Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Paul Streit, Research Fellow in Just Ocean Governance, The University of Melbourne

Climate change has killed billions of corals and fundamentally changed coral reefs. The response, especially in Australia, has been to fix the symptoms, not address the cause – climate change for which humans are responsible.

Much money and research effort is expended in replacing, regrowing and supporting corals, in the hope reefs may survive a warmer world.

These technological and scientific “solutions” give hope that something can be done. But as we argue in Nature Climate Change today, there is little evidence these measures will create resilient or healthy reef ecosystems over the long term.

Humanity must take dramatic action on climate change. By focusing so much attention on treating the symptoms – such as replacing dead corals – we risk squandering money, time and public trust in science.

We believe coral restoration may be, at best, a feel-good measure that satisfies a human urge to do something about climate change – and at worst, a dangerous distraction from climate action. A fundamental rethink is needed.

What to do about our troubled reefs?

The world’s coral reefs have suffered devastating damage due to climate change and resulting warmer seas. This includes the Great Barrier Reef, which last summer experienced yet another mass bleaching.

Clearly, something must be done.

In recent years, a popular solution has emerged in the form of direct scientific interventions. These include:

• growing baby corals in a nursery to later plant them on an ocean reef

• selective breeding, which involves identifying heat-tolerant corals, collecting their eggs and sperm, and breeding heat-tolerant offspring

• minimising stressors, for example, cloud-seeding or building structures to shade coral, pumping cooler water onto reefs or removing natural predators such as crown-of-thorns starfish.

Such interventions attract substantial research and philanthropic funding. But many scientists, including us, are concerned about their growing popularity.

There is little compelling evidence these interventions improve outcomes across coral reef ecosystems.

For example, a 2020 study synthesised current knowledge in coral reef restoration. It found 60% of projects had monitored restored sites for less than 18 months. Most projects were small-scale, with a median restored area of 100 square metres.

It concluded coral restoration projects were poorly designed, lacked clear and achievable objectives, and improvements were needed in monitoring and reporting.

Another study last year found some forms of coral rehabilitation “may be feasible, affordable, and ethical”, but the benefits were small and the measures expensive.

The researchers said legislation and policy should concentrate on “bolstering ecosystem resilience by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other drivers of reef degradation”.

We don’t always have to ‘do something’ on reefs

In some areas of science, such as human health, people have been shown to prefer solutions that involve active intervention: that is, adding something new, regardless of evidence for or against its efficacy. The same “intervention bias” may be influencing how we try to help coral reefs.

A vast literature on coral reefs calls for action in the form of scientific intervention.

However, resilience, recovery and change are an inherent feature of natural ecosystems. This was demonstrated by a review of 400 studies of disturbed ecosystems, which showed human restoration provided no consistent benefits over natural recovery.

Recent evidence from the northern Great Barrier Reef, following a major bleaching event, supports the idea that, in the short-term at least, nature can recover on its own. There, coral cover jumped from 10% in 2016, the lowest ever recorded, to an ephemeral but record high of 36% just six years later.

This is not to say the bounce-back will last. Heatwaves will continue to kill regrown corals, rendering this natural success temporary. That’s why drastic emissions reduction is essential.

What is a healthy reef?

Intervention on coral reefs usually aims to increase live coral cover. This approach rests on the assumption that more coral leads to healthy reefs.

Corals are undoubtedly a foundational and iconic part of coral reefs. But corals and reefs are not the same. Corals are important, iconic organisms. Coral reefs are highly diverse, complex ecological systems composed of thousands of animal, plant and bacteria species.

The science is not clear on whether more corals will return reefs to a “healthy” state, especially given such scientific interventions are usually small in scale. There is also evidence suggesting reefs can grow, even when coral species decline.

More science is needed to determine what a “healthy” reef is. A pretty reef with plenty of coral? A usable reef with plenty of fish? Or a reef that is unspoiled by human activity?

And there’s another important research question to answer: how can humanity come to terms with reefs transformed by climate change?

Towards transformative solutions

We do not seek to divide reef scientists into camps “for and against” coral restoration.

But we are not confident that specific, targeted coral interventions will have wider benefits. What’s needed is broader, evidence-based investigation into transformation across reefs and human communities – to bring about real, large-scale solutions.

We realise our position may be considered controversial. But the stakes are high – and an evidence-based approach to caring for coral reefs is urgently needed.

David Roy Bellwood receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Tiffany Morrison receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Robert Paul Streit does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Coral restoration is a speculative, feel-good science that won’t save our reefs – https://theconversation.com/coral-restoration-is-a-speculative-feel-good-science-that-wont-save-our-reefs-235657

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Sievert, Research Fellow in Food Systems, Deakin University

Australia was once the world’s largest exporter of live animals. But exports have declined in recent years.

In May, the federal government announced live export of sheep by sea would end on May 1 2028, in response to animal welfare concerns. This does not extend to other livestock animals or modes of transport.

Despite 30 years of public scrutiny, the suffering of livestock at sea continues. In our new research, we wanted to understand how the meat industry manages to sustain the status quo.

We explored parts of the meat industry in Australia, Brazil and the United States. We found a highly concentrated global industry, with close ties to governments, a lack of regulatory oversight, and protective cultural norms. To address these power imbalances, we propose a different approach to regulation.

Wielding power over nature, animals and people

Industrial production, trade and consumption of meat is harmful in many ways.

Aside from the human health consequences of eating to excess or risking antibiotic resistance, many types of meat production operations produce substantial greenhouse gases. They also degrade and contaminate natural resources and contributes to biodiversity loss. Some operations also involve the exploitation of workers, or harmful treatment of animals.

But the true costs of mass production are typically diverted from the producer onto others. In economics, this is called cost-shifting.

How do they get away with it? Large profit-driven corporates in the industrial livestock and meat-processing sector wield significant economic and political influence. This enables many of the negative impacts associated with meat production to continue. It also means our capacity to regulate them is limited.

These issues are not unique to Australia. Our research looked at three case studies across global meat supply chains:

• soybean production in Brazil, for export to feedlots in China
• live animal export from Australia
• meat processing in the United States.

We found close relationships between governments and industry, strong cultural and social values around meat, a lack of transparency in supply chains, and undue influence on policy-making. All contributed to prioritising high levels of meat production, despite the harms involved.

Power play in Australia’s live export trade

The production and consumption of meat has surged in recent decades. Meat has become a staple in the modern Australian diet and a major export commodity.

Australia’s meat production depends on a powerful network of farmers, large-scale multinationals, powerful agribusiness representative groups, and close political and institutional relationships.

This network has successfully justified the practice of live export as essential to the economic and cultural interests of global food security.

Consequently, the live export trade is often portrayed as a “solution” to global hunger, overlooking that many populations already consume meat well in excess of nutritional needs.

The industry also emphasises live export as a significant economic contributor and employment provider in rural Australia. These organisations also make policy submissions and conduct their own research advocating for live export as a crucial sales channel for Australian producers.

Parallels in Brazil and the US

We see similar power dynamics operating overseas.

In Brazil, substantial financial investment has been devoted to developing soybean production facilities. Most soybeans are grown to feed animals in feedlot production systems.

Close relationships between the meat industry and Brazilian politicians have enabled the industry’s expansion. In one case, a former governor of Mato Grosso – the largest area of the Amazon affected by deforestation for soy production – is also the owner of one of Brazil’s largest soybean producers. Such political relationships have also allowed for a softening of Brazil’s deforestation regulations.

Similar relationships exist in the US. During the COVID pandemic, meat-processing workers were vulnerable to infection because they work in close proximity. After a brief shutdown, a US meat industry trade group urged authorities to grant an exemption and reopen meat processing facilities.

This action was framed as “necessary” for economic reasons and to maintain domestic food supply. That’s despite the labour violations involved in compromising the safety of workers, many of whom were migrants or refugees who may not have felt empowered to advocate for their rights.

Ways forward

Policies proposed to address food system harms include consumption taxes, labelling schemes and education campaigns. But these are mostly “adjustments” to the food system, rather than structural changes.

Our research suggests a more holistic and multifaceted approach is needed across the food system – for instance, restricting foreign land ownership in Brazil to prevent further ecological damage in the Amazon. In the US, redistributing agricultural subsidies toward more small-scale, diverse and “agroecological” farming operations would foster more ethical and environmentally friendly food production. However, such a transition would also necessitate a reduction in the total amount of meat produced and consumed.

Changing cultural attitudes towards meat production may help too. Retailers can mandate ethical standards from their meat suppliers and include animal welfare in sustainability policies. National dietary guidelines and subsidies could also encourage people to eat more minimally processed plant foods and less meat for both human and planetary health.

More broadly, more diligent implementation of competition policy could break up the concentrated power of just a few large meat companies.

Katherine Sievert received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council to conduct this research (APP1190933). She has also received funding from the World Health Organization for previous consulting work related to this topic. Katherine Sievert is an Executive Member and President of Healthy Food Systems Australia, a not-for-profit advocacy organisation promoting healthy, sustainable and equitable food systems for all Australians.

Christine Parker previously received funding from The Australian Research Council for a project entitled “Regulating food labels: The case of free range food products in Australia” (DP150102168).
Christine Parker is an Executive member of the Australasian Animal Law Teachers and Researchers Association, and has contributed in the past to the work of the animal welfare lawyers sub group of the Corporations Law Committee of the Law Council of Australia.

– ref. Our beef with ‘Big Meat’: the power perpetuating Australia’s live export trade is at play elsewhere – https://theconversation.com/our-beef-with-big-meat-the-power-perpetuating-australias-live-export-trade-is-at-play-elsewhere-235655

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stuart Evans, Lecturer Teacher Education, Physical Education, Sport and Movement., La Trobe University

Apart from literacy and numeracy, some of the most important skills children learn in their primary school years are throwing and catching. These are considered “fundamental movement skills” because they underpin other, more complicated physical activities.

For many years, researchers have been highlighting concerns about a decline in children’s throwing and catching skills.

How can parents help their children develop these important skills?

Why is it so important to be able to throw and catch?

Not every child will go to the Olympics or want to. But it is important they develop fundamental movement skills (along with ball skills, these include running, skipping and balancing).

These skills are seen as “fundamental” because they are needed to engage in physical activities effectively and confidently. These also form the basis of skills in all other sports.

So even if they are not going to be a sporty child or sporty adult, these skills will give kids the essentials they need to remain active and healthy throughout their lives. As research tells us, the foundation for an active lifestyle is formed in early childhood.

Children need help to learn

By the time a child is about five, they should be able to throw using a coordinated movement of the throwing arm and opposite leg stepping forward. They should be able to catch using their hands only.

A common misconception is children learn skills such as throwing and catching automatically. But research both overseas and in Australia shows an increasing number of children are not developing adequate basic skills.

For example, a 2014 study on West Australian primary students showed a marked decline in six-year-olds’ ability to do an underarm throw and bounce and catch a ball since the 1980s.

To add to concerns, Australian research shows children and young people are not playing as much sport as they used to. A recent report on sports participation in Victoria showed sports participation in children aged ten to 14 was lower in 2022 than in pre-COVID years. The participation rate peaked at 67% in 2017 before dropping to 57% in 2022.

How can you help your child’s throwing and catching skills?

Early education services and schools include fundamental movement skills in their programs. Guidelines note it takes between 240 and 600 minutes of teaching time for a child to become proficient in one fundamental movement skill.

But research suggests parents can also help their kids at home and you can start building these skills from about the age of two. Here are some tips:

Start simple

When you’re helping your child, start with larger balls or balloons and work on overarm throwing, underarm throwing and two-handed passes. These can include chest passes and bounce passes like you see in netball and basketball.

As your child gets older, you can make the balls smaller and distances greater. And you can introduce challenges, such as “show me a different way of throwing or catching”.

Have formal and informal sessions

Research shows it’s important for children to get both unstructured play and structured practise to learns these skills.

This gives them specific tips and a chance to experiment and develop their skills.

Vary the activities

Repeatedly practising the same skill under the same conditions can lead to rapid gains in skill development. But it does not teach children how to apply this skill.

