Australia hosted a significant number of Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, held from 13-27 July. Australia, Canada and the USA all contributed C-17s, meaning there were around 17 C-17s on the continent at the same time. The most challenging mission performed during this year’s Talisman Sabre was a 14-hour […]
No New Zealanders were on board the Handala in the latest arrest and abductions of Freedom Flotilla crew on humanitarian siege-busting missions to Gaza. However, two Australians were and one talks to The New Arab just before the attack on Saturday.
INTERVIEW:By Sebastian Shehadi
The Handala, a 1968 Norwegian trawler repurposed by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), set sail for Gaza from southern Italy on July 20, carrying around 21 people and a cargo of food, medical kits, baby formula, water desalination units and more.
The ship is named after the iconic Palestinian cartoon figure, Handala, who symbolises Palestinian identity, resilience and the ongoing struggle against displacement and occupation.
Just hours before departure, the crew uncovered deliberate sabotage: a rope tightly bound around the propeller and a sulfuric acid swap mistaken for water, leading to chemical burns in two people.
Despite this alarming start, the mission continued, echoing the defiance of past flotilla efforts such as the interception of the Madleen in June and the Israeli drone strike on the Conscience in May.
However, contact with the vessel was reported lost on July 24, with coalition officials warning that communications have been jammed and drones have been seen near the ship, raising concerns about interception or further hostile action.
The mission resumed following the brief two-hour communications blackout. “Connection has now been re-established. ‘Handala’ is continuing its mission and is currently less than 349 nautical miles from Gaza,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) announced on Telegram on July 25.
Then on Saturday, the Israeli military attacked the ship and violently detained and “abducted” the entire crew and issued a statement saying they were “safe” and on their way to Israel.
‘Handala’ was illegally boarded by Israel military in international waters, around 40 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza.
Before interception the 21 crew made this statement: if attacked they will join the global hunger strike for Gaza.
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) July 27, 2025
The New Arab spoke to one of Handala’s crew, Lebanese-Australian filmmaker, human rights activist and journalist Tan Safi, before the arrest to find out more about the mission and why she chose to be on board this mission:
The New Arab: How’s the mood on the ship at the moment? Tan Safi: The morale of everyone at the moment is high, as everyone is happy to be here. Of course, different emotions come up, and we talk them out, but as a collective, we’re all looking out for one another. Everyone is very caring and kind.
We are a group of 21 people from 10 different countries. We have a very proud grandmother, as well as MPs, nurses, a human rights lawyer, a comedian, an actor, human rights activists and more. We’re from many different walks of life, and we pose absolutely no threat to anyone.
We’re simply trying to challenge something illegal. Like previous Freedom Flotilla actions, we will be sailing through international waters into Palestinian territorial waters.
Australian Handala crew member Tan Safi . . . “Back in 2010, we sent a flotilla that was caught in a deadly raid. The Israelis came in a helicopter, boarded the ship and killed nine people instantaneously, while another person died from a coma years later.” Image: FFC
How are you preparing for the very real threat of Israeli violence? Back in 2010, we sent a flotilla that was caught in a deadly raid. The Israelis came in a helicopter, boarded the ship and killed nine people instantaneously, while another person died from a coma years later.
So we know very well that Israel poses a real threat.
More importantly, we’ve seen what they’re capable of over the last two years. The most horrific things imaginable. Israeli soldiers are committing endless crimes against Gazan children, and then going into the homes of the Palestinians they’ve murdered and taking selfies in women’s lingerie. We know what they’re capable of.
Any interception of our vessel would violate international maritime law. The ICJ [International Court of Justice] itself ordered Israel not to interfere with any delivery of international aid. Of course, we know that Israel gets to exist in this world by hopping over international law, without any accountability, without any real sanctions.
In terms of processing, what might happen to me? I’ve had to do it time and time again whenever I’ve joined FFC missions over the last two years. I’ve had to say goodbye to my friends and family, but also try to keep them reassured.
Sometimes I feel like I’m lying, to be honest. I tell them that “everything will be okay”. But it’s psychologically impossible to explain.
Are you worried that Handala is less protected than the last ship, Madleen, which had the global media attention (and protection) of having Greta Thunberg on board?
A Gaza Freedom Flotilla Instagram poster. Image: Instagram/@loremresists
No matter how many Instagram followers you have, your life is just as important as the next person’s. We have people on this boat who have Instagram. We have people who do.
The lives of all these people are as valuable as everyone else’s. I would just try to focus on the fact that we’re all human beings, just as every Palestinian in Gaza is. I’m more worried that Israel’s violence will expand until it’s too late, and people wish that they had done more. The time is now.
What is your message to global or Australian leaders? I’m Lebanese, but I grew up in so-called Australia, a country that has such a dark history. What our politicians forget is that so-called Australia was not theirs to begin with. Australia was, and will always be, Aboriginal land. They can try to hide their dark truths, just like Israel used to as well. But the truth will become exposed in time.
To this day, Aboriginal people are abused and discriminated against by the state. My message to Australia’s leadership is: how can you watch tens of thousands of men, women and children being slaughtered and still be enabling Israel’s siege and genocide?
The Australian embassy in Israel sent me a message urging me to “please reconsider your decision to join a humanitarian aid trip to Gaza”. If they’re so concerned about the two Australians on this boat, I would urge them to be more concerned with the millions of Palestinians who are suffering daily.
The Palestinian cartoon character Handala . . . reimagined with deliberate starvation by the Israeli military forces. Image: X/@RimaHas
Can you tell us more about daily life and organisation on the ship? We all put our hands up to volunteer for various tasks throughout the day. Some of us are more skilled in certain areas than others. For example, we have someone here from France who is a nurse, and they’re helping anyone who is feeling sick.
We have the proud grandmother, Vigdis from Norway, who loves to cook. And then someone will put their hand up to do the dishes. No one is too good to clean the toilets.
We’re all helping out to keep this ship organised. We also do shifts, helping out with the crew when needed. No one is sitting around. And if someone is, it’s because it’s really hot or the seas are rough.
What do you hope Handala will achieve, beyond potentially breaking the siege? I hope this action will encourage all forms of solidarity and, more importantly, inspire direct action. I know that protests and non-direct actions serve a purpose, but we have talked and talked and talked at length. I don’t know how people are finding the strength.
Sometimes when I’m asked to talk at events, I just don’t know what to say, because if you need me to explain this, maybe you will never understand.
But what we clearly need to do is disrupt the financial flow that enables and fuels this genocide. The BDS movement is huge. People used to look down on it and question its efficacy. But now we’re able to quantify that it’s actually affecting real, big business.
I’ve always been advocating for that and asking people to be aware of the companies they consume from, such as Unilever, Nestle and Coke. This is having a real impact on these companies that are profiteering from unethical practices to begin with, that extends far beyond the genocide in Gaza.
Direct action could also involve blockading shipments of weapons from ports and docks, as seen in Greece. It’s amazing to see more countries step up. However, we often see a lot of lip service as well. It takes everyday people to actually stand up and say: “I’m able-bodied. I’m sick to my stomach. I’m gonna listen to my instinct and explore other options”.
If protesting is not working, explore other options. If there is no direct action group, create one. All it takes is one person to begin.
Are there any final or other messages you’d like to convey? The Handala ship is the 37th boat from the FFC to travel to Gaza. There are thousands of people behind each of these journeys who make these voyages happen.
The FFC has existed for as many years as Israel’s siege on Gaza has. The FFC exists only because of Israel’s illegal siege.
We are people from around the world who are united in our shared consciousness and care for Palestine. We pose no threat. I’m looking at a bunch of toys and baby formula. We have as much food as we can carry, but our main goal is to break Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza because you need to fix a problem at the root of the cause.
Sebastian Shehadi is a freelance journalist and a contributing writer at the New Statesman. This article was first published by The New Arab. Follow Shehadi on X: @seblebanon
Eptec Defence Solutions has been awarded a 10-year contract for the supply of abrasive blast and paint services into the Hunter Class Frigate Program. The contract — the value remaining commercial in confidence — marks the largest supply agreement in Eptec’s history and will see the company deliver critical blast and paint services for the […]
Australia and Canada have solidified their bilateral cooperation as Ottawa moves towards adoption of over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) technology on offer from Australia. On 18 July, Australia’s Department of Defence announced that a new technology partnership agreement to support this aim had been signed. This revelation came exactly four months after Canada declared that it wished […]
The APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture and Cellular Agriculture Australia have teamed up to advance the Asia-Pacific future food industry.
To boost the Asia-Pacific market for cultivated meat and fermentation-derived food ingredients, two industry bodies have signed a strategic collaboration agreement.
The APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture (APAC-SCA) and Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) have teamed up in an effort to foster international cooperation and advance the sector across Asia-Pacific.
“Through this partnership, we’re bringing together our regional strengths to drive transparency, coordinate regulatory efforts, and engage the public in meaningful ways,” said Peter Yu, programme director of APAC-SCA.
“This marks a significant step forward in international collaboration to accelerate the future of food – which the industry truly needs,” he added.
Collaboration focuses on public and policy engagement
CAA, meanwhile, is a think tank that works across Australia’s entire cellular agriculture sector to identify common, non-competitive priorities. It has published white papers on precision fermentation and held a host of cross-sector workshops, and counts local animal-free dairy firms All G, Eden Brew and Noumi as its sponsors.
Their collaboration aims to promote knowledge exchange and coordinated public engagement, while speeding up progress in regulatory alignment, trust building, and science-based policymaking.
“This MOU isn’t just a document – it’s a reflection of the collective vision for a more sustainable, secure, and equitable food system,” said Yu. “Cross-border collaboration is essential to building a thriving and trusted ecosystem for cellular agriculture,” he added.
The non-binding agreement focuses on several key areas. Through policy and regulatory exchanges, APAC-SCA and CAA will share timely insights and best practices on evolving regulatory landscapes.
As part of policy engagement efforts, they will co-author thought leadership pieces, white papers, and policy briefs to promote evidence-based regulation.
In addition, the two industry bodies will coordinate and amplify initiatives that build public confidence in cell ag technologies and products. Plus, they’ll explore and launch joint knowledge-sharing initiatives to contribute to sectoral growth and innovation.
Asia’s cellular agriculture industry is second to none
Courtesy: Vow
The trade organisations represent countries that are leading the future food race. There’s hardly a better example than Singapore, a global hub for food tech. It was the first country in the world to approve the sale of cultivated meat and gas-fermented proteins, and Asia’s first to allow the sale of precision-fermented dairy proteins.
Meanwhile, Sydney-based Vow has propelled Australia’s cultivated meat ecosystem to new heights, and is now selling cultured quail and foie gras in eateries across the country (as well as Singapore). It is also approved to do so in New Zealand. Another startup from down under, All G, has secured clearance to put its precision-fermented lactoferrin on the Chinese and US markets.
