Forrest calls for global fishing overhaul as Australia backs major treaties at UN summit
Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has called for the United Nations to back a major overhaul of global fishing regulations and marine life protections following an international ocean summit last week.
Australia's Environment Minister Murray Watt also attended the 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, and confirmed on Friday the federal government has joined 96 other nations in committing to end plastic pollution.
Declaring 'the ocean is in freefall', Forrest made the comments following the summit on Saturday, saying his Minderoo Foundation will commit an additional $25 million towards implementing new marine protected areas and real-time vessel monitoring.
'We must lock in 30 per cent no-take marine protected areas by 2030 in every nation, in the high seas [international waters] and across at least 30 per cent of Antarctica – this must be the minimum, not the maximum – and it must be enforced, not just declared,' the WA-based magnate said in a statement.
'Thanks to science, enforcement is now possible. Satellites track vessels in real time. AI flags illegal behaviour. The excuses are gone.'
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Forrest unveiled the foundation's Flourishing Oceans Commercial Fishing Act (FOCFA), a self-financing, enforcement-ready model for no-take MPAs and sustainable fisheries and said he would relaunch a Global Fishing Index in 2026.
'This flips enforcement incentives. Fishers, regulators, and even competitors are motivated to expose illegal actors. Governments reclaim lost revenue. Legal operators are protected. And the commercial risk of turning a blind eye rises – all the way up the supply chain,' he said of the proposed FOCFA.
Minderoo has also partly funded a new documentary, Ocean with David Attenborough, about the devastation brought about by unregulated industrial fishing, which was released last month.
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ABC News
33 minutes ago
- ABC News
Circular economy of a new age of old stuff flourishes as Australians scrimp and save
A few minutes walking the aisles of an opportunity shop are enough for a shopper to ponder how utilitarian and disposable Australia's society has become. The artefacts of a passing generation go begging for sale. At any op shop around Australia brooches, stoles, clutch purses and gloves, as well as floral teacups, doilies and crystal vases come together in a cluttered shrine of sorts to a generation that survived two world wars. The Depression-era salvage mentality of keeping the good stuff for a special occasion was drummed into the post-war generation. But by the late 1960s cheap imports, mass manufacturing, plastics and technology would pave the way for a more casual, comfort and convenience-driven Australian lifestyle. Modern families thought nothing of disposing of unwanted items and replacing them with something new. Stradbroke-based recycler Nathan Bruce has made it his life's mission to reduce waste wherever possible, clearing unwanted items from deceased estates, downsizers, garage sales and hoarders. "I recycle everything. When it comes to deceased estates I do whole properties, so I will recycle a broken brick, a rusty tin, even putting a piece of paper into a cardboard bin to reduce the waste however I can," he said. "It's mainly older people who are downsizing and don't have the ability to do it themselves, or the family is not willing to help. That's where I come in." In building his Aladdin's cave crammed with antiques, records, DVDs, Tupperware, electric goods and bric-a-brac, Mr Bruce has come across everything from rats to 200-year-old coins in his hunt for treasure. Hazardous items like mouldy books and chipped ceramics must be thrown out, and not all plastics can be recycled. But the licensed second-hand dealer is determined to upcycle and sell the unsellable at his shopfront in Sale. Broken appliances are pulled apart for their wood, motors, copper and wires. "Silver is not worth much, about $1 a gram. Depending on the gold value a broken ring can get up to $30 to $40 a gram from some jewellers as scrap gold," Mr Bruce said, "Copper is about $10 to $11 a kilo so it all builds up if you have hundreds of pieces together. They're worth something." Mr Bruce said it was younger generations who were driving the second-hand and recycling movement as they dealt with their concerns for the environment and rising cost-of-living. At Morwell in the Latrobe Valley, vacant shops line the main street against a backdrop of a bustling op shop trade. William Smith is the warehouse coordinator at the Lifeline Gippsland thrift store and said women's clothing was always their biggest seller. "We never get enough men's clothing donated and that's because men generally wear their stuff until it dies. Then it gets thrown out," he said. "Whereas women tend to change their clothes regularly." Mr Smith said op shops had become the department stores of choice for the working poor and cash-strapped middle-class. "Shein, Anko, Temu, they're very much fast fashion where you wear it once and it's ruined," he said. "If you're going into an op shop you've got that potential of finding a quality item at a bargain price. "We don't want junk. Basically the best thing to think about when you're donating is, 'Would you buy it from or sell it to a family member?'" Mr Smith said old towels and blankets were often purchased by animal shelters, dog kennels and catteries, or cut up to be used as rags. "We have a secondary process where any old towels, windcheaters and T-shirts that we can't sell we repurpose into rags and we sell them in 10-kilogram bags to the industrial sector," he said. He said donations of crockery and bric-a-brac were always welcomed. "We sort it and we sell what we can, and what we can't we sell to an exporter, who then sells it on the second-hand market in developing countries overseas," Mr Smith said. "That way we can still raise money for our cause, which is the crisis line for Lifeline, and it doesn't end up in landfill." East Gippsland Shire Council waste minimisation officer Carina Turner said tremendous inroads had been made to improve sustainability and de-stigmatise hand-me-downs. "Repair cafes, tool libraries, general libraries and toy libraries are all part of a circular economy," she said. Ms Turner noted the success of initiatives like the container deposit scheme, which has been embraced by community groups for fundraising. "There's still an awful lot going in to landfill so we haven't yet solved the problem by any stretch of the imagination. But we are keeping more and more items out of landfill," she said. Ms Turner said new technologies had allowed for mattress springs to be recycled into fencing and polystyrene packaging to be turned into bricks. "More and more customers are expecting that the company that they choose to buy from will have sustainability as part of their business models," she said.