Research suggests children should practise skills in a variety of ways.

If a task is unpredictable it will create a more “game-like” environment so children are challenged to find solutions.

For example, you could have a game that involves throwing to a target. You could have changing targets (instead of just throwing at the same target over and over).

Keep it fun

While you may be “practising” or “working” on a skill, try and make it enjoyable. Perhaps it forms part of a trip to the park or it involves a favourite toy. Maybe it involves different equipment or a game where the ball is a character.

If you have concerns about how your child’s fundamental movement skills are developing, talk to their teacher, early childhood educator or a paediatrician.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Even if they aren’t sporty, all kids need to throw and catch. How can you help if your child is struggling? – https://theconversation.com/even-if-they-arent-sporty-all-kids-need-to-throw-and-catch-how-can-you-help-if-your-child-is-struggling-234274

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John L. Hopkins, Associate professor, Swinburne University of Technology

Next month, changes to the Australian Fair Work Act will give workers the formal right to disconnect from all work communication outside their usual work hours.

The main driver for introducing “right to disconnect” laws has been to protect the health and wellbeing of workers in an increasingly hyper-connected world.

But what exactly will the new laws mean for Australian businesses, managers and employees?

Right to disconnect origins

Right to disconnect laws were first introduced in France in 2017 in response to concern about the welfare of workers who were increasingly connected to their workplaces as a result of expanding digital technologies.

France introduced a law requiring companies with more than 50 employees to negotiate agreements with staff on their rights to ignore their smartphones and other electronic devices after work hours.

The reaction was mixed. Some praised the move for promoting work–life balance and reducing stress, while others raised concerns about its potential impact on productivity and competitiveness.

One critic at the time said

the French may quickly discover that their most productive workers are routine “lawbreakers” who stay connected during off-hours.

To learn more about this topic, I reviewed 21 academic articles on the right to disconnect, from 15 different countries over the past seven years, and identified several themes that may help Australian managers.

The ‘always on’ culture

The growth of digital devices – including smartphones, laptops, tablets and smart watches – means many Australian workers have been working way beyond their contracted number of hours for many years.

A 2023 Australia Institute study estimated Australian workers on average were doing an extra 5.4 hours of unpaid work per week.

The unofficial encroachment of work duties into workers’ personal time – also called “availability creep” or “time theft” – equates to an extra 281 hours’ unpaid work per year.

This is estimated to be costing workers an average of AU$11,055 annually. It has led to serious concerns for employee health and welfare, work-life balance and workplace exploitation.

The post-pandemic rise of flexible work arrangements in Australia, while offering many lifestyle and health benefits, may also contribute to our “always on” culture and expectations to be constantly available and contactable.

This digital presenteeism has been found to affect the health of workers in different ways, including causing headaches, eyestrain, insomnia, back pain, anxiety and burnout.

Protecting workers

Another key theme of right to disconnect laws is how working time, work availability and rest times are observed.

Portugal has even taken things a step further than other countries, placing the responsibility for the right to disconnect on the employer, by implementing “refrain from contact” laws. This means companies with more than ten employees can be fined if they text or email staff outside their contracted hours.

However, the new Australian law won’t restrict managers from contacting employees whenever they wish, but it will give their employees a legal right to refuse to

monitor, read or respond to communications from an employer or third party made outside their working hours, unless refusal is unreasonable.

If an employee chooses not to respond, disciplinary action cannot be taken, nor can the employee be treated differently, such as through rostering or performance requirements, for deciding to disconnect.

This should encourage conversations about what represents reasonable contact. The Fair Work Commission says this must be based on the reason for contact, the employee’s personal circumstances, the nature of the employee’s role and responsibilities, and whether the employee is being compensated for being available outside ordinary work hours.

Making the change

In some countries, right to disconnect policies have been formally set in law, while others rely on self-regulation by employers instead.

France, for example, legislated out-of-hours’ electronic communication between employers and employees through statutes and legislation, meaning government entities are required to enforce the right and a court is needed to interpret it.

Germany, on the other hand, does not formally legislate disconnection provisions but many of its companies (including car manufacturers Volkswagen and Daimler) already have their own regulations in place.

In Australia, the right to disconnect will be a right under general protection laws. Disputes about an employee’s response will need to be discussed and resolved at the workplace level but, if a resolution isn’t possible, employees or employers can take the case to the Fair Work Commission.

The commission can then make orders or deal with the dispute in other ways.

What to expect

The new laws come into effect 26 August.

They are an important step towards encouraging sensible conversations about the importance of rest, availability, and whether it is necessary to contact workers outside their normal hours.

Right to disconnect laws should challenge managers to create a work culture where employees feel comfortable disconnecting from work and understand the importance of maintaining a clear boundary between work and rest, where their rest periods are formally respected and preserved.

As an initiative for supporting improved digital wellbeing and work-life balance, in today’s hyperconnected world, clearer boundaries between working time and rest are crucial.

John L. Hopkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The right to disconnect is coming to Australia. What does this mean for you? – https://theconversation.com/the-right-to-disconnect-is-coming-to-australia-what-does-this-mean-for-you-231690

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University

If you’re on TikTok, you’ve probably come across Nara Smith. The 22-year-old model and influencer has been showered in viral fame since she started posting on the platform in late 2022. At the time of publishing this article, her account had 8.9 million followers and 394 million likes.

Much of Smith’s content comes in the form of far-fetched cooking videos in which she prepares everything from homemade bubble gum, to marshmallows, to cough drops. She’ll usually do this dressed in beautiful clothes and aided by a seemingly endless pantry.

Smith has been called out repeatedly for her tradwife (traditional wife) aesthetic, in which women are shown to embody traditional gender roles and are framed as only being “homemakers” and “child rearers”.

Tradwives present themselves as “domestic goddesses” of sorts – effortlessly completing every household chore while they keep their clean girl makeup intact.

Many tradwives wear clothes inspired by the 1950s and ‘60s housewife. Smith takes this a step further by wearing glamorous gowns and jewellery.

Her videos get mixed reactions. Some users find them useful or even inspiring, while others rage at the impracticality of the message she sends to other mothers and young women. So what can we make of it all?

Weighing harm against intent

Smith’s stylised look is part of a carefully honed aesthetic. Her glamorous outfits may be antithetical to the practicalities of the life she presents, but they are integral to her brand.

In one recent video, she “claps back” (as one commenter put it) at those claiming she has an entire production team behind her and doesn’t do any work work outside of making content. In the video, she describes herself as a working mum who simply finds joy in cooking for her family – and reminds viewers of her lupus, a condition she must live and work with every day.

Smith may indeed be a hardworking mother, who is also a content creator, who lives with a chronic illness and enjoys caring for her family because she can. At the same time, she can also be perpetuating harmful stereotypes and setting up unachievable standards for her viewers. All of this can be true at once.

Curated to the T

Smith’s content is heavily produced. Her first video on TikTok showed a different aesthetic, of a young woman in a trendy outfit with a popular song playing in the background. Since then, she has poured countless hours into curating her now famous persona.

As the audience, we see her living in a beautiful home with a perfect family, kneading dough with a full set of rings and having the time – despite raising three children – to cook pizza entirely from scratch (yes, including the cheese).

This domestic bliss is never interrupted by a stained dress, or having to pick dough out from a ring.

As academic Georgiana Toma explains, successful consumer-perceived authenticity online is achieved through stylistic consistency, quality commitment and a softening of commercial motives.

Smith does the latter particularly well. While she receives sponsorships, she doesn’t push them onto viewers with the kind of force many other influencers do.

What is a mother’s role?

Smith’s audience is divided on how she presents motherhood, which features heavily in her content. Take the following video, which was posted less than two weeks after her child’s birth:

Some commenters say they wish they looked like Smith, or hope to become a similar kind of mother as her.

Recent gender studies research shows that mothers can use social media for community and to feel a sense of belonging – but can also be judged if they don’t present the “right” kind of motherhood.

The gap between the perceived act of motherhood (as it’s shown online) and real motherhood can lead to pressure and potential harm for women who view this online content as real or aspirational.

Rage bait?

Some of Smith’s videos are deliberately inciteful – or at least, it’s difficult to imagine them being anything else. For instance, when she makes cola from scratch, you can’t help but feel she is poking fun at herself.

Her audience often responds with a similar jest, with users requesting she make things such as a “husband”, “Ozempic” and an “iPhone 15 Pro Max”.

Rage bait is a genre of (usually outrageous) content that incites viewers’ rage, shock or frustration to boost engagement. While there is no straightforward path to instant virality online, content that prompts a lot of engagement (both good and bad) has a better shot.

Much of Smith’s content sits on the edge of rage bait. It certainly comes across as outrageous. Is it supposed to be? Possibly.

Step back from the fantasy

Whether or not Smith and similar tradwives believe their content is harmful or not, the reality is they present highly unrealistic portrayals of domesticity.

Tradwife content links explicitly to the ideology of choice feminism, in which women can choose to do whatever they want, even if it means waking up at 6am to make a meal from scratch for their husband.

However, as La Trobe University lecturer and political scientist Meagan Tyler writes, choice arguments are deeply flawed “because they assume a level of unmitigated freedom for women that simply doesn’t exist.”

Yes, many tradwife content creators are choosing to live their life that way. But these choices are “shaped and constrained by the unequal conditions in which we live. It would only make sense to uncritically celebrate choice in a post-patriarchal world.”

So, while there’s nothing wrong with watching and enjoying Smith, her videos definitely shouldn’t be held up as something to aspire to. It’s important we all take a critical eye to such content, lest we start to think that’s what life – and what women – ought to look like.

Edith Jennifer Hill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. TikTokers are entranced by Nara Smith’s tradwife aesthetic and ‘domestic bliss’. But confusing it for reality could be harmful – https://theconversation.com/tiktokers-are-entranced-by-nara-smiths-tradwife-aesthetic-and-domestic-bliss-but-confusing-it-for-reality-could-be-harmful-235017

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Blair, Teaching Fellow in Music, University of Otago

The announcement on The Chills’ social media last night that Martin Phillipps had died hit me in the chest: shock, sadness, my stomach in flutters. Martin was a friend, and his death has deeply saddened me. I know I’m not the only one.

Martin had many friends, and he was well-loved in Dunedin. Today there is a whole community – Martin’s family, friends, acquaintances and loved ones – navigating and processing his loss.

As founding member of The Chills, he was not only a pivotal musician who leaves an important legacy, but also a friend entwined in the life of the city, and the wider music community.

I first met Martin over 20 years ago. He’d made a mix tape for a mutual friend, Roi Colbert, with songs all about rain.

In Roi’s record shop – Records Records, housed in the iconic pale apricot terrace houses of Dunedin’s upper Stuart Street – we chatted about rain-themed songs and agreed on some favourites. We also agreed you could listen to the whole tape on a rainy day.

The Chills themselves had recorded a song about rain on their 1987 debut studio album Brave Words. When Martin sang “Rain taps the window pane”, it became a lasting image for me, recalling those wet Dunedin days. But, of course, being inside at home while the rain pours down outside is a universal experience.

The sound of Dunedin

A sense of place, land and human experience was present throughout Martin’s songwriting. In this way, he crafted the songs that would become part of many people’s personal soundtracks – though resonating ever more deeply if you lived in Dunedin.

Martin was from here, and his music was from here too. It evoked people, places and memories through imagery of landscapes, the sea, friends, home.

Linking a style of music to a particular place can quickly become cliché. But to many of us in Dunedin, Martin’s music, his melodies and imagery, are bound up with our lives in this southernmost city. The songs are part of its landscape and architecture, imprinted in minds and hearts.

Martin was a pivotal and influential figure in the development of what became known as the “Dunedin Sound” and the bands that defined it: The Chills, The Clean, The Verlaines, Straitjacket Fits, Sneaky Feelings, Look Blue Go Purple, the 3Ds and many more.

Martin had also played keyboards with The Clean, notably on the still delightfully chaotic Tally Ho! single (1981). Characterised in the music press as indie rock with jangly guitars, pop melodies and reverb, the Dunedin Sound became synonymous with the Flying Nun record label.

