Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University

While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership is not. As Australians reflect on the sacrifices of their soldiers on ANZAC Day, it’s worth remembering the first time Australian and American troops joined forces in battle – in northern France, in the final year of the first world war.

Australia fought as part of the British Empire in the early 20th century. This meant that when Britain declared war in 1914 against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman empire), Australia immediately went to war on the side of the Allies (the British, French, Russian and Japanese empires, with Italy and the United States joining later).

The US didn’t fully commit to the Allied cause until April 1917. Once it did, it focused on building up its industrial war machine and recruiting troops to be sent to Europe. By July 1918, there were around a million American soldiers in France, with more arriving every day.

As I describe in my book, Coalition Strategy and the End of the First World War, from the Allied perspective, the war still very much hung in the balance. They knew the Germans were a formidable enemy, as the launch of the German Spring Offensives in March 1918 had shown.

The Allies had some battle successes beginning in June 1918 that slowly built their confidence. One of the important engagements would become known as the Battle of Hamel in northern France. This was when the Australian overall commander, Lieutenant General John Monash, spearheaded the first Australian-American attack in history. Monash organised the offensive for July 4, American Independence Day.

A quick victory, with limited casualties

Ahead of the battle, American forces moved into Australian lines. As Australian Lieutenant Edgar Rule described:

Twelve were put in each platoon, and believe me they were some men. This was the first time that they had been in the line, and they were dead keen; and apart from that it bucked our lads up wonderfully. All the novelty of the war had long since vanished for our boys … everyone was smiling or laughing.

The Yanks were out for information and our boys were very willing teachers, and it speaks well for the future to see one set so eager to learn and the other so willing to teach.

Despite Monash’s best intentions, however, the American supreme commander, General John “Black Jack” Pershing, was not pleased. Americans supporting Australia in a defensive role was one thing. Attacking, however, would involve higher casualty rates and reduce the strength of the US forces at a time when Pershing wanted to have his own sector of the battlefield, rather than have his troops fed into other armies.

As a result, Pershing went so far as to withdraw six of his companies from the attack and then threatened to withdraw the remaining four. This treatment was not reserved for Monash. Many of the Allied commanders found Pershing difficult to work with – and Monash was no exception.

At 3:10am on July 4, 1918, Australian infantry, including four companies of the American 33rd Division, attacked the Germans in the town of Hamel. They moved forward under the protection of a “creeping barrage” (a slow-moving curtain of artillery fire that protects advancing troops and pins down enemy forces) and with the support of both aircraft and tanks.

Both the Australian Flying Corps and British Royal Air Force were used to prepare for and conduct the attack. This was the first major war in which armies used aircraft in large numbers. And the Battle of Hamel was the first time aircraft were used to parachute supplies to troops on the ground.

Within 93 minutes, the battle was over – and it was a success. The Australian-American forces had achieved their objective of gaining important ground – in this case, guarding the vital rail centre of Amiens – while limiting the loss of life. Casualties were comparatively low for the war, with around 800 killed.

An excerpt from the citation of an Australian Victoria Cross recipient, Private Henry Dalziel, illustrates how tough the battle was:

He twice went over open ground under heavy enemy artillery and machine-gun fire to secure ammunition, and though suffering from considerable loss of blood, he filled magazines and served his gun until severely wounded through the head.

His magnificent bravery and devotion to duty was an inspiring example to all his comrades, and his dash and unselfish courage at a most critical time undoubtedly saved many lives.

Dalziel survived the war and went on to be a songwriter.

Read more:
Poetry, parties and ‘strong Australian tea’. The surprising story of how Anzac Day has been marked in the US for over 100 years

A rapid end of the war

Apart from demonstrating extraordinary courage, the Battle of Hamel is a case study of meticulous planning, excellent staff work and coordination of infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft.

Indeed, the battle helped vindicate ideas about short, sharp attacks from mutually supporting Allied armies (which the Allied generalissimo, Ferdinand Foch referred to as “punching and kicking” the German lines), as well as the combined use of infantry, creeping barrage, tanks and aircraft. It had taken several years of battle experience to reach this point.

These ideas culminated five weeks later with the unprecedented Allied success of the nearby Battle of Amiens, which saw all available Australian spearhead the attack. It was Australia’s biggest victory of the war to that point.

The Australians also fought in the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin in late August before again joining forces with the Americans and other Allied forces to smash through the Hindenburg Line in September.

By this point, it finally looked as though the tide had turned. The Allies began to envision an end to the conflict in late 1918 rather than in 1919, as they were planning for, Indeed, in less than two months, the fighting was over and the Allies were victorious.

For Australia, the end of the war could not come soon enough. The Hindenburg Line was the last offensive for them, as hard fighting over the previous two years had savagely reduced their troop numbers.

However, this was just the beginning of a long military partnership between the US and Australia, forged in shared battle experience and a growing trust, which has now lasted for more than a hundred years.

Meighen McCrae 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. ‘It bucked our lads up wonderfully’: the lightning-quick WWI battle that marked the birth of the US-Australia military alliance – https://theconversation.com/it-bucked-our-lads-up-wonderfully-the-lightning-quick-wwi-battle-that-marked-the-birth-of-the-us-australia-military-alliance-228382

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra

When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later without sanction, many people – particularly in the Western world – immediately suspected a cover-up.

The US anti-doping boss, Travis Tygart, has been one of the most vocal critics of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), claiming the Chinese positive tests had been “swept under the carpet” by the body.

A few days later, the US Anti-Doping Agency stepped up its attacks, calling on governments and sports leaders to overhaul WADA and appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate the 23 positive cases in China.

WADA has been put on the defensive. It has threatened legal proceedings against Tygart for his “outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks”. And it hosted a virtual media conference about the case, with a panel of the agency’s anti-doping heavyweights taking legal, scientific and sports governance questions for almost two hours.

Reputational damage to WADA

Transparency is key to any organisation’s reputation. It is never a good look when a body like WADA is forced to respond to a story exposed by the media, in this case a German documentary and a New York Times report.

WADA has surely suffered reputational damage by not being open about the case when it unfolded three years ago. But it maintains it couldn’t have handled the situation differently because of the complexity of the global anti-doping framework between WADA and national anti-doping agencies.

It wasn’t up to WADA to make the details of the failed tests public – this responsibility rested with the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) because it had carried out the tests and investigated the positive results. To protect innocent athletes if no violation is found, no public announcement is required.

Given an investigation by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security found traces of the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in a kitchen at the swimmers’ hotel, CHINADA ruled the positive tests were the result of accidental contamination. The Chinese swimmers were cleared without any public announcement.

WADA says China’s national anti-doping agency kept them abreast of events throughout their extensive investigation, which took place during strict COVID lockdowns and was impacted by a local outbreak of the virus.

Far from accepting CHINADA’s findings on the face of it, WADA requested the entire case file so it could conduct its own scientific and legal investigations – including speaking with the drug manufacturer to get the latest unpublished science on TMZ, and comparing the Chinese positive tests with TMZ cases in other countries, including the US. WADA ultimately determined there was no concrete evidence to “disprove” the possibility of environmental contamination.

Here are a few reasons WADA gave as to why in its press conference this week:

• More than 200 swimmers competing in the Chinese National Championships were staying in at least two different hotels at the time. The swimmers who tested positive to non-performance-enhancing amounts of TMZ were all at one hotel.

• There were fluctuating negative and positive results for the swimmers that were tested on multiple occasions, which were not consistent with deliberate doping techniques, including microdosing.

• WADA found no evidence of misconduct or manipulation in the case file handed over by CHINADA.

WADA says it reviews between 2,000 and 3,000 cases of suspected doping every year. It is not unusual for the body to file an appeal challenging anti-doping findings.

For example, WADA challenged an Australian Football League decision to clear 34 members of the Essendon Football Club. It also appealed a decision by the world swimming body, FINA, to clear high-profile Chinese swimmer Sun Yang of wrongdoing for his conduct during a 2018 drug test.

According to WADA’s general counsel, Ross Wenzel, the difference between these cases and the more recent allegations against the Chinese swimmers was that the body accepted the “no fault” finding in the latter case. In the earlier cases, it did not.

He also said WADA received external legal advice that it would have had less than a 1% chance of winning an appeal in the TMZ case. According to WADA, everything was handled by the book, and if the body was faced with the same situation again, it would do nothing differently.

Has China been unfairly singled out?

So, has WADA succeeded in changing the narrative? Probably not.

Why? Because putting the words “China” and “doping” together is a lightning rod in the current political climate given the intense rivalry between China and the US.

Currently there are 23 people serving anti-doping suspensions in Australia. Do we feel personal or national shame for their wrongdoing?

Every time the US team marches into an Olympic Games, or steps up onto a World Championships medal podium, do we point at them while recalling memories of the US Postal Service cycling team and the banned-for-life cyclist Lance Armstrong?

But when it comes to China, many observers are quick to name and shame athletes, viewing every news story as some kind of proof the country must have a systemic, state-sanctioned doping program.

Stories in the media about a possible medal redistribution in the Tokyo Olympic swimming events have falsely raised the hopes of those who finished behind the Chinese athletes – and likely been an unwanted distraction for the Chinese team preparing for the Paris Olympics.

Olympic purists might want to believe the Games are above politics. But with the US facing a pivotal election, wars being fought around the world and both Russia and China being cast as threats to democracy, the geopolitical stakes at these games are far greater than the politics of doping.

WADA – like the United Nations and other organisations – finds itself in the cross hairs of the great power struggle of our time: a rising China and its challenge to US dominance.

Catherine Ordway previously worked as the Group Director Enforcement and Group Director Detection for the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (now Sport Integrity Australia). The University of Canberra and Sport Integrity Australia have a memorandum of understanding in place to support a number of research projects, including a PhD project that Catherine supervises titled: “Optimising the Anti-Doping Framework: Unveiling Athlete Perspectives and Proposing Enhancements for a More Effective System.” Catherine is also a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Social Science Research Expert Advisory Group, a voluntary position that provides advice and guidance to WADA’s Social Science grant program for funding for academics working on anti-doping projects.

Tracey Holmes 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. Chinese swimming scandal: a strong defence by world anti-doping body, but narrative of ‘cover-up’ remains – https://theconversation.com/chinese-swimming-scandal-a-strong-defence-by-world-anti-doping-body-but-narrative-of-cover-up-remains-228507

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information related to Indigenous war service.

Since the 1860s, thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have served in the Australian Defence Force. They have fought in every major war from the Boer War to Afghanistan. More than 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Islanders served in the first world war, with at least 70 stationed on the front lines and in the trenches at Gallipoli.

At the outbreak of WWI, the 1910 amendment to the Australian Defence Act of 1903 prevented persons “not substantially of European origin or descent” from enlisting. In addition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders weren’t yet considered Australian citizens and were therefore automatically excluded from enlisting.

Despite this, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders answered the call to defend their country by hiding their racial identity to enlist.

This Anzac Day, we can point to many examples of mainstream media projects, both fiction and non-fiction, dedicated to the Australian experience of WWI. But within these stories is a striking lack of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people or characters that represent the wartime sacrifices made by First Nations peoples.

Why have their contributions been erased? And when will they be remembered?

Fighting for Country

Serving on the ground, in the air and on the sea, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people entered the war effort for several reasons.

The propaganda that encouraged white Australians to enlist in search of travel and adventure also reached Aboriginal reserves and communities, having a similar impact. The chance to earn a wage and gain an education were also attractive causes as these rights were heavily restricted for Indigenous Australians at the time.

For the most part, however, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who joined the war effort did so out of a deep love for their country. As the Australian War Memorial’s first Indigenous liaison officer, Gary Oakley, explains:

They had that warrior spirit and they wanted to prove themselves.

These men were willing to fight for their country’s freedom alongside countrymen who were not willing to fight for their freedom. Their loyalty to the land, and responsibility to protect it, were too powerful to ignore.

Yet, once the war ended, they returned to as much discrimination (if not more) than before it began. Any hopes of equal treatment by the Australian government and white society on account of their service were quickly dashed.

Returned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers were denied the recognition and support schemes provided to their non-Indigenous comrades. Even today, many families and communities continue to seek due recognition for Indigenous peoples’ contributions to the war effort.

Read more:
Telling the forgotten stories of Indigenous servicemen in the first world war

(A lack of) Indigenous recognition in media

Indigenous people’s contributions during WWI continue to be left out of major mainstream media productions. Before Dawn (2024), the most recent Australian film based on the war, fails to include a single Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person in its cast.

This trend continues in Beneath Hill 60 (2010), Ghosts of War (2010), Forbidden Ground (2013), An Accidental Hero (2013), William Kelly’s War (2014) and Water Diviner (2014). Earlier films such as The Lighthorsemen (1987) and Gallipoli (1981) – perhaps the most iconic Australian WWI film – also fails to include or even mention an Indigenous presence.

And there was indeed a presence. Consider James Lingwoodock, a Kabi Kabi from Queensland.
A renowned horseman, Lingwoodock joined the 11th Light Horse Regiment and fought in (and survived) the 1917 Battle of Beersheba – a significant victory for Australia. He returned to Australia in 1919.

Consider also the four Noongar brothers from the township of Katanning, Western Australia, who entered the battlefields of WWI. Lewis and Larry Farmer both fought and survived at Gallipoli, but Larry was later killed on the Western Front. A third brother, Augustus Pegg Farmer – the first Aboriginal soldier awarded the Military Medal for bravery – was killed in action several months later.

Lewis eventually made it home to Katanning, along with the fourth brother, Kenneth.

Untold stories

There have been some film and television projects dedicated to the Australian Frontier Wars, which were fought between First Nations peoples and the first waves of British invaders. Two examples are the documentary The Australian Wars (2022) and the film Higher Ground (2020).

Similarly, the Australian War Memorial collection includes Indigenous-produced documentaries and short films that capture the varied experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women. But it’s fair to say such projects sit outside the popular media most Australians are exposed to.

We need more collaborations that will bring Indigenous wartime stories to mainstream audiences, while retaining their cultural integrity. We also need to ensure Indigenous ownership and control over these stories.

Where is the onscreen tale of the Indigenous Anzac soldier who obscured his racial identity to enlist? The solider who risked life and limb for Country? Who survived through horrors, only to be excluded from all forms of post-war recognition and compensation? Whose traditional land was portioned up and gifted to returned white soldiers? Who struggled with post-war trauma in silence and isolation and who died without being acknowledged?

These stories, along with a great many others, are waiting to be told. The Indigenous persons who served in WWI, and their descendants, deserve to have them heard – just as all Australians deserve the opportunity to hear them.

I would like to sincerely acknowledge the diverse traditional custodians of this great land – their respective communities, Elders and Countries. I particularly acknowledge the Binjarub, Noongar nation, peoples and Country where I reside. I acknowledge the collective contributions, past and present, and pay my deepest respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service peoples for their courage and sacrifices: an ongoing source of strength and pride for us all.

Cally Jetta 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. First Nations Anzacs sacrificed life and limb for Country. Why aren’t their stories shown onscreen? – https://theconversation.com/first-nations-anzacs-sacrificed-life-and-limb-for-country-why-arent-their-stories-shown-onscreen-227230

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University

Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by First Nations people. Advocates for widespread thinning and burning of these forests have relied on this belief. They argue fire is needed to return these forests to their “pre-invasion” state.

A key question then is: what does the evidence say about what tall, wet forests actually looked like 250 years ago? The answer matters because it influences how these forests are managed. It’s also needed to guide efforts to restore them to their natural state.

In a new scientific paper, we looked carefully at the body of evidence on the natural pre-invasion state of Australian forests, such as those dominated by majestic mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans), the world’s tallest flowering plant. We analysed historical documents, First Nations Peoples’ recorded testimonies and the scientific evidence.

Our analysis shows most areas of mainland mountain ash forests were likely to have been dense and wet at the time of British invasion. The large overstorey eucalypt trees were relatively widely spaced, but there was a dense understorey of broad-leaved shrubs, tree ferns and mid-storey trees, including elements of cool temperate rainforest.

Read more:
Book Review: Country is an urgent call to learn from Indigenous knowledges to care for the land

What was the evidence?

We looked at many sources of historical evidence. We read colonial expeditioners’ diaries. We reviewed colonial paintings and photographs. We sought out recorded and published testimonies from First Nations People. We compiled evidence from studies such as those that used carbon dating, tree rings and pollen cores.

