Thorns in France | Le Journal: 6.22.19 | Australia left learning lessons from a premature departure - timbers.com

From their earliest moments in France, Australia showed us this could happen. Back on June 9, when the Matildas debuted at this year’s World Cup, they did so with disappointment, losing a 2-1 result to Italy that, in its final margin, could have been much worse. Wins against Brazil and Jamaica provided some hope for a rebound as well as a directive from the team’s captain, Sam Kerr, but ultimately, the doubt amplified by “haters” was well-founded. Even in the middle of the second half against Jamaica, a game that ended 4-1, the Aussies seemed far too vulnerable.

They played better today, in their Round of 16 match against Norway, but just like every other game this tournament, Australia didn’t seem themselves, so much so that their final match of the competition, a 1-1 draw that saw them eliminated on penalty kicks, 4-1, felt like an apt end. It’s not that they were bad, nor were they never good, but for a team cast as one of the pre-tournament favorites, they never looked that part.

.@CaitlinFoord, @CarpenterEllie and @HayleyRaso - we are so proud of you.🌹#ThornsInFrance | #BAONPDX | #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/ZWOSecRBfS

— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) June 22, 2019

Now, the post-mortem will begin, one where it may prove difficult to distinguish between the causes from the symptoms. The ailment is not reaching the World Cup in their best state, but was that just a function of form, having lost to the United States and the Netherlands in the leadup to France? Did the health issues that kept the Matildas banged up and hamstrung over their four-game spell knock them from the competition’s top level? Were the expectations that built after winning the 2017 Tournament of Nations too much, too soon, or were those expectations right, but did a young team that had never held a favorite’s status need a competition like this to learn?

Take one view of their ouster, and all those factors look like antecedents. They led to where we are now. But it’s just as logical to see all those reasons as symptomatic another issue. Maybe pre-tournament form, health, expectations didn’t lead Australia to lose. Maybe losing was just another symptom of Australia’s real problem.

Whether you buy that hinges on how you feel about experience; or, more specifically, how the lessons of a life at the top of international soccer can offset the burden of status. All the Australian players expressed confidence going into France, echoing the expectation that they would claim their country’s first World Cup, but often in those situations, what was once fun starts to feel like an obligation. There's less joy in victory than is expected of you. When you win, it’s more relief than triumph, leaving you walking from fields without the adrenaline rush that had become your fuel.

Teams like Germany and the United States have lived in that world for so long, they develop their players into it. Along with the maturation of skills, bodies, and mentalities, there’s a comfort that develops from not knowing any other standard. Tobin Heath and Lindsey Horan have never had to consider what their national team lives were like before the U.S. had to be good. The U.S. has always been good.

From here forward, Australia will have to be, too. Just because they lost in France’s Round of 16 doesn’t mean the expectations, going forward, will change. Players like Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Alanna Kennedy and Steph Catley all have at least two more World Cups in them, health permitting, while a generation of talent like Ellie Carpenter, Karly Roestbakken, Mary Fowler and Teagan Micah will be in their primes by the next World Cup.

That doesn’t consider a player like Chloe Logarzo, who is only 24 years old. Emily van Egmond’s been around forever, but she’s only 25. Hayley Raso’s 24; Elise Kellond-Knight’s only 28. Even their goalkeeper, Lydia Williams, is only 31. Almost every regular player for Australia can be expected to improve between now and the next World Cup, wherever that’s held, and per every voice that’s come from the Football Federation Australia, they intend to hold that World Cup at home.

Today was a disappointment, and for some people, that term is synonymous with setback. But whether the end of their 2019 World Cup truly leaves Australia in a worse place is up to the Matildas. On one track, they can go down the path of the 2011’s France, whose generation of Lyon-bred talent raised expectations only to, eight years on, struggle for their true breakthrough. Or, they can learn lessons from that wave of talent, as well as the lessons of their three weeks’ struggle, and decide to move forward.

