Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruari Elkington, Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries & Chief Investigator at QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Queensland University of Technology

Famed Australian director Bruce Beresford loves opera. If you weren’t aware of this before watching his new film, The Travellers, you most likely will be by the time the credits roll.

It would be reductive to suggest this movie is one big ad for opera’s ability to unite rural Australia. Yet, the way in which Beresford folds this art form into The Travellers across 97 minutes is at once beguiling, heartfelt and at times quite on the nose.

Despite this occasional clunkiness, Beresford has written and directed a film sure to please the broad swathe of Australian cinemagoers who know and care for popular Australian actor Bryan Brown’s big screen career.

The local film landscape

Australians are, unsurprisingly, a natural audience for Australian feature films. We make quite a few, by global standards, and these films continue to find receptive audiences both here and overseas.

Our domestic box office for locally produced films remains stubbornly low compared to other
nations. Nonetheless, there seems to be a strong desire for recognisably Australian screen stories, particularly on mobile and TV screens.

It’s easy to find Australians who say they enjoy local film. But getting audiences to show up during the crucial first week of a film’s theatrical release is hard.

The first week in the box office sets up a film’s success in the screen space; session times and word of mouth allow a film to actually stay in cinemas and be found by audiences. As one industry adage goes: like a parachute, if your film doesn’t open, it’s death.

The gap between how much audiences say they want to support local film, and how much actually do, can partly be linked to a struggle to understand what actually constitutes “Australian” film.

Let’s take the body horror Together, released in July, as an example. The degree to which this film was understood as an Australian feature varied greatly.

The film was shot in Melbourne, but set in Washington, United States. And while it was written and directed by Australian filmmaker Michael Shanks, it starred American actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie. It is both very Australian, and yet almost unrecognisable as an Australian film.

An ode to opera

The Travellers, on the other hand, is very recognisably Australian, from the establishing shot of Perth, to the next shot of the iconic Qantas 737 touching down to return protagonist Stephen Seary (Luke Bracey) to his troubled West Australian family. Beresford has compellingly and unashamedly anchored his story in an Australia many of us recognise.

Alongside his substantial film credits (including Driving Miss Daisy, Mao’s Last Dancer and Ladies in Black), Beresford is also an accomplished opera director.

In The Travellers, which he both writes and directs, he revels in telling the tale of acclaimed stage designer Stephen Seary, who returns to his regional hometown to attend to his dying mother, Enid (Christine Jeffery), and his recalcitrant, curmudgeonly father, Fred (Bryan Brown).

Just as ballet was displayed so beautifully in Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) as vibrant, contemporary and accessible, Beresford’s portrayal of opera (albeit not the Australian staging of opera) can’t be faulted in its love for the form.

The Travellers feels very much of a piece with Australian writer/director Bill Bennett’s successful 2024 theatrical release The Way, My Way, a semi-autobiographical film that chronicles Bennett’s efforts to complete the Camino de Santiago trail in Spain.

Tonally, both films share what might be described as a “heightened naturalism”. In The Travellers, this works well in scenes where Brown plays the well-recognised archetype of an older, grumpy, blokey dad.

But this tone is less effective in other scenes, such as when a minor character has to convincingly throw a punch at Stephen – or when we have to suspend disbelief as a live stream of Verdi’s La Traviatta holds an outback pub transfixed.

In one of the film’s several moments of opera boosterism, two industry folk gently rib each other on the state of Australian opera, which is “still staging the same six operas every year”. This is followed by a telling hypothetical: “what if they showed the same six films in cinemas every year?”

There won’t be five other titles much like The Travellers in Australian cinemas this year, or any other year. Its window to be seen is brief, not unlike the Verdi arias Beresford so carefully captures in the film.

But those who do see it will be rewarded with a gently unfurling yarn that delivers on the promise of Beresford’s and Brown’s brand of prestige Australian drama.

The Travellers is in cinemas from today.

Ruari Elkington receives funding from the Queensland government’s Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI), Screen Queensland, The Embassy of France in Australia, and the Cinema Association Australasia.

– ref. Bruce Beresford’s The Travellers blends opera and the outback in a heartfelt story about homecoming – https://theconversation.com/bruce-beresfords-the-travellers-blends-opera-and-the-outback-in-a-heartfelt-story-about-homecoming-266586

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

Social cohesion in Australia has been under serious pressure in the last few years. The deadly October 7 attacks on Israel two years ago and the ensuing war in Gaza have pulled at the fabric of Australian society.

Added to these pressures are increasing anti-immigration rhetoric, including anti-immigration protest marches and Liberal rebel Andrew Hastie saying he felt Australians were becoming “strangers” in their own country because of immigration.

Joining the podcast this week is the University of Technology Sydney’s Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Andrew Jakubowicz. Jakubowicz is an expert on multiculturalism, who’s been involved in many documentaries, studies and reports – and who describes multiculturalism in Australia today as “fragile, but under repair”.

Jakubowicz says while we’ve dealt with multiculturalism issues as a nation for generations, the recent Middle East conflict has raised “the tideline of hate speech”.

We’ve always had issues around questions of intergroup relations. And I go back long enough to be able to remember the Indo-Chinese, the first arrival of the Muslims, the struggles which broke out in Australia when the Yugoslav Federation broke up.

[…] Multiculturalism, when it’s worked best, recognises those tensions and then tries to resolve them through an equitable incorporation of people into the life of the community. And most of the time that works. We’ve not really been challenged in quite the way we are being challenged at the moment by what’s occurring in the Middle East […] It’s really hard, much harder than anything we’ve had to deal with before.

The issues in the Middle East […] affect two broad communities very intensely. They affect everyone else, not so much […] But the effect of that conflict is to generally raise […] the tideline of hate speech in the society. And that’s very, very difficult to manage.

On where multiculturalism is today, Jakubowicz says there’s been a breakdown in trust within some communities.

I think the level of tension and particularly between some communities is very much higher than it’s been. But we’ve already seen issues around the sort of levels of multicultural trust during COVID. There were many communities who felt very badly done by during the COVID pandemic lockdowns, which already eroded the trust.

[…] Multicultural societies, in fact, all societies, more or less, or democratic ones, work on the basis of how much trust there is between people […] The higher the level of trust, the more […] ‘social capital’ there is that you can build on.

Jakubowicz says some of the federal government’s current approach – such as setting up a ministry of multicultural affairs under Anne Aly, and a separate office of social cohesion under a different minister, Tony Burke – was “bizarre” and created “a structure for dynamic inertia”.

Jakubowicz also shares his thoughts on the two reports given to the government by its envoys to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia.

They’re very different documents in the way they’re structured and they think about the world […] I think what they do extremely well is they capture the sense of pain and astonishment and shock and fear which exists in both the Jewish and Muslim communities at the moment.

[…] What I find the most interesting is that neither of them really […] recognise the pain of others in the society. They look well at the pain of those for whom they’re concerned, but they don’t recognise that we live in a society in which other people feel pain for other reasons. And that developing collaborations between different communities depends initially at least on both sides recognising and respecting the sort of pain that the others have.

And if you don’t do that, you end up with something which is far too inward looking and which fails to adequately recognise that we have to have a society in which people collaborate – not in which they spend their time screaming at each other.

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: Andrew Jakubowicz on repairing our ‘fragile’ multicultural nation – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-andrew-jakubowicz-on-repairing-our-fragile-multicultural-nation-266990

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Partlett, Associate Professor of Public Law, The University of Melbourne

The commissioner of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), Paul Brereton, is once again facing criticism for his handling of a potential conflict of interest.

On Tuesday in a Senate estimates hearing, NACC Chief Executive Philip Reed faced difficult questions about why the NACC commissioner did not fully disclose to parliament the extent of his ongoing relationship with the inspector-general of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

This disclosure failure is far more than a small detail. It comes after a 2024 finding by the NACC inspector that Brereton engaged in “officer misconduct” in relation to a conflict of interest concerning the Robodebt scandal.

This again brings into question the commissioner’s ability to effectively manage conflicts of interest and avoid the perception of bias. In particular, it shows the defensive strategy Brereton and his team have taken to responding to these types of questions is backfiring.

To repair trust in his leadership and ensure the effectiveness of the NACC, Brereton must change course and be far more transparent and proactive.

Off to a bad start

In 2023, the Robodebt Royal Commission referred six officials involved in the scandal to the NACC for determinations of whether they engaged in “corrupt conduct”.

Prior to making this determination, Brereton publicly declared a conflict of interest on these referrals and stated he would remove himself from the decision-making process.

In June 2024, the NACC announced it would not be investigating the six officials.

Read more:
The National Anti-Corruption Commission turns 2 – has it restored integrity to federal government?

After receiving hundreds of complaints about this decision, the inspector of the NACC – the watchdog of the watchdog – published a report finding the commissioner failed to fully remove himself from the decision-making process.

This failure, the report concluded, was “officer misconduct” because it could have led a reasonable person to think the decision not to investigate was biased.

From bad to worse

This year, members of parliament began to raise a new potential concern about the commissioner: the nature of his ongoing relationship with the ADF.

The precise details of this relationship are also important to public perception because of the large number of defence-related matters the NACC must consider.

In response to a range of formal questions from parliament, Brereton disclosed that he remained part of the ADF Reserve but had formally resigned his post at the Inspector General for the ADF.

In September, however, we learned this didn’t fully capture the nature of his continuing relationship with the ADF.

In particular, media reporting found a much closer relationship, including that the commissioner was continuing to provide “critical” capability to the Inspector General in an informal capacity.

This ongoing relationship raises concerns not just because of the nature of the NACC’s work. It also raises the possibility the commissioner failed to reveal the whole truth to parliament.

The watchdog’s trust problem

More broadly, these matters raise concerns the commissioner doesn’t understand how to effectively build public trust in his leadership.

The NACC was established in 2022 to restore public trust in the exercise of public power. This trust is crucial to the ongoing health of Australian democracy.

To perform its important duties, the NACC commissioner must be broadly trusted.

On this issue, Brereton has some making up to do.

This is not just because of the Robodebt case. It’s also because concerns about his leadership are eroding overall trust in the NACC.

The inspector of the NACC, Gail Furness, testified to Senate estimates on Tuesday. She said she didn’t expect the sheer volume of complaints that she has received over the past two years. These included complaints about slow processing times.

She also said the number of “quite complex matters” was “increasing”. This included, Furness said, 55 complaints she had recently received concerning the commissioner’s “ongoing engagement” with defence.

Defend and deflect

To date, the commissioner and his team have adopted a defensive strategy to this trust problem. Their strategy includes downplaying or minimising these concerns.

In 2024, the NACC even included on its website a page characterising some concerns as “misinformation”.

More recently, in response to the undisclosed relationship with the inspector general, Brereton simply stated:

any perceived or actual conflict of interest that arises is managed appropriately.

On Tuesday in Senate estimates, NACC CEO Philip Reed said:

if public confidence is being impacted, it’s not our work […] it’s actually the amount of negative material that emerges about us that we have virtually no means of addressing.

Building trust

The perceptions of bias at the root of this trust problem cannot be “managed appropriately”, downplayed or classified as misinformation. To really build trust, the NACC and its leadership team must fundamentally change course.

First, they must openly and fully acknowledge to the public anything that involves even a minor potential for a conflict of interest. A good start would be a public announcement that Brereton is severing all ties to the ADF.

Second, they must make it clear to the public how the commissioner is distancing himself from matters involving conflicts of interest. This must include far more details about how Brereton (or anyone else in the NACC leadership team) is being fully excluded from the decision-making process when a conflict of interest is declared.

It’s not too late for the NACC and its leadership team to regain public trust and perform the role they are paid to do: safeguard trust in public power.

The stakes are high. We need only look to the United States today to see the terrible consequences of low levels of trust in government.

Hopefully Brereton and his team will take this opportunity to change course.

William Partlett is the Stephen Charles Fellow at the Centre for Public Integrity.

– ref. Australia’s anti-corruption commissioner has a trust problem. He needs to change course to fix it – https://theconversation.com/australias-anti-corruption-commissioner-has-a-trust-problem-he-needs-to-change-course-to-fix-it-266991

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, Associate Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney

As the weather starts to warm in Australia, you might notice the pleasant flutter of butterflies in your garden during the day. And perhaps if you’ve left a porch light on during the night, you will see a flurry of moths have gathered around it.

To an untrained eye, these fluttering insects can seem similar. And indeed, both are from the order of insects called Lepidoptera, which roughly translates to “scaly wings”. That’s because the wings of butterflies and moths are covered in microscopic scales. These scales are important for providing these insects with their beautiful colours, and they’re the cause of the “dust” that often comes off moths when handled or found in the back of a pantry.

But there are some key differences between these two kinds of creatures. So what makes a moth a moth and a butterfly a butterfly?

What is a moth?

When we think about moths, we’re often thinking about little, brown, (definitely not) boring insects in our pantries, and flying around our porch lights. However, there is so much variation in this group of insects, given there are about 22,000 species in Australia.

Moths generally have straight antennae. But if they’re males, their antennae are often fluffy and feather-like. These fluffy antennae are used to help them find mates from large distances.

Most moths are nocturnal, preferring to fly at night. And many flowers are adapted to be pollinated by night-flying insects such as moths. Dragonfruit, for example, benefit from pollination by moths and the flowers bloom at night.

Because they fly at night, moths can’t use the same visual cues, such as sunlight, that butterflies use to navigate. Instead, they use a range of non-visual cues to know where they are in the dark. For example, Australian bogong moths, which can travel up to 1,000 kilometres during their migrations, are known to use magnetic fields and stars to navigate.

Many moths are excellent at camouflage. Historically, there have been stories surrounding how peppered moths became darker due to the industrial revolution, but there are much more impressive moths! For example, moths from the genus Eudocima manage to look like a curled leaf with completely flat wings. Bee hawk-moths can trick us into thinking they’re bees.

Due to the significant amount of time they spend camouflaging and travelling at night, there’s less value to moths to be extremely colourful. So many moth species are duller in colour than their flamboyant cousins, the butterflies.

They’re also less hungry. Generally speaking, lepidopterans have a long coiled mouthpart to help them feed on nectar (and sometimes other things, including corpses).

However, many moths spend so much time feeding as caterpillars, that as adult moths they don’t have mouthparts. They live short adult lives that include mating and starving to death.

What is a butterfly?

Butterflies are the charismatic, popular members of the insect world, and with good reason. They come in a range of colours, and can be large and relatively easy to see. However, there are a lot less butterflies in Australia compared to moths, approximately 450 species.

So what makes a butterfly a butterfly?

The main factor that determines a butterfly is its clubbed antennae. Unlike those of moths, butterfly antennae consist of a long thread with a bead at the end. However, this can be pretty hard to see while they are fluttering around!

Butterflies are also day flying. This drastically changes how they look and behave in comparison to moths. Butterflies come in a range of bright and beautiful colours because they can be seen during the day.

Some butterflies are colourful simply to attract mates. Some, such as monarch butterflies, have aposematic displays, which aim to warn off predators by advertising the butterfly’s potential to be poisonous. Others, such as European swallowtails use deimatic displays, aimed to startle predators by imitating something scary like a face.

There are also examples of caterpillars that mimic bird poo, but that’s less of a defining factor.

There are always exceptions to the rules

We can’t talk about moths without discussing some of the species that don’t necessarily follow all the rules. There are many brightly coloured moths, including the Madagascan sunset moth and the heliotrope moth.

