Latest news with #Revive
New Straits Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- New Straits Times
Repurposing ICE cars to EVs
KUALA LUMPUR: Converting internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles into electric vehicles (EVs) could provide Malaysia with a powerful alternative path to green mobility while unlocking thousands of skilled jobs across the automotive ecosystem. NanoMalaysia Bhd chief executive officer Dr. Rezal Khairi Ahmad said the retrofitting approach, spearheaded under the company's Revive programme, presents a compelling case for affordability, socio-economic impact and technological self-reliance. "Research has done it and has proven time and time again that the cost of conversion is cheaper. "It provides an alternative and more cost-effective path to electrification and ownership, 60 per cent of that is buying a new, fully assembled, manufactured car. He said this greatly reduces the entry barrier for ordinary Malaysians looking to switch to EVs, especially as current prices remain unaffordable for ma Rather than relying solely on the sale of fully manufactured EVs, NanoMalaysia's strategy targets the vast number of older, structurally sound ICE vehicles on the road. By removing the engine and fuel tank and replacing them with an electric motor and battery system, these vehicles can be revived and repurposed to operate on clean energy. "When you allow for conversion to take place, for example, in Malaysia, it allows the workforce in Malaysia to participate in that migration from the traditional car to EV. "This creates job opportunities for technicians, mechanics and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) graduates. It also creates jobs for the future, which allow for them to not become just drivers of EVs, but they can actually change and convert. "It will provide employment opportunities, skills and hands-on opportunities for those who are pretty much hands-on," Rezal said in an exclusive interview. He said the process would demand new skill sets in battery installation, wiring, electric motor integration and system diagnostics, positioning Malaysia to develop a new class of green-collar workers. Yielding Results The Revive programme, which catalysed the development of a comprehensive EV conversion white paper, is yielding results. NanoMalaysia said it had converted two buses under the eMERGE initiative, funded by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and is working to finalise road certification with the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and Transport Ministry. "That is an example of how we align to our Revive goal, which allows us to validate and demonstrate the conversion from diesel engine to EV. We have those two buses donated from Prasarana," said Rezal. Rezal said several stakeholders are working together to establish standards and safety protocols to ensure Malaysia aligns with global best practices. "At present, there are no universal standards for EV conversions. Each country, whether Thailand, Indonesia, the US, UK or China, has developed its own version of standards and complies accordingly. "One thing is certain: we must ensure electrical safety. All components must be properly insulated, and passengers must be fully protected from any electrical systems. "In the Malaysian context, we also have to consider challenges like flooding. Whatever we develop must be flood-resistant. These are among the key factors we need to localise," he said. Despite technical progress, Rezal said full-scale deployment hinges on regulatory green lights. "We have submitted the white paper, proven the technology and engaged stakeholders. Now we are waiting for JPJ and the Transport Ministry to finalise approval to make conversions road-legal," he added. Once legalised, insurance companies will also need to come on board to support vehicle coverage and ensure public confidence in safety standards. Rezal said the model aligns with Malaysia's broader green agenda, including commitments under COP26 to reduce carbon intensity by 45 per cent by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Support System To support the transition, NanoMalaysia is pushing for public-private partnerships and potential incentives, similar to what Indonesia has done, to encourage adoption. "If conversion kits are incentivised, it would help accelerate the shift. The government has a role to play here," he said. Globally, countries like Japan, France and Kenya have already embraced EV conversions as a viable strategy. Thailand and Indonesia have also legalised retrofitting, showing how developing nations can leapfrog into the EV space without heavy reliance on imported, fully-built EVs. Rezal explained that in Kenya, where there is strong support for EV retrofitting, studies have shown that the total cost of owning and operating a converted EV, from diesel or petrol to electric, is about US$0.25 per kilometre for four-wheelers. In comparison, running a newly-purchased EV costs around US$0.30 per kilometer, giving retrofitted vehicles a five-cent advantage. He added that countries like the United States have legalised EV conversions, but primarily for niche applications driven by private investment. So while it is permitted, it remains limited in scope. "Japan has officially legislated EV conversions, and even original equipment manufacturers like Toyota now offer ready-made kits that can be purchased off the shelf. "Instead of buying a brand-new EV from Toyota or Honda, consumers can opt for these kits to convert their existing vehicles. This approach is seen as a key pillar in the broader push for vehicle electrification," he said. Rezal explained that the philosophy behind this is rooted in the 'people, planet, profit' framework, ensuring not just profitability, but also accessibility. "France has also adopted this approach, and among our regional neighbours, Indonesia and Thailand have already begun implementing similar initiatives. In Malaysia, we are pushing forward aggressively because we see a real opportunity to lead in this space." However, Rezal said Malaysia has a competitive edge in terms of technology. "Other countries are buying components entirely from China. In our case, we are building Malaysian-made batteries, electronics and cooling systems. We may still import some motors, but we are pushing for localisation across the board," he said. This opens doors not only for domestic market transformation but also for export opportunities. "We hope our kits, built with local components, can be sold to other Asean countries and potentially beyond. But first, we must focus on making it work here in Malaysia," he added.