There are valuable lessons in what Australia has gone through over the last six months, from the turmoil of replacing a coach, to peaking too early in a cycle, to managing injuries and dealing with an entire country’s hopes. It’s not only reasonable for them to make mistakes their first time through, but in the long run, it might help. Whereas they were of the non-U.S., non-France contenders headed into this competition, with a steady, consistent four years’ growth, they could go into an Australia 2023 as the clear favorites to claim a world title.

They have the talent to do that. For years, now, that’s been beyond doubt. What ultimately undermined them today was their inability to manage the cycle. But with lessons learned and almost no talents phasing out, Australia might, as unlikely as it sounds., have moved closer to their ultimate goals. The reality of pain and disappointment may prove to be the last thing they needed to, sometime down the road, claim their first World Cup.

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2019-06-22 23:36:16Z
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How Sounds Australia Is Paving Global Paths for Australian Artists - Billboard

In October 2013, a little-known Australian singer-songwriter with a mop of slightly unruly hair stepped up to a microphone in front of hundreds of college radio DJs and music directors. As the room’s audience wandered the room during a break between hourlong industry panels, she played just two solo renditions of her sardonic rock songs, but managed to grab the attention of many in attendance.

That CMJ College Day showcase was one of Courtney Barnett’s first international performances. Now, six years later, Barnett is all but synonymous with indie rock’s ruling class. Without the assistance of Australian music export agency Sounds Australia, Barnett might never have played College Day and the agency's signature Aussie BBQ event, both of which introduced her to enough people in college radio that her 2015 album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, would go on to top the now-defunct CMJ Top 200 college radio airplay chart for four consecutive weeks. Sometimes I Sit..., her first release for indie label Mom + Pop, peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and earned her a Grammy nomination for best new artist.

Now approaching its 10th year, Sounds Australia has hosted nearly 1,600 Australian artists at 74 events in 66 cities across 23 countries, including acts such as Flume, Nick Murphy, Vance Joy and San Cisco. These days, the agency’s Aussie BBQs and luncheons are seen less as just “cool places to be” at SXSW, The Great Escape and other key conferences, and more as “if you weren’t there, you missed the most important event of your week.”

In 2003, six years before Sounds Australia’s launch, Glenn Dickie hosted the first Aussie BBQ at SXSW, that year’s sole Australia-focused event, for which he recruited nine Australian artists to perform. Fifteen years later at SXSW 2018, as one of Sounds Australia’s four staff members, Dickie helped set up the inaugural Australia House showcase of 53 Australian artists that spanned six days, via a partnership with the country’s G’Day USA diplomacy program.

“We've gone from one or two labels having an Australian artist to one or two labels that don't have an Australian artist at all,” Dickie says. Although he and Aussie BBQ co-founder Mary Mihelakos launched the event before Sounds Australia was conceived, its success paved the way for the agency, which hired Dickie in 2013 as export music producer. “The Aussie BBQ became such a big brand within SXSW and in the U.K.,” Dickie says, “that people actually thought that we were an export office.”

Along the line, the Australia Council, which helps fund the country’s arts programs, began realizing it might actually need to establish such an export office. “As more artists were being invited to SXSW and other showcase events, the Australia Council recognized pretty quickly that, at SXSW, a number of countries were already providing support for their artists and that we could gain more benefit from helping the artists once they land,” Sounds Australia executive producer Millie Millgate says. After the Australian government conducted a year of focus groups and roundtables with music industry organizations, state governments and trade bodies, the Australian music rights organization APRA AMCOS took custodianship of a two-year music export office pilot program. In 2009, that program became Sounds Australia, with Millgate as its founding -- and, for years, sole -- employee.

Thanks to extensive experience at New South Wales’ state music office, Millgate realized that starting Sounds Australia’s operations from scratch could be disastrous, so she looked to what was already working -- namely, the Aussie BBQ. “Creating our own showcase wasn’t logical to me,” Millgate explains. The Aussie BBQ, she says, was already “on the map at SXSW. It didn't make sense not to incorporate it. Sounds Australia had more infrastructure around what Glenn and Mary had set up, and we could take a really fun party and put a sophisticated spin on it, with networking and B2B components, while keeping the essence of what they had.”