To make things more confusing there are also groups of moths that have hardly any scales on their wings, including clearwing moths.

Not all moths fly around at night, either. Tiger moths, for example, are frequently seen flying during the daytime, and are brightly coloured.

So sometimes, it can be really hard to determine where the line is between a moth and a butterfly.

How can we help moths and butterflies?

Our fluttering insects face many threats, including pesticide use, climate change and habitat loss. Planting a range of flowers in your garden can help provide food and habitat for moths and butterflies.

You can also get involved in citizen science, by uploading sightings of insects you see on apps like iNaturalist. If you’re interested in learning more about the grand travel of bogong moths, take photos of ones you see and upload them to Bogong Watch.

Caitlyn Forster previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is affiliated with Invertebrates Australia.

– ref. What’s the difference between moths and butterflies? Look at their antennae – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-moths-and-butterflies-look-at-their-antennae-266368

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Old, Associate Professor in Biology, Zoology and Animal Science, Western Sydney University

Wombat noses and whiskers don’t just make them adorable. Both are unique sensory organs essential for navigation, foraging and communication. They’re crucial to wombat survival in complex environments. The two different types of wombats are even named and classified according to their noses and whiskers.

Our recent research on wombat whiskers and noses reveals how these unique structures help wombats navigate underground and thrive in their habitats. Well-loved wombats are still full of surprises.

Understanding why wildlife species have specific anatomical features and how they use them helps scientists understand more about their place and importance in the environment. It ultimately helps us conserve these incredible species.

The need for a nose

Wombats are found in every part of Australia, except the Northern Territory.

Like many other marsupials, female wombats have pouches. The joey lives in the pouch for several months, permanently attached to the teat and becomes independent between 18 months and two years of age. Wombats live for around 20 years but have been known to survive more than 30 in captivity, such as elderly Wain, who is about 36 years old and lives in a zoo in Japan.

A wombat’s snout, or nose, is one of its most important and recognisable features. Wombats are classified and named based on the presence or absence of a rhinarium, the hairless area around the nostrils. The two hairy-nosed wombat species lack a rhinarium, while bare-nosed wombats have one.

In other animal species, the rhinarium is important for sensing touch and temperature, and for chemical detection. Dog rhinaria are thought to be used for heat detection, while the wet rhinaria of cows are associated with many glands thought to support olfaction (detecting smells and scents).

Shaping our environment

Wombats are ecosystem engineers – animals that significantly shape their environment. Within their range, wombats have multiple burrows they can share. Their digging turns over the soil, providing aeration and drainage, and supporting plant growth. Their burrows also provide shelter for other species, such as possums and birds.

paraphrased here for ease of reading and to avoid repetition, OK Mammals use whiskers – specialised hairs associated with sensory receptors – to help navigate. Whiskers are particularly important in nocturnal animals and those that dig and live in burrows, such as wombats. Receptors convert whiskers’ movement into signals sent to the brain, which allow the animal to obtain important information from their environment, such as where they are in the burrow.

paraphrased here for ease of reading and to avoid repetition, OK Wombats also use whiskers, along with scent, to help find grass, their favourite food.

Whiskers to navigate

Hairy-nosed wombats have a broader snout compared to bare-nosed wombats, which may increase the available space for whiskers.

When we examined and compared the whiskers on southern hairy-nosed wombats with bare-nosed wombats we found southern hairy-nosed wombats had longer and thicker whiskers. There were also significantly more whiskers on the muzzle and above the eyes compared to bare-nosed wombats.

We think this might be because hairy-nosed wombats excavate larger and more complex warrens than bare-nosed wombats. They may also rely more on their whiskers to navigate or when interacting with other wombats in shared burrows.

A strong sense of smell

Like many other marsupials, wombats have a large olfactory bulb, a part of the brain associated with smelling. The size of an olfactory bulb corresponds to an animal’s ability to detect and process smells, providing further evidence of the importance of scent for wombats to help find food and detect predators.

Famously, wombats have cube-shaped poo. They often deposit their poo at burrow entrances and in unique areas such as on rocks, branches and tufts of grass. It’s likely they use their poo to mark their territory, just as rabbits do.

Like all marsupials investigated to date, wombats have a vomeronasal organ alongside their olfactory system. This is a separate smelling organ that detects pheromones, which are mostly used as chemical messages between wombats sharing a burrow. Importantly, pheromones support social interactions, including mother-young bonding and when wombats are ready to mate.

Just like cats and cattle, wombats exhibit a Flehmen response. This is when the animal curls back its upper lip, exposes its front teeth and inhales deeply. This behavioural response helps wombats process interesting smells by concentrating them in the nasal cavity.

The primary function of a nose is to act as an opening to allow air to flow in and out of the lungs. But aninoses – what are these? do you mean ‘noses’? also cool or warm, and moisten the air entering the body.

The nasal cavity is therefore moist and covered in mucous, and other secretions, which reduce bacteria and viruses from entering the lungs and causing infections and disease.

Surviving on a whisker and a prayer

Australia’s beloved wombats have evolved many features that let them thrive and act as ecosystem engineers.

Our research shows how important their snouts and whiskers are in supporting their lives, from identifying burrow mates and predators to finding food and navigating complex burrow systems in the dark. Without this, wombats would not survive.

Wombats are under pressure on multiple fronts, including being killed on roads and suffering from sarcoptic mange, a parasitic skin infection.

The more we know about these creatures, the better equipped we are to help them thrive.

Julie is an Associate Editor at Australian Mammalogy, a member of the Australian Mammal Society, and a Director on the Board of The Wombat Foundation.

– ref. Whiskers for warrens: why wombats have such whiskery snouts – https://theconversation.com/whiskers-for-warrens-why-wombats-have-such-whiskery-snouts-266351

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Conrad Pilditch, Professor of Marine Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

A new law that almost triples the protected area in the Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana – New Zealand’s largest marine park at more than 1.2 million hectares, surrounding Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula – is something to be celebrated.

But it comes with compromises, and it is especially disappointing that some forms of commercial fishing will continue in some areas.

This week, parliament passed the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill into law. It increases areas under some form of protection from 6% to 18% by extending two existing marine reserves and adding 12 high protection areas and five seafloor protection areas.

These new areas add to the diversity of habitats under protection, including under-represented soft sediment ecosystems, and provide new opportunities for customary management. While fishing will be restricted in 18% of the gulf, there is a carve-out for commercial ring-net fishing in high protection areas.

This diminishes their status as protected areas and makes it more difficult for New Zealand to fulfil its promise under the Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of the marine environment by 2030.

We should also recognise this is only a starting point in restoring the mauri (life force) of the gulf. Animals that live in the gulf’s water column remain vulnerable, and given the rate of environmental change in New Zealand’s waters, we need to fast-track the conservation process.

Levels of protection

The new legislation has three forms of protection.

Marine reserves are complete no-take zones. High protection areas (HPAs) allow for restoration activities and provide for customary practices of tangata whenua. Seafloor protection areas (SPAs) protect habitats on the seabed, but they allow for activities that don’t damage them, such as non-bottom fishing.

All three forms of protection share a common theme in restricting large-scale seafloor disturbances from bottom trawling and dredging, large-scale removal of non-living material such as sand, and dumping or discharge of waste.

The protection of the seafloor is critical to preserving the many benefits we gain from its ecosystems, including carbon storage, the processing of excess nutrients, provision of food for fish, and nursery habitats.

HPAs value Māori management and support the restoration of nature and culture. This opens up opportunities to undertake active restoration to accelerate passive recovery. Such activities may include large-scale kina (sea urchin) removal and re-seeding of shellfish populations.

Many of the HPAs are alongside areas where significant restorative efforts are happening on land. This acknowledges land-sea connections and these areas will hopefully become successful examples of what integrated management can achieve.

Lessons from NZ’s oldest marine reserve

The Cape Rodney-Okakari Point (Goat Island) Marine Reserve at Leigh became New Zealand’s first legislated marine reserve 50 years ago.

This reserve, on the north-east coast of the Hauraki Gulf, will quadruple in size under the new law. It has taught us many lessons about how coastal reef ecosystems are affected by human activity and how marine reserves benefit people, including fishers.

For example, we know that marine reserves maintain populations of predators, such as large lobsters and snapper, which stop sea urchins from becoming too abundant and over-grazing coastal kelp forests.

The ability to protect large snapper has also demonstrated that size matters in fish reproduction. The marine reserve contributes disproportionately to the snapper population across a large part of the gulf. If this is scaled with the new protection area, it should lead to a more productive fishery that will benefit all.

The expansion of the Cape Rodney-Okarkai Point Marine Reserve and the Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve at Hahei will open up new opportunities for learning about connections between reef and soft-sediment habitats and how they influence biodiversity.

Fast-tracking marine conservation

Overfishing, pollution, climate change and invasive species mean marine ecosystems are changing rapidly. Management responses must do so as well.

Successive State of the Gulf Reports have documented the continued decline of its ecosystems. This new legislation builds on decades of efforts to protect the gulf. It follows the 2016 Sea Change/Tai Timu Tai Pari marine spatial plan and the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act 2000 which provided special recognition for the gulf but no additional protection.

During times of rapid environmental change, we need strong connections between science, policy and management. Otherwise, we’re at risk of missing the connections and processes responsible for ecological tipping points.

This new law must not be the end to marine protection and restoration of the Hauraki Gulf. Early European settlers reported an abundance
of fish, invertebrates, whales and dolphins and we are a long way from these historical baselines.

The new measures protect from some important forms of stress, namely overfishing and seafloor disturbance, but there are many others that continue to affect the gulf, including those that begin on land. Unless we work to substantially reduce the flow of sediment, nutrients and microplastics into the gulf, recovery will be slow.

We also need to remember what these new measures do not protect: the fish, marine mammals and seabirds that live or move through the water column or depend on it.

Our research and experience so far highlights the need to apply systems thinking to the management of marine environments. This means recognising and accounting for the dependencies between the ecological health and economic and social wealth of the Hauraki Gulf.

Conrad Pilditch receives funding from the Department of Conservation, MBIE, regional councils and PROs. He is affiliated with the Mussel Reef Restoration Trust, the Whangateau Catchment Collective and New Zealand Marine Sciences Society.

Simon Francis Thrush receives funding from MBIE and philanthropy. He is affiliated with the Royal Society New Zealand, NZ Marine Sciences Society and Whangateau Harbour Care.

– ref. Protected areas in the Hauraki Gulf nearly triple under a new law – but it comes with a catch – https://theconversation.com/protected-areas-in-the-hauraki-gulf-nearly-triple-under-a-new-law-but-it-comes-with-a-catch-266900

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Lamarche-Beauchesne, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Enterprise, Torrens University Australia

For decades, animal rights activists, campaigners and ethical designers have fought to strip fur fashion of its glamour and expose the cruelty behind it.

From bold celebrity-led protests to quiet shifts in consumer values, these efforts have slowly reshaped the fashion landscape.

Now, one of the industry’s most influential gatekeepers, Condé Nast – publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Glamour – has announced it will no longer feature “new animal fur in editorial content or advertising” across its titles.

The decision, which includes exceptions for what are outlined as “byproducts of subsistence and Indigenous practices”, marks a symbolic turning point within the fashion media landscape due to Condé Nast’s global reach.

It is especially significant given Vogue’s legacy in glamorising fur and its historically unwavering support under former editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, one of fur’s most powerful advocates in fashion media and a long-time target of the anti-fur movement.

Wintour remains involved at Condé Nast in the role of chief content officer, and as Vogue’s global editorial director.

Anti-fur campaigns

The announcement by Condé Nast follows a nine-month campaign led by the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade. This activist group staged more than a hundred protests targeting Condé Nast executives, editors and affiliated businesses.

Demonstrations ranged from picketing outside the homes of Vogue editors to disruptive actions inside stores linked to Condé Nast through board affiliations.

While this campaign undoubtedly influenced the publisher’s decision, it was likely the culmination of anti-fur advocacy dating back to the early 20th century.

The long tail of the movement

Animal rights activism in fashion can be traced back to the late 19th century, when the feather trade decimated bird populations and led to the extinction of species prized for their plumage.

Anti-fur activism followed. It gained momentum in the 1970s, and with the founding of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 1980.

Through high-profile campaigns exposing the cruelty of fur farms, PETA enlisted celebrities and models to pose nude in its iconic “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” ads.

These efforts led to tangible change. Calvin Klein dropped fur in 1994, citing animal advocacy. Since then, fur-free policies have become a relatively easy win for brands navigating the increasingly complex ethics of animal materials.

A new standard for luxury fashion

Several US states have banned fur sales, and fur farming is now outlawed in countries including the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Austria, Italy and Norway.

Condé Nast’s new position places it alongside other media and fashion leaders. Elle magazine went fur-free in 2021. Major luxury brands such as Max Mara, Burberry, Chanel, Prada, Valentino and Versace have adopted similar policies, as have retailers including David Jones (Australia), Macy’s (US), Nordstrom (US), Saks Fifth Avenue (US) and Hudson’s Bay (Canada).

In 2022, French luxury conglomerate Kering also committed to a fur-free policy across its brand portfolio.

The largest remaining holdout is LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE) – the parent company of Dior and Fendi – which faces mounting pressure to follow suit.

The fur paradox

Despite these shifts, fur remains a fascination within fashion, and periodic revivals are still celebrated in the press.

TikTok’s 2024 “mob wives” aesthetic, featuring oversized fur coats and animal prints, sparked a return of fur on winter runways. Singer Sabrina Carpenter even wore a special edition Louis Vuitton fox fur coat on the day of the Met Gala.

This paradox reflects fashion’s cyclical and often contradictory nature. Faux fur and faux shearling are increasingly used to replicate the luxury aesthetic without the ethical baggage. Yet debates about the environmental impact of synthetic fur complicate this narrative.

What’s next?

Condé Nast’s fur-free stance comes at a time when many fashion brands are rethinking or rolling back their sustainability commitments.

Some industry observers worry climate goals are being deprioritised. Ralph Lauren, for instance, has dropped its net-zero emissions target. Also, the Vestiaire Collective, a platform for pre-loved luxury item resale, has started monetising its activities by selling carbon credits, demonstrating the difficulty of navigating current market conditions.

Still, there are signs of progress. Stella McCartney’s Summer 2025 Paris Fashion Week show featured feather alternatives made of plant-based materials.

This year also marked the first Australian Fashion Week in which fur, feathers and exotic leathers were banned from catwalks.

Animal rights advocates, such as Collective Fashion Justice founder Emma Hakansson, continue to push for the industry to reduce its use of leather, wool and other animal-derived material.

This space is dynamic and evolving. Whether Condé Nast’s decision is a tipping point, or another fashion fad, remains to be seen.

Rachel Lamarche-Beauchesne has previously received funding from the federal government, and has been an electoral candidate for the Animal Justice Party. She is also the founder of plant-based micro-brand Les Plantes.

– ref. Condé Nast bans fur after decades of protest. Is it a turning point, or another fashion fad? – https://theconversation.com/conde-nast-bans-fur-after-decades-of-protest-is-it-a-turning-point-or-another-fashion-fad-266885

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Moss, Senior Lecturer in History, UNSW Sydney

After a slight delay, Australia and Papua New Guinea formally signed a defence treaty this week committing the two nations to come to each other’s aid if one is faced with an attack.

According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the treaty also allows for up to 10,000 Papua New Guineans to join the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Some Australians may in turn join the PNG Defence Force.