As Europe continues to play catch-up with its novel food regulation (with promised reforms still at least a year away) and the states in the US ban cultivated meat, Asia-Pacific is a prime destination for the world’s cellular agriculture companies. This latest collaboration will hope to build on that.
“This partnership reflects our shared commitment to advancing cellular agriculture. Together, APAC-SCA and CAA aim to foster an enabling environment for innovation, support science-based policymaking, and cultivate a regional ecosystem where cellular agriculture can thrive,” said Yu.
Design software maker Figma will begin offering a local hosting option for its Australian customers later this year, as the Californian startup pushes further into one of its fastest growing markets. The move comes as the company, a competitor to local tech unicorn Canva, gears up for an initial public offering on the New York…
Now in its eleventh iteration, Australia is hosting Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 from 13-27 July. This multilateral event draws together 19 like-minded nations, and perhaps in excess of 40,000 troops, with 15,000 of them coming from the USA alone. As well as host Australia and its key ally the USA, Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 welcomed […]
New Zealand has committed around 300 army personnel, plus more from the navy and air force, to Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, held in and around Australia from 13 July till 4 August. The Kiwi contingent includes three of eight NH90 helicopters belonging to No. 3 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). New […]
Australian precision fermentation startup Eclipse Ingredients has emerged from stealth with A$7M ($4.6M) in funding to scale up its production of human lactoferrin.
Aiming to make “impossible-to-source” health ingredients widely accessible through sustainable production, Brisbane-based Eclipse Ingredients has emerged from stealth with its first target protein.
A spinout from the national science agency, CSIRO, the precision fermentation startup has raised A$7M ($4.6M) in funding, with nearly A$3M ($1.9M) coming from the federal government via its Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA), and the rest from AgFunder and angel investors.
It’s starting with human lactoferrin, a whey protein found in breast milk, immune cells, and many organs, and known for its iron-regulating and functional health properties.
“We’re not just making ingredients – we’re transforming what’s possible when nature’s most powerful compounds become accessible at scale,” said founder and CEO Siobhan Coster, a dietitian and MBA graduate. “Ingredients like human lactoferrin offer incredible health benefits across all life stages – including for babies – yet they’ve been locked away.”
A ‘super capital-efficient’ precision fermentation platform
Courtesy: Queensland University of Technology
A highly sought-after ingredient, lactoferrin boasts antiviral, antibacterial, immunity-boosting, and gut-strengthening properties. It’s found both in human and bovine milk, but extracting 1kg of purified lactoferrin requires 10,000 litres of milk, leading to exorbitant costs and a strained supply, which is therefore reserved for infant nutrition and supplements.
It means that despite its various benefits, lactoferrin remains absent from products that could benefit millions, according to Eclipse Ingredients. It has applications across a range of industries, from sports nutrition and immune-boosting functional foods to premium skincare.
To overcome the supply and cost bottlenecks, the firm is turning to precision fermentation. The tech combines traditional fermentation with the latest biotech advancements to efficiently produce a compound of interest – in this case, human lactoferrin.
In a process similar to brewing beer, Eclipse Ingredients genetically engineers yeast to produce proteins instead of alcohol in a highly controlled environment, with the resulting ingredients mirroring those found in animals and humans.
The firm is now scaling up through the precision infrastructure at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where FaBA is helping it transfer its tech from lab scale to 2,000-litre fermenters. “Lactoferrin has incredible qualities that are hugely beneficial for our health, yet the human version has been impossible to produce at scale,” said Coster.
“This partnership gives us access to world-class facilities and expertise, allowing us to focus on what we do best – turning breakthrough science into products that change lives,” she added.
“We’ve built Eclipse’s platform to be super capital-efficient, leveraging existing infrastructure and expertise here in Australia at QUT, the University of Queensland, and CSIRO. That means we can stay laser-focused on what matters: our people, our patents and breakthrough science.”
“Eclipse’s technology platform unlocks the immense potential of human lactoferrin at commercial scale,” added Michael Dean, founding partner at AgFunder. “By solving a critical bottleneck for the production of complex functional proteins, we believe they are positioned to disrupt the global wellness and skincare markets.”
Eclipse Ingredients targets cosmetics launch for 2027
Courtesy: Eclipse Ingredients
Eclipse Ingredients is now seeking commercial partnerships internationally, and aims to launch the first commercial products featuring its recombinant human lactoferrin in 2027.
“While our initial focus is cosmetics, there are health benefits that human lactoferrin can deliver across other areas, including food and supplements, opening up a range of opportunities to support health and wellbeing,” said Coster. Its applications in skincare will follow food and infant formula products by the end of the decade.
The startup said it is strategically positioned to access Asia-Pacific’s rapidly expanding health ingredients market, and is hoping to cement Australia’s position as a leader in ingredient innovation. It is the newest name in the country’s burgeoning precision fermentation sector, which includes All G, Nourish Ingredients, Eden Brew, Daisy Lab, and Cauldron.
“We’re delivering trusted science, as well as helping to demonstrate new potential technology-led industries for Australia,” Crispin Howitt, research lead at CSIRO. “Australia is a leading producer in trusted, sustainable and high-quality ingredients, and can build on this reputation to open new high-value market opportunities using advances in precision fermentation.”
FaBA is part of the federal education department’s Trailblazer Universities Program, benefitting from an A$50 investment, complemented by another A$110M from universities and industry. It is also working with All G to transfer its cow-free bovine lactoferrin from its lab-scale bioreactors to the startup’s large fermentation tanks.
“Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator is well-positioned to bring together world-leading researchers from across universities to deliver new ingredients and premium products that consumers are increasingly demanding,” said FaBA director Chris Downs.
Eclipse Ingredients isn’t the only one producing precision-fermented human lactoferrin. US-based Helaina and Portugal’s PFx Biotech are working on these proteins too, and have both benefited from new funding over the last year amid an otherwise dire investment landscape for alternative proteins. Yali Bio and The Live Green Co, meanwhile, are creating precision-fermented breast milk fats.
She has become a notorious figure of international interest, shamelessly exploited for news cycles, commercial worth, and career advancement. After a trial lasting nine weeks, conducted at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell, Victoria, Erin Patterson, a stocky, thick-set mother of two, was found guilty of three murders and an attempted murder. Date: July 29, 2023, in the town of Leongatha. Her weapon in executing her plot of Sophoclean extravagance: death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) served in a beef Wellington. Her targets: in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson. Of the four, only Ian survived the culinary killings – barely. Prudently, estranged husband Simon chose not to attend.
News outlets thought it useful to produce graphics about this Australian’s terminating exploits. CNN produced one with voyeuristic relish, making it appear much like a Midsomer Murders episode. Details aplenty are provided, including the gruesome end for the victims. “Gail and Heather died on August 4 [2023] from multiorgan failure, followed by Don on August 5 after he failed to respond to a liver transplant.” Fortunately, Ian Wilkinson survived, but the rumour-mongering hack journalist can barely take it, almost regretful of that fact: “after almost two months of intensive treatment”, he was discharged.
Having an opinion on this case has become standard fare, amassing on a turd heap of supposition, second guessing and wonder. The range is positively Chaucerian in its village variety. The former court official interviewed about the killer’s guilty mind and poisoning stratagems, stating the obvious and dulling. The criminologist, keen on career advancement and pseudo-psychology, attempted to gain insight into Patterson’s mind, commenting on her apparent ordinariness.
One example of the latter is to be found in The Conversation, where we are told by Xanthe Mallett with platitudinous and forced certainty how Patterson, speaking days after the incident, “presented as your typical, average woman of 50.” If attempting to kill four people using fungi is a symptom of average, female ordinariness of a certain age, we all best start making our own meals. But Mallett thinks it is precisely that sense of the ordinary that led to a public obsession, a mania with crime and motivation. “The juxtaposition between the normality of a family lunch (and the sheer vanilla-ness of the accused) and the seriousness of the situation sent the media into overdrive.”
This is certainly not the view of Dr. Chris Webster, who answered the Leongatha Hospital doorbell when Patterson first presented. Realising her link to the other four victims suffering symptoms of fungal poisoning, Webster explained that death cap mushrooms were suspected. Asking Patterson where she got them, she replied with one word: “Woolworths.” This was enough for the doctor to presume guilt, an attitude which certainly gave one of Australia’s most ruthless supermarket chains a graceful pardon. “She was evil and very smart to have planned it all and carried out but didn’t quite dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’.”
The marketer, thrilled with branding and promotion, suggests how Patterson Inc. can become an ongoing concern of merchandise, plays, and scripts. (Think of a shirt sporting the following: “I ate beef Wellington and survived”.) The ABC did not waste much time commissioning Toxic, a show created by Elise McCredie and Tony Ayres, aided by ABC podcaster Rachel Brown. Ayres hams it up by saying that, “True stories ask storytellers to probe the complexities of human behaviour. What really lies beneath the headlines? It’s both a challenge and a responsibility to go beyond the surface – to reveal, not just to sensationalise.” Given that this project is a child of frothy publicity born from sensationalism and hysteria, the comment is almost touching.
The media prompts and updates, mischaracterising Patterson as “The Mushroom Murderer”, leave the impression that she really did like killing fungi. But an absolute monster must be found, and the press hounds duly found it. Papers like the Herald Sun preferred the old Rupert Murdoch tactic: till the soil to surface level to find requisite dirt. According to a grimy bit of reporting from that most distinguished of Melbourne rags, “the callous murderer, whose maiden name was Scutter before marrying Simon Patterson in 2007, was secretly dubbed ‘Scutter the Nutter’ among her training group.” The Australianwas in a didactic mood, unhappy that the judge did not make it even more obvious that a crime, committed by a woman involving poison and “not a gun or a knife”, was equally grave.
To complete the matter was an aggrieved home cook, Nagi Maehashi, who also rode the wave of publicity by expressing sadness that her recipe had become a lethal weapon. (Presumably, Maehashi did not have lethal mushrooms in her original recipe, but precision slides in publicity.) Overcome with false modesty in this glare of publicity, Maehashi did not wish to take interviews, but felt her misused work deserved a statement. “It is, of course, upsetting to learn that one of my recipes – possibly the one I’ve spent more hours perfecting than any other – something I created to bring joy and happiness, is entangled in a tragic situation,” she moaned on Instagram. Those familiar with Maehashi will note her tendency to megalomania in the kitchen, especially given recipes that have been created long before she turned to knife and spatula.
The ones forgotten will be those victims who died excruciatingly before their loved ones in a richly sadistic exercise. At the end of it all, the entire ensemble of babblers, hucksters, and chancers so utterly obsessed with what took place in Leongatha should thank Patterson. Her murders have excited, enthralled, and given people purpose. She will start conversations, fill pockets, extend careers, and, if we are to believe some recent reporting, make meals for her fellow inmates in prison.