Dickie was grateful for the support. “When Millie came in, we were just some punk rock kids,” he says. “She had a budget. We had a brand.” In 2010, the agency partnered with Dickie and Mihelakos to present the Aussie BBQ. In 2013, Sounds Australia began licensing the Aussie BBQ and expanding it from SXSW to The Great Escape, the U.K. and other international showcasing events. In 2017, Sounds Australia took full ownership of the showcase.

Now, Sounds Australia oversees the country’s most vital music networking opportunities at international music conferences, though there’s a limit to its abilities. “We can help put opportunities in front of artists and managers,” says Dickie, “but it’s up to them to do the legwork and get that success.” Millgate emphasizes that the artists, not Sounds Australia, are responsible for applying to -- and accepting invitations from -- conferences, but that “having Sounds Australia on the ground at events with an organized presence” does lead to artists meeting industry figures “at a luncheon or a speed networking event and then, not long after, they're working together.”

Others have observed similarly strong outcomes for Australian artists. “I have no doubt that the massive increase in the presence and export success of Australian artists overseas correlates perfectly with the advent of Sounds Australia,” says Nick O’Byrne, who manages Barnett, among other artists. “The fact that I’ve been able to tap into functions, networking events, showcases and advice at every single stage of my artists’ growth speaks to the breadth of Sounds Australia’s capacity to facilitate outcomes for Australian music businesses of all shapes and sizes. I believe Sounds Australia is one of the most important industry initiatives we have.”

Sounds Australia creative producer Esti Zilber is quick to note that export, though an inherently international effort, starts domestically. “I don't think it can ever be understated how big a role BIGSOUND,” which is essentially Australia’s version of SXSW, “plays in export despite the fact that it happens in Australia,” Zilber says. “Your best export is primed at home.” O’Byrne, who programmed BIGSOUND from 2013-2016, agrees: “Every single time I went to a Sounds Australia networking event while I worked as a programmer, I met someone whom I invited to BIGSOUND, and that person then played an important role in the export of Australian artists.”

Of course, export by definition involves international events, and perhaps no event is more symbolic of Sounds Australia’s global presence than the Aussie BBQ. It only makes sense, then, that Sounds Australia is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with an Aussie BBQ in New York. The June 22 showcase at Central Park SummerStage will feature Australian artists San Cisco, Hermitude, The Teskey Brothers, WAAX, Tkay Maidza and indigenous artist A.B. Original.

The New York Aussie BBQ will take place two days after A2IM’s Indie Week, at which Sounds Australia connects many Australian labels with potential future international partners. This timing is intentional, reflecting Sounds Australia’s commitment to building environments best suited for forging Australian connections. “[Indie Week] is beyond valuable for a label to learn best practices, educate themselves and build and develop networks with key DSPs and supervisors, so the minute you offer a label to put one of their artists on a show, they all put their artists first, they all say yes,” Millgate says.

“It's always been an aspirational goal to do an event at Central Park SummerStage,” says Millgate. “Hitting that 10-year milestone and looking at what Australian artists are doing, if we were ever gonna give it a shot, this was the year to do it.”

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2019-06-21 17:49:43Z
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Microsoft extends IT skills development program to South Australia - ZDNet

The South Australian government has partnered with Microsoft to stand up a new traineeship program aimed at developing IT-related skills in the state.

According to SA Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni, the Microsoft Traineeship Program will help build workforce capability in IT and cloud computing, and increase IT traineeships.

The state will provide around AU$200,000 in funding for the program which will provide about 40 people with two-year traineeships from September.

Launched in New South Wales late last year, the traineeships combine on-the-job, paid work experience with a Certificate IV in Information Technology and a Microsoft Azure Certification delivered through TAFE SA.