We also examined the basic ecology of how the forests grow and develop, the plants’ level of fire sensitivity and different animals’ habitat needs.

As an example of the many accounts we found, 19th-century civil servant and mining engineer Robert Brough Smyth wrote about:

[…] heavily timbered ranges lying between Hoddle’s Creek and Wilson’s Promontory. The higher parts and the flanks of these ranges are covered with dense scrubs, and in the rich alluviums bordering the creeks and rivers the trees are lofty, and the undergrowth luxuriant; indeed in some parts so dense as to be impenetrable without an axe and bill-hook.

Similarly, in 1824, colonial explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell described their encounter with mountain ash forests at Mount Disappointment in Victoria:

Here […] they find themselves completely at a stand, without clue or guide as to the direction in which they are to proceed; the brush wood so thick that it was impossible to see before them in any direction ten yards.

The ecological and other scientific evidence suggests mountain ash forests evolved under conditions where high-severity bushfires were rare. As a result, mature forests of eucalypt trees of multiple ages dominated these landscapes. There was no evidence of active and widespread use of recurrent low-severity fire or thinning.

Our key conclusion is that these forests were not open or park-like – as was the case in some other vegetation types in Australia.

Read more:
Why Victoria needs a Giant Forest National Park

First Nations People knew not all Country needs fire

Importantly, tall wet forests were not wilderness. Rather, they were places of significance for First Nations People. They used these forests seasonally to access important sites and resources and as pathways to visit others in neighbouring Countries.

There is no doubt parts of Australia were subject to recurrent cultural burning for many diverse and important reasons before the British invasion. However, our discussions with Traditional Custodians in the Central Highlands of Victoria, including Elders, indicate cultural burning was not widely practised in most of the mountain ash forests there. Nor were these forests actively thinned.

Many First Nations People advocate the need to consider ecological responses to fire. The right fire (or not) for the right Country is a guiding principle of traditional fire management. In the words of Elder and cultural fire practitioner Victor Steffensen:

Aboriginal fire knowledge is based on Country that needs fire, and also Country that doesn’t need fire. Even Country we don’t burn is an important part of fire management knowledge and must be within the expertise of a fire practitioner.

Repeated burning, and even low-severity fire, is unsuited to the ecology of tall, wet forests. It can lead to their collapse and replacement by entirely different vegetation such as wattle scrub.

Similarly, thinning these forests can make them more fire-prone, not less, by creating a drier forest, and generate huge amounts of carbon emissions.

Thinning and burning will also destroy habitat for a wide range of species. They include critically endangered ones such as Leadbeater’s possum. Indeed, mountain ash forests are themselves recognised as a critically endangered ecosystem.

Read more:
It’s not just Victoria’s iconic mountain ash trees at risk – it’s every species in their community

Let forests mature to restore what’s been lost

The compelling evidence we compiled all indicates mountain ash forests were dense, wet environments, not open and park-like, at the time of British invasion.

The use of scientific evidence is essential for managing Australia’s natural environments. Based on this evidence, we should not be deliberately burning or thinning these forests, which will have adverse impacts.

Rather, restoration should involve letting these forests mature. We should aim to expand the size of the old-growth forest estate to precolonial levels. Where regeneration has failed, practices such as planting and reseeding will be important to restore ecological values.

David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Victorian and Australian governments. He is a member of the Biodiversity Council and Birds Australia.

Elle Bowd receives funding from the NSW government.

Chris Taylor and Philip Zylstra 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. Our tall, wet forests were not open and park-like when colonists arrived – and we shouldn’t be burning them – https://theconversation.com/our-tall-wet-forests-were-not-open-and-park-like-when-colonists-arrived-and-we-shouldnt-be-burning-them-228601

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

With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest.

As this week’s consumer price index showed, the battle with inflation has not yet been won. The government can’t afford to have an over-generous budget add to inflation and further delay a pre-election reduction in interest rates.

In this podcast, we’re joined by independent economist Chris Richardson to discuss the budget and Australia’s economic outlook.

Richardson say while the growth figure will be downgraded in the budget, not all is bad,

It will be downgraded, for the year just finishing, for the financial year just soon to start. It is tough times. To be fair, the Australian economy is growing. There hasn’t been a recession. There hasn’t been some of the problems that people expected.

On inflation, however, he says the new figures paint a much bleaker picture,

They are ugly. So, in the last three months, prices grew by 1%. Over the last year, they grew by a bit more than 3.5%. And yes, it’s falling. It’s not falling as fast as the Reserve Bank had predicted. There’d been hopes from some people that there might be an interest rate cut sooner rather than later.

But those numbers today, I tell you: absolutely, you are not getting a rate cut in Australia until the end of this calendar year at best.

Like many other economists, Richardson is critical of Anthony Albanese’s Future Made in Australia interventionist industry policy. He says while there’s some potential benefit, the government doesn’t seem to be focused on the right areas,

You look at something like solar panels, and throwing money at that is just spectacularly dumb. That is just a waste of money. It’s the equivalent of asking taxpayers to smoke $100 notes. And I do worry that bits of the new industry policy are a little bit more around having announcements in some key marginal seats in Queensland, for example, then they are around good policy.

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: Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget – https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-economist-chris-richardson-on-an-ugly-inflation-result-and-the-coming-budget-228607

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University

Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, made significant contributions and sacrifices during the war effort.

Living in the time of the White Australia Policy, they were simultaneously wanted and rejected. Despite their sacrifices, many faced discrimination, and even deportation upon their return.

Our ongoing research is looking into the lives of Australian-Muslim servicemen and women during WWII. In doing so, we have come across incredible stories of sacrifice and hardship that reveal not all war veterans were treated equally, nor are they all remembered the same.

Read more:
I’m descended from a Baloch-Afghan cameleer and a Badimiya Yamitji woman: they battled racist government policies to save our family

The many faces of Islam in Australia

Australia’s Muslim Anzacs were a mix of Australian-born people and migrants. The Australian-born were the children and grandchildren of Afghan cameleers, Malay traders and Javanese labourers.

Several descendants of Afghan cameleers had Indigenous heritage, such as William “Billy” Bonsop of Mackay, who died in battle in New Guinea in 1943, and Akbar Namith Khan of Oodnadatta, who had active service in the Northern Territory.

Others were temporary immigrants who, with the outbreak of war, were unable to return home. When WWII began, many Albanian men were in Australia as part of the cultural practice of “kurbet”, where men would work abroad to earn money for their family.

One of these Albanians was Kurtali Raman of Mareeba, North Queensland – a place where many Albanians went to work on tobacco farms. Raman joined the 2/31 Battalion, and was among the first Australian soldiers to re-enter the village of Kokoda when it was taken back from the Japanese. He was killed in action at Papua on December 1 1942, at age 35.

Bravery, loss and betrayal

Another group of stranded workers were Indonesian and Malay indentured pearl divers. One man whose service exemplifies both the sacrifice and injustice of war was Malaysian-born Abu Kassim bin Marah.

Abu Kassim arrived in Broome as a teenager in 1933 to work in the pearling industry. At the outbreak of war, he was living with his long-term partner, Patricia Djiween, and their two daughters, Faye and Georgina. Patricia was Indigenous and, despite the family they had made, Western Australia’s “Protector of Aborigines” at the time (the government official appointed to oversee the welfare of Aboriginal people) denied them permission to marry.

Following the Japanese bombing of Broome in February 1942, Broome’s pearl divers were evacuated to Fremantle. The Malays and Indonesians were classified as “allied aliens” which meant they could enlist, which Abu Kassim did.

He was first assigned to a labour battalion where his seafaring skills were put to use in water transport. However, while serving the country, the government removed his two daughters from their mother’s care and placed them in an orphanage.

In 1944, the Z Special Unit, based in Australia recruited Abu Kassim and several other divers after failing to successfully insert white Australian soldiers behind enemy lines. The divers were promised naturalisation and an end to their indenture as incentives to join.

Their fitness, language skills and local knowledge of Southeast Asia proved invaluable. Abu Kassim trained at the Fraser Island Commando School and his unit chose him as one of the first to be deployed overseas as part of Operation Semut. In April 1945, Abu Kassim parachuted into Japanese-held Sarawak in Borneo.

Having first contacted friendly Kelabit villagers, Abu Kassim and his companions moved up the Rejang River, convincing local Iban and Kayan people – who had a history of enmity with one another – to put aside their differences and support the Australians. He recruited many local people to join their guerrilla force against the Japanese.

Abu Kassim then went ahead through the Japanese-held jungle to reach the coast, scouting enemy positions and gathering intelligence. He participated in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese, during which he was wounded in hand-to-hand combat.

He repatriated to Australia in December 1945. He was sick from his wounds and jungle illnesses, and soon discovered he had leukaemia. Upon his return, he applied for naturalisation but was rejected. As he was too sick to return to pearl diving, the government announced its intentions to deport him.

Abu Kassim was also unable to reunite with Patricia, since she was now married to a man named Snowy Dodson. But Abu Kassim gave his blessing for their union and for Dodson to look after his children. The two sisters would later be joined by two brothers, Patrick and Michael Pat and Mick Dodson went on to become prominent Aboriginal leaders, and a senator and barrister, respectively.

Abu Kassim‘s deportation orders were being processed when he died of leukaemia on March 3 1949. The veteran was buried in an unmarked grave in the Muslim section of Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth.

Only in 2021 was his grandson able to right some of the wrongs of his treatment and identify his grave so it could have a headstone.

Lest we forget

Despite the promise of rewards for their service, many of the other divers were held to the indentured labour agreements they had with pearling bosses.

The Albanians fared better. For them, war service became a pathway to naturalisation. Many of these men, such as Laver Xhemali and Mustafa “James” Sheriff, successfully had families and became important members of their communities. Laver Xhemali died in 1991 at age 70. His grave plaque is the first Australian War Memorial grave to feature the Islamic crescent.

At the same time, many Australian-born Muslim servicemen returned to face the same discrimination they endured before the war, and their service faded into obscurity.

Dr Simon Wilmot received funding from Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

James Barry received funding from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to complete part of this project.

– ref. The stories of Australia’s Muslim Anzacs have long been forgotten. It’s time we honour them – https://theconversation.com/the-stories-of-australias-muslim-anzacs-have-long-been-forgotten-its-time-we-honour-them-228189

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra

There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law and good sense. Journalist Annabel Crabb wrote the judgement was a “lesson in shades of grey”.

What is not said, however, is that a significant factor in this case is that Lehrmann gave evidence. This is a major difference from the aborted criminal prosecution in 2022, in which Lehrmann relied on his right to silence at trial.

Lee’s decision in this defamation case is a clarion call. It compels us to think more creatively about approaches to prosecuting sex crimes, acknowledging a stark reality: in an “adversarial” legal system, a fair trial in these cases is rarely achieved by providing one of usually only two parties with a right to silence.

Read more:
Judge finds Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins and dismisses Network 10 defamation case. How did it play out?

Wars of words

In essence, the right to silence is the right for an accused person not to incriminate themself through their own testimony. In Australia, it is mostly seen as a central part of the presumption of innocence for serious crimes. It is widely used.

At first glance, this seems fair enough. The prosecution should have to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt to avoid wrongful conviction. The right to silence can protect against abuses of process by the state against the individual.

Yet, like many sexual assault and child sexual abuse cases, this trial boiled down to an accusation and a denial: one person’s word against another. It was key to Channel Ten’s legal case, seeking to defend the claims it reported as true.

Given the nature of sex crimes, which mostly happen in private, there is often no hard evidence. There is no CCTV footage or “third party” witness. There is often no paper trail or easy basis for DNA testing where the accused is known or the case is about consent.

Read more:
How the Lehrmann v Channel 10 defamation case shone an unflattering light on commercial news gathering

There are also reasons why victims of a sex crime might not have the perpetrator’s skin under their fingernails, for example, and why they don’t rush to a police station for immediate forensic testing. There can be a significant power imbalance between the people involved.

So, cases like Lehrmann’s come down to the credibility of the people involved and whatever can be gleaned from the broader circumstances.

Time for a rethink

What ultimately brought Lehrmann undone in this civil trial was that he chose to give evidence in defence of his reputation. He likely chose to testify because under New South Wales defamation law, the person alleging they’ve been defamed has the onus of proving the statements were, in fact, defamatory. For five days, the open court heard and felt the quality of his evidence and character.

This case was a rare chance to see what happens when everyone tells their story about an alleged rape. The decision is a basis from which legal reformers and academics should be seriously questioning the role of the right to silence in sex crime cases.

Despite ongoing reforms to improve things, victim-survivors of sex crimes still regularly face abuses of process in the current system.

This includes a culture of defence barristers using rape myths to destroy a victim’s credit as a witness. It also includes women being silenced by the law from talking about their experience and trauma.

Lee’s masterclass in sorting the evidentiary wheat from the chaff shows how judges with solid understandings of trauma and sexual assault are perhaps better suited than juries to navigate complex legal concepts such as “probative” and “prejudicial” evidence and witness “credit”, as they apply to sex cases.

Read more:
Does Australia need dedicated sexual assault courts?

An inquisitorial process may also work better, whereby judges can make reasonable inquiries of all parties throughout an investigation and trial, bound by rules of evidence, but active in getting to the truth of the matter. Such judges could balance the rights of both the accused and the alleged victim.

This kind of change is obviously big and structural but not unprecedented in Australia. Coronial hearings routinely exercise inquisitorial powers.

While we ultimately don’t know what the jury would have found in Lehrmann’s criminal case, the deeply flawed approach to sex crimes in Australia today means it’s time for a rethink.

Hopefully, Lee’s competent treatment of this complex case is not an aberration but the cultural moment when we start to think about what’s possible.

Kelly Saunders receives funding from the federal government for her PhD research via a stipend scholarship.

– ref. Sexual assault victims give evidence in court, but alleged perpetrators don’t have to. Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case shows why that needs to change – https://theconversation.com/sexual-assault-victims-give-evidence-in-court-but-alleged-perpetrators-dont-have-to-bruce-lehrmanns-defamation-case-shows-why-that-needs-to-change-228278

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University

Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood.

ADHD is diagnosed when people experience problems with inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that negatively impacts them at school or work, in social settings and at home.

Some people call the condition attention-deficit disorder, or ADD. So what’s the difference?

In short, what was previously called ADD is now known as ADHD. So how did we get here?

Read more:
ADHD affects girls too, and it can present differently to the way it does in boys. Here’s what to look out for

Let’s start with some history

The first clinical description of children with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity was in 1902. British paediatrician Professor George Still presented a series of lectures about his observations of 43 children who were defiant, aggressive, undisciplined and extremely emotional or passionate.

Since then, our understanding of the condition evolved and made its way into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM. Clinicians use the DSM to diagnose mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.

The first DSM, published in 1952, did not include a specific related child or adolescent category. But the second edition, published in 1968, included a section on behaviour disorders in young people. It referred to ADHD-type characteristics as “hyperkinetic reaction of childhood or adolescence”. This described the excessive, involuntary movement of children with the disorder.

In the early 1980s, the third DSM added a condition it called “attention deficit disorder”, listing two types: attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH) and attention deficit disorder as the subtype without the hyperactivity.

However, seven years later, a revised DSM (DSM-III-R) replaced ADD (and its two sub-types) with ADHD and three sub-types we have today:

• predominantly inattentive
• predominantly hyperactive-impulsive
• combined.

Read more:
I think I have ADHD, how do I get a diagnosis? What might it mean for me?

Why change ADD to ADHD?

ADHD replaced ADD in the DSM-III-R in 1987 for a number of reasons.

First was the controversy and debate over the presence or absence of hyperactivity: the “H” in ADHD. When ADD was initially named, little research had been done to determine the similarities and differences between the two sub-types.

The next issue was around the term “attention-deficit” and whether these deficits were similar or different across both sub-types. Questions also arose about the extent of these differences: if these sub-types were so different, were they actually different conditions?

Meanwhile, a new focus on inattention (an “attention deficit”) recognised that children with inattentive behaviours may not necessarily be disruptive and challenging but are more likely to be forgetful and daydreamers.

Why do some people use the term ADD?

There was a surge of diagnoses in the 1980s. So it’s understandable that some people still hold onto the term ADD.

Some may identify as having ADD because out of habit, because this is what they were originally diagnosed with or because they don’t have hyperactivity/impulsivity traits.