Herald Sun
2 hours ago
- Herald Sun
Victoria: Priciest homes revealed including Toorak record-buster
New and old rich-listers splashed an eye-watering $540m-plus on Victoria's 20 most expensive homes of the past 12 months. A record-busting sale reported to fall between $115m to $135m for Toorak mansion Coonac topped the pile. It was also the nation's biggest deal for the 2024-25 financial year although industry sources indicated the transaction likely fell at the range's lower end. RELATED: Arrotex boss billionaire Dennis Bastas firming as buyer of $100m+ mansion PropTrack: Melb six months from record prices Geelong trophy home Raith on track to break record at circa $9m Other Toorak listings clocked up individual circa-$70m and $40m sales. Elsewhere, luxurious pads in Canterbury, South Yarra, Brighton and the Mornington Peninsula scored eight-figure sales. But it was the circa-1867 Italianate mansion Coonac that smashed Melbourne's $80.88m benchmark. Industry insiders linked the off-market sale to Kay & Burton managing director Ross Savas and chair Gerald Delany. While it's not been officially confirmed, billionaire Dennis Bastas was widely tipped to have purchased Coonac. Mr Bastas runs a healthcare empire through his leadership roles at Arrotex Pharmaceuticals, myDNA and DBG Health. Mr Savas said the upper end of the Melbourne market has remained resilient. 'Many are taking a generational view — prioritising long-term security, lifestyle alignment and legacy over short-term market fluctuations,' he said, 'At the same time, favourable economic conditions, including the low Australian dollar, continue to attract international interest — particularly from expatriates and global buyers looking to establish roots in Melbourne.' The luxurious six-bedroom mansion at 2-4 Macquarie Rd fetched a figure in the vicinity of $70m shortly before Christmas. Automation platform Neota chairman John Lord and his wife Sue sold the home where visitors are greeted with a sweeping marble staircase, and are likely to enjoy a dedicated basement cinema or the home's temperature-controlled wine cellar and tasting room. Forbes Global Properties' Michael Gibson handled the listing – along with another $40m Toorak pad that changed hands off market. Mr Gibson said there was often multiple buyers for homes prices at $10m to $30. 'The premier market over the past year has been as strong as ever … one thing we are short on is properties to sell,' he added. When it came to luxury features it wasn't uncommon for homeowners to want double-level basements for entertaining, exercising and storing car collections, said Forbes Global Properties director Robert Fletcher, who oversaw a $29m Toorak deal in March. 'I think people who have a large amount of cars tend to look for space for between six to eight cars,' he said. Forbes colleague, senior associate Tracy Tian Belcher said some buyers were more hesitant to buy amid uncertainty about many cuts will be made to Australia's official cash rate across the second half of 2025. Ms Belcher said that even if clients were quite well off, the 13 hikes interest rates across the nation between May 2022 and November 2023 had affected many of them – while reporting on current economic conditions could impact people's emotions. 'Last year, one of my buyers was involved in a six-month long negotiation process for a Toorak home,' Ms Belcher said. Melbourne Sotheby's International Realty managing director Antoinette Nido and colleague Max Ruttner oversaw a $25.6m South Yarra transaction in December. 'Look at me addresses' were important to many recently cashed-up buyers, Ms Nido said. 'What's notable is that a lot of young business people who have made money in IPOs are doing very well,' she said. 'People who you have never heard of will call and when you ask how much they want to spent, it can be $40m to $50m.' Marshall White group sales director John Bongiorno said demand in the Melbourne prestige market's top end had consolidated in the past 12 months as the city's population boomed. 'I think that there are more buyers in the $10m-plus category,' Mr Bongiorno said. 'The amount of people out there with substantial wealth, it's a far bigger than what it was 12 months ago, two years ago, five years ago.' Marshall White handled the $30m-plus sale of a French Provincial-inspired Canterbury house boasting a 16-car showroom, eight bathrooms, a cinema and day spa with a sauna in March, listed by agents Andy Nasr and Marcus Chiminello. Many top-end buyers were taking a long view, prioritising the security, prestige and practicality of homes over price movements, Kay & Burton Stonnington director Darren Lewenberg said. 'These aren't short-term flips, they're generational homes,' Mr Lewenberg said. Many homes that transacted had been fully rebuilt or renovated by architects and interior designers well before being listed. 