The Aussie Plant Based Co has re-entered the market with new vegan burgers, sausages and cheeses nine months after being acquired out of liquidation by Smart Foods.
Everybody loves a good comeback story. And the plant-based sector needs one now more than ever.
The Aussie Plant Based Co has delivered that with a return to supermarket shelves and restaurant menus nine months after it was rescued by Gold Coast manufacturer Smart Foods.
The company has launched plant-based meat products into 850 Coles stores, returned to the menu of Betty’s Burgers, and introduced a non-dairy cheese range for foodservice.
“Reviving an insolvent business is never straightforward. Many stakeholders had been burned and understandably found it difficult to separate us from the former company,” Smart Foods CEO Raghu Reddy told Green Queen.
“Rebuilding trust took time, transparency, and consistency. In some cases, the damage was too deep, and we had to make the tough decision to bring in new partners to fill those gaps. It’s been a challenging process, but one that has laid the groundwork for a stronger, more resilient business.”
How Smart Foods revived Aussie Plant Based Co
Smart Foods CEO Raghu Reddy | Courtesy: Aussie Plant-Based Co
The Aussie Plant Based Co was formed in October 2023 as the result of a merger between Fënn Foods’s Veef brand and All G’s Love Buds label. The firm sold plant-based beef, pork and chicken products in retail (via Veef) and foodservice (via Love Buds) at over 6,000 distribution points.
Despite early momentum, it faced cash flow challenges that ended with the board deciding to wind down the business. It appointed liquidators who were soon in discussions with multiple prospective buyers, with Smart Foods emerging as the rescuer only eight days after it entered insolvency.
The manufacturer took over the Aussie Plant Based Co’s equipment, stock, brand names, and IP, and retained half of its workforce. Fënn Foods, meanwhile, ceased operations as an entity.
“The business had great products and potential, but lacked the operational focus and discipline needed to scale sustainably,” said Reddy. “There was a lot of energy put into brand and vision, but the backend cost control, supply chain, and margins didn’t keep up. That’s where things started to unravel.”
He decided to acquire the firm because he “still believed in the core quality of the products, the demand in the market, and the innovation”. “I knew with the right structure, financial discipline, and manufacturing foundation, we could turn it around and grow it properly. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing,” he said.
“We took a bold but strategic approach to turning the business around. One of our first moves was relocating our manufacturing facility to a more central location, which significantly reduced our overheads, particularly freight costs.
“The previous facility was based on the Sunshine Coast, a regional area two hours from the closest city in Brisbane, and nearly 20 hours by road from many of our key suppliers and customers. Given that everything moves by truck in Australia, the distance was a major barrier to efficiency and cost control. Relocating brought us closer to both suppliers and customers, allowing us to streamline operations.
“We also scaled back to a very lean and focused team. At the same time, we prioritised rebuilding key supplier relationships and sought out new partnerships where necessary.”
New owners had to re-pitch to retailers following supply issues
Courtesy: Aussie Plant-Based Co
Veef’s burger has already been in the freezers of both Coles and Woolworths, while its sausages and mince are stocked in 900 of the latter’s stores. “Our Veef premium burger has been available in Coles for just over a year and was recently extended for a further 12 months in the latest range review. But the journey hasn’t been straightforward,” explained Reddy.
“Following the previous company’s insolvency, major retailers faced extended periods of non-supply and empty shelves. Under new ownership, we had to re-pitch to retailers, rebuild trust, and establish an entirely new vendor setup from scratch.”
He added: “Our Veef sausages and mince have been ranged in Woolworths since September last year, but again, they disappeared from shelves during the previous company’s breakdown, just one month after its initial launch.
“Regaining distribution in both major retailers took persistence, transparency, and a lot of behind-the-scenes work. That’s why we’re especially proud not only to be back on shelf, but to be expanding, including launching entirely new brands like Love Buds, which was previously exclusive to foodservice, into national retail.”
The new products include two burgers under the Love Buds brand, and a chilled sausage SKU under the Veef label. Aussie Plant-Based Co is also selling vegan mozzarella shreds and Cheddar shreds and slices exclusively to foodservice customers. Speaking of which, Love Buds’s signature burger is back on the Betty’s Burgers menu.
The company is now developing new product lines for Woolworths. And it’s actively planning rollouts with discount retailer Aldi and bulk-buy chain Costco.
Plant-based businesses must ‘balance purpose with commercial strategy’
Courtesy: Aussie Plant-Based Co
The return of the Aussie Plant Based Co’s products comes at a curious time for the country’s plant-based sector. Two in five Australians said they were either reducing or not consuming meat at all in 2024, and wholesale demand for meat alternatives in foodservice rose by 59% in 2023.
But retail sales dropped by 1% annually between 2020 and 2023, and these products are yet to reach 65% of Australians. Of those who have tried them, only 22% say they’d buy them again, citing poor taste, high prices, and overprocessing as the main detractors. It signals a gap in consumer liking and an uphill battle for brands in the space.
It’s why the Aussie Plant Based Co is focusing on whole-food and vegetable-based options for its upcoming Woolworths range, mirroring trends seen in the UK and the US. These products are “in direct response to shifting consumer preferences”, Reddy noted.
Rising costs and the global investment decline have compounded the issue, contributing to the closure of several plant-based companies in the region. Last year, ProForm Foods, the company behind the Meet range of plant-based analogues, wound down after entering voluntary administration, while New Zealand-based Sunfed Meats shuttered after nearly a decade in operation.
“Many brands emerged during the plant-based investment boom, chasing rapid growth without laying the foundations for long-term profitability. In some cases, basic business fundamentals were overlooked with the assumption that they could be worked out later,” said Reddy. “But when investor interest in the category slowed and funding dried up, those without a sustainable model simply couldn’t stay afloat.”
He adds that there’s a strong future for businesses with a clear path to profitability and strong execution. “For companies to succeed in the current landscape, they need to focus on unit economics and operational efficiency, not just top-line growth. It’s about balancing purpose with solid commercial strategy.”
Indeed, The Aussie Plant Based Co is one of several meat-free businesses that have successfully emerged from the brink. Domestically, Melbourne-based manufacturer Australian Plant Proteins was acquired by investment firm My Co 10 months after entering voluntary administration, and returned to full operations in May. In New Zealand, catering company The Sustainable Food Co fell to a similar fate before being taken over by fresh ownership, which relaunched the business last week.
On 26 June 2025, Australia issued a request for information (RfI) encompassing a sovereign satellite communications (SATCOM) capability under the project name SPA9102. It follows cancellation of the similarly numbered JP9102 that Canberra suddenly and unceremoniously dumped in early November 2024. Valued at around A$3 billion (US$1.96 billion), JP9102 would have given Australia its first […]
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is not considering recruiting personnel from across the Pacific as talk continues of Australia doing so for its Defence Force (ADF).
In response to a question from The Australian at the National Press Club in Canberra about Australia’s plans to potentially recruit from the Pacific Islands into the ADF, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said he “would like to see it happen”.
“Whether Australia does it or not depends on your own policies. We will not push it.”
RNZ Pacific asked the NZDF under the Official Information Act (OIA) for all correspondence sent and received regarding any discussion on recruiting from the Pacific, along with other related questions.
The OIA request was declined as the information did not exist.
“Defence Recruiting has not and is not considering deliberate recruiting action from across the Pacific,” the response from the NZDF said.
Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James said citizenship needed to be a prerequisite to Pacific recruitment.
Australian citizen
“Even a New Zealander serving in the Australian military has to become an Australian citizen,” James said.
“They can start off being an Australian resident, but they’ve got to be on the path to citizenship.
”They’ve got to be capable of getting permanent residency in Australia and citizenship.
“And then you’ve got to tackle the moral problem — it’s pretty hard to ask foreigners to fight for your country when your own people won’t do it.”
James said he thought people might be “jumping at hairs” at Rabuka’s comments.
Unlike Samoa’s acting prime minister, who has voiced concern over a brain drain, both Papua New Guinea and Fiji have made it clear they have people to spare.
Ross Thompson, a managing director at People In, the largest approved employer in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme, said if the recruitment drive does go ahead, PNG nationals would return home with a wider skill set.
‘Brain gain, not drain’
“This would be a brain gain, rather than be a drain on PNG.”
He’s spoken with people in PNG who welcome the proposal.
”PNG, its population is over 10 million . . . We’re proposing from PNG around 1000 could be recruited every year.”
Minister Rabuka joked Fiji could plug Australia’s personnel hole on its own.
“If it’s open [to recruiting Fijians] . . . [we will offer] the whole lot . . . 5000,” he said, while noting that Fiji was able to easily fill its quota under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
“The villages are emptying out into the cities. What we would like to do is to reduce those who are ending up in settlements in the cities and not working, giving way to crime and becoming first victims to the sale of drugs and AIDS and HIV from frequently used or commonly used needles.”
Thompson was also a captain in the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers of the British Army and said he was proud to have served alongside Fijians.
Honour serving
“I had the honour to serve with a number of Fijians while deployed overseas; they’re fantastic soldiers.
“This is something that’s been going on since the Second World War and it’s a big part of the British Army.”
From a recruitment perspective, he said PNG and Fiji would be a good starting point before extending to any other Pacific nations.
”PNG has a strong history with the Australian Defence Force. There’s a number of programmes that are currently ongoing, on shared military exercises, there’s PNG officers that are serving in the ADF now, or on secondment to the ADF.
“So I think those two countries are definitely good to look up from a pilot perspective.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Australia must develop a national bioeconomy strategy and invest in new infrastructure to unlock key economic growth opportunities, scientists say in a new report.
Home to some of the world’s leading food tech companies, Australia has a significant opportunity to become a global bioeconomy leader and boost its economic growth, but only if the government invests in the industry.
In a new report by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, scientists are calling upon the government to urgently create a national bioeconomy plan to “risk losing the ability to compete” with other nations.
Most of the G20 economies already have such national strategies, thanks to the Bioeconomy Initiative, which creates a global framework to support this industry. This has provided governments with a focal point for coordinated action to unlock private investment.
“It is a pivotal moment of economic transformation for Australia, which is driven by the shifting global market, rapid technological advancements and the move towards a low-carbon economy,” said Professor Ian O’Hara, deputy dean at QUT’s Faculty of Engineering, and co-author of the report.
“Without a unified effort and strategic approach by government, industry and researcher partners, Australia risks losing the opportunity to compete effectively in this market,” he added.
Australia already has the ingredients to be a leader
Courtesy: Queensland University of Technology
The bioeconomy entails using biological resources like plants, animals, microbes and organic waste to produce climate-friendly food, energy and materials via new technologies. The global bioeconomy market is valued at $4T already, and is set to skyrocket to $30T by 2040 – a third of the total worldwide economic value.
Australia has a significant opportunity here, thanks to its “abundant and diverse natural resources”, well-established primary infrastructure, advanced logistics and supply chain capabilities, biotech innovation expertise, and a robust regulatory framework.