See also: Microsoft Azure: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic)

"Participants do not need a degree or any previous work experience, as they will be provided with training as well as being employed by MEGT. Host businesses in the Microsoft Partner Network, in metro and regional areas will provide the participants with on-the-job work and experience," Pisoni said.

"It's critical for our state's future economic success that our workforce is suitably skilled to meet industry needs -- particularly at a time of unprecedented opportunity in sectors such as space, cybersecurity, and defence."

Companies who are participating in the South Australian program include Compnow, Datacom, DXC Technology, and HCL.

See also: Indian giant HCL forms digital partnership with Cricket Australia

The program is part of the Skilling South Australia initiative, which is a partnership with the federal government to create 20,800 new apprenticeships and traineeships over four years.

"By working with strategic delivery partners TAFE SA, Prodigy Learning, and MEGT, as well as a network of Microsoft partner businesses in South Australia, we aim to create a new pipeline of exceptional IT talent and create exciting career opportunities for South Australians," Microsoft Australia managing director Steven Worrall added.

The government of South Australia on Tuesday announced its 2019-20 state Budget, allocating official coin to a handful of new initiatives and those already announced, with the government looking to secure Adelaide as the "innovation capital of the nation".

The Budget included the funding allocated to the Adelaide City Deal that was announced earlier this year.

With AU$551 million over 10 years, the Adelaide City Deal -- a partnership between the state government, the federal government, and the City of Adelaide -- is hoping to deliver a suite of initiatives to create the skilled and productive jobs of the future, boost Adelaide's population through migration and planning reforms, and enhance cultural experiences by generating greater opportunities in the state's tourism sector.

Under the deal, Lot Fourteen in the north-eastern corner of Adelaide's CBD will be converted into an innovation precinct.

Lot Fourteen will host the headquarters of the Australian Space Agency, its mission control facility, and the Australian Space Discovery Centre, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison previously noting it will also boast "major cultural attractions, high-tech businesses, and world-class education facilities".

MORE FROM MICROSOFT IN AUSTRALIA

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2019-06-21 04:40:00Z
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Australia’s Central Bank: Cryptos Will Not Receive Wide Acceptance in the Near Future - Cointelegraph

Cryptocurrencies will not receive wide use in Australia as long as the local financial system is efficiently working, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) stated in an official document issued on June 20.

According to the notice authored by analysts from RBA’s payments policy department, there is "little likelihood of a material take-up of cryptocurrencies for retail payments in Australia in the foreseeable future" due to a number of reasons.

In the document, authors outlined the so-called "scalability trilemma,” which means that crypto can at best solve only two out of the three basic features such as decentralization, scalability, and security. The paper states that cryptos will always lack some of the features in some way, which purportedly makes this type of asset less attractive. The document reads:

“In practice, these trade offs are incremental; increasing the scalability of a blockchain does not require it to become entirely centralised or insecure, but more centralised or less secure.”

Another obstacle to the wide acceptance of crypto assets is increased volatility, the RBA said in the document. In this regard, the authors also cited the much-discussed crypto project by social media giant Facebook, which was officially unveiled on June 18. Built as a stablecoin backed by fiat currencies, Facebook’s libra is expected to solve the volatility issue, the authors wrote, while still losing in terms of decentralization by relying on a central body to buy and manage the assets that back the stablecoin.

In the document, the RBA cited particular cases of attempted stablecoin launches in Australia, claiming that stablecoins’ use for payments “has been very limited” as “has the supply of Australian dollar-linked stablecoins.” The financial authority cited the first Australian dollar (AUD)-pegged stablecoin AUDRamp, which went live in September 2018 but completely lost its worth after 137 tokens were issued. The authors also cited the TrueAUD stablecoin, launched in April 2019 by TrustToken, claiming that “no tokens appear to have been issued” to date.