The National
7 days ago
- General
- The National
What would this play's cast say about the Scotland we live in today?
What if a group of 2025 creatives set out, like John McGrath and his 7:84 company once did, to dramatise power, land, resources and belonging in Scotland? What would they say now? And how would they say it? It might be worth jumping back and forth between the eras, to see what persists of the Cheviot's original themes to this day. Start with the very title. The structure of the play – dramatised as a wild ceilidh night – maps to three historical periods of dispossession in Scottish history. The Cheviot is the sheep that replaced those human Highlanders cleared from their lands in the 18th century. READ MORE: Man jailed for 'despicable' wildlife crimes after setting dogs on other animals The stag populates the hunting grounds that many of those clearances became, at the hands of aristocratic landowners in the 19th century. And the black, black oil is obviously the 1960s and 70s discovery of fossil fuels in Scotland's coastal waters. The Cheviot today? Still nibbling away. They take up 55% of land dedicated to agriculture in Scotland – around 3.6 million hectares. But the sheep farming sector makes up only 7% of our overall national income from farming. In terms of their destructive impact on the environment, George Monbiot once described rural Scotland as being 'sheep-wrecked'. Vegans, rewilders and methane watchers have sheep-farming on notice, never might the weight of history from the Clearances. The stag's symbolism has hardly diminished as a misuse of the Scottish landscape, the extraction represented by hunting grounds still continuing. The campaign group Revive tell us that 12-18% of Scottish land is currently being used for grouse-shooting – about the size of Wales – while contributing a tiny amount to GDP. Wildlife tourism – which protects the diversity of species in landscapes, rather than blast away at them to keep game numbers up – brings in five times as much revenue as hunting. The case against is as strong now as in the 70s. The black, black oil was in its early potent surge when McGrath did the play's first performance in Aberdeen, April 1973. The following year, the SNP eventually elected 11 MPs on a proprietary slogan, 'It's Scotland's Oil'. But could the legacy of the black stuff be more complex? In the play, with amazing foresight, the American oilman Texas Jim thanks God that the UK Government 'didn't believe in all these pesky godless government controls like they do in Norway'. This anticipates the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund from oil and gas established in 1990, its trillions now invested in 1.5% of the globe's company stocks. Feel the pain. Which can be trebled. Firstly, the loss of such anchoring capital, because a tax-frittering Westminster had full sovereignty over the North Sea fields. Second, we have to admit the contribution that the exploitation of oil and gas has made towards what now looks like irreversible climate worsening. And thirdly, the pressure to leave remaining reserves where they are. Climate scientists urge that every ounce of carbon saved is worth it, if only to prevent an even more calamitous outcome. What a troubling, ethics-bending, dark-and-sticky mess this turned out to be. In 2025, the great theme of McGrath's play – extraction without consent – rolls back round again, with the stampede to develop renewable energy in Scotland. After the black, black oil comes the endless saving wind. READ MORE: I was homeless and using drugs. Now I'm playing at the Edinburgh Fringe But are the enemies as clear as the Cheviot identified them, with all the brutal clarity of seventies Marxists? Lesley Riddoch reported this week on the miasma of political and economic snarl-ups involved in wind-farm applications across the Highlands and Islands. It is, shall we say, a dramatic scene. Ed Miliband rejects zonal pricing, which would lower electricity costs in Scotland. MSPs raise their hands, saying they're legally bound by Westminster climate targets to allow rampant corporate and commercial developers to dominate bids – over that of community owners. Rural communities themselves are divided – between their commitments to the planet (which you'd expect, given their proximity to wildness). And then the despoiling of these conditions under breakneck imperatives – the 'industrialisation of the Highlands', as Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis puts it). They're suffering all the environmental chaos and disruption of next-stage renewable engineering, but on the poorest of terms. Turbines and pylons are on the march, sending clean energy to England. Meanwhile localities endure high domestic energy prices, as well as a structural prejudice against them benefitting directly from wind developments. Great and stormy meetings take place among and between communities. Rural electoral parties are mooted for next May. They look like they're urging a plague on all existing party-political houses. What theatrical drama could encompass such live political and social drama? The 2025 forms that might comprise a follow-up to the Cheviot are a really intriguing question. So many of the reports around its 50th anniversary in 2023 emphasised how much