'Buyers at this level don't want to lift a finger. They want to walk in and start living,' Mr Lewenberg said. Industry Insider Property founder and prestige buyers agent Andrew Date said the surge in off-market deals was one of the most notable shifts in 2024–25. 'Most of the biggest sales never hit the portals. They're done over lunch, through networks, and only involve a few key people,' Mr Date said. 'These homes are so rare, they're not just about location, but land, architectural pedigree, and lifestyle.' Mr Date said prestige demand had also crept further afield especially towards the Mornington Peninsula. Additional reporting by David Bonaddio VICTORIA'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOME SALES, 2024-25 FINANCIAL YEAR Coonac, Toorak Price: $115m-$135m Agents: industry sources linked the off-market sale to Kay & Burton's Ross Savas and Gerald Delany. 2-4 Macquarie Rd, Toorak circa $70m Agent: Forbes Global Properties' Michael Gibson Address withheld, Toorak $40m Agent: Forbes Global Properties' Michael Gibson 38 Monomeath Ave, Canterbury circa $30m+ Agents: Marshall White's Andy Nasr and Marcus Chiminello. 27 St Georges Rd, Toorak circa $29m Agent: Forbes Global Properties director Robert Fletcher 177-181 Walsh St, South Yarra $25.6m Agent: Melbourne Sotheby's International Realty Antoinette Nido and Max Ruttner 5 St Ninians Rd, Brighton $23m Agents: Marshall White's Ben Vieth and Andy Nasr 10 Struan St, Toorak $22m Agents: Marshall White's Marcus Chiminello and Nicole French Address withheld, South Yarra $21.2m Agency: Withheld 12 Lansell Rd, Toorak $21m Agent: Kay & Burton's Gowan Stubbings 7 Gawith Court, Toorak circa $20-22m Agents: Marshall White's Marcus Chiminello and Nicole French 3520 Point Nepean Rd, Sorrento $20m+ Agents: Kay & Burton's Liz Jensen and Gerald Delany 6 Macquarie Rd, Toorak circa $20m Agents: Marshall White's Marcus Chiminello and Nicole French 10 Highgate Hill, Toorak $19.3m Agent: Kay & Burton's Oliver Booth 4 Grant Ave, Toorak $19m Agent: Forbes Global Properties' Mike Gibson 8 Robertson St, Toorak $19m Agent: RT Edgar's Mark Wridgway 3786 Point Nepean Rd, Portsea $19m Agents: RT Edgar's David Gillham and Ilze Moran 11 Berkeley Street, Hawthorn $18,888,999 Agents: Jellis Craig's Perry Zhou and Elsa Li 11 Kent Court, Toorak circa $18m Agents: RT Edgar's Tim Brown and Sarah Case 14 Grandview Grove, Hawthorn East $17.5m Agents: Marshall White's James Tostevin and John Bongiorno 444 Musk Creek Road, Flinders circa $17.5m Agency: Forbes Global Properties Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox. MORE: Leo's Fine Food & Wine Kew sale linked to James Packer Time-capsule house of Aussie artist to the stars for sale Luxe hotel hits market for just $2 — but there's a catch
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Revealed: First plans for Parramatta metro station
Four high-rises stretching up to 38 storeys are set to sit on top of Parramatta's new metro station, as local business groups push for the development to be 'western Sydney's Piccadilly Circus'. The Department of Planning on Friday approved Sydney Metro's initial concept plans for the station as well as the towers on top of the site, which sits just north of Parramatta Square. According to the plans, the buildings will contain mostly commercial spaces and some retail, with about 111 residential units across the development. Now that the initial proposal has been approved, Sydney Metro will choose the company to deliver the project and develop more detailed plans. There are two groups on the shortlist: Lendlease's construction and development arms, and a consortium of Gamuda Engineering and MTR Corporation, which now runs all of Sydney's metro services from its operations centre in Sydney's north-west. Both groups were contacted for comment. Lendlease and Gamuda declined, and MTR Corporation did not respond. Loading Sydney Metro also reported that developer Billbergia – which has largely built the high-rise developments in Rhodes and Wentworth Point and is now campaigning to do the same in Rosehill and Camellia – was part of the consortium with Gamuda and MTR. However, two industry sources with direct knowledge of the project but who could not comment publicly confirmed that the company had recently pulled out of the consortium. Billbergia declined to comment. MTR's interest in Parramatta's metro precinct is notable: the Hong Kong-based company runs one of the world's most profitable metro systems in that city through its property ownership and development arms. But as plans for Parramatta metro station precinct pick up speed, debate is growing over what exactly the transport hub and surrounding area should become, with local leaders fearing the designs will not have the flair of Sydney CBD's metro stations.
