ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on December 9, 2025.
How to get through the festive season when you’re estranged from your parents
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Willis, Associate Professor, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University As Christmas approaches, many of us are busy making plans to spend the day with family – organising travel, buying presents and looking forward to (or perhaps dreading) long-held traditions. For others, this time
Labor gains in Resolve poll as DemosAU poll has One Nation winning 12 House seats
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor expanded its national lead in a Resolve poll as a DemosAU MRP poll had One Nation winning 12 House seats. In Victoria, the Coalition has a
Caregiver smartphone use can affect a baby’s development. New parents should get more guidance
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miriam McCaleb, Fellow in Public Health, University of Canterbury Getty Images We already know excessive smartphone use affects people’s mental health and their relationships. But when new parents use digital technologies during care giving, they might also compromise their baby’s development. Smartphone use in the presence of
What do stingrays actually eat? New study reveals some only prefer a single type of prawn
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jaelen Nicole Myers, Research Officer, TropWATER, James Cook University A cowtail stingray. Scott Plume/iNaturalist, CC BY-NC As an ecologist who studies stingrays, people always ask me: what do these creatures eat? It may well be the reason I’ve spent the past three years tackling this very question.
Australia’s supercomputers are falling behind – and it’s hurting our ability to adapt to climate change
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Jakob, Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century, Monash University The Gadi supercomputer at the National Computational Infrastructure in Canberra, Australia. NCI Australia As Earth continues to warm, Australia faces some important decisions. For example, where should we place solar and
Putting away your winter clothes? Science explains how to keep them safe over summer
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nisa Salim, Director, Swinburne-CSIRO National Testlab for Composite Additive Manufacturing, Swinburne University of Technology Dan Gold / Unsplash As the cold season ends and we fold away our favourite wool jumpers and silk scarves, some fascinating material science is about to unfold quietly in our wardrobes. Subtle
Hospitals in crisis: why state and federal governments are fighting about funding
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Con Chronis/AAP, Esther Linder/AAP, Luke Jones/Unsplash, The Conversation The clock is ticking for the Commonwealth government to strike a new hospital funding deal with
How important is the ATAR? 30% of Year 12s who go to uni don’t use it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melinda Hildebrandt, Education Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Year 12 Students across Australia will receive their ATARs this week and next. It’s a significant moment, with the ATAR often dominating media coverage of schooling at this time of year. But as the 2025 results come in,
NZ needs more entrepreneurs. Will its new tertiary strategy reward real risk takers?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rod McNaughton, Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images The government’s recently released Tertiary Education Strategy 2025–2030 signals a shift towards harnessing the sector to address New Zealand’s long-standing productivity issues. But the strategy and its goals aren’t necessarily aligned. Universities and polytechnics
Illegal tobacco is messing up economic data. That won’t stop until it’s managed like alcohol
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Darling Downs Public Health Unit Most Australians have probably noticed the proliferation of tobacconists and “convenience stores” in the last few years. These stores aren’t making much from the limited offerings on public display. Rather, their profitability
The ‘hobbits’ mysteriously disappeared 50,000 years ago. Our new study reveals what happened to their home
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Scroxton, Research Fellow, Palaeoclimate, National University of Ireland Maynooth _Homo floresiensis_ skull. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA About 50,000 years ago, humanity lost one of its last surviving hominin cousins, Homo floresiensis (also known as “the hobbit” thanks to its small stature). The cause of its disappearance,
View from The Hill: in awkward timing, government ends energy rebate as it defends Wells’ spendathon
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra There are two glaring lessons for politicians from the Anika Wells’ entitlements affair. First, don’t grab greedily at every generous entitlement MPs and especially ministers can get, even if “the rules” allow you to do so. Second, if you do
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Sarah Hanson-Young on the social media ban as a risky ‘fake silver bullet’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Greens have suffered a year of significant setbacks. The election saw their numbers go backwards, losing three of their four lower house seats, then one of their senators, Dorinda Cox, defected to Labor. But the year ended on a
Australia has new laws to protect nature. Do they signal an end to native forest logging?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Reforms to Australia’s nature laws have passed federal parliament. A longstanding exemption that meant federal environment laws did not apply to native logging has finally been removed from the Environment Protection and
Australia wants to be a critical minerals superpower – but processing is messy and dangerous
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By George Tian, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Technology Sydney In October, Australia signed an A$13 billion rare earths and critical minerals agreement with the United States. This is designed to boost supply of minerals vital to everything from military technology to clean energy. Australia has large
How self-taught, self-made mavericks Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo redefined punk
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University Installation view of Westwood | Kawakubo on display from December 7 2025 to April 19 2026, at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Sean Fennessy Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo are two fashion designers who redefined “the look” of