As Flying Nun expanded, The Chills reached an international audience, getting crucial airplay on American college radio. They influenced other bands and musicians everywhere – Mike Mills of R.E.M. reportedly called them “the second best band in the world”.

Homecoming gigs in Dunedin were high energy celebrations. Heavenly Pop Hit and I Love My Leather Jacket would switch an audience into a higher gear of elation, affiliation, memory and sense of community.

In some ways, this is what really defines the Dunedin Sound. More than just a musical style, as embodied by The Chills it evokes a time and a place – and a feeling. Decades after the Dunedin Sound’s peak, that feeling remains.

Submarine bells

Martin was a familiar figure in Dunedin. You’d see him uptown and around the city. He was open and friendly, kind, caring, intelligent and funny. He was immersed in pop culture, with an impressive collection of music, films, magazines, and comic books, all meticulously catalogued.

He shared some of his personal archive of Chills memorabilia with the public in 2018, in the Otago Museum’s exhibition Things Change: Martin Phillipps and The Chills, and in the Hocken Collections’ Kaleidoscope World: 40 Years of Flying Nun.

Most of all, though, Martin was committed to music as an art form. He had a deep knowledge of music history, and the gift of crafting memorable, buoyant melodies. His voice was unique, singing in his own distinctively New Zealand accent.

The glorious hooks of Heavenly Pop Hit sit alongside the haunting unease of Pink Frost, the high energy of I Love My Leather Jacket, and the emotional nuance of Submarine Bells. The lyrics to that last song showcase Martin’s gift for crafting imagery, character and voice:

I know deep down hidden in you submarine bells chime

Gold and groaning, sunlit toning, submerged sound sublime […]

Deep and dark my submarine bells groan in greens and grey

Mine would chime a thousand times

To make you feel okay

Right in the heart. In all of this and more, Martin leaves a legacy that is imprinted on New Zealand music, Dunedin music culture and, most importantly, on Dunedin’s music community.

Today in Dunedin it’s raining. Rain taps the window pane.

Alison Blair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Martin Phillipps, 1963–2024: Dunedin loses a musical son, ‘rain taps the window pane’ – https://theconversation.com/martin-phillipps-1963-2024-dunedin-loses-a-musical-son-rain-taps-the-window-pane-235647

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

The United States election will be held on November 5. It’s been a week since President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential contest and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris. No other Democrat is contesting the Democratic nomination, so Harris will be the nominee.

FiveThirtyEight does not yet have an aggregate of polls for Harris against Republican nominee Donald Trump. Individual national polls usually have Trump ahead by one or two points. Trump led Biden by 3.2 points nationally in the final FiveThirtyEight aggregate.

Harris does better in polls where third party candidates are included. In a Siena poll for The New York Times, Trump led Harris by one head to head, but Harris led by one with other candidates. In a poll for The Wall Street Journal, Trump led by two head to head, but Harris by one with others.

Polls conducted during Biden’s candidacy didn’t show this difference. Natural Democrats have probably returned to Harris after saying they would vote third party out of frustration with Biden.

In a national Ipsos poll for US ABC News that was conducted Friday and Saturday, Harris’ net favourability surged to +1 from -11 last week, before Biden’s announcement. Trump’s net favourability dropped five points to -16 after peaking following the Republican convention last week. The net favourability of Trump’s vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, slumped nine points in a week to -15.

Trump is now 78 and Harris will be 60 by the election. Biden will be almost 82. The age difference between the candidates now advantages Harris.

US presidential elections are not decided by the national popular vote, but instead use the Electoral Vote (EV) system. There are a total of 538 EVs, and each state receives a number of EVs based mostly on population. With two minor exceptions, states award their EVs winner takes all. It takes 270 EVs to win the presidency.

The six closest Biden-won states in 2020 were Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. These are considered the key states in this election. It’s likely that Trump has about a two-point edge in the key states relative to the national popular vote, so Harris will need to win nationally by about two points to win.

At the 2020 election, Biden won nationally by 4.5%, but only won the decisive state (Wisconsin) by 0.6%, so the Electoral Vote system favoured Trump by 3.9 points relative to the national vote.

I think the August 19–22 Democratic convention will be very important for Harris. Major party presidential candidates are normally well known to voters much earlier in the year as they need to win primaries to clinch their party’s nomination. The primaries occur early in an election year.

While Harris has been vice president since January 2021, she has been in Biden’s shadow. The US vice president has no power of their own except to break a tie in the Senate. The Democratic convention will give Harris a chance to differ herself from Biden, and be personally appealing to voters.

Overall, the polls suggest that Trump is still favoured to win, but Harris has improved on the polling during Biden’s candidacy, and could further improve with a successful Democratic convention.

Proposed Supreme Court reforms and US savings rate

Biden has called for Supreme Court reforms to impose term limits on judges and establish an enforceable code of ethics. A constitutional amendment would probably be required to enact these reforms, which requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress and a three-quarters majority of the state legislatures.

As long as Republicans are opposed, such a constitutional amendment would be impossible to obtain. The Supreme Court, which has a 6–3 right majority, has a 56.0% disapprove, 36.0% approve rating in FiveThirtyEight’s tracker, so this is probably a good issue for Democrats.

There was a blowout in disapproval after the decision overturning Roe vs Wade in June 2022, but perceptions of the court had improved by April 2023, with more approving than disapproving. A second blowout in disapproval came in May 2023, and disapproval has kept rising.

In June the personal savings rate (the percentage of personal income that is saved) dropped 0.1 point to 3.4%, the lowest since December 2022. After surging during COVID owing to government stimulus, the savings rate has been between 2.7% and 5.2% since June 2022.

Adrian Beaumont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Trump marginally ahead of Harris in US national polls, but Harris improves from Biden’s polls – https://theconversation.com/trump-marginally-ahead-of-harris-in-us-national-polls-but-harris-improves-from-bidens-polls-235632

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Senior Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University

In the past week, old comments by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance about people without children have resurfaced, offending huge swathes of the American public.

In a 2021 interview, Vance described Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies”, directly referencing Vice President Kamala Harris, who has two step-children with her husband Doug Emhoff.

The comment has garnered criticism from the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Republican senator John McCain. Many critics have pointed to billionaire Taylor Swift who is 34, unmarried, without children, and a famously devoted owner of three cats.

Vance quickly clarified that his comments were meant to be sarcastic, but he doubled down on his argument that the left was pursuing “policies that are profoundly anti-child”.

So, why are these comments angering so many people, particularly women, across the political spectrum?

Vance’s views have racialised undertones

Vance’s pro-natalist views are not new.

He has lauded efforts by authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to boost his country’s birth rates, which include financial incentives for couples who have children.

He has suggested Americans without children should be taxed more than those with children and giving children the vote, which parents would exercise on their behalf.

Above all, Vance believes people without children do not have “an investment in the future of this country” and so should have less of a say.

In lamenting the declining birth rate in the United States, Vance also flirts with a racialised political view that opposes immigration and criticises minority birth rates, encapsulated in the far-right “Great Replacement Theory”.

He has condemned Democrats for believing they can “replace American children with immigrants,” even as his Indian-American wife Usha, the daughter of immigrants, has been targeted by white supremacists.

The irony here is the Republican Party opposes many government policies that support parents and children, such as protections and accommodations for pregnant workers, expanding Medicaid coverage for postpartum people, universal child care and government-funded pre-kindergarten, and benefits that would reduce child poverty, just to name a few.

Complex presidential families

Republicans have long insisted they are fighting to defend traditional family life, envisaged as the heterosexual nuclear family depicted in the television show Leave it to Beaver in the 1950s.

However, the lives of past US presidents demonstrate the ahistorical nature of these claims to defend tradition.

While Harris has not personally given birth, neither has any other occupant of the White House.

Five US presidents did not have any biological children, including George Washington, the “father of the nation”, who, like Harris, was a devoted step-parent.

Pregnancy and birth has always encompassed risk. Shame and silence have often surrounded experiences of infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death, making these events family secrets.

However, we know that Ronald Reagan and his first wife Jane Wyman, John and Jackie Kennedy, and Michelle and Barack Obama experienced such heartbreak.

Presidents have always had complex personal and family lives, including:

• being widowed and remarrying
• having affairs
• rumoured same-sex relationships
• fathering children out of wedlock (including with enslaved women).

Former presidents have adopted children and raised step-children, too. Trump, notably, has five children from three different marriages.

Not just an American problem

Vance’s comments reveal much about the enduring stigma surrounding women, particularly those in positions of authority and leadership, who do not have children. And this scrutiny of the reproductive lives of female leaders is not restricted to the US.

In Australia, a Liberal senator once claimed that former Prime Minister Julia Gillard was not fit to lead the country because she was “deliberately barren”.

Similar attacks were lobbed at New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. In the UK, both Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon endured speculation and negative commentary about not having children.

Yet, when New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had a baby in office, she was also criticised. And when Ardern resigned from office, a BBC headline asked the sexist question, “Can women really have it all?”

And the idea that good leadership requires biological children has rarely come up in discussions of childless male leaders such as France’s Emmanuel Macron or Japan’s Shinzo Abe.

Nor are male leaders questioned about their levels of engagement as parents. Political scientist Jessica Smith argues men in politics still have an automatic “opt-out clause” around discussions of family.

Biology as destiny

In 2024, it’s beyond comprehension to suggest that a person who is unable to become pregnant or who elects not to would be any less committed to society than a parent.

Yet ugly, gendered assumptions persist. They are deemed selfish, “unnatural,” “unwomanly,” immature and having hatred towards children.

More broadly, many women in the West, whether they have children or not, believe Vance is merely saying out loud what many people silently think. Too often, women are judged solely through a biological lens. Our value, our ability to contribute meaningfully to society, is reduced to our ability to reproduce.

Nothing else we do matters. In Harris’ case, this means being a “Momala” to her stepchildren, a beloved aunt, a “Big Sister General” and a spouse, in addition to being a woman of colour who has shattered multiple glass ceilings.

In the West, women and people who can become pregnant live in an unprecedented moment. The cumulative effect of the sexual revolution and feminist and LGBTQ+ movements has given us the ability to choose how we live and love.

Despite the rolling back of abortion rights in the US, women today have a level of control over their lives that was unimaginable in 1946, the year Trump was born.

As Vance’s views on this and other issues make clear, however, it is precisely this agency that many conservatives want to restrict or take away.

Prudence Flowers has received funding from the South Australian Department of Human Services. She is a member of the South Australian Abortion Action Coalition.

– ref. George Washington didn’t have biological children. So, why is the criticism of Kamala Harris touching such a nerve? – https://theconversation.com/george-washington-didnt-have-biological-children-so-why-is-the-criticism-of-kamala-harris-touching-such-a-nerve-235590

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robin Smit, Adjunct Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney

Transport emissions have grown in line with the population and economy. Without intervention, the Australian government expects transport to be the largest emissions source by 2030. So, cutting transport emissions is a crucial, but challenging, element of the net-zero strategy.

Independent research estimated Australia would cut road transport emissions by only 35-45% from 2019 to 2050. This is due to a projected increase in travel, a sustained rise in sales of large passenger vehicles (SUVs, utes) and a delayed uptake of electric trucks. It’s clear electrification of the on-road fleet is not going to cut it.

The federal government notes:

Additional policy measures are thus required in an attempt to meet net zero emissions in 2050 for the transport sector. One such option is mode shift, the shift of passenger and freight travel from high emission modes to lower emission modes.

Our comprehensive study of mode-shift impacts on emissions has been published in two new papers. The first used the Inland Rail project linking Brisbane and Melbourne as a case study of the emissions performance of land-based transport. We examined well-to-wheel emissions (from fuel production, distribution and use) for passenger and freight transport for three years: 2019, 2030 and 2050.

In Australia, we found electric rail is hands down the land transport mode with the lowest emissions intensity (the amount of greenhouse gas produced per kilometre travelled) for both passengers and freight. Compared to road and diesel trains, electric rail could provide deep, fast and robust emission cuts of 80% to 90% from 2030 onwards.

What’s the mix of transport modes in Australia?

