Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ran Porat, Affiliate Researcher, The Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University

As the longest-serving Israeli prime minister (17 years), Benjamin Netanyahu is famous for his political wizardry and survival skills. But he is also a highly controversial figure with questionable moral standards and legacy.

His latest term in office, beginning in late 2022, has been particularly challenging, thanks to the far-right radical elements of his governing coalition and the unprecedented national disaster Israel experienced at the hands of Hamas on October 7 2023.

Yet, Netanyahu has managed to neutralise almost all immediate domestic threats to his power. At times, he has done this by manoeuvring rivals and partners into postponing moves that could topple his government. Other times, he has reshuffled his Likud Party ranks or realigned with bitter foes.

Netanyahu is also facing increased criticism from the Israeli public, with hundreds of thousands of people taking part in marches in support of a hostage deal, as well as from former senior politicians and ex-security officials.

And he has clashed with Eyal Zamir, the Israel Defence Force’s (IDF) chief of staff, who argued against the plan to expand the war into Gaza City. Zamir received clear messages to fold or resign, and chose to stay.

Yet, Netanyahu chooses to ignore all of this noise, sending his entourage and loyalists to attack anyone with dissenting views. This week’s spray at Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is just one example.

As a long term political survivor, he does all of this with an eye on the next Israeli elections, due at the end of 2026.

Propping up his far-right coalition

Over the past two and a half years, Israel has faced unprecedented crises that have left society deeply divided.

Under Netanyahu’s leadership, the government introduced a highly controversial judicial reform plan in early 2023, clashing with the Supreme Court and attorney general. This resulted in mass street protests against it.

Then came the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, which triggered an ongoing multi-front war with severe long-term social, economic and humanitarian consequences.

Netanyahu has claimed credit for successes during this time, such as the 12-day war against Iran in June, while deflecting responsibility for any failures.

Though stretched in many directions, Netanyahu is at his best in such conditions, pitting the conflicting sides around him against each other and playing them.

His coalition relies on hard-right partners, especially National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Despite the massive protests to agree to a hostage deal and international demands to end the war, Netanyahu has chosen to prioritise ensuring the stability of his coalition.

He has acceded to Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s demands to reject ceasefire agreements with Hamas, and instead ordered increased military action against the terrorist group to try to achieve what he has called a “total victory”.

Netanyahu has also indulged Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s talk of resettling Gaza and has enabled their moves to gradually expand Israeli settlements deeper into the West Bank and block any geographically feasible Palestinian state.

Proving Henry Kissinger’s famous observation that “Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic politics,” Netanyahu has also angrily rebuked the wave of Western countries recognising, or preparing to recognise, a Palestinian state.

His defiant letters to French President Emmanuel Macron and social media outbursts about Albanese are aimed less at diplomacy and more at cultivating his image as “a strong leader for Israel” among his base.

Supported by the Trump administration’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), Netanayhu has also felt confident attacking it for issuing warrants against him.

Neutralising challenges from ultra-religious parties

The government’s biggest domestic challenge has been passing a draft law addressing the decades-long exemption of tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men from army service.

Following a Supreme Court ruling that the previous exemptions could not continue, religious parties in Netanyahu’s coalition demanded a bill to formally exempt the men from army service or they would bring down the government.

In response, Netanyahu enticed old rival Gideon Sa’ar from the opposition into joining his government, shoring up the coalition’s previously tiny majority.

Since then, he has bought time through broken promises, successfully persuading the ultra-Orthodox parties to wait until parliament’s return in October of this year. Meanwhile, he replaced Yuli Edelstein, the committee chair who had sought a strong bill with personal sanctions for draft evaders, with a more pliant loyalist, Boaz Bismuth.

Eyes on re-election

Now Netanyahu has his eye on the next general elections, officially set for late 2026 — though he would prefer they take place before the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

For two years, polls have consistently predicted his defeat. As such, he is working to reshape his image. He wants Israelis to forget his central role in the October 7 catastrophe, as well as the questions surrounding the war’s management.

He also hopes to continue diverting attention from his ongoing trial on bribery and breach of trust charges.

But Netanyahu faces a dramatic dilemma over the war. On the one hand, he may decide to sign a ceasefire deal with Hamas and secure the release of the hostages. This would win the cheers of most Israelis, but risk the loss of his government, given the far-right ministers’ threats to dissolve the coalition if he accepts any deal without fully conquering the strip.

On the other hand, he could proceed with the military operation in Gaza City, which may well result in the killing of the remaining hostages – either by Hamas or as a consequence of IDF attacks.

A third option would be to continue negotiations while escalating preparations for the attack, in the hope of achieving a better deal. We will soon know what direction he will take – and what it will mean for his political future.

Ran Porat is a research associate at The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) and Research Fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel. He is affiliated with Australian Centre for Jewish Civilization, Monash University. He is also a former IDF military intelligence officer.

– ref. With eyes on re-election, Netanyahu’s fights with world leaders aim to distract from many political problems – https://theconversation.com/with-eyes-on-re-election-netanyahus-fights-with-world-leaders-aim-to-distract-from-many-political-problems-263523

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

Victorian and Queensland state Resolve polls both show Labor rebounding from big deficits to now lead. In Tasmania, Josh Willie from the left faction replaces Dean Winter as Labor leader.

A Victorian state Resolve poll for The Age, conducted with the federal July and August Resolve polls from a sample more than 1,000, gave the Coalition 33% of the primary vote (down eight since March), Labor 32% (up eight), the Greens 12% (down two), independents 9% (down five) and others 13% (up six).

Resolve doesn’t usually give a two-party estimate for its state polls, but The Poll Bludger estimated a Labor lead by about 53–47. Labor had been far behind in March.

Despite the big gain for Labor on voting intentions, Liberal leader Brad Battin led Labor incumbent Jacinta Allan by 32–25 as preferred premier (36–23 in March). This measure normally favours the incumbent more than voting intentions. Battin’s lead may indicate that Labor’s recovery is mostly due to the federal election result.

The Age’s article said Labor’s primary vote was 30% in July, before Allan announced her working from home policy, and it improved to 34% in August. A national Resolve poll had voters supporting working from home at least two days a week by 64–17. Allan’s net likeability surged 11 points, but is still at -21.

This poll agrees with late June Newspoll and Redbridge polls in giving Labor a lead in Victoria. The next Victorian state election is not due until November 2026.

While Labor has rebounded, they could fall back if voters focus more on state issues or if federal Labor’s popularity subsides. By the next election, Labor will have governed Victoria for the last 12 years, and 23 of the last 27 years, so the Liberals should benefit from an “it’s time” factor. However, the Liberals have their own problems with internal divisions.

Labor also rebounds in Queensland

A Queensland state Resolve poll for The Brisbane Times, conducted in July and August from a sample of 869, gave the Liberal National Party (LNP) 34% of the primary vote (down 11 since the January to April Resolve poll), Labor 32% (up ten), the Greens 10% (down two), One Nation 8% (steady), independents 8% (up one) and others 7% (up one).

Analyst Kevin Bonham estimated there would be a very narrow Labor lead after preferences.

LNP premier David Crisafulli’s net likeability was up two points to +20, as this was question last asked before the LNP won the October 2024 election. Labor leader Steven Miles, who was premier before the election, improved his net likeability 12 points to -1. Crisafulli led by 40–25 as preferred premier (44–22 in January to April).

Unlike Victoria, other recent Queesland polls disagree with Resolve. Early July Queensland polls from Redbridge and DemosAU gave the LNP a 55–45 or 56–44 lead.

New Tasmanian Labor leader

On Tuesday, Labor failed to gain support for its no-confidence motion in the Tasmanian Liberal government from any non-Labor MP, despite the five Greens and four of six others being left-leaning. With Labor losing the July 19 election, the party leadership was spilled.

On Wednesday, Josh Willie from the left faction replaced Dean Winter as Tasmanian Labor leader after a long meeting of Labor’s 10 state MPs. Officially this was unanimous to avoid a membership ballot, with Winter stepping aside. The ABC said many MPs wanted Winter to remain leader, but party members would have likely strongly favoured Willie.

If Labor wants to return to government soon, Willie will need to repair Labor’s relationship with the Greens and left-leaning independents. Labor’s last period in government finished in 2014.

Additional federal Resolve questions

I previously covered the August 11–16 federal Resolve poll that gave Labor a 59–41 lead. In additional questions, respondents supported a legislated right to work from home at least two days a week by 64–17 if an employee’s job allows this. By 66–13, respondents supported a four-day week if an employee did the same work they would have over five days.

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

– ref. Labor rebounds to leads in Victorian and Queensland Resolve polls – https://theconversation.com/labor-rebounds-to-leads-in-victorian-and-queensland-resolve-polls-263527

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Cull, Associate Professor of Accounting and Financial Planning, Western Sydney University

Every February and August, business news sites are full of headlines about company reports and “earnings season”.

That’s because in Australia, most companies have a reporting period ending June 30 – the end of the financial year – meaning they will release their full-year results in August and half-year results in February.

Share prices can move dramatically depending on the company’s performance or its comments about the outlook.

If you’re new to investing and want to understand some of those results by reading company financial statements, here’s where to start.

What is a company financial statement?

Company financial statements show what a business owns, owes, earns and spends. It is like an annual health check-up for a business, written in numbers.

Company financial statements are prepared in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards.

Most listed companies publish their financial statements on their company website, usually in an investor or annual reports section. They are free to access. They are also published on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) website.

What to read first

If you’re new to financial statements, start with the big picture before diving into the numbers.

First, look for the trading update in the half-year report or chief executive’s letter at the beginning of the full-year report. This explains the company’s performance in plain language and will discuss the results for different segments of the business.

You can then look at the statement of profit or loss, which shows the profit or loss for the period.

Revenue is what they have earned – but that’s not counting any costs.

Net profit after tax (known as NPAT) shows total income minus expenses and how much profit is available to shareholders after tax is paid. This is the key measure used in reporting season news stories.

Another term you might run into is EBIT (earnings before interest and tax). EBIT shows profit from core operations before financing costs and tax are taken out. So it is considered a measure of underlying profitability.

Earnings per share (EPS) shows the portion of a company’s profit attributed to each ordinary share in the company.

A closer look at the numbers

After getting a sense of the big picture, the statement of financial position tells you what the company owns and owes.

What percentage of the total assets of the company is made up of liabilities – what the company owes?

Note that “current” assets and liabilities are expected to be converted to cash, or due for payment within 12 months. A company should have enough current assets to pay for its current liabilities.

Total assets less total liabilities equals the total equity: the shareholders’ stake in the company. A negative figure means the company owes more than what the assets are worth. That’s why this statement is often called the balance sheet.

What’s the difference between cash and profit?

Cash and profit are not the same thing. Revenue and expenses are recorded in the reporting period they occur, not when the cash is actually paid or received.

It is possible for a company to show a healthy profit, but have poor cash flow – or the other way around.

For example, a company sells to thousands of new customers in June on credit. Sales are recorded in June, boosting profit. But if the customers don’t pay quickly, there’s no increase in cash.

The cash flow statement shows the cash inflows and outflows of a company, including how much is paid to investors as dividends.

Expectations are the key

Financial markets always look to price in the future, today.

If a company’s profit result is close to market expectations, there may not be a large share price reaction. If it beats expectations, the shares may jump. Likewise, a profit miss will see the share price punished.

But what the company says about its outlook for the coming period is where the greatest chance lies for a surprise that is above or below market expectations. And that can have a big impact on the share price.

To understand a company’s results, context is important. It’s worth reading media coverage from reputable outlets such as The Australian Financial Review (if you don’t have a subscription, try for free access via your local library) and ASX updates.

What are some positive signs to look for?

Look for:

• consistent growth in revenue, profit, cash flow

• more assets than liabilities, with debt at a manageable level

• positive operating cash flow.

You should also consider industry and market trends, management quality, and competitive pressures.

What are some warning signs to watch for?

In its day-to-day operations, keep an eye out for falling revenues and low profit or an outright loss. Sometimes a one-off gain, such as from an asset sale, can prop up results.

Look out for current liabilities higher than current assets, or frequent changes in auditors or senior management.

Following these steps for reading financial statements can help investors to make more informed decisions. A registered financial adviser can provide you with investment advice.

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

Disclaimer: This article provides general information only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is not intended as financial advice. All investments carry risk.

Michelle Cull is a member of CPA Australia, the Financial Advice Association Australia and President Elect of the Academy of Financial Services in the United States. Michelle is an academic member of UniSuper’s Consultative Committee and a member of the Financial Expert Advisory Panel for Ecstra Foundation. Michelle co-founded the Western Sydney University Tax Clinic which has received funding from the Australian Taxation Office as part of the National Tax Clinic Program.

Ushi Ghoorah serves on the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) Standards Advisory Panel and is the Hon Treasurer and an Executive Member of the Australia and New Zealand Third Sector Research (ANZTSR) association. She is Chair of the AFAANZ Public Sector and Not-for-Profit Special Interest Group and a board member of the CPA NSW NFP Committee. Ushi has been the Chief Investigator on three AASB-funded research projects related to service performance reporting and the connectivity of financial and non-financial information in the not-for-profit sector.

– ref. What is a company financial statement? How can it help you spot good or bad investments? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-company-financial-statement-how-can-it-help-you-spot-good-or-bad-investments-263051

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Prevett, PhD Candidate, Flinders University

Imagine serving your country overseas, returning home and feeling unwelcome in the very place meant to support you.

That’s what happened to a 44-year-old Australian Army officer who attended a local Returned and Services League (RSL) lunch while on leave.

She recalls:

One of the older men catcalled me – when I raised it with the president, he dismissed it as “boys will be boys”. As a still-serving commissioned officer, it was deeply upsetting. I never returned.

Her story is far from unique.

Our research from the Open Door Initiative at Flinders University reveals many women feel unwelcome in RSL spaces. Some leave. Others never join.

Women describe subtle but persistent exclusion. One said:

It’s not for younger vets, especially those who still work or have a family.