This is a monumental change for the ADF and for its relationship with PNG. But it is far from an unprecedented one.

In fact, Australia has a long history of not only working with PNG on defence, but also of Papua New Guineans being an integral part of Australia’s armed forces. This history can now be a source of vital lessons for the two countries’ newly expanded cooperation.

A long history of serving together

Many Australians might remember the “fuzzy wuzzy” angels, the term (now considered derogatory) given to Papua New Guineans who carried supplies and wounded Australian soldiers on stretchers in the second world war.

These men were essential to victory against the Japanese, but laboured under tough conditions and were often forcibly conscripted.

Around 4,000 Papua New Guinean men also served as soldiers in defence of Australia in the war. These men participated in Australia’s first battles along the Kokoda Track, and almost every one after that.

In 1951, a new unit of Papua New Guineans was created as part of the Australian Army in response to rising Cold War tensions. Named the Pacific Islands Regiment, this unit had about 3,000 Papua New Guineans serving in it, along with support units, at the time of independence in 1975.

This meant around one in 11 members of the regular Australian Army were Papua New Guinean.

In turn, around 500 Australians were serving with the Australian Army’s forces in PNG at any time during the 1960s and 1970s.

Papua New Guinean units were not a foreign part of the Australian Army: until PNG’s independence, Papua New Guineans were Australian citizens, albeit treated as distinctly second class because of their race.

As such, these soldiers were an integral and integrated part of the Australian Army, as much a part of it as the Royal Australian Regiment.

The same applied to the small Papua New Guinean naval unit based at Manus Island, which was part of the Royal Australian Navy. PNG officers trained in Australia, and PNG sailors gained experience on Australian ships.

These units were a vital part of defending Australia, particularly when tensions were high with Indonesia in the early 1960s. During that time, PNG soldiers were the first line of Australia’s defence should war have broken out.

After independence, the PNG Defence Force was formed. Some Australians stayed on to guide the new force, but from then on, it was PNG’s own.

Overcoming problems

The pact signed by Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape will see the two countries bind their forces closely together again.

The treaty allows for both recruitment and integration of personnel into each country’s defence forces, along with more interoperability in logistics and procurement.

There are many important lessons that can be learned from the past to ensure this integration is seamless.

The most crucial of these is ensuring understanding between Australian and Papua New Guinean soldiers.

In 1961, for instance, there were some discipline issues in the Pacific Islands Regiment. PNG soldiers were unhappy with their poor pay and conditions, which prompted some to march towards Port Moresby in protest, disobeying orders to stay at the barracks.

Australian Army officials acknowledged their role in these problems, including a year-long delay in addressing pay concerns and poorly trained Australian officers, few of whom spoke local languages.

The army’s response to these issues was education. From the 1960s to 1975, the army initiated a concentrated education program for PNG soldiers, including everything from civic studies to current affairs.

At the same time, the army acknowledged that understanding the backgrounds, languages, cultures and needs of the Papua New Guinean soldiers was essential to creating an effective force. This saw an effort to ensure that only the best Australian officers were sent to PNG, and these men would learn Tok Pisin as soon as they arrived.

Papua New Guinean officers were also recruited from 1963 to build a cohort of leaders who deeply understood the men under their command.

These efforts created a focused, disciplined and educated force that was handed over to an independent PNG in 1975. This is one of the unsung achievements of the Australian Army.

Read more:
With new PNG defence treaty, Australia is delivering on its rhetoric about trust at a critical time

What we can learn today

It will be just as important today for Australian defence personnel to understand the PNG soldiers they’ll be working with. Education programs focusing on history, culture and language, coupled with experience working together, will be crucial to the treaty’s success.

We should celebrate the diversity these soldiers will bring to the ADF. These soldiers will enhance the ADF’s ability to operate with the people and unique geography of the Pacific region.

Efforts should be also made to recruit more PNG officers and non-commissioned officers so the ADF can lead and work with them.

One final element will be reintegrating PNG’s military history with our own, demonstrating that Papua New Guineans have already contributed a great deal to the defence of both our countries.

There are many questions still to be answered, such as exactly how this integration will work and what it will mean for PNG’s own defence force.

However, Papua New Guineans are not new arrivals to the defence of Australia. They have been defending us since 1940.

Tristan Moss has previously received funding from the Australian Department of Defence and the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Australia-PNG defence treaty: what we can learn from history to make this new alliance work – https://theconversation.com/australia-png-defence-treaty-what-we-can-learn-from-history-to-make-this-new-alliance-work-266784

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Meyer, Senior Lecturer, Anatomy and Pathology in the College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University

Imagine two scenarios. In the first, you’re hiking uphill on a warm day, beads of sweat rolling down your forehead. In the second, you’ve just remembered you have an exam tomorrow and now the palms of your hands are cold and damp.

Both involve sweating but the causes and implications are different.

One scenario produces hot sweat, the other cold sweat. So what’s the difference?

What is hot sweat?

This type of sweat is also called thermoregulatory sweat. It’s the body’s natural response to increased core body temperature, which most often comes from physical exertion. As sweat evaporates from the skin, it cools down the body to help prevent overheating.

When you’ve been exercising, or are outside on a hot day, your body warms up, then sends a message to the hypothalamus region of your brain.

Your hypothalamus likes to keep your body in an optimum temperature range. So to reduce heat stress it sends signals down the spinal cord and into peripheral nerves (nerves outside the spinal cord and brain). This stimulates secretion of sweat from the eccrine glands in your skin.

Humans have millions of eccrine glands, which are packed at a density of 250–550 glands per square centimetre on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Places where you have hair (such as the face, trunk and limbs) have a lower density of eccrine glands.

Sweat from eccrine glands is mostly water and salt.

What is cold sweat?

Cold sweat is also called psychological sweat. It appears when you’re experiencing stress, anxiety, fear or pain.

These activate the amygdala, the brain region that helps you feel and respond to emotions. The amygdala then activates the hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus performs multiple functions simultaneously. It sends signals down the spinal cord and into peripheral nerves to stimulate eccrine glands in the skin.

It also sends a message to the adrenal glands sitting above the kidneys to release norepinephrine (also called noradrenaline) and epinephrine (adrenaline) hormones. These hormones travel through the blood and affect a different type of sweat gland in the skin, the apocrine glands.

Apocrine glands are mainly in the armpit, breasts, face and perineum (where the external genitalia are). Sweat from apocrine glands contains lots of lipids (fats), proteins, sugar and ammonia.

As cold sweat triggers eccrine and apocrine glands, you can sweat all over your body.

Which type smells more?

Sweat itself – whether hot or cold – does not smell. But when bacteria on your skin feed on sweat, this produces volatile organic compounds. And it’s these that smell. Blame bacteria such as Corynebacterium, Staphyloccocus and Cutibacterium.

A small study from Japan showed stress, not exercise, triggered unpleasant body odours in people who normally don’t have body odour.

That’s probably because bacteria prefer the cold sweat from apocrine glands. It’s a tasty meal, full of fat, protein and sugars.

Another study analysed the results of 26 earlier studies involving 1,652 people. This showed that when we’re frightened, we give off specific smells via our sweat.

So yes, fear and stress really do have a distinctive smell that should warn others to stay away.

In a nutshell

The terms hot and cold sweat don’t refer to the temperature of the sweat itself. The fluid released is always at body temperature.

Producing hot sweat is normal and an effective way for your body to lose heat. Cold sweat signals to others that you’re distressed in some way.

If you’re concerned about your sweating, see your GP. This is especially important if you start sweating more, less, or differently on either side of your body, without changing your lifestyle.

Amanda Meyer is affiliated with the American Association for Anatomy and the Global Neuroanatomy Network.

Monika Zimanyi 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. What’s the difference between hot sweat and cold sweat? – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-hot-sweat-and-cold-sweat-264037

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, Lecturer and Research Supervisor, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney

Advice about cutting down on dopamine is everywhere right now. From “dopamine fasting” to “anti-dopamine parenting” and even “raw-dogging” flights (going without any screens, books or music), TikTok influencers claim these practices have rewired their brains.

Modern life constantly bombards our brains with stimulation, through scrolling feeds, video games, email pings and sugary snacks. This keeps dopamine – the neurotransmitter linked to reward and motivation – in steady circulation.

Over time, this constant activation can leave us desensitised, chasing even more stimulation just to feel “normal”. Everyday life begins to seem bland by comparison.

So it’s no surprise people have tried to come up with ways to reset their dopamine and change their behaviour. But do these strategies actually work?

Can you actually detox from dopamine?

No, you can never actually “detox” from dopamine itself. A detox involves eliminating a chemical from your body. If you go through an alcohol detox, for example, you stop drinking and allow your body to rid itself of alcohol-related toxins.

In the context of dopamine, a detox is impossible. Dopamine is naturally occurring and plays a significant role in various aspects of human physiology. It’s involved in the pleasure and reward centre of the brain, as well as in motivation, movement, arousal and sleep.

If we were to completely detox from dopamine, we wouldn’t be able to function, let alone stay alive.

“Dopamine detoxes” have involved people intentionally avoiding behaviours or substances that trigger quick bursts of dopamine, such as gaming, social media, sugary foods or online shopping. These “pleasure detoxes” usually occur over a short, set period of time: around 24 hours.

A 24-hour dopamine detox might feel hard and like something significant is happening. People report uncomfortable urges, cravings and sometimes even feelings of fatigue, anxiety or irritability during the process. The discomfort can lead some to believe that they are successfully “resetting” their brains.

While a dopamine detox may feel intense, most people won’t experience any meaningful, lasting improvements by abstaining for a day or two. Dopamine regulation is a complex process influenced by many factors, and it doesn’t undergo a sudden reset in a short 24-hour period.

Research suggests that after the period of abstinence, old habits and urges often return, unless people actively build new routines and coping strategies that engage healthier reward pathways.

So what can you do instead?

If you want to change your relationship with dopamine-driven behaviours or substances, be prepared for this to take longer that 24 hours.

Substituting “fast dopamine” rewards with “slow dopamine” activities can gradually restore the brain’s sensitivity to pleasure and help life feel rich again.

This might involve returning to activities that naturally require more patience and effort, such as creative projects, exercising or learning something new.

But it can also include other pleasurable experiences, such as connecting with someone face-to-face, or listening to music you love.

These activities can activate dopamine pathways, as well as the release of other neurotransmitters, such as oxytocin and serotonin, which contribute to a positive mood.

The popularity of dopamine detoxes reflects a desire to feel better, regain motivation and reconnect with pleasures in a world overloaded by stimulation. But there’s no reset button for the brain’s dopamine system. Luckily, we can switch to longer-term rewards from movement, music, connection and stretching ourselves in other ways.

Anastasia is the author of The Dopamine Brain

– ref. What is a ‘dopamine detox’? And do I need one? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-dopamine-detox-and-do-i-need-one-254813

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Director, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame, The University of Queensland

Reports of illegal tobacco crimes have sharply increased in Australia in recent years. Organised crime syndicates believed to be behind tobacco smuggling operations have also infiltrated the retail sector.

There have been more than 250 firebombings of tobacconists and other shops across Australia since March 2023. Owners have been threatened to “earn or burn”: either sell tobacco illegally for the syndicate, hand over the keys to their shop, or have it burnt down.

Some arson attacks are between rival syndicates vying for control of the illegal market. There have also been murders – including an innocent bystander killed in Melbourne in an arson attack – associated with these “turf wars”.

While all states and territories are grappling with how to respond to this growing problem, some are much further ahead than others.

Steep fines and even jail for landlords

Since June, landlords in South Australia have been able to terminate the leases of tenants using their premises to sell illegal tobacco or vape products.

The state’s landlords are also being held to account. Those who turn a blind eye to illegal tobacco sales in their premises can now be fined up to A$10,000 for a first offence, with corporations facing a $25,000 fine.

But Queensland looks set to introduce even tougher penalties for landlords than South Australia. Under proposed new laws, Queensland landlords who don’t evict tenants who use their premises to sell illegal tobacco and vapes would face a maximum fine of more than $160,000, one year in jail – or both.

Landlords trading as a corporation would also risk a maximum fine of more than $800,000 under new civil penalties that would be easier to enforce than chasing a criminal prosecution.

The new Queensland laws are being reviewed by a parliamentary committee, with public submissions closing this Friday. Its final report is due on November 7.

The Shopping Centre Council of Australia supports Queensland’s proposal, saying it’s a model for other states because they “give landlords the backing and protections they need”.

Meanwhile, New South Wales has already introduced lease termination powers for landlords. It’s also reviewing whether to introduce penalties for landlords who knowingly lease their premises to illegal tobacco and vape suppliers.

Which states are lagging on action?

All states and territories now have tobacco retailer licensing schemes. But there are big differences in the offences and penalties for retailers found selling or possessing illegal tobacco and vapes.

At the higher end, maximum penalties include large fines (such as $2.1 million for individuals committing a first offence in South Australia involving a large quantity of illicit tobacco or vapes) and substantial jail time (such as 15 years’ imprisonment for illicit tobacco sales in Victoria).

Like South Australia, New South Wales can close tobacco retailers for up to 12 months.

Queensland’s proposed reforms would also extend the duration of on-the-spot closure orders to three months (up from 72 hours), or up to 12 months through the courts (up from a maximum of six months).

But Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are lagging. They all impose much weaker penalties for retailers caught selling illegal tobacco products.

They also haven’t acted to make it easier for landlords to end leases of illegal tobacco sellers.

What else do we need to do nationally?

All states and territories need adequately resourced enforcement officers and laws that support swift action against retailers involved in illegal sales.

A key feature of Queensland’s planned approach is the focus on rapid enforcement measures, such as large on-the-spot fines and immediate closure orders, rather than relying on lengthy court processes.

When Queensland authorities find illegal tobacco or vaping products in retail outlets, the proposed reforms would also allow them to seize all smoking products onsite. This measure would speed up enforcement action by avoiding the time-consuming process of determining the legal status of every product in the shop.

There are many more policy changes that could further help control illegal tobacco and vape sales. Priorities include:

Reducing legal sales licences: we recommend all states and territories cap and reduce the number of tobacco retailer licences that are issued.

The market has too many tobacco retailers for a declining consumer base. So at a minimum, no retailer licences should be issued to new applicants.

This would also prevent crime syndicates from simply obtaining a new licence under a different name when a licence is cancelled or a closure order is imposed.

Minimum prices: setting a minimum retail price for tobacco products would help authorities rapidly identify retailers involved in illegal tobacco sales.

Making cash sales harder: ATMs are commonly found in retail outlets selling tobacco illegally, because the machines enable cash transactions. We suggest that – like the new penalties for landlords – ATM providers should face large penalties if they don’t immediately remove their machines from premises found selling tobacco illegally.

Australia now has an Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette Commissioner, Amber Shuhyta. As Shuhyta has said, simply reducing the federal tobacco tax would not reduce this illegal market.

Improving the ability of state and territory authorities to take faster, more meaningful action against retailers supplying tobacco illegally offers a far more promising approach.

Coral Gartner receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and Australian Institute of Criminology. She has been engaged as an expert for the Australian government in litigation. She is a member of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and the Public Health Association of Australia and is the Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board for the BMJ Journal, Tobacco Control. She is a member of Project Sunset, which is a non-profit network of tobacco control researchers and advocates who support phasing out the general retailing of commercial tobacco products.