the play answered its audiences' thirst – for themselves and for their history to be represented on stage. The energy of the play seems to parallel Billy Connolly's explosion into the TV and concert mainstream. Both 7:84 and the Big Yin were relentless giggers, adapting themselves to whatever church hall or community centre could house them. However, we are also social media people in 2025, wherever we are strewn across Scotland. The young are on TikTok, but even the oldies are on Facebook and WhatsApp. And Zoom or Teams are the default organisational tools for many. What kind of single dramatic 'representation' could take purchase, when we have so many ways and means to represent ourselves? Creatives worth their salt should rise to such a challenge. Another major difference between these eras may be the acute need to foment less an anti-capitalist critique, more a pro-planet tendency. What's the bigger vision we can land, that makes Nigel Farage and his anti-green populism seem small and petty, in a Scottish context? Between makars and folk, can we co-compose 'cli-fi' – climate fiction – that puts emotional and dramatic flesh on the lives of Scots in this future? We can also be eclectic about the forms this cultural intervention takes. What's the 2025 equivalent – EDM club night, immersive event, game platform, social cosplay: let's explore – of the ceilidh which originally frames the Cheviot? And which often continued onwards, for real, after the final call? READ MORE: TRNSMT main stage act calls out politicians' attempts to cancel Kneecap Many stories from the Cheviot's past cherish the interaction between performer and audience. Again, assuming the presence of digital networks, how could culture and performance click directly into other democratic and self-determining behaviours? Both face-to-face and virtually? Powerful, co-created arts should be one motivating element to help you persist with the planning and deliberation of projects like community energy, civic assemblies, collective envisioning. To defeat the Faragists, we need a dollop of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's advice about projects: 'If you want to build a ship, don't drum up folks to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.' And reflecting on the Cheviot, it may not be that we need a 'theatre of the oppressed', as the Brazilian Augusto Boal once asked for. But what Simon Starkey, one of the founders of the National Theatre of Scotland, calls a 'theatre of opportunity'. Let's push back against yet more 'extraction without consent'. But as many of Scotland's greatest artists would agree, let's raise visions of a desirably complex and alternative Scotland at the same time. That's the kind of new Cheviot I'd yearn to see – and maybe even help shape. Something vast and unruly enough to hold our anger, our grief, our planetary hopes, all at once. So what's your version? Who's your cast? Where's your stage?
Sydney Morning Herald
04-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
The bold plan to use tax reform to boost Australia's struggling culture sector
Australia's struggling culture sector could be handed much-needed extra funding under plans to use a radical shakeup of the nation's tax system to alleviate the burden of rising costs, rapidly shifting audience trends and waning philanthropic support. Exempting prize money from GST, giving wealthy benefactors added incentives to donate, taxing vacant commercial spaces and allowing arts workers to claim new expenses are options being considered by the NSW government as part of the bid to convince their federal counterparts of the need for urgent reform. Arts Minister John Graham will on Saturday call a cultural arts tax summit at the Sydney Opera House for September 26, with any changes potentially applying to galleries, libraries and museums; performing arts like theatre, dance and comedy; music; screen and digital games; visual arts and crafts; literature and writing; and the design, architecture and fashion industries. 'This will be the most unusual show the Opera House has hosted and its impact could last generations,' Graham said of the impending summit. The gathering will take place just weeks after federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers hosts a productivity roundtable which will hear suggestions for tax reform from business, unions and independent bodies including the Reserve Bank. 'It is time to talk tax,' Graham said. 'Two of the biggest levers governments have to support the arts and creative sectors are regulatory change and funding. If tax boffins and creatives can agree on something then our nation should take notice.' The rethink on tax is an acknowledgement that government grants alone cannot help the sector tackle growing costs, changing audience demands, evolving media markets and shifts in the geopolitical landscape – including tariffs. With limited tax levers – mainly on property taxes which could help unlock vacant spaces – NSW requires help from the federal government and other states for reform. The matter was raised at a meeting of cultural ministers last month and well received. Tax reform is likely to be on the agenda of federal Arts Minister Tony Burke when he revisits his five-year cultural policy, Revive, next year.