The bioeconomy can support existing industries and advance technologies prioritised by the government, ultimately boosting high-value exports, international market share, environmental stewardship, and workforce strength.
It will enable the country’s primary industry to diversify its revenue streams, with raw materials, byproducts and industrial waste given added value. The development of new synbio technologies would further enhance the country’s biomanufacturing capability by unlocking new feedstocks, products and processes.
“Our world-class research, education and innovation are key strengths that can underpin advancing Australia’s bioeconomy development,” said O’Hara. “Australia has one of the best biomass resources in the world, which provides a huge advantage in the development of these industries. By unlocking the value of these resources, we can add value to Australian agriculture and grow new biomanufacturing industries across regional areas.”
He added: “As examples, Australia is at the forefront of developing new food ingredients, including proteins produced through precision fermentation and has the potential to lead in the development of sustainable aviation fuels from agricultural industry byproducts.”
A bioeconomy blueprint for Australia
Courtesy: Cauldron Ferm
The report outlines the importance of scale-up facilities to help translate lab research into commercial-scale production. For example, a renewable biocommodities pilot plant at QUT was recently upgraded to help the sugar diversify into more value-added products, but the experts say more focus is needed on this transitional aspect.
Government investment is critical here. Australia is among a handful of countries that have approved cultivated meat for sale, with Sydney startup Vow now selling its cultured quail products in restaurants. Vow also has approval in Singapore and New Zealand, the industry’s only startup to secure the green light in three countries.
Australia is the base for several precision fermentation firms too, including Nourish Ingredients, Eden Brew, Daisy Lab, Cauldron, and All G. The latter, which makes animal-free whey proteins, has received regulatory clearance in China and the US, and last month was involved in a tech transfer by the government-backed Food and Beverage Accelerator.
Its lawmakers have shown a keen interest in food tech products. Melbourne startup Magic Valley showcased its cultivated pork at the New South Wales parliament in May, months after securing A$100,000 from the national government to transition from research to commercial production, as part of its A$392M Industry Growth Program.
The Queensland government, meanwhile, is providing financial assistance and facilitation for biomanufacturing firm Cauldron’s first-of-its-kind precision fermentation contract manufacturing plant.
The QUT report makes several recommendations to help advance Australia’s bioeconomy, chief among which is the creation of a dedicated national strategy to assess capabilities, prioritise growth and identify strategies for market, workforce and regional benefits.
Moreover, the government should invest in developing world-class, scalable feedstocks and optimising farm-to-market supply chains, as well as fund pilot and pre-commercial biomanufacturing infrastructure. Plus, it should expand education and training initiatives, with a focus on regional workforce development.
Finally, the scientists implore policymakers to invest in bioeconomy research, development and tech translation by establishing a large-scale collaborative research programme involving academia, industry and government.
These calls echo the conclusions of a report by non-profit Cellular Agriculture Australia last year, which urged the government to recognise precision fermentation as a research and infrastructure priority, increase investment into pilot- and commercial-scale fermentation facilities, and boost regulatory resources to advance domestic approval of novel foods.
In July 1985, Australia’s Pacific territory of Norfolk Island (pop. 2188) became the centre of a real life international spy thriller.
Four French agents sailed there on board the Ouvéa, a yacht from Kanaky New Caledonia, after bombing the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, killing Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira.
The Rainbow Warrior was the flagship for a protest flotilla due to travel to Moruroa atoll to challenge French nuclear tests.
Australian police took them into custody on behalf of their New Zealand counterparts but then, bafflingly, allowed them to sail away, never to face justice.
On the 40th anniversary of the bombing (10 July 2025), award-winning journalist Richard Baker goes on an adventure from Paris to the Pacific to get the real story – and ultimately uncover the role that Australia played in the global headline-making affair.
The programme includes an interview with Pacific journalist David Robie, author of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior. David’s article about this episode is published at Declassified Australia here.
The initial statement from Australian government sources was one of constipated caution and clenching wariness. Senator Penny Wong’s time as head of the Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs has always been about how things come out, a process unsatisfyingly uncertain and unyielding in detail. Stick to the safe middle ground and sod the rest. These were the cautionary words of an Australian government spokesperson on June 22: “We have been clear that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security.”
That insipid statement was in response to Operation Midnight Hammer, a strike on three nuclear facilities in Iran by the US Air Force, authorised by US President Donald Trump on June 22. With such spectacular violence came the hollow call for diplomatic prudence and restraint. There was an important difference: Tehran, not Israel or Washington, would be the subject of scolding. Iran would not be permitted nuclear weapons but jaw jaw was better than war war. “We note the US president’s statement that now is the time for peace,” stated the spokesperson. “The security situation in the region is highly volatile. We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.”
Within twenty-four hours, that anodyne position had morphed into one of unconditional approval for what was a breach of the United Nations Charter, notably its injunction against the threatened or actual use of force against sovereign states in the absence of authorisation by the UN Security Council or the necessity of self-defence. “The world has long agreed Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, and we support action to prevent this. That is what this is,” accepted Wong.
This assessment was not only silly but colossally misguided. It would have been an absurd proposition for the US to make the claim that they were under imminent threat of attack, a condition seen as necessary for a pre-emptive strike. This was a naked submission to the wishes of a small, destabilising and sole (undeclared) nuclear power in the Middle East, a modern territorial plunderer celebratory of ethnonational supremacy.
The Australian position, along a number of European states, also failed to acknowledge the General Conference Resolutions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (in particular GC(XIXI)/RES/444 and GC(XXIV)/RES/533) declaring that “any armed attack on and threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes constitutes a violation of the United Nations Charter, international law and the Statute of the Agency.”
Wong also misrepresented the circumstances under which Iran was told they could negotiate over their nuclear program, erroneously accepting the line from the Trump administration that Tehran had “an opportunity to comply”. Neither the US diplomatic channel, which only permitted a narrow, fleeting corridor for actual negotiations, nor Israel’s wilful distortion of the IAEA’s assessment of Iran’s uranium enrichment plans and prevarication, ever gave chance for a credible resolution. Much like the calamitous, unlawful invasion of Iraq in 2003 by a crew of brigand nations – the merry trio of US, UK and Australia stood out – the autopilot to war was set, scornful of international law.
Wong’s shift from constipated caution to free flow approval for the US attack, with its absent merits and weighty illegalities, was also a craven capitulation to the warmonger class permanently mesmerised by the villain school of foreign relations. This cerebrally challenged view sees few problems with attacking nuclear facilities, the radioactive dangers of doing so, and the merits of a state having them in the first place.
The US attack on Iran found hearty approval among the remnants of the conservative opposition, who tend to specialise in the view that pursuing a pro-Israeli line, right, wrong, or murderous, is the way to go. Liberal Senator and former Australian ambassador to Israel, David Sharma, thought the Albanese government’s initial response “underwhelming and perplexing”, claiming that support for this shredding of international law “a straightforward position for Australia to adopt”. Sharma is clearly getting rusty on his law of nations.
His side of politics is also of the view that the attacked party here – Iran – must forgo any silly notion of self-defence and retaliation and repair to the table of diplomacy in head bowed humiliation. “We want to see Iran come to the negotiating table to verify where that 400 kilos of enriched uranium is,” stated a very stern opposition home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie. “I’m very glad to see that Penny Wong has essentially endorsed our position and I’m glad we have bipartisanship on this.”
Australia’s response has been that of the weary poltroon. Little has been asked about Canberra’s standout complicity in assisting the US imperium fulfil its global reach when it comes to striking targets. The role of the intelligence signals facility in Pine Gap, cutely and inaccurately called a joint venture, always lends its critical role to directing the US war machine through its heavy reliance on satellite technology. Wong, when asked about the role played by the facility in facilitating the attacks on Iran, had little to say. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also cold towards disclosing any details. “We are upfront, but we don’t talk about intelligence, obviously. But we’ve made very clear this was unilateral action taken by the United States.”
At least on this occasion, Australia did not add its forces to an illegal adventure, as it all too wilfully did in 2003. Then, Iraq was invaded on the spurious grounds that weapons of mass destruction not only existed but would somehow be used either by the regime of Saddam Hussein or fictional proxies he might eventually supply. History forever shows that no such weapons were found, nor proxies equipped. But the Albanese government has shown not only historical illiteracy but an amnesia on the matter. Unfortunately, it’s the sort of amnesia that has become contagious, afflicting a goodly number of Washington’s satellites, vassals and friendly states.
Australian-Lebanese journalist and commentator Antoinette Lattouf’s unfair dismissal case win against the public broadcaster ABC in the Federal Court on Wednesday is a victory for all those who seek to tell the truth.
It is a breath of fresh air, after almost two years of lies and uncritical reporting about Israel’s genocide from the ABC and commercial media companies.
Lattouf was unfairly sacked in December 2023 for posting on her social media a Human Rights Watch report that detailed Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Justice Darryl Rangiah found that Lattouf had been sacked for her political opinions, given no opportunity to respond to misconduct allegations and that the ABC breached its Enterprise Agreement and section 772 of the Fair Work Act.
The Federal Court also found that ABC executives — then-chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor, editor-in-chief David Anderson and board chair Ita Buttrose — had sacked Lattouf in response to a pro-Israel lobby pressure campaign.
The coordinated email campaign from Zionist groups accused Lattouf of being “antisemitic” for condemning Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
The judge awarded Lattouf A$70,000 in damages, based on findings that her sacking caused “great distress”, and more than $1 million in legal fees.
‘No Lebanese’ claim
Lattouf had alleged that her race or ethnicity had played a part in her sacking, which the ABC had initially responded to by claiming there was no such thing as a “Lebanese, Arab or Middle Eastern Race”, before backtracking.
The court found that this did not play a part in the decision to sack Lattouf.
The ABC’s own reporting of the ruling said “the ABC has damaged its reputation, and public perceptions around its ideals, integrity and independence”.
Outside the court, Lattouf said: “It is now June 2025 and Palestinian children are still being starved. We see their images every day, emaciated, skeletal, scavenging through the rubble for scraps.
“This unspeakable suffering is not accidental, it is engineered. Deliberately starving and killing children is a war crime.
“Today, the court has found that punishing someone for sharing facts about these war crimes is also illegal. I was punished for my political opinion.”
Palestine solidarity groups and democratic rights supporters have celebrated Lattouf’s victory.
An ‘eternal shame’
Palestine Action Group Sydney said: “It is to the eternal shame of our national broadcaster that it sacked a journalist because she opposed the genocide in Gaza.
“There should be a full inquiry into the systematic pro-Israel bias at the ABC, which for 21 months has acted as a propaganda wing of the Israeli military.”
Racial justice organisation Democracy in Colour said the ruling “exposes the systematic silencing taking place in Australian media institutions in regards to Palestine”.
Democracy in Colour chairperson Jamal Hakim said Lattouf was punished for “speaking truth to power”.
