Latest news with #indigenouscommunities
SBS Australia
4 days ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Blak-cladding: ACBF cops $3.5 million fine for misrepresenting it was Aboriginal-owned
The Federal Court has ordered a company that misrepresented itself as being Aboriginal-owned pay a $3.5 million penalty. ACBF Funeral Plans Pty Ltd (also known as Youpla) was exposed during the 2018 banking royal commission for using predatory sales practices in Indigenous communities. The $3.5 million penalty handed down to ACBF on Thursday comes in addition to the $1.2 million penalty ordered in September 2023 over another misrepresentation that consumers would receive a lump sum payment when this was not the case. This brings the total penalties ordered against ACBF to $4.7 million. First Nations advocates from the Save Sorry Business Coalition welcomed the $3.5 million penalty imposed on ABCF, pointing to the court finding that the company misled the community about their business being Aboriginal-owned by using Aboriginal imagery on their contracts, clothing, ads and business cards. Save Sorry Business Co-ordinator Bettina Cooper said they welcomed the substantial penalty for a company falsely representing it was Aboriginal-owned and that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has shown other businesses that it will take action against this conduct. 'This penalty doesn't help the thousands of people who were deceived into thinking they were buying a funeral plan from an Aboriginal-owned business," she said. "But it very clearly warns other businesses that, if you claim or imply you are a First Nations business in order to make money and advantage of community and you are not, you will be held to account." ASIC chair Joe Longo said the penalty is a strong deterrent to anyone who tries to mislead Aboriginal consumers by falsely claiming Aboriginal ownership or management. "It is one of ASIC's enduring priorities to tackle misconduct targeting First Nations people and our work in this case shows exactly why," he said. But ASIC is not to enforce either penalty without leave of the Court because ACBF is in liquidation. In handing down his decision, Justice Scott Goodman agreed with ASIC's submission that the making of the representation that ACBF was Aboriginal-owned or managed when it was not was deliberate and callous and involved egregious conduct. The penalty decision comes after ASIC's successful appeal to the full Federal Court, overturning part of an earlier Federal Court decision in relation to ACBF and Youpla Group Pty Ltd (Youpla), handed down on February 29, 2024. ACBF, a wholly owned subsidiary of Youpla, offered, promoted and sold the Aboriginal Community Funeral Plan, a funeral expenses insurance policy, primarily to Aboriginal consumers. ACBF customers who purchased the funeral plan paid fortnightly premiums so that their nominees, such as their family members, would be covered for funeral related expenses up to a selected benefit amount. Youpla Group (then ACBF Group Holdings Pty Ltd) was the subject of a case study in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. In October 2020, ASIC commenced proceedings against ACBF. But in March and April 2022, ACBF and Youpla both went into liquidation. ASIC sought leave to continue the proceedings due to the importance of general deterrence in relation to the defendants' conduct. In September 2023, the Federal Court found that ACBF misrepresented to plan holders that they would receive a lump sum payment of their chosen benefit amount, when in fact they would only be reimbursed for funeral related expenses up to the benefit amount upon production of proof that those expenses had been incurred. The court ordered a $1.2 million penalty against ACBF. But the Federal Court found that ASIC had not made out its case in relation to the other alleged misrepresentations, including that they had falsely claimed they were Aboriginal-owned. In February 2024, the full Federal Court upheld ASIC's appeal, finding that ACBF had also misrepresented to Aboriginal consumers that it was Aboriginal-owned or managed when that was not the case. Ms Cooper thanked ASIC for appealing the decision regarding misrepresenting Aboriginal ownership. "Government agencies should continue to identify and take action against black-cladding, so legitimate First Nations owned organisations are able to flourish and support their community," she said. For 30 years, the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund (ACBF), trading as Youpla, aggressively sold poor-value funeral plans to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia, frequently taking premiums directly out of Centrelink payments through Centrepay. The Save Sorry Business Coalition is a First Nations-led campaign seeking fair resolution for First Nations people harmed by the misleading and deceptive conduct of Youpla and the failure of government and regulators over two decades. The Federal Government's Youpla Support Program began on July 1, 2024, to support people affected by the collapse of ACBF/Youpla. Policy holders eligible for a payment would receive either 60 per cent of all the payments they made, or the benefit amount on the ACBF certificate, whichever is lower. "The Save Sorry Business Campaigns commends the government for this program but notes that many of the estimated 14,000 people who suffered a loss may not be eligible under the program because their involvement was so long ago, nor will many people fully recover their losses in full," the Save Sorry Business Coalition said. ASIC has also taken penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against former directors of ACBF and Youpla Ronald Joseph Pattenden, Jonathan Law, Bryn Elwyn Jones and former officers Michael Brendan Wilson and Geoffrey Peter Clayton for breaches of their duties. The court has listed the matter for trial to begin on February 9, 2026.