The RBA authors conclude that cryptocurrencies have not developed enough to represent a “compelling proposition that would lead to their widespread use in Australia” as long as the Australian dollar provides a “reliable, low-inflation store of value.” They write:

“Developments to date have also not added sufficiently to the overall reliability, functionality and credibility of cryptocurrencies to make them an attractive alternative to established payment systems for everyday payments for the population at large.”

Recently, Australia’s securities regulator released new initial coin offering and cryptocurrency guidelines, considering cryptocurrency to be a financial product, which requires involved parties to get an Australian financial services license.

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2019-06-20 14:02:00Z
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Australian Sergeant tackles suspect during media briefing - WCTV

By: CBS Dallas/Ft. Worth
June 19, 2019

Australian Senior Sgt. Daren Edwards was speaking to the media when he heard someone chasing a man in a red sweatshirt.

After hearing the pursuer yell, Edwards stopped talking, dove for the man’s ankles and brought him to the ground.

A police press conference was cut short on the Sunshine Coast when a senior detective tackled a man who allegedly made inappropriate comments to a teenage girl and was running away from her angry father @9NewsQueensland @9NewsSunCoast #9News pic.twitter.com/3Wx1vJ7juv

— Jordan Koster (@JordanKoster9) June 19, 2019

According to those at the scene, the pursuer was chasing the man because he was allegedly being inappropriate to his daughter.

The man was arrested by four police officers.

“I was just sitting in the car and this man’s said a few inappropriate things to my daughter and I’ve just reacted by chasing him up the road and it just happened to be you guys were here at the same time,” the pursuer said.

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2019-06-19 21:48:18Z
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Analyst says Australian teen was Islamic State propagandist - Fox News

CANBERRA, Australia – A security analyst says the eldest of three orphaned Australian siblings pleading for repatriation from a Syrian refugee camp has been an Islamic State group propagandist who could potentially face terrorism charges at home.

Australian National University counterterrorism researcher Jacinta Carroll said Wednesday that Zaynab Sharrouf was taken from Sydney to Syria at the age of 13 in 2014 by her extremist parents and became both a victim and supporter of terrorism in a case that was legally and morally complex.

The Australian government has said it is working with the Red Cross to repatriate 17-year-old Zaynab, her two children, her 16-year-old sister and 8-year-old brother from a Syrian camp.

Carroll has discovered that Zaynab became a prominent Islamic State group propagandist making social media posts supporting atrocities.

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2019-06-19 12:13:24Z
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Disney Shuffles Management in Hong Kong, Australia - Variety

Disney has reshuffled its management in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australasia following the March completion of its 21st Century Fox takeover. In Hong Kong and New Zealand, Fox executives have been elevated. In Australia and New Zealand, Disney’s management is staying on.

David Shin has been appointed VP and GM of The Walt Disney Company in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Disney announced on Monday. Shin will report to Luke Kang, MD, The Walt Disney Company, North Asia, and be directly responsible for direct-to-consumer, studio, content sales and channels businesses in both markets. He was previously at Fox Networks as president and representative director of Japan and Korea.

Joanne Tsai will retire from her position as MD of Fox Networks Group in Taiwan and mainland China, after 18 years with the company.

Kerwin Lo will take on responsibilities as the GM of studio and franchise management overseeing the combined slates of Disney and Fox for both Hong Kong and Taiwan. Lo will continue to be based in Hong Kong. Shin will be based in Taipei.

Jo Bladen, Disney’s GM, studios and live entertainment, and Marc Wooldridge, Fox Film Distribution MD for Australasia, are both departing at the end of this month. The information was contained in an internal memo circulated at the end of last week by Kylie Watson-Wheeler, Disney’s senior VP and MD, Australia and New Zealand. “Both have served the business for over 20 years,” Disney sources told Variety.

Bladen’s duties will be shared between Josh Brigham, Disney’s director of studio sales, and Andrea McMillan, head of studio and franchise marketing, Inside Film reported.

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https://variety.com/2019/film/asia/disney-shuffles-management-hong-kong-australia-1203246212/

2019-06-18 11:51:00Z
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