“When the ABC capitulated to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby . . . they didn’t just betray Antoinette — they betrayed their own editorial standards and the Australian public who deserve to know the truth about Israel’s human rights abuses.”
Noura Mansour, national director for Democracy in Colour, said the ABC had been “consistently shutting down valid criticism of the state of Israel” and suppressing the voices of people of colour and Palestinians. She said the national broadcaster had “worked to manufacture consent for the Israeli-US backed genocide”.
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance chief executive Erin Madeley said: “Instead of defending its journalists, ABC management chose to appease powerful voices . . . they failed in their duty to push back against outside interference, racism and bullying.”
Win for ‘journalistic integrity’
Australian Greens leader Larissa Waters said the ruling was a win for “journalistic integrity and freedom of speech” and that “no one should be punished for speaking out about Gaza”.
Green Left editor Pip Hinman said the ruling was an “important victory for those who stand on the side of truth and justice”.
“It is more important than ever in an increasingly polarised world that journalists speak up and report the truth without fear of reprisal from the rich and powerful.
“Traditional and new media have the reach to shape public opinion. They have had a clear pro-Israel bias, despite international human rights agencies providing horrific data on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people around Australia continue to call for an end to the genocide in Gaza in protests every week. But the ABC and corporate media have largely ignored this movement of people from all walks of life. Disturbingly, the corporate media has gone along with some political leaders who claim this anti-war movement is antisemitic.
“As thousands continue to march every week for an end to the genocide in Gaza, the ABC and corporate media organisations have continued to push the lie that the Palestine solidarity movement, and indeed any criticism of Israel, is antisemitic.
“Green Left also hails those courageous mostly young journalists in Gaza, some 200 of whom have been killed by Israel since October 2023.
“Their livestreaming of Israel’s genocide cut through corporate media and political leaders’ lies and today makes it even harder for them to whitewash Israel’s crimes and Western complicity.
“Green Left congratulates Lattouf on her victory. We are proud to stand with the movement for justice and peace in Palestine, which played a part in her victory against the ABC management’s bias.”
In a government-backed effort, University of Queensland researchers have produced precision-fermented dairy proteins that will now be scaled up by Sydney startup All G.
Powering Australia’s burgeoning precision fermentation sector, University of Queensland’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) has landed on the ideal “recipe” for recombinant dairy proteins after months of refinement.
It is now turning to Sydney-based food tech firm All G to scale up the protein, in what is the first commercial technology transfer for FaBA’s Innovative Ingredients Program, which supports the development of next-gen food ingredients.
All G is leveraging the breakthrough to develop a cow-free milk supplement. “Through precision fermentation, we have created proteins for people with specific dietary preferences,” said Esteban Marcellin, a professor at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.
“A key part of the project was to transfer new technologies, such as the new bioprocess, from the lab to a company, and this will speed the path to commercial outcomes for All G.”
How FaBA produces its animal-free dairy proteins
Courtesy: University of Queensland
Precision fermentation combines traditional fermentation with the latest biotechnological advances to efficiently produce a compound of interest. In FaBA’s case, this was a dairy protein.
“It’s a bit like brewing beer – except instead of alcohol, we’re producing dairy proteins that can be used in food supplements,” explained Marcellin.
The team inserted a DNA sequence for making dairy proteins into plasmid DNA, which created recombinant DNA that was introduced into microbes. They then underwent fermentation in FaBA’s research bioreactors to produce the proteins, which were then extracted and purified.
“The microbes are doing the work, but they only perform well if you give them the right instructions and conditions,” said Marcellin. “We had to try different ‘recipes’ to ensure we got the pH, oxygen and nutrient levels just right and as close to the real product as possible.”
Aidan Beauglehole, a senior scientific officer at the university, said the custom-built bioreactors enable the careful management of each stage of the process. “We can precisely control oxygen uptake in the system, control pH at exact levels, and we have tested different conditions to ensure optimal growth,” he explained.
“By closely monitoring and adjusting every element of the fermentation, we have demonstrated we can improve growth rates and better control any by-products of the process,” he added.
Transferring the tech from FaBA’s lab-scale bioreactors to All G’s tanks in a manufacturing environment required the team to scale various elements of fermentation to ensure they were well-suited to the larger units.
Government support is critical for precision fermentation
Courtesy: All G
All G is already a leader in the global precision fermentation space, having received regulatory clearance to sell recombinant bovine lactoferrin in China and the US in late 2024.
This is an iron-regulating whey protein found in bovine and human milk, and is revered for its functional health benefits. The problem? Producing it is expensive, resulting in the ingredient being in short supply. While a majority of its stocks are reserved for infant nutrition and supplementation, several precision fermentation companies are targeting the protein for use in functional foods and drinks, protein powders, and sports and elderly nutrition.
All G’s approvals don’t cover infant nutrition yet, as that is a more complex process. But the company is also making recombinant human lactoferrin on a grams per litre scale, which is expected to launch this year. Plus, it’s working on casein, the main protein found in dairy.
“Our phosphorylated casein production is going well and we aim to move to a 1,000-litre scale in the first half of 2025,” founder and CEO Jan Pacas told Green Queen in December.
All G has already been in talks with multiple contract manufacturing facilities to scale up production both in the US and the EU. Its CTO, Guillaume Barbier, believes FaBA’s optimised bioprocess will allow the firm to accelerate the development of its products.
“Working with FaBA has given us a head start in designing a scalable, production-ready process,” he said. “It’s a valuable partnership as we grow and move ahead of the curve with the development of dairy products using new technology that [is] good for people and the planet.”
All G is one of several companies involved in Australia’s precision fermentation space, including Nourish Ingredients, Eden Brew, Daisy Lab, and Cauldron. Experts have labelled government support crucial to the sector’s future. FaBA itself is part of the education department’s Trailblazer Universities Program, benefitting from an A$50 investment, complemented by another A$110M from universities and industry.
Non-profit Cellular Agriculture Australia has called on the government to recognise the tech as a research and infrastructure priority, increase investment into pilot- and commercial-scale fermentation facilities, and boost regulatory resources to advance domestic approval of novel foods.
At DSEI Japan 2025, the third edition of the biannual exhibition connecting Japan’s defense industry with the global community, held at Chiba’s Makuhari Messe from 21 to 23 May, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Japan Marine United (JMU) showcased their latest ships under development, which are scheduled for delivery to the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) […]
It was a blast to a past wiped out by amnesia, social media and mental decrepitude. Andrew Hastie, Australia’s opposition minister for home affairs, had been moved by an idea: greater transparency was needed regarding the US military buildup in Australia. It was an inspiration overdue by some decades, but it was worthwhile in its unaccustomed sensibility.
In an interview with the Insiders program on the ABC, Hastie proved startling in proposing that Australia needed “to have a much more mature discussion about our relationship with the United States. I think we need greater transparency.” He proceeded to recall the frankness of US Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth’s testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee, which saw China named “as the pacing threat” in the Indo Pacific. Australia, Japan and the Philippines were mentioned as part of “the integrated deterrence that the US is building in the region.”
This saddled the Albanese government with significant obligations to the Australian people. Be clear, suggests Hastie. Be transparent. “I think we need to talk about operationalising the alliance, building guard rails for combat operations, and of course defining our sovereignty. And this will make things clearer for us so that we can better preserve our national interest.” With admirable clarity, Hastie places the Australian security establishment in the dock for interrogation. “We’re not just a vassal stage, we’re an ally and a partner and I think it’s time that we had a good discussion about what that looks like.”
Given that Australia already hosts a rotational US Marine force in Darwin from April to November, the Pine Gap signal intelligence facility in Alice Springs, and, in due course, the Submarine Rotational Force out of Perth from 2027 (“effectively a US submarine base”), it was time to consider what would happen if, say, a war were to be waged in the Indo Pacific. It was “about time we started to mature the [relationship] model and we’re open to the Australian people what it means for us”.
These views are not those of a closet pacifist wishing away the tangles of the US imperium. Having spent his pre-political life in the Australian Defence Forces as a member of the special services, he knows what it’s like playing valet in the battlefield to Washington’s imperial mandarins. Not that he rejects that role. Fear of abandonment and Freudian neuroses tend to pattern the Australian outlook on defence and national security. Yet there was something comforting in his awareness that the American garrisoning of its ally for future geopolitical brawling needed explanation and elucidation.
The response from Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles was typical. Spot the backbone of such a figure and find it wanting. US intentions and operations in Australia, he insisted, were adequately clear. Australians need not be troubled. There was, he told reporters during a visit to London to meet his UK counterpart John Healey “actually a high degree of transparency in relation to the United States presence in Australia.” The Australian government had “long and full knowledge and concurrence arrangements in relation to America’s force posture in Australia, not just in relation to Pine Gap, but in relation to all of its force posture in Australia.” Reiterating another fable of defence orthodoxy, Marles was also convinced Australia’s sovereignty in terms of how the US conducted its operations had been spared. Given Canberra’s abject surrender to Washington’s whims and interests with the AUKUS trilateral pact, this is an unsustainable claim.
To this day, we have sufficient anecdotal evidence that Pine Gap, notionally a jointly run facility between US and Australian personnel, remains indispensable to the Pentagon, be it in navigating drones, directing bombing missions and monitoring adversaries. The Nautilus Institute, most capably through its senior research associate Richard Tanter, has noted the base’s use of geosynchronous signals intelligence (SIGINT) satellites, Space-Based Infrared Systems (SBIRS) and its acquisition in the early 2000s of a FORNSAT/COMSAT (foreign satellite/communications satellite) function.
This makes Australia complicit in campaigns the United States pursues when it chooses. Dr Margaret Beavis, Australian co-chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), outlined the potential consequences: “We risk accelerating nuclear proliferation, we risk Pine Gap becoming a target, Tindal airbase becoming a target.”
All efforts to raise the matter before the vassal representatives in Canberra tends to end in a terminating cul-de-sac. Regarding the latest use of US B-2 stealth bombers in targeting Iran’s three primary nuclear facilities, the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, was curt: “We are upfront, but we don’t talk about intelligence”. The bombing had been a “unilateral action taken by the United States.” Australian candour has its limits.
There is also no clarity about what the US military places on Australian soil when it comes to nuclear weapons or any other fabulous nasties that make killing in the name of freedom’s empire so glorious and reassuring. As a signatory to the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (SPNFZ), Australia would be in violation of its obligations, with Article 5 obligating each party “to prevent in its territory the stationing of any nuclear explosive device.” Yet deploying B-52 bombers at the RAAF Tindal base would suggest just that, though not all such bombers are adapted to that end.