Cheneal Puljević receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Australian Institute of Criminology, Queensland Police Service, Cancer Council Victoria, and Metro South Health.

Michaela Estelle Okninski is affiliated with the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law.

– ref. Queensland landlords could soon face jail for ignoring illegal tobacco. What are other states doing? – https://theconversation.com/queensland-landlords-could-soon-face-jail-for-ignoring-illegal-tobacco-what-are-other-states-doing-266895

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Shackell, Sessional Academic, School of Information Systems, Queensland University of Technology

The electrification boom of the 1920s set the United States up for a century of industrial dominance and powered a global economic revolution.

But before electricity faded from a red-hot tech sector into invisible infrastructure, the world went through profound social change, a speculative bubble, a stock market crash, mass unemployment and a decade of global turmoil.

Understanding this history matters now. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a similar general purpose technology and looks set to reshape every aspect of the economy. But it’s already showing some of the hallmarks of electricity’s rise, peak and bust in the decade known as the Roaring Twenties.

The reckoning that followed could be about to repeat.

First came the electricity boom

A century ago, when people at the New York Stock Exchange talked about the latest “high tech” investments, they were talking about electricity.

Investors poured money into suppliers such as Electric Bond & Share and Commonwealth Edison, as well as companies using electricity in new ways, such as General Electric (for appliances), AT&T (telecommunications) and RCA (radio).

It wasn’t a hard sell. Electricity brought modern movies, new magazines from faster printing presses, and evenings by the radio.

It was also an obvious economic game changer, promising automation, higher productivity, and a future full of leisure and consumption. In 1920, even Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin declared: “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”

Today, a similar global urgency grips both communist and capitalist countries about AI, not least because of military applications.

Then came the peak

Like AI stocks now, electricity stocks “became favorites in the boom even though their fundamentals were difficult to assess”.

Market power was concentrated. Big players used complex holding structures to dodge rules and sell shares in basically the same companies to the public under different names.

US finance professor Harold Bierman, who argued that attempts to regulate overpriced utility stocks were a direct trigger for the crash, estimated that utilities made up 18% of the New York Stock Exchange in September 1929. Within electricity supply, 80% of the market was owned by just a handful of holding firms.

But that’s just the utilities. As today with AI, there was a much larger ecosystem.

Almost every 1920s “megacap” (the largest companies at the time) owed something to electrification. General Motors, for example, had overtaken Ford using new electric production techniques.

Essentially, electricity became the backdrop to the market in the same way AI is doing, as businesses work to become “AI-enabled”.

No wonder that today tech giants command over a third of the S&P 500 index and nearly three-quarters of the NASDAQ. Transformative technology drives not only economic growth, but also extreme market concentration.

In 1929, to reflect the new sector’s importance, Dow Jones launched the last of its three great stock averages: the electricity-heavy Dow Jones Utilities Average.

But then came the bust

The Dow Jones Utilities Average went as high as 144 in 1929. But by 1934, it had collapsed to just 17.

No single cause explains the New York Stock Exchange’s unprecedented “Great Crash”, which began on October 24 1929 and preceded the worldwide Great Depression.

That crash triggered a banking crisis, credit collapse, business failures, and a drastic fall in production. Unemployment soared from just 3% to 25% of US workers by 1933 and stayed in double figures until the US entered the second world war in 1941.

The ripple effects were global, with most countries seeing a rise in unemployment, especially in countries reliant on international trade, such as Chile, Australia and Canada, as well as Germany.

The promised age of shorter hours and electric leisure turned into soup kitchens and bread lines.

The collapse exposed fraud and excess. Electricity entrepreneur Samuel Insull, once Thomas Edison’s protégé and builder of Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison, was at one point worth US$150 million – an even more staggering amount at the time.

But after Insull’s empire went bankrupt in 1932, he was indicted for embezzlement and larceny. He fled overseas, was brought back, and eventually acquitted – but 600,000 shareholders and 500,000 bondholders lost everything.

However, to some Insull seemed less a criminal mastermind than a scapegoat for a system whose flaws ran far deeper.

Reforms unthinkable during the boom years followed.

The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 broke up the huge holding company structures and imposed regional separation. Once exciting electricity darlings became boring regulated infrastructure: a fact reflected in the humble “Electric Company” square on the original 1935 Monopoly board.

Lessons from the 1920s for today

AI is rolling out faster than even those seeking to use it for business or government policy can sometimes manage properly.

Like electricity a century ago, a few interconnected firms are building today’s AI infrastructure.

And like a century ago, investors are piling in – though many don’t know the extent of their exposure through their superannuation funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Just as in the late 1920s, today’s regulation of AI is still loose in many parts of the world – though the European Union is taking a tougher approach with its world-first AI law.

US President Donald Trump has taken the opposite approach, actively cutting “onerous regulation” of AI. Some US states have responded by taking action themselves. The courts, when consulted, are hamstrung by laws and definitions written for a different era.

Can we transition to AI being invisible infrastructure like electricity without a another bust, only then followed by reform?

If the parallels to the electrification boom remain unnoticed, the chances are slim.

Cameron Shackell works primarily as a Sessional Academic at the QUT School of Information Systems. He also works one day a week as CEO of Equate IT Consulting, a firm using AI to analyse brands and trademarks.

– ref. Today’s AI hype has echoes of a devastating technology boom and bust 100 years ago – https://theconversation.com/todays-ai-hype-has-echoes-of-a-devastating-technology-boom-and-bust-100-years-ago-265492

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Qiang Tang, Associate Professor, Computer Science, University of Sydney

Nowadays data breaches aren’t rare shocks – they’re a weekly drumbeat. From leaked customer records to stolen source code, our digital lives keep spilling into the open.

Git services are especially vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. These are online hosting platforms that are widely used in the IT industry to collaboratively develop software, and are home to most of the world’s computer code.

Just last week, hackers reportedly stole about 570 gigabytes of data from a git service called GitLab. The stolen data was associated with major companies such as IBM and Siemens, as well as United States government organisations.

In December 2022, hackers stole source code from IT company Okta which was stored in repositories on GitHub.

Cyberattackers can also quietly insert malicious code into existing projects without a developer’s knowledge. These so-called “software supply-chain” attacks have turned development tools and update channels on git services into high-value targets.

As we explain in a new conference paper, our team has developed a new way to make git services more secure, with very little impact on performance.

The gold standard

We already know how to keep conversations private: secure messenger services such as Signal and WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption, which locks messages on your device and only unlocks them on the recipient’s device. This protects the data even if the service platform is hacked, which is why it’s considered the gold standard to protect data.

But git services, which are widely used by major tech companies and startups, currently don’t use end-to-end encryption. The same is true for most of the other tools we use to work together, such as shared documents.

Because git services allow a huge number of collaborators to work on the same project at the same time, the software codes they host are constantly written and updated at a very rapid rate. This makes using standard encryption impractical. To do so would take up too much bandwidth to transmit all of the data for even one word change, and make the services very inefficient.

But our new encryption method overcomes this challenge.

Striking an important balance

The method we have developed uses what’s known as “character-level encryption”. This means only edits to a software code stored on the git service are treated as new data to be encrypted – rather than the entire code.

Think of it as encrypting the tracked changes in a word document, instead of a new version every time.

This method strikes an important balance. It keeps the updated code private and secure while reducing the amount of communication between user and git services, as well as the amount of storage required.

Importantly, this new method is also compatible with existing git services, making it easy for people to adopt. It also doesn’t interfere with other functions of git servers, such as hosting, saving bandwidth and indexing, so people can keep using these servers as they normally would – just with the added benefit of extra security.

A broader end-to-end encrypted internet

This new tool is currently free and open-source for all users. It can be installed easily like a patch when using git services, and will run in the background as users access git services just like before.

But this is just the starting point for a broader shift towards online collaboration that is secured by end-to-end encryption.

Extending the same guarantees to shared documents, spreadsheets and design files is possible, but will require sustained research and investment.

One complication to ensure security is managing encryption keys or credentials for users to decrypt encrypted data. Fortunately, our previous research shows us how to create a secure cloud storage system that will allow users to safely store their credentials.

Just as importantly, we must balance security with compliance and accountability. Universities, hospitals and government agencies are required to retain and, in some cases, provide lawful access to certain data. Meeting these obligations, without weakening end-to-end encryption, pushes us to research new techniques.

The goal is not secrecy at all costs, but verifiable controls that respect both privacy and the rule of law.

We don’t need a brand new internet to get there. We need pragmatic upgrades that fit the tools people already use – paired with clear, provable guarantees.

Messaging proved that end-to-end encryption can scale to billions. Code and cloud files are next, and with continued research and targeted investment, the rest of our everyday collaboration can follow.

So before too long, you will hopefully be able to work on a shared document with colleagues with the peace of mind that it, too, has gold standard security.

Qiang Tang receives funding from Google via Digital Future Initiative to support the research on this project.

Moti Yung works for Google as a distinguished research scientist.

Yanan Li is supported by the funding from Google via Digital Future Initiative for doing this research at the University of Sydney.

– ref. The world’s most sensitive computer code is vulnerable to attack. A new encryption method can help – https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-most-sensitive-computer-code-is-vulnerable-to-attack-a-new-encryption-method-can-help-266236

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amit Arora, Associate Professor in Public Health, Western Sydney University

Thousands of residents in Dubbo and Wellington, in western New South Wales, haven’t had fluoride added to their tap water for nearly seven years.

After a public outcry, the council’s fluoridation equipment is being repaired and replaced, with fluoride expected to be restored to their drinking water by the end of the year.

In contrast, Far North Queensland’s Cooktown and Gympie councils have stopped fluoridating their water, despite a large body of evidence showing it’s a safe and effective way to prevent tooth decay.

Where you live determines your access to fluoridated tap water

Australia first added fluoride to drinking water in 1953, starting in Beaconsfield, Tasmania. Other places soon followed, including Sydney in 1968.

Queensland was the last state to fluoridate drinking water, and mandated it in 2008. But this didn’t last long. In 2012, the Newman government allowed each council to decide whether to fluoridate its supply – and opt out if their community opposed it due to costs or safety concerns.

Today, about 90% of Australians drink fluoridated water. But it’s just 72% in Queensland

In NSW, councils must follow state government-regulated water fluoridation requirements.

The Victorian, South Australian, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmanian governments also ensure drinking water is fluoridated.

Western Australian and Northern Territory governments allow for limited community-based decision-making.

What can happen if you stop drinking fluoridated water?

1. You will reduce the protective effects of fluoride

Fluoride works in three ways. First, it fills the microscopic gaps in the lattice-like tooth surface. This makes the tooth harder to dissolve when exposed to acids in our food.

Second, it acts like a scavenger to find minerals in our saliva to fill the microscopic cavities or holes that are forming.

Finally, it stops cavity-forming bacteria from digesting the sugar and carbohydrates we consume. Starving the bacteria stops them from multiplying on your teeth and gums.

2. You may end up with cavities and infected teeth.

Fluoride in drinking water reduces the number of cavities in teeth.

My research in Lithgow NSW showed every second child had holes in their teeth before fluoride was added to their water.

People who live in fluoridated regions have fewer cavities in their teeth are less likely to need a tooth removed because of an infection, than those who live in fluoridated areas.

3. You will have to improve your oral hygiene practices

Despite their best efforts, two-thirds of people miss at least six teeth even if they brush twice a day.

Low concentration of fluoride in drinking water compensates for areas we might miss and complements toothbrushing.

4. You may spend more money (and time) at the dentist

Drinking fluoridated water is cost-effective and protective.

For every A$100 a council spends fluoridating water, a resident saves up to A$1,800 in potential dental treatment costs.

Fluoridated water helps kids and adults who can’t visit the dentist often.

How safe is fluoride in drinking water?

Fluoride is carefully added to our drinking water at water treatment plants at a dose of around one drop of fluoride per 50 litres of drinking water.

Fluoride in drinking water has been the subject of extensive scientific investigation for more than 70 years. In those years, studies have consistently shown the benefits for oral health.

In 2017, a review from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council concluded community water fluoridation is a safe, effective and equitable to help prevent tooth decay.

In 2024, the United States Centres for Disease Control reiterated that community water fluoridation is safe, effective and cost-efficient method for preventing tooth decay and improving oral health.

Similarly, the 2024 update by the United Kingdom Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology endorsed the safety of water fluoridation.

What about its effects on IQ?

Drinking fluoridated water has no effect on IQ, despite claims from US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior that it is linked with IQ loss. This is one of the reasons RFK wants it removed from US drinking water.

Kennedy has cited multiple studies for his IQ claim, including a recent highly publicised and criticised report.

The studies were mostly conducted among Chinese and Indian children living in rural areas. The intelligence tests used in the studies excluded some of the domains typically used to measure IQ.

Many of the studies did not account for contaminants known to reduce IQ, such as lead, and were conducted in nations with poorly controlled fluoride levels in the water. In countries such as Australia and New Zealand, the fluoride levels are controlled.

Read more:
Is fluoride really linked to lower IQ, as a recent study suggested? Here’s why you shouldn’t worry

Is my water fluoridated?

If you’re unsure whether your drinking water contains fluoride, check your state or territory health department’s website – many have maps or lists of fluoridated areas.

You can also contact your local council, water supplier or check your annual water quality report for fluoride levels.

Amit Arora received funding from National Health and Medical Research Council from 2012 to 2019. He undertook the child oral health survey in Lithgow prior to the implementation of water fluoridation. He is a dental practitioner member (Teaching and Research) on the Dental Board of Australia.

Arosha Weerakoon is a member of the Australian Dental Association. She is the principal dentist and owner of a private dental practice located in regional Queensland.

– ref. Some towns are cutting fluoride from water supplies. Here’s what this means for locals’ teeth – https://theconversation.com/some-towns-are-cutting-fluoride-from-water-supplies-heres-what-this-means-for-locals-teeth-266501

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

Two years ago, who would have imagined the police and the Palestine Action Group (PAG) would be fighting in court over whether demonstrators should be allowed to rally outside the Sydney Opera House?

Indeed, 24 months ago, who would have thought we’d have (or need) designated “envoys” to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia in Australia?

On Tuesday’s second anniversary of the Hamas atrocities in Israel, it is sobering to reflect how much damage this horrific Middle East conflict, which has cost tens of thousands of lives, most of them Palestinian, has done to Australia’s own society.

In Fitzroy in Melbourne, pro-Palestinian graffiti appeared to mark the anniversary: “Glory to Hamas”, “Oct 7, do it again”, “Glory to the martyrs”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described this as “terrorist propaganda” that was “abhorrent,” saying those responsible “must face the full force of the law”.

On Wednesday, the issue of Sunday’s proposed protest outside the Opera House will be back in court. The police don’t want the protesters’ march to be allowed to end in the tight space at the Opera House, citing dangers to safety.

The lawyer for the PAG said on Tuesday: “If the police application is conceded to, the ramifications for the right to protest in Australia will not be confined to the Opera House, but for a wide variety of protest activities”. The group argues the issue is a constitutional one.

In the past two years, this faraway conflict has done substantial harm to Australia’s social cohesion, raised questions about the future of multiculturalism, and produced serious divisions about where lines should be drawn on limiting free speech and the right to protest. The response of institutions, universities in particular, has been tested and in some cases found wanting.

NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns gave a flavour of the cross pressures when speaking on Sydney radio on Tuesday.