Others who don’t have ADHD may use the term they came across in the 80s or 90s, not knowing the terminology has changed.

How is ADHD currently diagnosed?

The three sub-types of ADHD, outlined in the DSM-5 are:

• predominantly inattentive. People with the inattentive sub-type have difficulty sustaining concentration, are easily distracted and forgetful, lose things frequently, and are unable to follow detailed instructions

• predominantly hyperactive-impulsive. Those with this sub-type find it hard to be still, need to move constantly in structured situations, frequently interrupt others, talk non-stop and struggle with self control

• combined. Those with the combined sub-type experience the characteristics of those who are inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive.

ADHD diagnoses continue to rise among children and adults. And while ADHD was commonly diagnosed in boys, more recently we have seen growing numbers of girls and women seeking diagnoses.

However, some international experts contest the expanded definition of ADHD, driven by clinical practice in the United States. They argue the challenges of unwanted behaviours and educational outcomes for young people with the condition are uniquely shaped by each country’s cultural, political and local factors.

Regardless of the name change to reflect what we know about the condition, ADHD continues to impact educational, social and life situations of many children, adolescents and adults.

Read more:
What’s the difference between autism and Asperger’s disorder?

Kathy Gibbs 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 ADD and ADHD? – https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-add-and-adhd-225162

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University

Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that choice, you decide to order a traditional meat or vegetable dish. That’s a common decision.

The Australian plant-based meat industry has grown significantly in recent years and has been projected to become a A$3 billion industry by 2030. Yet most consumers still hesitate to order a plant-based meat dish in restaurants.

In our new study, we asked 647 Australians why they don’t order plant-based meat dishes when dining out.

It turns out not everyone shares the same reasons. We found six types of diner who avoided these dishes.

The 6 types of diner

Type 1: environmentally conscious, plant-based meat eater

The environmentally conscious plant-based meat eater doesn’t have any issues with meat alternatives. In fact, they enjoy experimenting with plant-based meat products at home. They have their favourite brands but also dislike certain products.

To avoid eating a product they don’t like, they prefer ordering traditional vegetable dishes when dining out. They are more concerned about protecting the planet than their own health.

Type 2: health-conscious, plant-based meat supporter

Type 2 is similar to type 1, except type 2 diners care about being fit and healthy. They prefer to “just eat the vegetables they use to make the fake meat”, as one study participant told us, because they think meat alternatives contain too much sodium, soy, fat, sugar and genetically modified ingredients.

Type 3: curious plant-based meat avoider

The curious plant-based meat avoider typically orders a meat dish and occasionally a vegetable option. They sit on the fence when it comes to plant-based meat.

While they are curious to try it, they aren’t familiar with it and don’t want to risk disappointment. As a type 3 diner told us:

If I were offered a sample, I would be more inclined to try it but […] the risk of it being disappointing doesn’t justify the cost.

Type 4: sceptical plant-based meat avoider

Like the curious plant-based meat avoider, type 4 diners order more meat than vegetable dishes. They believe meat alternatives are unhealthy because “reading the back of plant-based meat packages will typically reveal a plethora of chemicals”. They don’t trust the technology used to create plant-based meat.

They also do not support the idea of mimicking meat with plants and giving these products names similar to animal meat such as burger or steak.

Type 5: indifferent meat lover

The indifferent meat lover doesn’t have any issues with plant-based meat. Yet they wouldn’t consider ordering a plant-based meat dish. Eating meat is an integral part of their restaurant experience and they “wouldn’t know how you’d mimic meat sliding off a bone”.

Although most of their family and friends also order meat dishes, they have no problem with restaurants offering meat alternatives if they are clearly labelled and don’t limit meat options. They believe eating meat is natural, summed up by one who said:

There is a nutritional requirement for animal meat inherent in humans.

Type 6: critical meat lover

The critical meat lover dislikes everything about plant-based meat. They don’t understand why anyone would replace meat with a plant-based alternative, nor why it is important.

Several times I have eaten this garbage […] and thoroughly regretted it.

Why does this matter?

As David Attenborough says: “We must change our diet. The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters.”

Occasionally ordering a plant-based meal instead of a meat dish can greatly reduce the environmental footprint of the global food system. Animal agriculture accounts for 56% of food-related greenhouse gas emissions but produces only 18% of calories and 37% of protein.

Plant-based alternatives to chicken, pork and beef emit, on average, 43%, 63% and 93% less greenhouse gas emissions.

This means a family of four ordering plant-based meat burgers instead of beef patties saves carbon emissions equal to driving from Brisbane to the Gold Coast.

5 ways restaurants can promote plant-based meat dishes

Restaurants are the perfect tasting ground to introduce diners (especially curious and sceptical plant-based meat avoiders) to meat alternatives. Here are five simple things restaurants can do to promote plant-based meat dishes:

1. hand out free samples to reduce the fear of disappointment

2. serve plant-based meat by default to break meat-ordering habits, as a Brisbane pub has done

3. describe plant-based meat with indulgent words and avoid using unappealing language, such as the word vegan

4. provide health information to overcome the belief that meat alternatives are unhealthier than meat, which is often not true

5. integrate plant-based meat dishes into the full menu rather than listing them in a separate vegetarian section.

David Fechner received funding from ProVeg International to conduct this study (Project number July2022-0000001199).

Bettina Grün received funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) to conduct this study (Project DOI:10.55776/I4367).

Sara Dolnicar receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. What kind of diner are you? 6 types of diners who avoid plant-based meat dishes – https://theconversation.com/what-kind-of-diner-are-you-6-types-of-diners-who-avoid-plant-based-meat-dishes-226234

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vernon Rive, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

A seven-year campaign by a group of over 2,000 Swiss women – average age 73 – recently ended with a European Court of Human Rights decision variously described as a “landmark”, “monumental”, and “the biggest victory possible”.

Swiss Elders for Climate Protection – KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz – had challenged the Swiss government’s emissions reductions strategy as “wholly inadequate”. The court largely agreed. The decision has made waves in Europe. Might its ripples reach New Zealand’s shores?

A 2023 survey of global climate litigation counted over 2,300 cases, two thirds filed since 2015. Youth litigants have been especially active, including Sharma v Minister for the Environment in Australia, and Thomson v Minister for Climate Change in New Zealand.

Youth perspectives have resonance in climate cases, given the long-term implications of climate change and impacts of future emissions reductions policies. Cases such as the one taken by KlimaSeniorinnen take a different tack, pointing to the vulnerability of older people.

One applicant had been hospitalised after collapsing during a heatwave. She died during the court proceedings. Others had respiratory or cardiovascular problems exacerbated by rising temperatures. Their evidence aligns with New Zealand research on higher risks from climate change for older people.

Emissions policy on trial

The Swiss women argued, first in the Swiss domestic courts and then in the European Court of Human Rights, that their government’s failure to implement adequate emissions reductions meant it had breached various human rights obligations, including the rights to life, and private and family life, under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

In a 260-page ruling, the court agreed that the right to private life had been breached. But it said it didn’t need to reach a conclusion on the right to life claim. Having declared Switzerland in breach of its ECHR obligations, the court left it to the government to comply with the convention.

Read more:
Older Swiss women just set a global legal precedent for challenging their nation’s climate change policy

Like New Zealand, Switzerland has made international commitments to emissions reductions under the Paris Climate Agreement. However, the Swiss government struggled to pass legislation reflecting the accepted target reductions.

A national referendum in 2021 rejected a proposed CO₂ Act intended to translate the country’s Paris commitments into domestic law. It was not until June 2023 that a second referendum affirmed a replacement Climate Act. But by the time the European Court of Human Rights issued its decision, the Swiss Climate Act had not yet come into force.

The independent Climate Action Tracker has called Switzerland’s strategy “insufficient”. So it was unsurprising the court declared it in breach of its human rights obligations. The decision has obvious ramifications for the Swiss Confederation and other Council of Europe members. But could it also have implications closer to home?

Implications for NZ courts

New Zealand is not bound by decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. But New Zealand courts regularly consider cases from overseas when determining claims.

Local activists, lawyers and judges will be poring over the judgement, which addresses a number of contested issues in existing and potential future cases in this jurisdiction.

First, New Zealand has ratified other international human rights instruments, including the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). New Zealand is also a party to the ICCPR’s Optional Protocol. This opens it up to compliance rulings by the UN Human Rights Committee, as occurred in the 2020 Teitoita v New Zealand climate-related case.

Read more:
One of NZ’s most contentious climate cases is moving forward. And the world is watching

The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act imposes human rights obligations on public authorities. In a related claim to his climate case against Fonterra and others, Māori elder Mike Smith has sued the New Zealand government, claiming (among other things) that its inadequate emissions reductions framework breaches the rights to life and to practise culture under the Bill of Rights.

The case is currently at the Court of Appeal. If it goes to the Supreme Court or UN Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights decision in the KlimaSeniorinnen case could well feature prominently.

But KlimaSeniorinnen‘s relevance is not limited to human rights claims. An important aspect of the European judgement was a meticulous analysis of the factual and scientific context for the women’s claim.

The court comprehensively assessed the latest climate science, endorsing the need for “deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions”. That part of the decision offers something of a model for New Zealand courts in all sorts of climate cases.

Read more:
Three secrets to successful climate litigation

Legal issues without borders

The case also addresses a perennial question in climate cases in New Zealand and elsewhere: what is the proper role and function of the courts in assessing government responses to climate change?

Arguments about judicial competence to review policy-laden regulatory responses were (and will be) central to these ongoing cases, including Lawyers for Climate Action v Climate Change Commission, now awaiting a decision by the New Zealand Court of Appeal.

In the KlimaSeniorinnen case, the European Court of Human Rights readily acknowledged limits to judicial involvement in climate policy. But it ruled “the Court’s competence in the context of climate change litigation cannot, as a matter of principle, be excluded”.

We can expect its thoughtful approach on this issue to be carefully considered in New Zealand cases.

The Swiss case was decided under a particular legal, constitutional and institutional setting, in many respects different to New Zealand’s. But there is much in the decision that could inform New Zealand judicial responses to common issues which – like greenhouse emissions themselves – know no national borders.

Vernon Rive 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. Climate change and human rights: how a landmark legal victory in Europe could affect NZ – https://theconversation.com/climate-change-and-human-rights-how-a-landmark-legal-victory-in-europe-could-affect-nz-227664

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology

Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive.

How likely would you be to tell your boss you were unwell and had to go home?

While employees would probably tell their boss about a stomach upset, many who menstruate and feel unwell as a consequence every month, are unlikely to talk about their difficult periods.

Especially at work. This was confirmed in our recent study of 247 students and workers who have periods. We found only 6.7% would be honest with their employer about why they had to leave work or stay at home.

Additionally, 87% of those surveyed – 96% identified as women – felt their period often interfered with their work or study.

One respondent told us, “I would sometimes just say I wasn’t well and needed to work from home to be near a bathroom. I would let people assume it was gastro.” Another said, “I do not feel comfortable giving this as a reason to miss work as it feels like an excuse despite living in chronic pain.”

The topic of menstruation is unquestionably still on the taboo list. And it is also clearly affecting the workplace.

The good news is we are starting to see initiatives aimed at making workplaces more inclusive for people who menstruate.

Earlier this month, Victorian government employees dealing with menstrual pain, menopausal symptoms and IVF treatments were given an extra five days sick leave as part of their Enterprise Bargaining Agreement negotiations.

But the Victorian Women’s Trust led the way in Australia being the first company to introduce a Menstrual and Menopause Wellbeing Policy”.

Other organisations including the Aintree Group, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, the Cura Day Hospitals Group and sports business Core Climbing are also getting on board.

Many schools provide free pads and tampons which are also available at Melbourne council facilities, TAFE Queensland, and universities including Griffith and Monash.

The list of employers may grow if campaigns such as the Electrical Trades Union’s ‘Nowhere to Go’ and The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union’s ‘We’re Bloody Essential’ are effective, as they are lobbying for more companies to consider the menstrual needs of their employees.

Having access to free period products seems to be paying off as our research found 84.6% of employees said it makes them feel their workplace cares about them and reduces the likelihood they will leave work due to their period.

One respondent explained, “Periods can be hard. I once bled through my clothes at work and had to leave. It was so stressful and humiliating. Free period products could just change someone’s day.”

This is encouraging, but also suggests accessible products alone won’t lift the taboo and support a menstrual-inclusive workplace. More needs to be done.

How to create a menstrual-inclusive workplace

1) Recognise the impact of periods

Our study identified people who menstruate regularly experience physical symptoms such as abdominal pain (94%), backache (82%), and headaches (82%) before or during their period. They also describe emotional symptoms such as anxiety, fatigue, depression and irritability.

One respondent said: “My cramps are so painful they make me feel physically sick – as though I will throw up. So I don’t like being out of the house because I can’t stand up straight.”

And another: “My period increases my general level of anxiety in class, at work, and in all other situations. It can cause me to be acutely anxious during my classes and work, and I struggle to concentrate.”

To avoid feelings of humiliation, shame and discrimination, people with their period often mask and hide symptoms. When this happens, employees report being less engaged and productive.

By empathising with menstruators who are impacted in a wide variety of ways, organisations can support and empower them to look after their general and menstrual well-being.

2) Become an inclusive leader

Inclusive leaders treat menstrual health as a justice and human rights issue that is collectively important for individuals and the organisation. These leaders recognise people with their period should be supported, so they talk to them about cultural and practical ways the workplace can make them feel safe and allow them to manage their period with dignity.

Read more:
Why menstrual leave could be bad for women

This might mean providing free period products or offering menstruators flexible breaks and work hours when having their periods. Inclusive leaders recognise some people may need paid menstrual leave.

3) Normalise discussions about menstruation

Inclusive leaders go further than practical strategies, they create a period-positive environment by challenging stigma and discrimination. They normalise conversations about menstruation, and ensure people who menstruate feel heard, supported and respected. They offer education and training to dismantle the menstrual taboo in workplaces, and replace it with a culture that embraces menstrual wellbeing.

Ultimately, to make our workplaces equitable and inclusive, we must be willing to talk about menstruation openly and honestly and learn about the impact it has on employees. Only then will workers feel able to talk about what supports their health needs.

Read more:
Symptoms of menopause can make it harder to work. Here’s what employers should be doing

Ruth Knight 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. Half our colleagues suffer pain and discomfort from periods. But they’re still a taboo subject at work – https://theconversation.com/half-our-colleagues-suffer-pain-and-discomfort-from-periods-but-theyre-still-a-taboo-subject-at-work-226913

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia

Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current big hit, but you can only hear nails on a chalkboard.

Every time a major artist releases their new album, the critics are there to tell you exactly how the artist got it right – or how they got it wrong. And the fans are there to tell the critic how they got it right or wrong, in turn.

So if we all have our own opinions on music, is it ever possible to judge it objectively? Or are we all subject to our subjective disagreements forever?

We asked five music experts to let us know what they thought. Here’s what they had to say.

Read more:
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and the art of melodrama

Is it possible to ‘obectively’ judge music? Three out of five experts said ‘yes’

Read more:
Why do we stop exploring new music as we get older?

Sam Whiting receives funding from Creative Australia and the Australasian Performing Right Association.

Catherine Strong receives funding from the ARC and the VMDO.

Charlotte Markowitsch, Laura Glitsos, and Timothy McKenry 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. Is it possible to ‘objectively’ judge music? We asked 5 experts – https://theconversation.com/is-it-possible-to-objectively-judge-music-we-asked-5-experts-227899

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato

When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity.

The battle of Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire, the story goes, was where the young nation passed its first test of courage and determination.

The question of why New Zealand soldiers ended up on Turkish beaches in April 1915 is typically not part of these commemorations. Rather, our collective memories begin with the moment of the early morning landing.

Consider, for example, the timing of the Anzac Day dawn service, or the Museum of New Zealand-Te Papa Tongarewa’s exhibition, Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War, which plunges visitors straight into the action.

This selective retelling of history is necessary for the “coming of age” narrative to work. It helps conceal that Britain was pursuing its own colonial ambitions against the Ottomans, and that New Zealand took part in World War I as “a member of the British club”, as historian Ian McGibbon puts it, loyally devoted to the imperial cause.