The naval gazing toadies in foreign affairs and defence have come up with a nice exit from the discussion: such weapons, if they were ever to find themselves on US weapons platforms on Australian soil, would only ever be in transit. In a Senate estimates hearing in February 2023, Defence Department secretary Greg Moriarty blithely observed that, while the stationing of nuclear weapons was prohibited by the treaty, nuclear-armed US bombers could still pay a visit. “Successive Australian governments have understood and respected the longstanding US policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons on particular platforms.” It is precisely that sort of deferential piffle we can do without.
Dr Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He writes extensively for various publications, including CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, and Eureka Street. He is currently lecturing at the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University.
I just interviewed Binoy two hours ago, USA time, 3 PM PST, Sunday, 8 am Australia time.
It’s extraordinary. The reasoning that led up to the attack on Iran was remarkable because the language and the terminology used is very creepily reminiscent, in fact,of the kind of language that was used in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq by the US-led so-called Coalition of the Willing. And it featured for example uh the reasoning that supposedly a country has a certain capacity — either has the capacity or has the inventory — of weapons of mass destruction um is an imminent threat let’s not forget the sexed up dossier as it was called then uh supposedly showing that Saddam Hussein’s army have the capacity to,building up this case, padding it up, and making the case that a preemptive attack was necessary, which, of course, is totally ludicrous. Article 2, paragraph 4, makes it very clear in the UN Charter that the use of force is really strictly rationed.
You know, you cannot violate the sovereignty of states willy-nilly. There is, of course, that self-defense proviso in Article 51 and so on. But to preempt this in this way is remarkable because you have to demonstrate sovereignty. .. that there is this imminent sense of destruction, irreparable damage and so on, and Israel in no way managed in any of its assessments to demonstrate that to be the case.
We talked about the growing Jewish Semitism, this attack on all humanity, and the disgusting lack of values Western Media have displayed, and Binoy attributes much of that lack of concern for Gazan Humanity, or Iranian Humanity, or Lebanese Humanity, to the GUILT of that so-called Holocaust.
Using words like Israel + Rogue Nation; Israel + Genocide; Jewish State of Israel + Mass Murder; Judaism a la Israel + White Supremacy; Jews in Israel + Psychopaths; Judaism Now + DIseased — all those combinations and MORE will get your ass in jail or worse.
But he and I talked for an hour, and that was before I scoured the mainstream news and Telegram channels to see the latest in the President of the USA’s declarations of murdering Iranians, in a much more overtly direct way, though everything about West Asia, the wars, the Jewish Supremacist State, all of the trillions given to Jews in Israel and all the other trillions extracted by Jews in and out of Israel from the global economies, it’s still directed by the Jewish State of Our White Man’s House.
So Adolph Bibi and Himmler Trump, working on the Greater Israel.
Patrick Henningsen sums up the Trump regime,
His entire cabinet has been bought by a foreign lobby. This is a low point in American history, and this is probably the weakest president politically […] The irony of this is it’s a billionaire Donald Trump, supposedly a genius of business. He doesn’t need the money […] He just doesn’t have the courage to basically be America first. He’s stuck being Israel first.
Jews funding Trump are Americans, though, so it’s misleading to call them a “foreign lobby.” Like everybody else, Henningsen can’t say “his entire cabinet has been bought by Jews.” Trump is not getting billions from Israel. Bought and blackmailed by domestic Jews, he’s sending tons of American taxpayers’ money to foreign Jews. These righteous genociders are getting a fantastic return, plus countless laughs, on their investment.
Trump’s enabling of Albert Bourla’s Jewjabs was cheered by all prominent Jews, plus gadfly Ron Unz.
Binoy and I didn’t get deep into the dementia of the West, of Australia, NZ, the other QueenDumb colonies, and especially the lobotomized AmeriKKKa, but in Australia, it’s the same playbook of PR spin, a la Hasbara, a la Edward Bernays on Growth Hormones and Steroids.
Binoy is articulate and was willing to go into my house to discuss things, with my bombast and all: We attempted to humanize the suffering, the mass murdering, the maiming, but alas, historians and journalists and political scientists have to keep on keeping on.
Unlike the New York Times:
The criminality is advanced in its cancerous stage:
Donald Trump has carried out direct US air strikes on Iran, bombing what he said were three major nuclear sites.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan”, Trump boasted, in a post on his website Truth Social on 21 June.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow”, he wrote.
I am sure the Aussies like the Brits like the EuroTrashLandians are all celebrating:
We are all stuck with this VP Vance and the Jews Running the Minyan in Trump’s Cabal:
So, Binoy and I talked about Iran and the Illegal invasion of Iran by the Dirty Demented Sicarios of Isra-Hell, but this was barely on our tongue tips before the 60 minute interview stopped:
Greater Psychopathic Israel, and so, this sort of Substack will soon get me disappeared or violently handcuffed into the night:
Facts:
This strategy was itself based on Israel’s 1996 policy document A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm. In this document Israel’s strategy for regional security included destabilizing and weakening key nations seen as threats. The document explicitly called for efforts to undermine and topple the regimes in Iraq and Syria. It proposed supporting internal opposition within Iraq to weaken Saddam Hussein’s regime, particularly due to concerns over Iraq’s military capabilities and potential weapons of mass destruction, while Syria was viewed as a major regional threat because of its alliance with Iran and its support for Hezbollah. Although not directly calling for military action, the strategy also outlined efforts to counter Iran’s growing regional influence, especially its nuclear ambitions. The overarching aim was to reshape the Middle East by destabilizing these nations to reduce the perceived threats to Israel’s security.
A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft and two in-flight MQ-28 Ghost Bat collaborative combat aircraft – along with a third digital Ghost Bat – have successfully conducted a mission against an airborne target in a demonstration, the company announced on 16 June. The first of its kind […]
A plan was developed for the United States to use diplomacy to entice Iran into negotiations that then fail, so Iran can be attacked while the U.S. is pushing a false narrative saying the Iranians “brought it on themselves.”
The plan also urged the U.S. to encourage or assist the Israelis, as a direct U.S. proxy, to conduct the strikes on Iran so as to deflect criticism and retaliation onto Israel, as Declassified Australia reports.
The audacious plan for a “plausibly deniable” war is detailed in an analysis flippantly titled “Leave It To Bibi: Allowing or Encouraging an Israeli Military Strike,” published in a report named Which Path To Persia: Options for a New American Strategy Towards Iran by the Brookings Institution, a longstanding Washington, D.C., think tank.
Anthony John Stanhope Reid—known to friends, students, and colleagues simply as Tony—passed away on Sunday, 8 June 2025, in Canberra. It was a quiet Sunday, typically devoted to church and reflection with his wife, Helen, his lifelong partner in both scholarship and life. A month earlier, I had an unexpected encounter with Tony in the coffee queue at Canberra Hospital after his oncology consultation. Sitting under the crisp late spring sun, we spoke not about illness but about Helen. “I just want to make sure Helen is taken care of,” he said quietly, deeply concerned she might outlive him.
Tony Reid’s academic journey began at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, where he was actively involved in the Student Christian Movement. From this early context emerged a progressive intellectual orientation grounded in ideals of social justice and egalitarianism. Unlike many of his contemporaries who focused on Europe or North America, Reid turned decisively toward Southeast Asia—then a marginal region in global scholarship. His aim was not merely to study Southeast Asia but to rewrite its history from within, challenging Eurocentric paradigms and colonial epistemologies. He consistently treated the region not as an object of Western theory but as a generator of knowledge in its own right.
This epistemological reorientation found its fullest expression in his 1990 magnum opus, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680. In this two-volume work, Reid reconceptualised Southeast Asia as a dynamic and interconnected maritime world, linked by monsoon winds, port cities, commercial exchanges, and religious movements. Rejecting nationalist and colonial historiographies that fragmented the region, he demonstrated that long before European imperialism, Southeast Asia was part of a cosmopolitan and global historical continuum. Through the use of travel accounts, commercial records, and ethnographic detail, Reid uncovered a richly textured world of cultural and economic interdependence.
Methodologically, Reid was committed to writing history from below. He foregrounded everyday life, material culture, environment, and popular religious practices. His use of early European travel writings and colonial documents was both critical and ethnographic: rather than taking these as objective records, he treated them as refracted lenses through which indigenous societies could be glimpsed—biases and all. In addition, Reid employed economic data such as commodity prices and export statistics to delineate historical turning points, most notably the 17th-century crisis that marked the decline of Southeast Asia’s “Age of Commerce”. His scepticism toward grand, imported theories led him to build grounded historical periodisations based on regional dynamics.
Although trained within European historiographical traditions, Reid’s ethical and intellectual allegiances were with the marginalized: women, laborers, peasants, diasporic Chinese communities, and adherents of local spiritual traditions. From his doctoral work on anti-colonial resistance in Aceh, completed at Cambridge, to his later studies on Indonesia’s revolution, Reid consistently approached history as a field shaped by the struggles and aspirations of ordinary people. A pivotal moment in this orientation came during his 1966 research trip to Sumatra, where he encountered firsthand the revolutionary fervor and suffering of the local populace. This encounter deeply influenced his 1979 book The Blood of the People, where Reid argued that the 1945–46 Indonesian revolution in Aceh and East Sumatra was a mass social uprising, not merely a political transition orchestrated by elites.
For Reid, revolution was not just a national event but a profound social rupture with transformative potential. In 2009, he provocatively argued in his book Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political Identity in Southeast Asiathat “Indonesia’s unification as a centralized nation-state (not to mention China’s) would have been impossible without it.” Reid framed revolution as the crucible in which new national legitimacies were forged, particularly in the decolonising world of the mid-20th century. Yet he also acknowledged its paradoxes. As he observed in 2011 in To Nation by Revolution: Indonesia in the 20th Century, post-revolutionary states often invoked revolutionary rhetoric to suppress pluralism and dissent: “Revolution did not deliver all it promised, but it opened up possibilities that were once unthinkable.” For Reid, revolution was both emancipatory and wounding, and its unfinished legacies demanded ongoing critical reflection.
Equally significant was Reid’s institutional legacy. He was not only a prolific scholar but a builder of scholarly communities. At UCLA, he founded the Southeast Asia Center, and later became the founding director of the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore. ARI was envisioned as an inclusive intellectual space, deliberately interdisciplinary and intergenerational, designed to encourage critical dialogue across national and theoretical boundaries. For Reid, it was also a site of epistemic experimentation: “ARI is a place where you can see whether your theories make sense from an Asian perspective. But not ruling somebody out just because they don’t know enough about Asia,” he once said. In a field often marked by intellectual gatekeeping, ARI under Reid’s leadership became a rare space of openness and intellectual hospitality.
Hundreds of young scholars benefitted from Reid’s mentorship. He was never a didactic supervisor but rather an empathetic and generous intellectual interlocutor. He would read long drafts by emerging researchers and offer incisive yet encouraging feedback. He always had time for a thoughtful conversation, whether between academic panels or after a spirited game of tennis. He listened carefully, not to interrogate, but to understand. Above all, Reid remained committed to nurturing a new generation of Southeast Asian scholars—those who would write with intellectual freedom, grounded empathy, and regional insight.