Another nicknamed her local RSL, dominated by older male veterans from the Vietnam War era, a “Vietnam veteran club”, closed off to women and younger members. There she found walls lined with portraits of men in uniform, sexist jokes left unchallenged, and questions about the legitimacy of women veterans’ medals.

The RSL’s recent struggles

After years of falling membership and sub-branch closures, the RSL is at a crossroads.

Founded in 1916 to support soldiers returning from the first world war, it offered camaraderie, assistance and a way back into civilian life. Today, 1,095 RSL sub-branches remain, barely half the number from its peak in 1946.

Known for mid-week lunches, cheap drinks and Anzac Day services, the organisation was built by men, for men – a culture that still shapes how many sub-branches look, feel and operate.

Fewer than 10% of the veteran population in some states choose to join their local RSL. In many branches nationally, non-veteran members now outnumber those who have served.

Yet many veteran men still resist making space for women or younger veterans. One male interviewee told us bluntly: “I don’t think we should change our traditions to accommodate [these] veterans”.

Sometimes exclusion is more direct.

Sarah Case, a former sub-branch president in Queensland, recalled being labelled “a real bitch” by male branch members, adding:

It’s typical of the experience of being a woman, a woman with a brain who’s prepared to stand up for herself.

Deborah Langford, another woman veteran on a sub-branch committee in regional Victoria said:

I’m here but I’m not heard.

Deeper issues

These issues shouldn’t surprise. The RSL draws its members from the Australian Defence Force, where women have long reported sexism, harassment and inappropriate behaviour.

Media reporting continues to highlight how entrenched these problems remain. It’s no surprise those dynamics often carry over into veteran spaces.

Read more:
‘Survival sex’, ‘mob justice’ and more: the first independent study of abuse in the Australian Defence Force is damning

Many RSL branches feel frozen in time: beers, bingo and military banter. But younger veterans, especially women, are juggling work, families and the long-term impacts of service, including trauma. They need safe, inclusive spaces and real support.

For women who have served, especially those who experienced harassment or assault during service, traditional RSL environments can feel unsafe.

One veteran said:

Going into an RSL space where there are older male veterans can be challenging. Feeling safe is really important.

Small victories and further opportunities

Some branches are starting to shift and even small changes can have a real impact.

One woman veteran in Queensland described the support she received from her state branch as “faultless”, though she said it was only possible because she was supported by one of the few women advocates on staff.

At a Queensland sub-branch, Melissa Bishop, a veteran and newly appointed committee member, fought to move meetings to weekends so people with jobs and families could take part.

One woman veteran described it as “the first time I’d felt like someone had thought about veterans like me.”

These are modest, hard-won changes, but scattered progress alone won’t undo generations of exclusion.

Last year, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide recommended creating a national body to better govern the veterans’ non-profit sector.

This presents a real opportunity to modernise veteran support. But without a strong focus on gender inclusion and cultural reform from the start, history may repeat, entrenching the same exclusions that have kept so many women veterans on the margins for decades.

Women are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for veteran spaces that recognise their service, value their contributions and meet their needs.

That means flexible programs, trauma-informed care, peer support and family-friendly events.

The RSL now faces a defining choice: cling to outdated ideas or evolve into a space where all who have served feel they belong.

Ben Wadham receives funding from DVA and the Australian Research Council. He is vice president of the Defence Force Welfare Association – SA (DFWA-SA).

Andrew Prevett 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. ‘One of the older men catcalled me’: new research reveals the RSL’s woman problem – https://theconversation.com/one-of-the-older-men-catcalled-me-new-research-reveals-the-rsls-woman-problem-262613

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Thompson, Lecturer in Theatre, Australian Catholic University

There’s a pretty funny “in joke” in the opening scenes of the new Australian film Kangaroo Island.

Shortly after we meet Lou Wells (played by Rebecca Breeds) – an ex-pat Australian actor trying to make her Hollywood dream come true in Los Angeles – we learn her only real success to date has been playing a dubious character in a popular TV soap drama.

The joke, in case you missed it, is that Breed’s real-life launching pad was Home & Away. Although, if her performance in this film (along with her lead role in the 2021 series Clarice) is anything to go by, her career is on a much more successful trajectory than the train-wreck character of Lou Wells.

Home calling

After what appears to be a drunken one-night stand (not the first, we suspect) Lou gets a message from her dad Rory (Erik Thomson). He wants her to come home, and is so adamant he has even sent her the plane ticket.

At first, Lou appears to have no intention of giving up on her dream – and no intention of using the ticket.

However, as the viewer, you know she will get on that plane – and you suspect there’s a serious reason for Rory wanting his daughter to come home so suddenly.

This is the beginning of what turns out to be one of the many strengths of Sally Gifford’s first screenplay. It’s easy to become disinterested in a film when the telegraphed plot plays out the way you think it will. After all, why care about the story if you’re already ahead of it?

But Gifford and first time director Timothy David manage to sidestep this problem. They let you guess what’s going to happen, yet still surprise you when the inevitable unfolds – drawing you further into the story in a satisfying way.

An excellent island casting

Home for Lou, as you might have guessed, is on Kangaroo Island – a small paradise off the coast of South Australia that’s also home to an amazing array of wildlife, nature reserves and the Flinders Chase National Park.

Against this backdrop we meet the rest of Lou’s family: her dad Rory, her sister Freya (Adelaide Clemens), Freya’s husband Joel (Ben Roberts), their kids Teddy and Alby (Bodhi and Forest Palmer), Aunt Rose (Julie Wood), and Lou’s best friend Todd (Louis Henbest). This impressive ensemble cast believably portrays both the bonds and tensions that make for a compelling family picture.

The other very good piece of casting is Kangaroo Island itself. There is never a sense that it’s there just for its postcard tourism value (although it’s hard to not want to visit once you’ve seen it through cinematographer Ian McCarroll’s lens).

Rather, you can feel the deep connection between humans and nature in the island, as well as its vulnerability to exploitation in the wrong hands.

The film has strong themes of death, grief, jealousy, betrayal and spirituality, which belie its often very light comic touch. Gifford and David confidently navigate between the serious and the humorous without running aground on moments that are too dark, or too flippant.

The humour will be relatable to anyone who doesn’t have a perfect family, or anyone who loves their family despite its imperfections (in other words, everyone).

One running gag about some lost luggage is so well peppered it’s hard to not laugh out loud when it finally reaches its punchline – albeit at the dramatic high point of the story.

A dramatically flat moment

If I were to pick one point of weakness in the film, it would be Freya’s long monologue that takes place by Lou’s beside while she’s sleeping.

Overall, Gifford’s screenplay deftly handles both the siblings’ present-day story and backstory, in a way that helps us understanding the subtle family dynamics.

So it’s jarring when this mostly static monologue, full of exposition, is delivered as though trying to cover all the points that haven’t yet been explained, in one efficient but dramatically flat moment.

This quibble aside, Kangaroo Island is a highly enjoyable and engaging film that lets its deeply emotional aspects sneak up on you. Even as you see them coming, they arrive fresh and surprising.

Kangaroo Island is in cinemas now.

Chris Thompson 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. Kangaroo Island is a quietly powerful Australian debut that explores family, grief and belonging – https://theconversation.com/kangaroo-island-is-a-quietly-powerful-australian-debut-that-explores-family-grief-and-belonging-261174

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ritu Trivedi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Health Sciences, University of Sydney

About one in three Australian adults have hypertension, or high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is a leading contributor to preventable disability and early death because – particularly when it’s not well controlled – it increases the risk of developing conditions including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and dementia.

Doctors are increasingly using blood pressure measurements taken at home to guide decisions about managing hypertension, such as whether you have hypertension in the first place, and whether you need to start or change medications. These readings can complement measurements taken in a doctor’s office and can be done more often.

Notably, home blood pressure measurements also reduce the “white coat” effect, which refers to someone’s blood pressure being high due to anxiety associated with a doctor’s office or medical environment. For this reason your doctor may ask you to measure your blood pressure at home to confirm whether it’s high or not.

For people who may have been advised to measure their blood pressure at home, having a device with a correctly sized cuff is essential to obtain accurate readings.

But in a new study, we’ve found many people could be using cuffs that don’t fit their arm properly.

Why is cuff size important?

Home blood pressure devices are usually sold with a single cuff size – either standard or a larger one, sometimes called “wide-range”.

But having the wrong cuff size affects the accuracy of the blood pressure reading.

If the cuff is too small, systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading, which denotes the pressure in your arteries when the heart pumps blood) will be overestimated. Conversely, if the cuff is too big, systolic blood pressure will be underestimated. The worse the cuff fits, the greater the measurement error is likely to be.

If your doctor makes decisions about your blood pressure based on inaccurate data, it could mean missing out on treatment to reduce your blood pressure when it’s needed, or starting treatment when it’s not needed.

Our study

In our analysis, we estimated the arm sizes of 18.7 million Australian adults based on data from the National Health Survey for 2017–18. We estimated upper-arm circumference ranged from 20 to 62 centimetres, with an average of 32cm.

We then categorised these arm sizes to see how many would fit common home blood pressure cuffs: standard (22 to 32cm) and wide-range (22 to 42cm).

About 9 million people – 48% of Australian adults – had arms too big for the standard cuff size. And about 700,000 people (roughly 3.7% of Australian adults) had arms larger than 42cm, which means both the standard and wide-range cuff sizes could be too small. Only a very small number had arms that would be too small for both cuff sizes.

We calculated that, among adults reported to have hypertension in 2018, the standard cuff size would be unsuitable in about 60% of people, while both the standard and wide-range cuff size would be unsuitable in about 6%.

The main limitation of our study is that we estimated arm sizes, because a measurement of arm size wasn’t available in the survey data. This estimate was based on an equation developed from a group of people in the United States relatively similar to the Australian population.

It’s possible some of our estimates may not be completely accurate, affecting our results. That said, research in the US has produced broadly similar findings, indicating 6.4% of adults would have arms too big for the wide-range cuff size.

Read more:
Many people don’t measure their blood pressure properly at home – here’s how to get accurate readings

How to choose the right device for you

You can measure the size of your arm at home by wrapping a measuring tape around the half-way point of your upper arm. This is roughly where your bicep is.

When choosing a home blood pressure monitor, the cuff size range is often reported on the cuff itself, on the box, or in the product description online. Some cuffs also have markings which can be used to double check if it fits your arm.

It’s best to use the cuff that came with your device. If you use a different cuff, even one that says it is compatible with many devices, it may not give a correct reading. Home blood pressure devices are tested to work accurately with the specific cuffs they come with, so it’s not clear how well other cuffs would work with your device.

If you can’t find a cuff that fits, many manufacturers have a range of different devices, so contacting them to see if they have other options is a good place to start. A wrist cuff device is an option but is only recommended when blood pressure can’t be measured on the upper arm.

Finally, ensure the device you choose is validated, meaning it has passed accuracy testing in a broad sample of people using a standard process. You can search for the device manufacturer name and model number on lists of validated devices compiled by the independent international organisation STRIDE BP.

If you are unsure about the accuracy of your home blood pressure device, you can take it to your doctor to see if the measurements are similar to the device they use in the clinic.

Ritu Trivedi is a member of the Australian National Hypertension Taskforce working groups for patient activation and engagement, and awareness and screening of high blood pressure.

Clara Chow is a NHMRC investigator grant recipient and is an investigator on current MRFF and NHMRC grants. She is a member of the WSLHD Board & National Heart Foundation Board, Australian National Hypertension Taskforce, has previously received grants from NSW Health, Australian Digital Health Agency, Google. She has also previously received speakers’ fees from several organisations including Novartis, Limbic, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Amgen, AbbVie.
The George Institute has submitted patent applications with respect to low fixed-dose combination products for the treatment of cardiovascular and cardiometabolic disease. Professors Rodgers and Chow are listed as inventors. Both do not have direct financial interests in these patent applications or investments.

Dean Picone receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, NSW Government Office of Health and Medical Research and is an investigator on a current MRFF grant. He a member of the Hypertension Australia Clinical Council, member of American Heart Association Hypertension Professional/Public Education & Publications Committee and Chair of International Society of Hypertension New Investigator Committee. He has previously received funding from the National Heart Foundation of Australia and acted as a consultant on blood pressure monitoring to the Pan American Health Organisation and United States Centers for Disease Control.

– ref. Do you take your own blood pressure at home? Here’s how to choose the device that fits your arm best – https://theconversation.com/do-you-take-your-own-blood-pressure-at-home-heres-how-to-choose-the-device-that-fits-your-arm-best-262608

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Orsola De Marco, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University

Astronomers have glimpsed the inner structure of a dying star in a rare kind of cosmic explosion called an “extremely stripped supernova”.

In a paper published today in Nature, Steve Schulze of Northwestern University in the United States and colleagues describe the supernova 2021yfj and a thick shell of gas surrounding it.

Their findings support our existing theories of what happens inside massive stars at the end of their lives – and how they have shaped the building blocks of the universe we see today.

How stars make the elements

Stars are powered by nuclear fusion – a process in which lighter atoms are squished together into heavier ones, releasing energy.

Fusion happens in stages over the star’s life. In a series of cycles, first hydrogen (the lightest element) is fused into helium, followed by the formation of heavier elements such as carbon. The most massive stars continue on to neon, oxygen, silicon and finally iron.

Each burning cycle is faster than the previous one. The hydrogen cycle can last for millions of years, while the silicon cycle is over in a matter of days.

As the core of a massive star keeps burning, the gas outside the core acquires a layered structure, where successive layers record the composition of the progression of burning cycles.

While all this is playing out in the star’s core, the star is also shedding gas from its surface, carried out into space by the stellar wind. Each fusion cycle creates an expanding shell of gas containing a different mix of elements.

Core collapse

What happens to a massive star when its core is full of iron? The great pressure and temperature will make the iron fuse, but unlike the fusion of lighter elements, this process absorbs energy instead of releasing it.

The release of energy from fusion is what has been holding the star up against the force of gravity – so now the iron core will collapse. Depending on how big it is to start with, the collapsed core will become a neutron star or a black hole.