Against the background of the recent horrors and escalating tensions in the Middle East, however, it seems more important than ever to make these silences speak in our commemorations of Gallipoli.

Britain’s colonial interests

While the causes of World War I are complex and multifaceted, historians have extensively documented that Britain had long seen parts of the decaying Ottoman Empire as prey for colonial expansion. Already, in the late 1800s, Britain had taken control of Cyprus and Egypt.

Turkey’s Middle Eastern possessions were of interest to the government in London because they provided not only a land route to the colony in India, but also rich oil reserves.

Hence, when the Ottoman Empire signed an alliance with Germany – mainly to guard against Russian territorial aspirations – and somewhat reluctantly entered World War I, the British did not lament this as a diplomatic defeat.

Read more:
New lessons about old wars: keeping the complex story of Anzac Day relevant in the 21st century

“The decrepit Ottoman Empire was more useful to them as a victim than as a dependent ally,” as the late historian Michael Howard explained.

The day after Britain declared war on the Ottomans on November 5 1914, British troops attacked Basra (in today’s southern Iraq) to secure nearby oil facilities.

In the following months, the Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia won a number of easy victories, which fuelled the belief the Turkish military was weak. This in turn led Britain to devise a plan to launch a direct strike on Constantinople, the Ottoman capital.

First, however, they had to clear the Gallipoli peninsula of enemy defences. And who better suited to this task than the first convoy of Anzac troops, just a short distance away in Egypt after passing through the Suez Canal?

Palestine: a complex tangle of pledges

As is well known, war planners in London had underestimated the enemy’s military strength. The battle of Gallipoli ended in a Turkish victory over Britain and its allies. Nevertheless, fortunes eventually turned against the Ottoman Empire.

Although a whole century has gone by, British diplomatic efforts and secret agreements that were meant to accelerate the collapse of the Ottoman Empire still shape the Middle East today.

Read more:
A century on, the Balfour Declaration still shapes Palestinians’ everyday lives

Most significantly, it is the violent conflict over Palestine that can be traced back to colonial power dealings during World War I. The crux of the problem is that Britain affirmed three irreconcilable wartime commitments in relation to Palestine.

First, in the hope of initiating an Arab revolt against Ottoman rule, the British made promises to Sharif Husayn, the emir of Mecca, about the creation of an independent Arab kingdom.

Second, in the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the Ottomans’ Arab lands into British and French spheres of interest, Palestine was designated for international administration.

Third, in the Balfour Declaration
of November 1917, the British government pledged support for a “Jewish national home” in Palestine – a move motivated by a mixture of realpolitik and Biblical romanticism.

In the end, it was the third commitment that turned out to be the most enduring.

How should we remember Gallipoli?

Amid this complex history, we must not forget the thousands of New Zealand soldiers who died in World War I – men who had either volunteered, expecting a quick and heroic war, or served as draftees.

However, we need to have a public discussion about whether it is still appropriate for our commemorations to skip over the question of why these men fought in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Facing up to this question not only makes us aware of our responsibilities towards the Middle East problem, but it can also serve as a lesson for the future – not to blindly follow great powers into their military adventures.

Read more:
Less than illustrious: remembering the Anzacs means also not forgetting some committed war crimes

Olli Hellmann 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. From Gallipoli to Gaza: remembering the Anzacs not as a ‘coming of age’ tale but as a lesson for the future – https://theconversation.com/from-gallipoli-to-gaza-remembering-the-anzacs-not-as-a-coming-of-age-tale-but-as-a-lesson-for-the-future-227660

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night.

The quickest way to find out what the budget is really doing will be to listen to the treasurer’s speech, or to peruse online the aptly-named “glossy” – a document that last year was titled “Stronger foundations for a better future”.

But they will tell you exactly what the government wants you to hear, exactly as it wants you to hear it.

If you are looking instead for the truth – what the government is actually trying to achieve and what it is holding itself and its officials to, I would suggest something else, tucked away on about page 87 of the main budget document.

It is required by the Charter of Budget Honesty Act introduced in 1998 by Peter Costello, the treasurer under Prime Minister John Howard.

On taking office in 1996, Costello set up a National Commission of Audit to examine the finances he had inherited from the Hawke and Keating governments, presumably with an eye to discovering they had been mismanaged.

But the members of the commission weren’t much interested in that. Instead, they decided to deal with something more fundamental.

Budget as you wish, but explain your strategy

Governments were perfectly entitled to manage money in whatever way they wanted, and they were perfectly entitled to spend more money than they raised (which they usually do, it’s called a budget deficit).

What the commission wanted was for governments to make clear what they were doing, and to spell out the strategy behind it.

Only part of it was about being upfront with the public. The commission also wanted governments to be upfront with themselves – to actually develop frameworks for what they were doing, rather than doing whatever they felt like.

The commission recommended a Charter of Budget Honesty, which among other things requires officials to prepare independent assessments of the finances before each election, requires budget updates six months after each budget, and requires tax expenditures (tax breaks) to be accounted for like other expenditures.

And it requires the publication and regular updating of a fiscal strategy statement.

Where treasurers hold themselves accountable

The fiscal strategy can be thought of as an exam question set by the student who is being examined – something along the lines of “this is what you say you want your budget to achieve, please set out the means by which you plan to achieve it”.

It turns out to have been exceptionally effective in getting governments to organise their thoughts, make budgets at least try to achieve something, and let the rest of us know what they are trying to achieve.

Every few years, treasurers change the strategy, as is their right. Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he’ll change it again this budget, to de-emphasise the fight against inflation and to more greatly emphasise the need to support economic growth.

His statement will tell us what’s behind his actions in a way the glossy words in his brochure and speech might not.

The strategy that has signposted 26 years

Previous statements have signposted all the important turns in what the budget is trying to do.

The first, in 1998, committed Costello and Howard to achieving a budget surplus on average over the economic cycle and whenever “growth prospects remain sound”.

Making that commitment more difficult was another “not to introduce new taxes or raise existing taxes over the term of this parliament”.

Two years later, after the government had won an election promising a new goods and services tax, that commitment was changed to “no increase in the overall tax burden from its 1996-97 level”, a condition met by calling the GST a state tax.

Hockey and Morrison wound back spending

The Labor budgets from 2008 loosened the tax target to the average share of GDP below the reference year, which they changed to the higher-tax year of 2007-08.

The first Coalition budget under Treasurer Joe Hockey in 2014 changed the target from tax to spending, pledging to bring down the ratio of payments to GDP, and pledging a surplus of 1% of GDP by 2023-24.

Any new spending would be more than offset by cuts elsewhere, and if the budget did receive a burst of unexpected revenue it would be “banked” rather than spent.

In 2018 Treasurer Scott Morrison reintroduced tax as a target, that he spelled out precisely. Tax was not to increase beyond 23.9% of GDP.

During COVID, Frydenberg spent big

In 2020, in the face of a COVID-induced recession and soaring unemployment, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg pushed the old strategy to one side.

They would spend big now to keep the economy afloat so they wouldn’t have to spend more bailing it out later, and they wouldn’t return to their old concern about the deficit until the unemployment rate was “comfortably below 6%”.

So well did they succeed that in 2021 Frydenberg made the momentous decision to keep going, abandoning the promise to return to worrying about the deficit when unemployment fell below 6%.

Instead he promised to keep spending big until unemployment was “back to pre-crisis levels or lower”.

The decision propelled unemployment down to a 50-year low of 3.5%.

Read more:
Frydenberg spends the bounty to drive unemployment to new lows

Along with high iron ore prices, that one change of strategy has probably helped deliver Chalmers two consecutive budget surpluses – the one he announced last year for 2022-23, and the one he is set to announce this year for 2023-24. More of us have been in jobs paying tax, and fewer have been out of jobs on benefits.

It’s a powerful demonstration of the real-world difference budget decisions can make, and the way in which the fiscal strategy tells the story.

Peter Martin is Economics Editor of The Conversation.

– ref. Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night – https://theconversation.com/beyond-the-spin-beyond-the-handouts-heres-how-to-get-a-handle-on-whats-really-happening-on-budget-night-228387

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science

As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of people around the world by the end of this century.

A key uncertainty in how much and how fast the seas will rise lies in whether currently “stable” parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet can become “unstable”.

One such region is West Antarctica’s Siple Coast, where rivers of ice flow off the continent and drain into the ocean.

This ice flow is slowed down by the Ross Ice Shelf, a floating mass of ice nearly the size of Spain, which holds back the land-based ice. Compared to other ice shelves in West Antarctica, the Ross Ice Shelf has little melting at its base because the ocean below it is very cold.

Although this region has been stable during the past few decades, recent research suggest this was not always the case. Radiocarbon dating of sediments from beneath the ice sheet tells us that it retreated hundreds of kilometres some 7,000 years ago, and then advanced again to its present position within the last 2,000 years.

Figuring out why this happened can help us better predict how the ice sheet will change in the future. In our new research, we test two main hypotheses.

Read more:
What an ocean hidden under Antarctic ice reveals about our planet’s future climate

Testing scenarios

Scientists have considered two possible explanations for this past ice sheet retreat and advance. The first is related to Earth’s crust below the ice sheet.

As an ice sheet shrinks, the change in ice mass causes the Earth’s crust to slowly uplift in response. At the same time, and counterintuitively, the sea level drops near the ice because of a weakening of the gravitational attraction between the ice sheet and the ocean water.

As the ice sheet thinned and retreated since the last ice age, crustal uplift and the fall in sea level in the region may have re-grounded floating ice, causing ice sheet advance.

The other hypothesis is that the ice sheet behaviour may be due to changes in the ocean. When the surface of the ocean freezes, forming sea ice, it expels salt into the water layers below. This cold briny water is heavier and mixes deep into the ocean, including under the Ross Ice Shelf. This blocks warm ocean currents from melting the ice.

Seafloor sediments and ice cores tell us that this deep mixing was weaker in the past when the ice sheet was retreating. This means that warm ocean currents may have flowed underneath the ice shelf and melted the ice. Mixing increased when the ice sheet was advancing.

We test these two ideas with computer model simulations of ice sheet flow and Earth’s crustal and sea surface responses to changes in the ice sheet with varying ocean temperature.

Because the rate of crustal uplift depends on the viscosity (stickiness) of the underlying mantle, we ran simulations within ranges estimated for West Antarctica. A stickier mantle means slower crustal uplift as the ice sheet thins.

The simulations that best matched geological records had a stickier mantle and a warmer ocean as the ice sheet retreated. In these simulations, the ice sheet retreats more quickly as the ocean warms.

When the ocean cools, the simulated ice sheet readvances to its present-day position. This means that changes in ocean temperature best explain the past ice sheet behaviour, but the rate of crustal uplift also affects how sensitive the ice sheet is to the ocean.

What this means for climate policy today

Much attention has been paid to recent studies that show glacial melting may be irreversible in some parts of West Antarctica, such as the Amundsen Sea embayment.

In the context of such studies, policy debates hinge on whether we should focus on adapting to rising seas rather than cutting greenhouse gas emissions. If the ice sheet is already melting, are we too late for mitigation?

Read more:
We can still prevent the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet – if we act fast to keep future warming in check

Our study suggests it is premature to give up on mitigation.

Global climate models run under high-emissions scenarios show less sea ice formation and deep ocean mixing. This could lead to the same cold-to-warm ocean switch that caused extensive ice sheet retreat thousands of years ago.

For West Antarctica’s Siple Coast, it is better if we prevent this ocean warming from occurring in the first place, which is still possible if we choose a low-emissions future.

Dan Lowry receives funding from the Antarctic Science Platform supported by the New Zealand Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment.

Holly Kyeore Han receives funding from NASA Postdoc Program.

– ref. West Antarctica’s ice sheet was smaller thousands of years ago – here’s why this matters today – https://theconversation.com/west-antarcticas-ice-sheet-was-smaller-thousands-of-years-ago-heres-why-this-matters-today-225670

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University

Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform?

Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask themselves whether they are equally happy for courts in China, Russia and Iran to determine what Australians can see and post online in Australia.

This is the problem with global “take-down orders”, an issue we now must confront in light of the Australian eSafety commissioner demanding that social media platform X (formerly Twitter) remove videos of a violent stabbing at a church in Sydney.

X agreed to prevent access to the content in Australia. However, at an urgent federal court hearing late Monday, the commissioner demanded a full removal, with an interim measure of blocking the posts globally.

Read more:
Elon Musk is mad he’s been ordered to remove Sydney church stabbing videos from X. He’d be more furious if he saw our other laws

Do global take-down orders work?

There can be no doubt that a global take-down order can be justified in some instances. For example, child abuse materials and so-called revenge porn are clear examples of content that should be removed with global effect.

But it is far too simplistic to seek to justify a global take-down order just by saying that any platform operating in Australia must comply with Australian law, as shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham said in a Sky News interview this morning.

After all, international law imposes limitations on what demands Australian law can place on foreigners acting outside Australia.

It is also too simplistic to just focus on efficiency, as was done in the context of so-called geo-blocking – the use of geo-location technologies to block users from a specific location. Attempts to block online piracy sites, for example, have famously been ineffective.

Of course, a court order requiring X to take down certain content globally is more effective than a court order requiring X to geo-block such content so that users in Australia cannot access it.

But that efficiency argument applies equally to Iran’s draconian blasphemy laws or the Chinese laws that make it an offence to compare Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.

Even if X removed the content on a global basis, those Australians who are hell-bent on viewing the footage in question would be able to find it somewhere else online. In other words, there is no realistic way to fully ensure the content cannot be accessed at all.

Ordering X to use geo-location technologies to block Australians from viewing the content would be sufficient to prevent the general Australian public from coming into contact with the video. Doing so would also show respect for the fact that different countries have different laws.

An unusually poor ‘test case’ for free speech

Elon Musk, the American billionaire owner of X, has chosen to approach the matter as a fight for free speech in the face of “censorship”. Such a move would no doubt gain support among the conspiracy theorists and online trolls in his audience. But for the broader Australian public, this must appear like an odd occasion to fight for free speech.

There can sometimes be real tension between free speech and the suppression of violent imagery. For example, some news reporting from military conflicts may be deemed too graphic by some, while others view it as a necessary tool to illustrate the level of violence being committed.

Here, there are no such complex considerations. There is simply no arguable value in keeping the videos online. Consequently, while removing the content can be described as censorship, it is hard to understand why anyone would object to this censorship.

After all, not even the staunchest free speech advocates would be able to credibly object to all censorship. (For example, consider the publication of child abuse materials or Musk’s credit card details.)

The path forward

In the end, we must recognise the internet is a shared resource. All countries, including Australia, should be very careful in how they apply their laws where it can have a “spill-over” effect impacting people in other countries.

Global take-down orders are justifiable in some situations, but cannot be the default position for all content that violates some law somewhere in the world. If we had to comply with all content laws worldwide, the internet would no longer be as valuable as it is today.

We must also start being more proactive in how we regulate the internet. Rushed reactive lawmaking rarely leads to good long-term outcomes. This is a field in which we need international cooperation – this will take time.

Finally, the platforms must act maturely. While other platforms responded to the eSafety commissioner by swiftly blocking the content, X decided to fight for the “right” to display violent extremism in action.

The fact Musk views this as a suitable battleground for free speech shows that we have a long way to go in finding solutions to the regulation of the internet.

Read more:
Regulating content won’t make the internet safer – we have to change the business models

Dan Jerker B. Svantesson 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. Elon Musk vs Australia: global content take-down orders can harm the internet if adopted widely – https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-vs-australia-global-content-take-down-orders-can-harm-the-internet-if-adopted-widely-228494

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney

Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain.

According to a biography of the billionaire, he’s had chronic back and neck pain since he tried to “judo throw” a 350-pound sumo wrestler in 2013 at a Japanese-themed party for his 42nd birthday, and blew out a disc at the base of his neck.

In comments following the post, Musk said the surgery was a “gamechanger” and reduced his pain significantly.

Musk’s original post has so far had more than 50 million views and generated controversy. So what is disc replacement surgery and what does the evidence tells us about its benefits and harms?

What’s involved in a disc replacement?

Disc replacement is a type of surgery in which one or more spinal discs (a cushion between the spine bones, also known as vertebrae) are removed and replaced with an artificial disc to retain movement between the vertebrae. Artificial discs are made of metal or a combination of metal and plastic.

Disc replacement may be performed for a number of reasons, including slipped discs in the neck, as appears to be the case for Musk.