The Age
04-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
The bold plan to use tax reform to boost Australia's struggling culture sector
Australia's struggling culture sector could be handed much-needed extra funding under plans to use a radical shakeup of the nation's tax system to alleviate the burden of rising costs, rapidly shifting audience trends and waning philanthropic support. Exempting prize money from GST, giving wealthy benefactors added incentives to donate, taxing vacant commercial spaces and allowing arts workers to claim new expenses are options being considered by the NSW government as part of the bid to convince their federal counterparts of the need for urgent reform. Arts Minister John Graham will on Saturday call a cultural arts tax summit at the Sydney Opera House for September 26, with any changes potentially applying to galleries, libraries and museums; performing arts like theatre, dance and comedy; music; screen and digital games; visual arts and crafts; literature and writing; and the design, architecture and fashion industries. 'This will be the most unusual show the Opera House has hosted and its impact could last generations,' Graham said of the impending summit. The gathering will take place just weeks after federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers hosts a productivity roundtable which will hear suggestions for tax reform from business, unions and independent bodies including the Reserve Bank. 'It is time to talk tax,' Graham said. 'Two of the biggest levers governments have to support the arts and creative sectors are regulatory change and funding. If tax boffins and creatives can agree on something then our nation should take notice.' The rethink on tax is an acknowledgement that government grants alone cannot help the sector tackle growing costs, changing audience demands, evolving media markets and shifts in the geopolitical landscape – including tariffs. With limited tax levers – mainly on property taxes which could help unlock vacant spaces – NSW requires help from the federal government and other states for reform. The matter was raised at a meeting of cultural ministers last month and well received. Tax reform is likely to be on the agenda of federal Arts Minister Tony Burke when he revisits his five-year cultural policy, Revive, next year.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Writing Australia: can the new national literature body make a real difference for authors?
Writing Australia, Creative Australia's new literature body, launches today, bringing the history of Australian cultural policy full circle: writers were the first artists in Australia to receive government support and Writing Australia represents a renewed focus on the sector after an extended period of neglect. It's got a big job ahead of it. Over the last decade, federal funding for literature has dropped roughly 43% in real terms, even as writers' incomes have stagnated below the poverty line and threats to their livelihoods have proliferated. So government investment in the sector is critical – not least because supporting writers is nation-building work. We rely on Australian writers to inform and inspire us, tell our stories to the rest of the world, and help us tuck our children in each night with bedtime reading. Australia's writers are indispensable to our day-to-day lives as imaginative beings and engaged citizens. Quite simply, we can't live without them. Inaugurated within the government's 2023 cultural policy, Revive, Writing Australia has a budget allocation of $26m over three years and a mandate to support writers to create new works, invest in key organisations within the literary sector, and develop national initiatives that benefit authors and audiences. Its agenda will be determined by a board of industry representatives and specialists appointed by the minister for the arts – and that work can't start soon enough. The collapse of traditional publishing models, the increasing costs for independent publishers, AI's unregulated encroachment into the publishing sphere, big tech's industrial-scale infringement of Australian authors' copyright, and the sharp increase in politicised attacks on writers all tell a bleak story. In the face of these challenges, Australian writers earn an average of just $18,200 per year. That doesn't even come halfway towards approaching the poverty line. Securing the conditions where writers can survive, let alone thrive, is Writing Australia's first challenge. Christos Tsiolkas, Helen Garner, Richard Flanagan, Kate Grenville, Charlotte Wood and many other prominent Australian writers have been outspoken on the urgent need for reform and increased investment. They've spoken passionately about the life-changing impact of grants they've received on their work. Both the Australian Society of Authors and the Australian Writers Guild are calling for fair payment for writers, as well as strengthening copyright protections and introducing meaningful AI regulation. And the Australian Publishers Association's Books Create Australia campaign is calling for investment in the entire literary ecosystem that supports Australia's writers, including libraries, agents, writers' centres, festivals and literary journals. Expectations are high for what Writing Australia needs to achieve – even if the director