The process of collapse creates a “bounce”, which sends energy and matter flying outwards. This is called a core-collapse supernova explosion.

The explosion lights up the layers of gas shed from the star earlier, allowing us to see what they are made of. In all known supernovae until now, this material was either the hydrogen, the helium or the carbon layer, produced in the first two nuclear burning cycles.

The inner layers (the neon, oxygen and silicon layers) are all produced in a mere few hundred years before the star explodes, which means they don’t have time to travel out far from the star.

An explosive mystery

But that’s what makes the new supernova SN2021yfj so interesting. Schulze and colleagues found the material outside the star came from the silicon layer, the last layer just above the iron core, which forms on a timescale of a few months.

The stellar wind must have expelled all the layers right down to the silicon one before the explosion occurred. Astronomers don’t understand how a stellar wind could be powerful enough to do this.

The most plausible scenario is a second star was involved. If another star were orbiting the one that exploded, its gravity might have rapidly pulled out the deep silicon layer.

Exploding stars made the universe what it is today

Whatever the explanation, this view deep inside the star has confirmed our theories of the cycles of nuclear fusion inside massive stars.

Why is this important? Because stars are where all the elements come from.

Carbon and nitrogen are manufactured primarily by lower mass stars, similar to our own Sun. Some heavy elements such as gold are manufactured in the exotic environments of colliding and merging neutron stars.

However, oxygen and other elements such as neon, magnesium and sulfur mainly come from core-collapse supernovae.

We are what we are because of the inner workings of stars. The constant production of elements in stars causes the universe to change continuously. Stars and planets formed later are very different from those formed in earlier times.

When the universe was younger it had much less in the way of “interesting” elements. Everything worked somewhat differently: stars burned hotter and faster and planets may have formed less, differently, or not at all.

How much supernovae explode and just what they eject into interstellar space is a critical question in figuring out why our Universe and our world are the way they are.

Orsola De Marco received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is affiliated (non-executive director of the Board) with Astronomy Australia Ltd. a not-for-profit company serving Australian astronomy.

– ref. Astronomers have glimpsed the core of a dying star – confirming theories of how atoms are made – https://theconversation.com/astronomers-have-glimpsed-the-core-of-a-dying-star-confirming-theories-of-how-atoms-are-made-263339

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University

The biggest lie those who create and spread misinformation perpetrate is that they want you to think for yourself. They warn their target audience not to be “sheep” and not to let themselves be told what to believe by “mainstream” voices, the “deep state” or other bogey men.

But in a classic case of misdirection, at the same time they warn you about this, they deploy a range of manipulative tricks to ensure you don’t actually think clearly or independently.

One of these tactics is to seduce you into subscribing to “logical fallacies”. These are flawed patterns of reasoning that sound convincing but lead to false or misleading conclusions.

Logical fallacies are like optical illusions of thought: convincing on the surface, but ultimately an apparition. Like a magician who tries to convince you he really has pulled a rabbit from a hat, getting you to fall for logical fallacies is a sleight of hand that aims to trick you into believing something is true that isn’t.

But when you know how a magic trick works, it no longer fools you. If you recognise the most common logical fallacies and understand how they work, they very quickly lose their power. Once you can see behind the curtain, the illusion fades, and you begin to understand things as they really are.

Here are ten of the most common ones you need to be on the lookout for when it comes to vaccine misinformation.

1. Appeal to nature fallacy

Typical claim:

Vaccines are unnatural, so they must be bad.

Fallacy: Assumes that natural is always better or safer, which is not logically or scientifically valid. Plenty of natural substances are very harmful or deadly, and plenty of man-made products, including many medicines, are life-saving.

2. Slippery slope fallacy

Typical claim:

If we allow vaccine mandates, next we’ll lose all medical freedom.

Fallacy: Assumes a minor or reasonable action will inevitably spiral into something more extreme and implausible. This is one of the easiest logical fallacies to spot and relies on stretching logic to its breaking point in order to provoke fear. Politicians particularly like this tactic.

3. Ad hominem fallacy

Typical claim:

You can’t trust that doctor, he’s obese and doesn’t know how to look after himself.

Fallacy: Attacks the person instead of engaging with their argument or evidence. This is usually the go-to strategy when one either has no evidence to back up what they are saying or doesn’t have any capacity to engage with the evidence.

4. False dichotomy fallacy

Typical claim:

You either trust vaccines blindly or you’re a free thinker.

Fallacy: Ignores the nuanced middle ground and oversimplifies the choices. Often this is a version of the “you’re either with us or against us” ploy. It frames the debate so that one option is clearly unreasonable, creating the false impression that the right choice is obvious.

5. Straw man fallacy

Typical claim:

Pro-vaccine people think vaccines are perfect and have no risks.

Fallacy: This may be the most relied upon tactic by those spreading vaccine misinformation. It relies on misrepresenting the evidence to make it easier to attack. It often involves a number of different tactics such as distorting, cherry picking or oversimplifying the evidence. RFK Jr is a big fan of this tactic.

6. Post hoc fallacy (false cause)

Typical claim:

My child got sick after a vaccine, so the vaccine caused it.

Fallacy: Confuses correlation with causation without considering other explanations. Just because two events occur at about the same time doesn’t mean one caused the other. The false belief that the MMR vaccine causes autism stems from a single fraudulent study that wrongly inferred causation from a mere correlation.

Read more:
If ‘correlation doesn’t imply causation’, how do scientists figure out why things happen?

7. Bandwagon fallacy (appeal to popularity)

Typical claim:

Millions of people are questioning vaccines so there must be something wrong.

Fallacy: Assumes that a widespread belief is equivalent to truth. This is also called the “illusory truth effect” and it’s one of the main reasons misinformation has such an influence on social media. When people find themselves in echo chambers where they are led to believe a view is commonly held, even when it is obviously untrue, they are more likely to believe it. Humans are wired up to follow the herd.

8. Anecdotal fallacy

Typical claim:

I know someone who got vaccinated and still got sick so vaccines can’t work.

Fallacy: Uses personal stories instead of statistical or scientific evidence. This is equivalent to the reference to the grandmother who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and lived to be 100 years old. It’s often the go-to strategy when there is no evidence to support a claim. Apart from the fact these anecdotes are usually not verifiable, anecdotes are no substitute for rigorous scientific evidence.

9. Perfectionist fallacy

Typical claim:

Vaccines aren’t 100% safe and effective, so they are useless.

Fallacy: Rejects a good solution (vaccines) because it is not perfect. No medical intervention is 100% risk-free. Even something universally used like aspirin can have side effects, and so an extension of this logic is that every single therapeutic intervention is useless because it is not perfect, which is absurd.

10. Base rate fallacy

Typical claim:

More vaccinated people are getting sick, so vaccines don’t work.

Fallacy: In a highly vaccinated population, most people will be vaccinated and inevitably some vaccinated people will still get sick. While the absolute numbers of vaccinated people who get sick will outnumber those who did not get vaccinated and got sick, this is misleading as the proportion will be much smaller due to the sheer numbers of vaccinated individuals in the population.

In a nutshell

We live in a time where bad-faith actors are easily able to spread deliberate misinformation. Therefore, we all need to educate ourselves in the tactics and tricks used by these con artists, so we’re not fooled.

Being able to recognise how logical fallacies are used to make misleading arguments seem persuasive is one of the things we can do to protect ourselves. The good news is, once you understand the most commonly used logical fallacies, it’s harder be to fooled.

Hassan Vally 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. Why bad arguments sound convincing: 10 tricks of logic that underpin vaccine myths – https://theconversation.com/why-bad-arguments-sound-convincing-10-tricks-of-logic-that-underpin-vaccine-myths-261778

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nerilie Abram, Chief Scientist, Australian Antarctic Division and Professor of Climate Science, Australian National University

Antarctica has long been seen as a remote, unchanging environment. Not any more.

The ice-covered continent and the surrounding Southern Ocean are undergoing abrupt and alarming changes. Sea ice is shrinking rapidly, the floating glaciers known as ice shelves are melting faster, the ice sheets carpeting the continent are approaching tipping points and vital ocean currents show signs of slowing down.

Published today in Nature, our new research shows these abrupt changes are already underway – and likely to significantly intensify in the future.

Several authors of this article have witnessed these startling changes during fieldwork on the ice. These changes spell bad news for wildlife, both iconic and lesser known. But the changes will reach much further. What’s happening in Antarctica right now will affect the world for generations to come, from rising sea levels to extreme changes in the climate system.

What is an abrupt change?

Scientists define an abrupt change as a climatic or environmental shift taking place much faster than expected.

What makes abrupt changes so concerning is they can amplify themselves. For example, melting sea ice allows oceans to warm more rapidly, which melts more sea ice. Once triggered, they can be difficult or even impossible to reverse on timescales meaningful to humans.

While it’s common to assume incremental warming will translate to gradual change, we’re seeing something very different in Antarctica. Over past decades, the Antarctic environment had a much more muted response overall to human-caused climate warming compared to the Arctic. But about a decade ago, abrupt changes began to occur.

Shrinking sea ice brings cascading change

Antarctica’s natural systems are tightly interwoven. When one system is thrown out of balance, it can trigger cascading effects in others.

Sea ice around Antarctica has been declining dramatically since 2014. The expanse of sea ice is now shrinking at double the rate of Arctic sea ice. We found these unfolding changes are unprecedented – far outside the natural variability of past centuries.

The implications are far reaching. Sea ice has a reflective, high-albedo surface which reflects heat back to space. When there’s less sea ice, more heat is absorbed by darker oceans. Emperor penguins and other species reliant on sea ice for habitat and breeding face real threats. Less sea ice also means Antarctica’s ice shelves are more exposed to waves.

Vital ocean currents are slowing

The melting of ice is actually slowing down the deep ocean circulation around Antarctica. This system of deep currents, known as the Antarctic Overturning Circulation, plays a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate by absorbing carbon dioxide and distributing heat.

In the northern hemisphere, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is facing a slowdown.

We’re now observing a similar risk in Southern Ocean currents. Changes to the Antarctic Overturning Circulation may unfold at twice the rate of the more famous North Atlantic counterpart.

A slowdown could reduce how much oxygen and carbon dioxide the ocean absorbs and leave vital nutrients at the seafloor. Less oxygen and fewer nutrients would have major consequences for marine ecosystems and climate regulation.

Melting giants

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet as well as some regions of East Antarctica are now losing ice and contributing to sea level rise. Ice loss has increased sixfold since the 1990s.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet alone has enough ice to raise global sea levels by more than five metres – and scientists warn we could be nearing the point where this ice sheet could collapse even without substantial further warming, though this might take centuries to millennia.

These enormous ice sheets represent the risk of a global tipping point. They contribute the greatest uncertainty to projections of future sea level rise because we don’t know just how quickly they could collapse.

Worldwide, at least 750 million people live in low-lying areas near the sea. Rising sea levels threaten coastal infrastructure and communities globally.

Wildlife and ecosystems under threat

Antarctica’s biological systems are also undergoing sudden shifts. Ecosystems both under the sea and on land are being reshaped by warming temperatures, unreliable ice conditions and human activity bringing pollution and the arrival of invasive species.

It’s essential to protect these ecosystems through the Antarctic Treaty, including creating protected areas of land and sea and restricting some human activities. But these conservation measures won’t be enough to ensure emperor penguins and leopard seals survive. That will require decisive global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Which future?

Antarctica is often seen as a symbol of isolation and permanence. But the continent is now changing with disturbing speed – much faster than scientists anticipated.

These abrupt changes stem largely from the extra heat trapped by decades of unchecked greenhouse gas emissions. The only way to avoid further abrupt changes is to slash emissions rapidly enough to hold warming as close to 1.5°C as possible.

Even if we achieve this, much change has already been set in motion. Governments, businesses and coastal communities must prepare for a future of abrupt change. What happens in Antarctica won’t stay there.

The stakes could not be higher. The choices made now will determine whether we face a future of worsening impacts and irreversible change or one of managed resilience to the changes already locked in.

Nerilie Abram received funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Ariaan Purich receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Felicity McCormack receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Jan Strugnell receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Matthew England receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

– ref. From sea ice to ocean currents, Antarctica is now undergoing abrupt changes – and we’ll all feel them – https://theconversation.com/from-sea-ice-to-ocean-currents-antarctica-is-now-undergoing-abrupt-changes-and-well-all-feel-them-262615

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Moutiez, Doctorante en Architecture et Enseignante à l’École d’architecture de Paris Val-de-Seine, Université Paris Nanterre – Université Paris Lumières

As the 2024 Olympic Games drew near, the promise of being able to swim in the Seine turned into a media countdown: first as part of the official sporting events and then for the general public. As bids for the Olympic and Paralympic Games have become less and less popular due to the staggering costs involved and the difficulty of justifying them in terms of benefits for local communities, allowing Parisians to swim in the river flowing through Paris was heavily promoted ahead of last summer’s Games.

This kind of media framing, however, has overlooked current and historical realities. River bathing was widely practised over the last few centuries, and in the Seine, it has survived to the present day despite bans on swimming. Additionally, the practice does not only include recreational or sporting dimensions – it is also climate-related, at a time when rising temperatures suggest that compliance with the Paris Agreement will be a difficult, if not impossible task.

A centuries-old bathing tradition

While bathing in the Seine in 2024 was sometimes presented as a novel project, it is key to remember that swimming in Paris is a centuries-old practice. Traces of bathing facilities have been found in the capital dating back to the 13th century. However, the practice is difficult to document in detail as such traces are few, except in cases of major pieces of infrastructure. Over the centuries, swimming continued for hygiene, refreshment and leisure purposes, gradually spreading beyond the city limits.

It was not until the 17th century that the first documented boom in bathing practices in the Seine took place, as evidenced by the introduction of the first prohibitions on bathing and the emergence of the first facilities specifically designed for river bathers. Whether for washing, relaxing or socialising, these facilities were primarily set up to keep bathers safe from the current, and to conceal their nudity on the riverbanks. From the end of the 18th century onwards, these facilities became more complex: additional services were added to improve the comfort of swimmers and the first swimming schools appeared on the Seine.