“We’ve moved significant changes to hate speech laws in New South Wales and we’ve done it because we recognise we live in a multicultural community and yes, you’ve got a right to freedom of speech but someone else has a right not to be vilified or hated on the basis of their race or religion. All of those laws are currently being challenged in the High Court because of the implied freedom of political communication.”

As hope, however tentative, is glimmering that the peace plan advanced by United States President Donald Trump just might bring a real breakthrough in this terrible war, the fissures it has produced in Australia seem as sharp as ever.

In two years, the Australian Jewish community has been embattled, with attacks on synagogues and other Jewish places, and many individuals deeply frightened for their own and their families’ safety. Iran’s intervention, behind at least two attacks, sought to stoke division.

In that time, the determination of Palestinian supporters has been steadfast, with regular weekend demonstrations maintained throughout.

The conflict has fractured the Australia-Israel relationship, with the Albanese government increasingly critical of Israel’s unrelenting prosecution of the war, and the Netanyahu government turning on Australia.

This culminated with Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations during the prime minister’s recent trip. The recognition was the end of Labor’s internal journey, which commenced many years before this war began.

The Greens Party have been at the left edge of the political spectrum.

The Australian community was divided about Palestinian recognition: an Essential poll published in late September showed 34% in favour, and 30% against.

The conflict has shattered what used to be a bipartisan Middle East policy, when both main parties strongly supported Israel and also backed a two-state solution for a long-term Middle East settlement.

Over the past two years, the Coalition has been strongly pro-Israel, accusing the Labor government of  deserting an ally and failing to deal robustly with antisemitism in this country.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley used her parliamentary speech on Tuesday’s anniversary to home in on the government’s policy towards Israel.

“To our great shame, under the leadership of the Albanese Labor government, Australia has not stood with the people of Israel, nor with the United States, as they have sought to dismantle Hamas and establish the conditions for peace”.

The local rifts that have come to the surface in Australia were there well before October 7 2023. The war caused them to widen dramatically and explode.

Even if, and when, this conflict subsides, it will leave fractures, anger, bitterness and fear within sections of the Australian community.

Whatever healing takes place almost certainly won’t be complete. For governments, federal and state, intractable policy challenges will remain.

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. View from The Hill: Two years of a distant war have brought much damage to Australian society – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-two-years-of-a-distant-war-have-brought-much-damage-to-australian-society-265858

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Professor and Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University

Two years ago, Snowy Hydro announced a reset for its troubled Snowy 2.0 giant pumped hydro project amid cost blowouts. The supposed final cost was A$12 billion.

Last week, Snowy Hydro acknowledged this figure was no longer viable after a cost reassessment.

I estimate the final cost will be well over $20 billion, excluding new transmission lines – more than ten times higher than the original estimate of $2 billion.

As costs have climbed, Snowy 2.0 has lost supporters. The remaining defenders include former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who signed off on the project, the federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen and we know of one academic engineer but there may be more.

The question has always been whether this scheme is worthwhile. Despite repeated cost increases, its few defenders continue to argue that Snowy 2.0 offers much cheaper storage per kilowatt-hour than a battery would deliver. In this argument, the cost of Snowy 2.0 is set against the energy storage potential and then compared to the cost of installing chemical batteries to deliver the same storage.

This defence is simple but wrong.

Moving water

Storing energy such as in pumped hydro schemes and electro-chemical batteries is necessary to decarbonise electricity supply, as they make it possible for surplus renewable energy to be stored and used later.

Snowy 2.0 is a major new pumped hydro project that will become part of the existing Snowy Hydro scheme. It can be thought of as a “water battery”.

In the Snowy 2.0 scheme, water is pumped uphill from the Talbingo lower reservoir to the Tantangara upper reservoir when energy is cheap, and then runs back downhill through turbines to produce power when prices rise and more power is needed.

Talbingo in turn gets most of its water from Eucumbene Dam via the existing Tumut 1 and Tumut 2 generators.

So far, so good. But there are three practical complications:

• Talbingo is the upper reservoir for the 1,800 megawatt Tumut 3 pumped-hydro station, which means it needs to be kept near full so Tumut 3 is available to produce at maximum capacity and efficiency

• Talbingo is only two-thirds the capacity of Tantangara and hence can’t accommodate all its water as is the case for a typical pumped hydro system

• the downstream pondage for Tumut 3 (Jounama) is just one-sixth the capacity of Talbingo. So, depending on the water level in Jounama, Snowy 2.0 and Tumut 3 power generation has to be limited so as not to unintentionally lose water.

The end result is that if water is to be kept within the Talbingo/Jounama system and not lost be being released down the Blowering dam, filling Tantagara and then releasing it is heavily constrained by other elements of the system.

That’s not all. If Tantangara was full and Snowy 2.0 generated flat out for seven days, virtually all the water emptied from Tantangara would be lost downstream of Jounama and would then need to be replenished.

Whenever Snowy 2.0 is generating flat out, the Tumut 3 generator would also need to be generating to make use of the flowing water. But this would flood the power market, driving prices down and hence reducing the income needed to recover Snowy 2.0’s investment.

As a result, Snowy Hydro has no incentive to operate Snowy 2.0 in this way, and will almost certainly withhold its full capacity from the market just as it does now with Tumut 3.

Pumping water uphill

Snowy 2.0 faces economic constraints as well.

It takes energy to pump water uphill from Talbingo to Tantangara. Pumping will only be done when electricity prices are cheap, which will usually be for a few hours each sunny day when price are low. And it will only make sense to fill Talbingo from Eucumbene Dam by releasing water through Tumut 1 and 2 into Talbingo when prices are high.

The result: cost-effectively filling Tantangara will take many months.

Now let’s look at the demand for Snowy 2.0’s service. Defenders claim its ability to discharge power for a week is an advantage. But since Australia’s National Electricity Market began in 1998, there’s never been a period when the extremely high prices needed to make Snowy 2.0 worthwhile have been sustained for more than a few hours continuously.

If the energy market ever sees sustained, multi-day periods of extremely high prices, the market response will be to quickly build gas or diesel generators and add more batteries. Both are inexpensive, representing a tiny fraction of Snowy 2.0’s cost per kilowatt of added capacity. Greenhouse gas impacts would be inconsequential, given the generators would be very rarely used.

As a result, the vast bulk of Snowy 2.0’s storage capacity will sit unused in Tantangara because it is so difficult to cost-effectively fill Tantangara and there’s unlikely ever to be the demand to fully discharge it.

Chemical batteries are outcompeting water batteries

Now compare Snowy 2.0’s operational and technical constraints with those of electro-chemical batteries. These batteries go from charging to discharging in a fraction of a second. They do not have any of the operational and economic complexities of situating a new pumped hydro generator in an extremely complex cascade hydro system.

As a result, a kWh of battery storage capacity is likely to be used much more frequently than a kWh of Snowy 2.0 capacity. Grid batteries typically discharge their full capacity at least once per day and often many times a day. Snowy 2.0 is unlikely to ever discharge its full capacity.

So, while batteries may cost more to install upfront, they will be used much more intensively and so their higher costs absorbed over much higher volumes, so that their average costs are lower. It’s the same economic logic seen in the choice between trains versus buses versus cars – trains are usually cheaper per passenger-kilometre when heavily used, but much more expensive if near empty.

This is why battery storage is booming in Australia and many other countries. Private investors are piling in, typically with little or no public subsidy.

In the eight years Snowy 2.0 has been under construction, the battery equivalent of Snowy 2.0’s power capacity is already operational in the National Electricity Market. This will double in a year, and then double again in another year based on capacity contracted under the Capacity Investment scheme.

Despite enormous political will and vast amounts of taxpayer funds, pumped hydro schemes are struggling in Australia – just as they are in other countries.

With massively complex geology and mind-bogglingly complex operational and economic constraints, Snowy 2.0 is by far the least attractive of Australia’s pumped hydro possibilities.

How could the Australian government and Snowy Hydro have got it so wrong?

Bruce Mountain 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. Snowy 2.0 cost blowouts might be OK if the scheme stored power more cheaply than batteries. But it won’t – https://theconversation.com/snowy-2-0-cost-blowouts-might-be-ok-if-the-scheme-stored-power-more-cheaply-than-batteries-but-it-wont-266776

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robin Shields, Professor of Education and Head of School, The University of Queensland

Australian teachers are more likely to be using artificial intelligence than their counterparts around the world, according to a new international survey.

The OECD’s latest Teaching and Learning International Survey also shows Australian teachers are reporting high levels of stress and not enough training to manage student behaviour.

What is this survey? And what else does it tell us about Australian teachers?

What is the survey?

The Teaching and Learning Survey (also known as “TALIS”) is a large-scale survey of 280,000 teachers in 55 education systems around the world, including Australia.

Most of the teachers surveyed came from primary schools and lower secondary schools (typically up to Year 10 in Australia).

This is the fourth round of TALIS since it began in 2008 and the first since 2018.

Use of AI

Amid ongoing debate about the use of AI in education, many Australian teachers report they are using this emerging technology in their work.

About two thirds (66%) of lower secondary teachers reported using AI in the past year. This puts Australia as the fourth highest country within the OECD, and far above the OECD average of 36%.

Of Australian teachers who used AI, the most common purposes were brainstorming lesson plans and learning about and summarising content. This was happening for 71% of Australian teachers who used AI.

Australian teachers were unlikely to use AI to review data on student performance (9% of those who use AI, compared to 28% across the OECD) and to assess student work (15%, compared to 30% across the OECD).

These results suggest many Australian teachers are using AI to improve their approach to teaching. But their hesitancy to use it in certain situations suggests there is awareness of concerns around privacy (if student data is uploaded to large language models) and the need to keep using professional judgement (such as when assessing work).

Teacher stress

In Australia, these survey results also arrive at a time of continued concerns about teacher shortages, burnout and dissatisfaction.

Results show a marked increase in reported stress among Australian teachers, who reported the third highest levels of stress among all OECD countries, up from a ranking of 15th in 2018.

Among lower secondary teachers, Australia ranked highest among all countries where teachers reported experiencing stress frequently at work (34% in Australia compared to 19% across the OECD).

The top sources of stress were “too much administrative work,” “too much marking,” and “keeping up with curriculum changes”.

These results support research showing a drastic decrease in Australian teachers’ professional satisfaction since 2015, particularly in the first ten years of their careers.

Teacher education

In recent years, Australian policy makers have increasingly focused on teacher education programs – the university degrees that train teachers for the classroom. Following a 2023 report, teacher education programs are required to include topics such the brain and learning, teaching methods and classroom management.

Australian teachers in the TALIS survey appeared, on the whole, happy with their university education. Some 70% of respondents indicated that overall the quality of their teacher education was high, on par with 75% of teachers across the OECD.

While Australian teachers say their training provided sufficient curriculum knowledge, they were less positive about preparation for managing classroom behaviour.

According to my analysis of the survey data, approximately 50% of Australian teachers were positive about their behaviour training, compared to 63% across the OECD. This matches media reports of teachers struggling with poor student behaviour in their classrooms.

What now?

This survey provides high-quality data to understand our education system at a time of rapid change.

It suggests Australian teachers are global leaders in their use of AI. However, much work needs to be done to improve teachers’ wellbeing at work.

Sustaining the teaching profession and the quality of teachers’ work is a key national priority, more careful analysis of these results can help guide this work.

Robin Shields 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. Australian teachers are some of the highest users of AI in classrooms around the world – new survey – https://theconversation.com/australian-teachers-are-some-of-the-highest-users-of-ai-in-classrooms-around-the-world-new-survey-266894

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Weismueller, Lecturer, UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia

There’s been a striking decline in public confidence in social media platforms, according to the 2025 Ethics Index published by the Governance Institute of Australia. One in four Australians now rate social media as “very unethical”.

This is consistent with other reports on Australian attitudes towards social media. For example, the Digital News Report 2025 similarly identified widespread concern about misinformation and distrust in news shared on social media.

And such distrust isn’t limited to Australia. The sentiment is evident worldwide. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, based on an annual global survey of more than 30,000 people across 28 countries, reports a decline in trust in social media companies.

So where does this negativity come from? And are other ways of consuming information online, such as podcasts, any better? Podcasts are booming in Australia and around the world, and are often perceived much more positively than social media.

Let’s look at what the evidence says about the impacts of social media, what it does and doesn’t yet tell us about podcasts, and what this reveals about the need for accountability across digital platforms.

Where does this distrust stem from?

While social media has enabled connection, creativity and civic participation, research also highlights its downsides.

Studies have shown that, on certain social media platforms, false and sensational information can often spread faster than truth. Such information can also fuel negativity and political polarisation.

Beyond civic harms, heavy social media use has also been linked to mental health challenges. The causes are difficult to establish, but studies report associations between social media use and higher levels of depression, anxiety and psychological distress, particularly among adolescents and young adults.

In 2021, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, made public thousands of internal documents that revealed Instagram’s negative impact on teen mental health. The revelations triggered global scrutiny and intensified debate about social media accountability.

Whistleblowers such as Haugen suggest social media companies are aware of potential harms, but don’t always act.

Read more:
Facebook data reveal the devastating real-world harms caused by the spread of misinformation

Podcasts have a much better reputation

In contrast to social media, podcasts appear to enjoy a very different reputation. Not only do Australians view them far more positively, but podcast consumption has significantly increased over the years.

More than half of Australians over the age of ten engage with audio or video podcasts on a monthly basis. It’s not surprising that the 2025 Australian election saw political leaders feature on podcasts as part of their campaign strategy.

Why are podcasts so popular and trusted? Several features may help explain this.

Consumption is often more deliberate. Listeners choose specific shows and episodes instead of scrolling through endless feeds. Podcasts typically provide longer and more nuanced discussions compared with the short snippets served by social media algorithms.

Given these features, research suggests podcasts foster a sense of intimacy and authenticity. Listeners develop ongoing “relationships” with hosts and view them as credible, authentic and trustworthy.

Yet this trust can be misplaced. A Brookings Institution study analysing more than 36,000 political podcast episodes found nearly 70% contained at least one unverified or false claim. Research also shows political podcasts often rely on toxic or hostile language.

This shows that podcasts, while often perceived as more “ethical” than social media, are not automatically safer or more trustworthy spaces.

Rethinking trust in a complex media environment

What’s clear is that we shouldn’t blindly trust or dismiss any online platform, whether it’s a social media feed or a podcast. We must think critically about all the information we encounter.

We all need better tools to navigate a complex media environment. Digital literacy efforts must expand beyond social media to help people assess any information, from a TikTok clip to a long-form podcast episode.

Read more:
Critical thinking is more important than ever. How can I improve my skills?

To regain public trust, social media platforms will have to behave more ethically. They should be transparent about advertising, sponsorships and moderation policies, and should make clear how content is recommended.

This expectation should also apply to podcasts, streaming services and other digital media, which can all be misused by people who want to mislead or harm others.

Governments can reinforce accountability through fair oversight, but rules will only work if they are paired with platforms acting responsibly.

Earlier this year, the Australian government released a report that argued social media platforms have a “duty of care” towards their users. They should proactively limit the spread of harmful content, for example.

A healthier information environment depends on sceptical but engaged citizens, stronger ethical standards across platforms, and systems of accountability that reward transparency and reliability.

The lesson is straightforward: trust or distrust alone doesn’t change whether the information you receive is actually truthful – particularly in an online environment where anyone can say anything. It’s best to keep that in mind.