With his passing, Southeast Asian studies has lost one of its most compelling voices. But Reid’s legacy—his commitment to bottom-up history, to intellectual integrity, and to the dignity of marginalised voices—will continue to shape the field for decades to come. His work reminds us that history is not a tool of power but a space for questioning, understanding, and healing. For Anthony Reid, truth-telling about the past was not a threat to the nation but the foundation of its maturity. In this spirit, he remains a guiding light for scholars committed to writing Southeast Asia from within.
“Israel’s Prime Minister has [been declaring] Iran to be on the point of producing nuclear weapons since the 1990s.
“It’s all part of his big plan for expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine to create a Greater Israel, and regime change for the entire region.”
Israel knew that Arab and European countries would “fall in behind these plans” and in many cases actually help implement them.
“It is a dreadful day for the Palestinians. Netanyahu’s forces will be turned back onto them in Gaza and the West Bank.”
‘Dreadful day’ for Middle East
“It is just as dreadful day for the whole Middle East.
“Trump has tried to add Iran to the disasters of US foreign policy in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The US simply doesn’t care how many people will die.”
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters “acknowledged the development in the past 24 hours”, including President Trump’s announcement of the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
He described it as “extremely worrying” military action in the Middle East, and it was critical further escalation was avoided.
“New Zealand strongly supports efforts towards diplomacy. We urge all parties to return to talks,” he said.
“Diplomacy will deliver a more enduring resolution than further military action.”
The Australian government said in a statement that Canberra had been clear that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme had been a “threat to international peace and security”.
It also noted that the US President had declared that “now is the time for peace”.
“The security situation in the region is highly volatile,” said the statement. “We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.”
Iran calls attack ‘outrageous’
However, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the “outrageous” US attacks on Iran’s “peaceful nuclear installations” would have “everlasting consequences”.
His comments come as an Iranian missile attack on central and northern Israel wounded at least 23 people.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Dr Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, said the people of Iran feared that Israel’s goals stretched far beyond its stated goal of destroying the country’s nuclear and missile programmes.
“Many in Iran believe that Israel’s end game, really, is to turn Iran into Libya, into Iraq, what it was after the US invasion in 2003, and/or Afghanistan.
“And so the dismemberment of Iran is what Netanyahu has in mind, at least as far as Tehran is concerned,” he said.
US attack ‘more or less guarantees’ Iran will be nuclear-armed within decade
‘No evidence’ of Iran ‘threat’
Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said there had been “absolutely no evidence” that Iran posed a threat.
“Neither was it existential, nor imminent,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We have to keep in mind the reality of the situation, which is that two nuclear-equipped countries attacked a non-nuclear weapons state without having gotten attacked first.
“Israel was not attacked by Iran — it started that war; the United States was not attacked by Iran — it started this confrontation at this point.”
Dr Parsi added that the attacks on Iran would “send shockwaves” throughout the world.
Sydney-based Vow received regulatory approval to sell cultivated meat in Australia and New Zealand, which will begin appearing on restaurant menus in the coming weeks.
Australians will soon be able to order cultivated meat from restaurant menus, following the country’s first approval of these novel proteins.
The joint food safety regulator of Australia and New Zealand has amended its Food Standards Code following a multi-year assessment of Vow’s cultured quail, allowing the startup to sell its innovation in eateries and supermarkets across the two countries.
It followed the preliminary approval granted by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) in March, when its board had finalised the required food code changes, as first reported by Green Queen. They were then under review by food ministers across the two countries, before culminating in the approval decision for Vow.
Speaking to Green Queen in April, co-founder and CEO George Peppou had confirmed the company would launch in Australia first, via “high-end restaurants and elevated fast-casual concepts first, followed by retail partnerships later in the year”.
Now, the firm has announced that its cultured Japanese quail – sold under the Forged brand in concepts like parfait and foie gras – will debut at dozens of restaurants within weeks, including Bottarga and The Lincoln in Melbourne, and Nel, The Waratah, and Kitchen by Mike in Sydney.
“This isn’t about replacing the meats we know and love. It’s about trying something entirely new – something that can only exist because of how it’s made. For chefs, that’s incredibly exciting. But for all of us, it’s a huge opportunity,” said Mike McEnearney, owner and executive chef at Kitchen by Mike.
He has signed on as the first Australian ambassador of Forged, and will showcase its cultivated meat at the soon-to-open 1Hotel in Melbourne too. “The future always lies in bold ideas that seem impossible at first, but are rooted in real innovation – the kind that drives culture forward,” he added.
FSANZ approval could speed up future applications
Courtesy: Vow
Vow is already one of the leading cultivated meat players globally, becoming the only startup to be approved to sell in three geographies.
It first secured the greenlight in Singapore last year, where its quail has rolled out at a growing list of venues since, including Two Men Bagel House, Mirko Febbrile’s Somma, and sustainability-forward bar Fura. According to the company, it is posting a 200% month-over-month growth in the city-state. Now, it can be sold in Australia and New Zealand too.
In its approval decision, FSANZ confirmed that Vow’s cultured quail will be mixed with other ingredients – as is the norm for cultivated meat – to produce dishes in restaurants and foodservice establishments, and end products for supermarkets.
It further noted that the product cannot be included in “special purpose foods” like sports foods, infant formula, or food for special medical purposes without additional pre-market assessments.
And in the amended code, FSANZ clarified that these proteins must be labelled as “cell-cultured” or “cell-cultivated” on packaging, if it’s “represented in words, images or both as being from the animal” from which the food is sourced.
“FSANZ has now successfully developed a dedicated regulatory pathway for cell-cultured foods, opting to introduce two new standards for Cell-Cultured Foods rather than relying on the existing Novel Foods Framework. This establishes ANZ as only the second jurisdiction globally (after the US) to adopt a bespoke regulatory process for cell-cultured meat,” explained Kim Tonnet, head of regulatory affairs at Cellular Agriculture Australia.
“This move will make the requirements clear and defined for future applicants, reducing uncertainty and delays, and thereby streamlining the approval process. In a really positive step, FSANZ also indicated that future applications under these standards may benefit from faster and more cost-effective assessments,” she added.
Vow hits production milestone with largest-ever cultivated meat
Courtesy: Vow
To make its cultivated meat, Vow uses a small selection of cells from a Japanese quail and places them in a nutrient-rich broth, which is transferred into fermentation tanks that recreate the conditions inside a quail’s body and allow the cells to grow and multiply naturally. The meat is ready for harvest in 79 days, when it is separated from the broth and incorporated into delicacies like parfait and foie gras.
“Flavour is everything to us – it’s the reason Forged exists. We’re crafting meats that aren’t just rich and complex, but downright irresistible,” said Peppou. “Many [chefs] describe the product’s signature umami depth and silky, melt-in-your-mouth texture as unlike anything they’ve worked with before.”
The startup has raised $55M to date, entering the market with a smaller outlay than others that have received approval, including Upside Foods ($608M), Eat Just ($270M), Aleph Farms ($147M), Wildtype ($120M) and Mission Barns ($60M).
The FSANZ’s initial approval had come weeks after Vow cut back 30% of its workforce, a decision that stemmed from a longer-than-expected timeline for regulatory clearance, but one Peppou described as coming from a “position of strength as the industry leader, not a position of weakness”.
The company has hit several production milestones in recent months. Its cell cultivation capacity has extended to 35,000 litres within its second factory, which it says was 20 to 50 times cheaper to build than competitors. It operates the largest food-grade cell culture bioreactor at 20,000 litres, and claims to have completed the largest cultivated meat harvest in history (538 kg) last month.
By the end of the year, Vow expects to reach a production capability of up to 900 kg per harvest, scaling to 10,800 kg monthly or 130,000 kg annually. Longer-term improvements that make use of the full factory capacity will allow it to eventually surpass 20,000 kg a month.
A ‘momentum shift’ away from the US?
Courtesy: Vow
“Meat has never been more popular, especially in Asian markets that import top-quality proteins from down under. The challenge is that conventional production methods are highly inefficient: we currently feed up to 100 calories to a cow to produce just one calorie of beef,” said Mirte Gosker, managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute.
“Sustainably satisfying rising meat demand will require scaling up additional forms of protein production that can complement the traditional farming methods Australia is renowned for,” she added.
“Australia’s public embrace of cellular agriculture could enable local food producers to sell healthy and delicious cultivated proteins through existing agricultural distribution networks and add substantial new revenue streams to their ledgers. It also sets the stage for greater international regulatory harmonisation, which has the potential to unlock export opportunities across the world’s most populous region.”
Globally, six other companies have received some form of regulatory clearance to sell cultivated meat, including Eat Just (in Singapore and the US), Upside Foods, Mission Barns and Wildtype (all in the US), Aleph Farms (in Israel), and Meatly (in the UK). Regulators in the EU, Switzerland and Thailand are evaluating applications too.
Vow’s success over the last 18 months comes as “momentum shifts away from the US”, according to the company, which appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for its viral woolly mammoth meatball stunt in 2023. Cultivated meat has become entrenched in the culture wars, with six states having banned these proteins from being sold or produced.
Meanwhile, investment in cultivated meat has also continued to fall, by 75% in 2023 and another 40% in 2024. In the last three years, startups in this category have cumulatively raised less money than they did in 2021 alone.
Currently, Wildtype and Vow are the only two companies actively selling cultivated meat in restaurants, highlighting the scale and commercialisation challenges faced by many startups. Vow’s cultured quail, however, will soon be served in over 50 venues, showcasing the true potential of the sector.
“With an expanding network of restaurants in Singapore continuing to serve Forged just 14 months after launch, the appetite for what’s next is already clear,” said Peppou. “This is a new category of food that hasn’t just been accepted – it’s been embraced. And if that’s any signal, Australia’s just getting started.”
War is good for business and geopolitical posturing.
Before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington in early February for his first visit to the US following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, he issued a bold statement on the strategic position of Israel.
“The decisions we made in the war [since 7 October 2023] have already changed the face of the Middle East,” he said.
“Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further.”
How should this redrawn map be assessed?
Hamas is bloodied but undefeated in Gaza. The territory lies in ruins, leaving its remaining population with barely any resources to rebuild. Death and starvation stalk everyone.
Hezbollah in Lebanon has suffered military defeats, been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence, and now faces few viable options for projecting power in the near future. Political elites speak of disarming Hezbollah, though whether this is realistic is another question.
Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE accounted for 12 percent of Israel’s record $14.8bn in arms sales in 2024 — up from just 3 percent the year before
In Yemen, the Houthis continue to attack Israel, but pose no existential threat.
Meanwhile, since the overthrow of dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Israel has attacked and threatened Syria, while the new government in Damascus is flirting with Israel in a possible bid for “normalisation“.