At the end of the 19th century, floating baths became increasingly popular on the Seine and the Marne outside Paris, while the first-heated swimming pools were built in the capital.

A long-standing practice despite bans

Bans on swimming in the Seine have been numerous over the centuries, though they never completely eradicated the practice.

Historians Isabelle Duhau and Laurence Lestel trace the first restrictions back to the 17th century, when the provosts of merchants and aldermen expressed concern about public nudity on the banks of the river. Until the end of the 19th century, restrictions on swimming in the capital were always based on concerns about nudity. A second reason, that of hindering navigation, appeared in an ordinance of 1840. This was regularly amended until the prefectural decree of 1923, which is still in force today and prohibits bathing in rivers and canals throughout the former département (administrative unit) of the Seine.

However, these bans did not put an end to swimming. After 1923, bathing establishments continued to operate. They even experienced a boom in the interwar period, especially in the suburbs. Photos show that swimming was quite popular during heatwaves.

It was not until the second half of the 20th century that swimming in the Seine became less common, mainly due to the spread of public swimming pools, which offered a more artificial and controlled environment for this form of leisure.

And it was not until 1970, with the ban on swimming in the Marne, that the issue of water quality was raised, even though water quality was already being measured and questioned before then.

Indefatigable bathers

Even today, however, there are still occasional, activist, or even regular swimmers taking to Paris’s waterways. Sporting competitions have brought athletes to the Seine, for example in 2012 for the Paris triathlon, and in a more gradual way in recent years.

In amateur sports, cold-water swimmers also began training in the canals a few years ago, despite the ban. To deal with the risks posed by water temperatures, and possibly police surveillance, these swimmers set their own safety rules: they watch out for each other from the bank and wear life jackets and caps so they are always clearly visible. To date, none of these swimmers has ever been fined by the police.

In recent years, others have also taken a dip for more political reasons. In 2005, members of the Green Party (including its future leader Cécile Duflot) swam in the Seine on World Water Day to raise awareness about how polluted it was.

Diving in the Seine to raise awareness about river pollution also isn’t a new idea. It’s actually the trademark of the NGO European River Network, founded in 1994 and known for its Big Jump events, annual group swims calling for better water quality. Around the same period in the Paris region, the Marne Vive union was created to make the river swimmable again and protect its flora and fauna. In association with local elected officials, it has also been organising Big Jumps since the early 2000s.

In recent times, members of the Bassines Non Merci collective also took dips in Paris to protest against the appropriation of water resources, ahead of planned demonstrations against schemes for large agricultural water reservoirs in the Poitou region.

Other activists have also taken action to make Parisian waterways more suitable for swimming again. The Laboratoire des baignades urbaines expérimentales (Laboratory for Experimental Urban Swimming) organized collective “pirate” swims and shared them on social media and in the press to get local authorities to take up the issue.

Finally, despite the general ban on swimming throughout Paris, it should be noted that swimming is, once again, permitted under certain conditions in the Bassin de la Villette and the Canal Saint-Martin in the summer. For several years, the city has been organising its own collective swimming events, which are supervised and limited in terms of space and time. This is one of the paradoxes of urban swimming in Paris: on the one hand, public authorities are making efforts to improve water quality, in particular by opening sites where people can swim; on the other, they are reinforcing the general ban on swimming in the Seine, for example through more prominent signposting.

The many European versions of urban bathing

Looking at urban swimming practices in Europe, there are many cities where residents already bathe within city limits. These include Basel, Zurich, Bern, Copenhagen, Vienna, Amsterdam, Bruges, Munich and others. That said, putting together a comprehensive list remains tricky because of differences in how urban regulations are applied across Europe, where swimming might be allowed, tolerated, banned, or just accepted.

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In these different cities, the widespread practice of swimming may have been a goal, or it may be a byproduct of water sanitation policies. Copenhagen, for example, isn’t crossed by a river but by an inlet. In the 1990s, the city renovated its aging sanitation system and restored the port, in particular to prevent overflowing. It is also building on national policies, implemented since the 1970s, aimed at preserving water quality and aquatic biodiversity.

These developments, carried out by separate departments and for sometimes different purposes, gradually improved the water quality in the Danish capital, which then sought to highlight the new environmental standards it had achieved. The initial focus was on developing water-based leisure activities. Ideas included areas for fishing and wildlife observation, and plans for an aquarium and the development of canoeing. Ultimately, the focus shifted to a swimming area inaugurated in the early 2000s called Harbour Bath. The site was initially intended as temporary but was made permanent due to its success. Some 20 years later, urban swimming has become an asset that Copenhagen is keen to promote, for example by distributing maps of swimming areas to tourists.

The links between open water swimming and improved water quality are varied. The practice may be used to raise awareness of the need to improve water quality, or to gain support from the general public and elected officials for sanitation projects.

In Europe, numerous directives aimed at preserving biodiversity and water quality have prompted municipalities to clean up the waterways running through areas under their jurisdiction. In this context, then Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac pledged in 1988 to swim in the Seine following reports of the return of numerous fish species, indicating an improvement in the river’s condition. In this video, however, Chirac was not claiming to make the Seine swimmable again for all Parisians. Rather, he was just trying to demonstrate that its water quality had improved.

River bathing in the age of global warming

Another motivation is becoming increasingly important in the creation of urban waterways: providing people with access to cool places in the face of increasingly frequent heatwaves.

Another motivation for allowing swimming in urban waterways is becoming increasingly important: providing people with access to cool places during frequent heatwaves. Paris is particularly vulnerable to climate change due to its dense landscape. A recent scientific study ranks it as one of Europe’s most dangerous cities in the event of a heatwave.

The urban heat-island effect is particularly strong in Paris, and the city’s housing is not well suited to cope with heatwaves. Waterways are seen as a potential solution to the problem of cooling off outside the home. But riverbanks are often very exposed to the sun, which means that only direct contact with water can effectively cool the body – at least to a certain extent. Paris has therefore set up temporary swimming areas, initially in the form of removable pools, before allowing direct access to canals. The Bassin de la Villette, for example, is part of the city council’s Parcours Fraîcheur (Cooling Route) plan, and is also included in its heatwave plan.

Swimming in the Seine was also mentioned in 2015 in the city’s adaptation strategy, in the context of a general overhaul of municipal water policies that was initiated with the decision to take over Eau de Paris, the company responsible for the city’s water supply and wastewater collection.

A decade later, and after the success of the Paris Olympics where swimmers competed in the Seine, the future of swimming in Paris is still uncertain. But one thing is clear: rarely has the subject of urban bathing generated so much discussion, interest, and media coverage.

Julia Moutiez ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Swimming in the Seine: an old pastime resurfaces in the age of global warming – https://theconversation.com/swimming-in-the-seine-an-old-pastime-resurfaces-in-the-age-of-global-warming-263386

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney

Mark Butler, the minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), today announced a new plan to “secure the future” of the NDIS.

Central to this plan is that children under nine with mild to moderate developmental delays or autism will transition from the NDIS to a new foundational support program called Thriving Kids.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Butler argued the NDIS was never intended to serve this age group and it’s currently falling short of meeting their needs.

Thriving Kids will be jointly funded by the federal government and states and territories, with an initial A$2 billion committed from the Commonwealth.

The program is set to launch in July 2026 and roll out over the following 12 months. From mid-2027, children in this group will no longer enter the NDIS, but instead receive support through Thriving Kids.

So what’s behind this change, and is it a good idea?

Sustainability struggles

Since returning to office in 2022, the Labor government has introduced several reforms to the NDIS which, over time, has ballooned in cost.

According to Butler, much more work is needed to get it back on track. But he highlighted two challenges in particular:

1. returning the scheme to its original purpose of supporting those with significant and permanent care and support needs

2. ensuring the scheme is sustainable from a budget perspective.

The original 2011 estimates for the scheme were that the NDIS would cover 411,000 participants and cost $13.6 billion per year. Today there are more than 740,000 participants, and it’s forecast to cost $64 billion by 2029.

The government has set a target to reduce annual growth of the scheme from 22% a year to 8% by next year. However Butler described this as only an interim measure, noting growth needed to be further restricted.

Children aged under 15 years are over-represented in the scheme, making up just under half of NDIS participants. Half of new entrants are under nine. Across the country, one in ten six-year-olds is on the NDIS.

Butler emphasised families were not to blame. Rather, the issue is the lack of alternative support systems. The NDIS Review highlighted this gap and recommended the development of foundational supports: services for people with disability that sit outside the NDIS.

However negotiations between federal, state, and territory governments to establish foundational supports recently stalled.

In establishing Thriving Kids, the minister argued children will be better served and there will be less budgetary pressure on the NDIS.

Is it a good idea?

There have been concerns for some time that the NDIS is not working well for some young children. Best practice in early childhood intervention and care generally suggests children should be integrated into mainstream settings where they live, play and learn.

Parents and caregivers of young children on the NDIS receive individual funding that they use to pay for therapies and other supports which are largely delivered on a one-to-one basis outside these settings.

For families, it can be confusing and difficult to choose between different NDIS supports and providers to work out what will be best for their child.

Rather than providing individualised funding to families, Thriving Kids will leverage existing systems including:

• infant or child and maternal systems (community-based nurses who see children at health and developmental check-ups from birth to 3.5 years)
• GPs
• early learning centres
• community centres
• schools.

These are services most families are already engaged with. The minister says this should result in a more integrated and universal offering to all children – not just children with disability.

New Medicare items will be introduced so families are able to continue to access allied health services such as occupational therapy, speech pathology and psychosocial therapy. We don’t know whether families will have to contribute towards the cost of these services.

Whether Thriving Kids delivers all that is promised will depend on the design of the program and whether it can be effectively implemented, particularly within a short time frame.

Although the government has said access processes to the NDIS will not change until 2027, a number of families over the past six months have found their child has been reassessed and determined ineligible for the scheme.

Yet there are few other support options for these families. An important step will be making sure that while Thriving Kids is being established, children and families don’t miss out on support.

There could be some challenges

Over the past year, relations between state/territory and federal governments have become more fractious.

Thriving Kids will be a national program led by the federal government, but will require close work with other levels of government if it’s to be successful.

States and territories are responsible for many of the services that Thriving Kids will leverage. This program will also need good understanding of local areas to make sure it’s appropriate and doesn’t lead to any gaps in services.

Some experts have argued that we have seen diagnostic drift in relation to autism in recent years, with some children being diagnosed as having moderate autism when previously it would have been diagnosed as mild.

Creating a system where some children are eligible for the NDIS (such as those with severe autism) and others for Thriving Kids (those with mild to moderate developmental delays or autism) could accentuate this. Some health professionals or families may seek a diagnosis that gives them access to better support.

Costs and pricing also need to be harmonised across systems, so families are not incentivised to access services through one system over the other. Services and support funded through Thriving Kids should not incur out-of-pocket costs and payments to providers should not differ between the systems.

Another challenge will be to ensure those groups who are most marginalised and disadvantaged under the current NDIS – for example culturally and linguistically diverse families or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – receive equitable benefits from the Thriving Kids program.

Helen Dickinson receives funding from NHMRC, ARC, MRFF and Australian governments.

Anne Kavanagh receives funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, ARC, MS Australia, and the Australian government.

Catherine Smith has previously received research funding from Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) and Down Syndrome Victoria.

– ref. ‘Thriving Kids’ could help secure the future of the NDIS. But what will the program mean for children and families? – https://theconversation.com/thriving-kids-could-help-secure-the-future-of-the-ndis-but-what-will-the-program-mean-for-children-and-families-263532

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

It’s too early to make a judgement about how productive the government’s economic reform (also known as productivity roundtable) will be, but the fact it’s behind closed doors is making it a rather amorphous affair to follow.

Its sessions are clearly defined, and there seems agreement Treasurer Jim Chalmers is proving a good chair. But, although participants are not sworn to silence about the conversation in the room, what’s coming out depends partly on which players decide to be interviewed or to chat in the corridors.

Talking to the ABC, the ACTU’s Sally McManus admitted to feeling rather lonely in some of the discussions. This followed business representatives on Tuesday predictably shooting down a union proposal for a training levy on employers.

Apart from the financial burden, a similar scheme was less than effective previously.

McManus also anticipated that “I think it may be a bit lonely on AI, but we’ll see”. The unions want substantial regulation of AI; business and Chalmers favour a light touch.

Meanwhile, Nationals senator Matt Canavan organised for Wednesday an alternative roundtable, held in a parliamentary committee room, that he dubbed the “real productivity roundtable”. Canavan worked for the Productivity Commission in an earlier life.

A while after the current chair of the Productivity Commission, Danielle Wood, addressed the Chalmers roundtable, Gary Banks, who once headed that commission, told the Canavan gathering, “the government’s productivity agenda is mainly a spending agenda”.

“It’s not one that involves, well as to date anyway, the kind of regulatory reforms that are needed.” Indeed, he said, energy and labour markets were areas that had been “casualties” of reform.

In the cabinet room, Wood had a stack of slides documenting the productivity problem and how to tackle the “thicket” of regulations.

On its day two, the roundtable had substantial discussions about housing and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, both hampered by excessive regulation.

There was also consideration of a road user charge. That was strongly advocated by former treasury secretary Ken Henry.

The chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, told the roundtable Commonwealth regulators – all 22 of them apparently – were working together to improve the regulatory regime.

“There is a recognition of the critical element of reducing regulatory duplication […] including in information gathering,” she said.

Chalmers said that on the regulatory challenge, the government had “more than 100 ideas we’re progressing, about 100 that require legislative change and about 100 that we’re still considering”.

He said a lot of those ideas weren’t ambitious enough. “Some are”, he said, and gave the example of RG97 (a regulation relating to restrictions on superannuation funds that has the effect of discouraging investment in housing).

Chalmers flagged he wanted the regulators to be “even more ambitious” in their ideas to boost productivity.

Former head of the ACCC Rod Sims, talking in the session about competition, made an obvious but important point.