Disc replacement is major surgery. It requires general anaesthesia and the operation usually takes 2–4 hours. Most people stay in hospital for 2–7 days. After surgery patients can walk but need to avoid things like strenuous exercise and driving for 3–6 weeks. People may be required to wear a neck collar (following neck surgery) or a back brace (following back surgery) for about 6 weeks.

Read more:
Elon Musk says ketamine can get you out of a ‘negative frame of mind’. What does the research say?

Costs vary depending on whether you have surgery in the public or private health system, if you have private health insurance, and your level of coverage if you do. In Australia, even if you have health insurance, a disc replacement surgery may leave you more than A$12,000 out of pocket.

Disc replacement surgery is not performed as much as other spinal surgeries (for example, spinal fusion) but its use is increasing.

In New South Wales for example, rates of privately-funded disc replacement increased six-fold from 6.2 per million people in 2010–11 to 38.4 per million in 2019–20.

What are the benefits and harms?

People considering surgery will typically weigh that option against not having surgery. But there has been very little research comparing disc replacement surgery with non-surgical treatments.

Clinical trials are the best way to determine if a treatment is effective. You first want to show that a new treatment is better than doing nothing before you start comparisons with other treatments. For surgical procedures, the next step might be to compare the procedure to non-surgical alternatives.

Unfortunately, these crucial first research steps have largely been skipped for disc replacement surgery for both neck and back pain. As a result, there’s a great deal of uncertainty about the treatment.

There are no clinical trials we know of investigating whether disc replacement is effective for neck pain compared to nothing or compared to non-surgical treatments.

For low back pain, the only clinical trial that has been conducted to our knowledge comparing disc replacement to a non-surgical alternative found disc replacement surgery was slightly more effective than an intensive rehabilitation program after two years and eight years.

Complications are not uncommon, and can include disclocation of the artificial disc, fracture (break) of the artificial disc, and infection.

In the clinical trial mentioned above, 26 of the 77 surgical patients had a complication within two years of follow up, including one person who underwent revision surgery that damaged an artery leading to a leg needing to be amputated. Revision surgery means a re-do to the primary surgery if something needs fixing.

Are there effective alternatives?

The first thing to consider is whether you need surgery. Seeking a second opinion may help you feel more informed about your options.

Many surgeons see disc replacement as an alternative to spinal fusion, and this choice is often presented to patients. Indeed, the research evidence used to support disc replacement mainly comes from studies that compare disc replacement to spinal fusion. These studies show people with neck pain may recover and return to work faster after disc replacement compared to spinal fusion and that people with back pain may get slightly better pain relief with disc replacement than with spinal fusion.

However, spinal fusion is similarly not well supported by evidence comparing it to non-surgical alternatives and, like disc replacement, it’s also expensive and associated with considerable risks of harm.

Fortunately for patients, there are new, non-surgical treatments for neck and back pain that evidence is showing are effective – and are far cheaper than surgery. These include treatments that address both physical and psychological factors that contribute to a person’s pain, such as cognitive functional therapy.

Read more:
Surgery won’t fix my chronic back pain, so what will?

While Musk reported a good immediate outcome with disc replacement surgery, given the evidence – or lack thereof – we advise caution when considering this surgery. And if you’re presented with the choice between disc replacement and spinal fusion, you might want to consider a third alternative: not having surgery at all.

Giovanni E Ferreira receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

Christine Lin receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and Medical Research Future Fund.

Christopher Maher receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and Medical Research Future Fund.

Ian Harris has received grant funding from numerous research organisations.

Joshua Zadro receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

– ref. Elon Musk says ‘disc replacement’ worked for him. But evidence this surgery helps chronic pain is lacking – https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-says-disc-replacement-worked-for-him-but-evidence-this-surgery-helps-chronic-pain-is-lacking-228276

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the next four years, leaving both the state’s coveted AAA credit rating and budget surplus in tatters.

The lost dollars, Mookhey said, could have funded 19,000 healthcare workers, 19,000 teachers or 16,000 police officers.

This is certainly a lot of revenue to lose in one hit. But it is not immediately clear where the state treasurer got this number from.

Read more:
Scrap the West Australian GST deal set to cost $40 billion – leading economists

So how much less?

The new GST carve-up will see NSW receive $310 million less next year compared to this year.

But since 2021-22, Australia’s GST has been allocated under a new equalisation arrangement. We’re currently in the transition period, meaning each year states are compensated with “no worse off” payments to ensure they don’t receive less cumulative GST than they would have under the old system.

If NSW’s “no worse off” top-up payments are taken into account, the difference is only $188 million.

Mookhey could argue that the annual movement in GST payments is not the point. The issue is how much GST was factored into his budget last May. That was $1.2 billion more than what will now be received in 2024-25 under the updated distribution.

Yes, that’s a lot of money to lose, but multiplied out over four years, it’s still well short of $11.9 billion.

Short-changed on population

So, where exactly did that bigger number come from?

NSW’s beef with the GST carve-up is most likely that it receives much less than it would get if those revenues were distributed according to population share, instead of according to service delivery needs between states and territories.

Next year, for example, with 31.2% of the population, NSW will only receive 27.1% of GST revenues. In dollar terms, the difference is equivalent to about $3.6 billion, which multiplied out over four years, would come to $14.4 billion.

This is the only figure that comes anywhere near the amount suggested by the treasurer. But it’s misleading. Distributing GST by population alone ignores different service delivery needs between states.

NSW certainly copped a big drop in its assessed need relative to the average of all other jurisdictions in the latest GST update. But if history is any guide, its relative position is likely to go in the opposite direction sometime over the next four years.

The point here is we are talking about a future situation that may never arise – hardly a solid basis for a political fight.

But what’s really fair?

The treasurer’s speech gives the impression the latest GST carve-up is the source of the problem. In reality, Mookhey has taken aim at the way we try to even up the financial capacity of the states and territories. The current system of distribution allows us to ensure each Australian citizen, no matter where they live, is able to receive similar levels of government services without paying more than the average person.

For the foreseeable future, there will always be a significant gap between an ideal equal per capita distribution and what a wealthy state like NSW actually gets from the GST. That’s not because of the latest carve-up, it’s just the way it is.

The $11.9 billion GST “budget bomb” is the kind of fiction our political system could well do without. Money has not been lost, nor have jobs. They have simply been redistributed from NSW to South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Because of service needs, these jurisdictions receive a bigger share of GST funds than their share of the national population.

Read more:
States agree to do more heavy lifting on disability, in exchange for extra health and GST funding

Spending, not income, likely the problem

What about the NSW budget’s bottom line? In the NSW Treasury’s December budget update, Mookhey estimated that next year he would deliver an operating surplus of $475 million, down from the $844 million estimated last May. Most of the slippage occurred in 2023 after the budget was brought down.

While GST revenues will be down compared to what was budgeted in 2024-25, revenues in total are well above budget, by $490 million. The problem is not revenues, but expenses, which have blown out by close to $1 billion, mainly due to the impact of rising interest rates on outstanding debt.

Any budget problems the state now faces are not only because of lower-than-expected GST revenue, but at least equally because of NSW Treasury’s failure to control expenses.

Is NSW’s credit rating on the line? Not really. One of the three big credit rating agencies has already downgraded it with little, if any, impact on the state’s borrowing costs.

Were the other two agencies to follow suit, it likely wouldn’t make a difference. As Mookhey himself recently pointed out, rating agency assessments are becoming less important than was once the case.

So why the uproar? It is all just part of an annual parade of treasurers – usually from NSW and Victoria – fronting the media and calling for a bigger slice of the national GST pie. It may also be an attempt by Mookhey to soften up the public for a credit rating downgrade, one that is ironically unlikely to matter.

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

– ref. The NSW treasurer says a slashed share of GST will cost his state $11.9 billion. But where did he get this figure? – https://theconversation.com/the-nsw-treasurer-says-a-slashed-share-of-gst-will-cost-his-state-11-9-billion-but-where-did-he-get-this-figure-228389

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra

An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry policy announcement.

“There is a role for government sometimes in just providing […] support to get over the hump”, Albanese said, for otherwise sustainable companies facing rough patches in the quest to diversify Australia’s manufacturing base.

That same principle underpins the HomeKeeper program I proposed in The Conversation last year. The idea is to help mortgage-stressed owner-occupiers avoid losing their home.

If it’s a good idea for companies, why not for responsible and otherwise financially-viable Australians at risk of losing their homes in a cost-of-living crisis?

HomeKeeper is modelled on the pandemic-era JobKeeper program, but applies key lessons from flaws in JobKeeper’s design.

Crucially, it’s not a handout. Nor is it a contingent loan, the shortcomings of which Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) debts have made painfully clear.

Rather, it’s government help through a small equity stake with positive returns for taxpayers when HomeKeeper help is no longer needed.

Mortgage-stressed owner-occupiers could get some breathing space to recapitalise, with government making their mortgage payments direct to the home-owner’s bank up to a modest (say $25,000 overall) ceiling.

In exchange, the government would own a small equity stake in the property, equal to the value of the mortgage aid as a proportion of the property’s market value at the time. Government would get its proportionate share back at market value later, when ownership of the property next turned over – or sooner if the homeowner chose.

Good for the homeowner. Good for taxpayers. Good in the way it stops already way-too-long rental queues and homelessness from worsening.

Read more:
We all know about JobKeeper, which helped Australians keep their jobs in a global crisis. So how about HomeKeeper?

People need help now

HomeKeeper would be of most help to lower income families who often don’t have a “Bank of Mum and Dad” to help them “over the hump”, as Albanese puts it, during temporary difficulties.

With a relatively low ceiling on the overall assistance, it would make a real difference to families of modest means but be of no real help, and therefore of little interest, to McMansion owners needing large scale assistance to avoid forced sales.

Crossbenchers see the benefits. Independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, canvassed HomeKeeper in parliament in December noting, “the assistance would go straight from the government to the bank, ensuring it didn’t add to consumption and inflation”.

ACT Independent Senator David Pocock backed HomeKeeper last week in his additional comments in the Senate Economics Legislation Committee report on the government’s Help To Buy Bill 2023.

Pocock noted that taxpayers would be winners from the policy too.

Given expectations that house prices will generally continue to rise for the foreseeable future, the taxpayer would typically benefit to that extent from the repayment; that is, reflecting the size of the government’s equity stake acquired via temporary mortgage payment support.

Pocock wants the government’s Help To Buy mechanism amended to enable low- and middle-income earners “facing mortgage repossession and possible homelessness to remain in home ownership” via a HomeKeeper-style program.

Establishing HomeKeeper is more important than ever because the monetary policy script isn’t following the arc politicians and policymakers planned.

Internationally and nationally, inflation is easing, but more slowly and fitfully than hoped.

Predictions that cuts would come sooner rather than later have been dashed more than once when reported United States economic data was stronger than expected, or when markets were affected by upticks in international conflict.

Throughout, Australia has been expected to begin cutting rates last among the world’s industrialised economies, since it was last to begin ramping rates up and the economy kept pumping along strongly.

Tightening the budget screws, the Albanese government is counting on multiple rate cuts in the run up to the next federal election, due to be called by next April, to put voters in a better mood.

At 31%, Labor’s support risks sliding into the 20s according to RedBridge Group pollster Kos Samaras.

Albanese’s net approval rating is barely ahead of Peter Dutton’s. Both are negative, suggesting a “pox on both your houses” sentiment among voters.

Relying on interest rate relief to arrive isn’t enough

Fiscal policy is doing its bit to help turn the tide on interest rates. Sustained effort by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Senator Katy Gallagher has turned around the dire budget balance and debt mountain inherited from the Morrison government.

The latest IMF figures on G20 nations, released this week, show Australia now has the second strongest net budget balance and fourth lowest net debt in the industrialised world – a remarkable effort.

Yet interest rates in Australia are not falling.

What’s more, even without further rate increases by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) this year, the average mortgage rate is set to rise anyway according to research by the RBA’s Domestic Markets Department’s Benjamin Ung.

Little wonder then that mortgage stress is extensive and worsening. Nearly a third (31.4%) of mortgaged owner-occupiers are “at risk” of mortgage stress according to the latest Roy Morgan survey. Nearly one in five (19.7%) are “extremely at risk”.

Many mortgaged owner-occupiers are at and beyond the end of their tether as more and more of them face voluntary self-initiated house sales or, worse, forced sales by their banks.

In his McKell Institute lecture in February, Chalmers declared he was committed to “relief and reform”, not one or the other.

Monetary policy pinch points don’t need to, and shouldn’t, throw financially responsible and otherwise viable mortgage-stressed owner-occupiers onto the rental queue or into homelessness.

Monetary policy in Australia should be reformed by supplementary humane, modest and economically effective policy to stave off collateral damage in the housing market during the worst part of the cycle.

Next month’s budget is an opportunity for the government to move beyond its “I feel your pain” rhetoric to a HomeKeeper-style policy for this particular group of temporarily squeezed Australians.

It will be too late for those who have already lost their homes.

But it could prove decisive at the margin to save a lot of others currently weighing up whether tents or cars are their best bet for shelter as the banks move in on their homes. These Australians don’t deserve to be incidental victims in government’s pursuit of the worthy goal of low inflation.

Read more:
What happens if I can’t pay my mortgage and what are my options?

HomeKeeper isn’t meant to be a total solution to our hydra-headed housing woes. Rather, it’s a way to keep key elements of it from getting worse.

It can save real people whose foothold in society is temporarily, and often unexpectedly, precarious from tipping into a social security system that can’t cope with the challenges it already has.

Losing that foothold happens quickly. Regaining it takes a long time, if ever. The longer it takes, the more damaging to individuals and families, and the more costly it is to governments.

Albanese is right – sometimes there’s a role for government in providing help to get over that hump.

Chris Wallace is a professor in the University of Canberra’s School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law. She has received funding from the Australian Research Council.

– ref. Many Australians face losing their homes right now. Here’s how the government should help – https://theconversation.com/many-australians-face-losing-their-homes-right-now-heres-how-the-government-should-help-228286

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University

Who makes the words? Why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes and who makes the names? – Elliot, age 5, Eltham, Victoria

Good question Elliot!

Let’s start with the first part of the question: who makes words?

Well, there’s no official person or group that’s responsible for making words. New words are invented by all of us getting creative. Mostly, it’s a matter of reusing words, or parts of words, and transforming them into new products. Language is the ultimate recycler!

Read more:
Curious Kids: what did people use before toothpaste was invented?

Creating words out of ‘tree’ and ‘shoe’

There are five main ways of building new words.

One is to add things called “suffixes”, which are letters we add to the ends of words to change their meaning slightly. By adding a “-y” to “tree” and “shoe”, we can make “treey” (to describe something with lots of trees) and “shoey” (to describe people drinking from a shoe, an odd but old tradition). There are also things called “prefixes”. These are letters that go at the front of a word. For example, the word “subtree” describes a kind of shrub, and “overshoes” are something worn over ordinary shoes.

It’s also possible to combine whole words to make new ones. We can even put “tree” and “shoe” together to create “shoe-tree”, which is a block of wood we put into shoes to keep their shape. These types of words are called “compound words” — they are often written as two words (“apple tree”), but sometimes one (“shoelace”). English has never sorted out the rules here.

A third process, and one that’s really popular these days, is “blending”. This is when we mix words together (sometimes they’re called “frankenwords”, itself a blend of “Frankenstein” and “word”). Here are two made-up blends based on “tree” and “shoe”. They don’t exist — yet (perhaps they’ll take off!).

• Treerific (“tree” has been squished with “terrific” to convey something wonderful that is related to trees)

• Shoenicorn (“shoe” has been squished with “unicorn” to mean an unicorn with magical shoes)

Words and parts of words can combine and recombine to create a never-ending number of new words. Out of blended “treerific”, I can build “treerifical”, “treerificalise”, “treerificalisation”, “treerificalisational” and so on. The number of words is endless. But of course we can’t invent too many of these because it’s difficult to keep track of all the “-als”, “-izes” and “-ations”!

English words are also flexible. For example, “trees” and “shoes” are objects (called “nouns”), but we can turn them into doing words (called “verbs”) too — “to tree” (plant with trees) and “to shoe” (put shoes on).

