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  • #54 Redesigning Childcare for Productivity & National Growth | Madeline Simmonds & Jen Fleming - Part 2

    #54 Redesigning Childcare for Productivity & National Growth | Madeline Simmonds & Jen Fleming - Part 2
    2025/10/07
    In Part 1, the conversation exposed the lived impacts of Australia’s current childcare model - from parents driving hundreds of kilometres to reach centres, to professionals unable to return to work because care options don’t fit their family needs. The discussion framed childcare not just as a social issue, but as a national productivity challenge.

    Part 2 moves from problem to policy. Todd Crowley, Madeline Simmonds and Jen Fleming unpack “Family Selected Care” - a proposed reform to the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) that would let funds follow the family rather than the centre. Parents could choose registered grandparents, nannies, or au pairs as approved carers, giving them flexibility without adding cost to government.

    The conversation builds on national debate following the Productivity Commission’s early childhood report, which called for universal childcare by 2036 but left families questioning whether flexibility was still out of reach. Simmonds and Fleming argue for a simple shift: let subsidies follow the family, not the centre. Their proposed “Family Selected Care” category within the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) would allow registered grandparents, nannies, or au pairs to receive payments the same way approved centres do.

    The episode also contrasts Australia’s approach with models in the UK, France, and New Zealand, where parental choice already underpins childcare funding. The guests argue that the current system - centred on providers - fails families in rural regions, shift workers, and households managing health or disability needs.

    Key takeaways:
    ✔️ A direct, low-cost reform to increase workforce participation
    ✔️ A pathway to recognise informal and kinship carers
    ✔️ Alignment with NDIS principles of choice and control
    ✔️ How current rigidity costs families and productivity alike
    ✔️ A call to policymakers to modernise subsidy delivery

    For government advisers and social planners, this episode shows how subsidy design can drive both equity and productivity. It’s a grounded, data-backed conversation that challenges leaders to act before birth rates, workforce shortages, and parental stress deepen the gap.

    Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.
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    38 分
  • #53 Redesigning Childcare for Productivity & National Growth | Madeline Simmonds & Jen Fleming - Part 1

    #53 Redesigning Childcare for Productivity & National Growth | Madeline Simmonds & Jen Fleming - Part 1
    2025/09/30
    Why childcare subsidy reform matters for productivity and family policy. Hear from parents leading the national debate.

    In this Part 1 episode of Intelligence Optimised, Todd Crowley speaks with Madeline Simmonds and Jen Fleming, co-founders of the 4 Parents advocacy group, about the critical intersection of childcare policy, productivity, and family wellbeing.

    Simmonds and Fleming are driving a national petition—already with more than 18,000 signatures—urging the federal government to rethink how childcare subsidies are delivered. Their core proposal is simple but far-reaching: pay subsidies directly to parents, mirroring the National Disability Insurance Scheme, so families can choose the care model that actually fits their circumstances. This could mean grandparents, nannies, or au pairs—options currently excluded from subsidy support.

    The discussion dives into the Productivity Commission’s 2024 report on early childhood, which set out 56 recommendations and a pathway to universal childcare by 2036. Yet the lived reality for families shows systemic gaps: long waitlists in childcare deserts, shift workers paying for unused places, parents facing 300-kilometre round trips, and families locked out by health or disability needs. The conversation highlights how rigid models leave many without viable choices, forcing some women out of the workforce and dragging national productivity down.

    This episode covers:
    ✔️ Why current childcare subsidies don’t fit modern family and work patterns
    ✔️ The call to fund parents directly and broaden approved care models
    ✔️ How lack of flexibility impacts productivity and workforce participation
    ✔️ Stories from rural, shift-working, and medically vulnerable families
    ✔️ The wider economic cost of childcare-related sickness and absenteeism

    For policy advisers and planners, the implications are clear: flexibility in subsidy design is not just a family issue—it is an economic and workforce priority. Listeners gain concrete insight into how policy can close gaps, reduce hidden productivity costs, and better align with contemporary work and family structures across Australia.

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    26 分
  • #52 The Quad, Supply Chains & The Pacific in Crisis | Paddy Hallinan - Part 2

    #52 The Quad, Supply Chains & The Pacific in Crisis | Paddy Hallinan - Part 2
    2025/09/23
    If you caught Part 1 last week, you’ll know the supply chain picture. This week in Part 2 we test the coalition and Defence side of the ledger.

    How exposed is Australia if the Indo-Pacific turns hot? In this episode we map the real stress-points: crowded sea and air lines of communication through the South China Sea and archipelago; a thin domestic refining base that lifts our reliance on imported fuel via Singapore; and non-kinetic attacks that can freeze pumps, power and comms without a shot fired. We also examine the national-will question—can government and public support hold when petrol runs short and utility bills spike?