position has only just been advertised this week. Well-funded fellowships that afford writers the time to write, industry development initiatives that strengthen the entire ecosystem, and secure multi-year funding for the literary journals that provide the majority of each year's publication opportunities are a must. Back in 1818, the fledgling colony's first-ever arts grant came in the form of cows: one per year for two years for our inaugural poet laureate. In 1908, the young federation established the Commonwealth Literary Fund as its first-ever arts program, supporting writers in need of financial aid. It wasn't until 1939 that the CLF's remit expanded to include stipends for writers and subsidies for publications such as literary journals, becoming the first proper federal arts funding body. During the second world war the Menzies government briefly made substantial increases to the CLF's budget, but these were not sustained through the following decades. Then in 1975, under the new Whitlam government, the CLF was folded into the new Australia Council, becoming its first Literature Board. This was the beginning of an ambitious era for literature investment, with a program that included career development initiatives for emerging writers, dedicated funding for literary journals, and audience and market development initiatives such as writers' festivals. Whitlam tripled the overall arts budget and also introduced a new income source for writers: the Public Lending Right scheme, which compensates authors for lost sales when their books are borrowed from libraries. In 2023, the Albanese government expanded the scheme to include ebooks and audio books. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning The Literature Board survived a range of restructures over the following decades, until 2013, when all artform boards were replaced with advisory groups and peer assessment panels. In 2010, a short-lived attempt to bring together the state-based writers' centres into a national body (coincidentally also named Writing Australia) failed. In 2015, an attempt to unite industry organisations into a Book Council of Australia also failed. Arts minister George Brandis had taken $6m from the funding pool to create the Book Council, but pointedly failed to return the funds when the body didn't eventuate. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion These thwarted developments compounded the chronically disproportionate funding of literature, which sank to a low of just 2.4% of total Australia Council allocations in 2021, or $4.7m. By contrast, the major performing arts organisations received $120m. Writing Australia's budget of $26m over three years (or an average of $8.6m per year) sounds good by comparison, though it still represents a decline from a decade ago: in 2013-2014, $9m in grants were distributed to literature projects (the equivalent of $11.7m today). Since that time, need has only grown. In another full-circle moment, Writing Australia will also re-inaugurate a poet laureate for Australia: a writer, mentor and advocate to focus the public conversation and help guide valuable policy development. This is a funded role dedicated to promoting poetry and mentoring up-and-coming poets; Writing Australia's board is charged with determining the process for appointing the role, then making the selection. 'A national poet laureate will help ensure people can develop a love of poetry in school that they can carry throughout their whole life,' the arts minister, Tony Burke, told Guardian Australia. Internationally renowned Australian poet Sarah Holland-Batt sees the laureate as an unequivocal 'force of good' that will face many challenges – not least of all being the scrutiny of fellow poets – in a cultural landscape that has become increasingly hostile to poetry. Academic Peter Kirkpatrick is more cautious, asking: 'How would a poet laureate 'speak' to the spoken word, slam or hip-hop communities, or to bush poets, or to songwriters?' Academic Valentina Gosetti, looking at the impact of poet laureates across history, asks with hope: 'Will Australia make a brave choice?' These are urgent questions – because the long-term politicisation of cultural policy consigns writers to precarity and diminishes us all. No Australian arts policy has ever survived a change in government. Revive is Australia's first-ever such policy to survive into a second term. Given Labor's thumping majority, and the lengths to which Burke has gone to legislate its key components, it will probably be some years before it might earn the distinction of being Australia's first cultural policy to survive a change in government as well. Among all the industry and technological changes facing writers, and with fewer and fewer publication opportunities for poets in particular, strong public voices will be vital. Given the intense scrutiny Creative Australia is facing right now, will Writing Australia be the strong advocate Australia's writers need? With arts policy and writers' opportunities having become so fraught, this is a time when we need to see writers well supported to create their finest work; Writing Australia's arrival is critical. Now the policy and funding spotlight is finally back on literature, Writing Australia and our national poet laureate must not just speak for our writers – they must roar.
