ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on December 17, 2025.
If you witnessed the Bondi Hanukkah attack, here’s what you might be going through
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chelsea Arnold, Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow (Lead Clinician), Monash University Many hundreds of people were at Bondi beach on Sunday when 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 people. Many witnesses saw people be seriously injured
The budget update shows a slight improvement in the federal deficit, but it’s mostly due to good luck
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bartos, Professor of Economics, University of Canberra The federal government’s mid-year budget update shows a modest improvement in the deficit forecast in 2025–26, but much of this comes from a larger-than-forecast tax take. The update, known as the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), estimates a
Stories from traditional knowledge combined with archaeological work trace 2,300km of Songlines
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Iain Davidson, Emeritus Professor, Department of Archaeology, Classics and History, University of New England Mrs Hansen telling stories about the art to Isabel’s husband, Ray, at the Mulligan art site crop Iain Davidson All over Australia, Songlines, or Dreaming tracks, connected First Nations people in one place
This peace deal ended Europe’s last major war 30 years ago. It provides important lessons for today’s fractured world
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland Thirty years ago this week, the Dayton Accords were signed in Paris, bringing an end to the Bosnian war, the most destructive conflict Europe had witnessed since 1945. Weeks of intensive negotiations at
Some words affect us more than others. It boils down to how they sound
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rikke Louise Bundgaard-Nielsen, Senior Lecturer, School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne Cristina Gottardi/Unsplash Effective communication lies at the heart of human connection. It helps us collaborate with each other, solve problems and build relationships. And communicating clearly is a major consideration for most of
Some words affect us more than others. It boils down to how they sound
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rikke Louise Bundgaard-Nielsen, Senior Lecturer, School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne Cristina Gottardi/Unsplash Effective communication lies at the heart of human connection. It helps us collaborate with each other, solve problems and build relationships. And communicating clearly is a major consideration for most of
Why is time going so fast and how do I slow it down?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hinze Hogendoorn, Professor, Visual Time Perception, Queensland University of Technology Jean-Guillaume Starnini/Pexels How is it December already? What happened to 2025? And how did we suddenly jump from eating Easter eggs to putting up Christmas trees? To understand why our perception of time seems to bend and
Why is time going so fast and how do I slow it down?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hinze Hogendoorn, Professor, Visual Time Perception, Queensland University of Technology Jean-Guillaume Starnini/Pexels How is it December already? What happened to 2025? And how did we suddenly jump from eating Easter eggs to putting up Christmas trees? To understand why our perception of time seems to bend and
How cricket balls move: the science behind swing, seam and spin
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cody Lindsay, Lecturer, Exercise and Sport Science, Flinders University If you’ve ever watched a batter get beaten by a ball that curved, jagged or dipped at the last moment, you’ve seen one of cricket’s great mysteries. Whether it’s a Mitchell Starc inswinger, a Josh Hazlewood delivery that
Christmas is peak kidney stone season. Blame dehydration, the heat and all that food
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Dat, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Surgery, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University Carlina Teteris/Getty Christmas in Australia is a great time to spend enjoying the outdoors, with plenty of good food and drink. But such a combination contributes to this time of year being the peak
Leave notes, play games, go shopping: how to boost your child’s multilingual skills these holidays
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Choi, Senior lecturer in Education (Additional Languages), The University of Melbourne Kamaji Ogino/ Pexels About 5.7 million Australians speak a language other than English at home. Most multilingual children spend their school days speaking English and during term-time, home languages often take a back seat. So
Supermarket price gouging will be banned from July. Will consumers actually end up better off?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sanjoy Paul, Associate Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney This week, the federal government announced a ban on supermarket price gouging, aiming to get “a fairer go for families in their weekly shop”. From July 1 2026, the new
Who really photographed Napalm Girl? The famous war photo is now contested history
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Senior Lecturer, Writing, Editing and Publishing, University of Southern Queensland The Terror of War, commonly known as “Napalm Girl”, is one of the most enduring and influential images of the 20th century. Captured on June 8 1972, the photograph shows nine-year-old Kim Phúc running naked
What NZ needs to watch as Australia reforms gun laws after the Bondi terror attack
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The Bondi terror attack on Sunday has seen Australian federal, state and territory governments agree to the biggest overhaul of firearms regulations since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. For New Zealanders, with memories of the horrific 2019 Christchurch terror
Mid-year budget update will project deficit of nearly $37 billion for current financial year
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Wednesday’s budget update will project a deficit of $36.8 billion for this financial year, which is $5.4 billion better than forecast in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO) issued before the May election. The update projects deficits that are
Mid-year budget update will project deficit of nearly $37 billion for current financial year
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Wednesday’s budget update will project a deficit of $36.8 billion for this financial year, which is $5.4 billion better than forecast in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO) issued before the May election. The update projects deficits that are
Keith Rankin Analysis – Fire! Fire! Today’s Vestiges of Ruthenasia and Classical Austerity
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 16 December 2025 RNZ news item, 12pm 9 Dec 2025: “Finance Minister Nicola Willis has challenged one of her predecessors Ruth Richardson to debate her on how to best manage the country’s finances. Our political reporter Anneke Smith has more: ‘The taxpayers union is poised to launch a pressure campaign targeting
Hidden clues in colonial journals reveal why Tasmania’s remote west keeps burning
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania In 1830, the Palawa people were in the midst of their guerilla war against the British colonists taking their land in what is now Tasmania. After flaring in the mid-1820s, intensifying violence had claimed hundreds of
Trump is close to naming the new Federal Reserve chief. His choice could raise the risk of stagflation
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Maher, Lecturer in Politics, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney US President Donald Trump has signalled in an interview with the Wall Street Journal he is close to announcing his pick for the next chair of the US Federal Reserve. With inflation again
Is there much COVID around? Do I need the new booster shot LP.8.1?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Australia Luis Alvarez/Getty COVID rarely rates a mention in the news these days, yet it hasn’t gone away. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, is still with us. It continues to infect thousands of Australians each month,
