ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on May 16, 2026.
A historic court victory has upheld transgender rights in Australia. A legal academic explains why
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bethany Butchers, Associate Lecturer in Law, University of Newcastle After a years-long legal battle, the Federal Court of Australia has handed down a judgment in a landmark case about gender discrimination law. It found a transgender woman was directly discriminated against on the basis of gender by … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
How menstruation is being weaponised in war
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shireen Daft, Lecturer, Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University The Tatmawdaw – the military government in Myanmar – has reportedly expanded a ban on menstrual products from being transported in the country across key routes, as part of the ongoing civil war in the country. This targeting of … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Australians wait 12 months for aged care – and the latest budget funding is unlikely to change that
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sabrina Lenzen, Senior Research Fellow in Health Economics, The University of Queensland Imagine your elderly mother needs help to get out of bed, shower and manage her medications – and then waiting more than a year for that support to arrive. According to a federal government report … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Should I take vitamin D now there’s less sun, or for bone or immune health?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University It can be easy to think you get plenty of vitamin D when you live in a country bathed in sunshine, but the reality is more complicated. Almost one in four Australian adults have vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
After an opaque summit, China and the US want to work together again. That might not be good news for the world
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Widmaier, Professor of International Relations, Australian National University Back in 2005, US economist Fred Bergsten coined the term “Group of 2” or “G2”, proposing a stronger partnership between what are now the world’s two largest economies – the United States and China. In the aftermath of … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Theatre for young audiences should be seen as critical for children’s cultural agency
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Austin, Senior Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne Young children are spending less and less time outdoors. Most Australian preschool children don’t play outside every day. This is despite research that suggests time spent in non-urban outdoor environments is linked to better physical and mental … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
What is the ‘Thucydides trap’ Xi warned Trump about? Lessons from an ancient war between Athens and Sparta
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David M. Pritchard, Associate Professor of Greek History, The University of Queensland During their high-stakes meeting in Beijing this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly asked US President Donald Trump if the two countries could overcome the “Thucydides trap”. This phrase, popularised by contemporary US political scientist … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
How public voting has turned Eurovision from a song contest into a political platform
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oscar Vorobjovas-Pinta, Senior Lecturer in Business Services, Edith Cowan University Australian singer Delta Goodrem has advanced to the Eurovision Song Contest grand final after days of online hype, fan campaigning and betting speculation surrounding her performance of Eclipse. Each year in May, millions watch the contest, cheer … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Media miss: The questions never asked behind the US-Israel war on Iran
ANALYSIS: By Alison Broinowski of Declassified Australia Most of the Western media refuse to join the dots and explain Israel’s decades-long obsession with defanging Tehran. The war in Iran is what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has planned for four decades. He has always wanted Israel to extend from Egypt to the Euphrates and in the … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Palestine Forum slams NZDF share in military exercises with ‘genocidal’ Israel
Asia Pacific Report The Palestine Forum of New Zealand has criticised plans for the country taking part in next month’s military exercises with Israel and the United States, saying Wellington must not be seen aligning militarily with a state “facing serious allegations of war crimes and genocide before international legal institutions”. In a statement today, … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Defending NZ values in a volatile world – but in what kind of a world?
COMMENTARY: By Frances Palmer While appreciating certain points in Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s speech “Securing NZ’s Future in a more Volatile World” on current challenges to international law, enshrined “rules” and “order”, we must take a hard look at the solutions he offers to enhance security. Security now clearly is shaped in a global context. … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Keith Rankin Analysis – NEETs, discrimination and compliance, and unintended consequences
Keith Rankin – Is it possible that an unintended consequence of moral compliance in relation to pay equity – of attempts to equalise pay by gender, within firms and other employing organisations – has been to create more young adult female NEETs? It's a hypothesis that at least deserves to be investigated further.
Keith Rankin Analysis – Does the United States have a debt problem that needs fixing?
Keith Rankin – We can easily see that the United States 'national' debt is on an upwards, not a downwards, trajectory; the Department of War can loosen Treasury's guard-rails more easily than the Department of Health. (This is true in Germany too, with last-year's partial removal of that country's debt-brake.)
Keith Rankin Analysis – Haemorrhagic Plague?
Keith Rankin – A lethal transmissible disease which is asymptomatic for six weeks, and which is infectious before symptoms occur, is one of our worst public health nightmares. The present scare should remind us of that.
Keith Rankin Analysis – Can the Russia-Ukraine War ever end?
Despite its minimal emphasis in the anglophile understanding of WWI, the central conflict of that war was between the German Second Reich (the Prussian Empire) and Russia (the Russian Empire). The war was started, with full intent, by the German military who were able to play the emotionally volatile Prussian Kaiser, Wilhelm II.
More and more websites want proof you’re human. Blame the bots
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yang Xiang, Professor, Computer Science, Swinburne University of Technology You’re trying to book concert tickets before they sell out. You click the link and before you can make the payment, you’re asked to identify traffic lights, bicycles or blurry crosswalks in a grid of tiny images. Again. … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Thailand and Cambodia are bickering over their borders again. Can diplomacy prevent a return to war?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clive Schofield, Professor, Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong Last year, Thailand and Cambodia fought two brief conflicts over their 800-kilometre-long land border that killed dozens of people and forced a half million people to flee their homes. Now, tensions are … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
The power of Tim Winton’s The Shepherd’s Hut is gorgeously evoked in a new stage adaptation
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University The Shepherd’s Hut arrives on stage fully formed: a relentless, bristling realisation of Tim Winton’s 2018 novel of the same name, in an adroit adaptation by Tim McGarry. Director Matt Edgerton’s self-contained, clear-eyed accomplishment makes the most of … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>
Trump’s ratings slide further, but gerrymanders will help Republicans at midterm elections
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 US President Donald Trump’s ratings have slid further to a new record low. But two recent court decisions will assist Republicans in using gerrymandering to avoid losing … <a title="" class="read-more" href="" aria-label="Read more about ">Read more</a>