Jason Weismueller 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. People trust podcasts more than social media. But is the trust warranted? – https://theconversation.com/people-trust-podcasts-more-than-social-media-but-is-the-trust-warranted-266791

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Johanna Nalau, Associate Professor in Climate Adaptation, Griffith University

Today’s release of the Insurance Council of Australia’s report puts Australia on the spot: we rank second in the world in extreme weather-related losses. As the Insurance Council puts it, this is not the silver medal we want to win.

Why is this a problem? According to the Resilient Building Council of Australia, a collaboration of independent experts, close to 90% of Australian homes are not actually fit for a changing climate.

Many renters, low income groups, and people living in high-risk areas are especially vulnerable and often unable to even get insurance. In the 2020s, Australia has spent around A$4.5 billion a year on extreme weather costs, while insurance affordability and access are plummeting in regions that need it the most.

The report found almost eight in ten of the homes that face severe to extreme flood risk do not have flood insurance.

Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment, released last month, predicted a staggering 444% increase in heat-related deaths in Sydney as heatwaves become more severe under the most extreme scenario of 3°C degree warming by 2050. Other very dire numbers are outlined for climate risks across the country.

The insurance industry says we need to rethink how we can keep our communities safe and thriving in the face of escalating disasters. How do we make sure these safety nets actually work for people – especially when costs and losses are escalating?

Insurance in a changing climate

The federal government’s 2025 National Adaptation Plan makes it clear we need to act now in reducing these risks.

The changing climate will bring new types of risks to new areas. This is problematic as insurance is often based on existing trends and known risks. The industry also relies on current categorisations, such as cyclone strengths and wind speeds, in estimating losses and damages.

There are alternative insurance options already in use. For example, parametric insurance provides an automatic payout by the insurer when a particular event takes place, such as a storm at a specified wind speed or storm surge at a particular water height.

This way, the insured businesses or households do not need to wait for months of damage investigations, assessments and filling in claims. This form of coverage is used in the Pacific, where many islands face increasing climate-related disasters.

However, some analysts caution this approach can leave people worse off, as it might not cover everything needed for long-term recovery.

Other strategies include inclusive insurance delivered through cooperatives. These are often set up in low-income communities in developing countries, such as the Philippines, where insurance may not be available. They provide a community-based safety net to recover from disasters or other risks.

So how can we adapt?

We have a good understanding by now about the risks we are facing and what we need to do. Building more resilient new homes and retrofitting existing homes are among the first steps in protecting all Australians. Other strategies include:

Rethinking insurance: Some insurance companies, such as US commercial property insurer FM Global, have launched “climate resilience credits”, which support their clients to invest in climate adaptation options. If people can demonstrate they have taken direct actions to adapt their properties to climate risks – such as building flood levies, raising floor heights, or installing additional insulation against extreme heat – they pay less in premiums.

Reflect climate adaptation investments in property valuations: Currently, there are few legally required adaptation options for homes. Homeowners who invest in better drainage against excess rainfall or install additional insulation against extreme heat are not necessarily rewarded when it comes to higher property values or lower insurance costs. Having these investments reflected in higher property values could be an incentive for increased climate adaptation.

Climate adaptation and resilience loans: Some lenders, such as Westpac, already offer lower interest loans, such as a sustainable upgrades home loan that specifically support these types of upgrades, as well as energy efficiency. Bank Australia offers a clean energy home loan for building new greener homes. The insurer Suncorp offers lower premiums for households that have upgraded their cyclone resilience to prepare for storms.

There is also a need to rethink land use planning and whether we allow new developments to go on in high-risk areas both under current risks and future projections. This is not a new problem or solution, but one we need to take seriously now.

No silver bullet, but many options

These options are not available for everyone. Not everyone is able to take additional loans or make investments. This is where we need a scaled-up national approach in how insurance and lending can support Australians, especially those most vulnerable to climate change.

While the policy recommendations from Insurance Council of Australia are clear on the role they see for the government, there are also key roles for the private sector, communities, and organisations in fast-tracking national climate adaptation.

There is no one silver bullet for what we need to do. But we have an array of opportunities and options that can significantly strengthen how Australia adapts to climate change. The trick will be knowing what to scale up, and how.

Johanna Nalau has received funding from Australian Research Council. She is Coordinating Lead Author for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 7th Assessment Report (Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), and Co-Chair of the Science Committee at World Adaptation Science Programme, UNEP.

– ref. Extreme weather now costs Australians $4.5b a year. Better insurance options and loans would help us adapt – https://theconversation.com/extreme-weather-now-costs-australians-4-5b-a-year-better-insurance-options-and-loans-would-help-us-adapt-266886

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland

You’ve turned up at the doctor’s clinic on time. But you’re scrolling on your phone, watching the clock tick past your appointment time. By the time you’re called in, you’re running late for work or school pick-up, and you’re getting stressed.

Yes, it can be frustrating. It might seem like your doctor’s always running late.

But your doctor isn’t delayed because they disrespect your time. There are many reasons for running late, some unrelated to your doctor or the clinic.

Let’s unpack what’s happening in your average GP clinic.

‘Spanners in the works’

You might expect appointments to run like a well-oiled machine. You turn up, and are seen at your allotted time. In reality, patients can easily wait 20 minutes to see the doctor.

There are many factors why. We’ll call these “spanners in the works”, events or reasons why things don’t always go to plan.

There are reasons related to individual patients. These include a patient mixing up the time of the appointment or running late themselves. A patient can ask if another family member can fit into the same appointment, or they may suddenly want to discuss extra concerns.

On the clinic’s side, hold-ups can arise due to medical emergencies, technology hiccups, or managing complicated cases or paperwork.

Apart from seeing patients, GPs need to perform a range of other tasks including: completing consultation notes; organising referrals, care plans or family meetings; checking daily pathology and imaging results; and liaising with specialists, pharmacists and hospitals.

GPs need time to complete these tasks, which they normally squeeze into the slim space between each patient. So it’s easy to see how an unexpected urgent issue can quickly derail a doctor’s schedule.

All these issues add up over the course of the day and can cause significant delays.

A symptom of bigger issues

Running late is also a symptom of wider health-related issues. Australians are living longer with multiple, chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and mental health issues. So patients need more time with the doctor to manage these often complex, long-term conditions.

Australians are also seeing GPs more often – on average 6.2 times a year in 2024, up from 3.8 when Medicare started in 1984. This is due to a variety of factors, including an ageing population and higher rates of chronic disease.

Running late can be a symptom of bigger health system issues. Australia’s health department projects a shortfall of about 2,600 GPs by 2028, growing to 8,600 by 2048.

An ageing GP workforce, more GPs working part time, and not enough new doctors entering general practice to replace those retiring are all contributors.

All this means GPs will likely become busier, harder to book and yes, more likely to run late.

The hidden impacts of running late

Running late isn’t just inconvenient. GPs can feel pressured to shorten consultations to catch up.

This can have multiple consequences: less history taking or examination time, over-ordering tests, less patient-centred care, and reduced shared decision-making. A late-running GP might also miss opportunities for preventative care.

But longer consultations are linked to positives such as less antibiotic misuse, lower referral rates to specialists for issues they could manage themselves, and fewer consultations for issues that could have been covered in an earlier appointment.

What might help?

Some practices are using pre-consultation questionnaires, which patients can complete online before their appointment. These include questions about their medical history, changes in symptoms and the reason for the appointment.

These questionnaires can also encourage patients to disclose relevant information in a safe and secure manner, address what the patient hopes to cover in a consultation, and allow the doctor to plan their consultation before the visit begins.

Studies show about 90% of patients find these helpful, and doctors report completing their appointments faster while still being thorough.

Clinics could also:

• inform patients in advance if their doctor is running late, which can improve patient satisfaction

• book patients with their regular GP wherever possible, rather than an unfamiliar one

• keep a few appointment slots free for urgent matters that may arise on the day.

What you can do

To help the day run smoothly you can:

• Book the right length appointment if you have a tricky issue or multiple things to discuss. Ask for a long consultation, or consider returning for a follow-up visit.

• Write down any questions in advance to make sure nothing is missed. Better still, give this list to your GP at the start of your visit so they can help prioritise your needs.

• Consider telehealth for issues such as test result follow-ups or script renewals. This may also allow both you and the clinic to be more flexible with the timing of the appointment.

• Try to attend without your kids if you can if discussing complex or sensitive issues. If you want to discuss your child’s health, book a separate appointment before or after yours.

• Try to build a working relationship with one regular GP. Visits tend to be more efficient and you will receive better overall care.

Lauren Ball receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Health and Wellbeing Queensland, Heart Foundation, Gallipoli Medical Research and Mater Health, Springfield City Group. She is a Director of Dietitians Australia, a Director of the Darling Downs and West Moreton Primary Health Network and an Associate Member of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

David Chua’s position at the UQ Centre for Community Health and Wellbeing is partially funded by Mater Research Foundation and the National Health and Medical Research Council. He also works at two other workplaces: Metro South Health as a research officer and Inala Primary Care, a not-for-profit general practice clinic as a research collaborations officer and data analyst.

Stephanie Chua is a GP at two clinics: Inala Primary Care, a not-for-profit general practice, and Watersprings Health Centre.

– ref. Why do doctors run late? – https://theconversation.com/why-do-doctors-run-late-264977

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sheila Skeaff, Professor of Human Nutrition, University of Otago

A long-awaited expert update on the dietary changes needed to support both human and planetary health comes out clearly in favour of a plant-based approach.

The EAT-Lancet Commission says a shift towards its planetary health diet, released last week, could prevent 40,000 early deaths a day across the world and cut agricultural methane emissions by 15% by 2050.

The diet promotes more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and nuts, with only modest amounts of meat, fish, poultry and dairy.

If you imagine a plate, half would be filled with vegetables and fruit (with more vegetables than fruit). Most of the remaining half would be whole grains and plant proteins. There’s room for small amounts of animal products and healthy fats, but very little added sugar. Notably, butter doesn’t get a mention.

The most contentious aspect is the commission’s recommendation on meat: just 14 grams per day of red meat and 29 grams per day of poultry – that’s roughly one small steak, one lamb chop, or two chicken drumsticks per week.

New Zealand’s traditional diet is a long way off this recommendation. But my recent study of teenage girls across the country suggests a shift is underway, with most embracing a predominantly plant-based diet.

How we know what’s best to eat

Many factors influence food choices – hunger, emotions, health, culture, media, taste, habits and family traditions.

Evidence-based dietary guidance, such as national food and nutrition guidelines, also plays a role.

In New Zealand, people may be familiar with the “5+ a day” message promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. That recommendation has since shifted to “7+ a day” as new evidence has emerged.

Over the past decade, nutritional guidelines have increasingly incorporated environmental sustainability, acknowledging that around 30% of global emissions come from growing, processing and transporting food.

The EAT-Lancet Commission took this sustainability focus further in its first release of the planetary health diet in 2019. It argued that by changing what we eat, reducing food waste and improving food production systems, we could feed a growing global population while minimising environmental damage.

Less meat is a win-win

This approach is a significant departure from traditional diets in Aotearoa New Zealand. The British-influenced “meat and three veg” (often with potatoes as one of the vegetables) and the Māori hāngi of pork, seafood, kumara and local greens don’t align neatly with the EAT-Lancet recommendations.

One criticism of the original report was its limited consideration of indigenous food systems. In my view, the minimal inclusion of starchy vegetables such as potatoes, cassava, kumara, maize and millet is hard to justify. These are staple foods – affordable, widely available and important sources of energy for many communities.

But most New Zealand adults consume nearly twice the recommended amount of protein. Reducing meat is therefore unlikely to lead to inadequate protein intakes.

Currently, about 40% of New Zealanders’ protein comes from animal sources (meat, dairy, fish). The remaining 60% comes from plants.

The belief that only animal proteins are of high quality – due to their amino acid profile and digestibility – is outdated. It’s a common misconception that some amino acid are only available through meat. Plants contain all essential amino acids, albeit in varying proportions.

For most adults, a diet with smaller amounts of meat would be a win-win: better for their health and better for the planet.

So, should New Zealand embrace the planetary health diet?

In many ways, we already are. My study of teenage girls found those following an omnivorous diet got 69% of their energy from plant-based foods (ranging from 43% to 92%), while vegetarians averaged 83% (ranging from 51% to 100%).

However, New Zealanders still consume more saturated fat than recommended and not enough dietary fibre. Shifting further toward the planetary health diet could help address these imbalances and reduce the risk of premature death from heart disease and cancer, our leading causes of mortality.

A diet for people and the planet

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the meat industry has been pushing back against the commission’s recommendations ever since the first release of the planetary health diet.

A recent report published by the Changing Markets Foundation identifies a network of influential pro-meat voices in industry, academia and governments actively working to discredit the commission’s findings.

Some nutrition academics have raised concerns about the relatively low quantity of meat and fish. Some experts argue the low amount of meat may not meet the nutritional needs of certain groups such as pregnant women and young children, who would benefit from the iron and zinc found in red meat because it is easier to absorb than from vegetable sources.

Adding to the complexity is the global obsession with protein – often associated with meat. While fat and carbohydrates have been vilified, protein enjoys a nutritional halo.

The updated guidelines place greater emphasis on environmental sustainability and, importantly, acknowledge the need to respect and empower diverse food cultures and uphold the universal human right to food.

As we face the twin challenges of climate change and rising rates of diet-related disease, I argue the planetary health diet offers a recipe for a healthier, more sustainable future.

It’s not about eliminating entire food groups or enforcing a one-size-fits-all approach. Rather, it’s about making thoughtful, evidence-based choices that nourish both people and the planet.

Sheila Skeaff receives funding from the Ministry for the Environment for research on food loss and waste. She serves as a trustee on the Otago Farmers Market Trust.

– ref. More veg, less meat: the latest global update on a diet that’s good for people and the planet – https://theconversation.com/more-veg-less-meat-the-latest-global-update-on-a-diet-thats-good-for-people-and-the-planet-266780

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rochelle Wynne, Chair in Nursing, Western Health Deakin University Partnership, Deakin University

Even a short stay in hospital produces a large amount of waste. Just picture all the disposable items designed to be used once and thrown away: face masks, gloves, packaging, intravenous tubing, and even equipment such as stainless steel scissors.

This kind of single-use medical equipment was first introduced in high-income countries in the 1960s, thanks to advances in plastic manufacturing and a growing emphasis on infection prevention and control.

About 85% of the waste single-use products create is nonhazardous and can be recycled or disposed of without special processing. But a lot of the time it’s not sorted correctly. This means it is often mixed with hazardous waste that has to be incinerated before it is sent to landfill, which increases greenhouse gas emissions.

Our new study tested replacing just one kind of item – single-use absorbent pads, known as “blueys” – with a reusable version in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Blueys are pads made of layered tissue paper, with a plastic waterproof backing. They’re placed under patients to protect bedding and absorb bodily fluids such as blood and urine during patient care and other procedures.

We wanted to know how much waste could be diverted from landfill by replacing these single-use products with reusable linen – and importantly, whether it was safe and hygienic for patients. Here’s what we found.

What our study looked at

Over two years, we examined data from 2,114 ICU patients at a Melbourne hospital – 46% of them (970 patients) before we introduced reusable linen, and 54% (1,114 patients) after.

For the first year (the “before” phase), single-use blueys were used. In the second year (the “after” phase), these were replaced with reusable pads, made from soft cotton with a breathable backing. These had a similar capacity to absorb liquids as the disposable version but – instead of being thrown away – they were washed and reused.