We can also build words from the first letters of other words. These are called “acronyms”. Each letter in the word “tree” could mean “tall rustling evergreen entity”. Of course, this isn’t true, it’s just an example. In fact, most acronyms are names (for example, your school might introduce something called “TREE”, short for Tactical Response Emergency Evacuation).

Finally, English is also a word pirate that steals words from other languages — more than 350 in fact. Words like “tree” and “shoe” weren’t stolen but thousands of others have been, like “forest” and “sandal” to give just two (about 700 years ago, we pinched “forest” from French and a little later “sandal” from Latin). This term for this is “borrowing” — curious, because English has no intention of ever giving these words back!

Read more:
Who created the alphabet? A historian describes the millennia-long story of the ABCs

Early examples of trees and shoes

Okay, so what about the second part of the question: why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes? This is a trickier puzzle, because both are among the oldest words in the English language.

Here’s a very early example of “tree” from an ancient poem written more than a thousand years ago. In Modern English, the sentence is “I saw a wondrous tree” but as you can see, the English in this poem looks very different:

Iċ ġesāwe syllicre trēow

At this time, there were lots of words for trees and also for different types of shoes (including what we now know as “sock”, originally a kind of slipper). Many of these words didn’t survive, but “shoe” (originally “sco”) did, even though shoes look very different now than they did hundreds of years ago.

Both “tree” and “shoe” can be traced back to the parent language of English, called “Proto-Germanic”. This was spoken about 2,500 years ago, but unfortunately nothing survives of the language, or perhaps people weren’t into writing things down back then. Even so, we can do some detective work to recreate the ancient words they grew out of: “tree” comes from something like “trewo-” and “shoe” from “skōhw-”.

We can go even further back in time to the grandparent of English — a language called “Proto-Indo-European”. About 6,000 years ago, the word “tree” probably looked like “dōru-”.

Read more:
Curious Kids: what came first, the chicken or the egg?

The very beginning of trees and shoes

How language started is a big mystery.

For centuries, people have wondered how words like “tree” and “shoe” were invented. There are lots of ideas around, but we’ll never know for sure because people have been speaking for more than 30,000 years. That’s a very long time!

Only one thing is certain. Humans are the only animals that can create a never-ending number of new words. Remember what we could do earlier with just the two words “tree” and “shoe’!

Hello, Curious Kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au

Kate Burridge 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. Curious Kids: who makes the words? Who decides what things like ‘trees’ and ‘shoes’ are called? – https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-who-makes-the-words-who-decides-what-things-like-trees-and-shoes-are-called-224263

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne

Roles of health professionals are still unfortunately often stuck in the past. That is, before the shift of education of nurses and other health professionals into universities in the 1980s. So many are still not working to their full scope of practice.

There has been some expansion of roles in recent years – including pharmacists prescribing (under limited circumstances) and administering a wider range of vaccinations.

But the recently released paper from an independent Commonwealth review on health workers’ “scope of practice” identifies the myriad of barriers preventing Australians from fully benefiting from health professionals’ skills.

These include workforce design (who does what, where and how roles interact), legislation and regulation (which often differs according to jurisdiction), and how health workers are funded and paid.

There is no simple quick fix for this type of reform. But we now have a sensible pathway to improve access to care, using all health professionals appropriately.

Read more:
How do you fix general practice? More GPs won’t be enough. Here’s what to do

A new vision for general practice

I recently had a COVID booster. To do this, I logged onto my general practice’s website, answered the question about what I wanted, booked an appointment with the practice nurse that afternoon, got jabbed, was bulk-billed, sat down for a while, and then went home. Nothing remarkable at all about that.

But that interaction required a host of facilitating factors. The Victorian government regulates whether nurses can provide vaccinations, and what additional training the nurse requires. The Commonwealth government has allowed the practice to be paid by Medicare for the nurse’s work. The venture capitalist practice owner has done the sums and decided allocating a room to a practice nurse is economically rational.

The future of primary care is one involving more use of the range of health professionals, in addition to GPs.

It would be good if my general practice also had a physiotherapist, who I could see if I had back pain without seeing the GP, but there is no Medicare rebate for this. This arrangement would need both health professionals to have access to my health record. There also needs to be trust and good communication between the two when the physio might think the GP needs to be alerted to any issues.

Read more:
The physio will see you now. Why health workers need to broaden their roles to fix the workforce crisis

This vision is one of integrated primary care, with health professionals working in a team. The nurse should be able to do more than vaccination and checking vital signs. Do I really need to see the GP every time I need a prescription renewed for my regular medication? This is the nub of the “scope of practice” issue.

How about pharmacists?

An integrated future is not the only future on the table. Pharmacy owners especially have argued that pharmacists should be able to practise independently of GPs, prescribing a limited range of medications and dispensing them.

This will inevitably reduce continuity of care and potentially create risks if the GP is not aware of what other medications a patient is using.

But a greater role for pharmacists has benefits for patients. It is often easier and cheaper for the patient to see a pharmacist, especially as bulk billing rates fall, and this is one of the reasons why independent pharmacist prescribing is gaining traction.

Every five years or so the government negotiates an agreement with the Pharmacy Guild, the organisation of pharmacy owners, about how much pharmacies will be paid for dispensing medications and other services. These agreements are called “Community Pharmacy Agreements”. Paying pharmacists independent prescribing may be part of the next agreement, the details of which are currently being negotiated.

GPs don’t like competition from this new source, even though there will be plenty of work around for GPs into the foreseeable future. So their organisations highlight the risks of these changes, reopening centuries old turf wars dressed up as concerns about safety and risk.

Read more:
How rivalries between doctors and pharmacists turned into the ‘turf war’ we see today

Who pays for all this?

Funding is at the heart of disputes about scope of practice. As with many policy debates, there is merit on both sides.

Clearly the government must increase its support for comprehensive general practice. Existing funding of fee-for-service medical benefits payments must be redesigned and supplemented by payments that allow practices to engage a range of other health professionals to create health-care teams.

This should be the principal direction of primary care reform, and the final report of the scope of practice review should make that clear. It must focus on the overall goal of better primary care, rather than simply the aspirations of individual health professionals, and working to a professional’s full scope of practice in a tram, not a professional silo.

In parallel, governments – state and federal – must ensure all health professionals are used to their best of their abilities. It is a waste to have highly educated professionals not using their skills fully. New funding arrangements should facilitate better access to care from all appropriately qualified health professionals.

In the case of prescribing, it is possible to reconcile the aspirations of pharmacists and the concerns of GPs. New arrangements could be that pharmacists can only renew medications if they have agreements with the GP and there is good communication between them. This may be easier in rural and suburban areas, where the pharmacists are better known to the GPs.

The second issues paper points to the complexity of achieving scope of practice reforms. However, it also sets out a sensible path to improve access to care using all health professionals appropriately.

Read more:
Pharmacists should be able to work with GPs to prescribe medicines for long-term conditions

Stephen Duckett was a member of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce and is a member of the Commonwealth Department of Health’s Expert Advisory Panel for the Review of General Practice Incentives

– ref. We’re only using a fraction of health workers’ skills. This needs to change – https://theconversation.com/were-only-using-a-fraction-of-health-workers-skills-this-needs-to-change-228108

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University

It may come as a surprise to hear 2023 was Australia’s biggest bushfire season in more than a decade. Fires burned across an area eight times as big as the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires that tore through 10 million hectares in southeast Australia.

My research shows the 2023 fires burned more than 84 million hectares of desert and savannah in northern Australia. This is larger than the whole of New South Wales, or more than three times the size of the United Kingdom. The scale of these fires is hard to comprehend.

The speed at which these fires spread was also incredible. In just a few weeks of September and October, more than 18 million hectares burned across the Barkly, Tanami and Great Sandy Deserts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

I presented this research into the 2023 fires at the International Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference this month in Canberra. I described the scale of these fires, why they occurred, and how fires could be better managed to help protect remote but ecologically and culturally important regions of Australia.

Why did this happen?

Fire and rain are closely connected. Rain triggers grass growth. When it dries out, grass becomes fuel for fires.

For example, you can see the pattern of more fire following wet years repeating at periodic intervals over the past 20 years of fire in the Northern Territory.

In this way, La Niña is the major driver of these massive fires in the desert.

Although 2023 was a massive fire year, 2011 was even bigger. In the NT alone, more than 55 million hectares burned in 2011, compared with 43 million in 2023.

When fuel is dry and weather conditions are extreme, lightning strikes tend to start more fires across savannah and desert rangelands.

It has been variously suggested in the media and on social media that these fires are part of a “normal” cycle, a consequence of climate change, or largely the result of arson. Such simplifications fail to grasp the complexity and history of fire management in desert Country.

The main driver of these fires was the very large fuel loads. These wet growing seasons are part of the natural cycle. While climate change can make fire conditions more extreme, in this case it’s not the main cause. However, the scale of these fires was not “normal”. can we briefly say more on this last point?

Read more:
Fire is a chemical reaction. Here’s why Australia is supremely suited to it

How can fires be managed?

For many thousands of years, Indigenous people managed fuel loads across these vast landscapes.

The sophisticated use of fire in Australia’s highly flammable tropical savannas has been recognised as the world’s best wildfire management system.

Traces of this long history of traditional fire practice can be seen in aerial photos of desert Country from the 1940s. Research analysing these photos has shown extensive and complex “fuel mosaics” spread like patchwork quilts over vast parts of the WA deserts.

The term mosaic refers to having many patches of vegetation of different ages, some recently burnt with sparse cover, some long unburnt with old, large and connected spinnifex clumps and small trees.

This provides habitat for a broad range of animals, because different species prefer different amounts of ground cover. It also hinders the spread of fire because areas subject to more recent fire have insufficient fuel to carry new fires for many years.

Efforts have only just begun to bring good fire management back into these landscapes in a coordinated and large-scale way.

In 2022–23 Indigenous ranger groups conducted extensive burning operations. They travelled more than 58,000km by air and road, burning from cars, on foot and dropping incendiaries.

These burns were astoundingly effective. Even though large fires still ripped through these deserts in 2023, by mapping the fuel reduction fires and overlaying the spread of subsequent wildfires, we can see the 2023 fires were limited by previous burns.

For example, the fire spread animation below shows fires moving through a complex mosaic comprising fuel of different ages. One fire can be seen moving more than 600km from near the NT border almost to the coast south of Broome. The fire weaves around previous burns and cheekily finds small gaps of older, continuous fuel.

So without these earlier smaller controlled burns, the out-of-control fires would have been larger.

In the Great Sandy Desert of WA, the complex mosaic of spinifex of different ages persisted after these fires. The Indigenous Desert Alliance puts this down to more controlled burning in the past couple of years than in the ten years prior.

Read more:
Invasive grasses are worsening bushfires across Australia’s drylands

The fires of greatest concern to government agencies were the Barkly fires that threatened the town of Tennant Creek. These fires were large and fast-moving, feeding off fuel in a vast area of unmanaged country east of the town.

Here, a lack of land management increased disaster risk. The fire only stopped when it encountered four-year-old burned areas from lightning strikes.

The summer of 2023–24 was very wet across the Barkly and Tanami regions in the NT. Bushfires NT chief fire control officer Tony Fuller has warned of another big fire year to come as we head into the northern dry season of 2024.

Read more:
Indigenous rangers are burning the desert the right way – to stop the wrong kind of intense fires from raging

Preparing for the future

Desert fire management is still under-resourced and poorly understood.

Ultimately the only effective way to prevent these massive fires in very remote parts of Australia is through a long-term, well-funded strategy of using fire over our vast desert landscapes to control fuel, as was done during previous millennia.

Read more:
Our planet is burning in unexpected ways – here’s how we can protect people and nature

Rohan Fisher 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. Vastly bigger than the Black Summer: 84 million hectares of northern Australia burned in 2023 – https://theconversation.com/vastly-bigger-than-the-black-summer-84-million-hectares-of-northern-australia-burned-in-2023-227996

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Pepping, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Griffith University

Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume it’s because single people have insecurities that make it difficult for them to find a partner or maintain a relationship.

But is this true? Or can long-term single people also be secure and thriving?

Our latest research published in the Journal of Personality suggests they can. However, perhaps unsurprisingly, not everybody tends to thrive in singlehood. Our study shows a crucial factor may be a person’s attachment style.

Singlehood is on the rise

Singlehood is on the rise around the world. In Canada, single status among young adults aged 25 to 29 has increased from 32% in 1981 to 61% in 2021. The number of people living solo has increased from 1.7 million people in 1981 to 4.4 million in 2021.

People are single for many reasons: some choose to remain single, some are focusing on personal goals and aspirations, some report dating has become harder, and some become single again due to a relationship breakdown.

People may also remain single due to their attachment style. Attachment theory is a popular and well-researched model of how we form relationships with other people. An Amazon search for attachment theory returns thousands of titles. The hashtag #attachmenttheory has been viewed over 140 million times on TikTok alone.

What does attachment theory say about relationships?

Attachment theory suggests our relationships with others are shaped by our degree of “anxiety” and “avoidance”.

Attachment anxiety is a type of insecurity that leads people to feel anxious about relationships and worry about abandonment. Attachment avoidance leads people to feel uncomfortable with intimacy and closeness.

People who are lower in attachment anxiety and avoidance are considered “securely attached”, and are comfortable depending on others, and giving and receiving intimacy.

Read more:
Is attachment theory actually important for romantic relationships?

Single people are often stereotyped as being too clingy or non-committal. Research comparing single and coupled people also suggests single people have higher levels of attachment insecurities compared to people in relationships.

At the same time, evidence suggests many single people are choosing to remain single and living happy lives.

Single people represent a diverse group of secure and insecure people

In our latest research, our team of social and clinical psychologists examined single people’s attachment styles and how they related to their happiness and wellbeing.

We carried out two studies, one of 482 younger single people and the other of 400 older long-term singles. We found overall 78% were categorised as insecure, with the other 22% being secure.

Looking at our results more closely, we found four distinct subgroups of singles:

• secure singles are relatively comfortable with intimacy and closeness in relationships (22%)

• anxious singles question whether they are loved by others and worry about being rejected (37%)

• avoidant singles are uncomfortable getting close to others and prioritise their independence (23% of younger singles and 11% of older long-term singles)

• fearful singles have heightened anxiety about abandonment, but are simultaneously uncomfortable with intimacy and closeness (16% of younger singles and 28% of older long-term singles).

Insecure singles find singlehood challenging, but secure singles are thriving

Our findings also revealed these distinct subgroups of singles have distinct experiences and outcomes.

Secure singles are happy being single, have a greater number of non-romantic relationships, and better relationships with family and friends. They meet their sexual needs outside romantic relationships and feel happier with their life overall. Interestingly, this group maintains moderate interest in being in a romantic relationship in the future.

Anxious singles tend to be the most worried about being single, have lower self-esteem, feel less supported by close others and have some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction across all sub-groups.

Avoidant singles show the least interest in being in a romantic relationship and in many ways appear satisfied with singlehood. However, they also have fewer friends and close relationships, and are generally less satisfied with these relationships than secure singles. Avoidant singles also report less meaning in life and tend to be less happy compared to secure singles.

Fearful singles reported more difficulties navigating close relationships than secure singles. For instance, they were less able to regulate their emotions, and were less satisfied with the quality of their close relationships relative to secure singles. They also reported some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction across all sub-groups.

It’s not all doom and gloom

These findings should be considered alongside several relevant points. First, although most singles in our samples were insecure (78%), a sizeable number were secure and thriving (22%).

Further, simply being in a romantic relationship is not a panacea. Being in an unhappy relationship is linked to poorer life outcomes than being single.

It is also important to remember that attachment orientations are not necessarily fixed. They are open to change in response to life events.

Read more:
Single doesn’t mean being lonely or alone

Similarly, sensitive and responsive behaviours from close others and feeling loved and cared about by close others can soothe underlying attachment concerns and foster attachment security over time.

Our studies are some of the first to examine the diversity in attachment styles among single adults. Our findings highlight that many single people are secure and thriving, but also that more work can be done to help insecure single people feel more secure in order to foster happiness.

Christopher Pepping receives funding from the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Melbourne Primary Care Network, Beyond Blue, and the Sax Institute.

Geoff Macdonald receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Tim Cronin receives funding from the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Victorian Medical Research Accelerator Fund, and the Medical Research Future Fund.

