ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on December 10, 2025.
Australia’s social media ban won’t stop cyberbullying
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin University Roxy Aln / Unsplash The Australian Federal government’s Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, commonly referred to as the “social media ban”, is now in effect. In the months leading up to the ban, there have been
The 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial is a collage of an exhibition, and a work of wonder
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain, installation view, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2025 featuring: Grace Kemarre Robinya, Western Arrarnta/Arrernte/Anmatyer/Luritja people, Kwatjala nhama timela (Raining time), 2024-2025 © Grace Kemarre Robinya/Tangentyere
Artist Olafur Eliasson brings the outside world thrillingly to life inside the art gallery
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chari Larsson, Senior Lecturer of Art History, Griffith University Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967, Presence (installation view, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane) 2025. Stainless steel, aluminium, monofrequency lights, printed textile wedges, aluminium perforated sheets, mirror foil, glass mirror, wood. Dimensions variable. Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; and Tanya
Parents find Health Star Ratings confusing and unhelpful. We need a better food labelling system
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Juliet Bennett, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Sydney Gustavo Fring/Pexels Food labels are intended to support healthy choices. But not all labelling schemes are equal. Australia currently uses a voluntary Health Star Rating system. Food manufacturers can choose to add a star label to their packaging to
We watched these coral colonies succumb to black band disease. 6 months later, 75% were dead
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shawna Foo, Senior Research Fellow, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney During the last global coral bleaching event in 2023 and 2024 , the Great Barrier Reef experienced the highest temperatures for centuries and widespread bleaching. With bleaching events becoming more frequent, the very
Through the mill: Tokoroa’s tough year was about much more than job losses
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Hurd, Associate Professor, Marketing & International Business, Auckland University of Technology Ingolfson via Wikimedia Commons For Kinleith Mill, cycles of new owners, restructuring and retrenchment have been a fact of life since the 1980s. Each ownership change and downsizing has affected the mill’s workforce – and,
A 2,000-year-old building site reveals the raw ingredients for ancient Roman self-healing concrete
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Laurence, Professor of Ancient History, Macquarie University A detail of the neatly aligned ceramic roof tiles and tuff blocks in a newly excavated site in Pompeii, documenting the storage of building materials during renovation. Archaeological Park of Pompeii Roman concrete is pretty amazing stuff. It’s among
Australia’s social media ban is now in force. Other countries are closely watching what happens
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University Sanket Mishra/Unsplash After months of anticipation and debate, Australia’s social media ban is now in force. Young Australians under 16 must now come to grips with the new reality of being
Hustle, muscle and grift: how the manosphere has grown into a money-making machine
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vivian Gerrand, Associate Lecturer, Australian National University; Deakin University The manosphere is big business today. Once a niche network lurking on the margins of the internet, this diverse community of male supremacist cultures has grown into a transnational profit-making enterprise. Our new review of the growing body
If parents designed the new ‘Thriving Kids’ program, it’d look like this
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Smith, Senior Lecturer of Wellbeing Science, The University of Melbourne Cavan Images/Getty Thriving Kids is a planned national program for children aged eight and under with developmental delay or autism who are assessed as having low to moderate support needs. The idea is to move these
On a typical school day, 11% of students are absent. How can Australia fix this?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jordana Hunter, School Education Program Director, Grattan Institute On a typical school day in Australia this year, about 11% of students were absent. In 2014, the figure was 7%. Two in five students now miss about a day of school each fortnight on average. This makes improving
Research finds Indigenous peoples face unique challenges at work – but also reveals what can help
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Senior Lecturer (Organisational Behaviour), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington SolStock/Getty For some Indigenous peoples around the world, a day at work can mean experiencing repression, racism and regular reminders that we’re minorities in our own lands. Yet for others, work can be
Lady Gaga’s Mayhem tour marks a powerful return to the darkness that defined her
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kat Nelligan, Lecturer in Music Industry, RMIT University Getty Images Lady Gaga has arrived in Australia for her long-awaited Mayhem Ball Tour – her first time performing here in more than ten years. Gaga is playing five shows across Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. Fans are beyond excited,
Banning kids from social media doesn’t make online platforms safer. Here’s what will do that
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Scanlan, Senior Lecturer in Cybersecurity and Privacy, University of Tasmania Marcin Kempa/Unsplash The tech industry’s unofficial motto for two decades was “move fast and break things”. It was a philosophy that broke more than just taxi monopolies or hotel chains. It also constructed a digital world
8 reasons the government should not introduce oral nicotine pouches to NZ
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Hoek, Professor in Public Health, University of Otago Getty Images It is now clear the government has failed to meet New Zealand’s smokefree goal of fewer than 5% of people from all population groups smoking by the end of this year. According to the latest New
Anika Wells refers herself to independent watchdog over expenses affair
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In a move that will enable her to avoid detailed media questioning about her use of entitlements, embattled minister Anika Wells has referred herself to the authority that oversees parliamentarians’ expenses. Wells, the Minister for Communications, who is also the
The RBA is stuck in a tug-of-war, as it holds rates steady
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stella Huangfu, Associate Professor, School of Economics, University of Sydney The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has ended the year with a steady hand, keeping the cash rate at 3.6% at its final meeting of 2025. The decision was widely expected, but the real story is in
With a deadline looming, Lebanon is under pressure to disarm Hezbollah or risk another war
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University Lebanon faces a grave predicament. Israel wants the Hezbollah militant group based in the country to be disarmed. Hezbollah has refused to give up its arms as long as
Primed to burn: what’s behind the intense, sudden fires burning across New South Wales and Tasmania
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Helene Nolan, Associate Professor, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University Dozens of bushfires raged over the weekend as far afield as the mid-north coast of New South Wales and Tasmania’s east coast. A NSW firefighter tragically lost his life, 16 homes burned down in
How eating oysters could help restore South Australia’s algal-bloom ravaged coast
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Manny Katz, EyreLab, CC BY-ND South Australians are suddenly hearing a lot about oyster reefs — from government, on the news and in conversations, both online and in person. It’s not accidental. Their state is grappling with an