Malay Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Sabah introduces carbon rights law with indigenous safeguards
KOTA KINABALU, July 8 – The Sabah State Legislative Assembly today passed landmark laws to regulate carbon activities, including the recognition, registration, and ownership of carbon rights and carbon credits. In a Bill read by Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir, the Sabah Climate Change and Carbon Governance Enactment 2025 aligns with evolving national and international climate policies. 'Carbon assets will be utilised through carbon projects supported by a robust carbon accounting mechanism to reinforce the state's development direction,' he said. 'Carbon asset utilisation will be strategically planned to support economic sector growth, including through emission balancing mechanisms,' he added. 'In the short term, this approach also considers the need to protect the competitiveness of key economic sectors, particularly in terms of job opportunities and the welfare of vulnerable communities,' he said. The Bill introduces a two-tier system: the existing Sabah Climate Action Council (SCAC) will act as the one-stop policy-making body, while the appointed director will oversee implementation and regulation of carbon activities and greenhouse gas emissions. The Bill mandates greenhouse gas reporting from listed sectors and entities, strengthening Sabah's ability to track environmental impact. 'The Bill also pays serious attention to the involvement of indigenous communities, especially for carbon activities carried out on land recognised as native customary land under the Land Ordinance,' said Abidin. 'Any proposed carbon activity on such land must involve consultation with the respective native communities or their appointed representatives,' he said. 'This approach gives indigenous communities an active role in the implementation of carbon activities and ensures that developments do not harm their rights, identity, or heritage,' he added. 'Their consent, participation, and benefit-sharing must be formally integrated into project proposals,' he said. The Bill also moots the Sabah Climate Registry and Inventory Centre, which will manage climate data, carbon rights, and the MRV (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification) system, as well as the Sabah Climate Fund to finance climate-related initiatives. 'Part Six of the Bill governs the regulation of carbon activities, including recognition, registration, and legal ownership of carbon rights, and bans any unregistered claims,' he said. 'Part Seven regulates carbon credits, ensuring only certified carbon rights holders may generate them, and introduces levies and annual royalties on carbon credits transacted or generated in Sabah,' he said. Part Nine provides for enforcement powers and general provisions. In 2024, Sabah completed its first Greenhouse Gas Inventory, showing it is a net carbon sink, absorbing more carbon than it emits and contributing around 36 per cent of Malaysia's total carbon absorption. 'At the same time, Sabah is also one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in Malaysia,' he said. 'We are seeing the effects through increasing and worsening floods, coastal erosion affecting settlements, and changes in livelihoods of rural communities,' he said. 'These twin realities demand a clear vision and immediate action,' he added. 'Our goal is to ensure that the benefits of Sabah's unique position are felt directly by the people while meaningfully contributing to the global climate effort,' he said. 'However, this transition requires capacity, investment, and strategic cooperation,' he said. He said that the state will continue to engage constructively with all stakeholders — state, national, and international — including the Federal Government, to build the necessary systems to ensure a fair, progressive, and sustainable climate path that leverages Sabah's unique natural strengths.