The use of different transport modes is highly skewed in Australia.

Domestic passenger travel was 443 billion passenger-kilometres pre-COVID (2018-19). Most of this travel was by road (79%). Only 4% was by rail, with 17% by air.

Domestic freight activity was 785 billion tonne-km pre-COVID (2018-19). Most was by road (28%) and rail (56%). Coastal shipping (15%) made up most of the rest. Air freight was less than 0.05% of the total.

What did the study look at?

Modelling of the impacts of transport mode shifts on emissions needs to consider a broad range of inputs and information.

It must also adequately reflect local conditions. We did not identify any recent studies of the effects of mode shift on emissions in Australia. Older studies tended to use data from overseas, which may not be appropriate to assess the Australian situation.

For road transport, we investigated representative Australian passenger vehicles (cars, SUVs) and long-haul trucks (B-doubles), reflecting a power-train technology mix that changes over time. For rail transport we considered both diesel and electric freight trains and a high-speed electric passenger train, noting that these specific electric options are not yet used in Australia.

To fairly assess performance, we used the well-to-wheel approach. It includes both direct emissions and indirect emissions from producing and distributing fossil fuels, hydrogen and electricity.

The analysis was based on statistical modelling. That is, instead of estimating single emission values, we quantified the most likely value, as well as a plausible range in emissions performance.

If a distribution is wide (spanning a wide range of possible emission values), there is a lot of uncertainty and variability in the emissions performance. The impact of shifting to this transport mode is less certain.

A narrow distribution means we can be more certain the transport mode will perform as expected. There is less risk of over-promising and under-performing.

It is also very important that the estimates reflect Australian conditions. For instance, we specifically modelled the changing Australian on-road fleet mix and their emissions performance, as well as the emission intensities of the electricity grid. We included various mode-specific aspects such as vehicle weight and capacity, passenger occupancy, freight payload, battery charging losses, hydrogen distribution losses, travel distance and annual passenger and freight volumes.

What did the study find?

Electric rail is the land-based mode with the lowest emission intensity for both passenger and freight transport. Shifting from road to e-rail is estimated to cut emission intensity for passenger transport (grams of CO₂-equivalent per passenger kilometre) by 75% in 2019 and 90% in 2030 and 2050. For freight transport, shifting from road to e-rail cuts emission intensity by an estimated 45% in 2019 and 80% in 2030 and 2050.

All modes improve their emission performance over time. It is clear, though, that the paths to lower emissions are quite different.

Australia is rapidly decarbonising its electricity grid. This immediately affects e-rail emissions. In comparison, the effect on road transport is delayed, due to slow fleet turnover and increasing sales of ever bigger cars and SUVs.

This is an important finding as it means the total cumulative emissions from 2030 to 2050 are estimated to be much lower for electric rail. The level of uncertainty about its performance is also the lowest. This means e-rail would also provide the most robust emission cuts of all modes considered.

The emissions performance of diesel freight trains sits between electric rail and long-haul trucks. It would cut emissions by 45% emission compared to road in 2030. But this difference closes to 10% in 2050 as only marginal improvements are expected for diesel trains over time.

What does this mean for policy?

Mode shift from road to rail has unused potential in Australia, since road transport dominates both passenger travel and non-bulk freight.

This study suggests governments should seriously consider rapidly expanding and electrifying rail from an environmental and climate change perspective. Compared to road, electric rail provides deep, immediate and robust emission cuts of 80% to 90% from 2030 onwards.

Some barriers would need to be overcome to make this a reality. These include steam-age (low speed) railway track alignments and additional travel distances and times due to long and winding routes.

Robin Smit is the founding Research Director at the Transport Energy/Emission Research (TER) consultancy.

– ref. We compared land transport options for getting to net zero. Hands down, electric rail is the best – https://theconversation.com/we-compared-land-transport-options-for-getting-to-net-zero-hands-down-electric-rail-is-the-best-234092

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua McLeod, Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University

The Olympics has been the world’s premier sporting event for more than a century.

Throughout this time, the Olympic Movement has faced many challenges, but what is often overlooked is how it has continually needed to evolve since the first modern games in 1896.

Today, arguably the most significant challenge for the Olympics is maintaining its appeal to modern audiences, particularly Generation Z.

To meet this challenge, the Olympic movement is undergoing something of a reinvention: adding new and unconventional sports in the hope of appealing to younger people, who are thought to have markedly different tastes.

The question is, will it work? And could there be unintended consequences?

Gen Z and sport

Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2009, are widely considered to be distinct from their predecessors as the first digitally native generation.

Although the exact age range of Generation Z is subjective, they are defined by an upbringing coinciding with the advent of social media and smart phones. Thus their relationship to technology is thought to influence their preferences, attitudes and behaviours.

One such difference is their relationship with sport. Generation Z is considered less avid viewers of sports than older generations.

A recent study found Gen Z views entertainment content at a significantly higher rate (48%) compared to sports content (23%). This contrasts sharply with older generations, such as Baby Boomers (1946-1964), who have a higher sports viewership at 41%.

However, Gen Z’s apathy toward sport should not be overstated.

While they may watch comparatively less of it, sport still plays a key part in their lives. The difference lies in how they consume it – primarily online, in shorter forms or highlight packages, while they are also more inclined to follow individual athletes than teams or leagues.

How is the Olympics catering to Gen Z?

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has, in recent times, added a suite of new sports to the Olympic programme in an effort to attract younger viewers.

This saw the Tokyo games feature a record number of total sports (33) and events (339), which included the non-traditional sports of skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.

The Paris games retains these new sports, while debuting breaking, known to many as breakdancing.

Support for these new inclusions appears high among the younger generations.

According to a recent YouGov survey, a significant proportion of Gen Z respondents indicated their likelihood of watching the Paris games increased due to the specific inclusions of breaking (30%), skateboarding (31%), sports climbing (32%) and surfing (24%).

This positive trend carried forward to Millennials (1981-1996): breakdancing (32%), skateboarding (34%), sports climbing (32%) and surfing (33%).

Balancing tradition and modernisation

The Olympics must perform balancing act when introducing new sports. Can it modernise the games to attract new audiences, while at the same time preserving the traditions and prestige that have developed over 128 years?

From one perspective, the IOC could learn from the widely studied “new Coke” fiasco, which offers a cautionary tale of well-loved products over-adapting in response to perceived trends.

Concerned that younger customers appeared to prefer Pepsi’s sweeter taste, Coca-Cola altered its 99-year-old recipe in 1985 to produce “new Coke”. The move sparked fierce backlash from loyal customers and resulted in Coca-Cola reintroducing “Coca-Cola Classic” after only 79 days.

History, however, also demonstrates that sport has evolved successfully to changing cultural norms and tastes.

ESPN’s launch of the X Games in 1995 offers an instructive example.

The X Games identified and capitalised on the popularity among younger audiences of extreme sports that sat outside the sporting mainstream: skateboarding, surfing, and BMX, which have since graduated to the Olympic programme.

The X Games demonstrated that when preferences of a consumer group are ignored, these consumers will seek alternatives.

Unintended consequences

While the integration of unconventional Olympic events may attract younger viewers, it may also risk disillusioning older, existing audiences as per the “new Coke” case study.

In the same YouGov study we referenced earlier, 36% of Baby Boomers expressed the inclusion of skateboarding made them less likely to watch the Olympics. A similar sentiment was held towards sport climbing (31% less likely) and surfing (29% less likely).

However, their strongest ire is towards breaking, with 45% stating its inclusion makes them less likely to watch the Olympics overall.

The sentiment among Baby Boomers may be that these new sports lack the purity, tradition and Olympic legacy of more established sports, and their inclusion undermines the prestige of the competition.

Generational shift

Although Baby Boomers appear displeased with these new additions, the IOC will no doubt be attuned to the shifting balance of power between generations.

Within the Australian population for instance, Gen Z (16.6%) are nearing Baby Boomers (18.5%) in population size. When Gen Z is coupled with its successor Alpha (2010-today), and Baby Boomers with its predecessor Silents (1925-1945), their shares of the Australian population are now 33% and 24% respectively.

So as this generational shift continues, it is the preferences of the young that are more likely to be prioritised in the strategic direction of the Olympic Movement.

For now, the IOC is likely to tread a careful tightrope, balancing innovation with tradition.

Trial and error, along with detailed viewer analytics, will be used to ensure it adapts quickly to a changing environment and satisfies the most people.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Can the Olympics attract Gen Z eyeballs while preserving its traditions? – https://theconversation.com/can-the-olympics-attract-gen-z-eyeballs-while-preserving-its-traditions-228008

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Kirby, PhD Candidate in History, University of the Sunshine Coast

Sport plays an important role in the conception of Australian national identity. With the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games currently in swing and Queensland preparing to host the games in 2032, international success in the green and gold remains a focus of the Australian media.

But away from international performances, banal experiences in everyday settings also contribute to perceptions of national identity. Experiences in local and school sport – away from the bright lights of sporting mega-events – are crucial to understanding how and why sport connects strongly to Australian identity.

What can you remember about your own school sports days? Many people still remember their allocated school sports house name and colour – even decades after childhood.

Our new research looked at the historical and contemporary naming of school sports houses in Queensland to understand how our broader societal ideas about role models and other positively regarded places, animals and things might have changed over time.

Sports houses are typically named for people or things school leadership and the community believe hold admirable qualities they hope to encourage in students. As Australian society evolves and opinions change, so too should the namesakes deemed appropriate for school sports houses.

The making of school houses

Limited initially to private schools in Britain from the 1850s, the practice of implementing school sports houses spread to Australian private schools by the 1900s and expanded into British and Australian public schools throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Tied to the origins of physical education and its ambition for all male children to be fit to defend empire and nation, sports houses continue to be seen as a way to encourage a sense of team loyalty and to foster healthy competition. The names, mascots, colours and “war cries” of these sports houses play an important part in fostering a sense of belonging.

While many private secondary schools opened in Queensland in the first half of the 20th century, it was not until the postwar period that large numbers of public high schools were founded, with the initial wave ending by 1969.

In our research we compared the names of houses for both public and private schools in Queensland in 1969 and 2023, to understand how school sports house culture has changed since.

At least 66% of Queensland high schools had adopted sports houses by 1969. By 2023, this had risen to 95%.

Who gets to be a namesake?

Sports houses are often named for people, places or things perceived as having positive qualities schools believe children should respect or emulate.

In 1969, private Queensland high schools predominantly named sports houses after people from the fields of education and religion, with some houses named after significant school community leaders.

By 2023, little had changed with private high school naming traditions, with religion remaining the most common category of sports house names.

Queensland’s public high schools initially turned to colonial namesakes, such as Cook House (for Captain James Cook), Kennedy House (for the colonial explorer Edmund Kennedy) and Leichhardt House (for the colonial explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt).

Like private schools, public schools have tended to retain their sports house names over time, with one notable exception: some public high schools renamed their sports houses to non-colonial namesakes over the past few decades, sometimes choosing local First Nations language terms or places as replacements.

Despite this, in 2023, 40 Queensland public high schools had colonial namesakes for their sports houses.

The rise of the woman sport star

The most remarkable change evident in the data is houses named after sportspeople had risen dramatically in popularity, from 10 houses in 1969 to 115 in 2023, all identified at public schools.

The diversity of sportspeople represented also increased. Bradman House (for Sir Donald Bradman) remains the most popular in this category, but he is now followed by Fraser House (for Dawn Fraser) and Freeman House (for Cathy Freeman).

The rise in women athletes as house namesakes in the 2023 data indicates a desire to provide schoolchildren with a greater diversity of role models. In 1969, 11% of all high school sports houses with people namesakes were named after women, increasing to 22.6% by 2023.

But there are dramatic differences when considering types of schools. In 2023, of the houses at public co-ed schools named after people, 16.3% were women namesakes. At private girls high schools, the figure jumps to 67.3%.

In comparison, at Queensland’s private boys high schools, over 90% of such house names were after men.

Colours and mascots

While the “best” house colour is a conversation for another day, we can confirm the four most popular house colours in use in 2023 were blue (20.97%), red (20.81%), green (19.81%) and yellow/gold (18.54%).