“Doing things that mean we ‘can’ increase productivity does not mean that we ‘will’ increase productivity. Boosting skills, or lowering taxes may increase the ‘can’ but not the ‘will’. To get increased productivity we need increased competition so that companies are required to increase their performance to remain competitive.”

Chalmers said at the end of day two that it had been “dominated by how we can boost housing supply, how we can responsibly reduce and improve regulation and speed up approvals”.

“I’m really encouraged by the consensus in the room for economic reform in these areas, and we’re enthusiastic about some of the policies that participants put on the table.

“We’ve already got a big agenda to ease the burden on businesses, cut red tape and build more homes but we’re keen to do more where we can.

“There is a real prospect of a useful consensus emerging on a number of key reform areas.”

The message from Canavan after his (much briefer) roundtable was: “to make our economy bigger, we need to make our government smaller”.

Day three of the roundtable is about budget sustainability. Minister for Health and Ageing, and Minister for Disability and the National Disability Scheme, Mark Butler has already announced his bit on that quest, outlining at the National Press Club on Wednesday plans to curb the huge growth in the NDIS.

On Wednesday evening, the roundtable participants went off to The Lodge for drinks, and to meet Toto the dog, who had played her part by posing with the prime minister and treasurer in their show of pre-roundtable unity on Monday.

The rebel roundtable attendees had earlier snacked on protein balls and Anzac biscuits.

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

– ref. View from The Hill: Everyone wants a slice of the productivity action – https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-everyone-wants-a-slice-of-the-productivity-action-263431

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Ireland-Piper, Associate Professor of Law, National Security College, Australian National University

The Australian government has cancelled the visa of Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, setting off a diplomatic falling out that’s escalated over the course of the week.

Rothman is a member of a far-right political party, Mafdal-Religious Zionism, which is part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the visa was cancelled because of comments Rothman had made about Palestinian children. Israel then retaliated by revoking the visas of some Australian diplomats.

While the government stands by the decision in the face of intense criticism from Netanyahu, the Liberal Party has had a different take. Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Hastie has said the government shouldn’t be stopping foreign elected representatives from entering the country.

These sorts of cancellations raise a number of issues, including freedom of expression, public safety, national security and international law.

So what does the law say about whether foreign politicians should be subject to different rules, particularly ones from nations with which Australia has diplomatic ties?

The basic visa laws

Australia’s federal government has discretion over which non-citizens can enter the country. Other than the specific rights of those seeking protection under international law, such as refugees, the capacity of a non-citizen to enter Australia is a privilege, not a right.

This is a big part of how all nations protect their sovereignty.

There are several grounds on which a minister can decline a visa. These include someone’s criminal record and concerns about domestic violence or terrorist activity.

The minister can also consider the risk of vilification of a segment of the community, including conduct likely to be incompatible with the smooth operation of a multicultural society.

It is not unusual for visas to be cancelled or knocked back for this reason. Notably, a Palestinian cookbook author, Mona Zahed, also had her visa cancelled this month for reportedly expressing support for the terrorist organisation Hamas.

These cases can have broader implications for freedom of expression, generally. Constitutionally, for example, the implied freedom of political communication can lawfully be burdened where there is a legitimate public interest (like protection from vilification). The means used must be proportionate to that legitimate public interest.

Overall, the minister is to consider the best interests of the Australian community.

Importantly, ministerial decisions about visas cannot be reviewed. The minister’s decision is final.

What about foreign politicians?

For private individuals, the way visa laws are applied is relatively straightforward.

Rothman’s case is more complicated. He is not merely an individual travelling to Australia to air personal views, but a member of a democratically elected government with which Australia has diplomatic relations. Rothman is the chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Under international law, heads of state, ministers and diplomats have a special status and can be generally seen to be acting on behalf of the nation-state.

This means the decision to revoke the visa of a senior politician may make a political statement not just about a person, but a government and, by extension, a state.

This is why it has implications for Australia’s international relations, despite the fact Rothman is not a foreign or senior minister.

Not cancelling the visa may also have signalled a political and legal position on the actions of Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza. Rothman is part of a government whose prime minister is the subject of a warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, including:

starvation as a method of warfare, and

intentionally directing an attack against the [Gazan] civilian population.

Further, even if we accept the argument that Rothman is visiting as an official representative of the state of Israel, then it is relevant to consider the current international position of Israel.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice delivered an advisory opinion confirming its view that the occupation of Palestine was illegal. It said Israel had an obligation to leave the occupied territory.

Australia seeks to promote the international rule of law to the world, so these matters may be relevant factors.

Social cohesion means safety

This is also a national security issue.

In February 2025, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General Mike Burgess gave his annual threat assessment. He noted a “polarised, grievance-rich environment” in which “social cohesion will remain strained and we can expect spikes in communal violence”.

Read more:
The ASIO threat assessment is a dark outlook for Australia’s security. Are our laws up to the task?

This observation was made against a backdrop of a widely reported and marked increase in antisemitic and Islamaphobic incidents in Australia since October 2023.

In the year after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry reported a 316% increase in the number of reported antisemitic incidents in Australia compared with the same period in the previous year.

The Islamophobia Register Australia has recorded a surge of more than 530% in Islamophobic incidents being reported between October 2023 and July 2025.

A 2024 report on social cohesion showed negative attitudes towards Muslims remain by far the highest of any single faith group for more than ten years.

This unrest threatens both the safety of individuals and the stability of our entire society. It increases our vulnerability to external threats, including foreign interference. This may have also been taken into consideration when deciding whether to cancel the visa.

A fine balancing act

In short, freedom of expression is a basic human right and our relationships with other countries matter, even countries with whom we disagree.

After all, Australia receives many foreign officials from countries that may not share our values. Decisions like these have consequences for our international relations.

At this point in history, however, we should take care when considering to whom we grant a platform.

The issue of visa cancellations of foreign officials is complex and nuanced. There is not always an easy answer.

Danielle Ireland-Piper has previously received funding from the Department of Defence.

– ref. Granting visas to enter Australia is a delicate balancing act – whether you’re a politician or not – https://theconversation.com/granting-visas-to-enter-australia-is-a-delicate-balancing-act-whether-youre-a-politician-or-not-263528

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

The peak body of Australian Jewry has delivered a stinging rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as strongly chastising Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in letters to the two leaders.

The Executive Council of Australia Jewry has told both leaders, in the letters sent on Wednesday, to address their two governments’ policy differences “through diplomacy rather than public posturing”, and accused them of playing to their respective domestic constituencies.

In the letter to Netanyahu, the council condemned his denouncing Albanese on social media as “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”.

It said these comments were “inflammatory and provocative, and demonstrated a woeful lack of understanding of social and political conditions in Australia”.

“These comments have played straight into the hands of opponents of Israel and antisemites, to the detriment of the Australian Jewish community.

“Had we been consulted, we would have warned against such a clumsy intervention into Australia’s domestic politics. The charge of antisemitism, whether made directly or indirectly, is a serious one and never to be made lightly. Doing so only invites scepticism, and undermines the efforts we and the government have been making to combat this pernicious phenomenon.”

In both letters the council expressed “deep dismay and concern” at the “war of words” between the two leaders. Both parties had been at fault, it said.

In the letter to Albanese the council said his July 30 statement accusing Netanyahu of being “in denial” about the consequences of the Gaza war “was excessive and gratuitously insulting”.

“It was unseemly for an Australian Prime Minister to depart from diplomatic norms concerning the leader of a country with which Australia has had friendly relations for many decades.

“You could simply have said that you vehemently disagreed with the Israeli Prime Minister, without descending into a personal attack,” the letter said.

It also condemned Wednesday’s comment by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who, responding to Netanyahu’s description of Albanese as weak, said, “strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up, or how many children you can leave hungry”.

“This from a senior minister whose responsibilities go directly to maintaining social cohesion in Australia, a priority to which you have repeatedly committed your government,” the letter said.

The council told both leaders, “the Australian Jewish community will not be left to deal with the fallout of a spat between two leaders who are playing to their respective domestic audiences”.

The dramatically deteriorating relations between the traditional allies has presented a fork in the road for many Australian Jews, with leading figures increasingly critical of the Israeli prime minister.

Albanese on Wednesday said of the Netanyahu attack, “I don’t take these things personally. I engage with people diplomatically. He has had similar things to say about other leaders.”

The Israeli government is reacting to Albanese’s announcement Australia will recognise a Palestinian state, and the government’s refusal of visas for high profile Israeli figures to visit Australia, including right wing parliamentarian Simcha Rothman.

Sky News has revealed Netanyahu also wrote to Albanese on Monday accusing him of “pouring fuel on this antisemitic fire” by the Palestinian decision.

Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu, told the ABC late Wednesday, the Albanese government was “morally bankrupt”.

“Instead of supporting Israel and demanding the unconditional and the immediate release of the hostages, the Australians government chooses to recognise a Palestinian state, on the backdrop of the October 7 massacre. It’s a huge, huge, huge prize for terrorism.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told the Erin Molan Show this week that “what the Australian government is doing these days is shameful”.

“Instead of battling against antisemitism in Australia, as they should, they are doing the opposite – they are fuelling antisemitism.”

He described as “mad” the government’s banning “the entrance to Australia of Israeli politicians and other figures, with no justification, by saying that will be against the public order or will cause emotions among the Muslim population in Australia.” This was “totally false”, he said.

Albanese told a news conference, “Australians look at their TV coverage […] They look at the increased settler violence in the West Bank, they look at the decision that Israel has made in March to restrict the access of aid, food and water that people in Gaza needed, and they look at that and they think that something needs to change. The cycle of violence needs to change. Australia is a part of a global community.”

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. Australian Jewish representatives deliver stinging rebukes to Netanyahu and Albanese – https://theconversation.com/australian-jewish-representatives-deliver-stinging-rebukes-to-netanyahu-and-albanese-263430

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Duygu Yengin, Associate Professor of Economics; President, Economic Society of Australia (SA); Deputy Chair, Women in Economics Network, University of Adelaide

Productivity is the buzzword at this week’s economic reform roundtable in Canberra. It’s about how effectively we turn our time, skills and resources into goods and services. Who wouldn’t want to get more done with less?

As Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood said,

Productivity growth is the only way to sustainably lift wages and opportunities over time — important for all of us but especially for young people with their working life ahead of them.

The problem is Australia is falling behind. The Reserve Bank now expects productivity to grow by just 0.7% a year, which in turn will drag down wage growth.

Yet even now, with just one day left of the summit, we’re yet to hear much about a multi-billion-dollar opportunity: boosting women’s workforce participation.

What have you done for growth today?

Day two of the three-day roundtable focused on cutting red tape, boosting innovation with AI, and keeping markets competitive. Tackling these issues means asking hard questions and finding real answers. In Wood’s words,

No one wants to be the ‘big meanie’, but not delivering enough housing, infrastructure or innovation comes with a cost.

Wood has explained boosting productivity requires a “growth mindset” and steady, incremental reforms. Every policy — from housing and infrastructure to innovation and care — should consider its impact on long-term growth.

She reportedly told Tuesday’s session the government should review sectors where growing regulatory burdens are a concern, especially construction and finance.

Some of the attendees on Tuesday discussed a pause on changes to the National Construction Code, which governs building standards but has blown out to 2,000 pages.

Similarly, former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, who is attending the roundtable, has called out Australia’s system of environmental impact assessments as “slow, opaque, duplicative, and contested”.

Regulation was a consistent theme of the day. Australia ranks 14th in a World Bank study for ease of doing business.

Red tape delays housing and climate projects and burdens care providers with overlapping accreditation rules. Half of small businesses said they spent more time on regulatory compliance than the year before. There is backlog of 30,000 housing projects waiting for environmental approval. The average renewables project takes 500 days for approval.

Streamlining these processes is central to lifting productivity. As Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the participants:

Making sure approvals can be quicker, without ignoring our responsibility to our communities or to the environment.

Is AI coming to the rescue?

Next on the agenda was artificial intelligence (AI) and innovation.
A recent report by the Productivity Commission estimates AI could add more than 4% to labour productivity and $116 billion in economic activity, over the next decade.

In the public sector, AI can sift through huge amounts of data, spot problems, and support faster, smarter decision-making. If used carefully, it could cut costs, improve efficiency, and make public services more transparent and accountable.

OECD data shows about 70% of countries use AI to improve internal operations, and 67% apply it to public service design and delivery.

Competition matters too

Also on the agenda was “economic dynamism”. Dynamic markets encourage firms to try new ideas, adopt better technologies, and work more efficiently.

The stakes are high. In just a year, business efficiency, covering productivity, management practices, and the labour market, dropped from 22nd to 37th in Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Ranking.

Wood flagged that inconsistent state regulations hold businesses back. A national approach, guided by the National Competition Policy, could make it easier to start and grow businesses across borders.

We talk about productivity, but overlook half the workforce

Productivity is about removing barriers so innovation and growth can happen. Day two made it clear: cut red tape, embrace AI, keep markets dynamic.

Yet one major driver is being overlooked, including so far at this summit: women’s productivity.

Australian women make up just 39.6% of full-time workers. Almost half are in part-time roles, well above the rich country average of 28%.

With 80% of Australians in gender-segregated jobs, many women’s skills sit idle, contributing to skill shortages and slowing productivity.

Life still built for a 1950s family

The biggest barrier is care. Nearly six in ten women who want to work but aren’t available say caring for children or family is the reason, compared to just 7% of men.

School finishes well before the workday ends, and after-school care is scarce. Everyday systems – from sports to medical appointments and therapy – still assume a parent, usually the mother, is free in the middle of the day.

Mental load translates into stress, burnout, and lower productivity. About 61% of women report experiencing burnout in the past year due to balancing home and work.

The economic cost

The cost is huge. If women’s workforce participation matched men’s, there would be an additional one million workers with post-school qualifications, boosting economic growth by 8.7% or $31 billion by 2050.

Matching the participation rate of Nordic countries could lift Australia’s gross domestic product by $132 billion and tax revenue by $38 billion each year.

This would be enough to fund universal after-school and early childhood care many times over. Publicly provided care also improves children’s long-term labour outcomes and future productivity.

