provides safe spaces for response to disaster and security threats.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) works closely with categorised National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) to develop custom programs, camp experiences and online learning opportunities that support athletes and teams to reach their full potential.

World class physiology and biomechanics laboratories. State-of-the-art strength and conditioning gymnasium, haematology laboratory, 50m testing and training swimming pool and dedicated recovery centre. All facilities contain quality assured high-performance sports science and sports medicine equipment that are calibrated to high performance specifications.

A specialised multi-disciplinary team of sport scientists and practitioners to support NSO elite, pre-elite and development athletes including intensive rehabilitation and altitude house camps. Services can incorporate a range of elements from nutrition, food services to strength and conditioning, and biomechanics.

With a wide variety of jobs and career pathways available, the sport and recreation sector can be a fun, challenging and fulfilling environment to work and progress your career.

Developing athletes, planning and managing facilities, delivering sport participation programs and instructing outdoor adventure activities are just a few examples of the different jobs and careers within sport and recreation.

Short-course qualifications in coaching, officiating, camp instructing and pool lifeguarding are examples of ideal ways to start in sector through new qualifications and experience in volunteering and paid employment opportunities.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has developed a framework to capture the different pathways in sport and address the current shortfalls in applied research and practice specific to athlete development. It's called FTEM.

Sports tourism refers to the act of traveling specially for the purpose of enjoying sports in one way or another.

Sports tourism constitutes a large part of the tourism industry, with sources claiming that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports-related. Sports tourism includes not only participation in and attending sporting events, but also personal recreational activities.

“Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurants- projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.”

An industry survey has found Australian architects are worried about the climate crisis and frustrated by barriers to action but are confident the profession can contribute to a sustainable future.

There appears to be a real problem in implementing new technologies in an ordered, coordinated fashion.

As a fragmented industry with many small contractors, the adoption of new technologies has been uneven and uncoordinated, and the adoption of AI in the industry could result in fundamental restructuring of the industry.

It could no doubt solve some of the issues of compliance and quality but could equally lead to issues of uncertain liability and risk shifting, where the architect’s current professional responsibilities for their work are blurred by the use of AI in their practices.

Automation may push some architects out of their comfort zone, but that doesn’t mean it’s game over. In a world where creativity and innovation rule, architects must keep their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, while also mastering data analysis, digital literacy, and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.

Sports tourism refers to the act of traveling specially for the purpose of enjoying sports in one way or another.

Sports tourism constitutes a large part of the tourism industry, with sources claiming that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports-related. Sports tourism includes not only participation in and attending sporting events, but also personal recreational activities.

“Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurants- projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.”

Design has a primary role in shaping and fashioning the physical world for a human purpose.

All human artefacts are in some way designed. Design serves a multiplicity of human needs ranging from the practical and instrumental to the intuitive and emotional.

Design applies to cities, environments, structures, spaces, objects and electronic images.

The four key principles of design are utility, social relevance, sustainability and aesthetic satisfaction. Associated with them all are imagination and innovation.

Major areas of design are urban design architectural and building design, engineering, landscape planning and design, interior design, industrial and product design, craft design, fashion design graphic design, and design of the moving image.

Sport is part of the cultural identity of many Australians. Sport isn’t just a favoured pastime for Australians. It is a significant contributor to the Australian economy.

In Australia, sports and recreational organisations attract more volunteers than any other type of organisation.

Major sporting events – grand finals, international cricket, grand slam tournaments, surfing competitions and cycling challenges – as well as less watched events – weekend matches, morning and afternoon training sessions and amateur competitions – fill calendars and recreational time.

Sport is part of the cultural identity of many Australians. Sport isn’t just a favoured pastime for Australians. It is a significant contributor to the Australian economy.

In Australia, sports and recreational organisations attract more volunteers than any other type of organisation.

Major sporting events – grand finals, international cricket, grand slam tournaments, surfing competitions and cycling challenges – as well as less watched events – weekend matches, morning and afternoon training sessions and amateur competitions – fill calendars and recreational time.

UpRising is for leading innovative organisations who recognise the value in developing creative, design thinking and entrepreneurial skills in our young students to drive economic recovery and early talent pathways.

Green infrastructure refers to all of the vegetation that provides environmental, economic and social benefits such as clean air and water, climate regulation, food provision, erosion control and places for recreation.

It includes urban parks and reserves, wetlands and stream corridors, street trees and roadside verges, gardens and vegetable patches, bikeways and pedestrian trails, wall and rooftop gardens, orchards and farms, cemeteries and derelict land.

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects.

Glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, tyres, electronics, batteries, construction materials, food and garden waste are all waste items containing value in the form of energy and resources.

Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions.

Fusing atoms together in a controlled way releases nearly four million times more energy than a chemical reaction such as the burning of coal, oil or gas and four times as much as nuclear fission reactions (at equal mass). Fusion has the potential to provide the kind of baseload energy needed to provide electricity to our cities and our industries.