We expected maroon to be more popular, given its status representing Queensland in the State of Origin, but only 27 sports houses had this colour in 2023.

Animal mascots were also interesting: the most popular in 2023 were aggressive predator types such as eagles, sharks, lions and crocodiles. Cuddlier Australian natives like koalas, possums and wombats were rare inclusions, though the “fighting kangaroo” was the eighth most common animal mascot.

In addition to being a shared experience of growing up in Australia, school sports houses are potent examples of banal nationalism, whereby elements of Australianness are reinforced through the tradition of school athletics and swimming carnivals.

In addition to providing organisation and belonging within a school setting, sports houses exist as primers for local, state and national identities.

The choices made by school administrators about house names, colours and mascots point not only to a school’s history and traditions but also the social environments in which such decisions are made and remade.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. School sports houses help shape our understanding of belonging and identity. Does who they’re named after matter? – https://theconversation.com/school-sports-houses-help-shape-our-understanding-of-belonging-and-identity-does-who-theyre-named-after-matter-234164

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology

When we think of what Australian schools look like, we probably think of large grounds with single or double storey buildings. They’re usually in suburban areas on relatively flat blocks.

But there are less conventional ways to build schools. Imagine your child going to class in a building that was taller than it was wide, and right in the middle of your city’s central business district.

These already exist in Australia and they’re called vertical schools. While some people may approach the idea with trepidation, these schools may hold the key to revitalising our cities, as well as creating engaging learning environments for students.

What is a vertical school?

Vertical schools can be defined by their height, ranging between four and 17 storeys.

They are also defined by their location, which is usually in inner-city, urban areas. They’re often located on or near sites previously occupied by a traditional horizontal school. An example of this is the Fortitude Valley State Secondary College, on the former Fortitude Valley State School site in Brisbane.

This reflects broader population and housing trends. Where families once retreated to the outer suburbs, they are now returning to inner-city living.

As Australian cities grow in density, many building types – including schools – need to adapt to a vertical world. Designing a vertical school is as much about practicality as it is about fitting in with Australia’s increasingly dense cities. Vertical schools make the most of compact sites accommodating spatial needs across one or two connected buildings.

They include learning and teaching environments, administrative areas, as well as indoor and outdoor social and play spaces. The architecture and visual appeal of vertical schools, like any civic building, aim to contribute positively to the scenic amenity of cities.

There are vertical schools in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. A few of these schools have involved the refurbishment of former office buildings. St George’s Anglican Grammar School in Perth was converted from a five-storey office building in 2015.

Another example is the Adelaide Botanic High School, which opened in 2019. The school converted a 1960s office tower into an innovative education precinct. A new high-rise section of this school recently opened.

As with any school, learning and teaching in an inner-city setting extends beyond the classroom. At Adelaide Botanic High School, 20% of the curriculum is planned within its CBD context. This includes collaborations with Adelaide Zoo, universities and local technology startups.

Research from the Thriving in Vertical Schools project has focused on students’ experiences in these schools. Students feel connected to the city, with views framed throughout the school via an open, central atrium and many windows.

Students have been part of the design process for these spaces. This improves the way vertical schools are designed now and into the future.

Getting it right

Having schools in the CBD opens up a list of considerations about how to keep children safe in bustling, crowded areas.

Walkability and the development of safety standards that support children to navigate cities as pedestrians are crucial. More green infrastructure and public open green space for playing would be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

There should also be practical infrastructure plans for transport, both public and private. An example of how this could look is staggered school starts. The school day at Adelaide Botanic High School is planned around peak hour demands. Start times are arranged for after 9am so as not to add to congestion.

More “end of trip” facilities in cities is another requirement. These are spaces to support people who use active transport options such as bicycles, scooters or walking or running. Facilities like these provide secure places to store bags and personal belongings.

Another practical necessity is safe external gathering spaces in the city for students in the case of a fire or other emergencies.

All of these design considerations would make for better cities for everyone, not just students, because they’d help make cities safer and more accessible. They would provide positive economic development opportunities and help to diversify the occupation of buildings.

This would, in turn, generate new streams of revenue for businesses including child-friendly cafes, restaurants, shops and other recreation spaces. Including children in the design of cities would activate new vibrancy, creating new experiences for everyone to enjoy.

Breathing new life into the city

This economic activity is important because continuing popularity of working from home or hybrid work arrangements have contributed to a steady increase in vacancy rates in Australian CBD office buildings. Low occupancy rates have a direct impact on other economic activity in cities including hospitality and retail businesses.

The issue is shared internationally and was discussed at the 2023 World Economic Forum. One solution suggested at this meeting was the conversion of vacant office buildings into apartments. However, the high costs involved in converting office towers into residential building would fail to provide much-needed affordable housing.

For cities to become more resilient, our CBDs should be filled with buildings with a diversity of different purposes. Converting vacant office buildings into vertical schools is one way to do this.

More broadly, further research needs to be undertaken to understand children’s experiences of inner-city precincts. Children are rarely considered in the design of CBDs, which are predominantly designed for adults. With the rise of inner-city residential apartments and vertical schools, more inclusive city planning practices are needed, especially for children.

Kirsty Volz receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Queensland State Government, Local Government Authorities and Collaborative Research Centres. She is affiliated with the Australian Institute of Architects.

Jenna Gillett-Swan receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Queensland Government.

Jill Willis receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Queensland Government.

– ref. Would you send your child to school in a skyscraper? Vertical schools could revitalise our cities – https://theconversation.com/would-you-send-your-child-to-school-in-a-skyscraper-vertical-schools-could-revitalise-our-cities-234472

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Shand, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

As the Olympics get going in earnest this week, not everyone’s attention is focused on host city Paris. Surf fans are heading to Tahiti, half a world away in French Polynesia.

Why? Well, apart from the French coast resembling a lake at this time of year, on the south-west coast of Tahiti Iti is a wave unlike any other on the planet: Teahupo’o, which translates somewhat ominously as “place of skulls”.

The wave is unique in the way it breaks. The lower part of the wave appears to drop away below sea level, with the top half folding over dramatically to create an almost cartoonishly perfect form.

It is both the weight of water in the plunging lip and the risk of injury or death for a surfer in the wrong position that make this one of the world’s heaviest waves (in both senses of the word).

To understand why the wave breaks like this, we need to start with bathymetry: the shape of the seabed that influences waves as they approach the shore. At Teahupo’o, a combination of factors comes into play.

A one-of-a-kind wave

Waves arriving at Teahupo’o generally originate from intense “roaring forties” storm systems south of New Zealand. By the time the waves reach Tahiti they have become ordered swell, with wave heights of two to five metres and periods of 14 to 20 seconds between successive waves.

These types of long-period waves normally start interacting with the seabed at depths of around 200 metres. On most coasts, this depth would occur up to several kilometres offshore. But at Teahupo’o, it is much closer, just a couple of hundred metres.

This rapid change in depth forces the wave to “shoal” very quickly – the wave speed slows, the distance between waves compresses and the wave height increases.

The change is so abrupt that the wave is still very linear – it hasn’t had time to develop the peaked crest and flat trough (the lowest part of the wave) typical of waves in shallow water.

Waves breaking on this type of steep slope would typically collapse, breaking from the middle of the wave and creating an unsurfable mess. But this doesn’t happen.

At around ten metres’ depth, a flatter shelf in the reef allows the wave to stabilise and “stand up” with a steep front face, before finally breaking as the reef rises again.

And break it does. Owing to the linearity, there is far more water in the crest (the part above water) then most waves, and a deeper trough in front.

This makes for the characteristic below-sea-level break at Teahupo’o, with the overturning lip being half the wave height, and a jet of compressed air forced out of the wave’s barrel after breaking.

The larger the wave, the closer to the steep offshore ramp it breaks, and the more extreme the plunging.

A pro surfers’ paradise

A range of other unique features contribute to the way the wave breaks at Teahupo’o – and what makes it so challenging as a surfing wave.

A deep channel runs alongside the shallow reef shelf. The wave doesn’t break in this deeper area, allowing it to peel – to break in one direction (in this case towards the left looking towards the shore) – and enabling surfers to ride the wave before it finally closes out onto shallow reef.

A part of the shallow reef platform extends offshore, into the reef pass. This shallow area bends and focuses wave energy from the wider, deeper part of the wave back into the breaking wave. This happens particularly on more westerly orientated swells, increasing the intensity of breaking.

As well as this, the Teahupo’o wave breaks in a direction nearly opposite to the prevailing trade winds, keeping the wave face smooth.

A low tidal range also limits the times the reef is too deep or too shallow to surf. And the wave is near the Passa Hava’e reef pass, which helps the wave’s focusing and breaking. But because it isn’t right in the pass, the wave isn’t affected by high tidal or wave-induced currents.

New-generation wave models that simulate individual waves, rather than just average energy density, provide insight into what creates a surf break such as Teahupo’o (see figure below). These models provide insight into what happens as waves shoal and refract (bend and focus) over the seabed as they approach break point.

They also significantly improve our understanding of what makes a particular surf break unique. This can help in assessing the potential impact of human or natural modifications to the environment.

Tom Shand is affiliated with the Engineering Consultancy Tonkin + Taylor and with the industry association PIANC (World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure).

– ref. Anatomy of a wave: what makes the Olympic surf break at Teahupo’o unique – and so challenging – https://theconversation.com/anatomy-of-a-wave-what-makes-the-olympic-surf-break-at-teahupoo-unique-and-so-challenging-235301

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast

Over recent months, a number of politicians have supported calls to ban social media for children under 16 in Australia. Currently, kids under 13 are not allowed to use social media.

There’s some research that suggests social media can be helpful for certain young people by, for example, connecting them with like-minded peers.

That said, there are a raft of reasons for this proposed change. The most compelling is evidence showing inappropriate screen time and social media use are linked to poor mental health in children and young people, including depression and anxiety.

Overuse or misuse of social media can damage many areas of psychological wellbeing. But, as an expert in adolescent development, I’ve been exploring one that’s not often considered: identity development.

Identity development has long been regarded as the core psychological business of adolescence. You decide who you are, what you want to become, what underlying values you stand for and what you want out of life as you move toward adulthood. But might social media risk thwarting this process?

Developing an identity

Between the ages of about 11 and 15, the human brain becomes increasingly sensitive to attention and feedback from peers. The parts of the brain responsible for developing perspective, judgment, critical thinking and self-control will not fully mature until a person’s early to mid 20s.

Teenagers have always compared themselves to others. They seek validation from peers as they explore their values, develop their personalities and seek to express themselves. But social media have provided a platform for adolescents – particularly those high in FOMO, or fear of missing out – to obsess over how they compare to many more people, including aptly named “influencers”.

It can be difficult for a young person to develop a clear sense of self when they’re constantly comparing themselves to and following others.

Similarly, young people are developing many of their opinions based on what they see on social media. An individual’s tendency to conform to other people’s opinions is sometimes called the “bandwagon effect”.

While plenty of social media content can be harmless enough, social media – like the real world – are becoming increasingly political and polarised, with little tolerance for opposing ideas.

Some teens may find themselves latching onto ideologies fed to them via marketing algorithms. And we know young people can become radicalised through social media.

Living in the public sphere

Who are you? How do you see yourself? Are you the same person in public, in private, with friends, family or at work? Would you honestly admit some of your deepest feelings to your work colleague, friend, or even your partner? How about to yourself?

Harry Triandis, a psychology researcher who died in 2019, proposed differences between the “public” and “private” self that we all embody. Most people can relate to keeping their real opinions or values to themselves while in public or in an unknown group of people.

Once we are confident that our manner of speaking and underlying value systems won’t be misconstrued, we start to reveal ourselves bit by bit. This process is the basis of forming friendships. And it’s only in our most intimate relationships that we reveal ourselves fully.

Ask yourself, what embarrassing beliefs did you harbour across your lifespan, especially during your teenage years when your brain was still developing? Perhaps you held some stereotypes or biases that you now find embarrassing?

Your private self is the basis for quiet reflection, learning and changing your mind. But nowadays we see teens playing out their entire lives in the public sphere – essentially skipping this step.