Fast Company
03-07-2025
- Fast Company
These Lego-like homes are designed to float in floods
Outside a warehouse in a Los Angeles suburb, there's a fascinating experiment underway in how people can live in places at high risk of flooding. A prototype of a new type of housing has been undergoing tests in a large tank of water. The homes, made from a kit of plastic parts, are designed for flood zones: The foundation and the watertight shell of the house can float. When the water rises, the house rises, too. 'Normally, it just sits on land,' says Charles Wee, the architect behind the design. 'And then during a flood, it can actually just rise in the same position.' Wee spent most of his career working on conventional high-rise projects. But a decade ago, after visiting a relative who worked with indigenous communities in the Amazon, he decided to change direction. He'd seen how people living along the Amazon River lost their homes—simple shacks on stilts—every time the river flooded. Globally, more than a billion people face a significant risk of flooding, and that number is growing. Wee began considering how to build housing in flood plains differently. Learning from a disaster At first, Wee wasn't sure how to approach the idea of making a buoyant home. But he happened to see a photo taken after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The image showed wreckage from destroyed buildings filling the coastline. Wee noticed large blue boxes floating intact in the water. He discovered that they were molded tanks used by the fishing industry. They were cheap to produce and seamless, so water couldn't intrude. He realized that he could use the same low-cost manufacturing technique to make building parts. Wee closed his own lucrative architecture practice and founded a startup, LifeArk, to work on the new concept. The development was challenging. He wanted to make homes that would not only be resilient in floods, but that could withstand other disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires. After years of R&D, his team had a system that worked. It also meets the requirements of the California building code, one of the most restrictive building codes in the world. In its factory in California's Central Valley, the company now makes prefab housing parts using rotational molding, the process uses to make other hollow plastic products like coolers or playground equipment. Inside a large machine, a plastic-filled mold rotates, producing seamless roofs, doors, columns, and other parts. The shell is high-density polyethylene (HDPE), the same plastic used in products like milk jugs and shampoo bottles. It's filled with foam insulation that makes it energy efficient, strong, and buoyant. A better use for plastic Most plastic is used 'in the worst possible way,' Wee says. But one of plastic's environmental flaws—the fact that it doesn't easily break down—can be an advantage in a building. 'Plastic will last 100 years without degradation,' he says. 'It's a great material to build homes, but we use it to make shopping bags.' LifeArk's homes, which are the first to use plastic as a load-bearing material, can last longer than modular homes made from more typical building materials. At the end of a home's life, the manufacturer can fully recycle the plastic. (The company also uses around 30% postconsumer recycled material.) Plastic makes the homes resilient in earthquakes. In seismic testing on 'shake tables,' the material was flexible enough that it bent but never broke. Similarly, in a hurricane, the buildings can bend in strong winds. Making the homes resilient to fires was a bigger challenge, since plastic easily melts. But the team developed a compound that's mixed into the plastic that makes it carbonize in the event of a fire, forming a layer of black soot so the fire can't penetrate and it self-extinguishes. The Lego-like parts can be assembled into simple 8-by-8-foot modules without equipment. Then those modules can be laid out into homes. In one version of the housing, with a floating foundation and piers, the homes can adjust to floods or float permanently on water. (One proposal from the company looked at how the design could be used for ocean-based housing in the Marshall Islands to help deal with sea level rise.) In another version, the modules sit on a foundation that's raised 28 inches above the ground. The company has already built multiple projects, with others underway. But so far, the first developments haven't yet used the amphibious version. Because the concept is new, it isn't yet possible to insure. It also needs to overcome regulatory barriers. The first projects use a more standard foundation, though they also have advantages in flood zones. A new solution for supportive housing In a project in Watsonville, California, the design makes it possible to build in a flood zone. When a nonprofit in the small city wanted to build housing for people experiencing homelessness in a church parking lot, they initially planned to use another type of modular housing. But it would have cost $1 million to raise the other homes above the flood level. Because LifeArk's homes are already raised off the ground, it was far less expensive to make the housing high enough to avoid an extreme flood. The company also used the design in other supportive housing projects. In West L.A., one project that just opened on a city-owned parking lot includes 33 bedrooms and bathrooms around a central courtyard. Another project that opened last year, in an L.A. suburb, has 25 units for short-term stays for people experiencing homelessness. For supportive housing like this, the design can help significantly reduce costs. It's faster to build than other modular housing, with less labor required. The raised design also allows contractors to install utilities under the homes, rather than in trenches underground that are expensive to build. The company's first project, in another L.A. suburb, demonstrated the advantages. 