We get loads of great announcements in the inbox every week, but don’t have the time to cover them all as separate stories.
So we’re trying something new: A Friday summary featuring the best things to land in our inboxes: the launches, the calls for nominations, the appointments, the best movements and the latest happenings.
Plus, our quick take on the key things to watch out for this weekend and key diary dates ahead.
This week, we’re featuring three different awards programs we know our audience will be interesting. as well as a new announcement on long-acting contraception, the Australian women joining a global roundtable and more.
Enjoy!
Free long-acting contraception gets a national home
Women will get better access to long-acting reversible contraception under a new $25.6 million federal investment in eight LARC Centres of Excellence, including one in every state and territory.
At the centres, women can get free advice plus insertion and removal of IUDs and implants at no cost, with outreach services training providers across regional and remote areas, so access doesn’t hinge on postcode. Assistant Minister for Health Recca White framed the announcement as stripping out the cost and access barriers that have long made these methods hard to get.
The announcements build on the government’s $792.9 million women’s health package, with providers appointed by 1 July.
Who’s advancing human rights? Nominate them
Nominations are open for the 2026 Australian Human Rights Awards, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission, which this year marks 40 years since its establishment.
Any Australian can nominate individuals or organisations working to advance rights across healthcare, education, law, the arts and beyond, with winners announced at a Sydney gala on 10 December to mark International Human Rights Day.
Last year’s awards drew nearly 300 nominations and featured a Human Rights Day Oration by women’s and racial equality advocate Juliana Nkrumah AM.
Nominations and ticket sales open this month.
A new awards home for Australian audio
Executive producer and academic Pariya Taherzadeh (pictured at top of feature) has launched SONARR (short for Sound and Narrative), the first Australian awards program to span podcast, radio, audiobook, and voice-over under one roof, stepping into the gap left by the old commercial radio and podcast awards.
Backed by AFTRS as a founding educational partner, it runs 35 categories, and a $10,000 prize pool split evenly between commercial and indie creators, and dedicated categories for First Nations, CALD, LGBTQIA+ and female creators.
Submissions open 11 June and close 31 July, with winners named at an October gala. For independent audio-makers long shut out of recognition, it’s a notable new door.
The women making sustainability a business case
Women in Banking and Finance has reopened nominations for its 2026 ESG and Sustainability Initiative of the Year.
They’re free to enter (but get moving!) and closing 5pm AEST on Thursday 18 June.
The award’s recent winners show the range of expertise and experiences that get celebrated. Dianna Enlund, Sustainability Solutions Director at S&P Global Sustainable1, took the 2025 prize for pushing financial institutions to treat nature and biodiversity risk as seriously as climate. Brooke Pettit, Head of ESG and Sustainability at Bendigo Bank, won in 2024 after building a climate education program that reached more than half the bank’s workforce.
Know someone doing similar work? Get them entered!
An Australian seat at the global knowledge table
Associate Professor Prachi Srivastava has helped put Australia inside one of only about 50 UNESCO university networks worldwide.
The Adelaide University researcher is co-coordinating EpiNet, the UNESCO UNITWIN Network on Education, Epistemic Justice and the Knowledge Commons, which is only the second such network with an Australian institution as a founding and coordinating member.
The network’s premise: the big global calls on AI, climate and education are shaped by too narrow a group, and widening who gets heard starts with education. The network links Adelaide to more than 1,100 UNESCO Chairs and co-founders across Uganda, India, the UK and Canada.
Women’s sport this weekend
Super Rugby Women’s kicks off Saturday with its ninth season. The comp features four Australians as well as one from Fiji, building to a final in Sydney on 1 August.
Suncorp Super Netball hits the pointy end od of the comp, with the home-and-away season wrapping on 14 June before finals and the 4 July grand final at John Cain Arena.
The French Open women’s singles final is happening Saturday night our time at Roland Garros. Worth staying up for!
The Women’s T20 World Cup opens on the 12th June in England, with Australia starting against South Africa.
The Diary
The King’s Birthday Honours list drops on Monday, 8 June (a public holiday in most states). Once again, we’ll be watching which women are recognised and just how the gender gap in who’s getting honoured is going.
The Women in Industry Awards. Are coming up on 18 June at Doltone House, Sydney, honouring women driving change in male-dominated sectors from resource recovery and transport to energy, construction and manufacturing.