Not only are they developing many of their opinions based on what they see on social media, but they often broadcast them online instantly. At a later time, they may be forced to defend these ideas.

In a 24/7 virtual world, there’s less opportunity for today’s teenager to critically think about what they are seeing online, self-reflect, explore and change their mind. There is little room to make mistakes, test boundaries, explore ideas and analyse information to forge their own identity.

These concerns are among the reasons many medical experts, parents and politicians alike want to limit access to social media for children.

While social media can continue to have detrimental effects for people older than 16, the earlier part of adolescence is an important time for the development of a young person’s identity and self-worth.

Research has shown identity disturbance in adolescence – essentially an unstable sense of self – is a strong precursor to personality disorders in adulthood. We don’t yet completely understand what life on social media does to developing identity, but it’s vital we continue to explore this area.

Rachael Sharman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Social media can hamper teenagers figuring out who they want to be. Banning it until 16 is a good idea – https://theconversation.com/social-media-can-hamper-teenagers-figuring-out-who-they-want-to-be-banning-it-until-16-is-a-good-idea-233866

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney

So you’re thinking of buying an electric car. Perhaps you want to save money on fuel, or reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, or both. After all, for Australia to reach net zero it needs to electrify vehicles (and expand public transport use).

But you’ve heard arguments against electric cars: they have limited range and many owners can’t easily charge at home. They cost too much, resale values are poor and insurance costs are higher than for other cars. They’re also heavier and cause more damage to our roads.

Alarmingly, the mining of some minerals used to make them involves modern-day slavery.

Are these concerns warranted? Let’s walk through them.

Driving range

In 2014, an electric vehicle’s top driving range was between 160 and 210 kilometres. Today, most new models can travel 300–600km under real-world conditions.

In Australia, the average privately owned car travels 12,100km a year. That’s about 33.2km a day. Current models have more than enough battery capacity to cover most trips.

Access to chargers

What about longer trips? Many drivers still worry about finding a public charger. It’s common to see long queues at public charging stations (when they are working) or owners searching for a charger.

Public charging infrastructure is struggling to keep up with rising demand. While not an issue for short trips (90% of owners charge at home or work), it’s a challenge for longer travel.

Private home chargers are getting cheaper but not everyone has off-street parking. Some resort to the legally questionable strategy of running power cables over sidewalks or through trees.

Apartment block residents typically have requests to install private chargers rejected for safety reasons (mainly fire risks). Many also can’t install solar panels, which would greatly reduce charging costs.

Purchase costs

While electric vehicles cost more than petrol or diesel vehicles today, this won’t be true in future. In 2023, the average price of a new petrol car in Australia was A$40,916, compared to $117,785 for battery electric vehicles.

But the problem with averages is they’re skewed by outliers. And there are lots of very expensive outliers on the electric vehicle market. You can own a Porsche Taycon Turbo S for $374,000, or a Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 for $327,000.

Three models account for about 70% of electric vehicle sales in Australia: the Telsa Model Y (from $60,900), Tesla Model 3 (from $58,900) and the BYD Atto 3 (from $48,011). The Model 3 entered our market in 2019 at $66,000, so it’s clear prices are dropping, and dropping fast. You can buy the GWM ORA or MG4 Excite MY23 for $39,990.

Prices becoming cheaper is common for most new technology. It’s just we notice it more with electric vehicles because they cost more than most technology we buy, including phones and TVs.

Secondhand value

Concerns about resale value may be justified. In the year to January 2024, the value of used electric vehicles fell 21%, which was more than for fossil fuel vehicles.

A higher initial price does not necessarily carry over to the second-hand market. Early adopters valued EV technology, but most buyers have different priorities.

As the technology improves and misconceptions fade, resale values could rebound.

Insurance costs

Insurance costs are also higher than for other vehicles – typically around 20% more.

The vehicles generally cost more to buy in the first place and newer technology is more costly to produce and replace. The supply chain for parts is still developing, with fewer trained technicians and service centres to maintain these vehicles.

As the market grows and service infrastructure improves, insurance costs should fall.

Environmental damage?

One recent study suggests electric vehicles are actually more environmentally damaging than petrol and diesel vehicles. They are typically heavier, resulting in more tyre wear and heavier braking. As this produces small particulate matter with a diameter of 10 microns (PM10) or less (a typical human hair is 50–70 microns wide), the suggestion is electric vehicles will produce more of it.

But such studies often compare particulate emissions from EVs to tailpipe emissions from their fossil fuel counterparts. They ignore the latter’s tyre and braking concerns, which means comparing apples to oranges. More scientific studies suggest electric vehicles, particularly smaller ones, produce less PM10 from non-exhaust sources than their non-electric equivalents.

Slavery in the supply chain

Unfortunately, the modern-day slavery concern is very real.

Electric vehicle batteries require cobalt. About 70% of the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. About 20% of this mining activity involves small, informal, subsistence mines with little or no mechanisation and often using child labour.

The minerals from such mines are scattered throughout the world’s supply chains. Those who raise slavery concerns against electric vehicles are usually silent on other affected products such as phones and laptops. Much more must be done to reduce these concerns about battery supply chains.

The good outweighs the bad

On balance, you’re justified in buying an electric vehicle, assuming you want one. Overall operating costs are far lower than for other vehicles. Public charger issues affect a small percentage of trips.

While prices are dropping quickly, this doesn’t mean the bottom is falling out of the market. Price reductions simply represent greater supply of cheaper electric vehicles. Previous market-leading manufacturers can no longer charge hefty premiums for their products.

And demand isn’t decreasing. The share of electric vehicles on the road continues to increase.

Further, the technology is evolving. Trials of vehicle-to-grid charging, where vehicles return power to the grid or directly to a person’s house, have been taking place across Australia. This ability to power your house will help reduce energy bills, saving owners even more money.

Aside from justifiable concerns about human rights abuses, most of the perceived barriers to EV uptake aren’t really barriers at all, or soon won’t be.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Want to buy an electric car but unsure you can justify it? Here’s how the arguments against EVs stack up – https://theconversation.com/want-to-buy-an-electric-car-but-unsure-you-can-justify-it-heres-how-the-arguments-against-evs-stack-up-229608

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Patterson, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Wollongong

In August many Australian universities have open days as Year 12 students make up their minds about what they want to study next year.

There will be lots of things for prospective students to think about – including what course they want to study and what career they want to pursue.

Beyond questions about study content, there are five other important aspects to investigate about university life. These can have an impact on how much you enjoy your studies and how much you are supported to succeed.

1. Academic supports

Studying at university is different from school. You need to be more independent and there is less time “in class” (lectures or tutorials). This can be an adjustment for some students.

Check out what kinds of support are available to help students meet academic expectations. Some questions you could ask include:

• what academic writing resources and supports are available?

• can I get help to understand the expectations of essay writing and other forms of assessment?

• can the library support me with database searches and referencing?

• are there peer-supported study groups for my course?

• what online learning platform is used and do we get an orientation?

• can I use ChatGPT for assignments and what is the university’s approach to the use of AI?

2. Health and wellbeing services

Study at university can coincide with health and wellbeing challenges for students. You may be worried about study deadlines or cost-of-living, or there may be other things going on in your life you need help with. Some questions you could ask include:

• what resources are available to help manage my health and wellbeing?

• are there counsellors or mental health professionals?

• is there a general practice or health clinic on campus?

• is there a pharmacy?

• are urgent mental health services accessible at all times?

• what supports are available if I need help with access and inclusion?

3. Work-life-study balance

Many students need to work part-time to support themselves and have family or other life commitments. This can be challenging if deadlines all come at once or your schedule is very full.

Ask your university about how healthy work-life-study balance can be supported. This is of particular concern if your course has mandatory work experience placements. You could ask:

• are there flexible study options?

• can I start or switch to part-time study during my course or term?

• how and when can I take a study break or leave of absence?

• is there an option to complete part of my degree remotely?

4. Living costs

Being a student is typically a time of life when money is tight. But this is made even more difficult during cost-of-living and housing crises.

Ask about the full costs of study. Along with course fees or loans, check out the associated costs (such as equipment or textbooks) as well as potential supports. Specifically you could ask:

• does the university offer emergency financial assistance?

• is there financial counselling?

• are there grants and scholarships and help to apply for these?

• what materials do I need to buy for my course?

• are there student discounts at local businesses to help reduce living expenses?

Also, don’t forget there are government payments available for eligible students.

5. Social supports and community

A significant part of enjoying university will be feeling as if you belong. So consider universities that foster inclusive environments and offer supportive networks. Some questions to ask include:

• how does the university ensure students from diverse backgrounds are included and represented in campus activities and decision-making?

• are there specific programs to support First Nations students?

• what resources and support services are available for LGBTQIA+ students?

• what supports can I access if I have disability?

Choosing a university isn’t just about the course or the degree – it’s finding your fit in a place that will help you realise your study and life goals. So, keep asking questions – academics, university staff and students at open days are there to help.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Uni is not just about lectures. When choosing a degree, ask what supports are available to you – https://theconversation.com/uni-is-not-just-about-lectures-when-choosing-a-degree-ask-what-supports-are-available-to-you-235308

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Blacklow, Lecturer in Economics, University of Tasmania

This article is part of The Conversation’s “Business Basics” series where we ask experts to discuss key concepts in business, economics and finance.

It’s hard to remember a time before the cost-of-living crisis dominated news headlines. Most of us would certainly like it to be over.

But the fundamental question at its heart – which points to the problem we have to solve – seems simple. What determines the prices we pay?

The cost of producing goods and services is certainly one big factor in determining how much we pay for them. So, too, is what we’re prepared to fork out.

But when we talk about lowering prices, we often also talk about increasing competition – the number of firms vying to sell us a particular offering.

It’s so important for efficient pricing that the government body tasked with making our markets fair is called the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission – the “ACCC” for short.

But why does having more people trying to sell us things drive down their prices? And can companies find ways to get around this?

More sellers, lower prices

In a free market system, there are a few different types of competition.

In the most ideal, a perfectly competitive market, firms must use resources efficiently to produce what we consumers want at the lowest possible cost.

In perfect competition:

• the products and services traded are identical (or very similar)
• there are many buyers and sellers
• information is perfect
• firms can enter and exit freely.

A firm charging prices well above the minimum cost will sell no goods or services and be forced to leave the market. Why? Because its competitors will be able to steal customers by charging slightly less for exactly the same thing.

Only lower-cost firms will remain and compete prices down until they cover the lowest cost of supplying the good or service, plus an average or normal “return on capital”.

At a high level, think of this return as an acceptable monetary reward for the business for investing the inputs and taking on the risks required to operate.

If ever an industry is earning above-average returns given its level of risk, new firms will enter and charge less, until only normal returns are earned.

Conversely, below-normal profits will see firms exit, decreasing supply and raising prices.

Do perfectly competitive markets exist? There are arguably some examples that come close, such as casual labour services, some agricultural commodities like grain, livestock and fruit, and financial and currency markets.

But there are more examples of less competitive markets.

The winner takes it all

At the opposite extreme, in monopoly markets, there is only one seller of a good or service. Typically, there is some barrier preventing new firms from entering the market and driving prices down.

Without government regulation, monopoly firms will reduce supply, increase prices and earn above-normal profit levels.

However, sometimes monopolies emerge naturally because it is far more efficient to have a single coordinating supplier of a particular service – such as in letter delivery, rail tracks, or internet infrastructure.

To strike a balance, governments typically regulate or own monopolies.

Same same, but different

More common than monopoly is what’s called monopolistic competition, which is the market structure for many of our tech, entertainment and dining goods and services.

In monopolistic competition, firms try to make their offering different by investing in R&D and advertising, so that they do not have to compete on price alone.

Think Apple’s iPhone versus Samsung’s Galaxy. Both are technically the same kind of product, but have created their own unique markets.

Differentiation allows firms to price above minimum cost and earn above-normal rates of return. At least, that is, until new firms enter and imitate them, increasing supply and lowering prices and profits to normal levels.