'At the time, California was spending a minimum of half a million dollars a unit for housing,' Wee says. 'That was our first project, and so we made a lot of mistakes. But we still came up at least two to three times faster and at least half the cost.' As production scales up, the cost could come down further, making it more viable for use in disasters and in developing countries. And as the company builds more supportive housing projects, it's still working to make the amphibious version of the housing a reality. 'There's ample evidence that it will be far more economical in the long term to build an amphibious house in flood-prone zones than to repair homes damaged by floods,' says Wee. 'I am a strong believer that if we can crack this nut—mostly regulatory and insurance—this could open up whole new housing opportunities.' The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
CNA
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
Rediscover Singapore's sea spirit: This new festival brings islander traditions to life at West Coast Park
To celebrate Singapore's indigenous islander heritage, Orang Laut SG is launching its first Hari Orang Pulau festival on Jun 14. It will be held at West Coast Park from 10am to 9pm with performances, film screenings and even activities such as learning how to catch fish. Organised with support from the National Heritage Board, the one-day event – which means "Islander Day" in Malay – was envisioned as a celebration of culture, heritage and the stories of Singapore's Orang Pulau, the broader term for indigenous communities who lived on the offshore islands. The lineup of activities includes cultural performances such as joget dangkung, a photo exhibition showcasing daily life out at sea, as well as workshops on traditional maritime skills led by experienced fishermen from the Orang Laut community. Participants can learn age-old techniques, such as using bubu traps and jaring (gill nets), to catch fish. Other highlights include film screenings focused on regional coastal communities, such as the 1959 film Bawang Putih, Bawang Merah; panel discussions on intercultural history and fun games and competitions. All activities are free to the public. 'We want to let people in Singapore know that many of us Orang Pulau and Orang Laut are still here,' said Firdaus Sani, the founder of Orang Laut SG, a platform dedicated to telling the stories of the indigenous people of the sea and seafaring inhabitants of Singapore's offshore islands. These islanders not only include the Orang Laut but also other ethnic groups such as Malay, Bugis and even Chinese traders who once settled on the islands. Many of them developed unique, island-specific knowledge and skills, especially in areas like foraging and fishing. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Orang Laut SG (@oranglautsg) The 37-year-old Firdaus, who also runs The Black Sampan social enterprise, is an Orang Laut descendant himself. His maternal grandparents lived on Pulau Semakau until they were relocated to the mainland in 1977. Growing up, he would often visit the island with his grandparents, where he learnt about their traditions. According to Firdaus, in the 1970s, the inhabitants of five islands around Singapore would gather annually for a sports festival called Pesta 5 S – referring to the islands of Pulau Sudong, Pulau Semakau, Sekijang Bendera (now known as St John's Island), Pulau Seking, and Pulau Seraya. One island would take turns hosting the festival every year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Orang Laut SG (@oranglautsg) As time passed and most of these islanders relocated to mainland Singapore, the yearly festivals faded. One of the last reported gatherings was hosted by Pulau Sudong in 1975, according to Malay-language daily newspaper Berita Harian. Half a century has gone by since then. Descendants of these native islanders are now scattered across Singapore and beyond. But the 'jiwa orang laut' or "the spirit of the people of the sea" in Malay, lives on. Firdaus founded Orang Laut SG during the pandemic. In 2023, he and his team, which included fellow descendants of Orang Laut and Orang Pulau, organised an event called Panggilan Anak Pulau (Calling From Island Descendants) at The Projector. The event drew 200 to 300 attendees and offered a platform for islanders, their descendants and their supporters to connect and share stories. This year, Hari Orang Pulau is set to build on that momentum and Firdaus said he hopes it will reach a wider audience. His aim is to make it an annual affair that will contribute to ongoing conversations about Singapore's rich and layered history. 'This event is for former islanders, their descendants and anyone who wants to connect with Singapore's history and the different communities that shaped our identity," he said.