The gains wouldn’t just come from more hours worked. They would come from better use of skills, more women in higher-paying and higher-skilled jobs, and reduced career interruptions.

Despite record female workforce participation, men still out-earn women in 98% of occupations. A 25-year-old mother is on track to earn $2 million less over her lifetime than a father, costing the economy an estimated $93 billion a year.

Equal Pay Day on August 19 was a reminder that women must work 50 extra days a year just to catch up. Closing the gap could lift long-term productivity growth by 5.7%. It’s a reform too big to ignore.

Duygu Yengin is affiliated with the Women in Economics Network and the Economic Society of Australia.

– ref. Productivity is the buzzword of the week, but we’re not making the most of half the workforce – https://theconversation.com/productivity-is-the-buzzword-of-the-week-but-were-not-making-the-most-of-half-the-workforce-263187

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milena Heinsch, Professor and Head of Social Work, University of Tasmania

Talking about suicide can feel scary. But new data has found one in three Australian teenagers have thought about, planned or attempted suicide in the last 12 months – so starting the conversation is crucial.

The report, released on Tuesday by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, found female teens were more likely (38%) than males (31%) to report suicidal thoughts and behaviours. These peaked for both at 16–17 years old.

For girls these experiences begin to decline after 17. But for boys they either stayed the same or, in the case of planning, continued to increase between 17 and 19.

Worryingly, for some (9% of males and 6% of females) a suicide attempt did not always involve prior thinking or planning.

But there can be warning signs.

If you’re concerned about your teenager, or you notice changes in how they’re talking or behaving, it’s best to speak up. You might worry it will make things worse, but research confirms there is no harm and can actually help. Asking directly and listening without judgement lets your teen know they’re not alone.

Signs your teen might be struggling

Suicidal thoughts can be difficult to spot, but there are things you can look for. These include:

• sudden changes in mood, including becoming unusually angry or irritable

• talking about feeling hopeless or worthless

• saying things like “I don’t want to be here any more”

• withdrawing from friends and family

• losing interest in things they once enjoyed

• changes in eating, sleeping, or personal hygiene

• using drugs or alcohol more often

• talking or writing about death

• giving away special belongings or making plans for after they’re gone.

Self-harm – such as cutting, burning or hitting themselves – is also a warning sign. It’s usually not about wanting to die, but a way of coping with emotional pain. Self-harm should always be taken seriously.

Should I talk to them about it?

Yes. Even if you’re unsure, it’s better to have the conversation than to stay silent. You could start with:

“You don’t seem like yourself right now. I care about you – is it okay if we talk?”

Give them space to talk. Don’t interrupt or try to fix things straight away. Just listen and thank them for trusting you if they open up.

How to ask about suicide and why it matters

This is the hardest part, but it’s also the most important. If you’re really worried, ask directly:

“Are you thinking about suicide?”

“Have you thought about ending your life?”

Avoid saying things like “You’re not thinking about doing something silly, are you?” This can feel dismissive or judgmental.

If they say yes, try to understand more:

“Do you have a plan for how you would end your life?”

“Have you thought about when or how you would end your life?”

“Have you done anything to prepare?”

People who have a plan are usually at the highest immediate risk of suicide. These questions can help you assess how serious things are and whether to seek assistance from emergency services.

What to do next

If you’re worried your teen is in immediate danger – for example, if they have a plan and intend to act on it – call 000 and ask for an ambulance.

Let them know you love them and that there is hope. Stay with them until help arrives.

At the emergency department, a mental health worker will assess your child and may speak with you both together and separately. They may recommend admission, but more often your child will go home with a treatment plan and a handover for your GP. They may also arrange for a community-based follow up.

If your teen refuses to go in an ambulance, you can contact the local Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team (CATT) through your closest public hospital. This is sometimes called the Psychiatric Emergency Team (PET).

These teams involve mental health professionals who can assess the risk and decide how best to support your teen. This may be a home visit or a stay in hospital.

If they’re not in immediate danger, take your teen to a GP, who can create a mental health treatment plan and refer them to a specialist such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.

There can be long wait times for a specialist appointment. While you wait, you may want to ask your GP to help develop a plan with practical strategies. Or you can visit a walk-in Medicare mental health centre, which provides immediate, free, short and medium-term care. You can also access free and immediate support from the organisations listed below.

It’s also a good idea to work together on a safety plan – a step-by-step guide for what to do if the thoughts come back. Free tools such as the Beyond Now app can help them create and share this plan.

Don’t forget to look after yourself

Supporting a child with suicidal thoughts is incredibly hard and feeling scared, exhausted or helpless is normal.

But you don’t have to do it alone. Talk to a friend, doctor or counsellor. Looking after yourself puts you in a stronger position to support your child.

You are not alone

If you or your child need urgent support, help is available 24/7:

• Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au

• Kids Helpline (ages 5–25 and parents): 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au

• Suicide Call Back Service (ages 15+): 1300 659 467 or suicidecallbackservice.org.au

• 13YARN (First Nations support): 13 92 76 or 13yarn.org.au.

Reaching out can feel scary, but it can make a real difference, and it might be what your child needs most right 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. 1 in 3 teens has thought about suicide this year. Here’s what to look for – and where to get help – https://theconversation.com/1-in-3-teens-has-thought-about-suicide-this-year-heres-what-to-look-for-and-where-to-get-help-263422

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelvin (Shiu Fung) Wong, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Swinburne University of Technology

Personality tests have become increasingly popular in daily life. From hiring to dating, they promise to help us understand who we are and how we are similar, or different, to others.

But do these tests paint an accurate picture? And could it be harmful to take them too seriously?

What are personality tests?

A personality test is an instrument designed to elicit a response that may reveal someone’s “personality” – that is, their patterns of behaving and thinking across different situations.

These tests can take the form of self-reporting questionnaires, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (first developed in the 1940s) and the Big Five Inventory (developed in the 1990s).

Or they may be “projective” tests, where the individual talks freely about their interpretation of ambiguous stimuli. One famous example of this is the Rorschach inkblot test, developed in the early 1920s by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach.

Early beginnings

Personality testing isn’t new. Historical texts from across the globe suggest humans have been interested in understanding and categorising personality for thousands of years.

Around 400 BCE, Greek philosopher Hippocrates suggested an individual’s temperament was influenced by the balance of four bodily fluids, known as “humours”.

Even earlier, around 1115 BCE, government officials in ancient China examined the behaviour and character of individuals to determine their suitability for different jobs in the public system.

However, the systematic and scientific development of tools to understand and categorise personality only began in the 20th century.

One of the first was developed in 1917 by the United States army to predict how new recruits may react to war, and whether they were at risk of “shell shock” (now classified as post-traumatic stress disorder). The goal was to identify individuals who may be unsuitable for combat.

This assessment had 116 “yes” or “no” items, including questions about somatic symptoms, social adjustment, and medical and family history. Examples included “Have you ever fainted away?” and “Do you usually feel well and strong?”. Those who scored highly were referred to a psychologist for further assessment.

Since then, thousands of similar “personality” tests have been developed and used across clinical, occupational and educational settings. Many of these, such as the Myers-Briggs test, have gained mainstream appeal thanks to the internet and media.

Why are we drawn to these tests?

The answer to this lies not in the specific characteristics of the tests, but in the deep-seated psychological need they promise to satisfy.

The drive to understand oneself starts at an early age and continues throughout life. We ask ourselves questions such as “who am I?” and “how do I fit into the world?”

Personality tests are a simple way to get answers to these difficult questions. It can be quite comforting – even exhilarating – to see yourself reflected in the results.

According to American psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory of human needs, people are driven towards self-improvement and “self-actualisation”, which broadly refers to the realisation of one’s potential.

So, people may be drawn to personality tests in the hope that knowing their personality “type” will help them make better choices for their personal growth, whether that’s in their career, relationships, or health.

Maslow also identified another human need: the need for belonging. Learning your personality type, and the types of those around you, is one way to find “your kind of people”. According to social identity theory, finding a group we feel we belong to feeds back into our sense of who we are.

The Barnum effect

It’s worth noting there is psychological research which questions the validity and reliability of the Myers-Briggs test.

One of the main critiques is that completing the test more than once within a short period of time can generate different results (what is called poor “test-retest reliability”). Since personality is generally stable in the short-term, you would ideally expect the same results.

Furthermore, Myers-Briggs and similar tests use broad, positive, and sufficiently vague language when describing personality types. In doing so, they effectively harness the “Barnum effect” or “Forer effect”: the tendency for people to accept general statements as unique descriptions of themselves.

Sound familiar? That’s because horoscopes do the same thing. The results of horoscopes and personality tests can “feel right” because they are designed to resonate with universal human experiences and aspirations.

That said, personality tests are still routinely used in research and clinical practice – although experts suggest using measures that are proven to be scientifically sound.

One common test used in clinical practice is the revised form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2-RF). This 338-item test measures problematic personality traits that may impact an individual’s mental health.

While it has its own set of problems, the MMPI-2-RF is useful in accurately assessing for symptoms of personality disorders, and predicting how different personality traits may impact treatment outcomes.

Taking tests too seriously

If you pigeonhole yourself into a rigid personality type, you run the danger of limiting yourself to the boundaries of this label. You may even use the label to excuse your own or others’ problematic behaviours as “just ESTP things”.

Moreover, by seeing the world purely through these simplified categories, we may ignore the fact that personality can evolve over long periods. By putting others, or ourselves, into a box, we fail to see people as individuals who are capable of change and growth.

While there’s nothing wrong with taking a personality test for fun, out of curiosity, or even to explore aspects of your identity, it’s important to not get too attached to the labels – lest they become all that you are.

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. Are you really an ISFJ? The truth about personality tests – and why we keep taking them – https://theconversation.com/are-you-really-an-isfj-the-truth-about-personality-tests-and-why-we-keep-taking-them-261183

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law Lecturer, University of Sydney

A small Australian trial that used psychedelic-assisted therapy to improve the mental health and wellbeing of terminally ill patients is in the news today.

The results are based on research conducted in Melbourne involving 35 people. All had an advanced, life-threatening illness, such as cancer or motor neurone disease. They also had anxiety and/or depression.

In the first part of the trial, they took either a synthetic version of psilocybin (usually found in magic mushrooms) or a placebo. In the second part, all participants took psilocybin.

Patients had psychotherapy with trained clinicians before and after taking the drugs.

Benefits included reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, and improved spiritual wellbeing and quality of life.

One person withdrew from the trial due to anxiety during dosing. Others withdrew for a number of reasons unrelated to the treatment, including their medical condition worsening, leaving 25 people to complete the trial.

Several clinical trials in Australia and New Zealand are testing psychedelic drugs for a range of conditions. For example, trials have focused on depression, anxiety, prolonged grief, anorexia and addiction.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy offers promise. But in other new research, which has been accepted for publication, we show that the path to safe and equitable access is complex.

What is psychedelic-assisted therapy?

Psychedelic-assisted therapy, also known as psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, involves a patient taking a psychedelic substance in a clinical setting, guided by trained health professionals.

For about two years, Australian psychiatrists have had a legal pathway to do this. They’ve been allowed to prescribe MDMA and psilocybin for specific mental health conditions.

When the scheme began in July 2023, Australia became the first country to establish a national, regulated clinical model for these therapies.

‘Too fast and too soon’?

In Australia, a human research ethics committee must approve a psychiatrist’s treatment plan.

The psychiatrist then applies to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia’s medicines regulator, to become an “authorised prescriber” of MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression (depression that hasn’t responded to other treatments).

The TGA’s decision to allow psychedelic-assisted therapy was controversial. Its own expert panel concluded the available evidence to support its use was of low quality.

One panel member later criticised the decision as “too fast and too soon”.

These concerns were echoed in June 2024, when a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee voted against approving MDMA for PTSD.

Now, officials in the new US administration signal they may fast-track the approval of psychedelics for psychotherapy. This includes backing from Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Slow uptake in Australia

These treatments are still rare in Australia. In the scheme’s first six months, only one patient was prescribed MDMA, and none received psilocybin.

At that time, up to six psychiatrists were authorised to prescribe them. By early 2024, at least ten psychiatrists had been.

Mind Medicine Australia, which advocates for psychedelic-assisted therapy,
estimates about 80 patients had the therapy in 2024.

But we don’t have official data.

Unlawful promotion is a major concern

Promoting prescription drugs directly to the public is illegal in Australia.

Yet, the TGA has already issued more than a dozen warning letters for the unlawful promotion of MDMA and psilocybin, compelling clinics, researchers, and media outlets to remove or amend their advertising.

In the US, however, direct-to-consumer drug advertising is legal, pervasive – even celebrated. So medicalising psychedelics in the US would likely fuel online promotion that would inevitably influence Australian attitudes.

Misconduct and patient risk

A deep concern internationally is professional misconduct surrounding psychedelic-assisted therapy, especially sexual boundary violations. This is any form of sexualised behaviour by a practitioner towards a patient – a profound and harmful betrayal of trust.

Our research, and that of others, suggests the risk of boundary violations is higher in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

The substances can make patients suggestible, lowering social inhibitions while fostering intense bonds with their therapist.

Evidence of therapist misconduct – including allegations of sexual abuse in the US clinical trials – was a key factor in the FDA’s decision to reject MDMA therapy.

Based on the same unethical conduct, the journal Psychopharmacology retracted three pivotal papers analysing the MDMA trial data.

While there have been no public reports of such misconduct in Australia, the international reports raise a serious red flag.

A patchwork of regulations creates barriers

Differences have emerged in how different states and territories apply psychedelic-assisted therapy regulations.

In New South Wales, practitioners need a separate approval from the state’s health department for every patient. Treatment must also occur in a licensed private mental health facility, yet none is licensed for the required day-stay procedure. This has forced NSW patients to travel to Victoria for treatment.

South Australia defines these substances as “drugs of dependence”, and practitioners need special authorisation from the state health minister to prescribe them a full treatment course.

In Victoria, authorised prescribers notify the health department before they treat a patient, with no restrictions on the type of facility.

This inconsistency between jurisdictions creates a “postcode lottery” for care.

