Two new university accommodation blocks built in Sydney by Scape Australia will stay empty this year, as hundreds of international students fail to arrive for the start of the new university semester.

Co-founder and Chief Executive of Scape Australia, Stephen Gaitanos, told The Sydney Morning Herald that a new building to house 200 students that has just been completed in Darlington, inner Sydney, was originally scheduled to start welcoming residents this week.

These plans were made well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but those plans are now up in the air after Federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge, said recently that the large-scale return of international students to Australian campuses may depend on the availability of an effective vaccine.

“It’s terribly frustrating to effectively have to mothball it,” Mr Gaitanos said to the SMH of the accommodation.

Scape Australia is also set to complete construction in June of another building in Redfern with 700 bedrooms, and has plans for student accommodation towers in Melbourne. All are expected to remain empty this year.

Last year, the Federal Government requested that each state and territory submit by November international student arrival plans through safe quarantine corridors.

The NSW government developed a plan to start returning 1000 students a week from the beginning of 2021, but Premier Gladys Berejiklian shelved that when the northern beaches was locked down.

Tighter caps on the number of Australians allowed to return to other states were also introduced as a temporary measure in response to more contagious strains of the virus.

Mr Gaitanos said the uncertainty in the position of governments had been “frustrating and inconsistent.”

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald.

Multiple Greek yoghurt products have returned to Australian hands following Bega Cheese’s takeover of Japanese-owned Lion’s Dairy and Drinks division.

The $534 million deal means brands like Big M, Dare, Farmers Union, Pura, Dairy Farmers, Yoplait, Daily Juice, Berri and The Juice Brothers will now be all manufactured in Australia.

Speaking to News Corp Australia, Bega Cheese chairman Barry Irvin said the deal marks a new chapter for the business, which was traditionally focused on longer shelf-life products such as infant formula, milk powder and cream cheese.

“What we’re quite excited about is the yoghurt business, so the Yoplait and Farmers Union Greek Style brands we’ve acquired,” Mr Irvin said.

“We think there’s great opportunity to add additional varieties and convenient packs, and to offer products to different age ranges in a healthy way which we are already doing but will look to expand.”

“So our biggest thing is trying to deliver natural products … that are good for consumers in a form that they most desire,” he said.

The Farmers Union Greek Style yoghurts are some of the most yoghurt products in Australia. In 2018, the Farmers Union Greek Style All Natural Yogurt was named one of the best yoghurts on the market by the Australian consumer advocacy group CHOICE.

Mr Irvin said Bega Cheese would also look at expanding the international presence of it’s newly-acquired products in the future, but said there were challenges given their shorter shelf life.

The deal is said to bring more than 2000 workers to Bega Cheese’s workforce.

The Macquarie Greek Studies Foundation Limited will be holding an open forum on the 11th of February, at 7.pm, for Greek organisations and individuals to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Modern Greek Studies this year.

The Foundation’s President Theo Premetis said that due to the pandemic, universities have embarked on a policy of reduction in subjects offered as a cost cutting exercise.

“Macquarie University has made difficult and challenging decisions concerning the viability of some courses aiming to mitigate the impact on staff and students,” Premetis said in an open letter.

“The continuation and the security of learning and teaching Greek language at Macquarie University is of utmost importance.”

“Thus, in the 2021 academic year the course will be offered as a minor. However, students who are presently enrolled will be able to complete their studies if they had nominated Greek as a major, so that they are not adversely affected in the middle of their academic studies.”

Premetis called for Greek organisations and individuals to attend an open forum at the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW centre in Lakemba to discuss the challenges and opportunities and to give a clear guidance to the Foundation and lead it into the future.

“Let not the 200th anniversary of the rebirth of our nation be the year of demise of our valuable language. Let not internal divisions destroy what has been achieved in more than three decades of The Foundations Existence. Let unity prevail. Come along and Voice your opinion and take the opportunity in becoming a member of the Foundation.”