    From supply chain security to force posture, the discussion is blunt. The United States sees conflict risk as nearer than most Australians do. That gap matters for planning. We unpack what Australia can contribute in a coalition beyond high-end combat, how AUKUS intersects with near-term readiness, and why mixed signals to allies complicate access to scarce Virginia-class production. At home, Defence faces recruitment and retention headwinds, capability nearing end-of-life, and programs crowded out by submarine funding. Mobilisation would need to reach beyond current ADF strength—something we haven’t done since the 1940s.

    Strategic takeaways: identify and protect the few refuelling and import nodes that keep the economy moving; pre-plan rerouting options for SLOCs/ALOCs; stockpile critical inputs; and align messaging so industry, states and the Commonwealth move in step. In the Pacific, leaders should read intent behind infrastructure “gifts” and price the future call-ins. Commodity dependence cuts both ways—iron ore flows shape leverage—but planning on leverage is not a plan for resilience.

    If you lead in defence, energy or logistics, this is a working brief on what to do now: set posture, harden nodes, and rally national will before the whistle blows.

    Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.
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    28 分
  • #51 The Quad, Supply Chains & The Pacific in Crisis | Paddy Hallinan - Part 1

    #51 The Quad, Supply Chains & The Pacific in Crisis | Paddy Hallinan - Part 1
    2025/09/17
    Australia’s defence planners face compressed timelines, fragile supply chains, and Indo-Pacific conflict risks.
    This episode of Intelligence Optimised confronts the blunt reality of what Australia must do to prepare for a conflict that could arrive sooner than many expect. Host Todd Crowley speaks with Paddy Hallinan about national defence planning, alliance cohesion, and the compressed warning times that redefine Indo-Pacific security today.

    Across the conversation, they test the assumptions driving Australia’s readiness. Can the nation and its Pacific partners sustain themselves if a kinetic conflict escalates? What does whole-of-nation planning look like when cyber attacks and information operations are already underway? And how do trade interdependencies with partners like Japan and South Korea shape the risks around LNG, iron ore, and critical supply chains?

    Key issues include the National Defence concept and plan, the balance between keeping the economy running and hardening critical assets, and the role of sovereign capability in energy and supply-chain resilience. The discussion highlights the risks of misalignment inside coalitions and how adversaries actively target those seams. It also examines how China’s missile reach and Taiwan calculus sharpen the urgency for Australia to be “match-fit” within just a few years.

    The episode grounds policy debate in practical takeaways: treating uncertainty as a risk–opportunity problem, prioritising alliance alignment as the first principle of planning, and recognising that any future conflict will likely reach Australian shores through cyber, economic, and physical domains. For senior officers, planners, and policy advisers, the value is clear - translate strategy into concrete next steps that lift national resilience.

    Intelligence Optimised Podcast cuts through Indo-Pacific noise to provide frank, usable analysis. Find deeper briefs and situational insights inside Vaxa Bureau.
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    34 分
  • #50 Agriculture as Security - Natural Capital, Phosphate & Sovereign Supply

    #50 Agriculture as Security - Natural Capital, Phosphate & Sovereign Supply
    2025/09/09
    In this solo episode of Intelligence Optimised, Todd Crowley unpacks why agriculture now sits squarely in the national security frame. Drawing on the Australian AgInvestment & Sustainability Summit, he maps the link between food systems, sovereign capability, and Indo-Pacific resilience. The discussion moves beyond farm practice and balance sheets to the hard questions: how do we secure critical inputs, prove natural capital outcomes, and build sovereign supply chains that stand up under pressure?

    Key threads include agriculture as national security “no food security, no national security”, the rise of natural capital in investment decisions, and the strategic risk in phosphate supply. Australia’s heavy reliance on imported fertiliser exposes the system; domestic projects in the north double as resilience plays that can stabilise prices and cut vulnerability.

    Throughout, Todd shows how leaders can fuse OSINT HUMINT - open-source data on shipping, weather, and commodities with ground truth from producers, investors, logistics operators, and planners - to move from reactive to proactive.

    Strategic takeaways:
    ✔️ Treat agriculture as sovereign capability, not a sectoral afterthought.
    ✔️ Build fertiliser sovereignty: diversify sources and back viable domestic phosphate.
    ✔️ Use natural capital to unlock capital—focus on credible measurement, not slogans.
    ✔️ Stand up sovereign supply chains that can absorb climate and geopolitical shocks.
    ✔️ Combine OSINT + HUMINT for a real-time operating picture leaders can act on.

    For planners, executives, and advisers working the food-security problem set, this episode offers clear next steps to protect production at scale while signalling to markets and partners across the Indo-Pacific. Secure inputs, prove outcomes, and align investment with national-interest goals - so you’re ready today and prepared for tomorrow.