A cautionary lesson?

Australia’s decision to medicalise psychedelics was a bold step. But the scheme’s flaws show that legalisation is not a simple switch.

It requires a robust, nationally consistent framework that prioritises patient safety and confronts the unique ethical risks of these powerful medicines.

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. Two years on from Australia’s bold psychedelic experiment, here are our concerns – https://theconversation.com/two-years-on-from-australias-bold-psychedelic-experiment-here-are-our-concerns-261367

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Baker, Professor of Housing Research, University of Adelaide

Most Australians invest much of their income into housing, making employment, education and retirement decisions based on the location, timing and strength of their housing investment.

Across the nation, the housing choices of the last four generations have shaped our cities’ economic success and productivity. Stable housing enabled development, and affordable housing provided a stable workforce fuelling this progress.

Yet, in recent decades, policymakers have largely lost sight of how important housing is for productivity. It’s pleasing to see it’s a focus of discussions at the government’s economic roundtable.

Australia’s housing affordability crisis is undermining the economies of our cities, which have become too expensive for many to live in, work, start businesses or pursue education. Growing numbers of Australians are forced to move to the urban fringes and endure long commutes to work.

Many in job-dense areas live in poor-quality dwellings, which they cannot afford to repair. Poor-quality housing worsens health, which is a drag on productivity.

So how can we harness housing to drive up productivity? Here are five ways.

1. Build houses more efficiently

The way we build Australian homes is wildly inefficient.

A key reason is that subcontracting has fragmented the construction industry. A head contractor signs on dozens of subcontractors. Then, costs grow due to days with no-one on site, or with delays due to a specific subcontractor being unavailable.

Modern methods of construction can speed up the construction workflow and revolutionise the way we deliver housing.

This will require rapid testing and scaling up a range of innovative technologies such as prefabrication, alternative materials (such as recycled steel), 3D printing and robotics to deliver housing more quickly, and standardisation to deliver more efficiently.

2. Use our housing stock more productively

As the population ages and household composition changes, we need to move beyond the myth of the quarter-acre block, Hills Hoist and Victa mower.

Our current average household size of 2.5 people is around half the household size 100 years ago. Yet Australian homes are now, on average, the largest on Earth and double the size of housing in most European and Asian nations.

Greater stock diversity through townhouses, apartments and other higher density forms will narrow the mismatch between the housing stock and population needs.

Almost all of tomorrow’s housing supply already exists today. So there is much to gain from re-purposing ageing stock and increasing its use, and even adapting former office accommodation.

Abolishing stamp duties on home purchases and replacing them with a broad-based land tax will also promote labour mobility and downsizing.

3. Streamline government responsibility for housing

If we want to increase housing supply and improve productivity, we need to consider integrated policy.

Federal and state governments need to think about impact: aligning the housing and cities portfolios under one minister, with a mandate to deliver housing first and foremost. We need to get away from multiple ministers and departments tripping over each other.

We’ve seen successful streamlining already in some states. In South Australia, ministers have combined housing and planning responsibility as the head of a housing “super department”.

4. Tap into economic potential beyond cities

Our national target of 1.2 million well-located homes should not be misunderstood as 1.2 million inner-city homes. New builds don’t have to be in the biggest cities.

Our regions have boomed in recent years and could grow further if governments gave priority to planning their future and delivering infrastructure, unlocking tens of thousands of new homes.

Pressure would come off big city housing markets, while more regional housing would provide the workforce needed to deliver national ambitions around a better connected electricity grid and strong regions.

5. Embrace housing innovation

Australia has many housing markets that behave very differently across urban, regional and remote areas.

Waves of AI innovation not only provide the promise of streamlined planning processes, but now make it possible to generate precise predictions of housing behaviours at the individual level through machine learning models.

These are already being tested in the health sector to screen for disease risk.

They can be turned into reality in the housing space through partnerships built on leading edge housing and computing science.

Housing programs such as the HomeBuilder and Commonwealth Rent Assistance have earned unwelcome reputations for being badly targeted. Machine learning models offer much-needed tools to achieve laser-like precision in housing modelling.

This will deliver overdue improvements in housing policy designs.

Time for new thinking

We need to abandon the search for some singular silver bullet to solve the housing affordability crisis. It is time to tackle policy inertia and experiment with new solutions.

The Australian government, states and territories, the private sector and individual communities need to undertake pilots, acknowledge what fails and then scale-up the most promising innovations.

For instance, emerging construction methods could be pioneered in regional areas where the supply chain is fragile, then rolled out nationally.

As Australia’s productivity levels hit all-time lows, the need to understand, discuss and act upon the wider housing system has never been more urgent.

Like labour and capital investment, housing is essential economic infrastructure. It’s a massive and powerful lever that needs to be harnessed to reverse declines in productivity and revive prospects for long-term economic growth.

The authors would like to acknowledge the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute’s Managing Director, Michael Fotheringham, for his contributions to this article.

Emma Baker receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).

Andrew Beer receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Centre, the City of Lithgow and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

Rachel Ong ViforJ receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).

– ref. Housing can be good for productivity. Here are 5 ways we can build it better – https://theconversation.com/housing-can-be-good-for-productivity-here-are-5-ways-we-can-build-it-better-263335

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Boucaut, Lecturer, media and cultural studies, University of Adelaide

The AFL is facing a monumental stress test in its efforts to tackle homophobia, with one of the league’s biggest stars facing a season-ending suspension on the eve of the finals series.

Adelaide star Izak Rankine has joined a growing number of AFL players and coaches who have been sanctioned for anti-gay language in the past two seasons.

These offenders have been hit with suspensions, fines and mandatory sensitivity training.

However, Rankine’s case is putting the AFL’s policy under increased scrutiny because he is a star player on a league-leading team gearing up for its first finals run since 2017.

High stakes as finals loom

There is a high-stakes, on-field storyline here. The length of Rankine’s suspension will have a significant impact on how the finals play out.

Indeed, much of the coverage and commentary across AFL media is focused on how many games he will miss and how this will affect the Crows’ chances.

This demonstrates a shortcoming in how the AFL media understands and communicates cultural homophobia.

We have spent the past ten months researching homophobia in the AFL, specifically looking at how a cultural issue like homophobia is understood and communicated across AFL media.

We analysed news and commentary about instances of homophobic abuse across the 2024 season, from mainstream outlets including The Age, AFL Media and FoxFooty.

We found the reporting prioritised on-field consequences, precedent and punishment. This imagines homophobia as a problem of individual players to be “solved” with the right length of suspension.

While anti-gay slurs on the field clearly need to be stamped out, reporters and commentators also need to be telling a broader story about the AFL’s attempts to change its culture.

Homophobia and elite sports

There has long been a link between elite sports and homophobia.

Australian sporting institutions, such as the AFL or rugby league, have been accused of marginalising gay players. When violent masculinity is a valued attribute of a sporting culture, traits such as femininity or queerness can be seen as threats to a team’s success.

Indeed, homophobia is difficult for the AFL to reconcile, given it’s believed to be the only major sporting code in the world where no past or present male player has identified publicly as gay.

A slur isn’t a high bump or tackle

Researchers have noted how the Australian public’s appetite for year-round AFL news has empowered the league to act as a gate-keeper to stories and players, leading to favourable coverage.

In our yet-to-be-published research, we also found the decision-making processes of the AFL tribunal and the league’s integrity unit dictate the terms by which stories about impropriety or misconduct are constructed in AFL coverage.

This has implications on how a cultural challenge like homophobia is understood. It also affects how meaningfully the AFL is then compelled to respond.

Themes of “precedent”, “consistency” and “fairness” are overwhelmingly represented in coverage of homophobic incidents.

All of these themes are focused on punishment against a player for their transgression.

This is inadequate for understanding long-held cultural problems, because it presents intolerance as contained and solvable. Punishment may be deemed “too soft” or “an overreaction”, but it is then the end of the story.

The tribunal is generally a mechanism for dealing with physical harm during play. This means reportage also encourages a strange debate in football media about the severity and context of using anti-gay slurs.

We observed this when the integrity unit was investigating Port Adelaide player Jeremy Finlayson’s 2024 on-field use of a slur, months after North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson used a different slur against an opposing player.

In speculating on the precedent that Clarkson’s suspended ban set, AFL media voices – such as ESPN’s Footy Podcast – were awkwardly debating which homophobic slur was worse and why. One slur was likened to “striking” and the other “bumping”.

Notably, the reportage often falls short of interrogating the issue of homophobia beyond the incidents in question.

A high-profile investigation from Louise Milligan for Four Corners in 2023 was the most robust attempt so far. She observed the league was so resistant to her enquiries that the report was titled “the silence”.

That so many reports of anti-gay language and resulting suspensions have occurred since Milligan’s story is a promising sign the AFL is taking the issue seriously.

Yet, in obsessing over precedent, context and on-field consequences, coverage of anti-gay slurs individualises these incidents and moves the conversation onto the AFL’s terms.

A stress test on the AFL

The Rankine case is a turning point given the stakes: a star player of the ladder-topping team.

If precedent dictates a five-match suspension, he will miss a potential Grand Final.

Media figures have expressed sympathy for the Crows. What is missing is sympathy for closeted gay players, umpires, staff or fans who have been historically ostracised from the game.

The AFL has a reputational problem with homophobia that it has neglected for too long, and which likely dissuades gay players from coming out.

How the league responds to the high stakes of the Rankine case will be telling.

The story should not stop at a penalty against an individual, and the AFL needs to front harder questions about ongoing efforts to improve its culture.

Our research into the AFL media’s coverage of anti-gay abuse advocates instead for stronger and more consistent scrutiny into proactive measures by the AFL across all levels of its playing culture.

Problems such as homophobia require collective solutions: continuing to rely on punishment frameworks would be too soft.

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. Australian sports media is compounding the AFL’s homophobia problem – https://theconversation.com/australian-sports-media-is-compounding-the-afls-homophobia-problem-263427

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eva F Nisa, Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology, Australian National University

As the world grapples with myriad environmental problems, a growing number of studies shows the role of religion is key.

Religion influences people’s worldviews, including how we think about nature and our roles within it. This is true of Islam, one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing religions.

Islamic teachings on protecting nature can help inform how we respond to the ecological and climate crises. In particular, Australia can look to our neighbour, Indonesia, where the “Green Islam” movement is growing.

So let’s take a closer look at how Islamic teachings promote care for nature, establishing common ground for environmental action across faiths and cultures.

What is Green Islam?

In Islam, humans are described as khalīfah, or caretakers of the Earth. Islamic teaching also states that Islam is rahmatan lil‘ālamīn – a mercy to all creation.

This means Muslims are responsible for the wellbeing of everything on Earth – humans, animals, plants, land and water. Taking care of the environment is considered an act of worship.

The colour green has always held special meaning in Islam. It is said to have been the Prophet Muhammad’s favoured colour, symbolising hope, paradise and new life.

The Qur’an – Islam’s sacred scripture and the main source of Islamic teaching – frequently discusses nature. It describes the sky, trees, rivers and animals, and the beauty of the natural world. It also reminds people to live in mīzān, or balance, with the environment, in verses such as:

He has raised up the sky. He has set the balance, so that you may not exceed in the balance: weigh with justice and do not fall short in the balance.

The hadith, another source of Islamic teaching, also promotes environmental care. The hadith is a collection of words, actions, and approvals attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, the last prophet of Islam. One such hadith refers to care for nature as an act of giving:

There is none amongst the Muslims who plants a tree or sows seeds, and then a bird, or a person or an animal eats from it, but is regarded as a charitable gift from him.

The emergence of Green Islam

While the Qur’an and hadith have long talked about nature, the Green Islam movement emerged much more recently.

Muslim scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr was among the first to articulate the idea. In the late 1960s, he argued environmental problems were not only physical but also spiritual and moral. He believed people, regardless of their faith, should reconnect with spiritual values that teach care and balance.

In following decades, as environmental problems worsened, more Muslim voices began calling for environmental responsibility based on Islamic principles. This was supported by a growing body of research exploring the relationship between Islam and environmental care.

Over the past 25 years or so, Green Islam has moved from theory to real-life action. Today, the ideas are practised in many Muslim nations and communities around the world.

A spotlight on Indonesia

Indonesia faces a number of pressing environmental problems, including deforestation, air pollution and marine pollution. It is also among the world’s top ten greenhouse gas emitters.

Indonesia is also the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, and is at the forefront of the Green Islam movement. There, Green Islam is helping to mobilise leaders and communities to support environmental protection.

Environmentalism is taught at Islamic schools across Indonesia. This is supported by the nation’s Green Islamic Boarding School program known as Pesantren Hijau.

Indonesia’s Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, are large and well-established, and their teachers and students are well respected. This makes the school network an effective way to encourage green practices both within the schools and in the broader community.

In 2022, Indonesia’s national mosque, Istiqlal, became the world’s first place of worship to be environmentally certified by the International Finance Corporation.

The mosque building includes reflective paint for the roof and external walls, energy-saving lighting, smart energy meters and solar panels. It also features low-flow taps and water recycling. Professor Nasaruddin Umar, Grand Imam of Istiqlal, said the mosque had become a “centre of enlightenment for environmental protection”, adding:

Muslims feel a strong imperative for mosques to go green to enhance the quality of their worship and honour the leadership of the [Prophet Muhammad] Rasulullah SAW who insisted on the need to protect the environment.

The Indonesian government has also urged religious leaders to include environmental themes in sermons. For example, in April this year the Ministry of Religious Affairs encouraged preachers to talk about environmental protection during Friday prayers, to coincide with Earth Day.

Australia and Indonesia are working together on environmental protection. Programs include collaboration on a just energy transition, emisisons reduction and addressing forest and land fires.

To ensure more effective and respectful cooperation with Indonesia, Australia should recognise and respect how Green Islam can help care for our shared planet.

Looking to a green future

Prominent examples of Green Islam can be found around the world.

Morocco, for example, has a green mosques movement. In Egypt, the Islamic authority Dar al-Ifta has issued a “fatwa” (religious edict) prohibiting activities that harm nature.