A few big players hold market power

In Australia, many key goods and services are traded in oligopoly markets.

Oligopolies arise when a few large firms dominate a particular industry, such as supermarkets, domestic airlines, banking, mobile telecommunications, and petrol retailing.

Some oligopoly markets are very competitive and drive prices down to cost, plus normal return to capital. But in other more concentrated markets with a few powerful firms, firms may have significant market power and be able to keep prices above the competitive level.

It is not illegal to possess market power, but according to Australia’s Competition and Consumer Act 2010, it is illegal to use it “for the purpose, effect, or likely effect of substantially lessening competition”.

It is illegal, for example, for firms to explicitly work together when setting prices. This is called collusion. Neither can they force suppliers to deal with them exclusively, or set prices below cost when new firms attempt to enter a market.

But that doesn’t mean some firms haven’t learned subtle and legal ways of reducing competition.

For example, loyalty programs and charging special loss-leading prices can seem at first glance to be good for consumers, but can also increase the cost of switching to the lowest-priced firm.

Read more:
Loyalty programs may limit competition, and they could be pushing prices up for everyone

Are we getting a good deal?

Still, you may have noticed the prices charged for many goods and services are very similar across different firms in the economy.

Have these prices been driven down by competition to their cost plus a normal return to capital? Or are firms abusing their market power to lessen competition in the market?

What can we do if firms are reducing competition through legal measures?

These are just some of the difficult questions both government and industry are currently grappling with.

Paul Blacklow is affiliated with Economic Society of Australia.

– ref. What is competition, and why is it so important for prices? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-competition-and-why-is-it-so-important-for-prices-234082

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jackie Cumming, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

New Zealanders’ first point of contact for healthcare – their general practice – is increasingly harder to reach, to the detriment of the overall health system.

Our new research found 80% of general practices in Aotearoa New Zealand stopped enrolling new patients (known as closing the books) at some point between 2019 and 2022. While the pandemic has exacerbated the issue, it is not the only cause.

The key reasons for not enrolling new patients included workforce shortages, high workloads and staff burnout, funding issues, concerns about quality of care and insufficient physical space.

This can lead to no access, or delayed access, to primary care, worsening health conditions, undiagnosed or untreated diseases, and less or no access to preventive care for many.

In the short term, the government needs to consider increasing investment in primary care and the training of doctors and nurses. But in the longer term, New Zealand needs to consider if the current model of care works, or if there are alternative models that would better suit the healthcare needs of New Zealanders.

An entry point to the healthcare system

There are approximately a thousand general practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. While they are private businesses, they are largely funded by the government.

Being enrolled with a general practice means reduced consultation fees, the centralisation and management of patient data and higher levels of preventive care. Enrolled patients also then have a team who can take responsibility for prescriptions, referrals to specialised care and subsequent followups.

If someone can’t enrol in a specific practice, many of these elements of primary care become a lot harder to access.

We interviewed 17 people (including general practitioners (GPs), practice managers, academic researchers, a nurse practitioner and a national general practice leader) and undertook a survey, to which 227 people responded (including practice managers, GPs, practice owners and administrative staff). The responses revealed six key reasons why practices closed their books.

1. Workforce shortages

A shortage of GPs was cited as one of the key reasons for closing the books. As one survey respondent explained:

Recruitment and staff retention, especially GPs and nurses, has been the key issue. Almost no job applicants, and those few that do, have multiple offers to pick between because there are so many vacancies around.

There is a growing number of GPs who are reaching retirement age. And, while 50% of New Zealand’s GPs have been trained overseas, COVID restrictions made it more difficult to recruit from other countries.

There is also a significant pay gap between primary doctors and nurses and those in secondary and tertiary care (hospital staff and specialists). As a consequence, fewer medical students are choosing primary care compared with other fields.

2. Under-funding of general practices

There is also insufficient funding for general practices. They are partially funded through a formula based on the number of people enrolled and their needs. But many in primary care feel the model doesn’t adequately account for the complexity of conditions many patients have.

As one interviewee told us:

Funding per patient does not reflect the workload that is required. It is problematic especially for high-needs patients.

3. High workloads and staff burnout

Underfunding and staff shortages have caused a higher workload among existing staff, resulting in staff burnout in general practice.

As one survey respondent wrote:

General practices are asked to take on more and more work, including work that was previously performed in hospitals. The paperwork has also increased. So, there is more work but a seriously declining number of healthcare workers (most particularly GPs) to carry out this work.

4. The impact of COVID-19

The pandemic had both direct and indirect impacts on healthcare. The workload of general practices increased with the rising number of sick patients. Along with an increase in patient demand there were added precautions needed to treat COVID-19 patients.

The pandemic also resulted in staff shortages due to staff or family sickness. The border closure enforced during the pandemic worsened New Zealand’s existing workforce shortages due to a high reliance on overseas-trained medical professionals.

5. Quality of care concerns

Work shortages and increasing demands meant many of the research participants were concerned about the quality of care they were delivering to their patients. Practices closed their books to ensure they were able to still deliver care to clients – even if this didn’t make the best business sense.

From a business point of view, there is a disincentive to close your book. But at some point, patient care has [to] take priority over financial benefit.

6. A lack of space

The final reason given for the rise in closed books was a lack of space in the current practices.

Our research participants noted there may not be a sufficient number of rooms for examination and treatment. In some practices, patient waiting areas were also limited. In some cases, staff were working in shifts to occupy the working spaces available to them.

The road to better primary care

When it came to improving primary care, 95% of our survey respondents said there needed to be better funding, 91% called for support for pay equity between general practice nursing and hospital nursing staff, and 89% called for pay equity for GPs. Some 77% called for an increase in medical students and 85% called for increasing the recruitment of overseas doctors.

As well as an increase in funding, policymakers should be asking if there are other models that could help meet New Zealand’s needs. For example, could nurse practitioners work with community organisations to enrol patients so there is, at least, somewhere for them to go?

With ongoing issues around access and affordability, it is time to consider what are the necessary improvements in general practice care in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This research was completed with Nisa Mohan, Maite Irurzun-Lopez, Megan Pledger, Mona Jeffreys, all from Te Hikuwai Rangahau Hauora – Health Services Research Centre at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.

Jackie Cumming receives funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Marsden Fund. This research was funded by a Lottery Health Research Funding Grant. She also undertakes research on behalf of a range of Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora and Pacific Perspectives. She is affiliated with the Kāpiti Health Advisory Group.

– ref. Under pressure, 80% of GPs closed their books to new patients at some point since 2019 – here’s why – https://theconversation.com/under-pressure-80-of-gps-closed-their-books-to-new-patients-at-some-point-since-2019-heres-why-235500

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University

Ray Lawler, who died this week at 103, was one of the artists responsible for establishing the first non-commercial repertory theatre in Australia – the Union Repertory Theatre Company, now Melbourne Theatre Company – and the writer of its best-known play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

It is impossible to think of the two achievements separately. So pronounced was the Doll’s success, it cemented the position of the company. The story of the production of the play is the story of the rise of the Union Theatre.

Both are inception events for the structure, outlook and values of Australian theatre today.

The ‘non-existent’ Australian plays

Lawler was born in Footscray in 1921, leaving school when he was 13 to work in a factory. Taking acting classes whenever he could, he started writing plays during the war after being rostered on night shift.

His first job in theatre was on the vaudeville circuit, playing “straight man” to American comedian Will Mahoney. In 1953 came an all-important meeting with John Sumner, founder of the Union Theatre, and the man who would lead it for 35 years.

Sumner persuaded Lawler to try directing, and Sumner prevailed upon Lawler to let the Union Repertory Theatre Company produce the Doll.

The Doll was not an obvious choice. In 1954, it shared first prize with Oriel Gray’s The Torrents in a playwrights competition. But this meant little. Australian plays often achieved literary recognition. It was getting them staged that was the problem.

Challenges continued into rehearsals. In 1965, Niall Brennan, the Union Theatre’s front of house manager, recalled:

The theatre in those days was an imported thing; Australian plays, in commercial terms, were virtually non-existent […] The play was set in Carlton, literally almost over the road from the theatre. It was very hard for everyone to realise that we were so close to home. Was it a play about shearers and wombats, muttered one critic?

On November 28 1955, the Doll opened. There had been successful Australian plays before this time, notably Steele Rudd’s On Our Selection (1912) and Sumner Locke-Elliot’s Rusty Bugles (1948). It is the extent and penetration of the Doll’s impact that makes it such a signal work, as well as the quality of its dialogue, characters, and comedio-tragic narrative.

An Australian classic

Lawler’s tale of the deterioration and collapse of the unconventional relationship between two Queensland cane-cutters and their off-season, Melbourne-based lovers was both an assault on the wowserism of the times, and a clear-eyed dissection of values we would now call masculinist.

Unlike other plays of the 1950s, it retains its force and appeal. It is one of the few we can justly call an Australian classic.

Supported by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (predecessor to Creative Australia), the Doll toured nationally, Lawler playing the role of Barney.

With the help of Lawrence Olivier, the production then transferred to London’s New Theatre, where it had a similar seismic impact on British audiences, running for over eight months, and winning the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play.

Ken Tynan, the rising star of theatre criticism, wrote of Lawler’s “respect for ordinary people”, amazed at his ability to portray working class characters who were neither incidental nor the butt of class humour. Not until John Osborne, Arnold Wesker and Shelagh Delaney did English drama manage a similar feat.

In 1959, the Doll was turned into a film by Hecht Hill Lancaster. In 1996, it was adapted as a chamber opera by Richard Mills.

A singular event

Lawler had a long career in theatre, but never repeated the triumph of the Doll. In 1957, he left Australia to live in Denmark, Britain and Ireland. Returning in 1975, he rejoined Sumner at the Melbourne Theatre Company until both retired in 1987.

In 1975 and 1976, Lawler wrote two prequel plays, Kid’s Stakes and Other Times. Together, they make up The Doll Trilogy, complementing other trilogies in the Australian repertoire such as Peter Kenna’s Cassidy Album (1978), Janis Balodis’ The Ghosts Trilogy (1997) and Jack Davis’ The First Born Trilogy (1988).

In retrospect, two things can be said about the Doll’s success.

First, it is easy to take for granted and fall into rote deprecation of its influence, like the theatre critic Harry Kippax when complaining about a rush of subsequent plays he dubbed “the Doll clones”. Playwrights are not responsible for the drama they inspire, only the work they create. The Doll remains a singular event for Australian theatre, and for Australian culture more broadly, as it has tacked away from its British colonial origins.

Second, while many Australians have heard about Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and a good proportion have seen it, the play remains largely unproduced overseas. Here, the drama’s strengths may count against it. The authenticity of language and character that grabbed audiences in the 1950s, and remains impressive now, is hard to reproduce for non-Australian actors.

The power and the challenge of the Doll is that it resists globalised interpretation: it remains supremely and stubbornly an Australian play.

The last word can perhaps be given to Brennan about that opening night audience:

None of us could understand it. The jinx [on Australian drama] had just gone! They clapped the house curtain when it went up, and they clapped the set. They clapped every actor who came on and the roars which greeted Ray’s own entrance were tremendous. When the curtain came down at the end, the theatre almost shook.

Julian was Associate Director and Literary Adviser at Melbourne Theatre Company 2002-2007.

– ref. Vale Ray Lawler: the playwright who changed the sound of Australian theatre – https://theconversation.com/vale-ray-lawler-the-playwright-who-changed-the-sound-of-australian-theatre-218121

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne

There has never been an opening ceremony quite like it.

For the first time in Olympic Games history, the ceremony took place outside a stadium arena. Despite a rainy and miserable Paris evening, enormous crowds – most who paid no fee to attend – lined the banks of the Seine to witness this outdoor promenade of history, art and sport as 100 boats carrying 10,500 athletes sailed down the river.

Designed to showcase the depth of French culture and celebrate the Olympics as a source of human greatness and unity, the ceremony combined the traditional and the irreverent.

Paris featured as the unmistakable backdrop. The ceremony marked the first since 2018 that has not had to work around COVID restrictions. As the world watched, it took place amid a global context of war, invasion and genocide. Within the performances and speeches featured in the ceremony, there were aspects designed to address and acknowledge this, and promote peace and inclusion.