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    9 分
  • #49 Sovereign Firepower: Building Australia's Munitions Capability | Jason Murray - Part 2

    #49 Sovereign Firepower: Building Australia's Munitions Capability | Jason Murray - Part 2
    2025/09/02
    Part 2 moves from problem to delivery. Jason Murray stay on counter-UAS and show how to field effects at pace - starting with Rooster, a physics-based round that lifts terminal effect on small drones but cuts down-range lethality. Rooster has been proved to TRL-6 and is entering staged TRL-7 work. It’s designed for in-service weapons and remote weapon stations, with fragment-on-demand 7.62 NATO settings and engagement out to ~800 m from RWS - useful around critical infrastructure, ports and urban areas where what goes up must not come down as a lethal threat.

    The lab builds it, but people make it real. We cover a veterans-first workforce, and the Aimpoint partnership to “grow your own” skills - an ASQA-approved munitions/EO apprenticeship, an armourer pathway through to Master Armourer, and a ballistics course in development. We outline how a multi-user, privately owned defence precinct can speed load-and-assembly work (e.g., Murray Bridge) and give SMEs building uncrewed platforms a munitions design partner they can actually access.

    Certification and policy matter. Australia certifies to NATO MOPI, not NATO; we propose an Indo-Pacific certification hub to avoid EU/US bottlenecks and fast-track interoperability. We also call for a DIU-style unit to back early-stage defence tech through TRL-7, plus closer government–industry embeds. COVID showed what happens when verification and supply lag reality; AUKUS Pillar 2 and universities should feed practical skills, not just papers.

    What to do now:
    ✔️Back TRL-7 trials that lead to fielding, not just reports.
    ✔️ Stand up precincts that let SMEs and primes integrate, test and ship.
    ✔️ Fund training pathways that put veterans into armoury and ballistic roles.
    ✔️ Build an Indo-Pacific certification hub so units can train with what they’ll deploy.

    Rooster is being launched to international buyers at DSEI London, alongside other lines (EOD disruptors; 12-gauge vehicle interdiction). The window for readiness is tight. Move now so teams can train, certify and protect what matters.

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    24 分
  • #48 Sovereign Firepower: Building Australia's Munitions Capability | Jason Murray - Part 1

    #48 Sovereign Firepower: Building Australia's Munitions Capability | Jason Murray - Part 1
    2025/08/26
    Australia’s security turns on a hard question: do we have the right ammunition, in the right place, at the right time?

    In this episode of Intelligence Optimised, host Todd Crowley sits down with Jason Murray, CEO of Ares Armaments Australia, to unpack how sovereign munitions - especially non-standard, mission-specific rounds - can cut exposure to overseas shocks and lift counter-UAS readiness across the Indo-Pacific. Non-standard ammunition is imported, freight can be several times the product cost, and demand from larger theatres can crowd Australia out.

    Key points for planners and capability managers:

    ✔️ Build small-batch specialist lines with low MOQs that switch calibre fast.
    ✔️ Close supply-chain gaps - primers, propellant, cases - and plan for surge.
    ✔️ Source local training munitions so police can train more for less.
    ✔️ Counter-UAS: the ‘Rooster’ round converts existing small arms for greater effect on small drones with lower fall-back risk - vital for urban defence and critical infrastructure.
    ✔️ Understand how Remote Weapon Stations intersect with ammunition choice.
    ✔️ Navigate certification: push proven concepts from TRL 6 into TRL 7 with the right backing.
    ✔️ Collaborate across ADF, policing and allied forces in the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland (NT/FNQ); learn from US pathways like the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

    Strategic takeaways

    ✔️ Build sovereign munitions capacity for non-standard needs.
    ✔️ Prioritise supply-chain resilience and domestic inputs.
    ✔️ Plan counter-UAS at the tactical edge.
    ✔️ Use small-batch domestic manufacture to shorten lead times and lift readiness.
    ✔️ Don’t bank on imports during global surges.

    References to Thales Australia, EOS Defence and the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

    Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.
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    28 分
  • #47 Australia’s Food Security Play: Land-Based Aquaculture | CEO Dan Richards

    #47 Australia’s Food Security Play: Land-Based Aquaculture | CEO Dan Richards
    2025/08/19
    This episode of Intelligence Optimised takes you to the floodplains of the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, home to one of Australia’s most significant aquaculture operations - Humpty Doo Barramundi. Dan Richards - the farm’s director sits down with host Todd Crowley, to uncover how a family-run enterprise has grown into a key contributor to national food security.

    From the site of the failed 1950s Humpty Doo Rice Project to today’s thriving barramundi operation, we explore the lessons learned from early challenges and the practical strategies that made success possible in a tropical climate. The conversation spans production processes, market positioning, sustainability practices, and the farm’s role in building local employment and skills.

    Listeners will hear frank discussion on the intersection of agriculture, regional capability, and Indo-Pacific trade. We look at how a premium Australian-grown fish competes in domestic and export markets, and why sustainable production methods are central to both environmental stewardship and long-term economic viability.

    For agrifood industry planners and policy advisers, the episode offers clear, actionable insights into scaling operations, securing supply chains, and aligning production with strategic national interests. These lessons carry weight not just for aquaculture but for any sector seeking to lift resilience in remote and regional settings.

    Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.
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    39 分