Yuthika Girme receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. Would you be happy as a long-term single? The answer may depend on your attachment style – https://theconversation.com/would-you-be-happy-as-a-long-term-single-the-answer-may-depend-on-your-attachment-style-227595

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, Lecturer in Quantitative Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation, The University of Melbourne

Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these “long unburnt” habitats can be eliminated by a single blaze.

The pattern of fire most commonly experienced within an ecosystem is known as the fire regime. This includes aspects such as fire frequency, season, intensity, size and shape.

Fire regimes are changing across the globe, stoked by climate and land-use change. Recent megafires in Australia, Brazil, Canada and United States epitomise the dire consequences of shifting fire regimes for humanity and biodiversity alike.

We wanted to find out how Australian fire regimes are changing and what this means for biodiversity.

In our new research, we analysed the past four decades of fires across southern Australia. We found fires are becoming more frequent in many of the areas most crucial for protecting threatened wildlife. Long unburnt habitat is disappearing faster than ever.

Read more:
Research reveals fire is pushing 88% of Australia’s threatened land mammals closer to extinction

Uncovering long-term changes

“Fire regimes that cause declines in biodiversity” was recently listed as a key threatening process under Australia’s environmental protection legislation.

However, evidence of how fire regimes are shifting within both threatened species’ ranges and protected areas is scarce, particularly at the national scale and over long periods.

To address this gap, we compiled maps of bushfires and prescribed burns in southern Australia from 1980 to 2021.

We studied how fire activity has changed across 415 Australian conservation reserves and state forests (‘reserves’ hereafter), a total of 21.5 million hectares. We also studied fire activity within the ranges of 129 fire-threatened species, spanning birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates.

We focused on New South Wales, the Australia Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia because these states and territories have the most complete fire records.

More fire putting wildlife at risk

We found areas of long unburnt vegetation (30 years or more without fire) are shrinking. Meanwhile, areas of recently burnt vegetation (5 years or less since the most recent fire) are growing. And fires are burning more frequently.

On average, the percentage of long unburnt vegetation within reserves declined from 61% to 36% over the four decades we studied. We estimate the total area of long unburnt vegetation decreased by about 52,000 square kilometres, from about 132,000 sq km in 1980 to about 80,000 sq km in 2021. That’s an area almost as large as Tasmania.

At the same time, the mean amount of recently burnt vegetation increased from 20% to 35%. Going from about 42,000 sq km to about 64,000 sq km in total, which is an increase of 22,000 square kilometres.

And the average number of times a reserve burnt within 20 years increased by almost a third.

While the extent of unburnt vegetation has been declining since 1980, increases in fire frequency and the extent of recently burnt vegetation were mainly driven by the record-breaking 2019–20 fire season.

Which areas have seen the biggest changes?

The strongest increases in fire frequency and losses of long unburnt habitat occurred within reserves at high elevation with lots of dry vegetation. This pattern was most prominent in southeastern Australia, including the Kosciuszko and Alpine national parks.

Read more:
Fire almost wiped out rare species in the Australian Alps. Feral horses are finishing the job

In these locations, dry years with low rainfall can make abundant vegetation more flammable. These conditions contribute to high fire risk across very large areas, as observed in the 2019–20 fire season.

Threatened species living at high elevations, such as the spotted tree frog, the mountain skink and the mountain pygmy possum, have experienced some of the biggest losses of long unburnt habitat and largest increases in fire frequency.

Multiple fires in the same region can be particularly problematic for some fire-threatened animals as they prevent the recovery of important habitats like logs, hollows and deep leaf-litter beds. Frequent fire can even turn a tall forest into shrubland.

What does this mean for Australia’s wildlife?

Fire management must adapt to stabilise fire regimes across southern Australia and alleviate pressure on Australia’s wildlife.

Indigenous land management, including cultural burning, is one approach that holds promise in reducing the incidence of large fires while providing fire for those species that need it.

Strategic fire management within and around the ranges of fire-threatened species may also help prevent large bushfires burning extensive portions of species’ ranges within a single fire season.

We can also help wildlife become more resilient to shifting fire regimes by reducing other pressures such as invasive predators.

However, our efforts will be continually undermined if we persist in modifying our atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. This means conservation managers must also prepare for a future in which these trends continue, or hasten.

Our findings underscore the increased need for management strategies that conserve threatened species in an increasingly fiery future.

Read more:
200 experts dissected the Black Summer bushfires in unprecedented detail. Here are 6 lessons to heed

William Geary is affiliated with the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.

Dale Nimmo receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions, and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.

Julianna Santos and Kristina J Macdonald 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. Gone in a puff of smoke: 52,000 sq km of ‘long unburnt’ Australian habitat has vanished in 40 years – https://theconversation.com/gone-in-a-puff-of-smoke-52-000-sq-km-of-long-unburnt-australian-habitat-has-vanished-in-40-years-226810

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Lecturer in Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earth’s fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we don’t have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or are we unable, even unwilling, to use that information better?

We have a lot to learn still, but as we show in our research, using current ecological knowledge more effectively could deliver substantial environmental gains.

Our work focuses on improving links between research and ecosystem management to identify key trigger points for action in a framework that joins land, freshwater and sea ecosystems.

Specifically, we investigate solutions to environmental and societal problems that stem from the disparities between scientific research, policy and management responses to environmental issues.

We need managers and policy makers to consider ecological tipping points and how they can cascade though ecosystems from land into rivers and lakes and, ultimately, the ocean.

Our work’s standing among global research aimed at stopping ecosystem collapse has been recognised as one of 23 national champions in this year’s Frontiers Planet Prize.

Read more:
Our oceans are in deep trouble – a ‘mountains to sea’ approach could make a real difference

More holistic solutions

This issue came into focus when New Zealand set up research collaborations known as national science challenges a decade ago to solve “wicked” social and ecological problems.

The challenges focused on environmental issues were deliberately created to concentrate on separate ecosystem and management domains (marine, freshwater and land). But all included research groups addressing ecological tipping points.

This was our inspirational spark. Our research highlights the consequences of managing land, freshwater and sea ecosystems in socially constructed bubbles. We focus on solutions where social and ecological connections are at the forefront of environmental management practices and decisions.

An example is the movement of pollutants such as microplastics from the land to the sea. Most of the microplastics found along coasts and in harbours are blown or washed off the land. While this pollution is a well recognised environmental threat to the marine environment, we have not yet focused on strategies to reduce the load.

Our work points to the ignored but critical issue that people’s impacts on land accumulate in the sea, but land management and consequent actions are not informed by these far-field effects.

This leads to lags in decision making which create undesirable environmental outcomes that are difficult to return from. But if we act on these connections, the environmental gains could be substantial.

Cyclones as a real-world example

As a result of massive soil erosion on the east coast of the North Island during Cyclone Bola in 1988, steep hillsides were retired from grazing and converted to pine plantations to help stabilise the land.

Fast forward three decades and a large proportion of the forest reached harvest at the same time. The exposed soil associated with clear felling was left draped in woody debris to protect it from rain.

However, Cyclone Gabrielle hit in February last year, with extreme rainfall washing both soil and woody debris into streams.

This destroyed habitats, transported vast amounts of silt and wrecked lowland farms, orchards and critical infrastructure. The debris also clogged harbours and coastal beaches, smothered seafloor habitats, destroyed fisheries and affected cultural and recreational values.

This real-world example demonstrates the severe consequences of lags in information flow and management responses. If land-use management decisions had considered the effects on other connected ecosystems and the potential for climate change to intensify those connections, the outcomes could have been different.

We could have implemented more diverse strategies in land use and put emphasis on restoring native forest and coastal wetlands.

Read more:
Cyclone Gabrielle triggered more destructive forestry ‘slash’ – NZ must change how it grows trees on fragile land

Living with nature, not off it

Our vision is one where social and ecological connections across ecosystem domains are at the forefront of moving to a more sustainable future.

Living within planetary boundaries requires a paradigm shift in behaviours, including the way we link science and management to on-the-ground action. Crucially, we need to increase the speed at which new research is taken up and rapidly transition this into action that improves environmental outcomes at local scales.

This behavioural shift underpins the way to a more integrated, broad-scale ability to act and stay within planetary boundaries.

Our research shows we can, with trust and open minds, transcend the disciplinary silos to support new forms of research organisation. The challenge now is to extend holistic approaches into new practices.

Read more:
NZ’s vital kelp forests are in peril from ocean warming – threatening the important species that rely on them

This means identifying opportunities where connected research can alter behaviours across society, from individuals to global finance and governance. Central to this transition is recognising we are part of complex social and ecological systems and our actions have indirect effects and long-term consequences.

We need new research to provide this evidence. It will inevitably lead to new questions about fundamental ecological and integrated Earth processes.

We believe these holistic approaches will allow science to be more readily incorporated into decision making and ensure environmental perspectives are captured. This will lead to relevant, locally appropriate, integrated and robust environmental management actions.

Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher receives funding from philanthropy, Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), including from the National Science Challenges, the Marsden Fund and the Rutherford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships.

Conrad Pilditch receives funding from Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), including the National Science Challenge Sustainable Seas, Marsden Fund and regional councils. He is a member of the Sustainable Seas Challenge Leadership Team.

Simon Francis Thrush receives funding from MBIE, government agencies, international organisations and philanthropy. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

– ref. Ecosystems are deeply interconnected – environmental research, policy and management should be too – https://theconversation.com/ecosystems-are-deeply-interconnected-environmental-research-policy-and-management-should-be-too-228371

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Crocker, PhD Student in Economics, Deakin University

Here’s something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates.

It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its attempt to restrain inflation in May 2022.

On each occasion, its rationale was that by making borrowing more expensive, it would take money out of the economy. Yet, at the same time, it has also been pushing money into the economy and potentially feeding inflation.

It helps to know a bit about the relationship between the Reserve Bank and the private banks that bank with it.

Banker to the banks

Each of the private banks has an exchange settlement account at the Reserve Bank. The banks use these accounts to make payments to one another.

Here’s why. Every day some of the customers of each bank want to transfer to money to the customers of other banks, usually to pay for services or goods.

To a large extent, the transactions cancel each other out, because, say, Westpac needs to transfer about as much to the ANZ as the ANZ needs to transfer to Westpac. But they don’t cancel out completely, meaning that at the end of each day Westpac might need to make a net payment to the ANZ.

It does this by transferring funds from its exchange settlement account at the Reserve Bank to the ANZ’s settlement account at the Reserve Bank.

If Westpac doesn’t have enough cash in its account, it will borrow from another bank that does, at a rate known as the overnight cash rate.

The overnight cash rate is the rate the Reserve Bank tries to influence when it adjusts interest rates.

How it adjusts the overnight cash rate is slightly more complicated. It sets two other rates.

The Reserve Bank pays interest to banks that have excess cash in their settlement accounts and it charges interest to banks that need to borrow cash from it to settle their payments.

It is by setting these two rates – either side of the overnight cash rate – that the Reserve Bank nudges the cash rate up or down.

Historically, the Reserve Bank ensured there was just enough cash in the exchange settlement system to meet the banks’ needs, neither too much nor too little. It called it a “scarce reserves” system.

From just enough cash to an abundance of cash

If there was too much cash in the system, the Reserve Bank sold financial instruments such as bonds to banks, requiring them to pay from their exchange settlement account. If there was too little, it bought financial instruments from them, paying cash into their account.

That’s until COVID. In 2020 it stopped buying bonds from banks, leaving cash to accumulate in their accounts in what it called an “abundant reserves” system. This was done to ensure the banking system had more than enough cash to deal with whatever was in store.

And because the Reserve Bank was also lending billions to the banks through its Term Funding Facility an awful lot of cash accumulated in these accounts.

Beginning in 2020, the amount of surplus cash in the system exploded, from very little in the years leading up to COVID to A$450 billion.

To start with, the Reserve Bank wasn’t required to pay much interest on these extra hundreds of billions because its cash rate target was close to zero. But as it lifted rates to get on top of inflation, it began to pay serious sums.

My calculations suggest that since the Reserve Bank began lifting rates in May 2022 it has paid out more than $25 billion in interest, in some months paying more than $1.3 billion.

To put that $25 billion in perspective, it is more than the $20 billion the government plans to spend on modernising the electricity network. An important difference is that for the billions paid out by the Reserve Bank, there’s no direct benefit to the public.

Each time the Reserve Bank has pushed up rates, it has had to pay out more in interest, which means it has been been pumping money into the economy potentially feeding inflation at the same time as it announced measures to restrain it.

Against this, in recent months the COVID-era Term Funding Facility has been winding down, as the three-year loans issued to banks expire. The last will expire in the middle of this year, winding back the surplus cash in exchange settlement accounts.

But my calculations suggest when this happens there is still likely to be $200 billion of surplus cash in the accounts and about $700 million paid to the banks in interest each month this year.

Excess cash is set to stay

It’d be open to the Reserve Bank to soak up the excess cash by selling the banks enough financial instruments to return to the system of scarce reserves.

But earlier this month it announced it wasn’t planning to go that far.

It said ensuring the banks had just enough cash to transfer funds to each other had required a lot of effort on its part, forcing it to buy and sell financial assets daily, and sometimes more than daily.

And it said the banks seem to have adapted to having more than enough reserves, and the extra reserves made the system resilient to shocks.

It will move instead to a new system it will call “ample reserves”, selling enough bonds to limit excess reserves, but not too harshly.

Read more:
As the COVID cash glut comes to an end, the Reserve Bank is changing the way it sets and maintains interest rates

This new system will mean that when it next pushes up rates (most likely not for a long time) it will again be working against itself to some extent, putting more money into the hands of the banks.

How much has the interest paid out by the Reserve Bank contributed to Australia’s inflation problem? I don’t know. But I think it’s time we consider the whole picture.

Matthew Crocker is a PhD student exploring the history of Australia’s monetary system and is a recipient of a Commonwealth Research Training Program scholarship.

– ref. What if the Reserve Bank itself has been feeding inflation? An economist explains – https://theconversation.com/what-if-the-reserve-bank-itself-has-been-feeding-inflation-an-economist-explains-219107

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Yates, Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a draft NDIS reform bill has been tabled. In this series, experts examine what new proposals could mean for people with disability.

Recent media coverage about the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) frames the choices of people with disability as threats to their safety or the safety of others. Such reports suggest participants who use unregistered providers could be putting themselves in harm’s way. Or that some participants – such as those with criminal backgrounds – pose unacceptable dangers to support providers.

But research shows choice and safety are not at odds when it comes to disability support. What does this mean for the recommendations from the review of the NDIS – especially given its push for evidence-based practice?

Read more:
Choice and control: are whitegoods disability supports? Here’s what proposed NDIS reforms say

Choosing services and who provides them

Part of the original thinking in developing an NDIS structured around principles of choice and control was recognising that not having those things puts people with disability in more vulnerable situations. Research indicates people with disability are more likely to be safe and free from abuse when they have choice over what services they receive and who provides them.

Previous research by one of us (Sophie) also found some people feel safe as a result of having more choice.

When we interviewed people about why they use unregistered NDIS providers, most described feeling more secure when they were able to choose the right people for the job – those with the right attitudes and skills. One told us:

Safety for me means being able to work with people that I know have relevant qualifications and people that are embedded in my community.

This means being able to look beyond whichever providers happen to be NDIS registered and available in their area. Some people feel less safe with registered providers if they’ve had bad experiences with them before or they aren’t sure who the provider will send each week.

People we interviewed also talked about how they select their support worker team for themselves or their family members via interviews, trial shifts and reference checks. This builds a sense of whether the relationship will work or not.

Limited service options, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas, place people with disability in disempowering and risky positions. They may be dependent upon one provider for essential services.

Reforms that restrict participant choice could have a detrimental effect on many people’s NDIS experiences.

Read more:
Unregistered NDIS providers are in the firing line – but lots of participants have good reasons for using them

There is more than one way to support safety

Regulatory oversight is just one (albeit important) piece of the safeguarding puzzle. Choice – which promotes safety – is best supported when participants are informed, empowered, and have a range of people to go to for help, including when things go wrong.

Laura’s recent research found many in the disability sector, including people with disability, family members and advocates, view the NDIS commission’s complaints processes as inaccessible and difficult to navigate. One disability advocate pointed out:

You shouldn’t need an advocate to liaise with the body that has the responsibility of safeguarding your rights and protection.

Unfortunately, the NDIS review had relatively little to say about strengthening the complaints processes.