A mission across Paris

The ceremony was divided into thematic chapters, including Fraternite (fraternity), Sororite (sorority), Sportive (sportsmanship), Solidarite (solidarity), Solennite (solemnity) and Eternite (eternity). These were used as prompts to underpin each section of the sprawling, epic ceremony.

Across the three hours, we travelled throughout Paris. Artists and sportspeople from across the broad spectrum of each of these fields were featured and celebrated.

All was underpinned by an amazing soundtrack featuring French electro-pop bangers, classical music and opera.

The ceremony was anchored by a masked torch bearer who initially arrived at the Olympic stadium only to realise they were in the wrong place. They embarked on a Parkour-like mission across the rooftops and streets of Paris with the torch held aloft.

Kicked off by a short film featuring French soccer star Zinedine Zidane, followed by a performance from Lady Gaga, the ceremony brought together the iconic and the unexpected.

Images of beret-wearing accordion players under bridges and the high kicks of 80 dancers in hot pink performing the can-can were interspersed with tributes to the French revolution and the contemporary rebuild of Notre Dame.

There were stylishly considered moments. A single opera performer sung the French national anthem on the roof of the Grand Palais, as tribute was paid to the history of women in France. During this moment, ten golden statues featuring prominent French female political advocates, anarchists, explorers, botanists, intellectuals, journalists, artists and writers from across history emerged from plinths situated in the river.

The moment ended with a soaring rendition of the anthem as the singer on the roof was accompanied by a chorus of children on a bridge across the river.

The ceremony brought together tradition and contemporary performance. In a stunning moment, French-Mali singer Aya Nakamura performed with 60 musicians of the Republican Choir Guard dressed by Dior (obviously).

Profoundly stunning images such as a concert pianist playing on a bridge over the River Seine on a raindrop covered piano were juxtaposed with an animated film featuring the beloved Minions (created by a French animation studio).

BMX riders, breakers and circus performers on large pontoons performed death-defying stunts in front of illuminated fountains. A fashion parade on a bridge across the river featured up and coming French designers and included a demonstration of Eurodance styles including krumping, vogueing and breaking. DJs on decks and drag performers turned the Seine into Paris’ largest outdoor nightclub.

Peace, inclusion and solidarity

Toward the end of the three hour extravaganza, Paris was plunged into darkness as a singer standing near a burning grand piano floating on a barge delivered a poignant version of John Lennon’s Imagine.

The words “We Stand and Call for Peace” in both English and French appeared on screen. This elicited an enormous cheer from the crowd, and underscored a theme appearing in speeches and theatrical images throughout the ceremony: inclusion, respect, solidarity and the role the Olympics can play in supporting these notions across global borders.

“In our Olympic World we all belong,” claimed the International Olympic Committee chair Thomas Bach in his speech.

Taking this idea further, as part of Solidarite, an illuminated silver mechanical horse carrying a rider wearing the Olympic flag appeared to gallop down the river. We watched images of Olympic moments over the years that united the world – and at times challenged dominant thinking.

The rider emerged from the river on a dappled grey horse at the Trocadero at the base of the iconic and resplendent Eiffel Tower. A parade of flag bearers from all countries assembled behind the rider as they walked together through the streets of Paris to raise the Olympic flag and sing the Olympic anthem.

It was magnificent and humbling.

Zidane returned in person near the end of the ceremony to meet the masked torch bearer and was handed the Olympic torch. As the Eiffel Tower lit up with a jaw-droppingly spectacular laser display illuminating across the city, the torch travelled back down the river on a boat with athletes Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Carl Lewis. It continued its journey toward its final destination with a sign-interpreted electronic dance banger in the background.

A parade of extraordinary French athletes completed the torch’s journey to the Olympic cauldron – a hot air balloon, a tribute to daring French inventors.

The cauldron was set aflame and the balloon lifted into the air above Paris to the cheers of the crowds.

Underneath the illuminated Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tour, Celine Dion sung Edith Piaf’s Hymne A l’amour. Dion’s journey to this performance has been publicly marked by illness.

Her stirring and flawless performance against the odds speaks to the Olympic spirit of perseverance and witnessing superhuman feats of the extraordinary, reminding us sport and performance have much in common.

Let’s hope the rest of the sporting event can match this creative beginning.

Sarah Austin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Magnificent and humbling: the Paris opening ceremony was a tribute to witnessing superhuman feats of the extraordinary – https://theconversation.com/magnificent-and-humbling-the-paris-opening-ceremony-was-a-tribute-to-witnessing-superhuman-feats-of-the-extraordinary-233665

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum.

Joining us on the Podcast is one of those teals, Zoe Daniel, member for the Melbourne seat of Goldstein. Daniel, previously a veteran reporter and foreign correspondent for the ABC, discusses some current hot-button issues, including the government’s plan for extensive reform of electoral donations and spending, which has some of the independents worried.

Daniel supports change but warns of risk:

I think there’s a strong case for getting big money out of politics, […] But I think that the danger is that it ends up, either deliberately or as an unintended consequence, preventing new players from getting into politics.

We know that roughly a third of Australians are currently not voting for major parties, that the two parties – the Coles and Woollies, the duopoly of politics – may collude, to create an unlevel playing field to protect themselves and to prevent others from entering the frame.

The conduct in the CFMEU has been in the spotlight after an expose by Nine of corruption and standover tactics. Federal and state governments have reacted strongly but Daniel is concerned about their commitment:

I think where my lack of confidence is, is in whether their intent is there. I think there’s a question around wanting to be seen to do something and actually doing something.

Victorians were just shaking their heads at the news that came out about the CFMEU because there has been smoke around this issue for so long. And we look at big construction projects in Victoria and it’s very self-evident that the costs are inflated, and that the CFMEU has been pulling the strings there.

If they’re going to embark on this with now such a microscope on it, they have to make sure that they actually clean out that behaviour. […] They cannot let this go this time without completing the job.

Daniel’s electorate has one of the highest Jewish populations in the country. She says:

It’s been an incredibly challenging time for Jewish people, across the world, but also specifically in my electorate since October 7th. The vast majority of the Jewish people in Melbourne are either Holocaust survivors or direct descendants of Holocaust survivors. There is absolute intergenerational trauma.

The thing that I’ve been trying to do is to separate what’s happening in Israel and Gaza, which Australia as a country can have influence on through its international partners, but to separate that from what’s going on in our community.

So to pressure the government initially to get flights into Israel, to get people evacuated, to then fast track security grants for synagogues and schools, to then address the doxing of Jewish creatives, which the government has done, to appoint an anti-Semitism envoy which the government has done.

Finally, as a former ABC foreign correspondent in the United States, Daniel observes of of Kamala Harris’ prospects,

I think no matter who they put in at this late stage, it was going to be extremely difficult to beat Donald Trump from a kind of standing start.

I must say that my instinct has been, has always been, that she wouldn’t be able to beat Trump. But I note that there’s a lot of momentum behind her and sometimes circumstances pan out differently to the way that you might expect. So maybe she’s got a shot at it.

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Politics with Michelle Grattan: ‘Teal’ Zoe Daniel on political donations, representing Jewish voters and Kamala Harris’ prospects – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-teal-zoe-daniel-on-political-donations-representing-jewish-voters-and-kamala-harris-prospects-235518

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xu Yi-chong, Professor of Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University

Seven years seems a lifetime in politics. In 2017, President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. It prompted Canada, China and the European Union to convene an urgent meeting to reaffirm political commitment to global climate action.

The successful meeting became an annual event which, this week, took place in Wuhan, China – just as the prospect of another Trump presidency looms large.

Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen represented Australia at the invitation-only meeting of climate ministers and senior officials from nearly 30 countries.

The group gathered to progress global climate negotiations in the lead-up to the next United Nations climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. Setting stronger emissions reduction targets should send clear signals for investment, which has been lagging in Australia – but not China.

China is making remarkable progress in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Analysts have observed record growth in solar and wind – reducing coal’s share in electricity generation – alongside a boom in manufacturing of low-carbon technologies, including batteries and electric vehicles.

All of this means China’s greenhouse gas emissions may have peaked, which would be great news for the planet. It also means Australia must get a move on if it wants to become a renewable energy superpower.

China’s quiet approach to climate diplomacy

China clearly wants to play more of a global leadership role in the energy transition, but also put pressure on its own industries and firms to take climate action. China’s decision to host this week’s meeting, and others, reflects this aspiration.

Earlier this month, China hosted a five-day meeting of “like-minded developing countries” in Shandong. Then there was a “BASIC” ministerial meeting on climate action with Brazil, India and South Africa last weekend.

The big meeting this week was formally known as the 8th Ministerial on Climate Action. It involved in-depth discussions on issues surrounding COP29 and COP30, strengthening international cooperation and promoting energy transition.

At the meeting, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell called for bolder climate action from all nations, especially the rich G20. Under the Paris Agreement, every nation must submit new national climate plans and targets by February next year. As Stiell says:

Done well, these plans are the key to stronger economic growth, more jobs and prosperity, much less pollution and better health.

The transition to a low-carbon economy requires structural changes that are both politically difficult and time-consuming. But China’s efforts to develop the technology for renewable energy revolution are starting to bear fruit, as I outline below.

Electricity

About 40% of China’s CO₂ emissions come from electricity generation, mainly coal, but the share of renewable energy is growing .

Wind capacity expanded from 61 gigawatts (GW) in 2012 to 441GW in 2023, while solar capacity rose from 3.4GW in 2013 to 610GW.

Coal-fired power plants are being built too, though at a much slower rate. Hydropower experienced several successive years of drought.

New storage technologies are being developed to manage the rapid expansion of solar and wind. These include water-pump storage, chemical storage, compressed-air storage, and virtual power plants. Long-distance transmission grids will enable better use of renewables.

China is also experimenting with climate policy including emissions trading and offsetting through carbon markets. A dual system that managed both energy consumption and intensity for nearly 30 years is being redesigned, because the government wants to target fossil fuel consumption instead.

The plan is to replace direct coal burning with electricity, coal with natural gas, and combustion engines with electric vehicles.

Transport

In 2023, global electric vehicle sales exceeded 13 million. China has the largest domestic electric vehicle market with more than 7 million units sold, representing a third of car sales.

In addition, China exported 1.2 million electric vehicles in 2023. This was 80% more than the previous year.

Electric vehicles are already cheaper than cars with internal combustion engines in China, because they have such a high market share. Local carmakers already offer nearly 50 different small, affordable electric models.

Steel

In April, China announced it was preparing to extend emissions trading to the steel industry. This sector is the country’s second largest CO₂ emitter, behind power.

Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution. The government allocates permits that allow release of a certain amount of CO₂ over a set period of time. These permits can be bought and sold, or traded.

China accounts for more than half of the world’s steel production. But the industry also supports the energy transition, because steel is used in renewables and electric vehicles manufacturing. Nearly 70% of the world’s key components of wind turbines and 80% of solar panel components are made in China.

The government is encouraging industry to work with universities and research institutes to reduce emissions. It will not be easy, and it will be costly.

China is the world’s largest hydrogen producer, but 80% comes from fossil fuels. Investment in green hydrogen research and development is increasing, with some firms determined to take the lead. If steel-making could be powered by green hydrogen, it would be a major breakthrough.

A glimpse of the future

Given the uncertainty surrounding the US election in November, China’s steady hand in climate diplomacy is welcome.

China is also showing Australia and other nations what’s possible if the energy transition is turned into an opportunity for innovation. The scale of the renewable energy rollout in China is staggering, but so too is the pace of technology development to support renewables – to efficiently store wind and solar power to supply electricity on demand.

As the International Energy Agency said in 2020, more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas reduction will be supported by the technologies that are still in development. China wants to get there first and corner the market. And there’s every indication it will succeed.

Xu Yi-chong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. China: still the world’s biggest emitter, but also an emerging force in climate diplomacy – https://theconversation.com/china-still-the-worlds-biggest-emitter-but-also-an-emerging-force-in-climate-diplomacy-235311