The study compared how many kilograms of waste were generated by single-use blueys in the first year, compared to the reusable linen.

We also explored whether reusable linen increased patients’ risk of pressure injuries, sometimes known as bed sores. These are wounds that develop when patients are immobile and spend a lot of time sitting or lying in one position, causing the skin to break down.

Patients in the ICU have a high risk of developing pressure injuries. These can delay recovery and prolong their stay in hospital.

To evaluate the change, we surveyed nurses who’d used the reusable pads. We also reviewed medical records to compare the prevalence of pressure injuries in the two groups, along with patient demographics such as age, sex and length of hospital stay.

What we found

There was no difference in pressure injuries between the two groups. This means reusable linen did not increase the risk of an ICU patient developing a pressure injury.

But it did save a lot of waste. In the year before introducing reusable pads, 21,554 disposable pads were used in this one hospital ward, generating almost half a tonne of waste from this single-use item alone.

Shifting to reusable linen effectively eliminated this waste, saving about half a tonne (496 kilograms) from going to landfill in one year alone.

Initially, some nurses expressed concerns about whether the reusable linen pads would affect patients’ skin. However, once the reusable pads were introduced and used for a few weeks, staff were highly satisfied. Many noted they were more sustainable and helped reduce waste, and recommended continuing to use them.

While our study didn’t look at infection risk specifically, 50 years of data from the United States and the United Kingdom has previously shown reusable linen does not increase the risk of infections when it is washed and sterilised properly.

For example, Australian laundry standards for infection control require reusable items to be washed at a certain temperature (above 65°C for at least ten minutes, or 71°C for at least three minutes) or treated with a chemical disinfectant when material is heat sensitive.

Why this research matters

Australia’s health-care system produces up to 7% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Hospitals are the single biggest contributor.

Given this is largely from direct patient care, making day-to-day routines more sustainable can have a big impact.

There are other benefits, too. During the early parts of the COVID pandemic, when there were often equipment shortages in supply chains, our research confirmed that using reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) was safe and could help ensure products remained available. It was also more sustainable and less costly.

One potential drawback of reusable health-care equipment is how much water is consumed cleaning and sterilising it. Our study didn’t assess this directly.

But in further research, we plan to do a life cycle assessment that compares single-use blueys and reusable linen.

This is a widely recognised way to assess the environmental impact of products from “cradle to grave”. The assessment considers the energy consumption, water use, greenhouse gas emissions and cost involved not only in the products’ manufacture, but also in their use and disposal. This includes the impact of washing and sterilising products versus sending items to landfill.

Health-care workers often face barriers to sustainable practice when caring for patients. But as frontline workers are managing the health consequences of climate change and environmental disasters, it’s vital they understand their role in promoting environmentally responsible care. Access to equipment that is safe, for both their patients and the planet, is essential.

Forbes McGain has received grant funding, including from the National Health and Medical Research Council. He receives licence fees for the McMonty Hood personal protection device.

Rochelle Wynne and Stacey Matthews 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. Reusing medical equipment is good for the planet. But is it safe? – https://theconversation.com/reusing-medical-equipment-is-good-for-the-planet-but-is-it-safe-265681

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jemimah Widdicombe, Research Associate, Museums Victoria, Museums Victoria Research Institute

When we post to a group chat or talk to an AI chatbot, we don’t think about how these technologies came to be. We take it for granted we can instantly communicate. We only notice the importance and reach of these systems when they’re not accessible.

Companies describe these systems with metaphors such as the “cloud” or “artificial intelligence”, suggesting something intangible. But they are deeply material.

The stories told about these systems centre on newness and progress. But these myths obscure the human and environmental cost of making them possible. AI and modern communication systems rely on huge data centres and submarine cables. These have large and growing environmental costs, from soaring energy use to powering data centres to water for cooling.

There’s nothing new about this, as my research shows. The first world-spanning communication system was the telegraph, which made it possible to communicate between some continents in near-real time. But it came at substantial cost to the environment and humans. Submarine telegraph cables were wrapped in gutta-percha, the rubber-like latex extracted from tropical trees by colonial labourers. Forests were felled to grow plantations of these trees.

Is it possible to design communications systems without such costs? Perhaps. But as the AI investment bubble shows, environmental and human costs are often ignored in the race for the next big thing.

From the “Victorian internet” to AI

Before the telegraph, long distance communication was painfully slow. Sending messages by ship could take months.

In the 1850s, telegraph cables made it possible to rapidly communicate between countries and across oceans. By the late 1800s, the telegraph had become ubiquitous. Later dubbed the “Victorian internet”, the telegraph was the predecessor of today’s digital networks.

Building telegraph networks was a huge undertaking. The first transatlantic cable was completed in 1858, spanning more than 4,000km between North America and Europe.

Australia followed closely behind. European colonists created the first telegraph lines in the 1850s between Melbourne and Williamstown. By 1872, the Overland Telegraph Line between Adelaide and Darwin had been completed. From Darwin, the message could reach the world.

There are clear differences between the telegraph and today’s AI systems. But there are also clear parallels.

In our time, fibre optic cables retrace many routes of the now obsolete submarine telegraph cables. Virtually all (99%) of the world’s internet traffic travels through deep sea cables. These cables carry everything from Google searches to ChatGPT interactions, transmitting data close to the speed of light from your device to faraway data centres and back.

Historical accounts describe the telegraph variously as a divine gift, a human-made wonder, and a networked global intelligence, far from the material reality. These descriptions are not far off the way AI is talked about today.

Grounded in extraction

In the 19th century, the telegraph was commonly thought of as an emblem of progress and technological innovation. But these systems had other stories embedded, such as the logic of colonialism.

One reason European powers set out to colonise the globe was to extract resources from colonies for their own use. The same extractive logic can be seen in the telegraph, a system whose self-evident technological progress won out over environmental and social costs.

If you look closely at a slice of telegraph cable in a museum or at historic sites where submarine telegraph cables made landfall, you’ll see something interesting.

Wrapped around the wires is a mixture of tarred yarn and gutta percha. Cable companies used this naturally occurring latex to insulate telegraph wires from the harsh conditions on the sea floor. To meet soaring demand, colonial powers such as Britain and the Netherlands accelerated harvesting in their colonies across Southeast Asia. Rainforests were felled for plantations and Indigenous peoples forced to harvest the latex.

Australia’s telegraph came at real cost, as First Nations truth telling projects and interdisciplinary researchers have shown.

The Overland Telegraph Line needed large amounts of water to power batteries and sustain human operators and their animals at repeater stations. The demand for water contributed to loss of life, forced dispossession and the pollution of waterways. The legacy of these effects are still experienced today.

Echoes of this colonial logic can be seen in today’s AI systems. The focus today is on technological advancement, regardless of energy and environmental costs. Within five years, the International Energy Agency estimates the world’s data centres could require more electricity than all of Japan.

AI is far more thirsty than the telegraph. Data centres produce a great deal of heat, and water has to be used to keep the servers cool. Researchers estimate that by 2027, AI usage will require between 4.2 and 6.6 billion cubic metres of water – about the same volume used by Denmark annually.

With the rise of generative AI, both Microsoft and Google have significantly increased their water consumption.

Manufacturing the specialised processors needed to train AI models has resulted in dirty mining, deforestation and toxic waste.

As AI scholar Kate Crawford has argued, AI must be understood as a system that is:

embodied and material, made from natural resources, fuel, human labour, infrastructures, logistics, histories and classifications.

The same was true of the telegraph.

Planning for the future

Telegraph companies and the imperial networks behind them accepted environmental extraction and social exploitation as the price of technological progress.

Today’s tech giants are following a similar approach, racing to release ever more powerful models while obscuring the far reaching environmental consequences of their technologies.

As governments work to improve regulation and accountability, they must go further to enforce ethical standards, mandate transparent disclosure of energy and environmental impacts and support low impact projects.

Without decisive action, AI risks becoming another chapter in the long history of technologies trading human and environmental wellbeing for technological “progress”. The lesson from the telegraph is clear: we must refuse to accept exploitation as the cost of innovation.

Jemimah Widdicombe works for the National Communication Museum (NCM) as Senior Curator.

– ref. From the telegraph to AI, our communications systems have always had hidden environmental cost – https://theconversation.com/from-the-telegraph-to-ai-our-communications-systems-have-always-had-hidden-environmental-cost-263811

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessa Rogers, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Melbourne

Our new report follows the lives of around 1,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the largest study of its kind. We wanted to understand what helps them thrive as they grow up.

For more than 15 years, the Footprints in Time study has looked at the experiences of Indigenous children growing up from early childhood. We are now able to track what this means for them later in life.

This provides powerful evidence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are growing up strong and resilient in many aspects of life. Yet it also highlights systemic barriers that could hold them back.

Our study

Since 2008, Indigenous children, families and teachers have shared their stories and experiences each year as part of the Footprints in Time study. The information used in the latest report was collected between 2008 and 2021.

This study follows the development Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families living in cities, regional towns and remote communities across Australia. It seeks to identify what helps Indigenous children thrive.

The importance of culture

One of the clearest messages from the report is the centrality of culture to wellbeing.

By the time they reached school, three in four children (76%) had attended an Indigenous cultural event, about (54%) had learned arts such as painting or dance, and about half (51%) had engaged in practices like fishing or hunting.

Children who took part in these cultural activities consistently showed stronger social and emotional wellbeing than those who hadn’t. This included having a positive outlook, healthy body, strong relationships, higher confidence and greater resilience as they moved through school.

Opportunities to learn an Indigenous language

The report shows the opportunity to speak and learn an Indigenous language during early childhood and the first years of school, helps children have stronger social-emotional wellbeing. This includes stronger connections to identity and belonging into their teenage years.

In very remote areas, more than 70% of children spoke an Indigenous language, while fewer than 10% of children in cities did so.

In cities and regional centres, where cultural opportunities are fewer, parents and communities were worried children were missing out on these protective factors. So the issue is not whether children value culture, but whether systems make space for it.

The crucial role of families

Families and parents play an equally crucial role.

When parents reported high levels of wellbeing and resilience, their children were more likely to achieve in literacy and numeracy, to enjoy better health, and to experience fewer difficulties as teenagers.

Early cultural experiences, like connection to Country and speaking an Indigenous language, were also linked with stronger social and emotional wellbeing as children grow into middle childhood and adolescence.

So investing in families through financial support, cultural support, community services, and accessible health care is ultimately an investment in children’s futures.

Read more:
Indigenous students want to finish Year 12. They need equal support and resources from schools to do this

A growing digital divide

The report also highlights one of the most pressing issues facing Indigenous young people today: digital inequality.

When asked in 2011 and 2013, only 37% of children in the study were using the internet at home. In major cities, just over half (56%) had access, but in very remote areas, only 8% had access.

Children who had internet access early in life went on to show stronger reading comprehension, better problem-solving skills, and more confidence with technology in adolescence. They were also more likely to use digital tools safely and effectively.

This matters because digital access was closely tied to income and education. Children from higher income households, or where parents had completed Year 12, were far more likely to be online. Those who stood to benefit most from digital learning opportunities were often the least likely to have access.

Early experiences set the stage

The findings show us how what happens before school has lasting impacts.

Children who attended preschool or playgroup, or whose parents engaged in early learning at home, had stronger vocabularies and self control when they started school.

When we looked at children who identified with their Mob (or Mobs) before starting school, compared to those who didn’t, we found they were more likely to have:

• stronger social and emotional wellbeing during both middle childhood and adolescence

• stronger connection to culture, Country, Ancestors and spirit as they grew into middle childhood and adolescence.

These children also consistently achieved higher literacy and numeracy results in Year 5, stayed more engaged in learning during adolescence, and demonstrated stronger planning and memory skills in later years.

This confirms what many parents and educators already know, investment in the early years pays off, not just in academic results but in confidence, resilience and wellbeing.

Listening to children

Perhaps the most moving part of the report is what children themselves say about “growing up strong”. This includes a series of poems about growing up strong as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander young person, developed using direct quotes from parents and young people.

Being healthy and making good decisions.

Respect my Elders and culture.

Being resilient and persistent. Getting better at something.

You have learnt how to be a good person and be safe. Strong and brave

Children understand that kindness, persistence and cultural respect are the foundations of a good life. Our challenge is to ensure systems and structures reflect and support this wisdom.

Why this matters

Our report is not just about statistics. It shows what families, communities, and children are already doing to build strong futures.

It also shows where governments and education systems must do more, embedding culture and language in early learning, tackling racism in schools, supporting families, resourcing communities and bridging the digital divide.

Jessa Rogers receives funding from the Australian Research Council as a DECRA Fellow. She is the Managing Director of Baayi Consulting. The Early Childhood Report for Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) was produced with research funding provided by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

Kristin R. Laurens has received funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, and Medical Research Future Fund. The Early Childhood Report for Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) was produced with research funding provided by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

– ref. Our study followed Indigenous children for 15 years to understand what helps them thrive – https://theconversation.com/our-study-followed-indigenous-children-for-15-years-to-understand-what-helps-them-thrive-266593

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lachlan Vass, Fellow, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Governments of all stripes provide support to small businesses in the form of tax concessions, lighter-touch regulation or government grants. They’re called the “engine room” of the economy. But is small really best?

In recent research, my co-authors and I explored this question by looking at the contributions that firms of different ages and size make to the economy.

We found new and young businesses, rather than small, old businesses, are the drivers of economic growth. This matters, as the economic dynamism these young firms drive boosts productivity – the major determinant of incomes in the long run. But government policy is focused on size, which may be holding us back.

Using de-identified data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that tracks all businesses in Australia, we analysed the economic performance of each individual business in the market sector from 2003 onward – from pubs and cafes to manufacturing.

This includes all business types and sizes, from the corner store to the major corporates. We analysed how many people they employed, their economic value-add (think of it as their contribution to the economy), and their labour productivity (how much stuff they produce for a given amount of workers and hours).

Australia has some 2.7 million small businesses, with 440,000 new businesses started in 2024-25. But our study finds it’s young firms (those aged five years or less) that punch above their weight and have an outsized positive contribution to the economy, while small, old firms (aged over five, and with fewer than 15 employees) have a net negative impact.

Engines of job creation

Our research found young businesses contribute six percentage points to overall annual headcount growth. This compares to small, old firms, which actually reduce overall annual headcount growth by 4.5 percentage points, due to these firms stagnating, shrinking and closing down.

This difference is underlined when we look separately at job creation and job destruction. Young firms contribute 59% of new jobs, while small old firms account for just 16%.

This is even more stark when comparing job losses: small old businesses account for 41% of all job destruction. Large old businesses – often the focus of announced corporate layoffs – account for 18% of job destruction.

So is young best then? As economists like to say – it depends.

We analysed the growth trajectories of young firms and found significant differences.

Of firms that survive to age five, high-performing young firms employ twice the number of workers than the average firm of the same age, and are over 40% more productive.

But the typical new business (in its first year of activity) is relatively small, employing only around two people. And it stops growing relatively quickly – on average new firms plateau after two years of operation. This highlights the vast differences in firm types among young firms.

This might not be surprising to some readers; not all new businesses are started with the goal of being the next Atlassian or Canva.

People start businesses for a range of reasons: whether you’re a lawyer who’d rather be your own boss than work for a large corporation; an IT worker who recently had a child and values control over the flexibility of your time; or a tradie who benefits from the tax implications of running your own business.