And many countries support environmental initiatives through Green Sukuk, an instrument to fund eco-friendly projects that align with Islamic principles.

In a time of mounting ecological challenges, all sources of wisdom are vital. Islamic teachings, along with that of other faiths, offer guidance for living in harmony with nature. Together, they can inspire meaningful and practical action for the planet.

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. ‘Green Islam’: how Muslims are powering environmental action across the world – https://theconversation.com/green-islam-how-muslims-are-powering-environmental-action-across-the-world-261380

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tania Barone, Research Associate in Galaxy Evolution, Swinburne University of Technology

Astronomers are living in a golden age of bigger and better telescopes. But even our most advanced technology pales in comparison to the power of nature’s own “cosmic magnifying glasses” – strong gravitational lenses.

In less than 50 years we have gone from the first-ever discovery of a strong gravitational lens to now finding thousands. As new telescopes come online, we’re expecting to discover thousands more.

With these lenses, we can look deep into the universe, and catch glimpses into the most puzzling of contemporary cosmic mysteries: dark matter and dark energy.

So, what are gravitational lenses and how do they work?

A spectacular demonstration of gravity

Gravitational lenses are the most visually spectacular demonstration of Albert Einstein’s theories of gravity.

According to Einstein, mass bends and warps the very fabric of space, in much the same way that a heavy bowling bowl placed on a mattress will bend the mattress beneath it.

Everything with mass (you, me, a leaf, an atom) bends space-time in this way.

But it’s only when an object is really massive – such as entire galaxies and clusters of galaxies – that this effect becomes so apparent. As light travels from distant objects and passes these massive galaxies, the warped space-time around them bends and focuses this light, magnifying it for us to see.

We’re not always in the right place to see this effect. Just like how you need to align a magnifying glass in front of your eye, we only observe the gravitational lensing effect when there is a chance alignment of the background object, the foreground lens, and us.

On the rare occasions when this happens, through our telescopes we see multiple, distorted but magnified versions of an object that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to see because it’s too faint.

Revealing the invisible

Even Einstein couldn’t have predicted how important gravitational lenses would become to modern astronomy. In fact, he believed them impossible to observe at all.

This was because Einstein was thinking about gravitational lensing around individual stars, not galaxies. It wasn’t until decades later that astronomers came to realise just how massive galaxies are, and just how full of them our universe is.

Impressively, gravitational lenses can also reveal details about things we can’t see at all.

Theories predict about 85% of the matter that makes up the universe is invisible stuff called dark matter. The way a gravitational lens bends and warps light allows us to measure how much matter is in galaxies – not just the regular matter we can see, but dark matter as well.

Gravitational lenses can also help us map galaxy clusters across the universe, helping us to understand its shape. Is our universe perfectly flat like a sheet of paper? Or does it have curvature to it like a sphere, or flare outwards like a horse saddle?

That depends on how dense the universe is, and mapping galaxy clusters helps us measure the density of a hypothetical force known as dark energy.

Looking at the distant universe

Gravitational lenses typically make the background objects ten to 100 times brighter than they would be otherwise. This effect provides a high-definition view of the distant universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope has been taking advantage of this magnification boost to get a glimpse into what the universe was like in its infancy more than 13 billion years ago, shortly (300 million years) after the Big Bang.

Looking far into the past helps us piece together how our own celestial home, the Milky Way galaxy, formed and how it might change in the future.

We’re about to be spoilt for choice

The catch to all this is gravitational lenses are rare – akin to a needle in a cosmic-scale haystack. To find them, we need high quality images of large swaths of the night sky.

This year, two new skywatching projects are expected to revolutionise the field: the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope and the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile.

Euclid, which launched in 2023 and released its first batch of data earlier this year, will image a monumental one-third of the entire sky, with a clarity that only comes from being in space.

Conversely, the Vera Rubin Observatory will be working from the ground, but will image the entire southern hemisphere sky. It will create the most detailed time-lapsed view of the cosmos ever seen.

Over their lifetimes Euclid and the Vera Rubin Observatory are predicted to unveil 100,000 new gravitational lenses, 100 times more than we currently know.

How do we find these 100,000 gravitational lenses among the billions of galaxies observed by these telescopes? It is not feasible for scientists to wade through that many images alone.

Instead, Euclid is relying on citizen scientists to help train AI models to know what to look for. By having people each look through a few images and classifying whether they are gravitational lenses or not, AI models can learn from these examples and can then search the entire dataset (if you want to get involved, check out their website).

From individual lenses providing unique new insights into distant galaxies, to studying the effect over large statistical samples to understand the very nature of the universe, gravitational lenses do it all. They are the Swiss Army knife in an astronomer’s toolkit, and we’re about to be spoilt for choice.

Tania Barone receives funding from the Australian Research Council for research with gravitational lenses.

– ref. The most powerful tool in an astronomer’s arsenal is a lens – but not the kind you might think – https://theconversation.com/the-most-powerful-tool-in-an-astronomers-arsenal-is-a-lens-but-not-the-kind-you-might-think-262630

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

The Liberals won 14 of the 35 lower house seats at the July 19 Tasmanian state election, Labor ten, the Greens five, independents five and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers one.

Liberal Jeremy Rockliff was reappointed premier pending parliament’s resumption on Tuesday. Labor moved a no-confidence motion in Rockliff, but it failed by 24 votes to 10. Labor didn’t get votes from any non-Labor MP. The Liberals will continue to govern Tasmania, with Labor’s last period in government ending in 2014.

The no-confidence motion was doomed after the Greens announced they would not support it on Monday. I previously wrote that the Greens had been frustrated by their negotiations with Labor.

Four of the five independents are left-leaning, with the Shooter the only right-leaning crossbencher. In total, Labor, the Greens and left-leaning independents won 19 of the 35 seats, against 15 for the Liberals and Shooters. Yet no left-leaning independents or Greens supported Labor’s motion.

Under Labor party rules, when they lose an election the leadership is spilled. Current leader Dean Winter could be challenged. If there is a Labor leadership election, the new leader will be decided by a combined vote of Labor party members and state delegates.

A more left-wing Labor leader than Winter may have had a better relationship with the Greens and left-leaning independents, which could have helped Labor to form government.

In a Tasmanian EMRS poll, conducted August 12–14 from a sample of 503, respondents opposed Labor’s no-confidence motion by 49–35 (44–38 were in favour of a Liberal over a Labor minority government in late July). Excluding undecided, Greens support for the motion fell from 90–10 to 73–27. On budget repair, abandoning the Macquarie Point stadium was supported by 56–33.

Respondents supported the Liberals phasing out greyhound racing by 2029 by 74–14. They supported the Liberals abandoning their proposal to open up 40,000 hectares of native forestry to harvesting by 61–24.

Federal polls give Labor big leads

A national Newspoll, conducted August 11–14 from a sample of 1,283, gave Labor a 56–44 lead, a one-point gain for the Coalition since the July Newspoll. Primary votes were 36% Labor (steady), 30% Coalition (up one), 12% Greens (steady), 9% One Nation (up one) and 13% for all Others (down two).

Anthony Albanese’s net approval was up three points to +3, with 49% satisfied and 46% dissatisfied. This is his first positive net approval in Newspoll since September 2023. Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s net approval was down two points to -9. Albanese led Ley as better PM by 51–31 (52–32 previously).

This is the graph of Albanese’s net approval in Newspoll with a trend line. The trend line is below the latest two data points.

Asked whether they were more worried about Donald Trump’s tariffs or China’s military threat, voters selected tariffs by 42–37, with Labor and Greens voters strongly favouring tariffs.

A national Resolve poll for Nine newspapers, conducted August 11–16 from a sample of 1,800, gave Labor a 59–41 lead by respondent preferences, a three-point gain for Labor since the July Resolve poll.

Primary votes were 37% Labor (up two), 29% Coalition (steady), 12% Greens (steady), 9% One Nation (up one), 8% independents (steady) and 6% others (down two). By 2025 preference flows, Labor led by about 57–43.

Albanese’s net approval was down five points to -2, with 45% giving him a poor rating and 43% a good rating. Ley’s net approval was steady at +9. Albanese led Ley as preferred PM by 41–26 (40–25 in July).

Labor led the Liberals on economic management by 34–28 (31–30 previously). On keeping the cost of living low, Labor led by 32–26 (30–26 previously).

The question on Australia’s recognition of Palestine is biased and confusing. The 44% who wanted “no change” in Australia’s existing policy would include many who confused this with a don’t know option.

Now 29% said they were more sympathetic to Gaza than when the conflict began (up nine since October 2024), while 16% were more sympathetic to Israel. On Australia’s security, 41% (down ten since January) said Australia was less safe as a result of the Middle East conflict.

On the economic roundtable, 51% thought the government should act now on important reforms, while 22% said they should take proposals to the next election. Voters were opposed by 51–20 to an increase in the GST rate and by 44–26 to broadening the GST. They were in favour of other proposed reforms.

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

– ref. Liberals retain government in Tasmania, while federal Labor keeps big lead in polls – https://theconversation.com/liberals-retain-government-in-tasmania-while-federal-labor-keeps-big-lead-in-polls-263306

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Marie Brennan, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Waikato

This week, Russia is expected to launch its Bion-M No.2 biosatellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying 75 mice and 1,500 fruit flies.

While the mission underscores Russia’s ongoing investment in space medicine, it reignites ethical concerns over the treatment of animals in space research.

Animals have played a pivotal role in space exploration since the 1950s. The former Soviet Union’s launch of the stray dog Laika aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957 marked the first living creature in orbit.

Laika’s cramped, stressful conditions and eventual death from oxygen deprivation highlighted the harsh realities of early space missions.

The US followed suit in 1961 with Ham, a chimpanzee sent on a suborbital flight to test task performance in space. Ham endured invasive monitoring, electric shocks for incorrect responses and severe dehydration. Although he recovered physically, he showed signs of psychological trauma following the mission.

As space exploration expands, the absence of legal protections for animals becomes increasingly problematic. International regulations are long overdue to formally recognise the sentience of animals in outer-space law and to safeguard their welfare before, during and after missions.

Forgotten animal casualties of space exploration

Despite technological advances, animal casualties persist. In 2019, Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft crash-landed on the Moon with thousands of tardigrades aboard. The fate of these eight-legged microscopic animals, also known as water bears or moss piglets, remains unknown.

Often, animals used in missions are deemed surplus afterwards, with little legal obligation for their continued care. For example, France’s Félicette, a cat sent into orbit in 1963, was euthanised post-mission for brain study, despite surviving re-entry.

Unlike military working animals, which undergo transition programmes for civilian life, space animals lack formal exit protocols.

Records of their fates are scarce, and their legal status remains ambiguous. This gap stems partly from the absence of animal considerations in outer-space law.

International responses and ethical shifts

Activist pressure, particularly from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has led to some reforms.

In 1996, NASA withdrew from the BION programme and introduced the Principles for the Ethical Care and Use of Animals. These guidelines were prompted by the Belmont Report which was commissioned in 1974 by the US Congress following controversy about unethical practices in research.

The guidelines emphasise bioethical responsibility, acknowledging that animals “warrant moral concern”.

NASA committed to stewardship of research animals, encompassing acquisition, care and what happens to them after the space mission. The principles outline three core ethical tenets:

1. Respect for life: use only appropriate species in minimal numbers necessary for valid results.

2. Societal benefit: weigh the ethical value of animal use against potential societal gains.

3. Non-maleficence: minimise pain and distress, recognising that animals may suffer similarly to humans.

While these principles don’t ban animal use, they promote ethical reflection and accountability.

Some agencies have followed suit. In 2010, the European Space Agency rejected primate research, opting for simulation technologies to study astronaut health risks.

NASA briefly considered resuming primate experiments in 2010, but PETA’s lobbying led to the cancellation of proposed research at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Nonetheless, NASA continues to use mice in space studies. In 2024, a group of mice was sent to the International Space Station to examine the effects of space on bodily systems.

Private companies have also faced scrutiny. In 2022, KEKA Aerospace in the Democratic Republic of Congo pledged to stop using animals after a rat named Kavira died aboard its Troposphere 5 rocket.

Legal gaps in outer-space law

Despite growing awareness, the legal and ethical frameworks surrounding animals in space remain underdeveloped. The lack of formal protections and transparency continues to raise questions about the ethical and moral cost of scientific progress.

There are five core outer space treaties, covering issues such as the peaceful use of outer space, the rescue of astronauts, the registration of space objects and liability for damage. But despite the long history of animals participating in space missions, none offers formal protections, focusing solely on human and state interests.

A common argument is that prioritising animal welfare could hinder scientific progress. While violence against humans is prohibited, harm to animals for food, research, medicine and other purposes remains widely accepted on Earth. Some question whether it would be inconsistent to restrict harm to animals in space, where human casualties are more likely.

However, two key observations challenge this view.

First, many countries, including New Zealand, now legally recognise animals as sentient beings, deserving moral and legal consideration. Just as human rights evolved after the second world war, the animal welfare movement has gradually secured protections against cruelty and neglect. Yet, space law remains largely silent on the physical and psychological harm animals endure during missions.

Second, concerns that animal welfare might overshadow human safety are unfounded. Outer-space law is already flexible enough to ensure human protection takes precedence. The real question is whether space law can evolve to safeguard both human and animal interests without conflict.

Importantly, the types of harm animals face in space – stress, injury and death – are not fundamentally different from those permitted on Earth in service of human needs. In both contexts, animals are used to advance human survival or ambition. Thus, the perceived inconsistency in protecting animals in space may be less significant than it appears.

We need a more balanced framework – one that acknowledges animals as sentient participants and ensures their welfare is considered alongside human interests.

Anna Marie Brennan was awarded the Borrin Foundation’s Women Leaders in Law Fellowship in 2024.

– ref. We’ve been sending animals into space for 7 decades – yet there are still no rules to protect them from harm – https://theconversation.com/weve-been-sending-animals-into-space-for-7-decades-yet-there-are-still-no-rules-to-protect-them-from-harm-263332