It did make other quality and safety recommendations that have not received the same degree of attention as the controversial recommendation on mandatory provider registration. These proposals should not be allowed to fall by the wayside.

One recommendation is to invest in “nationally consistent access to individual disability advocacy services” so Australians with disability all have a right to speak up for what they want and need. There are also recommendations to help all people with disability to navigate NDIS, foundational and other services and increase decision-making support.

The recommendations to diversify housing and living supports are critical for expanding both choice and safety.

What about worker safety?

The disability support workforce has a high proportion of female and low-paid workers. They face increasingly insecure employment arrangements. These workers experience different pay and working conditions depending on the provider they work for and industrial award they are employed under.

Since the introduction of the NDIS, there has been a rapid rise in gig economy-style employment. NDIS participants can use online platforms to employ sole-trader support workers rather than going through agencies. Some self-managing participants also choose to directly employ their support workers, effectively becoming small businesses in the process.

Gig economy work potentially involves risks for workers, as well as participants, because there isn’t any oversight or monitoring. That said, workers employed by disability service organisations also report low levels of confidence in organisational safety and reporting systems.

All of this points to the need for strategies to build and retain a high-quality, well-paid and safe workforce. This was noted in the NDIS review and the government’s draft National Strategy for the Care and Support Economy released last year.

What could support safety for everyone?

Rather than assuming choice and safety are in opposition to each other and further restricting choice, our research suggests the following priorities:

• clear complaints pathways, with “no wrong door” referral models so people don’t miss the chance to lodge issues
• accessible and responsive formats for submitting complaints
• accessible and up-to-date information so people know their rights, can navigate the NDIS and choose providers
• peer support with resources to promote these networks.

Both NDIS-specific and mainstream safeguarding institutions such as police, health authorities, consumer bodies and community services, need to build their capacity to listen and respond to people with disability.

Read more:
For people with communication disability, complaining about their treatment isn’t so simple

Lastly, we need to foster “natural safeguards” – the relationships with family, friends and the community that keep everyone safe (not just people with disability).

Safety is about being connected and embedded within the community, where many people are looking out for you, checking in on you and noticing if you don’t show up to your usual activities. Supporting all people with disability to build and sustain these relationships should be a priority.

NDIS participants and workers face distinct challenges but the voices and concerns of both groups need to be heard and addressed by service providers and government. Ultimately, a scheme where people with disability are empowered to make meaningful decisions between quality services, and workers are valued and supported in their roles, will promote safety for everyone.

Read more:
States agreed to share foundational support costs. So why the backlash against NDIS reforms now?

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

– ref. Choice and control: people with disability feel safer when they can select their NDIS providers – https://theconversation.com/choice-and-control-people-with-disability-feel-safer-when-they-can-select-their-ndis-providers-227579

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior research associate, University of Sydney

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has ordered social media platform “X” (formerly known as Twitter) to remove graphic videos of the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney last week from the site. The incident was captured on the church’s livestreamed mass service.

In response to this order, X’s owner, Elon Musk, has branded the commissioner the “Australian censorship commissar”.

X had agreed to part of the take-down. However, it did not agree with removing the material entirely, telling media publications “X believes that eSafety’s order was not within the scope of Australian law and we complied with the directive pending a legal challenge.”

So what are the laws around this, especially because the church incident was quickly labelled a terrorist act by authorities? What powers do governments have in this situation?

Read more:
Why is the Sydney church stabbing an act of terrorism, but the Bondi tragedy isn’t?

Prompt political fallout

The response from politicians has been swift. Labor minister Tanya Plibersek referred to Musk as an “egotistical billionaire”.

Senior Liberal Simon Birmingham said:

They absolutely should be able to quickly and effectively remove content that’s damaging and devastating to the social harmony and fabric of society, particularly images such as terrorist attacks.

Other Labor ministers described X as “a playground for criminals and cranks” or accused the company of thinking they’re above the law.

Of course such damning remarks directed towards a much-maligned website and its equally controversial owner are to be expected. What politicians can do about it is another matter.

What do federal laws say?

The eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, has the power to require the take-down of material under the Online Safety Act. The power she exercised under part nine of that act was to issue a “removal notice”. The removal notice requires a social media platform to take down material that would be refused classification under the Classification Act.

The video was circulating online as the New South Wales Commissioner of Police, Karen Webb announced the attack was a terrorist incident and the alleged perpetrator would be charged with a terrorist offence.

While it’s these laws being applied in the case against X, there are other laws that can come into play.

Australia also has a voluntary code of practice relating to disinformation and misinformation. This is administered by the industry group DiGi. The signatories to this code include Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Redbubble, TikTok, and Twitch.

X had previously adopted the code. X’s failure to comply led to its signatory status being withdrawn by DiGi in November 2023.

The government released a draft of a proposed bill to combat misinformation and disinformation in June 2023. The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill would give the Australian Communications and Media Authority power to enforce an industry code, or make one if the industry could not. It is a variation of this bill, reflecting the substantial range of views on the draft, that now has bipartisan support.

Would this new law make any difference in this case?

The immediate answer is no. The eSafety Commissioner already has extensive powers. She used only one of those powers in this case, but there are are alternative courses of action.

Read more:
Yes, Labor’s misinformation bill could jeopardise free speech online

What else could be done?

Perhaps the gruesome images in the Wakeley videos might remind some of the Christchurch massacre.

In that attack, Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone (now part of TPG), cut access to sites such as 4Chan, which were disseminating video of the attack. This was without any prompting from either the eSafety Commissioner or from law enforcement agencies.

The eSafety Commissioner has the power to require telcos to block access. She would need to be satisfied the material depicts abhorrent violent conduct and be satisfied the availability of the material online is likely to cause significant harm to the Australian community.

This means the commissioner could give a blocking notice to telcos which would have to block X for as long as the abhorrent material is available on the X platform.

Read more:
Terrorist content lurks all over the internet – regulating only 6 major platforms won’t be nearly enough

Separately, the telcos have an obligation to do their best “to prevent telecommunications networks and facilities from being used in, or in relation to, the commission of offences against the laws of the Commonwealth or of the States and Territories” under the Telecommunications Act. This requires there to be an offence.

There is a potential that sharing the video material could be seen as an act done in preparation for, or planning, terrorist acts, if the video was depicting an incident police had decided was an act of terror. This would be a breach of the terrorism prohibitions under the federal Criminal Code.

All this is to say while Musk may be unhappy with the eSafety Commissioner’s actions, it’s just the tip of the iceberg of the laws that could force his site to remove terrorist content.

Rob Nicholls receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the International Digital Policy Observatory.

– ref. Elon Musk is mad he’s been ordered to remove Sydney church stabbing videos from X. He’d be more furious if he saw our other laws – https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-is-mad-hes-been-ordered-to-remove-sydney-church-stabbing-videos-from-x-hed-be-more-furious-if-he-saw-our-other-laws-228380

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney

In past bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, the southern region has sometimes been spared worst of the bleaching. Not this time. This year’s intense underwater heat has triggered the most severe heat stress ever seen on record. Only 3% of surveyed southern reefs have not bleached at all. It’s shaping up to be the most severe and widespread bleaching of the southern reef, while mass bleaching has hit other areas of the reef in the fifth mass bleaching event in eight years.

We’re shocked and saddened by images of stark white coral skeletons. But the damage done by heat underwater goes much further. A living coral reef is a complex ecosystem teeming with vastly more species than the corals. Not only that, but 95% of the habitat on the reef is not coral, but sediment and sand, hotspots of hidden biodiversity. So, what happens to this cornucopia of life when subjected to extreme temperature stress?

We are currently on One Tree Island on the southern reef. It’s home to a research station and has one of the highest levels of protection within the whole reef.

What have we found? So far, the signs are not good. When we dive underwater, we can taste the change as stressed and dying corals release chemicals into water. When we bring back samples, the smell is distinctly sulphurous and sour. We see not just bleached hard corals, but also bleached anemones and soft corals. There are few starfish or sea urchins, yet algae growing on dead coral is attracting more herbivorous fish.

Read more:
The Great Barrier Reef’s latest bout of bleaching is the fifth in eight summers – the corals now have almost no reprieve

A reef is made up of interlocking parts

Coral reefs are complex, interlocking systems built on relationships. Living organisms need other living organisms to survive, whether as food, homes, symbiotic partners, or as substrate to grow on.

Think of the famous relationship between anemonefish and their anemones. These fish chase away predators of their anemone hosts, and their poo gives the anemone nutrients. In turn, the anemone’s stinging cells keep the fish safe from predators.

We are working to uncover relationships between different parts of a reef ecosystem, such as corals, fishes, sea stars, worms and microbes. We want to know the effect of higher water temperatures on these relationships.

To unpick this complexity, we need a lot of data. We do real-time underwater surveys, photogrammetry to turn photos into 3D models of reefs and sediment collection and sorting. We also record temperatures, deploy underwater coral incubation chambers to study respiration, and analyse the environmental DNA and nutrients held in sediments.

The taste of a sick reef

From our first day at One Tree, we could see what the heat had done. Bleached, fluorescing and dead corals were on every reef we surveyed in the lagoon. Newly dead corals were beginning to be colonised by wavy, dense algae, known as filamentous turfing algae.

Near each reef, we could see more biofilm than usual on top of the sediment sections, which appear like white sand seen from above. Touching the sediments gave a sticky feeling, indicating mucus sloughing off bleaching corals settles here.

So far, the fish communities seem relatively unaffected. The flow-on effects are likely to be delayed, however, with changes expected in coming months and years.

All the large anemones we saw had expelled their own symbiotic algae and bleached, which suggests some anemonefish may soon be losing their homes.

Damselfish and gobies, which usually hide in live coral heads, were now having to hide in dead, algae encrusted coral. Common parrotfish species were there in substantial numbers, suggesting they are benefiting from eating algae on the dead coral.

Sea stars, shell animals and sea urchins were scarce. This was as we feared, as these mobile macroinvertebrates are in widespread decline. If they go, the reef will lose the ecological services which these animals provide, as these organisms recycle nutrients and eat detritus, while some also hunt prey.

From the sky, the Barrier Reef presents as patches and lines of reef, interspersed with a great deal of sand. These sediment and sand communities are not barren. They’re hotspots for crustaceans and worms, feeding grounds for many fish, and the sites where a great deal of nutrient cycling takes place. They are very likely to be hit hard by the heat.

What future can the reef have?

When coral bleaches, it’s easy to tell. It looks very different. But when broader reef ecosystems dwindle, it’s harder. Much of the damage done this summer will take months or even years to manifest.

What will it look like? Research on other reefs is a guide. First, we would expect to see falling numbers of coral-eaters such as butterflyfish. We would then expect to see a drop in coral-dwellers such as the damselfish and gobies living in coral heads.

For herbivores, such as algae-eating fish, we would expect to see first a rise in numbers, as their populations expand to eat algae, and then the potential for a substantial fall as the overall health, diversity and structure of the reef declines.

The rippling damage done by bleaching isn’t always one-way. Some immediate damage can be reversed and even lead to recovery, but we won’t know this for some time.

Extreme underwater heatwaves are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity as we continue heating the planet. We are entering unknown territory for these incredibly diverse and highly valued ecosystems, with flow-on effects we are only starting to understand.

Read more:
Global coral bleaching caused by global warming demands a global response

Acknowledgement: We could not have done this work without the support of One Tree Island Research Station managers Ruby Holmes and Heinrich Breuer

John Turnbull receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the University of Sydney. He is also a volunteer on the Reef Life Survey program.

Emma Johnston receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Graeme Clark and Steph Gardner 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. More than coral: the unseen casualties of record-breaking heat on the Great Barrier Reef – https://theconversation.com/more-than-coral-the-unseen-casualties-of-record-breaking-heat-on-the-great-barrier-reef-227906

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

The relationship between witchcraft and teenage girls has been the subject of many books, films and television shows.

Over time, the traditional image of witch as crone has been replaced and reclaimed by a glamourous symbol of rebellion and feminine empowerment, notions that are deeply appealing to teenagers.

During the grunge era of the 1990s, these ideas reached their peak with Buffy (a film in 1992, and on television from 1997–2001) and Charmed (1998–2006). In 1998, Australian musician and television personality Fiona Horne wrote her infamous book situating witchcraft as an alternative form of spirituality and knowledge.

Director Alice Darling and playwright Bridget Mackey situate The Exact Dimensions of Hell in this 1990s suburban Australia. It is a theatrical exploration that unflinchingly examines themes of teenage girls, desire and power.

The story revolves around 14-year-old The Girl (Matilda Gibbs), who begins seeking information in online chat groups about witchcraft and magic(k) rituals. We understand this girl is isolated, struggling to belong and perceives herself as hideous.

Conversely, she believes she is special and worthy, claiming she has always been able to perceive “the unseen”. She wants to learn witchcraft to destroy her enemies and obtain her desires – which largely include being able to dance front row in the Rock Eisteddfod and make boys notice her.

Read more:
How witches went on to become modern feminist icons

A pact with the devil

Through these chat groups, she encounters The Witch (Daniel Schlusser), a lonely, ageing and terminally ill occultist who has already written one book, and desperately wants to make his mark writing another before cancer prematurely ends his life.

The Witch convinces The Girl he can teach her how to practise witchcraft and bend the universe to her will.

Traditional ideas of witches suggest that a witch is usually a woman who makes a pact with the devil in exchange for powers to undertake evil acts. In this way, Schlusser’s The Witch is situated as wholly unreliable and deeply problematic, a corrupt and evil force.

What unfolds in this relationship between The Girl and The Witch is a predictable, uncomfortable and disturbing manipulation. The Girl’s desire to encounter and submit to the possibilities of the forbidden become entangled in The Witch’s capacity to propel and groom The Girl into being part of his own fantasies of infamy and control.

Taking place on a stripped back set with minimal props (visual design by Meg Wilson), the performance oscillates between realistic dialogue and sequences of abstracted and stylised choreography.

Rituals and invisible forces are represented through movement sequences and hanging fabric demarcating the space. The performance makes great use of projected text which visually depict the occult practice of sigils and uses the symbol of a triangle, understood in some witchcraft practices as representative of the feminine.

The projected text also reflects the exact dimensions of power playing out throughout the story.

Witchcraft and ‘hysteria’

Throughout, the intentions of The Girl are placed at the forefront of the story, and the audience are given a clear depiction of the chaos and contradiction of this character.

There are moments in the play when the force of The Girl’s desire for power over her own life are physically inhabited and realised, and she shakes palpably with the intensity of her beliefs and her desire. Unfortunately, this theatrical attempt to centre her perspective and empower The Girl does little to provide her with narrative agency.

As we watch the horror of an abusive situation unfold on stage between The Witch and The Girl, her vulnerability is emphasised – despite her gaining confidence in her own power.

The Exact Dimensions of Hell does not focus on the complexities of occult practices, but rather works to depict the fearlessness and vulnerability of adolescence. The Girl is a romanticised embodiment of the multiple realities and truths of this particular age; she is both wild and trapped, playful and serious, certain and unsure.

Historically, the depictions of witches in popular culture have intersected with social anxieties over young girls as they enter into womanhood. These young women have often been positioned as dangerous and “hysterical”.

The Exact Dimensions of Hell works to reinforce this idea of the dangerous and hysterical teenage girl, and so misses an opportunity to critique how this notion has been constructed in social discourse. The choice to theatrically fragment the depictions of the catalogue of abuse The Girl has suffered at the hands of men make her an unreliable narrator for the audience.

We have often seen how women have been depicted as unreliable with the truth in arenas of public judgement or the halls of justice. Attributing these ideas of the dangerous, unreliable and hysterical to young women can define how they are seen, and how they are believed in these and other contexts.

It is not too big a jump to imagine the persistent interest young women show in witchcraft practices is related to a desire to control what is around them – and in so doing protect themselves from the very real danger they face as teenage girls in a patriarchal society.

The Exact Dimensions of Hell is at fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne, until April 28.

Read more:
Most witches are women, because witch hunts were all about persecuting the powerless

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

– ref. New play The Exact Dimensions of Hell explores the chaos and contradiction of teenage girlhood – and witchcraft – https://theconversation.com/new-play-the-exact-dimensions-of-hell-explores-the-chaos-and-contradiction-of-teenage-girlhood-and-witchcraft-225164