Smarter ways to support all businesses

This highlights the importance of policymakers being clear on what they’re trying to achieve when providing subsidies and support to businesses.

Our analysis suggests if the policy goal is to spur economic growth and employment, then targeting assistance to small businesses is poor policy. But this doesn’t necessarily mean we should take that assistance and give it to young firms instead.

Since a small number of high-performing young firms drive economic growth, we won’t always know which young firms these will be. Policy that subsidises young firms would potentially still be ineffective. And we know government has a chequered history with picking winners – see the more than A$30 billion provided to the car manufacturing sector.

So, what should government do?

One often overlooked and potentially counterintuitive finding from our research is the role of firm “exits” – businesses closing down or moving onto new ventures. Firms that exit are 20% less productive than the average firm in their industry five years before they close down, and their productivity declines further as they approach closure.

But the rate of business closures in Australia has been declining over time. Policies that remove impediments from orderly business closure, including supporting affected workers, would help workers and capital to be re-allocated to more productive and innovative firms.

Specific business assistance and targeting is always fraught with difficulty. Policymakers can instead focus on broader policy settings that are conducive to growth, and that apply to all firms rather than just a subset.

These efforts, such as streamlining regulation and ensuring it is fit for purpose for all businesses, would be in line with some of the principles and reform directions agreed at Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable earlier this year.

The author thanks Rachel Lee and Ewan Rankin, researchers at the e61 Institute, for their contribution to this article.

Lachlan Vass is affiliated with the e61 Institute.

– ref. Young businesses create 6 in 10 new jobs in Australia – far more than established firms – https://theconversation.com/young-businesses-create-6-in-10-new-jobs-in-australia-far-more-than-established-firms-266573

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate in Public Health & Community Medicine, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney

In a new online trend, people are scuttling, crawling, and bounding around on all fours while filming themselves – and their videos are getting a lot of attention. The practice is called quadrobics, and it’s quite the spectacle.

Quadrobics evangelists claim the movements promote fitness, strength, mobility and even spirituality, as a chance to reconnect with nature and the “primal” self.

The word quadrobics comes from quattuor (Latin for four) and aerobics (exercise that is rhythmic and repetitive, and which uses the body’s large muscle groups, such as in running).

But is this form of workout actually good for you? Is it just another fad made viral by our attention economy? Or perhaps, a bit of both?

From world records to the therian subculture

Quadrobics gained notoriety back in 2008 when Japanese sprinter Kenichi Ito set a Guinness World Record by sprinting 100 metres on all fours.

Since then, the records have been tumbling. In 2022, American Collin McClure clocked 15.66 seconds, and this year Japanese runner Ryusei Yonee smashed the mark again, with a blistering 14.55 seconds.

Yonee said he studied animal movement from childhood and trained by observing dogs, cats, and monkeys before refining his own technique on the running track.

Recently, we’ve seen a growing number of social media users, particularly young users, posting their own quadrobics content.

In some places, such as Russia, entire subcultures of “quadrobers” have emerged. They blend quadrobics with costume play, and can be seen crawling through the outdoors wearing animal masks.

Much of the online quadrobics content comes from the therian community. Therians are people, often children, who identify as a non-human animal.

Adult therians were some of the first to begin practising quadrobics. While not all therians do quadrobics, those who do often claim that moving on four limbs is an embodied expression of their identity.

Therians can also be easily be confused with the “furry” fandom, but they are different. While therians identify as animals, furries are interested in anthropomorphic animal characters (animals with human traits).

Furries create personal avatars called “fursonas” and participate in events and conventions in “fursuits”.

In Russia and other former Soviet states the sight of young people scampering around wearing fox masks and tails has sparked a moral panic among some politicians and religious leaders.

Last year in Uzbekistan, the Interior Ministry issued a warning to parents that children’s involvement in quadrobics would be treated as parental neglect. And one Russian politician, Vyacheslav Volodin, blamed the West for the trend of people dressing up as animals, calling it a “dehumanisation project”.

Fitness or performance?

Quadrobics is primarily concerned with movement rather than identity, costume or role play.

It belongs to a broader wave of “ancestral” or “primal” wellness trends. Think paleo diets, ice baths, or the Liver King’s raw meat diet. These practices promise to reconnect us to nature, while doubling as performance.

Even mainstream health and wellness sources are beginning to take note of quadrobics, with various articles listing its supposed benefits for training the major muscle groups and improving coordination.

Enthusiasts showcase moves such as bear crawls, leopard walks, leaps and balances. (Although many of these movements and exercises have been practised for years as warm ups or mobility drills).

Some quadrobics practitioners have claimed tangible benefits such as increased fitness and weight loss.

There is some research evidence suggesting quadrupedal movement can help improve balance, flexibility and core stability. And given its rhythmic nature, it can also get your heart rate up, which can have benefits for aerobic fitness and health.

However, this doesn’t mean quadrobics is without limitations.

The risks and limitations

Because quadrobics relies on body weight resistance alone, the load placed on your muscles is restricted to your body weight. This means it probably isn’t as effective as lifting weights for improving strength and bone density, wherein weight lifting allows you to progressively lift heavier.

And although quadrobics will provide aerobic stimulus, it requires quite a bit of skill, which means it is hard to do for long durations and at higher intensities. You would get better cardiovascular benefits from something like running.

Also, as with any exercise, quadrobics comes with potential injury risks – albeit likely small.

If you want to try quadrobics, your muscles and joints will need time to adapt to the load being placed upon them. This is particularly important for your hands, wrists, elbow, and shoulders, which might not be used to being used in this way. This means you should start very slow, and monitor how you feel after each session.

Overall, there’s not much evidence to suggest quadrobics is better for you than mainstream forms of exercise. While crawling and leaping can build stability and flexibility, scientific studies haven’t yet tested its long-term benefits or risks. At best, it is a supplement to established training.

The current social media success of quadrobics has less to do with exercise science and more to do with visual spectacle. The entertainment value is clear, and it will reliably attract likes, shares and commentary — making it as much about theatre and identity as about fitness.

Samuel Cornell receives funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

Hunter Bennett 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. Experts unpack ‘quadrobics’, the fitness trend that claims leaping around on all fours will make you fit – https://theconversation.com/experts-unpack-quadrobics-the-fitness-trend-that-claims-leaping-around-on-all-fours-will-make-you-fit-266360

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeffrey McNeill, Honorary Research Associate, School of People, Environment and Planning, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

With less than a week until voting in local elections closes, it seems early voter turnout may have increased compared to 2022 – up from 10% of eligible voters to about 18% at the same stage this year.

Still, the final turnout will likely be within the expected range – around 45% across New Zealand, with maybe 35% in Auckland (where the mayoral race had attracted only 10% of eligible voters by late September).

Cue commentators diagnosing the imminent demise of local democracy, followed by their prescribed remedies: the voting system should change, there should be more or less postal voting, local and national elections should be synchronised, schools need more civics education.

But is local democracy really in such parlous straits? My research into regional council democracy suggests otherwise.

On the whole, I’ve found eligible voters who choose not to vote are sensible and not simply apathetic or antidemocratic. After all, more than three-quarters of them (77%) voted in the last general election – they are not switched off.

Rather, they are acting quite rationally. Voting involves costs as well as benefits. Voters have to find out who the candidates are and what they stand for, and then decide who is most likely to deliver on what they promise if elected.

Reading election pamphlets and attending candidate meetings, then making sense of it all, takes time and effort. Voters will therefore only engage if they think the benefits of voting will outweigh the costs, and their own welfare will improve as a result.

On the available evidence, more than half of New Zealand voters think the effort to vote in local elections is unlikely to be worth the return.

Who are we voting for?

General elections are different. Candidates’ party affiliations reduce those voting “costs” because party manifestos set out their political positions and goals.

We might not know the candidates, but we know where their political values lie and how they are likely to vote on issues. Also, we assume some sort of vetting procedure has weeded out the liabilities.

This is not the case in local elections. Historically, New Zealand has preferred to keep overt party politics out of local government – despite the known party connections or affiliations of many supposedly non-aligned candidates.

Typically, only a few national political parties front up in local elections, and then only within a few councils (typically the Greens and Labour, and now ACT in the main centres).

Without much easy political branding to rely on, how are voters to know whether their candidates’ values align with theirs?

The Electoral Commission publishes candidate profiles. But mostly these consist of broad, anodyne statements, often accompanied by a promise to keep rate increases down.

A watchdog group such as Democracy Action can provide further information for voters to compare candidates. But they, too, are limited by candidates’ willingness to provide any information about themselves.

Voters are realistic

But does this matter? It’s impossible to provide an objective measure, but the 45% of eligible voters who do turn out generally deliver credible councillors and mayors – despite some of the very fringe or prank candidates on offer.

Having worked closely with regional, city and district councillors over the years, I remain impressed by their competence and commitment to their councils and citizens.

A few mavericks can make it to the council table, yes. But we could say the same of some backbench MPs in parliament. More than a third of the country’s mayors have now served at least two terms and are seeking another, suggesting their competence is recognised.

Also, and without being cynical, voters know changing councillors is unlikely to alter local body behaviour much. Councils’ discretionary expenditure is extremely limited, with the bulk of their budgets committed to roading and water infrastructure.

The government’s Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill aims to reduce that discretionary spending even more.

Voters wanting lower taxes don’t expect much from local government, either. A two-person household on median incomes pays nearly NZ$40,000 to central government in income tax and GST, compared to just under $4,000 for an average city or district rates bill.

Real issues engage voters

Tertiary students and renters are also unlikely to engage. Most of my students laughed sheepishly when I asked them before the previous local election whether they had voted.

Neither group has skin in the game: they don’t pay rates (their landlords do), and quite possibly they will have finished a degree and left town before they can enjoy any benefits from a change in council representation.

This may help explain why smaller councils have much higher voter turnouts than large metropolitan areas, such as south Auckland, with high numbers of renters and young people.

None of this is meant as an excuse for tolerating less democracy. In fact, as my research has shown, when a local controversy or crisis emerges, voters do engage.

In the previous election, flood management on the West Coast, Wellington’s public transport problems and Canterbury’s water pollution issues all galvanised voters for the affected councils.

Here’s a prediction: when the full ratepayer bill for the central government’s “Local Water Done Well” infrastructure policy comes through, the 2029 local government elections will become more engaging contests and turnout will increase.

It’s too early to write off local democracy just yet.

Jeffrey McNeill 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. Not voting in local elections is rational. Voters need better reasons to engage – https://theconversation.com/not-voting-in-local-elections-is-rational-voters-need-better-reasons-to-engage-266463

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

When you look at Sussan Ley’s predicament, you can’t help thinking of Brendan Nelson.

Nelson, a Liberal moderate and a former minister who was a competent but not outstanding performer, won the Liberal leadership after the 2007 defeat of the Howard government. He then never had a chance. Malcolm Turnbull was determined to bring him down (only himself to be ousted by Tony Abbott before the 2010 election, which the Coalition narrowly lost).

Ley came to the leadership in worse circumstances than Nelson. The Liberals, already in opposition, suffered such a devastating defeat in May that it would be near impossible for any leader to be competitive at the 2028 election.

The Liberals had three leaders between 2007 and 2010; Nelson lasted less than a year. Who knows how many they will churn through between now and 2031? The odds of Ley making it to the next election are not good; her chances of leading into the 2031 election must be near nil.

Ley is an interim leader and may, like Nelson, be a short term one.

Not that she isn’t doing a fair job. She is active; her office seems well-organised; she hasn’t made serious mistakes. Critics complain the Liberals don’t have policies. This leaves a void but it is also an unreasonable attack so soon after the election. Where Ley has failed is in managing the more difficult members of her team, notably Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Andrew Hastie. Her defenders would say they have been unmanageable.

Ley has massive forces arrayed against her. Many of the conservatives in the party won’t accept a leader who wants to campaign in the political centre. In an era when right winger Nigel Farage in Britain is doing over the Tories, they insist the Liberals should go to the right, regardless of the fact that compulsory voting and other factors make Australia very different from the United Kingdom.

They are encouraged by Sky After Dark presenters who want to see the back of Ley.

The polls provide plenty of ammunition. The latest Newspoll, published at the weekend, showed Labor with a two-party lead of 57-43%. Ley’s net approval was down three points to a new low of minus 20.

Read more:
Labor retains big lead in Newspoll and all other federal polls

Two ambitious right wingers, Angus Taylor and Hastie, are waiting to pounce when the opportunity comes (which won’t be this year). Taylor, defence spokesman, is (sensibly) biding his time and behaving himself. Hastie, who was home affairs spokesman, last week spat the dummy and quit the frontbench, complaining that Ley, in the portfolio instruction she sent him, had made it clear he wouldn’t have a role in developing the immigration policy.

This was curious. Was Hastie looking for an excuse, or Ley looking to control him? Even if immigration spokesman Paul Scarr formulated the policy, as a senior member of shadow cabinet, Hastie would have had a say. On the other hand, immigration comes broadly under home affairs, so its spokesman would usually be expected to have some part in putting together the policy.

Neither Hastie nor Price, sacked from the frontbench by Ley when she wouldn’t endorse Ley’s leadership, is a comfortable team player. This is odd in Hastie’s case, given he comes from the special forces, the elite part of the military that requires maximum team discipline.

In the wake of Hastie’s resignation, a story, damaging to him, was leaked to Nine media. It reported that former leader Peter Dutton had been “scathing” about Hastie’s performance as shadow defence minister in his arguments to the Liberal Party’s election review panel.

The Liberal defence policy, which should have been a strength, amounted to only a proposed number for spending, with no substance to back it up.

Dutton did not make a formal submission to the review, but was interviewed at length by panel members Nick Minchin and Pru Goward. Minchin said on Monday that Dutton “avoided criticising his shadows”. Whatever Dutton said or did not say, party sources said it was obvious there had been tension between Dutton and Hastie. For his part Hastie – who certainly was not a top performer for the opposition last term – is known to have been critical of the fact some policy work he prepared did not see the light of day.

Hastie’s retort to the Nine story was that “the old guard is lashing out because it is losing the fight on immigration and energy”.

Apart from being stalked by aspirants, Ley is dogged by the ideological division within the party.

It is now clear Ley has to get a decision – that could involve a patched-together compromise – on the Liberals’ stand on net zero by Christmas. But it will be awkward to do this without also announcing a wider policy on energy, which would take a good deal longer to craft.

It’s not easy for Ley to deal with the wider call from critics for policies. She knows the policy process has to be deeper than last term, with releases coming much earlier ahead of the election. But excessive rush would be risky.

One strategy is embarking on “headland” speeches to signal directions at least. Ley has already given one on fiscal issues and middle class welfare (which received less attention than it deserved), and there are more to come.

Most immediately, Ley has to have yet another minor reshuffle, to fill Hastie’s home affairs post. In the interim, finance spokesman senator James Paterson, who held the job last term, is acting.

Paterson has become important to Ley’s leadership. A senior conservative, he is not a natural to be in her camp. But at the moment he has her back.

He told the Conversation’s politics podcast last week (a day before Hastie’s announcement):

My view is the overwhelming majority of the party room is behind Sussan as leader and want to give her the best chance to succeed. She won the ballot for the leadership fair and square. In the Liberal Party we respect the outcome of ballots and give leaders the opportunity to prove their worth.

Well, not all Liberals do.

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. View from The Hill: Can Sussan Ley avoid Brendan Nelson’s fate? – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-can-sussan-ley-avoid-brendan-nelsons-fate-265855