The Gulf states remain friendly with Israel, and little has changed in the last 20 months to alter this relationship.
According to Israel’s newly released arms sales figures for 2024, which reached a record $14.8bn, Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates accounted for 12 percent of total weapons sales — up from just 3 percent in 2023.
It is conceivable that Saudi Arabia will be coerced into signing a deal with Israel in the coming years, in exchange for arms and nuclear technology for the dictatorial kingdom.
An Israeli and US-assisted war against Iran began on Friday.
In the West Bank, Israel’s annexation plans are surging ahead with little more than weak European statements of concern. Israel’s plans for Greater Israel — vastly expanding its territorial reach — are well underway in Syria, Lebanon and beyond.
Shifting alliances On paper, Israel appears to be riding high, boasting military victories and vanquished enemies. And yet, many Israelis and pro-war Jews in the diaspora do not feel confident or buoyed by success.
Instead, there is an air of defeatism and insecurity, stemming from the belief that the war for Western public opinion has been lost — a sentiment reinforced by daily images of Israel’s campaign of deliberate mass destruction across the Gaza Strip.
What Israel craves and desperately needs is not simply military prowess, but legitimacy in the public domain. And this is sorely lacking across virtually every demographic worldwide.
It is why Israel is spending at least $150 million this year alone on “public diplomacy”.
Get ready for an army of influencers, wined and dined in Tel Aviv’s restaurants and bars, to sell the virtues of Israeli democracy. Even pro-Israel journalists are beginning to question how this money is being spent, wishing Israeli PR were more responsive and effective.
Today, Israeli Jews proudly back ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza in astoundingly high numbers. This reflects a Jewish supremacist mindset that is being fed a daily diet of extremist rhetoric in mainstream media.
There is arguably no other Western country with such a high proportion of racist, genocidal mania permeating public discourse.
According to a recent poll of Western European populations, Israel is viewed unfavourably in Germany, Denmark, France, Italy and Spain.
Very few in these countries support Israeli actions. Only between 13 and 21 percent hold a positive view of Israel, compared to 63-70 percent who do not.
The US-backed Pew Research Centre also released a global survey asking people in 24 countries about their views on Israel and Palestine. In 20 of the 24 nations, at least half of adults expressed a negative opinion of the Jewish state.
A deeper reckoning Beyond Israel’s image problems lies a deeper question: can it ever expect full acceptance in the Middle East?
Apart from kings, monarchs and elites from Dubai to Riyadh and Manama to Rabat, Israel’s vicious and genocidal actions since 7 October 2023 have rendered “normalisation” impossible with a state intent on building a Jewish theocracy that subjugates millions of Arabs indefinitely.
While it is true that most states in the region are undemocratic, with gross human rights abuses a daily reality, Israel has long claimed to be different — “the only democracy in the Middle East”.
But Israel’s entire political system, built with massive Western support and grounded in an unsustainable racial hierarchy, precludes it from ever being fully and formally integrated into the region.
The American journalist Murtaza Hussain, writing for the US outlet Drop Site News, recently published a perceptive essay on this very subject.
He argues that Israeli actions have been so vile and historically grave — comparable to other modern holocausts — that they cannot be forgotten or excused, especially as they are publicly carried out with the explicit goal of ethnically cleansing Palestine:
“This genocide has been a political and cultural turning point beyond which we cannot continue as before. I express that with resignation rather than satisfaction, as it means that many generations of suffering are ahead on all sides.
“Ultimately, the goal of Israel’s opponents must not be to replicate its crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, nor to indulge in nihilistic hatred for its own sake.
“People in the region and beyond should work to build connections with those Israelis who are committed opponents of their regime, and who are ready to cooperate in the generational task of building a new political architecture.”
The issue is not just Netanyahu and his government. All his likely successors hold similarly hardline views on Palestinian rights and self-determination.
The monumental task ahead lies in crafting an alternative to today’s toxic Jewish theocracy.
But this rebuilding must also take place in the West. Far too many Jews, conservatives and evangelical Christians continue to cling to the fantasy of eradicating, silencing or expelling Arabs from their land entirely.
Pushing back against this fascism is one of the most urgent generational tasks of our time.
Greenpeace activists on board the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior disrupted an industrial longlining fishing operation in the South Pacific, seizing almost 20 km of fishing gear and freeing nine sharks — including an endangered mako — near Australia and New Zealand.
Crew retrieved the entire longline and more than 210 baited hooks from a European Union-flagged industrial fishing vessel, including an endangered longfin mako shark, eight near-threatened blue sharks and four swordfish.
The crew also documented the vessel catching endangered sharks during its longlining operation.
Latest fisheries data showed that almost 70 percent of EU vessels’ catch was blue shark in 2023 alone.
The operation came ahead of this week’s UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, where world leaders are discussing ocean protection and the Global Ocean Treaty.
On board the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Georgia Whitaker said: “These longliners are industrial killing machines. Greenpeace Australia Pacific took peaceful and direct action to disrupt this attack on marine life.
“We saved important species that would otherwise have been killed or left to die on hooks.
“The scale of industrial fishing — still legal on the high seas — is astronomical. These vessels claim to be targeting swordfish or tuna, but we witnessed shark after shark being hauled up by these industrial fleets, including three endangered sharks in just half an hour.
Rainbow Warrior crew disrupt longline fishing in the Pacific. Video: Greenpeace
“Greenpeace is calling on world leaders at the UN Ocean Conference to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 from this wanton destruction.”
Stingray caught as bycatch is hauled onboard the Lu Rong Yuan Lu 212 longliner vessel in the Tasman Sea.
The Rainbow Warrior is in the South Pacific ocean to expose longline fishing and call on governments to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and create a network of protected areas in the high seas.
A Greenpeace activist frees a blue shark caught on a longline in the Pacific . . . the blue shark is currently listed as “Near Threatened” globally by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Image: Greenpeace Pacific
Greenpeace Aotearoa is calling on the New Zealand government to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and help create global ocean sanctuaries, including in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
New Zealand signed the agreement in 2023.
More than two-thirds of sharks worldwide are endangered, and a third of those are at risk of extinction from overfishing.
Over the last three weeks, the Rainbow Warrior has been documenting longlining vessels and practices off Australia’s east coast, including from Spain and China.
Emma Page is Greenpeace Aotearoa’s communications lead, oceans and fisheries. Republished with permission.
The US company Leonardo DRS has enjoyed considerable success in the Indonesian market with its vehicle-mounted tactical router/server units and rugged tablets and displays. The company manufactures Data Distribution Unit – Expendables (DDUx) that integrate voice, data, video and various sensors, as well as MRT104 multifunction rugged tablets and MRD121 multifunction rugged displays. These are […]
Opposition parties say Aotearoa New Zealand’s government should be going much further, much faster in sanctioning Israel.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters overnight revealed New Zealand had joined Australia, Canada, the UK and Norway in imposing travel bans on Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Some of the partner countries went further, adding asset freezes and business restrictions on the far-right ministers.
Peters said the pair had used their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution.
Israel and the United States criticised the sanctions, with the US saying it undermined progress towards a ceasefire.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, attending Fieldays in Waikato, told reporters New Zealand still enjoyed a good relationship with the US administration, but would not be backing down.
“We have a view that this is the right course of action for us,” he said.
Behind the scenes job
“We have differences in approach but the Americans are doing an excellent job of behind the scenes trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to the table to talk about a ceasefire.”
Asked if there could be further sanctions, Luxon said the government was “monitoring the situation all the time”.
Peters has been busy travelling in Europe and was unavailable to be interviewed. ACT — probably the most vocally pro-Israel party in Parliament — refused to comment on the situation.
The opposition parties also backed the move, but argued the government should have gone much further.
Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has since December been urging the coalition to back her bill imposing economic sanctions on Israel. With support from Labour and Te Pāti Māori it would need just six MPs to cross the floor to pass.
Calling the Israeli actions in Gaza “genocide”, she told RNZ the government’s sanctions fell far short of those imposed on Russia.
“This is symbolic, and it’s unfortunate that it’s taken so long to get to this point, nearly two years . . . the Minister of Foreign Affairs also invoked the similarities with Russia in his statement this morning, yet we have seen far less harsh sanctions applied to Israel.
“We’re well past the time for first steps.”
‘Cowardice’ by government
The pushback from the US was “probably precisely part of the reason that our government has been so scared of doing the right thing”, she said, calling it “cowardice” on the government’s part.
“What else are you supposed to call it at the end of the day?,” she said, saying at a bare minimum the Israeli ambassador should be expelled, Palestinian statehood should be recognised, and a special category of visas for Palestinians should be introduced.
She rejected categorisation of her stance as anti-semitic, saying that made no sense.
“If we are critiquing a government of a certain country, that is not the same thing as critiquing the people of that country. I think it’s actually far more anti-semitic to conflate the actions of the Israeli government with the entire Jewish peoples.”
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer . . . “It’s not a war, it’s an annihilation”. Image: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the sanctions were political hypocrisy.
“When it comes to war, human rights and the extent of violence and genocide that we’re seeing, Palestine is its own independent nation . . . why is this government sanctioning only two ministers? They should be sanctioning the whole of Israel,” she said.
“These two Israel far right ministers don’t act alone. They belong to an entire Israel government which has used its military might and everything it can possibly do to bombard, to murder and to commit genocide and occupy Gaza and the West Bank.”
Suspend diplomatic ties
She also wanted all diplomatic ties with Israel suspended, along with sanctions against Israeli companies, military officials and additional support for the international courts — also saying the government should have done more.
“This government has been doing everything to do nothing . . . to appease allies that have dangerously overstepped unjustifiable marks, and they should not be silent.
“It’s not a war, it’s an annihilation, it’s an absolute annihilation of human beings . . . we’re way out there supporting those allies that are helping to weaponise Israel and the flattening and the continual cruel occupation of a nation, and it’s just nothing that I thought in my living days I’d be witnessing.”
She said the government should be pushing back against “a very polarised, very Trump attitude” to the conflict.
“Trumpism has arrived in Aotearoa . . . and we continue to go down that line, that is a really frightening part for this beautiful nation of ours.
“As a nation, we have a different set of values. We’re a Pacific-based country with a long history of going against the grain – the mainstream, easy grind. We’ve been a peaceful, loving nation that stood up against the big boys when it came to our anti nuclear stance and that’s our role in this, our role is not to follow blindly.”
Undermining two-state solution
In a statement, Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson Peeni Henare said the actions of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir had attempted to undermine the two-state solution and international law, and described the situation in Gaza as horrific.
“The travel bans echo the sanctions placed on Russian individuals and organisations that supported the illegal invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
He called for further action.
“Labour has been calling for stronger action from the government on Israel’s invasion of Gaza, including intervening in South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, creation of a special visa for family members of New Zealanders fleeing Gaza, and ending government procurement from companies operating illegally in the Occupied Territories.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
